THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Comic Discussion => QUESTIONABLE CONTENT => Topic started by: yellowledbetter on 19 Mar 2008, 23:58
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I'm wondering because reading through the archives is only satisfying for so long. :-P
To clarify, I'm talking about "slice of life" comics. That means no zombies, no dinosaurs (maybe the odd allosaur here and there :lol:), and so on. Just an every-day existance in comic form.
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Shortpacked (http://www.shortpacked.com) is pretty slice-o-life, even though there's a talking car. It's mostly about a crew that works in a toy store.
And, uh... my comic, Terminal Hipster (http://www.terminalhipster.com), might fit the criteria. Not a lot of strips up yet and some of the early ones look really horrible, but there ya go.
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Real Life (http://www.reallifecomics.com/) is a good one, but don't go through the archives unless you've got a lot of free time on your hands because it goes back to 1999. Also, don't expect much art evolution; the shading and backgrounds have improved, but he's been using essentially the same Illustrator sheets for a long time. It follows a linear timeline, but uses funny sub-plots rather than character development and friend-drama. And as the name suggests, the plot is loosely based around what's actually happening in real life. (For example, when the author and his wife moved to Texas, the character versions of themselves followed suit.)
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If you're looking for a webcomic that also has the same "feel" to it like QC does... good luck searching. My sympathies... Oo
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Also,
CTRL+ALT+DEL (http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/) ... might interest you. No zombies, no aliens... has the obligatory talking robot in it and every now and then the insertions about current games (no relevance to the latest plot and mostly funny even for poeple not into games) but... on the whole it stays sliced from life.
Least I could do (http://www.leasticoulddo.com) ... okay, if you've never heard of this one, SHAME ON YOU! ... and although it is ME who can't really explain the appeal of that one (not that there is none, its just... different), still SHAME ON YOU AGAIN... oO
Piled Higher and Deeper (http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php) ... it's about life in grad school. The size of the slice sliced from life by this one made life bleed.
In the puddle... (http://inthepuddle.com/index.php) ... this one I quote from the artist herself:
"In The Puddle is a webcomic by Cique Johnson featuring fun-loving 20-somethings in Philadelphia, flying spaghetti monsterist weddings and baptisms, goth clubs, Shampoo goth club, flying fox bats, friends, rampant silliness, strong women, frisky socks, valient battles against laundry, artists and their geeks, bisexuals, and other such whatnot."
... you might not like the art of that last one, but it still is a fun thing.
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Scene Language. (http://scenelanguage.com)
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Nothing Better (http://www.webcomicsnation.com/tylerpage/nb/series.php) is a good comic that fits the bill 100% A++++ would buy again.
Anders Loves Maria (http://anderslovesmaria.reneengstrom.com/) is a good comic about Anders and Maria and how they feel with respect to one another. Warning: naked people.
Scary Go Round (http://www.scarygoround.com) is a good comic that is the opposite of what you asked for, but is worth checking out. It is QC-like in the sense that it features an array of hip, attractive 20-somethings and charming banter (English banter). Tons of zombies and stuff of that ilk, though. Give it a shot anyway!
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I've always heard QC compared more to Bobbins, which was John Allison's previous comic, one which was somewhat less off-the-wall, though then again it's been years since I read the Bobbins archives. Scary Go Round is one of the best comics on the web, though, so it's worth reading.
Dude, http://octopuspie.com/ (http://octopuspie.com/). More similar in subject matter (hip young folks, this time in Brooklyn) than style or tone.
-Wilhelm
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Something positive
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www.suchrubbish.com
Not many strips yet, but it is quite qc styled.
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Dude, http://octopuspie.com/ (http://octopuspie.com/). More similar in subject matter (hip young folks, this time in Brooklyn) than style or tone.
-Wilhelm
Jeez, how could I forget Octopus Pie? After Achewood and Scary Go Round it is the best webcomic out there right now. Read it read it read it read it read it.
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Thank you to everyone who has posted these links, you all have given me ample ways to fill my time at work during the day and my supposed studying time during the late nights and weekends with laughter and webcomic goodness. I am not entirely sure it is a good thing, but hell, if we avoided everything that isn't good for us than life may not be as enjoyable.
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http://mitchclem.com/mystupidlife/36/
www.wastedtalent.ca
Both fun comics to read.
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My votes are in for Nothing Better, Anders Loves Maria, and Octopus Pie. They're all great.
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A good one would be http://www.queenofwands.net (http://www.queenofwands.net), its finished now but there is also a sequel http://www.punchanpie.net (http://www.punchanpie.net)
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I would recommend Sidekick Girl (http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/p/11388/Sidekick-Girl), ScaryGoRound (http://www.scarygoround.com), and AfterStrife (http://www.afterstrife.com). And, of course, I'll also self-plug Such Rubbish (http://www.suchrubbish.com).
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After going through this thread I decided to actually read SuchRubbish, Nothing Better, and Octopus Pie and they were soooo good that I marathon'd them within 24 hours.... about the same time it took me to get through all of QC. (I liked QC a lot better though... it's near inspiring).
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You would probably like Anders Loves Maria (http://anderslovesmaria.reneengstrom.com/), except I do not recommend that you start reading it now.
This is because once you catch up, you will be going to the main page on update day and waiting for the next comic like a crack addict.
Curses, Rene Engström.
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There is Stuff Sucks by Liz Greenfield, although I believe that is finished now?
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It's no longer on the web, some wacky server problem got rid of it. Books are available however.
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http://upheaval.comicdish.com/index.php (http://upheaval.comicdish.com/index.php)
Not many pages yet as it's fairly new, but it looks good so far.
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http://www.stripteasecomic.com/d/20000930.html
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I got a few slice of life webcomics that are some fun to look at:
Between Failures (http://http://betweenfailures.com/): A story of kids that are in their 20s that all work at the same supermarket. Quite a fun webcomic and a nice story.
Treading Ground (http://http://www.treadingground.com/): The story is about some high school drop outs living a normal life as roomates. There is some Nudity and the art is not that great.
The Space Between (http://www.jellybeansniper.net/spacebetween/index.html): Some people in their 20s working and stuff... not that great, but I read it anyways.
Hope that any of these are of interest, also my webcomic (link in my signature) is not far away from a "slice of life" story. But its more in the Fantasy section anyways.
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I'm surprised no one mentioned Girls with Slingshots. (Or I missed it when it was suggested.)
I also used to read Butternut Squash, but there have been serious update problems with that comic.
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oh yeah... Girls with slingshots... I dont like that one much :S
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Tweep (http://www.tweep.com/). Indie kids, one works at a coffee shop.... Watching the art evolve on that one's interesting, too. The archive is month-at-a-time, so it's not hard to catch up. And he's recently started advertising... on QC.
There's also Jeffbot (http://www.jeffschuetze.com/) (autobio) and Subculture (http://subculturecomic.com/wp/) (comic/gamer nerds)
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And, if you like Demons in your Coffee Shop... there's Wapsi Square (http://wapsisquare.com).
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Damn you all, now I have several more comics to follow.
Also, if you're not so closed minded about the anthropomorphic feline concept, Bittersweet Candy Bowl is pretty decent.
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Here's a blog illustrated with comics. Not exactly high quality artwork, but the characters are expressive. Good for biology geeks.
http://wrongguytoask.blogspot.com/
Infrequently updated.
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I enjoyed Tweep (http://www.tweep.com)once it got going. A slice of life comic about a couple of 20 somethings, one of whom works at a coffee shop, another at a music store... and another that has a pet rabbit that thinks it's a detective.
Another similarity is that the art was pretty awful when it started, and got progressively better, taking a huge leap at one point - I almost thought there was a change in artist, but I think he just had a breakthrough of some sort.
The archive shows the strips a month at a time, which is a handy way to read it.
Oh, and it started a few months before QC did, in case you thought it was a ripoff... but you won't once you get into it. It's a whole different kind of comic. Which contradicts everything I've said about it so far.
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Holy necropost, Batman! :mrgreen:
Piled Higher and Deeper (http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php) ... it's about life in grad school. The size of the slice sliced from life by this one made life bleed.
As a current grad school victim student, I'm reminded of the line from the World of Warcraft episode of South Park: "How can you kill that which has no life?"
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Everybody here probably knows it anyway, but Dumbing of Age (http://www.dumbingofage.com) is a pretty awesome Slice-of-Life comic. My personal favourite after QC.
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Sunstone (http://shiniez.deviantart.com/) is a slice-of-life BDSM-centric webcomic about the various relationships of people both inside and outside of the fetish scene. It doesn't quite smack you with sex, but it's there.
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I've gotten really fond of Between Failures (http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/every-story-has-to-start-somewhere), about a group of people who all work at the same declining department store. It's got a lot of heart, which is one of the things I love about QC, and the characters are all memorable. Check it out.
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Hyperbole and a Half (infrequently updated, includes lots of funny real-life stories),
Girls with Slingshots (about women trying to make their way in the world),
Dumbing of Age (college shenanigans with a glacial pace that rivals QC's slowness in time passing),
Shortpacked! (toy store antics, occasionally includes sci-fi elements),
Leftover Soup (an aspiring chef moves in with a woman who is very much like Marigold),
No Pink Ponies (a girl starts a comic book shop in order to talk to a guy she likes),
WereGeek (about D&D and gaming and nerdy friendship),
and Worsted for Wear (a lot of it is related to knitting--but not as much as you'd think)
are all part of my daily comic-checking routine (even on days they don't typically update, just in case). Gunnerkrigg is a little bit slice-of-life, but it's heavily fantasy-based.
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Dumbing of Age (college shenanigans with a glacial pace that rivals QC's slowness in time passing),
To be honest, I think DoA is even slower than QC. It's been online for about 3 years and only a few weeks have passed in-comic so far, even though it updates 7 days a week.
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Is No Pink Ponies updating again? I gave up on it after ... I don't remember, but it seemed like 6 months or so without an update.
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ChaoSera, yeah, I was being a little generous, lol. Excellent point.
Carl-E, yes, actually! It's a little sporadic but is definitely updating on a moderate basis. You can go three weeks without an update, and then he'll post four strips on the same day. XD
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A lot of the best ones are slow-paced. More room for character development.
Speaking of which, how did I forget to mention Freefall (http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff100/fv00001.htm)? Great strip, especially if you enjoy science fiction and the civil rights of robots and artificial intelligences. The main character is Florence, who is an anthropomorphic wolf in an otherwise human world. Some scientist named Bowman genetically modified wolf DNA so the wolf would have the capability of walking upright, speaking, and manipulating things with hands, and then took the same basic framework they use for robot AIs and somehow got it to run on a wolf's brain instead of an electronic brain. There are only about eighteen of these "Bowman's wolves" in existence, and if Florence is a good example of them, they are scary smart but super friendly. Which is good, because if they don't pass their "field trials", the corporation funding Bowman's research will pull the plug on the whole program...
Has some absolutely fascinating insights on how an intelligent wolf might be different from humans -- Florence feels all sorts of pack behavioral instincts, but can articulate them clearly to non-wolves as well. And she was raised by humans, so she has a good understanding of human social dynamics as well, but it's learned, not instinctive, so she needs to reason her way through some things that humans don't even have to think about.
And civil rights? Robot AIs don't have 'em, and Florence is considered a non-human AI effectively equivalent to the robots, so she doesn't have 'em either. Although she deserves them more than many humans I can think of...
Edit: Forgot to mention that Florence has an advanced degree in starship engineering. Did I mention she was smart?
Edit edit: Oh, yeah, the original poster asked for "slice of life" comics. Well, Florence's life may be taking place some time in the medium-far future, but I think it's more than fair to call Freefall a slice of her life. The external trappings of it may not seem much like your own life, but under all that she's just a gal looking to move forward in her career, make friends, and maybe even find a special someone...
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Freefall is undoubtedly also the slowest moving comic of all - at least of those I follow, or know of otherwise. But Florence is a great character (and seriously cute). Being bio-engineered, she has the curious property that she can be turned off by a remote control, poor thing...
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Indeed. But it has a large archive to work through, which'll keep you busy for a good while, and it updates regularly two or three times a week. And the characters are just so good...
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Freefall is undoubtedly also the slowest moving comic of all - at least of those I follow, or know of otherwise.
*coughcoughVGCats (http://www.vgcats.com/)coughcough*
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Freefall is undoubtedly also the slowest moving comic of all - at least of those I follow, or know of otherwise.
*coughcoughVGCats (http://www.vgcats.com/)coughcough*
I think I've heard of that one, but if it's even slower than Freefall I'm not even going to look at it. Thanks for the warning... :-P
Actually, I have to admit Between Failures is pretty slow, too. It took nearly 400 comics to get through the first day of the strip... but it WAS a very eventful day. 8-)
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I think I've heard of that one, but if it's even slower than Freefall I'm not even going to look at it. Thanks for the warning... :-P
There were a grand total of nine strips in 2010 alone.
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I think I've heard of that one, but if it's even slower than Freefall I'm not even going to look at it. Thanks for the warning... :-P
There were a grand total of nine strips in 2010 alone.
Oh! That's slow in a completely different way. That's "Templar, AZ" slow, not "Freefall" slow. Freefall updates pretty regularly, about 3 times a week IIRC, but each strip covers maybe 5 minutes of a given day so it takes ages for the plot to get anywhere.
(Which is fine if you're reading through the archives, gorging on scores of strips a day, but a bit less appealing once you're all caught up. 8-))
Templar AZ, however, hasn't posted a strip since April of this year...
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Well, Templar, Az is going slow because Spike has a lot of other projects that other people are relying on her for. She recently did the Kickstarter for and published Poorcraft, same for Smut Peddler and is now getting The Sleep of Reason put together and published. If I understand correctly, once Sleep is finished up and out she's going to start back up on Templar. She just hasn't had the time for it because it's a personal project.
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And that's all fine, but it sure would have been nice if she'd just explained any of that on the Templar AZ page, to let readers know what was going on. :x Until you said that, all I knew was that I keep going back to Templar, AZ every month or two and finding nothing new. Thanks for nothing, Spike.
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It's a free comic that she's posting online. While it would have been nice to have said something on the page, it's been all over her twitter and various other places. I find it kind of hard to get upset about her putting something she does for free on hold.
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Considering her twitter feed is right there on the page, and she's mentioned poorcraft in some of the newsposts with the comic, I thought it was pretty obvious.
Doesn't mean I don't get my hopes up for an update when I check it, though... Pavlovian response, I guess.
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When I find a webcomic I like, I read it regularly. That's all. If the creator has any other webcomics, I'll take a look at them too, if I see them mentioned anywhere. I don't get so fascinated by the comic's creator that I go looking for other ways to keep in touch with their doings: I don't follow their Twitter feed, I don't read their tumblr blog, and I don't check out their DeviantArt account. None of those have anything in particular to do with my primary interest: the webcomic, not the webcomic's creator.
(I do sometimes check out a comic's forum, if it has one that's active, but the Forum link at Templar AZ goes to NeverNeverLand.)
My point is, a comic creator knows that all the comic's readers have one thing in common: they read the comic. The creator does NOT know that all the comic's readers also view the Twitter, tumblr, DeviantArt, or whatever, because many (most?) of them don't. Is it really too much to ask a webcomic's creator to put a friendly notice of the comic's hiatus on the one place they know all the readers will see it -- on the comic's actual website?
It seems pretty reasonable to me.
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I just witnessed one webcomic go silent just because the title advertised one thing, yet 35 or so pages later.......nothing as advertised. And people went nuts over why it was taking so goddamn long to "get to the good stuff." And the artist couldn't handle the masses of folks complaining about it, so she deletes everything and raged quit (For comparison, a comparable Japanese Hentai comic running a similar concept "gets to it" within 10-15 pages).
Whats with artists not accepting criticism well? Are they so cushioned with pyrrhic praise that one stray comment shatters that illusion?
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...people went nuts...the artist couldn't handle the masses of folks complaining about it...
Whats with artists not accepting criticism well? Are they so cushioned with pyrrhic praise that one stray comment shatters that illusion?
Well, there you go. One stray comment wasn't the problem. Even the most well balanced person in the world will have a hard time continuing a project if all they're getting for feedback is bitching.
And I've read comics that took - I dunno - hundreds of pages of storytelling to get to the title's theme. Hell, if you read this one for genuine "questionable content", you're still waiting...
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I'd question more what's up with people assuming that the free webcomic they're reading needs to be tailored to their exact specifications? While not wanting any criticisms at all is obviously stupid, fans of free content (fans in general really) are regularly some of the most entitled shits known to humankind.
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Hmm. Maybe people with feelings of entitlement are drawn to entertainment they don't have to pay for? Then it only takes a small number of them to make a lot of noise. Then if the artist has other things going on, the abuse could push them over the edge.
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Well, there's criticism and there's the juvenile trash-talk fest that is the free and unfettered internet. Granted, you should see that coming by now, but that doesn't make it any less like a constantly renewed supply of rat droppings in your coffee -- and whassamatter, hurr hurr, you git all butthurt by free speech?
I second any and all of the comments about entitlement, too.
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I third them.
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and whassamatter, hurr hurr, you git all butthurt by free speech?
When that attitude causes them to defy the forum rules they discover the downside of it.
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and whassamatter, hurr hurr, you git all butthurt by free speech?
When that attitude causes them to defy the forum rules they discover the downside of it.
I feel the need, unjustifiably I hope, to point out my italicized comment quoted above was meant sarcastically.
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So I decided to check out Dumbing of Age, starting from the start.
This is what happened. (http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/not-investing/)
And now I am finished. Curses.
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So I decided to check out Dumbing of Age, starting from the start.
This is what happened. (http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/not-investing/)
And now I am finished. Curses.
It was exactly the same for me, when I checked it out for the first time a few weeks ago. After I looked into Rommies! and Shortpacked I gotta say, DoA is by far the best of Willis' works. It's brilliant.
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and whassamatter, hurr hurr, you git all butthurt by free speech?
When that attitude causes them to defy the forum rules they discover the downside of it.
I feel the need, unjustifiably I hope, to point out my italicized comment quoted above was meant sarcastically.
Umbershdood.
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and whassamatter, hurr hurr, you git all butthurt by free speech?
When that attitude causes them to defy the forum rules they discover the downside of it.
The problem tends to occur more in those unmoderated comment sections most comics put up.
The more experienced artists don't have those.
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So would that make Dave Willis an unexperienced artist? He has those sections in both Shortpacked and DoA. Although, if I think about it, I'm not sure if they are really unmoderated. There's a lot of arguing going on, though.
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Nothing wrong with arguing, per se; it's the nature and manner of the argument that needs moderating.
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So I decided to check out Dumbing of Age, starting from the start.
This is what happened. (http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/not-investing/)
And now I am finished. Curses.
Good. Now read "Roomies!", "It's Walky!", the free strips from "Joyce and Walky!", and "Shortpacked!".
Not only does that keep you busy a little longer, it also makes you appreciate DOA even more. Just brace yourself, there will be "feels".
By the way, at least the old comment system which is used on DOA is moderated. Before your comment becomes visible it has to be manually approved. Shortpacked!'s site just changed completely, so I don't know how it's managed there.
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Ankh, you do realize you sound like an evil mentor?
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I was very well aware of that. While writing that first sentence I couldn't get Darth Sidious out of my mind…
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The sentence "Good."?
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Good. Now read "Roomies!", "It's Walky!", the free strips from "Joyce and Walky!", and "Shortpacked!".
Despite what everyone claims it's perfectly possible to read and enjoy Shortpacked! without having read Roomies and It's Walky. I only read them recently and don't feel like I missed anything, and I've read Shortpacked! for years.
You don't need to know Robin, Mike and Utracar's origin stories to enjoy (or dislike) them as characters. Galasso resurrects strangers and historical figures because he's an insane and incompetent would be evil mastermind. You don't need to know where he got the technology (There is more to him than that, but that's explained in Shortpacked!). Reading the earlier works does explain some minor stuff and a couple of Mike's motivations (but not why he's an asshole), but read them because you want to, not because you feel obliged.
And Dumbing of Age is designed to be self standing, so again, read the earlier works because you want to and when you feel like it, not because you feel obliged to.
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I know that, I read DoA first, then read through SP!, and then through the rest of the Walkyverse. I was surprised how much I had missed. Rereading DoA is great after reading the Walkyverse. There's so much to discover, and it's so great to see the characters again.
Still I would recommend reading Roomies!/IW! betore SP!. There were many strips in SP! where I didn't understand a thing, and just had to skip through that stuff, shrugging (apart from all the Transformers strips).