Five Awesome Webcomics

1. XKCD
http://xkcd.com
The guy who writes this comic is a programmer who used to work for NASA. So I think that gives you a pretty good idea of what we’re dealing with. If you’re thinking a webcomic comprised entirely of stick figures and crude renderings that somehow manage to illuminate life’s secrets in a way you never thought possible, then you’re right. Also, a lot of the time you will probably not understand what the comic is talking about, but you will laugh at it anyway because it’s probably funny to really smart people. And a tip—don’t skip the alt. text (the text that appears when you hover your cursor over the comic). One of my favorite strips: http://xkcd.com/231/

2. Dinosaur comics
http://www.qwantz.com
You wouldn’t think that a comic that has exactly the same panel layout day after day could be creative or consistently funny, but Dinosaur comics is. Written by Canadian Ryan Noth, Dinosaur Comics will appeal to those who enjoy dinosaurs, Shakespeare, time travel, exclamation points, Batman, Nintendo, the word ‘frig,’ God, tiny elephants and philosophy. One of my favorites: http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1545

3. Questionable Content
http://www.questionablecontent.net
For the hipster in all of us. This comic follows the life and times of a stereotypical meek indie boy named Marten Reed and his domineering, independent female friends. Mostly, they just hang out at a coffee shop (aptly named Coffee of Doom) and exchange snarky witticisms. Questionable Content does not actually have a lot of questionable content, unless you count awkward sexual innuendos made by anthropomorphized PCs or random acts of violence committed by emotionally stunted indie girls. Start from the beginning: http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1

4. A Softer World
http://asofterworld.com/
Not so much a comic as a photo journal. Writer Joey Comeau and photographer Emily Horne team up to bring you this wonderfully imaginative, thought-provoking, sometimes hilarious and sometimes heartwrenching series of captioned pictures. With topics ranging from zombie boyfriends to atomic war, these captions have an absurdist sort of poetic beauty to them. And again—don’t skip the alt text. One of my favorites: http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=265

5. Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
http://www.smbc-comics.com/
Odd situations, even odder interpretations. Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal does not just update every Saturday—in fact, this is the only comic I know of that runs each and every day, weekends included. This comic definitely has the most “cartoony” vibe, but don’t let that fool you—they can be every bit as weirdly hilarious as the others. Usually executed in a single panel, SMBC is the type of comic that you read, wait a few seconds, and then start laughing uncontrollably. One of my favorites: http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=1761#comic