Online Comic Strips
• See also Mobile
Content for Mobile Comics links
• See also Online Comic Creation Tools
• See also Creating WebComics - A Brief Guide
Hub Sites
Comixpedia
Web: http://comixpedia.com
Comixpedia is a project run on love of comics and cyber-duck tape which
includes Comixpedia Magazine, a Comixpedia Codex of online comics and
a bustling community of creators.
ComicSpace
Link: www.comicspace.com
ComicSpace is a social networking site for over 101,000
comic fans and creators (as of February 2007) . It's kind of like MySpace,
but for comic enthusiasts.
Drunk Duck
Link: www.drunkduck.com
Drunk Duck is a website that provides free hosting services for webcomic creators. Founded in 2002 by Dylan Squires, it has evolved into one of the largest online webcomic communities with over 3,500 comic strips and stories. In addition to free hosting, Drunk Duck also provides free message boards and forums for its members, as well as a user rating system that allows for feedback and ranking of its webcomics.
The Chemistry Set
Link: www.chemsetcomics.com
THE CHEMISTRY SET describes itself as "a collective
of comic creators, exploring what happens when they throw their talents
together in the cause of fresh, new, unexpected work.
"Sometimes we get
beautiful synthesis. Sometimes we get explosions. But in every case,
we get new comics, delivered every day by talented up-and-coming creators,
including three Xeric Award winners."
Comic Genesis
Link: www.comicgenesis.com
A free webhosting provider
for webcomics. Looking for a comic? Try some of the ones listed, search
for a specific one, or go straight to their complete
listing. Think you
can do better? Then join up and show them what you're made of!
Komikwerks
Link: www.komikwerks.com
Komikwerks is a comic publisher dedicated to publishing professional,
high-quality, creator-owned, comics, distributed through traditional
print means as well as more modern, technically advanced means like the
web. Komikwerks came together as a conduit for a collective of professional
artists and writers from many different creative fields, who wanted to
publish their creations free of editorial and corporate restraint, as
well as not being confined to the outdated, standard, 22 page format
comic. Creators are able to dictate the length and frequency of their
creations.
Modern Tales
Link: www.moderntales.com
Subscription-based site with a variety of strips, regarded
as the leading source for high quality webcomics. The site now hosts several
strips including Athena
Voltaire, Roger Langride's brilliant comedy strip Hotel
Fred and many more.
Modern Tales launched in March 2002, the product of nearly a year's worth of
brainstorming between site publisher Joey Manley (former Director of freespeech.org,
and former VP, Interactive of streamingmedia.com) and about 30 top web cartoonists.
The goal was simple: build a small but viable business around the idea of selling
webcomics directly to an audience on a subscription basis. This wasn't a big
money play: Manley invested nearly $10,000 of his own money into the project,
took no investors, and attempted to keep the expectations of himself and the
cartoonists very low. Before the launch, Manley estimated that maybe 500 subscribers
would sign up for the service. The idea was to build for the future, not necessarily
to make massive amounts of money in the short term.
700 people signed up in the first two weeks.
OnlineComics.net
Link: www.OnlineComics.net
OnlineComics.net is a searchable directory of online comics, as well
as a nexus for news, updates and information about your online comics.
It had some 39,000 members as of February 2007.
PolyPop
Link: www.polypop.com
Run by Todd Ransell, a cartoonist in Dallas, Texas,
Polypop is dedicated to promoting independent and alternative comix and
popular culture. Initially focusing on comix and independent cartooning,
Todd says Polypop will evently expand over time into areas of animation,
visual art, video and music.
ROK
Comics
Link: www.rokcomics.com
ROK Comics is an easy way for comics creators -- individual
artists, writers and companies -- to create comic strips and offer eager
fans worldwide a way to read those strips on their mobiles. Casual
comics fans can also create strips using uploade art, photos, or simply
use the online characters and scenes.
Scary Bear
Link: www.scarybear.org
Spotlighting a variety of comics talent online.
TopShelfComix TS2.0
Link: www.topshelfcomix.com
TopShelfComix.com features strips by the likes of Martin Cendreda, Gregory
Benton, Farel Dalrymple, Nate Beaty, Andrew Brandou, Rob Goodin, Josue
Menjivar, & Scott Malin. Edited by Brett Warnock, this section will
be a rotating cornucopia of the best cartoonists working today.
Top Web Comics
Link: http://topwebcomics.com
If you're an online comics publisher, sign
up for this and get your fans to vote you too the top of the poll. Great
to see what's out there and gauge popularity.
Web Comics Nation
Link: www.webcomicsnation.com
Webcomics Nation is a place for comics creators to show
off and share their work. Learn more or sign up now -- it's free! And
it's easy, too! Even if you've never made a webcomic before. Includes a
diverse range of great creator comics such as Monstar, PhatComics,
Skippy
and the magic Tricyle,
8-Bit Theatre
Link: nuklearpower.com
Creator: Brian Clevinger
Action Datsun
Link: moviepoopshoot.com/datsun
Creators: Frank Gibson and Irwin Haya
Adventure Comics
Link: www.adventurestrips.com
Alien Loves Predator
Link: www.alienlovespredator.com
Creator: Bernie Hou
In New York, no one can hear you scream. Some adult content by the looks
of it.
Amanda's Castle
Official: http://amanda.dd.com.au/stories/teddies
Creator: Amada Penrose
Totally Teddies, an online
comic strip by Amanda Penrose.
AntiWang
Link: www.antiwang.com
Creator: Eric
Applegeeks
Link: www.applegeeks.com
Creator: Mohammad Haque and Ananth Panagariya
Astounding Space Thrills
Official: www.astoundingspacethrills.com
Creator: Steve Conley
Science fiction adventure at its very
best, created by the talented Steve Conley. Thoroughly
recommended.
ArtBomb
Official: www.artbomb.net
Co-founded by Warren Ellis,
Artbomb's mission is to promote diverse and sophisticated
graphic novels. Check it out... Includes online comics
by d'israeli, Lauren McCubbin and "SuperIdol" written by
Warren.
Beaver and Steve
Link: www.beaverandsteve.com
Creator: James Turner
This is an absolutely hilarious strip (sample above)which cartoonist James
Turner's girlfriend firt drew my attention to -- I don't know if he was
nervous about letting people know about it but he needn't have been. With
simple but effective storytelling and excellent dialogue, just check it
out! Bizarre, funny stuff.
• The first year of Beaver & Steve has been collected as a book: buy
Beaver
& Steve: A Shoeful of Trouble from
Amazon.co.uk!
Beekeeper
Cartoon Amusements
Official:
www.beecomix.com
Creator: Jason Little
Jason Little was born in 1970
and raised in Binghamton, New York. He studied photography
at Oberlin College, and now resides in Brooklyn with writer
Myla Goldberg. He has been drawing cartoons since he was
a child. In addition to the superb strip on his site, Shutterbug
Follies, now available as a book (click
here to order from Amazon.com) he has also written
and illustrated the Xeric Award-winning Jack's
Luck Runs Out, as well as a
number of short works for various cartoon anthologies.
In Shutterbug
Follies, Bee works as a
photo-finishing technician in a one-hour lab in lower
Manhattan. To amuse herself, she duplicates - for her
own collection - any titillating photographs that happen
to pass through her hands. When pictures of a naked corpse
are left for processing, Bee's curiousity goes into high
gear.
Blue Monkey Comics
Official: Go
Home of Adam Bomb. Once the top agent
for the ultra secret organization, The Book, Bill Kane
was made an unknowing guinea pig when he was injected
with an experimental serum and then trapped in the middle
of a nuclear explosion!
Book of Lists:
Link: www.bookoflists.co.uk
The book of lists is an autobiographical comic strip by Paul Rainey.
Events and random thoughts which occur during his daily life are sorted
into list order, drawn and then posted on-line.
Broken Saints
Link: www.brokensaints.com
Animated comic book. Also available on DVD.
Caffeine
Link: www.caffeinecomics.tk
Steven Ingram's domestic insanity, complete with crazed canine. And
I thought our cats were evil.
Combustible Orange
Link: www.combustibleorange.com
Crazy but brilliantly-drawn "anti-comics" with a ton of links
to other web comics, the chance to recaption old strips. These guys
just zing with the kind of energy that always makes comics fun.
Counter Culture
Link: Counter Culture
Creator: Omni and Jawaboy
Creatures in My Head
Link: www.creaturesinmyhead.com
Creator: Andrew Bell
Daily Dinosaur Comics
Link: www.qwantz.com
Digi Comics
Link: digi-comic.com
Ntahan Spargo's brilliantly drawn slice o' life
Diesel Sweeties
Link: www.dieselsweeties.com
Creator: R Stevens
Dinosaur Comics
Link: www.qwantz.com
Funny dinosaurs strip
Electric Sheep
Link: www.e-sheep.com
An alternative take on the
US invasion of Afghanistan. The site also includes an absolutely
brilliant 'manga' adaptation of the Book of Revelation (www.e-sheep.com/apocamon). The first two episodes can be viewed for free but from then on you have to pay to view using BitPass
Emily Strange
Link: www.emilystrange.com
Emily Strange is 13 years old
and wicked bad...
Eye of the Storm
Link: www.eyeofthestormcomic.moonfruit.com
A
Vietnam based horror "Eye
of the Storm" , with art by Azim Akberali, is available to
view online. The full 10 page version will appear in Dimestore Productions
Halloween anthology later in 2006.
Fish Insitution
Link: www.fishinstitution.com
Creator: Robert Goforth
The characters of this ongoing strip include a purple fish named Vinnie,
who was experimented on by scientists, a yellow and brown pyjama cardinalfish
named Arthur, and a green octopus named Eddie, whose origins will become
clearer in time.
The Fly Chronicles
Link: theflychronicles.com
A series of panel cartoons by cartoonist Michael Blaney, who does for
the fly what Gary Larson did for the cow.
The
Fray
Link: www.funnybonecomics.com/thefray
Creator: Rob N.
Get Your War On
Link: www.mnftiu.cc/mnftiu.cc/war.html
Caustic comment on the Iraq
War and George W. Bush etc. Great stuff!
Goats
Link: www.goats.com
Creator: Jon Rosenburg
The Graveyard Shift
Web Link: www.graveyardshift.co.uk
Includes The Forge - Project: Longinus by Future Publishing editor Cavan Scott and Mark Wright, with art by Bryan Coyle, which features the mysterious black-ops organisation from the Big Finish Doctor Who
audio plays Project: Twilight and Project: Lazarus, stars the infamous Nimrod in an all-new tale.
Direct Link: www.webcomicsnation.com/cavscott/forge
Ink Tank/Angst Technology
Link: www.inktank.com
Creator: Barry T Smith
HugoBallz
Link: www.hugoballz.com
Hugo Ballz lives in New York with Robodude and the rest of his friends.
He likes to spend his days creating origami.
The Carrotty Kid
Link:
www.thecarrottykid.co.uk
Creator: Adam Fanton
A
kid-friendly, rather silly strip about
a crime-fighting carrot, which has also had the honour of being
made into a pilot for TV by Cosgrove Hall films... yes the people
who made DangerMouse, so Adam could be on to a real winner with
this. (see the site for details.)
Adam
updates the site weekly with a new comic, and says "I believe it also counts
as one of your five a day portions of fruit and veg." Okaaay...
Scott McCloud
Official: www.scottmccloud.com
Besides his unique cartoon work, Scott's
the author of the thought-provoking tomes Understanding
Comics -- A 215-page comic book about comics that explains the
inner workings of the medium and examines many aspects of visual
communication along the way -- and Reinventing
Comics. This controversial 242-page follow-up
to Understanding Comics advocates
12 different revolutions in the way comics are created, distributed
and perceived with special emphasis on the potential of Online Comics. "Reinventing
Comics is the only book I've ever written
that's been actually described as 'dangerous'", says the author.
Scott is also writer of the excellent Making
Comics, and also offers
a handy visual guide offering tips and tricks to creating web comics
at: www.scottmccloud.com
Link: www.johnny-public.com
Many people, one head: that's the premise of Johnny Public, a comic noir story set in the modern day in a town not far from dead. William Denn, suffering from conflicting personalities, strives to find himself along the forgotten edge of urban expansion.
Heroes in Birmingham
Link: www.bestfriendsproductions.com/hibintro.htm
Created by writer Rachel Kadushin and drawn by Ruben Caldwel.
There's a web preview of the first issue of this series on this
site.
FlapJack, N-Ergyzer, Photonia, The Solution, and Roof Girl. 5 people
who are used to solving crimes and saving people on their own in
their own neighborhoods and towns. Their world suddenly gets bigger
when FlapJack a.k.a. Mercutio Bishop literally explodes into The
City of Birmingham, and his genuine desire to help people stretches
the local law about costumed adventurers working as licensed “public performers” to
its limits.
Jerk
City Link: www.jerkcity.com
Creator: Rands
Ku2 Comics
Link: www.ku-2.com
Little Gamers
Link: www.little-gamers.com
Creator: Christian Fundin and Pontus Madsen
Lost
in Appleton
Link: www.landecay.com/lostinappleton
Creator: Dennis Farrell
Make
With the Funny
Link: www.mwtfunny.com
Creator: Rex and Zak
Malakhim
Link:
www.malakh.com
Horror strip, to give it a loose categorisation, so don't say you
weren't warned. The Malakhim universe is complex, with lots of characters
and places, and even its own language.
Matt Madden's Exercises in Style
Award-nominated Exercises in Style was inspired by a work of the same
name by the French writer Raymond Queneau. In that book, Queneau spun
99 variations out of a mundane, two-part text about two chance encounters
with a mildly irritating character during the course of a day. He started
by telling it in every conceivable tense, then by doing it in free verse
and as a sonnet, as a telegram, in pig latin, as a series of exclamations,
in an indifferent voice... you name it.
The goal of this project is to apply the same principle to comics by creating as many variations as possible on a simple one-page non-story: different points of view, different genres, different formal games, and so on.
One additional variation on the project is that a group of cartoonists have been given a brief script of the one-page piece and asked to create their own version of the comic.
While the project has been floating around as an idea for years, it was
galvanized into being committed to paper by the founding in 1992 of OuBaPo,
Ouvroir de la Bande Dessinée Potentielle (Workshop for Potential
Comics), a comics-oriented offshoot of OuLiPo (Workshop for Potential
Literature), an experimental forum co-founded by Queneau himself in 1960.
Monster Squad
Official Site: www.freewebs.com/monstersquad
Monster Squad by Ed Berridge
and Paul Williams appears in every issue of British fanzine FutureQuake.
Mac
Hall Comics
Link: www.machall.com
College room mates deapan away
their existence.
Megatokyo
Link: www.megatokyo.com
Creator: Fred Gallagher
Exploring the themes of alienation
in a foreign country and the differences between American
and Japanese culture, in a 'parody manga' style
Monkey Business
Link: www.monkey-business.net
Creator: Karl Wang
Monkey Man
Link: moviepoopshoot.com/monkeyman
Creator: Brian Lynch
Night Warrior Online
Link: www.nw-comic.co.uk
Night Warrior is published by Raging Psycho Comics and Modern Life. As
the first martial arts independent comic to grace the UK, Night Warrior
plans to publish four action packed seasons of predominantly arc-based
stories. They'll also be bringing you a wealth of extra issues and short
stories in their Chronicles section.
The creators -- Phil Hobden, Ross Boyask, Alan Scott and others -- aim to expand into animation, film and eventually take their comic into print!
Night Warrior is introducing a host of fresh new talent from across the globe and their doors are always open to the best new writers and artists.
The Norm
Official: www.thenorm.com
Created by Michael Jantze, strip which The
Comic Journal rightfully describes as one of the the best drawn
strips in America. You can read the strip online if you subscribe to the
site.
Michael very kindly published samples of The Really heavy Greatcoat
in one issue of The Norm comic. (If anyone's interested I still have some
for sale).
Nothing Nice to Say
Link:
www.mitchclem.com/nothingnice
Described as the world's the world's first online punk
comic and found after coming across Paul's
House of Blog which offers, by
the way, information on how to builf a particle accelerator. I'm fairly sure
there is no connection between the two sites.
Nowhere
Girl
Link: www.nowheregirl.com
Created by Justine Shaw, Jamie
has become her own character in this gritty tale. Try
also www.ciderviewproject.com
if you like this.
Oneironaut
Link: www.oneironaut.net
Oneironaut, created by Joseph Talbot as his final project for the MA
in Electronic Media at Oxford Brookes University, is the story of a place
- the Dreamscape - and the people that inhabit it.
The Dreamscape is not a physical place, but rather a mental plane, which came into existence after the invention of the device, called Dreamscape, from which it gained its name.
Oneironaut is an experiment in online comics. The idea of the site is to present the comic narrative and supporting material as an integrated whole. The
comic itself can be interrogated by the reader to reveal different levels
of detail.
It's worth checking this site out if you're interested in putting comics strips online. The interface is well designed and has been created at a size that should work well at most screen resolutions
Opi8
Link: www.opi8.com
Dark art, comic and prose,
but because the webmaster is a creative soul he's decided
to make itv difficult to find your way around -- a shame
since there's some great stuff here.
Orneryboy
Link: www.supercrazymayhem.com/ornery
Creator: Michael Lalonde
Penny Arcade
Link: www.penny-arcade.com
A geeky look at the world
through the yes of a hardcore gamer.
Real
Men Comics
Link: http://realmen.mindlube.co.uk
Red Meat
Link: www.redmeat.com
Creator: Max Cannon
Ted Rall
Official: www.tedrall.com
US political cartoonist whose work was dropped
by the New York Times in early 2004 because
they say don't think it's funny enough. Ted
Rall claims the NY Times has caved in to
right wing complaints about his work which
have deluged the NY Times web site. You can
read more about the whole sorry state of
affairs and get an insight into just how
intolerant of freedom of speech right wing
America is on his site.
Robot Stories
Link: www.robotstories.com
Creator: Neil Gustavson
Thrilling Detectives
Link: www.thrillingdetective.com/comics
The web has kicked detective pulp fiction loose from
the confines of alleged market demands and big-time publishing, and
the same thing's happening in comics, in a very big way.
It's an exciting time, with fresh voices and new visions suddenly gaining a world-wide audience. The Thrilling Detective Web Site is proud to help kick out the jams, and present some of the best of the new breed, updated here regularly.
Treasure Hunters
Link: http://th.pensandtales.com/
Real
Life Comics
Link: www.reallifecomics.com
Updated daily by Greg Dean
- a funny take on 'geek' lifestyle...
ScaryGoRound
Link: www.scarygoround.com
Scary Go Round is a comic that Oldham-based John Allison has been making
since 2002. It started off as a comic about barmaids Tessa and Rachel,
then it became more about Shelley Winters and her bizarre escapades.
In recent times it is kind of a split between the Shelley Show and
Tackleford Grammar School. It's always evolving.
Sexy Losers
Link: Sexy Losers
Creator: Hard
Siren Six
Link: www.goonpatrol.com
Girl's action adventure web comic
The Really Heavy Greatcoat
Official: Go
Written by John Freeman and drawn
by Nick Miller, the urban tale of a sentient greatcoat trapped
in a world he never made. Appears in Comics
International and on the community website Virtual-Lancaster.net.
Sinfest
Link: www.sinfest.net
Creator: Tatsuya Ishida
Spells and Whistles
Link: Spells and Whistles
Creator: Tauhid Bondia
The Tragic Death of an Animated
Gif
Link: http://e-merl.com/bank1.htm
By
Daniel Merlin Goodbrey
TinTin
Link: www.tintin.com
Everyone's favourite Belgian
reporter has his online home here
White Ninja
Comics
Link: www.whiteninjacomics.com
Creators: Scott Bevan and Kent Earle
Who Runs the Engine
Official: Go
Created by Simon Furman, Andrew Wildman and Adam Jennings.
Superhero adventure across parallel Earths, shockwave
site. What if the industrial revolution never downscaled
and the world was at the mercy of huge machines that were
inevitably destroying it?
Yenny Comics
Official: www.yennycomics.com
Yenny wants to be a model! But her feet are as big as the Titanic.
Yenny wants to live in the city! But instead she lives in a beach house
with her mom. Yenny wants a pet! But instead she got a fast talking
iguana! Yenny wants a life.... and this is hers!!
Now you can read Yenny's daily strip through this website. If you want
to check the past strips and Ye' olde Archive, you may click on "comics" and
you can read all of them there. Yenny is now published by Modern Tales.
