Looking for the best webcomics? These 5 have captivated me for years.
Growing up on Calvin and Hobbes and Fox Trot, I was an avid reader of my local newspaper’s comics section. Then, in the early 2000’s, I discovered the beautiful, weird corner of the internet dedicated to webcomics. Entertainment was never the same again.
Webcomics run the whole gambit: professional to amateur, daily to monthly, paid and not, realistic or fantastical. In fact, the most overwhelming thing is the sheer number of comic options.
There’s many websites dedicated to ranking webcomics or sorting them by genre, but the comics I truly got hooked on were usually linked to by other comic author/illustrators. If they thought it good enough to share, I thought it worth trying out. I hope to do the same for you by passing along a few of my favorite comics with huge archives.
Bad Machinery (Finished Comic)
Bad Machinery is if the Scooby-Doo Gang were British. Shauna, Charlotte, Mildred, Jack, Linton, and Sonny live in Tackleford, a small English town with a history of mystery. The odd humor is just my style and I learned so much about British school culture along the way. Start with the first Bad Machinery comic here.
Gunnerkrigg Court (In Progress)
Another British comic set at school. Annie and Kat attend Gunnerkrigg Court, a science-focused boarding school with a magical forest just outside. There’s plenty of wacky humor (humour?) and I gasped aloud in Chapter 66. Like all long-running webcomics, the style and storytelling evolves as you read. Start with chapter one here.
Lore Olympus (In Progress)
Big confession: a Facebook ad got me into this one. I was really skeptical but I kept seeing the ad and I’m so glad I finally clicked. Persephone, new to Olympus, is eager to leave village life behind. The huge cast of side characters (gods and goddesses!) is extremely well done. You may remember this from our blog post 9 Romantic Science Fiction and Fantasy Books to Read While Social Distancing but it’s too good not to mention again. Read it starting here on Webtoons.
The Meek (On Hiatus)
Angora is a naive woman who’s been sent to save the world by her grandfather. The other POV characters are just as charming, entertaining, and troubled. I’ve been reading this comic for over a decade now and hope I’ll see the end someday. The Meek is NSFW for some very stylized nudity. Start reading here.
Girls with Slingshots (Finished)
Girls with Slingshots is most definitely NSFW, but demonstrates how comics can expose you to subcultures you may not otherwise access. It’s largely a slice-of-life comic about Hazel, a grumpy, aspiring writer, but appears on this SFF list because of a talking cactus and fantastical shenanigans. The art evolves rapidly at the beginning, start it here.
Read them all online for free, but if you decide to add any to your physical library shelves, consider using our Bookshop store front. Bookshop supports Conquer Books and indie bookstores.
Also, if you have any suggestions–it’s clear I like fantasy-based, witty comics with a female lead–please comment below. I’ll definitely check them out.
