Webcomics That Inspire You!

[Funderbunk]

Obviously, we're all webcomic makers or webcomic enthusiasts here. That means a lot of us will have been inspired by webcomics. So I'd thought I'd ask the question: what webcomics have inspired you?

Like I've mentioned before, I originally stumbled into the new medium when I found Penny-Arcade and wanted to do something 'like it'. Parts of my early attempts were also inspired by Greg Dean's Real Life Comics which was at the time one of the few other webcomics I read.

As I started to dive more into the medium and started to discover more webcomics, I started to fall in love with a certain type of comic and less with the gag a day style of comic. Humorous yet definitely story based comics like Sam Logan's Sam and Fuzzy were definitely what tickled my funny bone as well as my imagination. And whenever I need to feel inspired, I will read Brian Carroll's Instant Classic and although I had lost touch with it over many occurrences of creator disappearance and hiatus hell, I recently found it again and I feel the buzz yet again.

What've you guys got?

[TTallan]

Girl Genius. Phil Foglio is who I want to be when I grow up.  ;) And although it's not exactly a webcomic, I noticed that he recently started posting pages of Myth Adventures, which was one of the first series I collected (in floppies) as a kid. It contains some of the best visual gags I've ever seen.

Also, Gunnerkrigg Court. I love the way Tom Siddell slowly explores the mysterious world he's created, and I especially like Coyote.

[TheCow]

Well, I got into comics in general when  my dad brought home a copy of "Spider-Man Masterworks" from the library, and I got hooked. I decided right then and there at age 5 that I wanted to draw comics when I grew up. Then, about ten years ago now, I found Sluggy Freelance. I loved it. It was soon followed by 8-Bit Theater and MegaTokyo. I started my first comic in 2003, and ran in various incarnations until 2008, when I started my current comic.

I currently get inspiration from many comics, so I'll just make a list.

• MacHall\3Panel Soul. Ian and Matt have had a HUGE influence on me, especially through college. (I was that bitter art student who didn't want theory, he wanted technique.) The art influence is pretty noticeable in my older comics.
• Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire. For a long time I couldn't get into this one because I didn't like the art, but once I started going through the archives, the combination of amazingly thought out callbacks, well-laid long-term planning, and horrible, horrible puns really hooked me.
• HeadTrip. Unfortunately, this comic suffers from chronic hiatuses, but the art managed to evolve in such a short time from decent to amazing. It inspires me to experiment with facial expressions and whatnot.
• Okay, so this one isn't a webcomic, but it's probably my biggest influence. It's the old Justice League International series by J.M. Demattais, Kevin Maguire and Keith Giffen. There are some selected scans here. This is the kind of stuff I'm going for with The Cow.

I read at least 20 webcomics regularly, and they all have influenced me in some way or another, but these ones are the ones that I specifically look to when I'm looking for some kind of inspiration.

[Rob]

I read too many to list but the ones that set the hook in me and got me started on this trail are:

Sluggy Freelance
Questionable Content
Something*Positive

That's where things began.  ;)

[amanda]

Questionable Content and Scary Go Round were my first introductions to webcomics... to comics at ALL.  I was a late bloomer. 

Jeph's progress artistically and story-wise with QC helped me realize that not everyone starts at the top of their game, so I wasn't as afraid to start my own with my meager art skills.

SGR had such dynamic and colorful characters, and that inspired me to put effort into making my characters three dimensional.

[Funderbunk]

Seeing Jeph's progress through the years is always great. Sometimes I do a quick archive crawl at QC just for that purpose. I feel much the same way about Zap In Space. It went from this to this. The artist has described doing a webcomic as 'art lessons on crack'.

Also, Gunnerkrigg Court. I love the way Tom Siddell slowly explores the mysterious world he's created, and I especially like Coyote.

Oh! I can't believe I forgot about this one. I've been reading it ever since chapter 2 and I've been hooked since.

• MacHall\3Panel Soul. Ian and Matt have had a HUGE influence on me, especially through college. (I was that bitter art student who didn't want theory, he wanted technique.) The art influence is pretty noticeable in my older comics.
• Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire. For a long time I couldn't get into this one because I didn't like the art, but once I started going through the archives, the combination of amazingly thought out callbacks, well-laid long-term planning, and horrible, horrible puns really hooked me.

In my rather short artwork history I can recognize an obvious MacHall phase too.

As for DD, I agree totally. I still sometimes get irked by the art style, but despite his denials Mookie is one great writer and one of the few who really get the fantasy genre.

[TheCow]

If you're ever at a convention where Mookie is giving his "creating interesting heroes and dynamic villains" panel, it's very interesting. I really need to see it again at Connecticon this year.

[GaborBoth]

My favorites that inspire me in a ,,shoot the moon" way are:

Order of the Stick. I read the archives in three nights, I got completely sucked into the world. I doubt i'll ever find fantasy webcomic as great as this.

Least I Could Do, Questionable Content, Pennie and Aggie - These relationship comics are all different and all great.

Nedroid and Sheldon for just pure, cute humor.

[Funderbunk]

I recently read The Order of the Stick (the whole thing), got hooked on it. I was really surprised by how great the story is, and I was also surprised how accessible it is to someone whose only D&D experience was "I played Baldur's Gate 2 a lot".

[JGray]

Part of OotS's accessibility comes from the switchover of D&D to a new edition a while back. OotS's creator decided that spending a few weeks explaining how his characters had changed under the new rules (and there would have been a hell of a lot of changes. It wasn't so much as a rule revision as a whole new game) took too much away from the story. So now, it is a bit more general in its fantasy RPG jokes and not so much with the D&D specific humor.

[Miluette]

Salad Days inspired the hell out of me. And then it stopped updating! But now they're doing a new comic. *EXCITED*

Goodbye Chains is probably my favorite webcomic, for so many reasons.

The Pride of Life and Shades of Grey (which is ending!) were some of the first comics I read with both solid and interesting storylines with powerful characters.

Also, Inverloch inspired me to create a pretty webcomic, but interesting this time. :P It's a slow process for me though...

Also, one can't help but be inspired by HERO, Templar, Bold Riley, Lackadaisy, or Brymstone. So good they're INSPIRING!

[NoahRodenbeek]

There are 3 comics that have influenced my style and can still have huge impacts on how I draw or write a comic:

http://www.abominable.cc/  Karl Kershl's Abominable Charles Christopher

http://jonnycrossbones.com/  Les McClaine, who also has an insanely awesome tutorial for drawing and using Photoshop here at this comic.  I recommend reading it.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/  And of course Mike Krahuliuk.  Not just because of how he draws today, but how he transitioned out of mediocrity, it's very encouraging.

[GroundChux]

OOooh some nice choices Senshuu. I'd never seen Salad Days or their new project! Really digging that art.

Thanks for the new reads!

[raerae]

Goodbye Chains is one I adore.

Rice Boy is one I like because it shows that no matter how weird a world may seem, if it follows and stays true to its own logic it can make a wonderfully coherent story.

HERO I love for a variety of reasons. Reading it makes me itch to draw.

[TheCow]

http://www.abominable.cc/  Karl Kershl's Abominable Charles Christopher

I haven't gotten around to reading the Abominable Charles Christopher yet, but I absolutely LOVE Karl Kershl's comic work. He's definitely one of my inspirations\influences.