I’m done criticizing myself, now it’s time to indulge myself. It’s time for a list of my top 10 favorite comics. There are several reasons why I would favor certain comics: I think the joke or the art is escpecially good, I had fun making it, the comic had an interesting reaction from the audience, etc. I’m not gonna do a top 15 list after all. It would be too long for you to read and I’m not going to indulge myself that much.
Like last time, I have some rules and disclamers. I wanted uniquely bad comics in the previous list, so I want uniquely good comics in this one. I tried not to have entries that are too similar to each other. Compared to the least favorite list, there were a lot of choices. It was hard narrowing it down to ten comic and ranking them from 10 to 1. In a week, I might completely disagree with this list. That’s not an excuse not to try, though. Let’s get started with…
Number 10: Comic 448: The Reason for Getting up
I made a story ark where Despair finds his place in the world. In this comic, he goes on to join Hope’s motivational speech. I find the idea of a motivational speaker preaching spite very amusing. It’s not entirely unrealistic. What’s more satisfying than accomplishing something other people have told you it’s impossible? There’s just one thing I don’t like; the reactions of Bobby and Brad Joke could’ve been funnier.
My favorite part about this comic is that it inspired a fan to write a motivational poem. I didn’t expect a parody of an inspirational speech to be so inspiring. If you haven’t read it, check it out. It’s genuinely beautiful.
Number 9: Comic 290: You're My Buddy, Binary or Not
I like messing with the audience and I like making Pride Month related comics. Of course I would like a comic where I do both at the same time. The joke is that I’m making you type all these numbers in a binary decoder. I even curved the paper slighty to make it more difficult. It turns out there’s a phone app that converts photos to text. I’m not beating the boomer allegations…
Full disclosure, this is a bit of a rehash of an older comic, but I like this one a little more. The art is more consistent; Brad Joke’s hair doesn’t change its shape. And if you’re wondering, the binary text translates to “you are valid”. It’s a double subversion.
Number 8: Comic 154: A Story Unfolds, Part 6
One of my least favorite comics is followed by one of my favorites. That’s weird. While it’s not the best, my first story ark still has a special place in my heart, so I wanted to put my favorite part from it on the list. I could’ve made Tamashii lean more forwards in panel 2, but other than that, I like the art. I utilized both transparency and motion blur. This comic also stands out because of the slapstick; it’s a kind of humor I rarely use.
As for the content, it’s a pretty big change of the status quo. I grew tired of ghost jokes, so I decided to bring Tamashii back to life. I know some of you miss her ghost form, but there was just nothing left to do with her. If I kept her as a ghost, she might have gotten phased out (no pun intended). Lastly, this is probably the nicest thing my self-insert has done. He had the chance to wish for anything he wanted, but he still put someone else before him. He could’ve told Tamashii to float lower to the ground, but it’s the thought that counts. Even if he didn’t think enough.
Number 7: Comic 219: When the Impostor Is Dubious
I love making Halloween comics, I had to put at least one on the list. As far as reference humor goes, I think I did a much better job here than in “Receiving Comments”. Among Us is a very popular game. Even if you’ve never played it, you know what the impostors are and what they do. I also like how I included some body horror. It’s a Halloween comic, it fits perfectly. It’s also the kind of horror that freaks me out the most, so it’s gonna stick out in my mind. I’m sure a more skilled artist could’ve made it look even freakier.
When I drew the comic, I added a detail that I’m surprised nobody caught. Impostor Tamashii’s shirt is the wrong shade of grey. She also has her ponytail on the wrong side. You people would be screwed if impostors ever invaded Earth.
Number 6: Comic 269: When a Bad Man Goes To War
I drew this comic around the time when the Russia-Ukraine war started. Two years later, it’s still going on. And it’s not the only one. This comic will be relevant for a long time. Freedom is usually a pretty forgiving person, so you know you did something horrible when even she is gleefully telling you to die.
Throughout these four and a half years, I drew a lot of angry comics, for lack of a better term. This is probably the angriest one. I’m usually pretty calm on this site, but in real life, I have a short temper. I don’t know, I guess it’s easier to piss someone off when you’re talking to them face to face. Drawing comics like this helps me deal with my anger issues. Every emotion has its purpose. There are things worth getting angry at, you just gotta make sure not to let your anger control you.
Number 5: Comic 475: Mysogynists Always Miss
Yeah, it's another angry one, albeit much less than Number 6. I like making genderswapped comics and I like making fun of bigots. I could’ve chosen a lot of comics where I do one or the other, but I chose this one because it does both at once. I posted the comic this year on International Women’s Day. One of the comments pointed out that there are several painters with poor eyesight that still manged to become famous artists. Nice work, you made the sentence in the first panel even dumber and the comic even funnier.
Number 4: Comic 131: Prisoners of Love
Judging by the comments, one of the most beloved aspects of my webcomic is the relationship between Freedom and Safety. The girls first appeared in this comic. I made them girlfriends because I was inspired by Ben Franklin’s quote, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” They were originally meant to be be one-off characters, but I ended up liking them enough to make them stick around. After all, you can’t kill an idea.
“If You Strike Me Down…” could’ve easily made it on this list, along with plenty of other Freedom and Safety comics, but I like “Prisoners of Love” the best. It shows how they fell in love with each other in the first place and how the two are not as different as they appear. I had fun drawing what they looked like a long time ago. Just ignore the fact that the Statue of Liberty was built in the 19th century, long after knights were prominent in Europe. Lastly, I got to make use of another iconic quote that I like.
Number 3: Comic 312: The Missing Piece: Part 9
My favorite story ark is not “A Story Unfolds” because “The Missing Piece” exists. It’s probably the most emotionally charged one. Wanda N. Zero built a robot that can defeat Double Tap in a videogame, but she forgot to give him the ability to feel satisfaction. This lead TX2 to attempt to kill his videogame opponent in real life. After all, if Double Tap is dead, he’s as defeated as he can be.
Fortunately, TX2 failed and got locked up. When he broke out, it was up to Wanda to stop him. After they fought it out, the two finally managed to reconcile. This part is my favorite because of everything that lead up to it; two story arks and several standalone comics around them. I feel like I really earned this emotional moment.
There’s just one thing that’s on my mind; was I unintentionally demonizing people with disorders? After all, the main reason behind TX2’s crimes was his inability to feel satisfaction. You could make the argument that he wasn’t suffering from a mental disorder, but from poor programming, but his situation is still pretty similar to humans with depression or other disorders. On the other hand, TX2 is portrayed as a sympathetic character and he’s held responsible for his actions. So far, nobody got offended by TX2’s story, but I’m still interested in hearing your opinion.
Number 2: Comic 476: From Spooky to Scary
This list is about my favorite comics, not the best ones. The two are not necessarilly the same. Of course a comic where I talk about my fears and my changing perspecitve through life is going to end up very high on the list. It hasn’t been too long since I’ve finished college. I contacted plenty of companies and applied for all kinds of jobs, but so far, I’ve been unsuccessful. Drawing this comic helped me deal with my feelings of being unwanted. Who knows, maybe in a years or two, I’ll look back on this comic and wonder why I was worried in the first place. But for now, it’s Number 2 on the list.
I talked about my own feelings and experiences, but I believe this comic is vague enough for other people to relate to it. I heard that plenty of young people are having trouble finding a job or are stuck in a job they hate. I don’t have all the answers; I’m not that knowledgeable on economics. I can only tell you to keep moving forward and try new things. I hope that makes you feel a little better.
Number 1: Comic 300: Sinner Squad
I made a top 10 list to celebrate a milestone and Number 1 is a comic where I celebreate a milestone. All jokes aside, this comic isn’t the funniest, the cleverest or the most emotional, but it is the most “Dim & Bright” out of all of them. There’s four jokes and seven characters. I had a lot of fun utilizing them all. I’ve come a long way from only using my self-insert. There’s quite a crowd now.
I’ve seen a lot of people look at characters from a TV show and claim they represent the seven deadly sins. There’s always one or two characters that they have to shoehorn in. It’s just like my list. Before this comic, I only made one about Brad Joke eating too much, so he doesn’t quite fit in with the rest. Should I count that as a fifth joke?
And that’s the end of the list. Like I said before, these are my personal favorites. I don’t expect you to agree with all of these. One of Pixar’s rules of storytelling is that what the audience finds interesting and what’s fun to do as a writer can be very different. I have to admit, I made this list at least partially for myself. Maybe in the future, I’ll ask you guys what your favorite comics are and make another list. For now, let’s take a break from top 10 lists and do something different.