Eleven great web comics that you should read

With a new web comic series seeming to pop out every week, it’s becoming more and more difficult to find and enjoy a good laugh. While most people find new comics via word-of-mouth, Facebook, or a social link site, I wanted to speed up the process and help some great sites get traffic and show you all some interesting and hilarious web comics.

1. XKCD

Self-described as a “webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language“, XKCD embodies the voice and sense of humor of many internet geeks, mathematicians, scientists, and software/tech-industry specialists.

Featuring a new pithy comic three times a week (Monday/Wednesday/Friday) and capturing the strangeness of humanity and knowledge, XKCD is a superb comic – it also happens to be my favorite!.

Choice comic:

Check the site out and read the comic.

2. The Oatmeal

Similar to the targeted nature of XKCD, The Oatmeal also features a heavy load of comic-based around interests like cats, graphic design, web design, and even grammar.

With a clever view of problems in the state of the internet, and a unique art style that captures the worst of people’s looks, the Oatmeal is a fun read and a wonderful addition to your weekly comic reading.

Choice comic:

Check the site out and read the comic.

3. The Perry Bible Fellowship

While maybe not so updated as it once used to be, PBF has a ton of archived comics, which range from absurd to quite magical. They certainly have a funny way of looking at things, as a large amount of their strips make you laugh … and somehow make you think “Oh this is so wrong!”.

Choice comic:

Check the site out and read the comic.

4. Wulffmorgenthaler

Wulffmorgenthaler (now known as Wumo Comic), a comic from Germany, has crossed the line many times featuring comics that can make you blush or may even offend you. Taking the core of PBF and making it all the more strange and funny makes this comic site a common stop for me – not to mention the fact that they update often enough to be checked more than once a week.

Choice comic:

Check the site out and read the comic
(WARNING: Some Most of the comics on their site are not safe for work).

5. Nerf Now

Nerf Now is a comic made for gamers, and almost exclusively for gamers that love to play MMORPGs (including WoW, Rift, SWTOR), Starcraft, RPGs (like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Diablo 3) and and FPSs (Team Fortress 2 specifically).

Choice comic:

Check the site out and read the comic.

6. Virtual Shackles

Virtual Shackles is a well thought-out strip that has a steady flow of updates. With a mix of multi-comic story lines and one-off social and industry commentary, they are a great addition to any web comic reader who enjoys insight and funny opinion in video games and movies.

Choice comic:

Check the site out and read the comic.

7. Extra Life

While yet another web comic centered around video games (see a trend here?), Extra Life sets itself apart from other comcis by making strips about day-to-day life, TVs, movies, and latest events (plus the occasional pop-culture reference). They have such a wide-range of humor that most visitors will enjoy their comedy.

Choice comic:

Check the site out and read the comic.

8. VG Cats

They are not updated as often as I (and most fans) would like … even taunting and teasing visitors by changing their titles to things like “No update found”, and “Placeholder text here”.

Their subject matter seems to be solely involved with video games, and their comics are very “need-to-know” in the sense that you must have played the game to get the joke. Nonetheless, their choice of games range so widely that you’re bound to be entertained by their comic strips if you play even a moderate amount of video games.

Choice comic:

Check the site out and read the comic.

9. Cyanide and Happiness

While Wulffmorgenthaler and The Perry Bible Fellowship are really focused on off-the-wall observations and oddball humor, Cyanide and Happiness (as the name may suggest), aims to have the most “WTF” style of humor on the web, and they do a fine job.

With jokes ranging from “Oh my god that’s so wrong” to “I can’t believe this messed up comic is making me laugh” and even “Wow I shouldn’t find that funny.. but I do?”, CYaH is a great step into your own mind, letting you see how much you actually find funny.

Choice comic:

Check the site out and read the comic.

10. Penny Arcade

One of the more longer-running web comics and highly successful sites, Penny Arcade has become a large force in the gaming industry. Although they are commonly known, I wanted to still introduce n00bs to them.

You may have heard of a thing called PAX, or perhaps PAX East and PAX West … well these conventions were created and founded by the guys at Penny Arcade (PAX aka Penny Arcade Expo).

They are also big into supporting the gaming community and charities, as well as creating really clever and funny comics based on the latest video games as well as video game news.

Choice comic:

Check the site out and read the comic.

11. Dueling Analogs

With a distinct art-style, steady updates, and smart commentary on the web and video games, Dueling Analogs provides a great level of content and a quick look at keen observations made by their creators.

They are growing larger everyday it seems, as their site went from just a comic to a slowly growing portal of entertainment in a few months.

Choice comic:

Check the site out and read the comic.