At the very start of the year I wrote about my favourite webcomics of ‘08 on my old LiveJournal and to end it I’d like to tell you my Top 5 for 2009. I ended up writing quite a lot so I’m splitting it into five posts. I’ll post a comic a day counting down from 5. Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts.
2. Ellerbisms by Marc Ellerby
I can’t imagine there being a braver comic out there right now than Ellerbisms.
This year Ellerby has honed his funny muscles and deftly endeared us to himself, his loving girlfriend Anna and his wide eyed world view. As well as being funny and very well observed, part of it’s charm has been achieved by being unflinchingly honest in regards to some of the deep and dark parts of his relationship. A comic back in June stunned a lot of his readers with a sudden confrontion with Anna’s self harming. His approach with this strip was gentle and truthful, focusing on how we take in the unexpected and horrific. The impact came through the strong bond the readers already had with the character of Anna. It’s a testament to his work that so many people cared. It was also very strong of Anna to have let Marc reveal such a personal moment and shows that the comic is an important part of both of their lives. The strip in question is here, but I would never suggest this as an ideal place to start reading.
Ellerbisms grew in other ways this year. Reoccuring events in Marc’s life become themes of the comic as a whole, such as the responsibilities of teaching, balancing work and what you do for love, exhibiting around the world, and, through visits to Sweden with Anna (who’s Swedish), experiencing a new culture. All this plus the continuing exploration of love and living together makes for a far denser comic than a couple of gag strips might have you believe.
Ellerby has also been extraordinarily prolific. October saw the LRB 200 celebrations where Ellerby invited artist friends and readers to contribute comics, drawing, photos and stories to the site to commemorate reaching comic number 2oo (100 of which were posted this year alone). It was a wonderful week of tribute comics and illustrations by some of the world’s most prominent webcomic artists and enthusiastic fan art. It concluded with Anna writing on the site for the first time, explaining what it was like from her point of view and highlighting her favourite panels.
The art too seems to improve monthly, including more detailed drawings of the surrounding world and then balancing such detail with clear storytelling and cartooning. Also, I’m in Ellerbisms quite often as Northern comedy relief, which of course would make it worth reading just for that.
Ellerbisms is more than a comic I love reading, it’s a comic I actually care about.
Tags: Top 5 Webcomics 2009, webcomics
If I did a top 5 webcomics list, The Everyday would be my number one!
You were number 1 last year though! I hope you’re not upset. You and John have both done sterling work this year and both made some bold steps. If Chloe Noonan was a webcomic my rating would probably be different, you’ve been crazy prolific this year but Bad Machinery, being a webcomic and all, tipped John to the top spot. May the year 2010 be a battle for my affections!
Huh?! This wasn’t a moan about not being number one? If anything I should be like at the bottom of this list as Rene, John and Kate are All Better Than Me.
I was just saying that The Everyday is like my favourite thing on the internet. Whuteva.xxx