Cool Comics

Tintin: My favorite comic. I've been told that the first thing I ever read on my own was the Burgess Books, but the first thing I remember reading was Tintin. An intrepid, world-traveling boy reporter and his dog stop crimes and solve mysteries. The stories haven't all aged well, but boy if this isn't the original action-adventure article in my book.

Plus, that ART, particularly the natural backgrounds. I began drawing by copying Hergé's work out of the books I had, and I think his influence still shows.

Favorites: The Crab with the Golden Claws - The Shooting Star - Destination Moon - Flight 714

Read it here (alt link) (The order isn't terribly important, but the run from Tintin in America-->Tintin and the Picaros are the officially sanctioned releases for a reason--I wouldn't reccommend the two before that, and haven't read the unofficial bonus materials after that.)

Atomic Robo: By Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener. You may recognize this guy from my tumblr icon. A similar action-adventure vibe to Tintin, if Tintin was a smart-alec indestructible robot made by Nikola Tesla. I almost wish I'd found this comic when I was even younger. I would have eaten this stuff UP.

The storyline ranges over a hundred years of assorted adventures featuring historical figures, atompunk/dieselpunk/cyberpunk machinery, weirdly sweet robot father-son moments, a talking velociraptor, and blatant misuse of SCIENCE! Also check out the newer spinoff Real Science Adventures for more historical stories.

Favorites: The Shadow From Beyond Time (Carl Sagan my man!) - The Deadly Art of Science - The Savage Sword of Dr. Dinosaur (2022 update: And The Vengeful Dead, but that one is way better if you get to it in sequence. Trust me on that.)

Read it here

Dr. Cataclysm: By Mortis Ghost. Yes, the guy who made OFF. A wonderfully strange cross-galaxy story starring.... well, it's sort of difficult to say. The art is beautiful in its simplicity and the storyline has that innocence and odd unsettlingness that he does so well. I don't know how to give this one a proper write-up. Just give it a read.

Read it here (En français)

Other, surrealer Mortis Ghost comics (all in French, sorry) Moon - Trevize (warning: body horror) - Spenta

Meaniescomic:
By Grimharlequin. A slice-of-life sort of comic with some funny creatures who are roommates. It's a wonderful exercise in the MS Paint default pallete and unapologetically loving tacky and childish things. It singlehandedly convinced me to finally start my comic. I love it.

Favorite character: Green Meanie. Runners up are Purple and Yellow.

The Property of Hate:
By Sarah Jolley (Modmad). A charmingly Alice-in-wonderland-y story of the child Hero and the TV-headed RGB, the "worst monster of them all". If you like Phantom Tollbooth and Lewis Caroll and any other wordplay-driven quest worlds, this may be the comic for you. Plus every new environment is increasingly beautiful and kaleidoscopically colorful.

Favorite character: Assok. Runners up are the Tin Soldier and Hero.

Awful Hospital:
By Jonathan Wojcik (Bogleech). A disgustingly delightful lovecraftian comedy-horror about a mother trying to find her son. It's surprisingly non-edgelordy for such biological humor. Don't worry if you don't get all of the worldbuilding detail with the "zones" immediately, you don't need that to understand the fun video-game style progression.

Favorite character: Eyeslob (of course.) Runners-up: Willis and Phage.

Paranatural:
By Zack Morrison. A story about kids who can see "spectrals" and ghosts that's packed to the BRIM with visual jokes, self-aware melodrama, puns that would make a dad groan, and genuine heartwarming moments. There's a punchline every other panel. Plus some very cool monsters, both goofy and menacing.

Favorite character: Ed. Runners up are PJ and Agent Day.

Chew:
By John Layman and Rob Guillory. I'll start this with a disclaimer: if constant cannibalism, vomit, or Tarantino-like sprays of blood bother you, then... this isn't for you. The series follows Tony Chu, who gets psychic readings from food (or people, or corpses) that he eats. It's in a weird, Jhonenesque alternate world where chicken is illegal. And then it starts introducing characters with other food-based superpowers and things get really outlandish.

Favorite Character: El Poyo!!! And the chogs. Wait, human characters? Fine. Olive and Toni.

Unlike most of these, Chew isn't a webcomic, so the best I can offer is slightly sketchy upload sites, and you might want to give your local library a try instead. (Further warning: there are some transphobic throwaway jokes throughout the series. Unfortunate par for the 00s "edgy humor" course.)