Title: Slightly Damned
Genre: Humor
Author: Chu
Artwork: 6/10
Humor: 6/10
Story: 8/10
Quotable: After reading this, hell doesn’t seem so bad.
Slightly Damned is the chronicle of girl who dies and now has to deal with her fate. Her fate is that she wasn’t good enough to get into heaven, too evil to go to purgatory, but not quite evil enough to warrant hell.
It is apparent the artist takes her inspiration from anime, and she writes her characters well. The artist manages to stay under that ‘too cute’ line, which is very rare in comics of this style. With solid characters and the occasional golden joke, Slightly Damned holds its own in the world of anime-based webcomics, in my mind surpassing much more popular ones.
Title: Super Frat
Genre: Humor
Authors: Tony Digerolamo (writer), Chris Moreno (artist)
Artwork: 8/10
Humor: 7/10
Story: 5/10
Quotable: An 80’s college movie movie come to the internet, with meteor-powered heroes for good measure.
Oh where to begin… Super Frat is definitely one of the more unique comics I’ve read. While a webcomic focusing on college life is nothing out of the ordinary, one that DOESN’T focus on school and relationships is. Super Frat can best be compared to any of a dozen college movies from the 80’s. All the basic elements are there, the messy dorm house, the fat guy, the smart guy, the popular guy, the rastafarian guy, and the traditional classy ivy-league calibur dean that ends up as the butt of more than a few pranks. The twist, of course, is that these frat boys all have super powers. And unlike Peter Parker, with great power does not come great responsibility.
At first glance, I wasn’t sure how much I’d like Super Frat, not really being a fan of scatalogical humor, but the authors manage to include many nuances of humor, including puns (my personal favorite), non sequitors (probably my second), and background gags. As I read through the archives, I found myself laughing and chuckling quite a bit. While some jokes aren’t that great, others tend to be pure gold. The story is average, existing more as a vehicle for the onslaught of jokes. All in all, it managed to exceed my expectations at and turned out to be a very decent webcomic.
Title: Ubersoft
Genre: Technology/Humor
Author: Christopher B. Wright
Artwork: 5/10
Humor: 7/10
Story: 7/10
Quotable: If Bill Gates designed hell, this would be it.
Ubersoft is a comic that makes fun of both real and fictitious software and technology trends. In an evil corporation full of drunken programmers, psychotic tech writers, apathetic help desk workers, undead legal department, and a demonic boss, its rare I read a comic where I don’t at least get a good chuckle. Even though it may sometimes seem to be on the verge of repeating itself, the humor manages to stay fresh.
Title: Zap!
Genre: Sci-Fi/Humor
Author: Chris L. & Pascalle C
Artwork: 7/10
Humor: 6/10
Story: 8/10
Quotable: I had always hoped the future would be funny, now I have proof.
Zap is the only sci-fi comic I currently read, and its pretty good. Its main draw is a cast of amusing characters immersed in a unique and interesting world. The art doesn’t start off great, but it improves dramatically over the course of the comic. All in all, I get a kinda ‘Futuramaesque’ feel from it. And I LOVE Futurama. Hence, I reall enjoy this comic.
Zap is the story of a man named Zap, who has no memory, and clumsily makes his way through life. He’s somewhat obnoxious and full of himself, but his capacity for momentary periods of emotion and insight add some depth to him. Through the comic, there’s a definite evolution not only in the artwork, but in the characters and the artists’ ability to portray them.