Somewhat ironically for an English student, I tend to stop reading when exams come around. Free time dimishes rapidly, and I don’t really have the energy to concentrate on a book in the spare moments I have because I’ve already spent nine hours thinking about books. Thankfully, ‘webcomics’ have come to my rescue. It started a few weeks ago when I was scrolling through Tumblr absent mindedly, when I came across a cute comic strip about a couple who had just moved in together – that turned out to be part of a wider series now published into a book called “Soppy”, adorable in every way. So I started looking around for more of them and found it to be quite an abudant genre that’s constantly growing. Why didn’t I know this before! More and more of them are starting to be published as physical copies, but Tumblr will provide you with ample free material. Here are a few of my favourites so far.
1. Soppy by Phillipa Rice
(Blurb of the physical copy that can be bought here) “True love isn’t always about the big romantic gestures […] Soppy is Phillipa Rice’s colletion of pitch-perfect comics based on real-life moments with her boyfriend. From grocery-shopping to silly arguments and snuggling in front of the television, Soppy captures the universal experience of sharing a life together.”
Adorable, am I right? See more of Phillipa’s work here. Her work floats all over Tumblr.
2. Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton
Kate regularly posts comics on her website, found here, and has had multiple collections of her comics published in the past few years, “Hark! A Vagrant” being the most popular. Historical and literary figures take the bulk of her inspiration in this collection, appealing perfectly to my sense of humour. The comics on her site cover a whole range of people and topics, often through a feminist lense, as shown in her most recent collection “Step Aside, Pops”. Awesome in so many ways.
3. Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
Another webcomic that grew so much in popularity that it was published as a graphic novel, Nimona’s title character is a shapeshifting sidekick to the villainous Lord Blackheart, who both set out to prove that the good guys running the ‘Institute of Law Enforcement and Heroics’ aren’t what they make themselves out to be. It starts out cute, but gets violent and dark pretty quickly, a story full of twists and turns just the way I like it. The first three chapters are still available to read online here, and they’ll leave you wanting to hunt down your nearest comic book store to read the rest.
You can read a more detailed review of Nimona here!
4. Witchy by Ariel Ries
The only webcomic on this list to still exist entirely on the internet, new installments of “Witchy” are uploaded on their website every week here and is described on Ariel’s “About” page as follows:
“In the witch kingdom Hyalin, the strength of your magic is determined by the length of your hair. Those that are strong enough are conscripted by the Witch Guard, who enforce the law in peacetime and protect the land during war. However, those with hair judged too long are pronounced enemies of the kingdom, and annihilated. This is called a witch burning. Witchy is the story of a young witch named Nyneve. Terrified of the Guard, and of being enlisted, she hides her long hair from everyone but her mother.”
Happy reading!
xoxo