Let's face it: Most newspaper comic strips are pretty dull, rehashing, over the past few decades, the same formulas (and often the same characters). That's why comics connoisseurs have been turning to the Internet, where artists can create and publish works that are a little edgier, a little quirkier, and much, much funnier. Here are five favorites. (Click on the images to see them full-size.)
PvP
Gamer humor can sometimes be obscure to outsiders, but despite the name of Scott R. Kurtz's strip, PvP (it stands for "player vs. player"), specialized knowledge isn't required to have a good time. The staff of the fictitious PvP Magazine should be recognizable to anyone who has had even minimal exposure to geek culture. Three examples are Brent, who is such a Mac diehard he annoys even other Mac diehards; Francis, a teenager who's never entirely sure if games or girls are more important; and Scratch Fury: Destroyer of Worlds, a super-intelligent cat bent on world domination. Throw in occasional appearances from the cartoonist's father, and you've got a winner.
We the Robots
Chris Harding is a funny guy. I know this because I've watched his animated cartoons Learn Self Defense and Make Mine Shoebox more times than I can count, and I still laugh like an idiot every time. Earlier this year Harding turned his considerable skills in illustration, observation, and sarcasm to a strip called We the Robots, which gives us a world where life evolved from the mechanical, and yet is frighteningly familiar. We the Robots mines the kind of soul-crushing territory that's familiar to Peanuts fans, but his cute, big-headed creations are (mostly) grown-up and share our experiences...or the worst of them, anyway. Laugh so you don't cry? More like laugh so you don't wail in despair.
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