Updated on March 19, 2023
Here’s an update (from a post a year ago) on what webcomics and newspaper comic strips I enjoy reading in 2019. I’ve added some new strips, and dropped some others.
Note these are about currently published strips. Yes, I and everyone else enjoyed “Calvin and Hobbes” and “Peanuts,” but those went defunct decades ago. Thus, I won’t be listing them here.
AJ & Magnus
By Bryan and Simon Steel
www.gocomics.com/aj-and-magnus
“AJ & Magnus” is a comic strip that has a few similarities to “Calvin and Hobbes.” However, the strip’s lead character, AJ, has two fathers, who he calls “Dad” (Alex, who’s a homemaker) and “Pop” (John, a heavy-set man and the main breadwinner). Magnus, meanwhile, is his pet bull mastiff, who usually has more common sense than his AJ. Dad and Pop, meanwhile, occasionally get their own storylines.
Check, Please!
By Ngozi Ukazu
“Check Please” is a webcomic about a gay southern college student who plays for his school’s hockey team; he also enjoys baking pecan pies. The strip’s mix of gay characters, Southern cuisine, and America’s fourth most popular sport has earned its creator, Ngozi Ukazu, much praise.
CommitStrip
By Etienne Issartial and Thomas Gx (English translation by Mark Nightingale)
“CommitStrip” is a French webcomic about the daily lives of web developers. The strip includes jokes about programming, software languages, tech standards, etc. Some of the jokes are (for me) a bit obscure, while others have broader appeal.
Cupid’s Arrows
By Thom Zahler
www.webtoons.com/en/romance/cupids-arrows/list?title_no=1538
“Cupid’s Arrows” is a weekly webcomic by Thom Zahler, the creator of “Love & Capes” and several other comics. It follows a pair of “Cupids,” supernatural agents tasked with pairing up particular couples destined to fall in love.
The strip bounces the characters around to different locations; one storyline has our heroes in Milwaukee.
Diesel Sweeties
By Richard Stevens
“Diesel Sweeties” is a comic with artwork in the style of old-school 8-bit video game characters. It features lots of jokes about coffee, robots, and cats.
Dinosaur Comics
By Ryan North
“Dinosaur Comics” features the same clip art of a green Tyrannosaurus rex and a few dinosaur cohorts, but with different dialogue every day.
A high point is the strip about how many of Batman’s foes have pun-themed names.
FoxTrot
By Bill Amend
“FoxTrot” is the long-running newspaper strip about the geeky Jason Fox and his family. It switched from daily strips to Sundays-only in 2007.
The Joy of Tech
By Nitrozac and Snaggy
“The Joy of Tech” is a comic making fun of various aspects of technology. Jokes range from Facebook’s problems-du-jour to Apple’s latest iPhones.
Kyle’s Bed & Breakfast
By Greg Fox
“Kyle’s Bed & Breakfast” is a biweekly comic about the permanent residents of a gay-owned-and-oriented bed and breakfast in Long Island, New York. Occasionally a bit NSFW.
The Nib
By various artists
The Nib is a site that carries various left-leaning political cartoons, by a variety of creators.
Pearls Before Swine
By Stephan Pastis
www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine
“Pearls” is a comic about a cynical rat, his dopey pig roommate, and various other characters.
The strip is known for making many bad puns (especially in Sunday strips). “Pearls” also often takes shots at the strip’s own creator, who’s an in-story character.
The Pixel Project
By Richard Stevens
www.imore.com/pixel-project-comic
“The Pixel Project” is Stevens’ sister strip to “Diesel Sweeties,” and uses some of the same characters. “Pxiel” focuses on Apple technology.
Questionable Content
By Jeph Jacques
“Questionable Content” is a long-running webcomic that’s a “slice of life” strip. It takes place in a college town, but in a “twenty minutes into the future” setting; here, sentient robots are commonplace.
A few of the characters I like include Brun (an underemployed bartender with a stoic personality) and Bubbles (a former android soldier).
Scandinavia and the World
By Humon
“Scandinavia and the World” is a comic about the countries of the world as people, focused mainly on the Nordic countries. I particularly like Sweden, who has to put up with the obnoxious antics of Denmark.
This Modern World
By Tom Tomorrow
“This Modern World” is a long-running political cartoon that runs in weekly papers. It occasionally features a cynical penguin named Sparky as the main recurring character.
Conclusion
That sums up my favorite webcomics and comic strips as of 2019. As I’ve noted before, this list will likely change with time.
What are your favorite webcomics or comic strips?
Photo by Liz West (Flickr / CC BY / cropped from original)
