Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

Darths and Droids uses a bonus strip to show us the miracle that is real roleplaying...

Padmé: I attempt an Overbear Medium-sized Biped (Winged). 9.
Pete: No good. It makes a Grasping Fend. It has you by the shoulder.
Padmé: I try an Elbow Swipe, while going for a Leg Hook to pull him off balance. 13.
Pete: It counters with a Wing Sweep and One-Legged Clinch.
Padmé: I use the Seize and Vice-grip manoeuvre. 16.
Pete: You have it by the ... upper arms, but need to make a Retention roll against Squirming with a -2 for Slimy Skin

In excruciating detail.

And possibly the longest web comic ever.

Po was right.

Today is the end of an era, as John Allison wraps up the wonderful Scary Go Round. Nothing lasts for ever, as Allison says in his blog.

There's been plenty written on the blog this year about why it was time to finish - but mostly it boils down to the fact that I don't feel that anything should run forever. Webcomics grew out of people who wanted to draw newspaper comic strips, and with that seems to come the notion that we should whittle away at life-long works. But unless you're whittling - and I choose my words carefully here - some kind of "magic tree", eventually you will end up with nothing left.

It's a path he's taken earlier too, his first web comic Bobbins ended and out of those ashes came Scary Go Round.

Allison's take on surreal northern life isn't gone for ever - something new will be taking its place in a few weeks.



I'll be looking to forward to what comes next.

I've recently come across Thumpculture, a web comic that bills itself as "a martial arts rom-com slice of life soap opera".



It reminds me a lot of the classic days of 2000AD (which of course were the mid 1980s, back when I was reading it regularly). The story's strong, with good female lead characters and a video game sensibility. The art's good too, with that Brett Ewins' tinge, and has some really nice watercolour backdrops - especially the two page spread when the paramedic Catriona walks into a whole new world.

And hey, it's got Sumo crabs. What's not to like?

The first two parts of Scott McCloud's micropayment experiment are now available for all to see.

"The Right Number" is a Flash-based comic that uses an intriguing panel zoom approach to tell a story of "math, sex, obsession and phone numbers". Part three will follow at some point in the future.

Here's the rather wonderful Dr McNinja.

Ninjas, pirates, raptors, banditos, Ronald McDonald, and a gorilla called Judy. Oh yes... Just remember: What Would Batman Do?

And the Jon Allison guest comic is rather fun...

One of my favourite webcomics, the subscriber-funded The Norm now has a public face on GoComics - albeit in pre-marriage-to-Reine reruns.

Go read it. Now.

This has been a public service announcement.

(Though you really should subscribe to read the on-going long form piece Knocked Out Loaded. Oh, and buy the rather beautiful colour Sundays collection. Best Sundays since Bloom County breathed its last...)

One of my favourite web comics, Christopher Baldwin's Little Dee, drops a rather nice little Tove Jansson reference...

( clicky for strippy )

...yes, it's time to start checking Chopping Block regularly again.

Our friendly local psychopath Butch R. Mann is (almost) back.

See today's Two Lumps for additional details.

It is to laugh, it is...

Paging fluffcthulhu. Ïa Ïa Cthulhu Ftagn'

Web Comics Examiner has put out the first part of its Artistic History Of Webcomics.

It's a cracking read, and well worth the time - there's plenty to argue with in its round table approach to criticism, but the overall result is an interesting look at some of the more influential web comics around. The participants are literate, and familiar with the medium as a whole, so are prepared to compare the web with print - and to show where things go right, and where they go wrong.

And if you're not reading web comics, it's a good primer, with pointers to many of my regular reads.