Coloring Between the Lines: Genre Webcomics for Teens
Brigid Alverson -- School Library Journal, 11/18/2009
Genre fiction is like comfort food for the brain: it’s familiar, relaxing reading that doesn’t deliver too many surprises. Given the popularity of science fiction and fantasy among computer folk, it’s not surprising that the Web is rich in genre webcomics. Here’s a sampling of teen-friendly titles.
Science Fiction. Old-fashioned space operas are alive and well on the Web.
Runners Universe is an entertaining story of intergalactic haulers, a crew of aliens (plus one sort-of human) who carry freight from place to place and get into battles with space pirates along the way. Writer Sean Wang captures the camaraderie that occurs when people with varying personalities (and in this case, head shapes) work together. Galaxion (left) is another space-travel story, this one featuring a crew that mostly looks like teenagers. Creator Tara Tallan gets bonus points for putting plenty of women in leadership positions. For manga fans, Aya Takeo (right) has plenty of angst and treachery in a world threatened by man-eating robot spiders.
Fantasy. The Internet abounds in lushly drawn fantasy comics. Sarah Ellerton’s Inverloch is a classic quest story in which a member of the wolflike da’akor race teams up with an elf, a thief, and several others to find a missing da’akor. The Phoenix Requiem (left), also by Ellerton,
mixes a love story with a tale of a man haunted by demons. The story is set in a lovely Victorian-inspired alternate world. Ellerton uses a smooth, simple style with painterly backgrounds to create the worlds of both comics. The art is a bit less polished in Earthsong (right), by Crystal Yates, which mixes cosmology and sword-fighting with a cast of strong, pretty women; this one is good for readers who like their action mixed with a bit of philosophy.
G
amer comics. There are certain genres that are peculiar to the Web, and gamer comics is one of 
them. The classic Penny Arcade (left) is a gag-a-day strip about two clueless gamers. Much of the humor is arcane, and there’s some profanity and cartoony violence, so this comic is perhaps best suited to older teens. Brian Clevinger’s 8-Bit Theater (right) is a “sprite comic” (a comic that uses actual video-game art) that’s loosely based on Final Fantasy I.
Romance and Slice of Life. Penny and Aggie is high school drama with plenty of humor; it looks a bit like Archie but has a lot more bite. The characters are aware of their sexuality, so it’s probably in the PG-13 category. Red String is a long-running manga romance with a high school setting that would be fine reading for younger teens.
Resources. Makers of genre comics tend to cluster together and link to each others’ work, so one way to find a comic is to check the links page of a comic you like. Strawberry Comics is a collective that focuses on romance, all in the PG or PG-13 range.
Tomgeeks is basically a list of comics by women creators, but it’s sorted nicely by genre. And the links list for the comic No Rest for the Wicked is particularly 
useful because the creator has taken the time to annotate it. The latter two lists include mature as well as teen comics.
