Ahhh .. forget Spring!

Today!

Today's comic is so politically incorrect at times you're not going to want to read it around your liberal friends.  Or maybe admit reading it at all.  But go ahead ... sneak a look ... and enjoy the chuckles.  Here are some of the safer ones ...

Published daily.  Twelve years of backlog.  Click the logo for the link :)

I ran into a comic a bit ago that I wasn't really convinced I wanted to follow. Not because the story sucks or because I've become more picky, but because I really appreciate great art.  I like color work.  I appreciate a well drawn comic.  Most especially, I like them together.  There's been a slew of pretty fantastic color art presented here, so maybe I am a bit picky.

The beginning of The Endstone is in black and white, albeit well done line work.  With this in its corner, I have decided to be patient until I get to the later color work.

The story is of the sundering of the great Endstone and Banestone .. stones never meant to be used together, lest the world befall disastrous consequences.  Kyri Thunderhead is the wielder of the Endstone .. or in the parlance of this comic ..  the rocker of the Endstone, which disrupts energy.

Her husband, Jon Montaine, is the rocker of the Banestone whose powers have caused him to be quite insane, believing the only way to set the world back on its correct path is to destroy it.

Jon used both stones at The Eternity Spire and it threw both of them into a stasis for 15 years .. long enough for their daughter to inherit the Banestone and become as batshit crazy as Jon.  The stasis has been released .. Kyri and Jon are back .. still intent on their own missions.

And thus begins The Endstone. Written and drawn by Anthony Theisen, it updates on Mondays and Thursdays. Although the earlier issues were a bit shorter, the subsequent ones have run about 40 pages in length. We're currently on Issue Eight.

Back in our mini comic days we always intended to do a spoof of the Indiana Jones films where our characters Alex and Walter would run into an Indy-esque type character. There was a long period of time where Indiana Jones, as well as our own work, slipped out of the public consciousness. We were fortunate that a new Indy film came about shortly before we began seriously talking about reviving Dressed For Success as a webcomic. Now we could throw our characters into an Indiana Jones style adventure and it would have some sort of relevance. Lucky us!
- Jeff

Hey, if you're going to rip off something .. Indiana Jones is a good place to look for inspiration.  Add in a couple of unlikely heroes ... and you have the latest Dressed For Success outing.

We meet our heroes ...

... and the people the story is really about ...

.. and the plot thickens.

Pure fun .. 138 pages and counting .. published on Wednesdays.

/

Tales of loathsome tyrants and prophesied saviors aren't nearly so appealing when you are a royal bastard with a prophecy hanging over your head.

Evonalé Yunan has never cared for tales of the aforementioned loathsome tyrants and prophesied saviors since it has been foretold that she will somehow free her grandmother's enslaved queendom. Yet she's merely a child, and her father is the powerful fire mage who subjugated the realm.

Evonalé has fled home, her two half-siblings, and her father.  Unfortunately, it's the middle of winter. Fortunately, following her mother's directions puts her in another king's hunting grounds. 

To Evonalé's bewilderment, that king picks her up and gives her a place in his palace. The prince seeks her out to tease and befriend. Then one of Cook's daughters starts teaching her magic, and a scullery maid proves herself immune to poison - making Evonalé realize that she isn't the only one with secrets.

~~~ the author ~~~

Misti Wolankski says of herself .. "I've written speculative fiction as my primary hobby since I was a high school freshman, and now I've finally figured out that novel-writing thing. Reading web fiction online helped tremendously as an office administrator when I needed to de-stress on my 15-minute break. Ergo, I pay it forward and offer web fiction for the next poor office soul who needs to de-stress.

~~~ the online story ~~~

I'm not one for sitting in front of my computer reading a book when I could be gaming and catching up with my friends.  Yet .. this one is remarkably easy to read.  Short chapters and a first-person tale draw you smoothly into the story, which while familiar in basic plot, shows promise of an author who is not confined by rote.   Its not done in a comic format, its honest to goodness writing.  Misti isn't an accomplished writer, from what I can tell; there are grammatical errors and sometimes awkward situations to move the plot along.  What does come across is a sort of pure innocence and belief in the power of the words to tell a story larger than her world, and here she succeeds.  I think it will be wonderful to follow along and watch this writer develop.  

A Fistful of Fire has 79 chapters as of this writing, with more books to come.  Enjoy!

This week, we're taking a look at an adorable clay monster.  A clay monster who goes on bad dates, works in a bakery and lives with his mom.  Yea, he's got our sympathy already.

One of the things that makes Marlowe interesting is that he's rendered in clay.  The artist/sculptor Shin Yin Khor says of herself "I'm a Los Angeles area sculptor, scenic painter, prop builder and monster maker. My day job is more boring than all of the above.  I am inspired by monsters, tentacles, mediocre science fiction movies, bikes, Dungeons and Dragons, and really adorable cats."  Her blog is Sawdust Bear and you can see her Deviantart at Oddhatter.  Check them out .. you can see she's getting ready for San Diego Comic Con.  

But .. back to Marlowe.  He's a loser and he's huggable.  He'll make you remember the awful dates you've had, the weird relationship with your mom at times in your life .. yea, he'll remind you a bit of someone you know ... if not yourself.

Marlowe the Monster isn't always funny, but it is interesting to drop by and see what Marlowe is up to each week.  And to see the inspired and detailed work of Shin Yin Khor.

marlowe the monster

Drawing stickmen allows you a great deal of creative leeway that you couldn't get away with in a normal comic .. toilet humor, for example.   To wit ..

Or ... fun with children, movie memes and William Shatner all in one go ...

The comic isn't overly complicated, needs no explanations and has some damned funny blog commentary to go along with the cartoons.  Dale Mettan and Courtney Huddlestone are also responsible for Luci Phurr's Imps and Cemetary Street. Published every weekday. Enjoy!

And here's the masthead link:

I ran across a webcomic today that blew my mind, in weird and wonderful ways.  If you had to distill the essence of this comic down to one word, it would be WTF??!!?

The artist's work is mind-blowing and this first panel is from his website.

The webcomic itself needs some explanation and I .. well ... I'm not really sure what's going on.  Here's what Vitaly has to say about it:

A classically trained artist who moved from Russia to Toronto, he has discovered how photoshop can help his paintings and photography break down conventional archetypes.  I urge you to visit his site and check his photography pages.  He brings post-apocalyptic imagery to you with care, attention and love.

Okay, okay, you get it.  He's good.  But he also has a wacky sense of humour.  This is a panel from a series called "81 Shoes."

  

And since this next series sported one of our favorite Scum memes ... I thought I'd post it too.

He has a blog on his site as well, so you can follow along, kinda, with the Captain and his musings.  I haven't figured out whether the author is writing in character or not.

Usually, this article is about comics I recommend you read.  After reading a great number of episodes and doing the extra bit of research that lazy Scum do .. I'm still shaking my head and wondering what's going on.  For sure I'll be watching to see where the crazy train is going.  If you'd like to catch the express, click the logo link below.

Trippy.  A reference to hippy drug culture seems most appropriate when discussing this web comic and the places it will take you and the people you will visit.

Our protagonist, Garland, is a bona fide guitar god, a master of fretwork, a man on top of creativity, living the rock star life all of us dream of when we pick up a guitar and sing our first wobbly song.  More importantly, he is 27.  

Those who follow music like its more than a passing song on the car radio, you may know that 27 is a year that fate seems to call the brilliant .. Hendrix, Joplin, Cobain.  And perhaps now, Garland.

For those who follow mathematics like numbers open worlds of infinite possibilities, 27 is also .. well, here it is in their words ...

The panels above get you a bit ahead of the story .. let me bring you up to speed.  Garland's left hand .. his fretwork hand seizes up and he can no longer play.  He goes to see doctors all over the world and eventually ends up in the lab of a kooky magician who promises him a cure.  And in order to further the story ... something goes wrong.   Garland ends up with an electronic panel on his chest that allows him creative genius when he pushes that button .. except, as you can see above .. he's just found out the ability is finite .. he can only use it 27 times before he dies.  And the muse, Number 9, is a living entity who controls the lives of the brilliant.

The writer is Charles Soule, whose blog "Land of 10,000 Things: can be found here.  Artist Renzo Podesta's blog is here.

27 is published every weekday and there is about an hour's worth of reading in order to catch up.

I think I've mentioned before that I am a sucker for a swashbuckler, especially when given a backdrop of stars.  Meet Sabre, a heroine with shady business practises, a fast sword and a ship of her own ...

... the Pegasus.

Now meet Drake, a straight-laced lawman with a mission, a fast gun, and something that Sabre needs ...

... a key to open a case that she has "appropriated." 

Our two protagonists meet up ...

and the rest I'll let you discover for yourself as wild west meets deep space.

The art is generally well done, despite the artist's penchant for drawing water underneath the Pegasus .. let's call it a quirk that we can live with.  The story seems well paced.  It publishes Mondays and Thursdays, but is on a bit of break until the beginning of July while they get their next chapter ready for publication. They seem interested in keeping their readers interested, however, and have ongoing postings on their blog component.  In the meantime, catch up on their backlog .. which is not that long.   I've bookmarked this for my reading.