Finding good webcomics

Just thought I'd throw this question out here: what's the best way to find a decent webcomic these days? Is there a site where one can find reviews? Or do you just have to skim the web and hope you get lucky?

Warriors, torchbearers, come redeem our dreams. Shine a light upon this night of otherworldly fiends.

I think you should check out this site.

Ruining everything forever.

Or TV Tropes as a Gateway Drug.

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

See which threads here have the most posts.

(Hint: It's MS Paint Adventures!)

edited 20th Nov '10 1:10:05 PM by RLabs

Good, not popular. There are popular things which aren't good, and good things which aren't popular.

survival of the tight-lipped

I tend to find a few webcomics I know are good, and hop links from there.

...eventually, we will reach a maximum entropy state where nobody has their own socks or underwear, or knows who to ask to get them back.

Looking at the threads with +1000 posts, all of them are at least pretty good in my opinion. I think it's a good way to find at least some you stand a good chance of liking.

Yeah, MS Paint Adventures seems oddly popular here for some reason. I'd never heard of it until I joined Tvtropes.

Warriors, torchbearers, come redeem our dreams. Shine a light upon this night of otherworldly fiends.

Once you find a good webcomic, check their links page and examine every single comic they link to.

That was how I discovered Gunnerkrigg Court.

Another place to look is fanart - if someone draws really good fanart of a comic you like, they probably are pretty good at drawing ... an that's not a bad reason to give their comic a shot.

A third place: webcomic criticism  ^*

. Read essays by people like Eric Burns-White - people who think about what they're looking at - and when their thoughts sound good to you, check out what they're thinking about.

I feel like MSPA has a massive thread here not because it's abnormally popular, but because it has a ridiculously quick update schedule (~7 pages per day) and inspires a lot of Wild Mass Guessing due to its super-complex plot.

Words cast into the uncaring void of the internet.

Considering the enthusiasm of the fanbase and the quality and novelty of the work, I don't think it's as popular as it should be.

Ruining everything forever.

Here's a random one: Between Failures. Kind of like Clerks with extra cast members.

Edit: Come to think of it,it might be a good idea to check your favourite tropes,ask what other people are reading in your other communities (I found that one on fandom_secrets) or if there's fanart of it. If they care enough to add an entry for it or, better yet,draw something,there might be something to it.

edited 23rd Nov '10 9:42:05 PM by AckSed

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

I think that your definition of "good" is important in this equation; A comic that's "good" with a questionable update rate often ranks much lower on daily popularity rating sites like TWC, which is one big reason why "popularity" isn't necessarily the best tool of measurement.

If I take a look at every webcomic I read, I'll have to say that I found most of them either through friends, rating very high on TWC or seeing them on forums. (possibly one or two popped up in an advertisement, but as far as my memory serves me I don't think I've ever started reading any comic due to seeing an ad I like)

The big "problem" is, as the thread title indicates, how does one find "good webcomics" that aren't popular, don't advertise nor have fans who go out of their way to spread it? I think that in this case the best answer is flat out: effort.

As long as a comic tries to spread itself -somewhat- (say, by having a TWC vote button) there's always a place to find it on the popularity poll websites, but the chance of finding a comic you actually enjoy on the first click is unlikely;

IF you really want to actively find good comics outside of the conventional means of "looking through what's popular" you'll probably have to click every single link in something like a TWC-list until you find something that "looks right for you";

If you don't feel like you want to put this much effort into your quest for good comics, the best alternative is to wait until another good webcomic gets popular enough to "break through", but as said, I'm pretty sure this is a slow process for -most- of them, and comics with a very slow update rate/lack of incentive when it comes to votes might never get that high to begin with.

(Keep in mind that for a substantial selection of the highest ranking comics there's factors like a prebuilt community or a fanbase just for their art alone that gave them a huge platform from the start, comics that manage to launch themselves into popularity like this are incredibly easy to find due to how quickly they reach the top)

Either way, hope this post helps, it's only how I "think" the whole good/popularity thing works in the webcomic world, but I'd say it's pretty accurate.

Peace out.

Pixel artist extraordinaire