There are 3 web comics i follow religiously. The first is not an ongoing story, it’s xkcd, which come on, if you don’t know about what rock have you been hiding under?
The 2nd is far dorkier comic i found through a friend am whichi i am thoroughly addicted to. The Order Of The Stick. Like today’s comic recommendation it’s a vast, ongoing storyline. (OOTS is on episode 786 as of this posting). It is however very much based on the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons, which many of us of the dorkier persuasion are quite familiar with.
The 3rd is Girl Genuis, a continuing steampunk fantasy webcomic by Phil Foglio which is truly EPIC in scope, and almost unbelievable in art and execution
The name Phil Foglio is well known to a very particular type of geek. He’s been around the Sci-fi Fantasy circuit for years, from that small comic in Dungeon magazine to the Myth Adventure covers to a brilliant illustraed version of Another Fine Myth that i adored back int he 80s but don’t know if any other human being ever saw or remembers.
In any case, he and his wife, Kaja, embarked upon the making of a steampunk comic series back in 2001. In 2005 they “abandoned publishing periodical-style comic books and began publishing Girl Genius online as a free webcomic, updated three times a week. Foglio told an interviewer that as of November 2005, “We’ve quadrupled our number of readers, and tripled our sales” of traditional comics and related merchandise.”‘
So, basically this has been going on for 10 years. It’s steampunk fantasy and it is… EPIC. Seriously. I don’t even know where to begin. Here’s a few consecutive “pages” from early in the series.
Phil Foglio is known for a definitive humor in his style and Girl Genuis blends sci-fi, fantasy, long form storytelling and humor brilliantly.
The series has won five WCCA (Web Cartoonists Chocie Awards) awards including 2008 Outstanding Comic, and been nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist, and Eagle Award, and twice for an Eisner Award; in 2009 and 2010 it won the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story.
I cannot recommend this highly enough. If you’re interested started from the beginning, start here.
