Webcomic Wednesday: Ratfist

Ratfist is a webcomic by Doug TenNapel. You can see the titular character to the left as he is a sort of amalgam of Batman and Earth Worm Jim. EWJ is another character created by TenNapel.

The strip is at times silly and poignant but always worth a read. The whole story is collected so if you start at the link above you can read the whole thing and get a beginning, middle and end.

Web Comics Wednesday: Our Valued Customers

Well this isn't exactly news to anyone following comic blogs lately but I had to add my vote for Our Valued Customers as a great new web comic. Basically it is a one panel gag strip about real things over heard at a comic book shop. It is always funny and often profane so it is not exactly safe for work or kids.

Web Comic Wednesday: Ants

Ants is a web comic from the talented and super fly Julian Lytle. I really have a hard time describing the strip as it is very high concept but at the same time it is ground in street level humour and pop culture references.

I think the best way to get a feeling on the strip is to talk to Julian. Ideas pop off him like Kirby dots and you can tell upon meeting him that he is going to be a star in the business. Heavy Metal agrees as he's recently been featured in their magazine.

A must listen is the CGS Super Show Web Comics panel. Julian owned the panel keeping the audience and panel members in stitches.

Check out a new episode of Ants every Wednesday at Ants.

Web Comic Wednesday: Let's Be Friends Again

Let's Be Friends Again is a bi-weekly web comic from creators Curt Franklin and Chris Haley. They combine topical humour with comic book knowledge in a hilarious way. This leads to juxtapositions like this encounter between Sarah Palin and Captain America.

Go check them out, buy their book and if you like the strips then contact Chris Haley as he is selling the original art from the series.

Both Chris and Curt appeared on an episode of one of my favourite podcasts, War Rocket Ajax. Please don't listen to it. Nothing good can come out of it.

Web Comic Wednesday: Gronk

Katie Cook has just started her own webcomic. It is called Gronk: A Monster's Story and it kicked off last Friday. Expect new strips every Friday or Saturday. Go check it out!

Katie is a very talented artist who's work recently appeared in Fraggle Rock #1 from Archaia. I've had the pleasure of meeting Katie and her husband Ryan on a couple of occasions and they are great people. At the last CGS Super Show Katie sketched Red from Fraggle Rock for me.

Web Comic Wednesday:Misery Loves Sherman

Misery Loves Sherman is a webcomic by Eisner award nominated Chris Eliopoulos. In it we follow the titular character Sherman as he makes his way through life. Which for poor Sherman is pretty tough as he is constantly being picked on by schoolmates, teachers, his parents and worst of all his little sister Fran.

The art reminds me a lot of Charles Schulz's Peanuts and when I think more on it the writing does as well. All of the characters in the strip seem to have a defining characteristic that separates them on the emotional scale.

Sherman = Misery
Zort = Ambition
Benny = Happiness
Fran = Agression
Dad = Disappointment
Mom = Love (if maybe a bit conditional at times)
Mort = Death

When I started thinking about the characters in their emotional roles the strip really took off for me. Which is not to say their isn't topical humour as evident by the strips on curling over the Olympics which are favourites of mine.

I recently had the chance to meet Mr. Eliopoulos at the Comic Geek Speak Super Show 2010. I took Anna to meet him as he also writes Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers which is a favourite comic of both of ours. He was really great to both of us.

I also purchased the first collection of the webcomic from Chris. The book contains the entire first year of strips and it reads really great in a collection.

The webcomic is still going strong and just recently reached it's 600th strip. As an added bonus this weeks storyline deals with coffee addiction which is a topic near and dear to my heart.

Web Comic Wednesday: Athena Voltaire

Who is Athena Voltaire? Well the best way I can think to describe her is What if Indiana Jones was a hot stunt pilot? or you may prefer to go with the fictional aviatrix created by Steve Bryant and Paul Daly.

Regardless of how you want to describe her you can check out her World War II era adventures online. On this site you can read the first two adventures, The Terror in Tibet and The Wrath from the Tomb. These early adventures garnered an Eisner nomination (comics Oscar awards) for best webcomic.

The webcomic was followed up by a limited series The Flight of the Falcon. I was able to pick up a collection of both the webcomics and Flight of the Falcon at CGS Super Show back in 2008. I really fell in love with the character and I was hoping to see more Nazi fighting action.

Sadly it's been awhile since we've seen an new Athena Voltaire book but take heart it looks more possible than ever before. The artist, Steve Bryant, now has full creative control over the book. He's decided to raise some money in order to be able to produce the book himself. Steve needs to collect $7,000 to pull this off and currently he's just north of $6,000.

So go check out the webcomic and if you like it kick in a few bucks via the kick starter program so we can all enjoy more Athena Voltaire.