A mysterious case of the Mondays?
Man, it appears to be one of those days where I’ve got way too much to talk about, and not nearly enough time to do so.
I laughed at Megatokyo today. Man, I miss that.
Sinfest is back, and has a new website! Once upon a time, I thought Sinfest was one of the most solidly updating comics out there. These days, it has its share of occasional absences, but always returns in the end. It has had some very good storylines over the last year, without losing its normal brand of humor. And now seeing the newest comic doesn’t requiring scrolling down the page ten times!
DnDorks has been getting back to its original cast of characters. This is cool and all, but I still find myself inexplicably confused by the previous arc, despite still thinking the story was awesome. However, things seem to indicate we’ll get some explanation for stuff. Maybe. I dunno. Eh, whatever. It’s a cool comic and captures the gaming experience well. That’s pretty much all I care about.
Man, my posts today seem faintly bitter, and I’m not sure why – I was actually really happy about all these comics today.
Let’s try some focusing here. On a completely upbeat note, Girly has been rocking out of late, and the upcoming storyline looks to have something to do with Policeguy, one of my favorite characters. So that’s awesome.
Anyway, time to get back to work! Tune in tomorrow, when I don’t talk about webcomics at all. Oooo, mysterious.
Ok, maybe not so much.
Learn 2 Cope
One might not think a comic almost exclusively about third-graders would have any level of sophistication.
One might, however, be wrong.
There is a tendency to dismiss young children as unintelligent. As unable to operate on the same level as adults.
Sometimes this is true. But I myself remember being young, and still being a thinking, feeling being. A different one then I am now, but a distinct one nonetheless.
I think a lot of people resonate with that. And a lot of people like having characters that can both recall the innocence of childhood while still retaining a sense of identity, awareness, and personality. I used Count Your Sheep as an example yesterday – you can’t see Katie without feeling an overwhelming onslaught of cute. But she is her own person, and for all her childish outlook, someone the reader can emphatize and agree with.
On the Playground runs along the same lines. The cast and crew are kids. And there are plenty of times when they do act like kids. But these are often in stark contrast to when Lizzie is philosophizing or the strip itself is making a point.
Now, this isn’t the first comic to tackle the concepts of growing up, or characters comic to grip with the realities of the world around them. It isn’t even the first one to do so from the perspective of youth.
But it does so, and it does so well. It makes you laugh and it makes you think, and those are the hallmarks of a good comic. It isn’t heavy on the story or the drama – it doesn’t need to be. But it lives up to that tradition of juxtaposing youth and experience. And sometimes the characters themselves don’t even realize their own irony.
It’s a good comic. It’s back online, updating Mondays and Fridays, with a sizable buffer.
That’s a good thing, in my book.
Speaking of back again…
I’ve noticed a handful of webcomics have returned from the lands beyond while I was gone.
This pleases me greatly.
These days, I find it safer to assume that a comic on hiatus will never more see the light of day. This isn’t to say I don’t check back with them time and time again – but this way, if they do resume, the return is all the sweeter.
Anyway, on to the show:
NeverNever has seen its share of troubles. It has had no less than three long breaks, each of them close to two years in length. Since its inception, it has had more time in absentia than actually updating.
But… it keeps coming back.
Given how many setbacks it has had, the fact that it returns time and time again (much like its primary villain, the Black Knight himself) is pretty damn impressive.
It’s a nice comic. I’m glad to see it back. For the most part, it isn’t anything heartbreaking or award-winning – just a classy little comic with cute characters, a fun story, and its fair share of silly jokes.
The new artist is looking like an absolutely perfect fit for the style, to be sure. So I’m all the more eager to see where it is going from here.
In any case, it’s likely this isn’t news to you – NeverNever’s return has been pretty heavily hyped, just as it has in the past. (As a matter of fact, I think one of its previous rebounds was when I first was introduced to it.)
There is another comic whose return, on the other hand, may have fallen a bit more under the radar: On the Playground.
I plan to give some more in-depth chatter on that bad boy tomorrow, but thought I should make sure to spread the word as soon as possible. This is a fantastic comic – filled with a lot of the cuteness that has made Count Your Sheep into such a star, though it tends to bring out its sharper edge more often than not. Of course, sometimes childhood wins out too.
In any case, some great comics that I’m glad to see back on the funny pages… so to speak.
Damn Good Comics 