Something unusual

I may or may not be good at the webcomic critic business, but one thing I do well is make up my mind about them. In a few minutes, I can usually determine 1. Whether the artwork is good 2. Whether the style is original 3. Whether I like the comic. When I stumble on Randal Milholland's Something Positive, the answer is: no, no and not really. Only one little detail stands out, the webcomic has been going strong since 2001. Maybe I should try to recognize the signs, like when when I asked my now ex-girlfriend if she wouldn't miss me for the three months we would be apart and she said "not really".
Anyhow, the first few pages are relatively classic humor, with a touch of black. As the pages flow, the touch of black become more persistent, quite the contrary of most "subversive" webcomics, which start with a dark, acid feel to it and quickly turn into a comic equivalent of "friends". I actually am occasionally shocked my own self of some of the things randy pulls; like the characters handing out tracts on the correct procedure for slitting one's wrists (sorry emo's I am not giving the link).
In stark contrast of this is the very serious treatment of some pretty serious issues. Speaking of which if the life of Davan, the main character is even loosely based on the life of Milholland, that dude must be a psychiatrist's treat! Davan is repeatedly cheated upon, loses his best friend, close family, has massive health problems, is exploited, attacked and broke during the 6 years of his sorry existence.
The one constant to this seems to be the acidic irony with which Davan faces all of his predicaments, usually slipping some profound morality deeply between the lines. Don't worry about it though, you can usually miss it if you aren't looking too hard.

Oao

Cody

a penny for their thoughts

The underground and discrete world of webcomics is just beginning to gain mainstream (internet) acceptance. Like blogs and 'funny pics' sites before them, readership is skyrocketing and the most famous of them gain quasi legendary status. And amongst the legendary, are the legendary of legendary. And amongst those, is Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik's penny arcade.
Jerry (alias Tycho Brahe) and Mike (alias Gabe) may very well be the world's currently most famous webcomic artists world wide, and have every right to claim that...right. The PA comic is dedicated almost exclusively to heavy gamers, which pretty much garenties a minimum readership. Okayyy, so nothing new... Except yes! PA was pretty much the first webcomic to come up with the subtle concept of "talk about what they're interested in". Basically every gaming online comic since then can be considered a (pale) imitation of Tycho and Gabe's foundational work.
OK so what's so special about it? Firstly, it's in colour. Quite a relief from your usual eye-strain black and white stuff. Also, absolutely no continuity. Also quite a relief to not have to plow through ten years (yes ten!) of archives to understand why the fuck this is funny. I did it anyways though. The characters cleverly combine child-like innocence and vicious torture, sometimes within a single strip. The creators, in a quite divinity like gesture, often mentor another struggling strip by linking to it, more often than not blowing the mentoree's server to smithereens. Almost as popular as the strip itself is the associated blog, hilarious in it's own right; if you are a professional gamer that is, and know everything about consoles, games, game creators, gaming conventions, anime conventions, current gaming news, current console news etc. Seems there are a lot out there...
Oh and last but not least: Gabe's alter ego in the strip is a cardboard tube wielding samurai. Now who wouldn't want to read a comic in witch cardboard tubes are indiscriminately used as swords?

oao

the cod