"They Got Comics On That Internet Now?" "Ohhh yeah."

Pictures for Sad Children

A relatively new discovery for me, PFSC lured me in with its minimal art and ridiculously dry humor (more or less a surefire method for success in my book). There’s a bit of continuity, so it may behoove you to start at the beginning of the (relatively short) archives, but every strip has a decent gag.

Cat and Girl

What started out almost a decade ago as an intentionally oblique, (relatively) crudely drawn experiment has grown into one of the most legitimately insightful comics I’ve ever read, across any medium. Donation Derby , a comic detailing what the C&G creator spends fan donation money on, sort of doubles as a journal comic and is also well worth a read.

XKCD

Created by Boston (well, Somerville) local Randall Munroe, XKCD has become practically an overnight sensation in the worlds to which the majority of his jokes are targeted. If you’re not a computer programmer or engineer, you might not get the full effect, but there’s also a fair amount of social humor that even people who don’t know what “grep” means can probably understand.

Achewood

Achewood’s my favorite webcomic. Bar none. I know a lot of people who agree. Time magazine agrees. I’ll let them do the talking: A bunch of cats, some robots, a bear and an otter who’s 5 years old, live together in a fictional neighborhood called Achewood, which you might usefully think of as a grown-up, suburban, stoned version of Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood.

Genius, genius, genius. Continuity abounds, so start at the beginning and wait for the strip to hit its stride.

A Lesson Is Learned, But the Damage Is Irreversible

If ALIL was still running, it would likely rival Achewood for title of my favorite webcomic ever. The art is unparalleled, and the humor is usually really intelligent, but always wide enough in scope that it’s got something for everybody. I would send these guys ice cream sundaes in the mail once a week if they wouldn’t melt in transit.

Kate Beaton

The shady newcomer on the scene, Kate Beaton was introduced to a wider audience by her fellow Canadians that run Dino Comics and A Softer World. In spite of her difficult-to-navigate websites, she’s hilarious and makes jokes about Thaddeus Kosciusko. Hooray, Poland!

Perfect Stars

Perfect Stars revolves around gorgeous art, absurdist jokes that often revolve around drugs and/or sex and/or references to Oscar Wilde. It’s tough to make a greater case for it than that. If you’re going to click, you probably did already.

Animals Have Problems Too

There’s a reason AHPT is one of two sadly defunct strips I’ve included in this guide. It’s one of the most surprisingly evocative single-panel comic strips I’ve ever come across. Also it is hilarious. Allegedly the strip’s author quit to pursue more formal writing. He is probably famous now and I do not even realize it.

Dinosaur Comics

Certainly an all-time classic and one of very few self-sufficient webcomics, Dinosaur Comics is pretty much a must-read. The same art every day modulates itself into jokes about kisses, linguistic descriptivism, time travel and everything in between.

A Softer World

ASW is a prime example of what’s known as a “photocomic,” which is probably completely self-explanatory. Emily Horne takes pictures, Joey Comeau writes wry, funny, sad captions over them. Partially because of its simplicity, it’s a whole lot better than I’m making it sound.

Penny Arcade

PA is, without a doubt, the ur-webcomic. Targeted almost exclusively towards the videogame demographic, it’s certainly not for everyone. However, as the proprietors of an enormous annual convention that’s gradually becoming a legitimate industry force and creators of Child’s Play , a charity that regularly donates enormous amounts of videogame-related toys to children’s hospitals around the country, I’d be remiss in not mentioning the PA guys in a guide like this.

Toothpaste for Dinner

Toothpaste for Dinner is another daily one-panel that’s not as evocative or whatever as Animals Have Problems Too, but it’s consistently hilarious so who cares.

Digital Strips

I wrote an article where I interviewed three of the artists mentioned in this guide and one other guy. Read it! It’s good. I’m a jerk for doing this.