The MTV generation is served by a new breed of interactive online comics that draws from pop culture and urban life, along with traditional cartoon strips. At another extreme sits Broken Saints, the Sundance-award-winning graphic novel that transforms static online serial art into a stunningly animated film. Here, lavishly detailed Flash animation and a haunting soundtrack tell an epic story. A hacker, an Islamic fundamentalist, a Shinto priest and a mysterious girl are drawn together by an apocalyptic vision to uncover a worldwide corporate conspiracy. The series ran from 2001 to 2003, but you can see the 24 episodes by following the link on the home page to the original site. Fan forums, art galleries and games accompany daily haikus and discussion in the blog. Best of all, you can download episodes to watch on an iPod Video, and podcast commentaries are promised soon. A glimpse at the future of web-comic production.

CYBER SOAP
www.dieselsweeties.com
Five stars

Have you ever stopped to consider the difficulties involved in robot/human dating, or why pretty Marxist girls get married and become evangelical Christians? Six years have taken the former graphic designer Richard Stevens’s pixellated characters a long way. Yet the Sweeties’ essence is the same: Indie Rock Pete is still disdainful of any musician who gets a song played on the radio; Clango Cyclotron remains a hopeless romantic who despairs of understanding his human girlfriend. Diesel Sweeties showcases the merits of web comics over old media, offering downloadable icons, a buzzing dialogue between fans and author, music reviews and instant access to the archive. It is sometimes childish, occasionally adult, soppily obvious, wilfully obscure: you would have a problem defining the market for this stuff if you sold it. But when it is free for a click every lunch hour, you will soon be addicted.

OLD FAITHFULS
www.comics.com
Four stars

United Media syndicates many of the most popular newspaper comic strips, and showcases all its assets for free at Comics.com. From Dilbert and Peanuts to Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, you can browse a daily selection, print off a clipping for your office notice board or flick through archives going back years. The cartoons here are almost exclusively family-friendly funnies from America (although that curiously international cloth-capped alcoholic, Andy Capp, makes an appearance). Some are more obscure than others, but it is worth browsing unfamiliar names: my most shameful confession is an addiction to Brevity, a hopelessly sentimental strip about daily life. Each strip has its own mini site, with competitions and bonus material. For real addicts, United offers two subscription services (prices start at £7 per year) that give access to the extended archive, as well as a number of comics sent direct by e-mail.

COMMERCIAL COLLECTIVE
www.moderntales.com
Three stars

The first question everyone asks about web comics is: how do they make money? The answer is: most don’t. However, sites such as Modern Tales, which features a host of free and subscription-based comics, could change that. If you really like comics and Modern Tales’ 30-odd artists — including professional cartoonists such as Dorothy Gambrell, author of the popular Cat and Girl, and the award-winning Chuck Whelon — then pay a £1.70 subscription for exclusive strips. But be warned: the home page is unintuitive and page-loading can be slow. If you don’t want to shell out, most of the artists offer free strips. Modern Tales also contains themed mini sites — Girlamatic for girls, the high-art Serializer.net and Graphic Smash, which brims with superhero fist fights. Head here to find a new favourite comic, then decide whether it’s worth subscribing.

POSTMODERN BRIT HORROR
www.scarygoround.com
Three stars

The heroes of John Allison’s Scary Go Round are a gang of smart young Brits at the University of Tackleford, a city that, in true superhero-comic tradition, is under constant attack from samurai, werewolves and giant robots. Subtle and stylishly drawn, with a bold cartoon edge, Scary Go Round somehow manages to reek of cool Britannia — with references, for example, to Stella McCartney and Tony Blair — long after everything else from that era has turned to rubbish. The dialogue makes a pleasant change from the nonstop Americana of most comics: “I’m sorry, Shelley. I didn’t realise, when I demolished the shed, that I was opening up a doorway to ancient feudal Japan.” The slick home page and clear, witty descriptions of the cast make this site ideal for first-time visitors, although the archive content is limited.

TV BUFF HEAVEN
www.sluggy.com
Three stars

Sluggy Freelance is an exclusively online daily comic strip aimed at television buffs — think The Office-style sardonic observations about everyday life set in Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s universe, with Battlestar Galactica thrown in. The format is one you will see on many of the best e-strips: a daily offering at the top of the page and a menu bar that includes, among other options, a guide to the cast characters for newcomers, forums for endless nattering with other Sluggy fans, and a place where you can post your own art. In the Sluggy Store, you can buy T-shirts and books. Below the cartoon, the author’s blog keeps fans up to date with the strip and where he is (usually signing books for fans while wearing the T-shirt). Web comics often have huge and enthusiastic audiences, which can be a little intimidating. At heart, though, the cartoons are just a few funny pictures — and Sluggy is very funny indeed.

INSPIRED BY REAL LIFE
www.explodingdog.com
Two stars

E-mail Sam Brown with a title and, if he is taken by it, he will draw it and upload it to his site, the basic but cheerful-looking Explodingdog. Brown’s slickly drawn, big-headed, androgynous stick men act out dramas from the subconscious minds of connected comic fans, from the Sartre-esque “Life is an illusion” to the even more existential “You’re the yellow bird I’ve been waiting for”. And he is generous with his creations — anyone can appropriate them for noncommercial use. Explodingdog pops up on T-shirts, in songs and even in other web comics (particularly Brown’s Red Robot character). There is not enough content or narrative to warrant hours of browsing, but flick through the archive and you will find the perfect accompaniment to your love letter (or apology note).

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