Unlike the comic strips published in your local newspaper which are scrutinized by the editor before they get published, web comics don’t have that kind of censorship imposed upon them. Hence they tend to be more sarcastic and hilarious than the traditional comics in print media.
There are literally thousands of comic strips published by groups and individuals all over the web. Analyzing all of them to pick the best twenty isn’t easy. This list comprises 20 most funny comics I’ve come across on the web. The degree of fun ranges from super hilarious to kind of fun, with most of them falling in the previous category.
Here is the list in no particular order.
1. PHD – Piled Higher And Deeper
Piled Higher And Deeper or Phd Comics as it is known focuses mainly on graduate students. The comic strip which is also published in newspapers portrays the perils of academic life and the problems students face, in a humorous manner. It is written and drawn by Jorge Cham who’s a PhD himself. He got it in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University.
Check out the following Twitter related strip from this comic which I found hilarious.
2. Xkcd
Since I love reading about technology, Xkcd which primarily focuses on tech related humor had to feature in this list. The jokes are usually meant for geeks and may not be easy to understand at the first glance for an average reader. But time and again it produces a masterpiece, like the one you see in the screenshot below which was titled Frustration , which make it worth reading.
Xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can read it by either directly visiting the site or subscribing to the RSS feed.
3. Tootpaste For Dinner
Toothpaste For Dinner is a nice hand drawn web comic which covers many surreal and bizarre topics. The humor is usually ironical, satirical and sometimes cynical. The best thing is that usually the comic is disconnected from the previous strips and is completely self-contained. So there is no need for the reader to dive into the archives to figure out what led to the current situation in the strip. The humor is easily comprehensible too.
4. Indexed
Indexed is a unique web comic which displays funny, weird but mostly sensible graphs, pie-charts and venn-diagrams. The author says, “This is a little project that allows me to make fun of some things and sense of others without resorting to doing actual math.”
The following is a pie-chart on virginity from the comic.
The comic is in a blog form and posts are published on weekday mornings. It has also been published as a book.
5. The Perry Bible Fellowship
The Perry Bible Fellowship, which is published as a newspaper comic strip as well as a web comic usually deals with what is known as black humor/dark humor i.e fun twists in really awful situations. The themes vary from religion, sex, fiction, fantasy and more.
I found this strip particularly hilarious.
Inspite of its offensive nature, the strip is widely popular and doesn’t receive much of negativity from its readers. It is created by Nicholas Gurewitch.
6. The Joy Of Tech
The Joy Of Tech is another well known comic about technology and pop culture whose jokes are primarily based upon Apple fan boys and products. And it should come as no surprise that the creators themselves use Macbooks to create the comic.
The comic strip is created by Canadians Liza Schmalcel and Bruce Evans, who go by the pseudo names Nitrozac and Snaggy. If you love this webcomic, you can also get The Best of The Joy of Tech book.
7. Garfiled Minus Garfield
As the name suggests, this web comic doesn’t have Garfield. Instead, it has the cat’s owner Jon Arbuckle, who is now an isolated young man talking to himself and making funny facial gestures. Jon Arbuckle is lonely, depressed and the comic portrays his efforts to tackle it and what goes on in his mind.
Garfield Minus Garfield is created by Dan Walsh who belongs to Ireland. The comic strip is very popular and even Jim Davis, the creator of Garfield finds it fascinating.
8. Questionable Content
Questionable Content is an old and popular web comic created by Jeph Jacques. It is about the funny interactions between different characters and a walking computer. The topics range from love, sex, robots, computers, indie rock and the everyday problems people face.
The comic updates Monday to Friday. Main characters include Marten Reed, a big fan of indie rock, his roommate Faye Whitaker and Faye’s boss, Dora Bianchi.
9. Sinfest
Sinfest, a comic by the Japanese-American artist Tatsuya Ishida, primarily deals with human nature and sometimes has a special emphasis on political commentary. It mainly revolves around characters Slick and Monique with other characters which even includes God and The Devil playing their part time to time. The strips usually focuses on sexuality, religion and other such aspects of human nature.
10. Penny Arcade
Penny Arcade is a webcomic gamers adore. It talks about gaming culture, video games and other such similar topics. It is probably the most popular gaming web comic on the internet.
The comic is created by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. It usually updates every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The creators are one of the few webcomic creators who make a living from their webcomic.
11. User Friendly
User Friendly focuses on the everyday life of the staff of a fictional internet service provider known as Columbia Internet. This is another comic which is more into technology and geek related humor.
User Friendly is written by J.D. Frazer, a.k.a. “Illiad”. The strips usually focus on the problems faced by the tech-support when dumb customers call them. It’s quite funny for sure.
12. Dilbert
Yeah, I know. Dilbert, the immensely popular satirical and business office humor comic strip appears in newspapers all over the world. But since it has a web version, I just couldn’t leave it out. Its web version is a nice way to keep in touch with Dilbert everyday if you don’t read the newspaper.
Dilbert, the comic by Scott Adams as well as the character ( Dilbert, the idiosyncratic engineer ) are widely popular all over the world. It appears in several newspapers around the world, various books, computer games and television series.
13. Least I Could Do
Least I Could Do is a funny web comic which talks about the life of Rayne Summers, the lead character who is a promiscuous young man and loves enjoying life everyday. The comic is created by Ryan Sohmer and Lar deSouza.
Least I Could Do revolves around the theme of sex featuring the life of its protagonist Rayne Summers, his promiscuity, his passion for the drink Red Bull and his interaction with other characters.
14. Ctrl+Alt+Del
Ctrl+Alt+Del, also known as CAD is written by Tim Buckley and is based on tech and gaming related humor. It is published three days a week and is quite popular. It is updated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The main characters in the story are Ethan, Lucas, Lilah and Zeke. You can read the comic by visiting the site or by subscribing to its RSS feed.
15. Dinosaur Comics
Dinosaur Comics, as the name would suggest, is a comic about dinosaurs…well, dinosaurs who talk. The unique thing about this comic is that the artwork in the strip remains the same everyday. Only the dialogues change. The topics and subjects covered are diverse and not limited to a particular theme.
The strip is quite popular. It has been printed in newspapers and other publications too. The writer’s name is Ryan North, who’s a Canadian writer and computer programmer.
16. Overcompensating
Overcompensating is a diary comic which outlines funny and bizarre incidents and interactions in the protagonist’s (the comic author’s) life. It is full of absurdity, sarcasm, weird dialogues..all of which make it a real fun to read.
The comic is written and created by Jeffrey J. Rowland who is also responsible for creating another popular web comic named Wigu. Jeffrey makes a living with these comics and by selling merchandise associated with them.
17. Achewood
Achewood is a comic about stuffed toys, pets and robots who talk, walk and do all the things which humans do. Most of them live in the house of Chris who is the author of the comic. The humor comes from the hustles and bustles of the life of these weird characters which happen in and around Chris’ house at the fictional location – 62, Achewood Court.
18. Girl Genius
Girl Genius is a comic book series turned web comic which describes the adventures of the lead character in a Victorian-style setting. It is an interesting web comic and also winner of many online awards.
The strip is written and drawn by Phil and Kaja Foglio and published by their company, Studio Foglio LLC.
19. FreakAngels
Freakangels is a comic about a group known as Freakangels who are living in London which is completely flooded. It is updated once a week by the creators Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield.
The freakangels include KK, Connor, Luke, Karl, Sirkka, Kirk, Mark, Arkady, Kait, Micky and more. Other main characters are Alice and Janine. It is a story-based comic with rich graphics. The freakangels have some amazing powers and use them to look after their city.
20. White Ninja
White Ninja comics is a nice comic strip though it may not be as funny as some of the comic strips mentioned above. It is about the character called White Ninja and his random acts. He is not sound mentally and that’s what creates fun in the strip.
The strip is written and drawn by Scott Bevan and Kent Earle. It is a part of National Lampoon Humor Network and Dayfree Press.
