Cetiya.

Imagine a world where mystical powers are converted into binary code and downloaded to your body. Where a special hardware called ADEPT utilises your bioenergy to execute these powers. Means, the weapon is you.
Welcome to NAAMAST, a crime fighting elite military organisation deep underground. The SOP? One ADEPT. One controller. And ADEPT operative Prada has achieved what he wanted - becoming the Number One. Worldwide. Which came at a price. Called Nine who's his controller.

Cetiya is cyberpunk manga written by Leah Potyondy. And it delivers. Unlike manga drawn by many western artists, Cetiya looks and reads right. The art style is spot on. The iconography is right. And the symbolism is right. The plotline is original and intriguing, the dialogue's crunchy - and all this (writing as a fan of Vexille, Ghost In A Shell, Appleseed, Evangelion, etc... here) is wrapped in the classic manga scenario of bio-/nano-technology de-humanising human beings (with or without their consent) by gradually taking away what makes us human. Enthralling stuff!

Sunset Grill.

The year is 2426. Welcome to Kieselburg City. Had a shyte day? Fancy a pint at the Sunset Grill?

Sunset Grill is a CGI comic written by Kat Feete. Despite being set against the background of a multi-cultural neo-feudalistic society of humans, bio-clones and humanoid aliens governed by the Empire of Earth this comic is NOT about interplanetary wars or conspiracies on a parsec scale. On the contrary, it's all about the life and struggles of average people who've got one thing in common: they happen to drop by regularly at the Grill, a boozer located in one of the toughest districts of Kieselburg. The author offers a whole potpourri of protagonists, ranging from the staff at the Grill to imperial troopers, law enforcement, the local underworld and their affiliates and freeloaders.

SG comprises a network of separate story arcs, subplots and interwoven plotlines. Characters appear, disappear and re-appear - like in real life. Good writing, an interesting main and support cast and thorough world building - means all the ingredients are there to make SG an intriguing concept and an enjoyable read at the same time.

What It Takes.

At one point in a not too distant future life as we know it tanks. What's left is a postapocalyptic vaccum populated by survivors. And Colbey is one of them. The daily routine is straight forward: find food, scavenge and, above all, keep your ass out of the firing line. Who you once were doesn't matter. Whom you are affiliated with does. Means, and for "independents" like Colbey, things are getting more and more difficult by the day...

What It Takes is a brand-new comic by Karen "KEZ" Howard who also writes The War Of Winds, a gripping fantasy epic with top-notch artwork. In her latest comic, the author has opted for toned artwork and a slightly rougher, more dynamic style which accommodates the story-telling extremely well. And with Colbey, KEZ has created a character I'd like to see more often in the genre as a whole - a strong, gritty and uncompromising female lead. Part V. I. Warshawski., part Underworld's Selene. Plus bits of Dirty Harry's twin sister thrown in, too...

Despite it's still early days, the stage is set. The game is on. Time to enjoy the show. I certainly shall.

Scattered Leaves.

Scattered Leaves is a fantasy webcomic by writer and illustrator Seanan Dixon. After escaping from her plague-ridden village, young Ana is sheltered by a group of mysterious beings called Sprites. Sprites are rumoured to be strange "traders" - humans get whatever they want if the Sprites are interested in whatever the human chooses to offer in return. Although Ana has heard that many of these deals do not turn out to the advantage of humans, she's so desperate that she offers to trade in her entire memories in return for a pair of wings. And the Sprites accept...

Since SL is a relatively new comic, the writer has deliberately chosen the first dozen pages to be her "test track". Accordingly, the format varies (colour, B/W and toned). So do line art, inking and lettering. However, all of this does not distract the reader from the story per se. On the contrary, it's very intriguing to see how an individual artist is fine-tuning her style, thereby exploring what works best for her comic. And the most recent pages show that Miss Dixon has made her decision on how the comic will look like from now on.

SL offers quality artwork and good story telling. Am looking forward to reading more.

TWCL Awards 2009

The internet has spoken. And The Webcomic List Awards 2009 are live. This year's winners are:

Best Non-traditional Art: The Dreamland Chronicles.

Best Black and White Art: The Abominable Charles Christopher.

Best Colour Art: Freak Angels.

Best Writing: Gunnerkrigg Court.

Best New Comic: Moon Town.

Best Character: Digger.

Best Gag-a-Day: Girls with Slingshots.

Best Longform: Gunnerkrigg Court.

Best Comic: Gunnerkrigg Court.

Congratulations to all winners and thanks to everyone out there who nominated their favourite comics!

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N.B. Staging these awards took about 6 months including coming up with a format/SOP, coding the vote counter, eliminating a significant number of cheaters (didn't know who they've been effing with...), judging, drawing award ceremonies, designing award pages, etc. Therefore, and on behalf of this year's award committee, a massive Thank You to everyone who've given up their time to help getting the 1st Annual TWCL Awards off the ground.

Spotlight?

Relax. I'm not jumping on the bandwagon. This is not a webcomic-related blog. No comment box at the bottom, see?

This also isn't the place where yours truly is planning to delight you with his opinion on how the Gods of Webcomickery should run the webcomicverse, what to do if you wanna be the next Charles Schulz, whether it's fair that Scott McCloud's "Infinite Canvas" concept only works on a Mac, or whether feeding your comic into the satnavs of your reader's SUVs by hijacking geostationary satellites is the next big thing in 21st Century Sequential Art.

Firstly, because the thing with opinions is that you don't need to know anything to have one. I haven't the foggiest. Means any opinion on my part would be totally irrelevant.

Secondly, there are people out there who DO know these things. And this is precisely why Al Gore invented the internet in 1977 and sold it to Google in 1998. There are already so many really cool sites out there, by experienced webcomickers, for webcomickers, stuffed with expert advice on every imaginable subject associated with the world of (web)comics.

So what's the plan then? Well, this page will feature comics of various formats, genres and styles. Amongst them not only comics by fellow members of the SpiderForest Collective or by comic creators you bump into on community forums such as the TWCL, but also comics solely discovered by chance. And last but not least comics which I believe are in some way unusal, experimental or different.

The common denominator? I most definitely enjoyed reading them. So I thought I'd write a couple of lines about them.

That's basically it.