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Webcomics: turn, turn, turn

Evolution is impossible unless things die. Sadly, however, my webcomics seem to be doing a lot of evolving lately…

Happily, Pinch of the Glass is not ending. Andy has just finished Volume 1, however, and is on to Volume 2. If you haven't read Pinch yet, this would be a good time to go catch up. Pinch may be my favorite webcomic; good solid writing with a nice sense of ironic humor, and absolutely spectacular art in a unique style.

Unhappily, A Miracle of Science is completing its run, and the creators have announced that their next comic will be something different. While I'm sure it will be wonderful, I'll miss the interesting setting, characters, and plot of MoS.

In a strange situation, Antihero for Hire has been on hold for quite a while now while its creator closes out his other comic, Adventurers. I never really read Adventurers, but I miss Antihero. I hope it will return soon.

The saddest one of the bunch is Falcon Twin [PG: adult situations, mild nudity]. I enjoy this comic quite a bit; the best thing about it has been watching the writing and art change and improve over its run. The sad part is that the creator seems to be clinically depressed, at least judging by his postings on the site. He is claiming to have gotten nothing, including joy, out of the comic. The way he's talking, he may well stop publishing altogether. That would be a loss for me and for the whole community.


I hope all this ending isn't a symptom of a general decline in the webcomics community. I'd really like to see webcomics sustain their amazing level of vibrancy and quality. I suspect, though, that it's just part of the circle of webcomic life. Friend of Bart

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Schlock Mercenary as strong as ever

On the bright side, Schlock Mercenary continues as strong as ever. The Blackness Between just went on pre-order today, and I picked up a sketch edition, along with a copy of Under New Management. If you want a sketch edition, pre-ordering continues until "8:00am Mountain Daylight Time on Wednesday, October 18th".

A Miracle of Lethargy

A Miracle of Science has slowed to an unacceptable crawl. There was a time when they'd put 6-9 frames on a page, twice a week. Now it's 3 frames per page, twice a week. That's six frames a week, IF they keep schedule, which they almost never do.

Dialog has also nearly vanished from the comic. There was a time when two or three pages would consist of a nice dialogue between characters, revealing some motivation, expositing the plot, and presenting moral dilemnas. Now we get a few grunts and some yelling. The recent average is under 20 words per page.

The net effect is to have totally sapped my interest in this story. It's been totally twist-free for months now, but "months" is about 40 frames of the comic.

The writing is good, the art is good, but the rate of production has become so low that I don't really care anymore. And that's sad.