Comics! (for those who care for such things)

You know what? I like comics. A single wellwritten and conceived comic strip can express some deep truths that would be impossible to convey properly in any other medium. By connecting simple images and dialogue while leaving plenty to the imagination to combine, comic strips can be like zen koans, absurd theatre, ponderous comedy and pop cultural references rolled into one single nugget of uncertain wisdom.

Web comics do this very well, since most of them do not seek to please. They are simply an outlet for the writer. A way of letting go of their thoughts. Of course, some people eventually make a business out of it, but with genuine web comics (ie. comics only published on the web, and as a pastime at first), the original nerve is that freedom to write what feels right. Without seeking to please anybody.

My first webcomic love was Achewood, which I still read. It is a bottomless font of new English slang and curious incidents. The first strip sums up the style quite well.

It combines wide-eyed wonder with world-weary slang. It’s basically like treasure.

I also had a brief fling with one called Men in Hats, which upon rereading it is a bit of a letdown. Still, some of them do have that sarcastic distance which seems almost zen.

My latest infatuation is with the aptly named xkcd, which brings wonderful honesty and a deep fascination with mathematics together. Now I may not know mathematics, but somehow this still manages to be funny:

Especially those ponderings of love struck some rare chord with me. As well as those pseudo-scientific theories that erupt from time to time.

I think most people find themselves in situations where whatever they’re thinking just isn’t relevant to anybody around them. I hope to be able to think in strange ways, even if it isn’t the Bellman-Ford algorithm.