Webcomics

I've listed a few webcomics in the links section to the left.

I can't really describe the relationship I have with comics. Ever since I was a kid, the funnies section is the first I hit. I'm a "grown up" now with a job, a family, bills, etc., and I still open to the comics first.

My father always got a kick out of how much I enjoyed them, and in fact, my father is a big reason why they mean so much to me. Sunday mornings have always been family day in the Bates house. You could chalk it up to the "Blue Law" of Texas that assured all automotive dealers were to be closed on Sundays, but my father has still kept family day the same even after retiring from the car business. Sunday is when we get to eat Dad's pancakes, maybe watch some football, and generally hang around the house.

The Sunday Houston Chronicle was part of this day, and the funnies section was always waiting for me. Usually this was after my old man had read it, and it became a regular morning event when he would just smile and shake his head at me over his business or sports section; watching me as I was busting a gut over Garfield. He was always interested in what I thought of certain strips, and we would talk about them afterward.

Mind you, this was all just something we did out of routine. We both had favorites and they weren't always the same. For instance, I always liked Hagar the Horrible, and he pretty much just skipped that for what we both considered to be comic genius, Calvin & Hobbes.

We also share the same belief that the funnies in the papers, aren't funny anymore. Now there are still a number of quality comics out there but you're wading through so much cynical garbage just to find yourself suddenly feeling so emotionally neutral that something genuinely funny only elicits a chuckle.

Below is a great comic from Scott Kurtz, at PvP. I think it really illustrates how a lot of us webcomic fans feel about the funny pages in general. When you consider that there are hundreds of really great strips that will never see the inside of your daily paper, the online community is really the only place to turn to. People like Kurtz, and Iliad from User Friendly actually maintain a reasonable living with this and by doing so, have helped to establish a future for really funny funnies.

Player vs. Player