Tag Archives: webcomics

Digital Strips Podcast 289 – Review – Super Brophy Bros.

Posted on by
4

The KindThis week, we’re holding nothing back. The kid gloves are off, all our cards are on the table, and we’re telling the whole story. And I mean The Whole Story (5:40).

So just what is The Whole Story? If you’re a gamer of any shape, size, or color, you know that there are various indie game bundles available now (examples of which you can find here and here), bundles that ask you to pay a price you determine. In return, you get access to DRM-free games. Simple as that, you pay more, you might get more, but mostly you’re just helping out a great cause (supporting the developers as well as giving to a number of gaming-centered charities).

All-star comicker and just all-around-awesome-dude Ryan Estrada has gotten together arguably the most illustrious group of comics people and put together seven books, all of which can be yours for various amounts of your generous giving. The names include (but are not limited to…)

We’ve got previews of all of the books on offer in our possession and will be bringing you our thoughts in the shows to come. In the meantime, stop by the site and get them for yourself. This would be a great thing to see continue for the good work that these creators have done.

Other comics mentioned in our first segment (because Steve didn’t already hate me enough…)

Our break ramblings consist of a sophisticated, detailed breakdown of the importance of giant, swinging robot testicles in Michael Bay’s filmography. I can think of nothing more fitting than a remix from the NES-born, classic Contra series to guide us through. This offering is Feeding Frenzy by goat (14:46).

Reviewing gag-a-day comics tends to be a task which hinges on one question: are the jokes funny? Without daily guffaws, tee-hees, and LOLs, a comic that relies on a punchline for entertainment will land flat and limp, no question. So what is the verdict for THIS buddy gag-a-day comic?

Our discussion yields a mixed bag, as well as a discussion of non sequiturs and why they sometimes just don’t work out. Also in our discussion, a comic is mentioned!

As always, we want to know what you thought about this comic. Did the jokes hit every time for you? Were you left wanting more? Leave a comment and find us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Soundcloud, and Audioboo. The conversation about webcomics never stops!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Share

Digital Strips Podcast 288 – Review – Epicsplosion

Posted on by
4

If you need THE highest webcomics authority with regards to the entire lyrical composition of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme as well as the answer to the group what performed Funkytown, then you’ve come to the right podcast! As a bonus for our paid members, we also run down a webcomic news item or two and take a look at a comic.

Ok, since you refuse to pay for it, we talked about some comics …

… and took a brief look at the possible kerfuffle forming on account of Seth MacFarlane’s new talking teddy bear vehicle, Ted, looking and feeling an awful lot like Lucas Turnbloom’s imaginary but still incredibly lewd and crude teddy bear tale, Imagine This (10:42).

Our halftime break conversation about poo (shocker, I know) is accopanied by the frenzied sounds of DaMonz’s Star King (16:13), remixing a classic Star Fox track with bits and pieces from within the game. If you didn’t know, a lot of our break music comes from the fines, hard-working creatives posting their stuff at Overclocked Remix. You are highly encouraged to scope all the wicked remixes based on your favorite video game franchises.

It is with great pleasure and privilege that we are able to bring you another of Tauhid Bondia’s works. Previously, we looked at Goodship Chronicles (23:18, show linked here), and this time, we run through another space-faring adventure, but this time, with a sweet twist.

This comic, featuring the brave, Han Solo-esque Tripp Rougestar, is a Choose Your Own Adventure-type (trademark?) story where you determine what happens to our dashing hero. Want to toss a grenade out of the ship’s hatch, trying to catch the bad guys unawares? Or would you rather send your shrimpy, frumpy sidekick out to clean things up? You make the decisions! And, if you’re like me, you can go back and start over if things don’t work out!

Also, Steve had never heard of “Mark Wahlberg Talk To Animals.” Shame on you if you haven’t, either.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Share

Digital Strips Podcast 287 – Review – The Trouble And Dangerous

Posted on by
1

Unsolved Mysteries logoSo many, multiple mysteries to solve with this show. First and foremost, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE NEWS SEGMENT IN THE FIRST PART OF THE SHOW?!? For the answers to these, and other questions… ask Steve.

Seriously though, we ramble on for three minutes plus about The Golden Girls, and then POOF! The show just kind of vanished. Files were corrupted, jokes were ruined, and someone WILL be held accountable. But until then, here’s the links to the stories we talked about, as promised:

  • Cameron Stewart’s Sin Titulo is back! There’s really nothing more that needs to be said, just go read it already!
  • Starslip, Kris Straub’s epic space comedy, has come to a conclusion. There’s a very good chance we’ll revisit this comic as a Book Club edition somewhere down the line.
  • F@NB0Y$ is… still a thing! That updates and which you should read.
  • Scott Kurtz and Frumph (PvP and the man currently behind Comicpress, respectively) had a spirited discussion about the banality of using the beloved webcomic WordPress skin as it comes out of the box and arrived at something resembling an understanding of one another’s positions. And to drive home this point of actually showing an effort with the small corner of the web that you decide to carve out for your online-hosted comic…
  • … The System, by Ross Nover, has a new site. It is custom and features gorgeous design and navigation and takes to heart the modern web techniques and is everything we’ve ever wanted in a webcomic site and make us drool at it’s awesome abiliaggggaggghhhhhhhhh

We managed to retain every precious second of the review for The Trouble and Dangerous by Matt Zimmerman (until proven otherwise). For the first time in a while, we have no notes to accompany this review, as no other comics came into the discussion. I guess it speaks for itself!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Share

Digital Strips Podcast 284 – Review – Eleanor

Posted on by
2

Hey Digital Strippers! Consider this to be a placeholder post until Steve has time to work up some proper notes. In the meantime, though, enjoy the show, where we review Eleanor: The Girl Who Never Stopped Falling by Jason Gurley.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Share

Digital Strips Podcast 283 – Review – Rock Manlyfist

Posted on by
3

I start this episode out with a bit of a content warning, because the comic is about as safe for work as a honey badger covered in porn and racial epithets, however I probably should have also sounded the douche alert as I said some things that sounded way better in my head during the recording than they did in my ears during the editing phase.

We start this week’s show with a discussion on artists ask for donations, the various senses of entitlement people on the Internet have, and the whole Web economy as a whole.

Then we jump right in to the biggest pool of testosterone and chest hair this side of my bathroom. Rock Manlyfist by Johan Wanloo is a big topless love letter to the action heroes of yesteryear; the men who save our world countless times and all they asked for was a steady stream of burgers, women and strange real estate. If you think you’re man enough to fight back the viking resurgence and ninja infestations, saddle up and join us, for this week’s episode of Digital Strips.

Hijinks Ensue 3:15
Optipess 4:15
Loading Artist 4:30
Cowbirds in Love 5:00
Order of the Stick 6:45

Ad by King Tractor press (not the creepy thing I mentioned, that was the comic)

Battlepug Ratfist Bearmageaddon Axecop
Skadi 21:00
Lackadaisy 23:00

I also want to make it clear, I have no problem with a simple donation button by the side of your side. I have a problem with drawing attention to it and insinuating that people owe you.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Share

Digital Strips Podcast 280 – Horizons Watch – Runewriters and Unicorn Soup

Posted on by
3

They say that good things come in threes. Well, I say, then how do you explain Twix bars, huh? Those are good things and they only come in twos (and the super legendary fours). Continuing this tradition of things that are awesome coming in pairs, this week’s show takes a look at two new comics and lets you know which horse to back early so that you can look cool in front of your friends.

First up we had Runewriters, and yes, there’s more to this strip than that theme song I wrote for it a few shows back. It’s a fantasy tale full of magic, wonder and people overcoming their disabilities, whether they be deaf, or slowly turning into a tentacle monster and getting chased by a glowing talking wolf.

Continuing with our theme of two words per name, we move on to Unicorn Soup, a gaming comic for the over-30 crowd. I know they keep releasing reports that most gamers fall into this category but it sure doesn’t seem that way on Xbox Live or when I skim through any number of gaming comics. Unicorn Soup sets the record straight and does it in comic form, which is the only way I’ll read record straightening.

All this as well as chatting about the chance of a web comic making it in the non-web world and Jason makes the wrong kinds of friends.

As always, we deeply desire your feedback. Please leave a comment below.

Show Notes:

Toothpaste for dinner 4:00
@drewtoothpaste 5:00
Adulting 6:45
Dinosaur Comic 6:45
Buttersafe 7:30
Axe Cop 9:00
Ratfist 9:15
Battle Pug 9:15
The Abominable Charles Christopher 12:30
The Meek 17:00
XKCD 22:00

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Share

Digital Strips Podcast 276 – Review – Briar Hollow

Posted on by
8

Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesAs the storm wails around me here in the Rocky Mountains, I like to picture you, some place, dry and warm, sitting by the fire in a cozy, red felt chair with your earbuds in, enjoying this latest episode of Digital Strips. This week we take a look at Briar Hollow, the least college-y college-based comic I think I’ve ever seen. The comic is created by Terry Blas with brilliant colors by Kimball Davis.

We also take several detours into other territories, talking about the X-Men and the Ninja Turtles and what makes them so different (and seriously people, comment on that topic, it’s for science and posterity).

Not too many comics mentioned this week, which makes for easy show notes:

Abaddon – 2:30
Questionable Content – 5:00
Next Town Over – 21:00
My Sister, The Freak – 22:30
Imagine This – 27:00

The music in the middle was L’espoir fait vivre by Bézèd’h

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Share

Digital Strips Podcast 274 – Book Club – Order of the Stick – Final Edition

Posted on by
3

This is it, Digital Strippers! The final edition of the Order of the Stick Book Club is finally upon us, recapping comics 600-831, as well as going through our overall thoughts on the series as a whole. But before we get to the main course, some tidbits and appetizers to get you by.

Whatcha Been Readin’ bear fruit, as always, and brings us two comics, one by a known creator who spins off to yet another, separate work, and another that delves in a genre all too familiar to webcomic denizens.

On to news! And the announcement of Minimumble falls into both categories, but the other news items are simply that, and full of Riches!

Sure, D&D would have been the appropriate music cue to lead us into our final discussion of OotS, but when have we ever done the appropriate thing? So, I chose instead a remix from Gauntlet, appropriately entitled, “GAUNTLET!”, by Mustin and Nate Cloud (17:18).

There’s nothing to spoil for this final take on the legendary comic that brings us epic tales courtesy of the crudest art this side of a 5-year-old’s scribbles. We leave it all on the field bear no grudges, and in my book, that is a win for everyone involved (even though for whatever reason Steve feels the need to claim it for himself).

To calm everything down and leave on a silly note? Rambling about poo in the ending outtakes. Enjoy.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Share

Digital Strips Podcast 273 – Horizons Watch – Alpha Flag and Arteest

Posted on by
1

Free at last, free at last, after weeks of protests and a day of blackouts across the Web, the Internet is free at last! Or at least, until the old, white men work their way out of an election year and try to ruin everyone’s fun again. Until then, though, we are free to go about our business. That business? Comics.

I’m actually able to go toe-to-toe with Steve this week in Whatcha Been Readin’:

News? Yeah, we got some news.

A big thank you to those who called and blacked out and at least temporarily shut down SOPA and PIPA! It’s because of your tireless efforts that we are able to bring you remixes from Overclocked Remix, pieces like the ditty taking us from segment to segment this week, “The Shredder”, from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtle in Time, remixed by Sixto Sounds (17:15).

Our Horizons picks this week stick to the mystery genre while also allowing for quite a bit of room to stretch the brain muscles and really make you think about what going on in each story.

  • (19:39) Alpha Flag by Jon Cairns and Renee Keyes
  • (28:07) Arteest by Bill Nichols and Robin Ator

These are two great comics that both deserve your attention and multiple re-readings to soak up all the nuance and detail. We also mention in our discussion:

And that’s it! No Rambletron, on account of my voice being half in the bag when we started recording.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Share

Digital Strips Podcast 272 – 2011 Year In Review

Posted on by
Reply

I always love doing this show each year. It’s a chance to look back at the year that was in comics, specifically those that are published on the web (a classification that you can bet Steve and I will be fighting about well into this year). We took a look at some amazing comics this year, spanning all possible genres and even forging a few new ones. Before we jump into the discussions and winners, we first must mention a few new ones because, hey, it’s what we do.

Best Horizons Watch of 2011: Corporate Skull

We have the Horizons Watch around to help us keep track of up-and-coming comics that show tons of promise but which are just too early in their life to call. In 2011, we found some awesome beginnings, many of which could have been chosen as our favorite, but, shockingly (to us and you) we agreed that Corporate Skull showed the most promise right out of the gate and more than lived up to it in the following updates. This comic by well-Internet-travelled creator Jamie Smart depicts a world than represents both zany fun and imminent peril. Throw in one of the strangest, coolest protagonists of any comic currently being published, digitally or in-print, and you’ve got a story we’re proud to call our favorite Horizons Watch pick of the year.

We’ve got two video game-inspired selections to lead us between segments this week, and the first is “The Life and Death of Kirby” by Insert Rupee (16:42).

Best Digital Strips-Reviewed Comic of 2011: Jason’s Pick: Velia, Dear; Steve’s Pick: Ellie on Planet X

Now is more comfortable. Again, we reviewed an incredible pack of comics this year, and many of them will be on my regular reading list until they decide to wrap things up and try something new. But when it came to surprising and engaging, there was none better than the more traditionally-presented comic strip, Velia, Dear by Rina Piccolo. This look at a middle-aged woman and her struggles to keep everybody happy while just trying to keep herself afloat hit all the right notes in terms of a variety of genres. It’s got heart, it’s got humor, it’s got suspense, and it’s got the modern edge that keeps it relevant when many other strips have gone the timeless and forgotten.

Steve’s pick, the adorably-quirky Ellie on Planet X, is one that instantly curls up in your heart and won’t leave, not with the hottest hatred, not with the most tangible of terrorizing terrors. Creator James Anderson rockets us up, up, and away from the worries of our troubled planet and lands us on Planet X, where anything is possible and the craziest creatures from our childhood imaginations come to life. Ellie doesn’t understand what’s going on, but she makes the most of her new life on a kooky, fantastical new world and it’s a blast to tag along with her on her day-to-day adventures.

Our second segment-leader is “Ebbed Tides and Webbed Feet” by Doc Nano and Evory (35:20). I knew I loved DuckTales on the NES/GameBoy when I was a child, and mixes like this just reaffirm that my affections were not unfounded.

Best Digitally-Published Comic of 2011: Jason’s Pick: The Gutters; Steve’s Pick: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

If there’s one thing that 2011 proved to us, it’s that there is no shortage in our modern world of great comics. Go to your local comic shop, go online, check out your digital delivery device of choice, but they are there and just waiting to be discovered. We try to help with that discovery process and the best one that I discovered this year, the one that kept me coming back for more and wanting more when there just wasn’t any more to be had was The Gutters. Least I Could Do and Looking For Group scribe Ryan Sohmer got fed up with the silliness that goes on beyond the panels of your favorite paper-published comic and decided to do something about it. So he regularly collaborates with the biggest and best creators in the industry on comics that perforate and eviserate, all with a darling love that shows abundant care for the very comics he and his comrades tear apart.

Web-wise, Steve picked a comic that had a banner year in 2011 and which shows no signs of slowing down in 2012. Zach Weiner’s Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is the most crudely drawn comic for MENSA members that you’re likely to come across in comics. If xkcd is for MIT folks, SMBC is for MIT folks who have side jobs working for a dirty comedy on HBO or Showtime. Those same people also write for the porn industry. It’s not that SMBC is filthy (though it certainly has the ability to go raunchier than even the dirtiest SFW entertainment), but if geeky sex jokes are your thing, then look no further. Also, Batman. As Steve notes, “If you don’t know anything about Batman, get off the Internet.”

And that’s our look back at the best year thus far in comics on the web! We look forward to bringing you even more amazing recommendations in the year to come! Thanks for listening!

Our Rambletron goes South immediately and never really rises again. Listen if you dare (especially applicable to men 30+ years of age).

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Share