Wallace Foster, a young, bright-eyed human social worker, has his entire world view rocked when he's suddenly relocated into a city primarily inhabited by monsters.
The Last Diplomat
Cat Farris
Samma and Tark didn't ask to be stuck together, but now they're partners on the adventure of a lifetime.
Saint for Rent
Ru Xu
Saint Halliday runs an inn for Time Travelers. Unfortunately, he seems to attract other supernatural "guests," too.
Nigh Heaven & Hell
Scotty
Heather Vodihn is on a simple mission: find her father. However she becomes entangled with two strangers with mysterious powers being stalked by a group with bizarre demands. Heather must learn to trust her new traveling companions, even if she is untrustworthy herself.
Augustine
Winter Jay Kiakas, Windy
August and her ragtag group are just like everyone else, simply surviving in the treacherous Crater... When they stumble into what may be an artifact of the ancient past, their lives are thrown into a much bigger loop as they trifle with bounty hunters, monsters and gods.
The Forgotten Order
Christy
A young witch for whom every spell is a misfire finds solace and friendship in her new companion - a cursed doll.
Beeserker
TJ Cordes
This comic is about a robot powered by bees, but it's also about the kind of people who think filling a robot with bees is a good idea, and why they're wrong.
This is Not Fiction
Nicole Mannino
What do you do when the person you're in-love with is an anonymous romance novelist? Get your best friend to hire your worst enemy for help!
Ride or Die
Mars Heyward
Ride or Die is an LGBTQ webcomic about two street racers who team up with a demon-possessed muscle car in the search for a missing woman, while being hunted by a deadly religious cult.
The Substitutes
Myisha Haynes
What happens when three roommates accidentally acquire otherworldly and powerful magic weapons destined for someone else?
How to be a Werewolf
Shawn Lenore
Malaya Walters was bitten by a werewolf as a child. After being raised by her human family, she faces the chance to learn what being a werewolf is really like as an adult.
Nerf Now!!
Josué Pereira
A cute webcomic about fanservice, video games, and... love. Mostly video games, though.
Kochab
Sarah Webb
A YA F/F fantasy comic about Sonya, a lost skier trying to survive a snowy wilderness and find her way back to her village; and Kyra - a fire spirit trying to fix the home that she let fall apart around her.
Edison Rex
Chris Roberson
The adventures of the world’s greatest villain who, after defeating his superheroic nemesis, decides that he’s the only one left to defend the world.
Stand Still, Stay Silent
Minna Sundberg
A few generations after the end of the world, a small, poorly financed research crew is sent out to rediscover whatever is left of the forbidden old world in the south.
Namesake
Isa, Meg
There's ghosts at your heels and fairy tale worlds ahead. What do you do? Jump down the rabbit hole!
ARISE, YE SKELETON KING
Brian Clevinger, Escher Cattle, Lee Black
A troupe of wandering "adventurers" down to their last silver "acquire" a map only to find the real treasure was the fiend they dug up along the way.
Astral Aves
Moon Cabal
A fantasy coming-of-age following the adventures of Astra The Black and friends, as they navigate the mysterious world around them. It's politics, adventure, and the supernatural; oh, and crazy hair.
The End
August Brown, Cory Brown
Two aliens crash a sci-fi convention and accidentally take seven nerds on an adventure that spans the galaxy!
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Empowered
Adam Warren
A sexy superhero comedy (except when it isn't) about the never-ending struggles of a plucky but very unlucky young superheroine.
The Weave
Rennie Kingsley
A young woman pursued by bad luck is witness to the murder of the Fairy Queen of Summer. Can she get to the bottom of this mystery?
Sister Claire
Yamino
In the troubled aftermath of a great war between Witches and her fellow Nuns, novice Sister Claire just wants a purpose.
Freakshow
Scotty
A festival of broken people, blood flows in the center ring. Come one and come all, to the greatest show in all of Paris.
Scape
Lauren
Sula has always preferred to forge her own path, but before she knows it, she is pulled into the middle of a civil war between man and monster!
Aquapunk
Lo
In an underwater world of unknown coordinates, inhabited by aliens, ghosts, and robots, a young member of a warrior underclass is framed for a crime and goes on the run. Little does he know he is part of a grand design that only gods and ancestors could choreograph.
Not Drunk Enough
Tess Stone
Logan Ibarra is possibly the unluckiest repairman in the world. A late night job should not have landed him in the middle of a mad scientist's squabble, but he soon finds himself surrounded by monsters and further madness with little tools to get out.
Lies Within
Lacey
Lysander's aimless and carefree life is turned upside down when he accidentally discovers that the cute boy next door, Simon, is a literal monster
Star Impact
Jack McGee
A young, energetic woman fights her way up in the world of super-powered boxing after discovering the mighty gloves of her missing idol!
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
Little Tiny Things
Clover
What are the little things that move us? The simple joys that warm our bodies and hearts? The micro life of insects that influence our world more than we think? The tiny steps we make everyday to have a happier tomorrow?
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Widdershins
Kate Ashwin
A series of light-hearted Victorian-era adventure stories featuring grumpy bounty hunters, accidental thiefkings, and more, in England's magical capital city Widdershins!
Gzhel Guardian
Atla Hrafney, nushanchel
The Railway World is a complex, mysterious network of trains, towns and mechanical monsters. Leo is a Guardian of one of these towns, and although their burn-out and depression has taken hold of them, they have one last job to finish.
Trying Human
IntroducingEmy
Two women separated by over half a century are brought together by an alien-filled conspiracy involving murder, mystery and romance!
Love Not Found
Gina Biggs
Abeille is on a quest to find someone who wants to do it the old-fashioned way in a time when touching has become outdated.
Cassiopeia Quinn
Gunwild, Psudonym
A cute, pantsless thief is pursued across the stars by a buttoned-up military officer in the spacey, laser-filled future.
Sakana
Mad Rupert
Our heroes must navigate a hazardous dating scene, overcome personal anxieties, and wrangle unruly seafood in order to find love, peace of mind, and a paycheck.
Alice and the Nightmare
Misha Krivanek
Alice finally attends University to learn to collect the dreams of humans, meet new friends, and deal with a pesky reflection along the way.
Blindsprings
Kadi Fedoruk
Tamaura, wrested into a world 300 years in the future, must find a way to save the magic fading from her country.
Quick$ilver
Crypto
The flirtatious, directionless, and ever disastrous Luci searches for excitement in a life of crime, and finds himself caught in a web of messy romance and bad blood.
Goodbye to Halos
Valerie Halla
Cuddles, gay flirting, weird feelings, and magic-fueled knife fights - it's an adventure across the queer multiverse!
Barbarous
Ananth Hirsh, Yuko Ota
A crummy wizard and an anxious monster have to get over themselves and bring order to an apartment building full of misfits.
Alexander, The Servant & The Water of Life
Reimena Yee
The 21st century retelling of the life and legends of Alexander the Great.
Sleepless Domain
Mary Cagle (Cube Watermelon)
In a world where magical girls and their battles are commonplace, loss has become all too common as well.
The Golden Boar
Magnolia Porter Siddell
A young woman joins a group of summoners who call forth Guardian Beasts to protect their isolated magical island. Unfortunately, her Guardian Beast is nothing like she'd imagined, and he's about to change her life, and everything she thought she knew about herself...
Darkling Bright
Chris Hazelton
Kieran Bright is a college student home for the summer and roped into an online reunion with his old neighborhood friends in the most recent update of their favorite childhood MMORPG.
At least, he was, and that was the idea...
Join Kieran and his friends as they are pulled into another reality that may or may not be real and are forced to confront their own identities, the nature of simulated universes and reality itself.
Headless Bliss
Clover
A story about story-telling, and other metaphysical themes such as Nightmares! (Failed) Teamwork! Comedy! And more!
Missing Monday
Elle Skinner
Two girls fall in love through a magic door connecting their worlds. When Monday suddenly goes missing, it's up to Foyle to find her. How she's going to navigate an entirely unfamiliar world is another matter.
Within
Verena Loisel
A young hitman meanders between a reality that seems to happen without him, and his dreams where he is lost in an endless house. When he makes an accidental friend, his world is shaken up and he realizes there are things he can't remember about himself.
Odd. I was thinking that Penk was a player, and Harky wasn’t. I know Harky thinks he’s talking about Tectonicus, but… maybe there are players who control the leadership on both sides, too? Like those hybrid RTS/FPS games, or even a classic MMORPG where guild leaders might be more administrators than players.
It would depend on what kind of setting we’re looking at. Is the world of Arkerra purely a creation of Giger and Hurricane? Are these characters who think they’re real actually just ones and zeroes? Or, did Giger build a game but somehow tap into a *real* world out there? Are players creating people out of the game’s mechanics or are they taking over or riding along the experiences of people native to this demesne? AFAIK, I don’t think we’ve even figured this out yet. :-\
Even more questions. If Arkerra is a real world and the game is only a gateaway to it, are the players been there for all their characters life?, I mean, were they born as their characters or they took their bodies and memories?. If it’s the fist, that could mean that next players have been there all the time. It’s difficult to say at this point what it’s real and what not.
Champions online. I had a character named Carcaradon- essentially a mashup of a Street Shark and The Everlovin’ Blue Eyed Thing, with a bit of Hulk mixed in. Most fun I ever had playing that game- and there’s Hammerhead cosmetic options too.
Someone please correct me if I am wrong here but: Tectonicus is kinda your classic destroy/burn the world and all in it old god right? He doesn’t care, but kinda wants everything burned to the ground.
Harky is fighting for the creation of a nation of the outcast and beast people, but is also the Avatar of Tectonicus. Is Harky duping Tectonicus to gain his power, but in the end wont destroy the whole world as Tectonicus plans?
I see Tectonicus rather like an elemental fire god. He doesn’t really have inherent intent or plan, like world destruction. I think it’s more like he IS fire, that consumes whatever it touches and constantly needs fuel to go on. But fire can be tamed to, say, heat a boiler. Inside Harky, Tectonicus’ power seems pretty tightly controlled, doesn’t it ?
I see it more as a righteous fury myself. fire god, check. head on destruction and rebirth cycles, check. burn the world…well sorta…more like burn anyone who defies Tectonicus’ will;D
I really, really, really get the feeling Harky was just like Penk when he was younger- or that Penk, for all his fears, insecurities, and weaknesses, is going to gain Harky’s strenths and bravery once he becomes champion.
Maybe we’ll get some touching scene where Harky reveals that being Tectonicus’ avatar consumes you prematurely and that passing down the role of avatar to Penk is hardly a favor he’s doing him but more of a necessary curse that Penk in turn will have to bear for the good of his people…
Since the attack on the Wood Elves, I always assumed the Champions and such were “Players” like Bandit and E-Merl and such.
Also, I think we can assume that HR never had control regardless.
But then again I like to pretend the HR tank-people story-line doesn’t actually exist, mostly because I think it’s kind of lame (sorry, just how I feel, really good comic otherwise though).
I tend not to like counterpoint stories either, Tales of the Black Freighter comes to mind which seemed pretty disposable in Watchmen.
I especially don’t like stuff that cheapens or provides an escape from the ‘world’ like Star Trek holodecks and Assassin’s Creed office drone segments.
I get the need for drama and gravitas to counter the ‘lol gamer comic’ origins of this comic but a story like the one on this page is wonderful and provides all the weight you need without Sepia World just waiting to go POOF: “and it was all just a dream”.
Playing through Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, I have to agree the office sections are dry, but otherwise I think that counterpoint stories can do a lot to enhance the character and world building of a story.
I liked the Tales of The Black Freighter segments from Watchman. Well not so much the comic within a comic itself, to me it was all about the interaction of the News Vendor, and the Boy. They are street level views of what’s going on in the world, and reflect the views of the average citizens of the world. They are mostly concerned with making enough money to get by, and escaping from the reality of the world by reading comics. The ongoing interaction makes their final scene together all the more poignant, and while you can say the comic doesn’t necessarily need it, I believe Watchmen is all the better for it.
My initial gut reaction to the reveal of the world of Guilded Age being a “video game” (if that’s what it really is) was negative. It was a little bit of “been there, seen that” mentality, there’s been a lot of fiction that have explored the same ideas, albeit for the most part they do it shallowly. However, in the time hence, I have been won over by writing and am really looking forward to the pay off. I really hope there’s an extended epilogue, or resolution, so that the consequences of everything that has happened can be examined in depth. Will the characters have to cope with PTSD after everything that has happened? How do you continue your life when you were in essence two separate people(in the case of Bandit/Best 3 people or so my theory goes), and have two sets of memories. Can you return to real life after that?
If anyone’s still skeptical and wants an example of this idea done well look no further then John Scalzi’s Red Shirts. It’s a funny and thought provoking piece of fiction.
My guess after this thread (including Thinker’s response below) is that the players in the tubes were usurped by the ‘game’ at/following the ‘Heroes’ deaths.
Think: after their respawning, the ‘good’ guys have largely quit with the adventuring and heroics and are now doing government drudgery, whilst the ‘savages’ are gaining the momentum, and many commenters are noting parallel traits in the new champions.
It’s why H.R. felt he had lost control – the program noticed the heroics of the PCs and has now stolen that moxy and reallocated it for its own purposes. H.R.’s countermove was the addition of the new team members (E-Merl, Rachel, Scip).
So… I’m still convinced that all this is just an elaborate setup, the punchline being something along the ways of Penk providing the beat and HAMMERHEAD starting off the rap to “Can’t touch this”.
Are the landsharks all-male, or are they one of those mono-gender races (i.e. identical except for under the loincloth)? It would be badass if Hammerhead was a female landshark.
Eh, at this point I dont think they’re the bad guy they were made out to be early on with the player ‘deaths’ and the attack on the capital of wood elves. Its just cultists now, isnt it? And they have both sides in their ranks
Odd. I was thinking that Penk was a player, and Harky wasn’t. I know Harky thinks he’s talking about Tectonicus, but… maybe there are players who control the leadership on both sides, too? Like those hybrid RTS/FPS games, or even a classic MMORPG where guild leaders might be more administrators than players.
It would depend on what kind of setting we’re looking at. Is the world of Arkerra purely a creation of Giger and Hurricane? Are these characters who think they’re real actually just ones and zeroes? Or, did Giger build a game but somehow tap into a *real* world out there? Are players creating people out of the game’s mechanics or are they taking over or riding along the experiences of people native to this demesne? AFAIK, I don’t think we’ve even figured this out yet. :-\
Even more questions. If Arkerra is a real world and the game is only a gateaway to it, are the players been there for all their characters life?, I mean, were they born as their characters or they took their bodies and memories?. If it’s the fist, that could mean that next players have been there all the time. It’s difficult to say at this point what it’s real and what not.
Just wanted to say I’m happy to know there are others here who associate the initials “H.R.” with the last name “Giger” above anything else.
but that means….. Hammerhead could also be a player.
Someone, somewhere, write an MMO where I can play a giant hammer headed shark warrior… NOW!
Champions online. I had a character named Carcaradon- essentially a mashup of a Street Shark and The Everlovin’ Blue Eyed Thing, with a bit of Hulk mixed in. Most fun I ever had playing that game- and there’s Hammerhead cosmetic options too.
Little quips like this are what remind me that the PCs had lives before this, nice touch.
Someone please correct me if I am wrong here but: Tectonicus is kinda your classic destroy/burn the world and all in it old god right? He doesn’t care, but kinda wants everything burned to the ground.
Harky is fighting for the creation of a nation of the outcast and beast people, but is also the Avatar of Tectonicus. Is Harky duping Tectonicus to gain his power, but in the end wont destroy the whole world as Tectonicus plans?
I see Tectonicus rather like an elemental fire god. He doesn’t really have inherent intent or plan, like world destruction. I think it’s more like he IS fire, that consumes whatever it touches and constantly needs fuel to go on. But fire can be tamed to, say, heat a boiler. Inside Harky, Tectonicus’ power seems pretty tightly controlled, doesn’t it ?
I see it more as a righteous fury myself. fire god, check. head on destruction and rebirth cycles, check. burn the world…well sorta…more like burn anyone who defies Tectonicus’ will;D
I really, really, really get the feeling Harky was just like Penk when he was younger- or that Penk, for all his fears, insecurities, and weaknesses, is going to gain Harky’s strenths and bravery once he becomes champion.
Which means we’ve got to expect Harky dying sometime soon so that the avatardom can pass onto Penk
Maybe we’ll get some touching scene where Harky reveals that being Tectonicus’ avatar consumes you prematurely and that passing down the role of avatar to Penk is hardly a favor he’s doing him but more of a necessary curse that Penk in turn will have to bear for the good of his people…
All in all, these last few pages have made me love those two guys.
Agreed
Definitely.
Huh. I wonder if Harky means that.
You know, we’ve assumed all this time that Byron and co are the five, but what if they aren’t?
Means HR has been wrong this entire time; he has never had control.
Since the attack on the Wood Elves, I always assumed the Champions and such were “Players” like Bandit and E-Merl and such.
Also, I think we can assume that HR never had control regardless.
But then again I like to pretend the HR tank-people story-line doesn’t actually exist, mostly because I think it’s kind of lame (sorry, just how I feel, really good comic otherwise though).
I tend not to like counterpoint stories either, Tales of the Black Freighter comes to mind which seemed pretty disposable in Watchmen.
I especially don’t like stuff that cheapens or provides an escape from the ‘world’ like Star Trek holodecks and Assassin’s Creed office drone segments.
I get the need for drama and gravitas to counter the ‘lol gamer comic’ origins of this comic but a story like the one on this page is wonderful and provides all the weight you need without Sepia World just waiting to go POOF: “and it was all just a dream”.
Playing through Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, I have to agree the office sections are dry, but otherwise I think that counterpoint stories can do a lot to enhance the character and world building of a story.
I liked the Tales of The Black Freighter segments from Watchman. Well not so much the comic within a comic itself, to me it was all about the interaction of the News Vendor, and the Boy. They are street level views of what’s going on in the world, and reflect the views of the average citizens of the world. They are mostly concerned with making enough money to get by, and escaping from the reality of the world by reading comics. The ongoing interaction makes their final scene together all the more poignant, and while you can say the comic doesn’t necessarily need it, I believe Watchmen is all the better for it.
My initial gut reaction to the reveal of the world of Guilded Age being a “video game” (if that’s what it really is) was negative. It was a little bit of “been there, seen that” mentality, there’s been a lot of fiction that have explored the same ideas, albeit for the most part they do it shallowly. However, in the time hence, I have been won over by writing and am really looking forward to the pay off. I really hope there’s an extended epilogue, or resolution, so that the consequences of everything that has happened can be examined in depth. Will the characters have to cope with PTSD after everything that has happened? How do you continue your life when you were in essence two separate people(in the case of Bandit/Best 3 people or so my theory goes), and have two sets of memories. Can you return to real life after that?
If anyone’s still skeptical and wants an example of this idea done well look no further then John Scalzi’s Red Shirts. It’s a funny and thought provoking piece of fiction.
Can you elaborate on your theory concerning Bandid and Best?
I’m intrigued.
How do we know that they’re not both sides?
My guess after this thread (including Thinker’s response below) is that the players in the tubes were usurped by the ‘game’ at/following the ‘Heroes’ deaths.
Think: after their respawning, the ‘good’ guys have largely quit with the adventuring and heroics and are now doing government drudgery, whilst the ‘savages’ are gaining the momentum, and many commenters are noting parallel traits in the new champions.
It’s why H.R. felt he had lost control – the program noticed the heroics of the PCs and has now stolen that moxy and reallocated it for its own purposes. H.R.’s countermove was the addition of the new team members (E-Merl, Rachel, Scip).
Didn’t HR order at least one additional tube? Perhaps there’s already someone in there.
It was a rhetorical question Penk.
“Tell me Penk… why do your eyes keep disappearing like that?”
ironic comment/avatar combo is go
I’m here to serve.
Ow my heart
So… I’m still convinced that all this is just an elaborate setup, the punchline being something along the ways of Penk providing the beat and HAMMERHEAD starting off the rap to “Can’t touch this”.
One day Penk, all that the sun touches will be yours…
Unfortunately for Penk, the Sun only directly touches empty vacuum. That, or highly radioactive space dust. Well, good luck!
Love the alliteration on Penk’s swearing
“Great. Here you go then.”
*rips Fireseye out, shoves it into Penk’s belly*
“Good luck!”
Graphic violence is the only proper way to pass on leadership.
Can it be? Is this strip powerful enough to defeat the punning threads?
Are the landsharks all-male, or are they one of those mono-gender races (i.e. identical except for under the loincloth)? It would be badass if Hammerhead was a female landshark.
Given the sexual dimorphism in most fish and sharks, the hammerhead is most likely female.
Darn them savage races for making have empathy for them…
I’m thinking more like Rudy in Log Horizon.
We have nothing to fear except fear itself! And that shark guy following us. Oh crap I think it’s getting closer!
Dangit! You’re not supposed to like the bad guy! You got me liking the bad guy!!
Eh, at this point I dont think they’re the bad guy they were made out to be early on with the player ‘deaths’ and the attack on the capital of wood elves. Its just cultists now, isnt it? And they have both sides in their ranks
Okay, not sure what Harky was asking Penk
At first, thought H was asking P if he would still be a little drummer troll, but is he asking if he would rather be the leader?
Well, we already knew Penk had giant stones, but to say to Harky’s face that he wants his position just grew those stones into bo(u)lders