Here’s a round up of some of the best comics we’ve seen online recently. If we missed something, let us know in the comments below.
Comics writer/editor Alex de Campi declared Aug. 28 to be “Nice Day Wanda,” a day when only good things happen to Marvel’s Scarlet Witch. If you’re familiar with the Scarlet Witch’s comic book history, you know that things don’t always go well for her — she’s accidentally destroying the Avengers one day, eliminating mutants the next, finding out her kids aren’t real, watching her husband lose his feelings … #NiceDayWanda was long overdue. To celebrate, de Campi worked with several artist on short comics where “nothing bad happens to the Scarlet Witch.”
The short four-panel comics are very cute, and feature Wanda doing things like yoga, helping kids retrieve lost balloons and, my favorite, playing Dungeons & Dragons with some of the Avengers (in a comic featuring art by Christopher Peterson and Dee Cunniffe). You can see all the comics on Twitter.
(Also, I’d love to see the end of the Avengers’ D&D session … does Black Widow actually free the cat? I need to know.)
Dan Piraro, creator of the brilliant one-panel gag strip Bizarro, has launched a webcomic called Peyote Cowboy. It’s about a desperate cowboy trying to protect his son, and in their search for food he accidentally eats some peyote. Then things get weird, as the son disappears and the cowboy seeks him out.
While Bizarro can be bizarre at times, it’s all contained in a quick, single panel. With this, Piraro is really letting his creativity fly — while at the same time grabbing your heart in what’s essentially the story of a father looking for his son.
While the comic is free to read online, Piraro has set up a Patreon site where you can donate to support its creation.
We’ve spotlighted a lot of COVID-19 related comics over the last few months, but this recent one from the Los Angeles Times is a bit different — in it, cartoonist Kevin C. Pyle compares our current times to Albert Camus’ 1947 novel The Plague.
I thought I’d end this edition by spotlighting some webcomics that took home awards this weekend. First up is Witchy by Ariel Ries, which won the Ignatz Award yesterday for “Outstanding Online Comic.” Here’s a description:
Witchy is an ongoing webcomic about the young witch Nyneve, who is haunted by the death of her father and the threat the Witch Guard poses to her own life. When conscription rolls around, Nyneve has a choice to make; join the institution complicit in her father’s death, or stand up for her ideals?
The first volume of Witchy is also available in print.
Ries also won the award for “Outstanding Comics Book” for Cry Wolf Girl, which was published by Short Box. You can buy it from the Short Box site or from Silver Sprocket.
And during the Reuben Awards presentation yesterday, Alec Longstreth’s Isle of Elsi won the award for “Online Comics – Long Form” in the NCS divisional awards. It’s a free, all-ages fantasy webcomic featuring magic, shady bad guys and talking dragons. You can find out more about Longstreth and order some of his comics on his website.