This page is still under construction. Questions, comments? Contact me using the information contained in the links on the left, and have a nice day.

This page shows off some sites I like to frequently visit and/or use for various resources. Mind, I try to keep language relatively worksafe on PMO, but I cannot speak nor take responsibility for anything said on any of the following pages. Such is the internet.

Forums

  • Bumbleking Comics Forum – The online home of Ian “Potto” Flynn, writer of Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog comic. Also the place I go for most of my Hedgehog talk, and about as far as I dare tread into the greater Sonic fandom.
  • Capcom*Unity – What better place for Capcom news and discussion than the source?
  • Penny Arcade Forums – One spot I go to talk about video games.
  • The Allspark – Welcome to The Allspark, we’ve got fun and games! My #1 place for TransFormers news and discussion.

Retro/Nostalgia

Not sure how else to categorize these websites and blogs. They’re about or feature a lot of retro articles, which is why I read them.

  • X-Entertainment – The original… I think. To me, anyway. Features a lot of articles that look back at things those of us who grew up in the 80’s (and maybe a bit of the 90’s) experienced.
  • Retro Junk – A favorite. Though many of the articles could stand to spend some serious time with a proof-reader (I tried offering my services, but it didn’t take), others are really good. And even of those that aren’t, the images and sentiment help make up for it. Plus, there are a ton of old commercials and television show openings from the 70s, 80s, and 90s.
  • The Retroist – A blog which updates daily with old TV shows, commercials, ads from comic books and magazines, and more.
  • Cavalcade of Awesome – Paxton Holley’s blog, which I discovered through The Consumerist. He checks out all kinds of things, including a lot of junk food culture both past and present, and he’s got a lot of great photographs to boot. Whether it’s made-up Kool-Aid flavors, old McDonald’s menus, or the latest in energy drinks and Mtn Dew flavors, CoA is the place to be.

Webcomics

  • Penny Arcade – A long time classic. When Tycho and Gabe are good, they’re good, but when they’re great, they knock it out of the park.
  • Power Rings – A sprite comic which realizes the absurdity of a bipedal blue hedgehog who can run at supersonic speeds, and all the baggage that comes with it. Jeff Krull, Andy and Adam Goodenough manage to parody Sonic in an almost loving sort of way, pointing out the foibles in both the games and the Archie comics.
  • PVP Online – I really don’t know exactly what to say about Scott Kurtz’s near-daily strip, nor can I describe the particular appeal. I decided one day to see what it was all about, started from the beginning, and the characters eventually endeared themselves to me. That said, it definitely has its funny moments.
  • Real Life Comics – Greg Dean’s comic about the ridiculousness of things that happen in real life has often delved into situations that are anything but realistic, but remains an enjoyable work nonetheless. And it’s hard not to root for the resident “bad guy” Tony.
  • Count Your Sheep – A friend linked me to a strip once, and I’ve been following it ever since (though I still need to catch up on the archives). Adrian Ramos manages a strip that’s cute and funny, but not unbearably sugar-sweet as Katie and Ship have an almost Calvin & Hobbes sort of thing going on, but with a little less of the mayhem and deep philosophy Calvin is known for.
  • Megatokyo – Okay, I’ll admit: I read this one more out of habit. Though things have picked up from the slump they were in a year or two ago, Fred Gallagher’s webcomic ultimately seems to serve as a development blog for the books sold at retail, and the story doesn’t seem to really go anywhere.
  • VG Cats – Scott Ramsoomair once had a comic with particularly lively art, and was almost like the South Park to Penny Arcade’s The Simpsons, for want of a better comparison. However, updates are now sporadic, some say the art has deteriorated, and most notable of all, the Pokemon-based side-comic Super Effective seems to have ultimately replaced it to some degree, both among fans of the strip and in the heart of the creator.
  • Shortpacked! – David Willis’ comic strip about the antics of the staff of a toystore bearing the same name as the strip. Between their hijinx, other fun, geeky topics come up, including TransFormers strangeness and the insanity of Batman.
  • Ctrl+Alt+Del – While I hesitate to put Tim Buckley’s comic in the same category as PVP Online, I came about it and began reading it in much the same way. Some people really hate on it, and the author, but I don’t care about any of that. I just keep reading to see what happens next.
  • Full Frontal Nerdity – Aaron Williams’ strip about a group of table-top role-playing gamers hits all the right notes, and is often good for a smile. No heavy continuity, no drama, just jokes about a hobby I often miss.
  • Exterminatus Now – A comic by Lothar Hex, The Virus, Eastwood, and Silversword which takes place on a sort of alternate version of Sonic‘s world of Mobius, but with little-to-no involvement from any of the staple characters, and a certain sort of Lovecraftian setting laid atop it. Not a sprite comic, it definitely wins in the art department.
  • The Perry Bible Fellowship – Very rarely updated, Nicholas Gurewitch’s comic would make a worthy successor to the throne once held by Gary Larson’s The Far Side.
  • Dueling Analogs – Steve Napierski’s video game-themed comic is one of many, with some good jokes and humorous staples, such as “Rejected Robot Masters” from Mega Man, and consoles talking smack to one another. Sure, it’s been done before, but here, it’s done well.
  • LilFormers – Matt Moylan’s super-deformed (or chibi, if you prefer) tribute to various icons of the 80’s, including Thundercats, He-man, and of course, TransFormers, for which it’s named.
  • xkcd – Randall Munroe’s stick-figure strip is hard to put in words. You’ll either appreciate the humor, or you won’t.
  • Awkward Zombie – Based mostly on Super Smash Bros. and corresponding Nintendo games, Katie Tiedrich puts on a good show with the cast dealing with one-another’s quirks.
  • 2P START! – I love the work Tim Harding and Ray Hargreaves put into this strip each week; not only do they produce a beautiful comic that goes right for the jugular of the latest titles and controversies, but they even change the logo each week to match the theme of that week’s strip.
  • Medium-Large – Francesco Marciuliano, author of the internationally-syndicated comic strip Sally Forth, shows what happens when a newspaper comic strip artist is no longer confined to newspapers.
  • Brawl in the Family – Like Awkward Zombie, Matthew Taranto’s BitF is also based largely on Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but goes about it in a different way, some of which may be a little more over-the-top than the aforementioned.
  • Darths & Droids – Imagine a world like ours, with table top role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons and all that fun stuff. Now imagine if it didn’t have Star Wars. Now imagine if the idea of Star Wars was conceived as such a game by a game master for his players to play through, and then you have the basic gist of it. If you like RPGs, and Star Wars, you may very well appreciate it. If you didn’t like The Phantom Menace, then that may be all the better.
  • Sabrina Online – No doubt falling under “furry,” but an amusing comic all the same. I started reading it after the constant TransFormers references kept getting posted on The Allspark.
  • Sonic Eggs – Another Sonic webcomic, this one is hand-drawn and takes place after the Sonic X comics, which themselves took place in between several episodes of the cartoon’s first two seasons. In addition, there are also some amusing one-off gags in “Sonic Egg Whites.”
  • Nerf NOW!! – Another video game-based webcomic which focuses mostly (but not entirely) on Team Fortress 2 and Valve titles.
  • Let’s Be Friends Again – A webcomic about… no, not video games. This one actually focuses more on comics. Not much in the way of story arcs, it does the daily gag thing pretty well, at least for those who know the material.
  • Insecticomics – A webcomic which uses photographs of toys, Transformers in particular, to move along its narrative. This one focuses a lot on continuity and character progression, so it’s recommended that one starts from the beginning. But if you don’t mind robots who pretty much mess with the concept of applying gender to non-gendered beings in just about every possible way, then it’s a good one to read.
  • Digital Unrest – Yet more video game-based funnies. My apologies to the creator; it’s good, but at the same time, it is but one of many.
  • Another Videogame Webcomic – Title says it all. Well, not exactly. The running theme here is that this follows the people who work inside your video games, dressing up and filling the role of the on-screen protagonists and other characters. A neat twist which helps it stand out a little.
  • Boxer Hockey – While this comic is responsible for some of the really crazy (and not exactly work-safe) Sonic strips you might have seen around, it isn’t really much of a video game comic. Instead, it follows the exploits of a group of guys who form a team in one of the strangest sports you’ll ever see. Plus, the art is really kind of reminiscent of F@NB0Y$ (seen below), in a way.
  • Axe Cop – Axe Cop: the new webcomic sensation that’s sweeping the nation! What do you get when a 29-year old comic illustrator teams up with his five-year old brother’s writing? Axe Cop, and it’s awesome.
  • LOLDWELL – As seen on College Humor. A relative newcomer to the scene, it seems that a lot of the humor in this strip comes from the internet, memes, life, and the mocking thereof.

Discontinued Webcomics

These guys don’t update any more, but the archives are still fun to look through.

  • Bob & George – Dave Anez’s long-running and eventually concluded parody of the Mega Man series of games, which some people take a touch too seriously. Also hosts a variety of sub-comics, including some pretty decent (and still updated) fare such as MS Paint Masterpieces.
  • F@NB0Y$ – Take what was said about Penny Arcade, and you can apply it to this. Scott Under has worked through a variety of art styles– arguably too many, too quickly for the strip’s relatively short tenure– but still produces some funny, and occasionally disturbing (but in a good way) material. Sadly, it seems to have been discontinued.
  • 8-bit Theater – Put simply, I’m more interested in Brian Clevinger’s sprite comic based on the original Final Fantasy than I am in any of Square Enix’s offerings under that name. I’ve never touched a Final Fantasy game, but if they made one like this, I might just be first in line to order the retailers to break the street date.

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