Thursday, January 05, 2006
Webcomics: Sluggy Freelance
Sluggy Freelance is one of the first webcomics that I found and read. Pete Abrams started Sluggy Freelance on August 25th, 1997 (or at least, that is the first comic strip available for viewing). The series started strong and except for several lapses in judgment, has stayed a fun an enjoyable comic strip to read for its entire run (so far: running for 8 years and roughly 4 months).
I first found Sluggy Freelance while reading John Ringo’s Legacy of Aldenata series (the books include several Abrams Sluggy Freelance strips that use the Sluggy Freelance characters but put them in Ringo’s universe). I liked the book, and I liked the strips, but I didn’t realize that Sluggy Freelance was a real comic strip until I was wandering around Ringo’s website (he still includes a link to Sluggy Freelance, but I don't see the area where he had the Legacy of Aldenata Sluggy Freelance strips). Once I noticed though, well, let’s just say that my productivity took a huge hit as I hurriedly ate up as much of the comic strip as I could. And luckily for me, Abrams includes all his Sluggy Freelance strips for public absorbtion on his website (except for specials reserved for people that buy his books, I think that’s how the system is set up).
So, what is Sluggy Freelance? Sluggy Freelance is a somewhat strange little world that follows an angry murderous bunny, an hyperactive ferret, several women (who become main characters for brief periods and then, mostly, disappear, though some stick around), and most importantly: a character named Torg and a character named Riff, two friends that share the same dwelling.
The webcomic follows a strong plot-line (well, many plot-lines), takes the time to create story development and characterization, while also remaining funny. Abrams’ stories include a lot of science fiction (Riff is an inventor and is often coming up with odd little strange creations), various parodies (for example: stories that parody Harry Potter, Star Trek), and various seasonally connected stories.
I strongly recommend any and all to sample this series. Oh, and there’s a helpful new users section for those that are new. When I first started, I just leapt in and started reading from the beginning.
Note: I'll include this post here and on my new blog, as I've found that it a little difficult to work with the code on Wordpress. Blogger seems to have better access to the template, while Wordpress has categories but no real access to the template (other than changing "themes"; also, Wordpress seemed to put the posts backwards, and I couldn't figure out how to change that; not sure what I'm going to do).
