Comic Book Links

Online Comics

8-Bit Theatre - A comic about Final Fantasy sprites: Black Mage and Fighter to be exact. Later in the comic they are joined by others, but I don't want to spoil it for you. I've read the first 51 pages. It only took me about an hour to read. It's really funny!

CrashGirl comics - Pretty wry look at a girl who doesn't hate all men, just the ones that cross her path.

Dandy and Company - Recommended to me, though I haven't had much time to check it out. I read a few of them and they're pretty good. Good enough to warrant listing them. ^_^

Diesel Sweeties - This one put me off at first, but I started back with the first strip and read forward a bit. It's kind of dry and wry humor, but pretty good.

Drunk Duck - This is a large site that is host to many many web comics of varying quality. Here are some of my favorites: GAAK, UNA Frontiers, Coydog Cafe, Count Your Sheep, and No Room for Magic.

Graphic Smash - A host site dedicated to action-oriented web comics. There is a fee of $2.95 per month to view their comics, but it's well worth it. If you don't want to pay, the current page of each title is free and some of them have free samples to see whether you like it or not. My favorite is Gun Street Girl. They're put up a whole story for free, so check it out.

Hoody Hoo Cartoons - This site features flash animations of the funny comic Knights of the Dinner Table (which was created by KenzerCo). It's about a group of roleplayers and their misadventures.

KeenSpot - This site links all lot of different artists together. Here are some that I like: Elf Life, RPG World, FANS!, Sex & Violence, The Wandering Ones, Cool Cat Studio. There's a lot of others, so check 'em out!

The Nice Guy - A web comic all about, well, a nice guy. And how sometimes it's not so nice to be the nice guy in the group.

PvP - This is an online comic about...many things. Mostly about gaming, a lot about human interaction. It's very funny! I've started to read through the old posts (they go back to 1998). It's a daily comic strip and is also coming out with a comic every 2 months produced by image comics. Issue #1 came out on March 5th. Check it out, my description doesn't do it justice!

John's Website - A friend of mine, John, reads a lot of online comics and also roleplays. He has a links page which lists all the online comics that he reads. He's also working on posting up the story from the roleplaying campaign that he's running.

Online Comic Shops

The Comic Book Superstore - I haven't bought from them yet, but they have a good selection of independent and obscure titles. I found them while I was looking for an old series.

ComicBookWebsites.com - I haven't actually browsed through these places much. I found this the other day when I was looking for an obscure title. I do like Budplant.com which features a lot of comic art and illsutrations.

Comicon - a very very large website that is basically a network to other comic stores. I usually look here first when looking for an artist or publishing company because it has a lot of links! And it's layout is just like that of a comic convention with booths and different floors to go to.

Ebay - I buy most of my comics on ebay. I usually get a better price and they're in good condition.

Midtown Comics - This is the store that CrossGen is working with to keep all their titles in stock. They also have a lot of other comics and toys. I've found a few back issues there and I visit every week because they have a complete list of what's new each week.

Mycomicshop.com - My fiance Will has bought a lot from them. I'm waiting to save some money to buy from them. They have a pretty large selection with pretty decent prices.

Comic Publishers

2000AD Online - publisher of the Galaxy's Greatest Comic - 2000AD. Also known as Britain's Premier Weekly Comic Anthology. Home to Judge Dredd and many other characters, this is the best anthology out there. While it's not easy to find the weekly issues in America, DC Comics has signed a deal to start releasing trades collecting material from 2000AD!

Alternative Comics- a publisher of indy titles. I haven't really check it out yet, but since I like quite a few indy titles, I thought it'd be good to support more of them. Check this out and hopefully you'll find something you like. They do have some online comics.

Avatar Press - I'm only collecting Glory from them. Their focus seems to be alternate covers and they have many other titles including Shi, 10th Muse, the Coven, Demonslayer, Razor, etc.

CrossGen - I collect/have quite a few of their titles. I loved them all, but with CrossGen sinking, I don't know how much longer this site will stay up.

Dark Horse - I have all of the Gunsmith Cats series and Legend of Mother Sarah series. I am currently getting Conan.

DC Comics - I'm gettin a few DC titles, mostly Vertigo. Vertigo has a great line-up of titles including Fables, Sandman, Lucifer, Y the Last Man and Books of Magic.

Elephant Eaters - Self-publisher Ryan Claytor with his 24 hour comic and autobiographical comic strips.

Good Intentions Paving Company - Publishes Candyappleblack. For fans of The Crow, Sandman, and Preacher and for those who struggle to keep on living, this mature title is about loss, betrayal, isolation as well as compassion and the hope of something better.

Image - I collect any Dawn titles they produce. I am also collecting PvP. I have a few of their Tellos trade paperbacks. They also printed Brandon McKinney's JourneyMan miniseries.

KenzerCo - I have the first three of their Dungeons and Dragons mini-series, but I have read (and want to get) Knights of the Dinner Table.

Marvel Entertainment - I collect/have these Marvel Titles: Call of Duty, Edem's Trail, Marvel Mangaverse, The Order, Elektra/Wolverine: The Redeemer, Labyrinth, Muties, Rogue miniseries (2001), Storm miniseries (1996), and Wolverine/Hulk miniseries. More recently,I tried out Thor for a little while and I'm currently getting Thor: Son of Asgard and Astonishing X-men.

Neko Press - Bill Martinez's Wildflower series used to be printed by Sirius, but is now being published by Neko Press. Billy Martinez is also doing Kickass Girl. Neko also produces some Dark One stuff.

Oni Press - There's a lot of good titles from Oni. I'm following Courtney Crumrin, Blue Monday and Hopeless Savages. There's many more series form them that I want to check out..

Second2Some - They publish a few tittles including Fade From Blue, a title that I'm very interested in, but I'm waiting for the first trade. They also have this really cool Guide on how to get anyone to read comics.

Shooting Star Comics - Currently publishing a fantastic anthology with stories from all genres.

Slave Labor Graphics - I've enjoyed their Charm School and Gloom Cookie. Their titles often venture into the bizarre and unusual, mostly mature. But they also have age-friendly books that are published under Amaze Ink. I'm going to try Scary Godmother by Jill Thompson soon.

Studio Foglio - Cartoon Weirdness from Phil and Kaja Foglio. Publisher of Girl Genius, Buck Gadot and gaming stuff, check out their site where you can read some of their comics for free!

Tokyopop - A company that releases manga in English. My boyfriend has gotten Love Hina which is a romantic comedy about a ronin (a boy who can't get into college, but keeps trying) who is also the manager of an all girl's dorm and the hilarity that ensues. Clover is another that I'm interested, but then I really like CLAMP's style.

Viper Comics - Publisher of Dead@17 and Daisy Kutter. Both are very excellent books and highly recommended. Check out my reviews of Dead@17 and Daisy Kutter.

Viz - Also releases manga in English. I am currently collecting Inu Yasha and Bastard from them though they have many other series that I'd love to collect including Ranma 1/2. And I now subscribe to Shonen Jump, a monthly anthology of manga translated into English. And I just started on Rurouni Kenshin - it's very good!

Warp Graphics - ElfQuest. They don't publish anymore since their deal with DC Comics, but you can still find a lot of information here about ElfQuest.

Working Title Comics - They produce comics only on the web. Their intentions are to help artists and writers try their hands at comics and get their work out there to be seen.

If you didn't find a publisher that you were looking for in the above list, check out the Comic Art Links Directory.

Comic News

The 4th Rail is a good site with previews, reviews and features.

Comic Book Resources is one of the best resources for comic books. They always keep up to date on everything and anything to do with comics. They have a very extensive Link Database, over 2000 sites listed and categorized.

Comics Continuum is another solid resource about all the different comic book universes. It's a little annoying with the ads on the left and right, but their daily news updates are very comprehensive. They often have first looks at many different comics, which allows you to read the first 4 pages of a comic online.

Comic World News is a large website that covers quite a bit with sections like Top Stories, News, Columns, Reviews, Industry Tips, Cartoons, and First Looks.

Comics Worth Reading - Just like it says, it a site that recommends and previews comics. There's a pretty long list of indy titles and it's helped me find new titles that are really worth reading! I really like the "If you like this title, then try this."

Digital Webbing is also a very comprehensive resource about comics and I really like their announcement page where comic book website submit updates about their websites. There's also an e-magazine that you can sign up for (which I submit my reviews to).

HeroRealm is a very good interactive news site. I submit my reviews to them. On the message boards, I post under Silva Shado. ^_^

MightyMiniCon - A convention in Syracuse, New York, they also have columns and message boards.

Newsarama is also very good with their articles and interviews.

Sequential Tart - A monthly web zine about the comics industry, published by an eclectic group of women. They have interviews, reviews, articles, news. And it's not just for women, they want to educate everyone about the comics that are out there. I love to look through their cover gallery.

The Trades has very good coverage with previews, reviews and features. Very easy to navigate, which is a plus over some other sites.

Comic Book Sites

Bill Willingham - official site for Bill, the creator Fables among other things.

Cal Slayton - He's the artist for Shades of Blue. He also does a lot of other stuff, so check out his website.

Comic Character Database - a very comprehensive collection of info on a lot of different comic book characters. Good place to look when you want to know more about a character before going and buying a book.

Dark One - I used to have a page dedicated to Dark One and his comic books with a full art gallery, but I have slimmed down the site and all that remains are a few links to other Dark One websites: Animal Mystic and Jatarri, Queen of all Heroes.

Distant Soil - created by Colleen Doran. It's a title that my boyfriend and I are interested in, but haven't gotten yet. The best quote that I've found to describe it is: "Arthurian apocrypha, contemporary psi-powers and distant future space fantasy combined." The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror; Eighth Annual Edition; St. Martin's Press

Groovy Comics - home to the League of Super Groovy Crime Fighters. "Wouldn't it be funky if all those wacky advertisements in old comic books, or the prizes at the bottom of cereal boxes granted real powers? That's exactly what happens when a handful of men and women, who ordered novelty items from comic books, instead get items of real power. The '70s will never be the same." Check out the first issue online. If that gets you interested, you can order the comics in a set for $9.95 from Ancient Studios.

Hope 7 - A really cool looking indy comic. The art is really beautiful and the story is strong.

James Jean - Cover artist for Fables and Batgirl.

Jay Hosler - assistant professor of biology at Juniata College who has created two comic books aimed at teaching science to kids. Here's an article all about his endeavors.

Jill Thompson - creator of Scary Godmother, she also did Death: At Death's Door, a manga title about Death from the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman.

Liberty Meadows - By Frank Cho. This site has news about his upcoming projects as well as uncensored Liberty Meadows comic strips.

Linsner.com - JML on the web! They have a lot of Linsner stuff for sale including many of his comics.

Mark Crilley - an author and an illustrator. He's best known for his comic Akiko. I've been told that it's akin to the Wizard of Oz. I like what I've seen of whimsical art style.

Neil Gaiman - Official site for Neil Gaiman, an extraordinary writer of comics and books, creator of Sandman and Books of Magic. If you're new to the site, I'd check out the Site Map.

The Night Things - Official site for the comic Courtney Crumrin. I got the free issue from Free Comic Book Day and really enjoyed it. I've enjoyed the three miniseries that have come out. Here's the run-down of the original story. The art style is a little different than I'm used to, but, just like "The Nightmare Before Christmas," this has surprised me by how much I've enjoyed it.

Shades of Blue - I really really enjoyed this and was so sad to see it end because of low sales. I hope that one day it will continue. Here's a full page of reviews for you to check out to see what I mean. If you like what you see, the first 5 issues of the first series have been collected into a trade and the first issue of the second series should still be available. I bought the trade and the first issue on the same day and read them both that night. I enjoyed it so much that I couldn't put it down. I hope they collect the last part of the first series soon. They do have all of the issues for sale, but I'd contact them first to see if they're still selling.

Spookoo - home page for Christine Norrie, Daniel Krall, Andrew Lis, and Jamie McKelvie. I'm familiar with Christine Norrie for her work as an artist for the Hopeless Savages series by Oni Press. Daniel Krall created a comic called One Plus One, also published by Oni Press.

Steve Uy - creator of Eden's Trail and Feather. I really love his writing and art style. Check out the Image message boards for more info.

Tabloia - This is a tabloid style comic that takes itself so seriously that’s its funny. From the cover to the features inside, this comic offers “true tabloid tales for the sophisticated pseudo-intellectual.”

Usagi Yojimbo - This site is a good introduction to the world of Usagi Yojimbo. Usagi Yojimbo takes place in 17th century Japan and the Samurai are the ruling class. There is one masterless Samurai wandering the countryside named Miyamoto Usagi. That's a real condensed description of the story. If you are more familiar with Usagi Yojimbo then I recommend checking out the Official Usagi Yojimbo site. It's huge and quite daunting to the newcomer, but quite useful for those already initiated into the world of Usagi Yojimbo.

Will Eisner - "Will Eisner has been a pioneering force in comics for over sixty years. His career spans groundbreaking work in early newspaper comics to the mature graphic novels that he continues to produce today." His site includes sections for news, library of his books, biography and even a page on his unpublished work.

Comic Book Resources

Buddy Scalera - He does writing for comics, but more importantly (for this section) he's created 3 volumes of visual references for comic book artists and writers. Each one offers different things and they're pretty inexpensive. Check out volume 1, volume 2, and volume 3.

Comic Book Documentaries - "Scenes from the Small Press: Mainstream Raw" will be the first out of three documentaries looking behind the scenes at the comic book industry. There's a 15 minute preview to show you what it's like. It's all raw footage of interviews with different people in the industry. Check it out!

Comic Book Legal Defense - "Defending the Comic Industry's First Amendment Rights since 1986." Just as their slogan announces they do a lot to keep the industry free from censorship. They also do a lot of fundraising and charity auctions to help people.

Comic Book Resource's article on writing for comics - a really good article with a lot of links to resources on the web as well as a list of books to get.

Comic-Con International - They host A.P.E in San Franscisco, WonderCon in Oakland and Comic-Con in San Diego. Will and I were hoping to go to WonderCon, but it won't happen this year. Maybe next year...

Fanboy Radio - A really cool radio show that interviews a lot of comic book people on the air.

Friends of Lulu - Friends of Lulu is a national nonprofit organization whose purpose is to promote and encourage female readership and participation in the comic book industry. They try to help out the whole industry by breaking down all forms of stereotypes, but they do focus more on helping women in the industry. I like their recommendation list which has a wide variety of good comics in different genres by both men and women.

GHOST's CrossGen Analysis - Just as it says, it analyzes almost all of the CrossGen titles. It explains where some of the symbolism and mythology came from or what its similar to. Very fascinating!

Notes on the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Just like it says, this is a page of annotations to help clarify various points in the comic. If there are references that you don't understand, this is a good site to go to.

Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art - Right now they have an online exhibit called Duck! It's pretty cool to see how the different artists interpreted the word "Duck!"

'Nuff Said - A comic book radio show.

Writing for Comics - Marc Fleury has set up a very extensive library of essays and supplements to help the aspiring writer.