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Online reading: Comics, part I

There are several on-line comics that I follow almost religiously. They appeal to me for different reasons, but mostly I like ones that are humorous or ones that tell a compelling story, even if the artwork is crap. I am still catching up with the back issues of some, others are already finished, and some I am current on. Some are episodic, some are single stories, and others can be enjoyed at random. I am posting links here to the ones I enjoy the most.


I'm splitting this up in two posts, one about the ongoing stories that need to be read from the start and where a whole page is posted at a time, and the other about comics where each strip or image is either a standalone or you can easily get into the story without reading it from the start.


In no particular order:


Scary Go Round's Bad Machinery. About a group of English school kids having spooky adventures. Shares a background and some characters with Scary Go Round (link to first strip) which has run its course (and with which I am still catching up). Updated Mondays to Thursdays.

Gunnerkrigg Court. Fantasy/sci-fi strip about children and teachers at a mysterious boarding school and spirits and creatures in the forest outside the school. Since it is an ongoing single story it really needs to be read from the beginning to understand what is going on. Updated on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

FreakAngels. A steampunk comic that speculates about what could have happened if the children from John Wyndham's novel, The Midwich Cuccoos, had survived and grown up. Needs to be read from the beginning. Seems to be drawing to a close. Updated on Fridays.

Darwin Carmichael is going to Hell. Fantasy comic about a man with very bad karma. Goes through fairly short story arcs, but better to have read from the start. Updates Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The following have run their course but are still online:

The Phoenix Requiem by Sarah Ellerton. Dark fantasy set in a vaguely Victorian setting. 

Sarah Ellerton, the author of The Phoenix Requiem has two other comic books/graphic novels on-line that are also finished: Dreamless, which I haven't read yet, and Inverloch, a fantasy which I enjoyed very much.


Dear Reader: Do you have favourite free online comics you would like to recommend to me and my other Readers? Then please leave a link in the comments. (Spam and links to pay-for-access sites will be deleted).

Comments

Unknown said…
I haven't got any new ones to add but I'll certainly be checking out a few that you've got on your list!
Bibliophile said…
Then the post has served its purpose.

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