Every Sunday, we round up the best comics we’ve seen online in the past week. If we missed something, let us know in the comments below.
Rise of the Dungeon Master: Gary Gygax and the Birth of D&D
This isn’t a complete comic, just an excerpt of the full-length graphic novel Rise of the Dungeon Master: Gary Gygax and the Birth of D&D, but it’s a satisfying piece of the story that stands well on its own. It’s basically the origin story of Dungeons & Dragons, showing Gygax developing the idea, testing it on friends and family, and self-publishing it after being turned down by a major game company. The story, which is told in second person (as if Gygax was a D&D player himself) is based on an article by David Kushner than ran in 2008 in Wired, and Koren Shadmi is the artist.
A GoFundMe Campaign Is Not Health Insurance
Ted Closson’s friend Shane died of complications of Type 1 diabetes; he had no insurance and his GoFundMe page, set up to fund his health care, was $50 short of his goal. In A GoFundMe Campaign Is Not Health Insurance, Closson tells the story of what happened to Shane and places it in the larger context of American politics, where the notion of community is idealized but not incorporated into our healthcare system in any meaningful way.
Winding Up the Window: The End of the Australian Auto Industry
Sam Wallman’s Winding Up The Window: The End of the Australian Auto Industry isn’t new—it debuted in 2016—but it’s in the news this week because it made the shortlist for the Ledger Awards, the Australian comics awards. The comic is a nuanced look at the good and the bad aspects of the Australian auto industry, with most of the commentary coming from the workers themselves. Wallman also takes a hard look at the reasons why the industry is leaving the country—and what will happen once it’s gone. It’s a fascinating, well reasoned comic that will resonate with those who take an interest in the changes in American manufacturing.
I’m Not a Christian, But I Don’t Hate Them
Michael Sweater pushes back on the fashion for Christian-bashing in I’m Not a Christian, But I Don’t Hate Them. Through his own personal experiences with Christians, he points out that they do a lot of good, that faith provides an infrastructure for turning progressive beliefs into action, and that the extremists that are so visible in the media are just that—extremists who don’t reflect the beliefs or lived reality of most Christians.