you care about everyone

I added this to the posting meme mostly because I am selfish and I want more people to talk about what I'm coming to realize is one of my most favorite categories of fannishness - web comics. This, like so many things in my life, can be blamed entirely on omphale, because I had read some of the major web comics (And, like, we all know about A Softer World and PhD Comics if we're interested in that sort of thing, right?) but I hadn't really explored anything beyond the big name ones until she started flailing to me about this reality TV show called Strip Search. And let me tell you, this show is pretty much the most delightful reality TV show ON THE PLANET for someone like me. Instead of the competitors being mean to each other, they worked together and became friends and it is pretty much a show of 10 full weeks of geeky introverts forming an artist commune with occasional weirdness. And so after I lost an entire weekend of my life to that show (which you can watch at the link above!) I read all of the comics by the people on Strip Search. And then I read all of the comics that THEY linked to, and all of the comics that THOSE people linked to. At which point I had created a bit of a web comic vortex of glee and joy that I pretty much haven't come up from. And since that was back in June, I've got a sneaking suspicion this enthusiasm of mine is here to stay. :D

Plot Oriented:

Shades of A, which I have recced before, and am reccing again, because I JUST LOVE IT THAT MUCH. Two guys (a white kinky crossdresser who is mostly attracted to women and an Indian ace guy who hasn't really dated much) trying to figure out how to have a relationship when the other isn't even remotely what he would have considered to be his kind of person at ALL. It started out as an attempt to make the general plot points of 50 Shades of Gray into something that wasn't rapey, and it has morphed into a delightfully messy story about how sometimes what you really want out of a relationship can be found in the strangest places, even if it isn't easy to get there. Also, this is the PERFECT antidote if, like me, you are just entirely burnt out on stories that draw most of their tension from the main characters just not talking to each other. (Updates twice a week with decent consistency, and the author is usually pretty good about announcing in advance when he is going to have to skip an update or two.)

The Last Halloween. SO DELIGHTFULLY SCREWBALL, OMFG. A young girl is left home alone on Halloween when her town is taken over by monsters and now she has to try and find a way to survive. It is full of such black humor and visual jokes that the part of me that wanted to be a goth has never been more delighted by ANYTHING. It is pretty new, so there aren't a lot of characters yet, but Mona is so freaking charming, I don't even know if I care if the newer characters don't grow on me in the same way. (Updated every Wednesday, pretty much without fail. Her other comic Junior Scientist Power Hour is more hit or miss for me on my love for it, but it also updates once a week with great consistency. When I like them, I really LOVE them, but there are more than a few that I blink at and move on. So while I'm not reccing it entirely on its own merits, there is TOTALLY some awesome stuff worth checking out in it and if you want more of Abby's style while waiting for TLH updates, this is a really fun thing to check out. :D)

My So-Called Secret Identity Original superhero comics featuring ladies FTW! I don't quite know that I'd call this quite as revolutionary as some of the text on the site seems to think it is (although I will grant that the fact that the creative team is almost entirely women is pretty damned awesome) but a college aged lady fighting crime by using her brain! In a non-sexualized uniform! That is basically set in a Batman pastiche world without giving Batman nearly as much power as he has in the DCU! THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS I LOVE ABOUT THIS COMIC. (Publishes in 22 page updates like traditional print comics, although it usually only comes out once every 2-3 months instead of monthly because this is a donation run operation.)

Girls with Slingshots is my current main jam, mostly because it is the only one of the plot oriented comics that I'm currently following to have a 5 time a week publishing schedule. It has been running for a really LONG time, so if you're going to start at the beginning, I'd wait until you can set aside at least a week, because it will EAT YOUR ENTIRE LIFE. You'll start out going "Oh, ok, so it's sort of sweet and kind of funny, but I'm not sure why Set likes this so much" and then you'll come out on the other end with feelings about every single character and needing ALL OF THE UPDATES EVER, HOLY CRAP. (I have maybe watched both of my sisters go through this. Sorry not sorry?)

Chester 5000 XYV which. Um. So it starts out as a plotty porn comic that tells the tale of the epic love between a Victorian lady and her sexbot, but OH MY GOD I HAVE SO MANY FEELS ABOUT THE CHARACTERS. If anyone ever tries to tell you that porn can't be used to advance characterization, just shove this in their faces, OK? The art is LOVELY (and the artist never uses any words, which actually took me a really long time to notice, because she does such a good job with facial expression she doesn't need any words and it is DAMNED impressive) and the characters are SUPER fascinating and I just can't wait to see where the story goes next! Also, the porn is really hot, fyi. (The author was pretty good about a once a week updating schedule, but she seems to have gotten off of it recently. Still updates at least twice a month though.)

Ava's Demon is SO PRETTY, HOLY CRAP. I mean, the story line is also super interesting, because the space adventures of a young girl who is saddled with the disembodied spirt of an evil dictator is never NOT going to be the best thing since sliced bread, but the art is just SO quality that it is the first thing I think of when I think of this comic. There are some parts of this comic where I feel like it might have been better as animated series than a web comic, because the pace of it is weirdly meandering, but mostly it is so pretty I don't even care. (Updates on some schedule known only to the creator, although zie usually updates in pretty good sized chunks, so it is really easy to pick back up again. Like, it says Thursdays, but the author took a pretty long time off to finish the books for the kickstarter with only some really sporadic updates during that time, and it hasn't been quite long enough since the creator started posting on a regular schedule for me to really believe that it's going to stick this time.)

Slice of Life:

Steve Rogers' American Captain is a DELIGHTFUL fancomic that is basically What If Steve Kept a Diary Comic. There are absolutely some aspects of this comic that don't gel with how I see Steve, but mostly it is so spot-on that I just don't care about the head-scratchy bits. It tackles PTSD, and depression, and Steve's messy transition to the 21st century and I generally do a little dance every time it updates. SO GOOD. (The creator doesn't keep to any kind of an updating schedule at all. I check my feed reader pretty often, so for me just sticking it in my feed reader and forgetting about it works to my advantage, because each update is so self-contained that I don't feel frustrated by following it in the way I do with WiPs. ymmv on this.)

Rooster Tails, which is basically a journal comic of a trans man living in New Zealand, but it is JUST SO FREAKING SMART. I want to meet this dude and talk about gender theory with him all day long. *______* (Updates about once a week, and the creator sticks to that pretty well, although he's not consistent about the day of the week.)

Oh Joy, Sex Toy, which I am just going to link to my previous rec so that I have all of my favorites in one easy-to-point-to-place. SERIOUSLY THE LIGHT OF MY TUESDAYS. ♥

Kate or Die, which you might have heard about when her comic about bisexuality went viral around fandom earlier this year. But just in case you haven't, check this out for some really great stuff about sexuality, women in the comics industry, and life in your 20s. The creator also has a FANTASTIC on-going series about comics culture and fandom over at Comics Alliance, which I highly encourage anyone even peripherally into those things to check out, because it is really quality.

Things which are either abandoned or finished, but with archives that are TOTALLY worth reading:

Cardigan Weather, which is finished, and doesn't have the most extensive archive, but what is there is smart and heart-warming and just makes me happy in general that it exists in the world. I backed the creator's kickstarter for her next comic, and I can't wait until it starts publishing, because I am just SUPER excited to see what Amy does next, because I bet it is going to be FANTASTIC.

Yoga Pants Girl which seems to be abandoned, but is still full of super great comics about disability and ablism and coping with life.

Try It, You'll Like It, which seems to be abandoned, which is SUPER sad to me, because the couple writing it just seemed to be having so much fun with their kinky sex life.

DAR because I think I pretty much just want to rec everything that Erica Moen has ever done? I mean, this is a SUPER GREAT diary comic that ate an entire weekend of my life, but I basically put this rec here to tell you go and check out EVERYTHING ON THAT SITE. You can thank me later. ;-)

Khaos Komix, which, despite the stupid name, is actually QUITE delightful! I'm putting it in the finished category because while the author is currently writing some short sequel comics, this main arc is finished and stands alone. If you've ever wanted a comic about a friends group of queer high school students figuring out their identities and navigating first relationships and trying to carve out a place in the world to belong in, BOY DO I HAVE THE COMIC FOR YOU. The art isn't quite as good as it is in Shades of A, because this was the creator's first on-going comic, but it is still really good and I personally love watching artists come into their own over time. And this is just SUCH a good story. I laughed, I cried, and sometimes I had to put the laptop down and go do something else because it just cut a little too close to home.