Awash In A Sea Of Digital Ink: A Deadshirt Webcomics Field Guide

Online, there’s an endless audience available for indie comics creators, so long as you have something different and exciting to give to them. Luckily, the internet makes these comics easy to find. Webcomics come in all styles, in all topics, and there are constantly new ones waiting to be read. Webcomics can be long-form adventure stories or short autobiographical comic strips. They can be entirely digital creations or they can be created with physical watercolors and brushes; they can even be both. Every genre, every style, every corner of nerdom is covered.

The variety of webcomics is staggering. There is plenty of room online for comics that are nontraditional, that stray from a consistent narrative, that otherwise wouldn’t find a home in print. In that spirit, here are three webcomics that I find stand out in this deluge of digital ink.

Twitter: The Comic
http://twitterthecomic.tumblr.com/

Twitter: The Comic is exactly what it sounds like. Every comic strip illustrates a different tweet, and each tweet exemplifies a humor that’s unique to twitter. These are brief jokes that are fast paced and often rely on absurdity and abnormal situations. Sometimes the jokes are satirical or mock a pop culture fad, but sometimes they’re just fun for fun’s sake.

Source: Twitter: Comics

Twitter: The Comic

Even though the writer of each comic changes, there are characters that pop up again and again. Weirdly, these characters develop personalities and start to fit each scenario they’re used in. There’s the embarrassing dad, the unlucky teen, the clueless cop, etc.

Embarrassing Dad might be my favorite. Source: Twitter The Comic

Embarrassing Dad might be my favorite.

It’s an unique aspect of this comic strip, as is the dedication to preserving the spelling and grammar of the original tweet. Misspell Harry Potter? Use it. Prefer “U” over “you”? Yeah, that’s good. Is the tweet in all caps? Then the comic strip will be, too. It’s just another aspect that sets this webcomic apart from everything else out there.

Source: Twitter: The Comic

One time I went to Applebee’s and ordered a salad and there was a fly in it. This strip speaks to me.

For me, half the fun is comparing the original tweet to the comics adaptation. Hosted on Tumblr, a social networking site that can be awful for crediting creators, Twitter: The Comic consistently gives credit to the original tweet, and the artist who brings that tweet to life. Want to follow some funny people on twitter? Give the writers and artists of Twitter: The Comic a shot.

Comiques
http://comiques.tumblr.com/

Whenever I’m reading Anne Emond’s delightfully cynical adventures, I feel like I ought to be drinking strong, black coffee in a cafe somewhere in France. There’s just something classic about Comiques, and maybe it also has something to do with how these characters always seem to have a cigarette on hand.

Source: Comiques

Très chic.

Illustrated in black and white, with an occasional punch of color, Comiques is a strip that has constantly shifting content. Comiques dwells on philosophical topics, on reading Dante in the subway, on existential dread, but it also illustrates ideas that are more mundane. What is the pizza delivery boy’s story? Wouldn’t it be great if we could just throw our negative thoughts into a garbage can on the corner of our street? And if you had a ghost haunting you, wouldn’t you both just like to sit down, share some popcorn, and watch a movie together?

Source: Comiques

I think we’ve all felt like this before.

Emond lends Comiques an illustrative eye that doesn’t turn away from the bigger questions, but also doesn’t ignore the weird little situations we all find ourselves in daily. I say illustrative, because this webcomic often has no dialog and sometimes does away with panels entirely, instead focusing on storytelling through composition, details, and a surgical strike of color.

Source: Comiques

Comiques

It’s a unique approach, and one that really pays off in both style and content. If you want more of Anne Emond’s work, visit her art blog here.

Deep Dark Fears
http://deep-dark-fears.tumblr.com/

Deep Dark Fears is, again, exactly what it sounds like: a collection of deep, dark fears, illustrated. Half submissions, half fears manifested in the creator, Fran Krause, this webcomic elegantly depicts events we’re all secretly afraid of happening. The submission element is the most intriguing to me. I’ll read a strip and have the realization that a complete stranger has the same irrational fear as I do. It’s a weird moment, and one that repeats over and over as I go through the archive for Deep Dark Fears.

Source: Deep Dark Fear

This is why I don’t go ice skating.

Each strip is drawn with a simple artistic style that has great movement to it, and though the fears are often gruesome or deal with death and with bodily injury, the overall tone of the webcomic is light. You might flinch at these fears, but you’ll think they’re cute, too.

Source: Deep Dark Fears

Adorable! 

Deep Dark Fears occasionally shakes things up by publishing happy thoughts, rightfully called deep dark cheers. Again, these are exactly what they sound like and are endearing, happy little moments that thoroughly warm the soul of whomever reads them, while maintaining the playful and thoughtful tone of the entire series.

Not a deep dark cheer, but still a nice idea. Source: Deep Dark Fear

Not technically a deep dark cheer, but still a sweet moment.

These comics are three truly unique webcomics, but there are countless others out there and I’d love to hear about your favorites! Tweet us @DeadshirtDotNet with your webcomic suggestions or leave them on our Facebook page here, or in the comments down below.

Post By Christina Harrington (23 Posts)

Deadshirt Assistant Editor. Writer. MFA. Find her fiction in Crack the Spine and Eunoia Review.

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