Links! Links!!! LINKS!!!

At long last I got my links up! Watch that space because I will definitely be putting more links to sites that I frequent.

First up are the webcomics that I read. The best of the lot is arguably Questionable Content. This is my friggin' soap opera. This gets updated Mon-Fri and if you're at all familiar with webcomics that is friggin' fast. Most comics are updated once a week or two maybe three times a week.

Questionable Content is witty and has really engaging characters plus it's very well drawn. He balances humor and angst very well. Most of the indie rock references go over my head but it never felt that the series suffers for it (for any references I feel I need to know I just wiki it). His characters deal with real-life issues with wit and humor and without making light of it at the same time. He has a deft touch and I'm really jealous that he not only updates every freakin' day he does it with humor and panache (whereas I update every quarter of the year!).

I have to read it everyday and the only bonus to skipping a day is that I get to read two comics on the same day! To fully appreciate the comic it's best that you schedule a weekend to read the archive. And with 800 issues and counting that's a preeetty big archive but it's worth it. Struggle through the original art, it gets way better.

The next best webcomic out there is, of course, The Order of the Stick. Anyone who's ever played Dungeons and Dragons should read this. While it's not necessary to be familiar with the game to appreciate the humor (untrue in the first issues where the humor is primarily derived from the fact that the characters are aware that they are D&D characters), it's like eating cake without the frosting and the caramel-y bit in the middle and the sugared flowers. You'll think, "good cake but what's the fuss all about?"

The second runner up is No Rest For The Wicked. This is more of a graphic novel than a webcomic. I just found out from my friend Mahala that the artist/writer of this is a sister of a friend of hers. I told Mahala to get on her case and update it already! The art is very good but the writing is even better. I love fairy tales and she weaves different tales together to form an intelligent and fascinating whole. Some of the fairy tales are pretty obscure even for me. With one exception all the webcomics I read make use of humor and this one is no different, although the humor comes from the story and situation itself (and most of it dark, like a good fairy tale). This is my third favorite and it's no distant third!

All the rest are pretty much even at this point, so in no particular order:

Looking For Group is a new strip, with only about 25 issues. I read the first 18 at one go and couldn't stop myself from laughing. I'm definitely creating a character based on Richard.

Hero is a bit way out there but the art is beautiful so I put up with it.

Nodwick and Full Frontal Nerdity are done by the same artist (both strips I discovered and liked in Dragon Magazine). Similar to OOTS in that its appeal lies with gamers.

Zogonia is also a strip I discovered in Dragon Magazine. The humor is darker than Nodwick and FFN but also a lot of fun.

Shortpacked! is a strip I discovered recently. Similar to QC but not as subtle. It's on "probation." I'm giving it a couple of months before I decide whether to keep on reading it.

The other links (The Second Degree) are blogs of my brother (yes he has more than one...I did say he was prolific, didn't I?), my cousin Jenny and her husband James and the blog and online gallery of my friend Mahala.

The Lavender Blogs are obviously gay-themed blogs which I frequent. I'll add to this when I have more time as I only have a tiny fraction of the gay sites I visit on a regular basis.

Well that's it. No pics of the pups yet. I'll ask my wunderschwester if I can borrow her camera and then post at least Loki's since Gigabyte is in boarding school (and that's a story for another day!).