Luke Surl Comics

Hey all,

Lots of things to say. There’s a little bonus at the end if you make it that far. And yes, scrolling to the end immediately is cheating.

#1 - You people’s comics are great!

A while back now I asked if any of you guys and gals had comics of your own. Thanks for the awesome response, there’s a lot of great stuff out there. I’m going to pick out four of my personal absolute faves, so, in no particular order:

Evil Flea is a comic I’ve had in my RSS reader for a while now. It does puns. Lots of puns. I’ve particularly liked the “Movies they never made series” - I’d direct your attention to “Tardust“, “The Fridge Over the River Kwai” and “Dye Hard”

Next up is Also Bagels, a comic about some brightly coloured critters and their myriad adventures and tribulations. I loved the ‘The Pud Corporation‘ storyline - the start of which is a good place to begin reading. I find myself laughing and genuinely caring about the characters. Still not entirely sure which species half the cast are, but it’s got a robot, so that’s instant win.

On a geeky vibe is Peebles Lab - stick figures and jokes about science, maths and college life. Since I finished my chemistry degree and am apparently a “real person” now I’m not meant to find these sorts of things so funny, but I still do. This one in particular is absolutely great.

Lastly Squid Row is just so beautifully drawn I want to cry a little bit each time I see it. Great characters, and any comic about starving artists gets my vote.

#2 - The Web Comic List Awards

Woo! The inaugural TheWebComicList.com awards just opened for nominations! I’m one of the gang who’s organising this and we’re all really excited about celebrating the best comics on the web. Nominations are open to everyone with a webcomic (or other involvement in the webcomics community)

There are a 12 categories: Best Comic, Best Writing, Best Colour Art, Best Black and White Art, Best Non-Traditional Art, Best New Comic (launched in 2009), Most Improved Comic, The Innovation Award, Best Gag-a-day, Best LongForm, Best Lead Character & Best Supporting Character. The most nominated comics for each category will go to the final round, where a jury of esteemed fellows picks a final winner. Well, I say esteemed, I’m going to be dragging down the average level of esteemedness on the Best New Comic jury.

So if you have a comic, why not get thinking about who you want to win and then head down to the awards homepage and nominate? Me being a committee member makes Luke Surl Comics ineligible for the awards (I can think of far more eligible comics for all the categories anyway) but I do get to vote. Any suggestions who I should be voting for?

#3 - Cambridge & Oxford Comics

So my old haunt Cambridge Comic Creators Collective (C4) is now under new management, but is still going strong. If you create comics in Cambridge, drop me an email and I’ll put you in touch with the gal who runs it now.

My new place, Oxford, has a burgeoning comic appreciation society too. If you want in on that, similarly drop me a line.

#4 - Congratulations! You made it to the end of this very long post!

Well done. As a reward, and to celebrate Sesame Street’s 40th anniversary, here’s a new cartoon of mine rehashing a very old joke.

Peace,

Luke