Further on in the year we'll be turning to look at webcomics that play with the fourth wall, engage in general meta-messing with the form, structure and expectations of the webcomic form.
One of the articles will be a survey of the meta-webcomics we think readers should check out. We'd like to hear your suggestions for such comics (define "meta" as loosely as you want) to check out now before we write the article.
Just reply here with a name and URL for the webcomic.
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RE: Survey of Meta and Fourth Wall Webcomics
Mine, obviously, but I think this is a real tough one. Well -- okay, if you mean strips that consistently play with the fourth wall or play with metahumor, that number is high but not impossible, but I honestly think 95% of all webcomics have slipped into meta for a cheap camera look gag or "this comic sucks" gag.
RE: Survey of Meta and Fourth Wall Webcomics
That's probably true - I think I'm looking more for the innovative examples that play with form and structure. This theme is a tough one to define - I know what I mean when I see it but I may need some help from our readers to flesh out the contours of what we're talking about. I hope through this thread and other discussion we can make the upcoming issue on it better then it otherwise would be.
So 4th wall gags are the sort of lowest level of this idea. Clever cameo and nods to other webcomics might fit in here (the riff on the end of QoW was sorta in this vein). Webcomics that incorporate the form and structure of comics into the work itself in an interesting way could be included.
Another area that might fit here are webcomics that take up unusual narrative structures in order to further the webcomic. Not sure if this is as simple as a Pulp Fiction or Memento like reordering of things but that seems to me to be a possible area to look at. I'm hoping for lots of education from the readers here because so far this theme/topic is a bit "I know it when I see it" and hopefully through discussion we can all get a better sense of what "meta webcomics" could include.
I should like to draw your attention to a little-known comic, called THE SOMETHING SOMETHING OF SOMETHING SOMETHINGNESS, which, in my humble opinion, is worthy of note simply due to its complex (and oftentimes nonexistent) narrative structure and almost violent shifts in artistic style.
I believe that it is worthy of review by this illustrious publication because its very nature contests and challenges our understanding of the basic essence of webcomics; it is the webcomic equivalent of Finnegans Wake. It challenges our conception of what it means to be a comic, it blurs and indeed straddles the boundaries separating pictorial art, sequential art and literature. I do not know if the quality meets the lofty standards of Comixpedia, but I am confident that it is notable, if only for being, in my limited knowledge and flawed judgment, one of the most experimental webcomics out there.
In addition, I would humbly like to draw your attention to my own comic, The Third Rail, which also has some things to say about the nature of the comics medium, in addition to simply being a fourth-wall-less gag comic.
@~AOD