For the third year running, Bomb Shelter Comics presents Webcomic Idol, sponsored by Pepsi-Cola and Nike, is go for an October 1st entry date! Starting this Wednesday, you too can enter your comic in the hopes of being the next Webcomic Idol!

And the panel of judges is another stellar one, so make sure yours is up to snuff, because they have the most scrutinizing of eyes. This years crop includes:

• Xavier Xerexes (ComixTalk)
• Brad Guigar (Evil Inc.)
• DJ Coffman (Yirmumah, Rise of the Flobots: Architects of Change)
• Jim Mahfood (artist on numerous independent comics)

Wow! Almost wish I could enter again! Get your submission in quickly (deadline is the 15th of October) and stay tuned for more on this exciting contest!

Nothing more to post than this, a painting by Mike “Gabe” Krahulik. It features… well, if you look at it and can’t figure out immediately what the subject matter is, then why are you checking out this site? Honestly.

Stare with me and try not to drool on your keyboard. I dare you.

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Anyone else remember the circa-1990’s Nickelodeon show, Weinerville? Whenever I hear or write Zach Weiner’s name, it reminds of that zany cast of puppets with their real life host/friend, Marc Weiner.

Zach had nothing to do with that show (that I know of), but he does keep the zaniness coming with his recently DS-reviewed strip, Captain Excelsior. This weekly look into the lives of a family of superheroes (and one not so super son, I’m looking at you, Not-Ward) is one of the best comics out there today, and certainly the best at lampooning the superhero genre.

Due to the immensity of my enjoyment with the Captain, I shot Zach a few questions about the strip to try and dig a bit deeper into the mind of this comic genius.

Digital Strips: What comic/webcomic did you first read that got you into them?

Zach Weiner: Probably Penny Arcade or Goats. There wasn’t a lot out there back in the late 90s, but those were both comics that were already pretty good by then.

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I was hoping to have a new show editing for you wonderful people, but I sneezed and when my eyes that had closed involuntarily had opened again the day was mostly gone. Here instead are two more reasons to love Web comics.

Bear Nuts: I found this comic the other day using the aptly named Project Wonderful. The strip is still in it’s infancy so it’ll be a while before it’s got enough of an archive that we can talk about it for 20 minutes, but so far it is a true joy to read. The amazingly full colored strip follows the misadventures of nine Care Bears gone wrong. They’re crude, they’re rude and they’ll spit in your food. It’s very Happy Tree Friends in it’s cute gone wrong angle but I think there’s a lot more potential here for some strong character development. I’ve enjoyed the 13 strips so far and can’t wait for more. The only bad thing I have to say is “get a better frickin url.” Seriously it took me forever to realize there were three “o”s in it.

Order of the Stick: I cannot express how much you need to be reading this strip. I know it’s got a huge archive. I know some of the jokes aren’t funny if you’ve (like me) never rolled a dice with more than six sides. But seriously, it’s worth it. The current strip reminded me just how much of a master Rich Burlew is at what he does. Seriously. Any man who can make you care this much for a minor character, a very minor character, deserves all the praise in the world. Well done Mr. Burlew, well done.

Below, the comprehensive list of all Ryan Estrada Day comics that I’ve found thus far. Enjoy!

You’ll Have That

Pictures for Sad Children

Butterfly

Project: Rooftop

Shortpacked

The Guest Strip Project

The PC Weenies

Joe and Monkey

Astronaut Elementary

Cow and Buffalo

Silent Kimbly

Dresden Codak

Update: Alright, Estrada, you’ve had your fun. Too much fun, in fact. There’s no way anyone can find all of these in one day! No one with a life, that is.

What’s this? This just in: Gary Tyrrell has done it over at Fleen! Go on, run over there to check them all out, I’ll turn so I don’t see you leave.

Update 2: To cap off the event, as he did last year, Estrada himself is hosting all of the strips on his own site, so now you don’t even have to put forth any effort to check them all out.  Lucky you.

Ryan Estrada. It seems just when the Internet might be ready to forget about the adored, web-cartooning god, he comes back with another one-two punch to knock these Webs out cold.

Enter Estrada-created critic and all-round curmudgeon, Welton Colbert, who has a few things to say about guest strips. My favorite line in the whole rant against the lazy practice of handing over your creation to someone else while you’re on vacation is this:

But geez, if you’re all that hard up for a day off, why not just let one artist draw everyone’s comics, and then everybody can play hooky.

Hey Welton!  Might want to peer back up at the man holding the digital pen before you toss out any more nuggets of wisdom.

Read the full strip at ComixTalk and keep a vigilant eye out: word has it this is yet another of Estrada’s Guest Comic Marathons and your favorite strip could be next!

Wondermark is not hand-drawn, this you know. It is cobbled together, and quite masterfully, I must note, through various pieces of clip art from the olden days of yore. Because of this, the writing is typically the main focus, leaving one to wonder whether or not creator David Malki! could cut it when put up against the best artists in webcomics.

After today’s update, I believe we can all agree that yes, he could. Scope the sketches below and click to see the whole thing on Malki!’s site. Not only is the linework admirable, it’s downright amazing, and makes me clamor for a Malki! drawn strip in the very near future. Make it so, sir!

Flipping through my printed volume of Octopus Pie, it’s easy to see this is not a work that exists on the Web for any purpose other than distribution.  It’s static, black and white, and though pretty to look at, doesn’t do a whole lot on the vibrant setting of my browser window.

Not until this recent strip, that is.

Unfortunately, Gary Tyrrell already said it best:

I could leave this running all day long

Click strip for the point of this post

 

I have neglected K.C. Green’s Horribleville for too long. For whatever reason, it resides at the bottom of my Favorites sidebar and so I regularly forget to check it. Could be because it doesn’t update as regularly as others, but whatever.

My point is that, when I do check it, it is chock full of WIN. InterWin. As an example, check out the current strip, of which I’ve posted the most… intriguing panel of below: (NSFW, if you’re offended by back-nudity)

You know, if this was like a traditional publishing venture and our Editor-In-Chief was actually paid more than us lowly bloggers, I would have to stage a coup. After all, when talking about webcomics, you’d like your leader to know more than you about the subject.

So Brigid, fearless leader, this post is for you.

In the vein of clip art funnies like Wondermark and Dinosaur Comics, today we find PartiallyClips, by Robert T. Balder. Like the other clip art-based webcomics out there, Clips is done entirely with artwork that he himself had no hand in creating. Don’t believe me? Ask Balder:

I write PartiallyClips and I put it together graphically, but I do not draw it. I use royalty-free clip art, and you will quickly notice that the same piece of art is used without modification in each of the three frames. I sometimes get compliments on my art, and I never know how to respond. One guy even invited me to illustrate his book…on stupidity.

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