Washington Post Poll for Webcomic of the Decade [Archive]

Reinboom

2010-01-25, 02:14 PM

I'm debating my vote on this, different points of my thought process:
OotS:
It has brought this forum, which is significant, however... the actual influence of Rich (the comic) tends to be littered with pacing problems in the storyline and points where I read through the comic and just went "...yeah...".
For these reasons, I would not give it my vote.

Penny Arcade:
This would get my vote in a heartbeat, if it wasn't but for that little word in the vote options that says "Favorite". This comic has given me many chuckles, many smiles, and many head slaps. I would not rate it close to my favorite though... there are other comics I simply enjoy more. I would rate it as the most influential and best web comic of the decade however. This is a comic that lead to spawning an entire convention (PAX), and a massive children's donation fund. Many many other webcomics draw inspiration solely from this source.
However, it is not my favorite.

XKCD:
This is the only other comic up there that I would feel would deserve my vote. But... a large (or at least, noticeable) number of fans are loud, obnoxious, and script kiddies. On first thought, I realize I should not base my vote on the fan base, but on further though... I can almost guarantee my vote is wrongly in there already. Some part of XKCD's fanbase has probably already gone through multiple ghost and proxy IPs and emptied their cookies with each pass in order to flood it with votes. That seems to be the nature of their type. I don't want to vote "again" for this comic.

Girl Genius:
This is the only other comic on that list that truly holds me in. However, like OotS, it has a few pacing problems. It is an extremely hard comic to get into, though, once you get past the 1~2 year point it flows. However, this comic has wonderful art that is generally unique to the Foglios. For this reason, and since it doesn't have as severe pacing issues as OotS and nor does it have the problem XKCD has (I believe), this is the one of the two true contenders for my vote.

So... ultimately... I'm torn between Penny Arcade and Girl Genius.

Now, basing on favorite more, there is one comic not on the list that I'm extremely saddened to not see. That comic being "SMBC". No other comic has kept me chuckling, giggling, smiling so consistently and often.
It has multiple venues of luring me in, such as the math blog or SMBC theater. It is adorably offensive. It is insightful. The art is unique and quirky...

However, it is not on there. So, instead, I'm torn.

loopy

2010-01-25, 02:14 PM

Congratulations Rich, but unfortunately I'm going to have to vote Penny Arcade for this list. Child's Play might get a bump if they win. :smallsmile:

KuReshtin

2010-01-25, 02:17 PM

Strange, why isn't sluggy freelance on the list :smallconfused: ? You would think such a comic would have a lot of fans.

Anyway, I have no clue what to vote for.

I was thinking the same thing. Sluggy Freelance should be on that list as well.

valadil

2010-01-25, 02:29 PM

I voted for OotS twice. The only other webcomics in its league IMO are Penny Arcade and XKCD. OotS wins my vote by virtue of having a long term plot.

Tirian

2010-01-25, 03:54 PM

I think that it's a great thing that there are so many oustanding contenders. I hope the survey makes it clear that there deserve to be a lot of winners, and the biggest winners are people who look at the list as a launching point for exploring new webcomics.

My vote goes to Girl Genius, which is a step above for me. I also want to give a shout-out in this thread to Questionable Content, which is an amazing testament to how much an artist can develop his style over the course of a few years. The archive is filled with indie rock jokes that will go over most people's heads, but it's worth holding on to.

OOTS also has many strong points, but I decided not to vote for it on the basis of

Pyrian

2010-01-25, 04:05 PM

Questionable Content rocks. :smallcool: So does Least I Could Do.

Interesting that Schlock Mercenary is in the lead. I could never get into it. :smallconfused:

Zocelot

2010-01-25, 04:14 PM

I read the archives of Schlock and GG, but I don't think either of them are that great. I'm disappointed that some of my favorites like Irregular Webcomic and SMBC didn't even make the list.

Voted for OotS, by the way.

Dr. Bath

2010-01-25, 04:17 PM

Ugh, why does least I could do get on the list and Minus or Gunnerkrigg Court don't? It's awful!

Terrible.

I voted for Hark A Vagrant! Since it's given more laughs than pretty much all the other choices (bar maybe Penny Arcade) whilst remaining highly intelligent and stylish.

DraPrime

2010-01-25, 04:18 PM

Oh OOTS definitely wins this. There's some good ones on there, but each of the good ones has some aspect to it that really annoys me (QC comes to mind). OOTS however, is annoyance free.

arguskos

2010-01-25, 04:20 PM

Debated between QC and Sinfest. Eventually, Sinfest won out, just because each strip is amusing, well drawn, and keeps me coming back. It's not the best webcomic I've ever read, but it IS the most enduring one, the comic that keeps me coming back every day of the week for years now. To me, that is the hallmark of a glorious comic, and gets my vote. It won't win, but eh, I love it anyways.

Also, yeah, SMBC really should have made that list. :smallsigh:

Bouregard

2010-01-25, 04:31 PM

Mhm is it a bad sign if you see the list and think "I've read them all"?

+1 vote for OOTS

Shame they didn't add "Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic" I really like it + updates daily (If you go for a archive crawl now, be warned not save for work)

Exeson

2010-01-25, 04:42 PM

Voted for Questionable Content.

My reason? Well QC updates regularly, it's story arcs are great, the characters are relatable and the whole thing has a very fuzzy sense of warmth and well...fuzziness about it. I just really enjoy the story arcs and character interactions and when I come home from school I always check QC.

T-O-E

2010-01-25, 05:08 PM

May the most popular comic win.

Lupy

2010-01-25, 05:26 PM

I voted for OOTS... Now I have something to do in Computers class. :smallwink:

skywalker

2010-01-25, 06:09 PM

My favorite newspaper, the Washington Post, has OotS as a finalist in its WebComic of the decade poll:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/comic-riffs/2010/01/the_best_webcomic_its_time_to.html

Congrats to Rich!

You, sir, have good taste in newspapers!

...

Anyway, I think this is interesting. I have heard of a few, but read only 3: xkcd, PA, and OotS. Personally, I think PA gains some clout from actually having been around for the whole decade. That really helps. A lot of these comics debuted in 03 (just like OotS), but xkcd actually debuted in 2005! It seems like it's been around so much longer.

Phase

2010-01-25, 06:18 PM

No Dr. Mcninja? Shame on them!

Ugh. How is "Least I Could Do" winning? I voted for OotS because it was most influential for me, and there was no Dr. Mcninja, the fools.

Gamerlord

2010-01-25, 06:21 PM

First of all...

My favorite newspaper, the Washington Post-

Wall Street Journal is the best newspaper! :smalltongue:

Anyway, I decided to vote for OOTS, seeing as how sluggy freelance isn't on there.

RationalGoblin

2010-01-25, 06:48 PM

Ugh, Least I Could Do is winning?

OoTS is far more influential. It's had several books, after all. What has LICD got?

Glad to see Hark a vagrant is on there, though. It's a good comic.

Icewalker

2010-01-25, 06:57 PM

Had to drop my vote for Girl Genius. I just love that type/genre/style of story more than I do any other, really, so it pulls me in a lot more than anything else. OOTS is amazing, and I love xkcd, and thoroughly enjoy Least I Could Do, but gotta give the vote to the Foglios.

RabbitHoleLost

2010-01-25, 07:00 PM

Shame they didn't add "Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic" I really like it + updates daily (If you go for a archive crawl now, be warned not save for work)
That's the only webcomic I ever really got into, with the exception of the one-shoot gag comics like XKCD.
When I did read it, I read through the entire thing in two days...and then I completely forgot about it.

I am not the webcomic type v.v

Madmal

2010-01-25, 07:26 PM

Ugh, Least I Could Do is winning?

:smalleek::mad:

Just when i'm starting to get my hopes up on you world, you just throw it out again, don't you?

Thajocoth

2010-01-25, 07:30 PM

There are only 5 on the list I've even heard of. Least I Could Do, Penny Arcade, XKCD, Perry Bible Fellowship and Order of the Stick. All 5 are or were good. I honestly feel that either 8-Bit Theatre or Bob and George should be up there to represent the sprites.

Since I've enjoyed all 5 of the ones I've heard of and can't decide based on best-memories alone, I chose based on a combination of how consistently they're funny, how consistently they update, art quality and whether or not the artist seems snooty on the rest of their site. More weight to the former things in the list and less weight to the latter.

Maximum Zersk

2010-01-25, 07:36 PM

Horatio@Bridge

2010-01-25, 07:43 PM

One would think they could easily determine the most popular webcomic by doing a simple server traffic check...surely that would be more accurate than a self-selected popularity poll?

Green Bean

2010-01-25, 07:47 PM

Dropped a voted on Order of the Stick, though I was sorely tempted to go with Hark! A Vagrant because it's awesome. I'm really happy to see it's on the list, even if it hasn't taken much of the vote.

sofawall

2010-01-25, 07:47 PM

No Dr. McNinja? xkcd it is, then.

Fuzzie Fuzz

2010-01-25, 07:50 PM

I do enjoy me some LICD, but it's nowhere near my favorite.

Penny Arcade is amusing as well, but the three-panel updates thrice a week aren't very satisfying, and more often than not, I don't even know what they're talking about. And when I do, I often go, "meh."

Perry Bible Fellowship is delightfully amusing and bizarre, but dead.

I love PVP, but it's still not my favorite. I'm actually surprised to see how few votes it's received, as it's been around for years and is pretty well respected.

The others I've never heard of, or at least never gotten into, with the exception of two: OotS and xkcd. (Which are both the most incredibly nerdy comics I read, now that I think about it...)

OotS is brilliant. A story of epic proportions, spanning multiple books, with somewhat multidimensional characters and lots of with, plot twists, etc. Not to mention the Forums, though I'm not really sure that's fair when considering which comic is one's favorite.

XKCD is brilliant. Hundreds of individual jokes, nearly all of them funny. Even the ones I don't get are funny, more often than not. Lots of computer jokes, D&D jokes, other assorted nerd jokes, as well as other jokes about all sorts of things, like life, love, and sarcasm. I'm constantly laughing with my friends about the latest xkcd. Even though the jokes are individual and unconnected, the characters are expressive, alive, each with their own personalities, summed up in 600+ comics and a single distinguishing feature on their stick figure body. Plus, it adds up to 42.

So xkcd gets my vote, though OotS is a very close second. My hacker nerd beats out my D&D nerd, but only barely.
Man, I think that was the longest post I've ever written on this forum, and all to announce the winner of my singular, insignificant vote in an online poll. About webcomics. Huh.

EDIT:
One would think they could easily determine the most popular webcomic by doing a simple server traffic check...surely that would be more accurate than a self-selected popularity poll?

But then comics that updated daily would have a huge advantage over those that updated weekly, or semi-weekly. Not to mention that would include Forum traffic and stuff, which I'm really not sure is designed to be part of it.

Thajocoth

2010-01-25, 07:58 PM

But then comics that updated daily would have a huge advantage over those that updated weekly, or semi-weekly. Not to mention that would include Forum traffic and stuff, which I'm really not sure is designed to be part of it.

Also, it would include non-comic traffic, like message boards. They're looking for what COMIC is popular, not who can build the biggest community.

Fuzzie Fuzz

2010-01-25, 08:42 PM

Also, it would include non-comic traffic, like message boards. They're looking for what COMIC is popular, not who can build the biggest community.

Yeah, that's what I meant by including Forum traffic. It makes comics with on-site message boards, blags, news pages, etc. super popular. And what if someone goes back and rereads the comics in the archives? I know I do that with several comics on occasion, and I'm sure others do as well. That seems like it would make a huge difference as well.

skywalker

2010-01-25, 10:19 PM

Wall Street Journal is the best newspaper! :smalltongue:

The Post is damn well respectable, however.

Man, I think that was the longest post I've ever written on this forum, and all to announce the winner of my singular, insignificant vote in an online poll. About webcomics. Huh.

I am almost positive this is related to the fact that you've made less than 50 posts on this forum period.

Not hazing or anything, just pointing out that your sample isn't very large at all. Give yourself a couple of years (and a couple of thousand posts) and you might top it :smallwink:

industrious

2010-01-25, 10:24 PM

I'm confused. Why aren't 8-bit Theatre or Darths and Droids up there?

Tirian

2010-01-25, 11:20 PM

Ugh. How is "Least I Could Do" winning?

If you can imagine, some of the websites are promoting the polls amongst their readers to drive up votes. And I'm sure that anyone could write a three line Python script to get any other script into the lead too if they wanted.

Fuzzie Fuzz

2010-01-26, 12:37 AM

I am almost positive this is related to the fact that you've made less than 50 posts on this forum period.

Not hazing or anything, just pointing out that your sample isn't very large at all. Give yourself a couple of years (and a couple of thousand posts) and you might top it :smallwink:

Meh. Well still, on several other forums I frequent (including one on which I'm a mod) I rarely write posts that long. *shrug*

St.Sinner

2010-01-26, 01:03 AM

I'm between OotS and "Jesus and Mo". I actually might have to go with "Jesus and Mo" on this. I'm confident a good number of people here will place votes for OotS. Like Thajocoth and industrious, I also feel that 8-bit Theatre certainly belongs on the list.

reorith

2010-01-26, 01:11 AM

I'm confused. Why aren't 8-bit Theatre or Darths and Droids up there?

because they aren't finalists.

Zeb The Troll

2010-01-26, 01:17 AM

Ugh, Least I Could Do is winning?

OoTS is far more influential. It's had several books, after all. What has LICD got?RANT:You mean like the six published volumes of the main comic and the two published volumes of the Beginnings strips? (For those keeping track, that's two more books than OotS has.) Or, you know, the OTHER strip they do and the two print volumes they have for that one? If you're going to bash someone, at least have all of the information. Or maybe even just the information easily obtainable by comparing their respective online stores.

Aside from comparing book counts, Blind Ferret Entertainment enables webcomics like PVP and Ctl+Alt+Del to do what they do too. I love OotS and GitP, but as for "influential" to the webcomic industry, Sohmer is hardly the idle bystander you seem to think he is.

Also, Sohmer and Lar are still active with their readership after all these years. The most we see from Rich these days is "New comic is up" once in a while. At least three times a week, Sohmer posts a new discussion topic in his forum that may or may not be at all related to the strip.

You don't have to like the strip. Don't vote for it if you don't like it. Whatever. But don't paint Ryan and Lar as a couple of do nothing hacks who get by on toilet humor. That's just not the case.

Alarra

2010-01-26, 01:44 AM

I voted for oots because of the forum and community frankly, not because it's my favorite comic. Although I'm now rethinking that and thinking I should have voted differently. It is a really good comic though, and actually, I like a lot of the comics up there. I would probably vote xkcd, or maybe QC...I really like LICD also. grah...so many acronyms.

ghost_warlock

2010-01-26, 06:22 AM

Voted for OotS. I like xkcd, but I'm nowhere near as involved in the community.

In any case, none of my Top 3 comics are even on their list so I guess there's no accounting for taste. :smallfrown:

Nameless

2010-01-26, 06:31 AM

Voted for OotS. Out of all the web comics out there, OotS has inspired me the most. Heck, I’d put it up there with some of the greatest comics. The art is simple, yet effective. Same with the story, it started out as something quite simple, but has grown into something very epic yet has remained funny. The art is also extremely original, yet oddly enough, quite complex.

Dr. Bath

2010-01-26, 06:48 AM

RANT:You mean like the six published volumes of the main comic and the two published volumes of the Beginnings strips? (For those keeping track, that's two more books than OotS has.) Or, you know, the OTHER strip they do and the two print volumes they have for that one? If you're going to bash someone, at least have all of the information. Or maybe even just the information easily obtainable by comparing their respective online stores.

Aside from comparing book counts, Blind Ferret Entertainment enables webcomics like PVP and Ctl+Alt+Del to do what they do too. I love OotS and GitP, but as for "influential" to the webcomic industry, Sohmer is hardly the idle bystander you seem to think he is.

Also, Sohmer and Lar are still active with their readership after all these years. The most we see from Rich these days is "New comic is up" once in a while. At least three times a week, Sohmer posts a new discussion topic in his forum that may or may not be at all related to the strip.

You don't have to like the strip. Don't vote for it if you don't like it. Whatever. But don't paint Ryan and Lar as a couple of do nothing hacks who get by on toilet humor. That's just not the case.

So being good at marketing makes your comic better now? Ctrl+Alt+Del has produced massive quantities of merchandise and spin-off such and such. It's still an awful, unoriginal and bland comic.

I don't know if there's comedy gold locked somewhere in the lower lithosphere that I'm just not getting in LICD, but all I see is the tale of a misogynistic man-child who is the best at everything forever and his supporting cast of bland friends or carbon-copies of himself. The art, I will admit, is pretty good, not my favourite style by a long long way, but I guess it's at least consistent? The groove that comics like LICD settle into kind of annoys me. Sure it placates the readership but it still only holds their attention for a few seconds, which I don't see as much of an achievement.

Zeb The Troll

2010-01-26, 07:18 AM

So being good at marketing makes your comic better now? Ctrl+Alt+Del has produced massive quantities of merchandise and spin-off such and such. It's still an awful, unoriginal and bland comic.

I don't know if there's comedy gold locked somewhere in the lower lithosphere that I'm just not getting in LICD, but all I see is the tale of a misogynistic man-child who is the best at everything forever and his supporting cast of bland friends or carbon-copies of himself. The art, I will admit, is pretty good, not my favourite style by a long long way, but I guess it's at least consistent? The groove that comics like LICD settle into kind of annoys me. Sure it placates the readership but it still only holds their attention for a few seconds, which I don't see as much of an achievement.Not at all what I said. The post I quoted commented that OotS was better simply because it has books and insinuated that the very existence of said books makes OotS more influential. I just said that a) LICD has books too, and b) the people who make LICD are very influential to the webcomic community. I simply pointed out that on the basis of comparison presented in said post, LICD at least matches what OotS offers (note that the quality of the webcomic itself was not one of those things listed).

I also said, in the unspoilered part of my post that you quoted, that it is perfectly acceptable to not like the comic. It's not for everyone. Just don't judge the authors' contribution to society based on an (incorrect) assessment of marketability.

raitalin

2010-01-26, 10:15 AM

Very disappointed that LICD is winning, that thing is about as funny as the comics in the newspaper.

Warpfire

2010-01-26, 04:30 PM

Sad that Hark! A Vagrant is doing so poorly. I voted for it anyway. Oh well.

But I'm glad that Penny Arcade and LICD have unseated xkcd.

EDIT: Also, 8-bit Theater should totally be up there.

Dr. Bath

2010-01-26, 06:15 PM

Not at all what I said. The post I quoted commented that OotS was better simply because it has books and insinuated that the very existence of said books makes OotS more influential. I just said that a) LICD has books too, and b) the people who make LICD are very influential to the webcomic community. I simply pointed out that on the basis of comparison presented in said post, LICD at least matches what OotS offers (note that the quality of the webcomic itself was not one of those things listed).

I also said, in the unspoilered part of my post that you quoted, that it is perfectly acceptable to not like the comic. It's not for everyone. Just don't judge the authors' contribution to society based on an (incorrect) assessment of marketability.

The second part wasn't really in reference to your post. I just really hate LICD.

I still don't think being highly marketable makes the them influential. Well-known, yes. Influential, no. LICD brings nothing new to the table, the art style is neither fresh, nor exciting, the content is derivative and uninspiring. Yes Blind Ferret was produced but a) not webcomics and b) so many other animators do a much better job (see: Homestarrunner) and c) the only people actually signed to Blind Ferret are LFG: bad, LICD: terrible, CAD: Terribad and PvP: ok, but samey. It's not really a major breakthrough in the webcomic format.

MSPaint Adventures is probably the influential recent comic (following on from Penny Arcade, obviously) since numerous other comics have shot off from it and it brought a few new innovations into the limelight (interactivity AND story, GIFs and text etc.) Of course, that is nowhere to be seen on this lowdown.

Fuzzie Fuzz

2010-01-26, 07:06 PM

I still don't think being highly marketable makes the them influential. Well-known, yes. Influential, no. LICD brings nothing new to the table, the art style is neither fresh, nor exciting, the content is derivative and uninspiring. Yes Blind Ferret was produced but a) not webcomics and b) so many other animators do a much better job (see: Homestarrunner) and c) the only people actually signed to Blind Ferret are LFG: bad, LICD: terrible, CAD: Terribad and PvP: ok, but samey. It's not really a major breakthrough in the webcomic format.
Firstly: Well-known and influential are very similar much of the time. Well known things are much more likely to influence people. Thus, they are influential.

Secondly: I'm not sure what you mean by "not webcomics." That seems to be pretty much what they do. :smallconfused:

Thirdly: LFG is a major, multi-book epic, drawn in beautiful style, is consistently funny as well as having serious moments and the occasional epic page of epicness. ("Do you yield?") The characters are original and funny. It's essentially OotS with better art and updated more regularly, except it's not self-referential, and isn't in a D&D-based world. (That said, I still like OotS better. Just defending one of my favorite webcomics.)

LICD has been discussed, and it's not really fair to argue that it sucks because the company that produced it produced it, which sucks.

CAD is very amusing, created Wintereenmas, which is actually very popular. While it did start out just like any other videogame comic, its characters evolved into their own beings, it is very often funny, and is essentially a longer PA that isn't incredibly cynical. Also, you don't need to have played some obscure game to understand the jokes it makes. The stories are original as well, and there's really no way it's worse than most other comics.

PvP is meh. It's pretty funny, and the drawing is nice, but it's gotten kinda' stale and same-old, same-old.
Meh. Another long-ish rant. And as Zeb said, you don't have to like it, but don't just state outright that it sucks and that Lar and Co. don't do anything important.

Raistlin1040

2010-01-26, 07:26 PM

No 1/0?

I abstain from voting!

AshDesert

2010-01-26, 07:53 PM

I voted for OotS, but I was rather disappointed that 8-Bit wasn't up there (I probably would've voted for that over OotS). Other than OotS, the only other two I follow up there are xkcd and PA, and I prefer the long overarching stories of OotS and 8-Bit more than the gag-a-day strips of xkcd and PA. If this were most influential rather than favorite, PA would've gotten my pick hands down, if only for PAX, not to mention that every other comic up there has been influenced in some way by PA.

Starfols

2010-01-26, 09:02 PM

I voted for oots because of the forum and community frankly, not because it's my favorite comic.

That's kind of funny, when you think about it :smallwink:.

No Simulated Comic Product? I would say that it deserves to be on there, were it not so obscure, and had the author stopped making strips. Actually, the same goes for a lot of my favorite webcomics :smallfrown:.

I'm going to go with Girl Genius, but only because the Foglios are something of personal inspirations to me.

RationalGoblin

2010-01-27, 12:30 AM

RANT:You mean like the six published volumes of the main comic and the two published volumes of the Beginnings strips? (For those keeping track, that's two more books than OotS has.) Or, you know, the OTHER strip they do and the two print volumes they have for that one? If you're going to bash someone, at least have all of the information. Or maybe even just the information easily obtainable by comparing their respective online stores.

Aside from comparing book counts, Blind Ferret Entertainment enables webcomics like PVP and Ctl+Alt+Del to do what they do too. I love OotS and GitP, but as for "influential" to the webcomic industry, Sohmer is hardly the idle bystander you seem to think he is.

Also, Sohmer and Lar are still active with their readership after all these years. The most we see from Rich these days is "New comic is up" once in a while. At least three times a week, Sohmer posts a new discussion topic in his forum that may or may not be at all related to the strip.

You don't have to like the strip. Don't vote for it if you don't like it. Whatever. But don't paint Ryan and Lar as a couple of do nothing hacks who get by on toilet humor. That's just not the case.

My apologies, Zeb. Honestly, I just simply don't like LICD, and before your post, had no idea why it would be considered one of the "top" webcomics of the decade.

Thanks for the info, but I still think that other webcomics would "deserve" a stop on the top more then LICD.

Just my two cents.

And to be fair, I've read or at least heard of most of the major webcomics on the web, and I do not recognize most of the ones on the list. So it's not just LICD. I'm just annoyed that it's winning, because I consider it not a high-quality comic.

Zeb The Troll

2010-01-27, 12:35 AM

The second part wasn't really in reference to your post. I just really hate LICD.I can see the criticism, even if I don't happen to agree with it.

I still don't think being highly marketable makes the them influential. Well-known, yes. Influential, no. LICD brings nothing new to the table, the art style is neither fresh, nor exciting, the content is derivative and uninspiring. Yes Blind Ferret was produced but a) not webcomics and b) so many other animators do a much better job (see: Homestarrunner) and c) the only people actually signed to Blind Ferret are LFG: bad, LICD: terrible, CAD: Terribad and PvP: ok, but samey. It's not really a major breakthrough in the webcomic format.Again, what ruffled my feathers was the comparison. The claim was "OotS has books. What does LICD have?" The answer, simply, is "everything OotS has, and more". I did not intend to make any claim that LICD, LFG, or Blind Ferret Entertainment at large, are the most influential people in webcomics. Only that, using the criteria presented (which, I agree, is largely useless), they are at least as influential as OotS is.

Firestar27

2010-01-27, 01:02 AM

First of all...

Wall Street Journal is the best newspaper! :smalltongue:

Anyway, I decided to vote for OOTS, seeing as how sluggy freelance isn't on there.

But... you've said you're in early high school, right? Nobody that age reads the Wall Street Journal!
(Actually, according to Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, nobody at all reads the WSJ; people just subscribe to it to claim intellectual superiority. :P)

And I voted for OOTS. It simply has the best long plot out there. It has made me emotional, amazed me with its plot, and brought laughter from my mouth. The art has amazed me (there's a lot you can put into such simple stick figures). All in all, it's just great.
xkcd is great, came in as a close second, but as much as I find almost every comic funny and sharable to many of my friends, I prefer the emotionality of a long plot to a short term joke. Also, I love the forum and community here, while I just appreciate the xkcd forum's ability to explain some of the more obscure comic strips. In addition, I have a lot of respect for Rich Burlew (his skill, his resilience under all the crap that he takes from his readers, and his demand of privacy which we just don't see most famous people rightfully get). I find Randall Munroe to be very smart and very funny, even outside of his comic strip. He's very creative. But that's more an appreciation and enjoyment than real respect.
I loved Girl Genius, rivaling OOTS, but I don't like the occasional non-sequiters that it has. I know it helps the authors keep their interest in making the comic, so they're very useful, but they don't keep me coming back, so when it was the beginning of 2009 and they did another non-sequiter, I just forgot to check for updates and I haven't gotten around to looking at it since.
I just don't like LICD that much. I know some people may love it, but it's just not what really makes me go "OMG! I LOVE THAT COMIC! EVERYONE READ IT!" It's sometimes enjoyable for me, but nowhere near enough for my vote.
I've never really found Penny Arcade to be all that funny. To each his/her own, I suppose.
PBF is great, but it's just been dead for far too long. It's also not as great as OOTS is, even if it was still updating (assuming it kept the same quality).
QC is good, but not enough to get my vote. I also haven't checked up on it in a year. (In fact, I haven't checked up on it ever since I relied on my memory to check comics instead of opening my Firefox Bookmarks Folder, around the time I started bouncing back and forth between Firefox and Chrome.)
I never really got into Schlock Mercenary. Or maybe I'm mixing it up with Sluggy Freelance. Which one had the pile of sludge as a character again?

Apparently, everyone here is telling me to read Hark! A Vagrant. I suppose I should...

The Extinguisher

2010-01-27, 01:04 AM

The lack of Dinosaur Comics makes me sad. :smallfrown: It's my favourite webcomic and is always hilarious.

Actually, of my top five comics, only QC is on that list. I guess I should vote for that. But I think I'm going to give props to Hark! A Vagrant for the Mystery Solving Teens and also because it is the only comic that teaches me history (other comics tend to teach science and math)

Pyrian

2010-01-27, 01:23 AM

If LICD had done nothing other than the first panel of this (http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20070508) strip I would still adore it forever. :smallbiggrin: But they also did this two (http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20090430) strip (http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20090501) joke that I loved. I guess it takes a lowness of brow to enjoy LICD... And, for that matter, most of my favorite Penny Arcades.

...I voted for QC. :smallbiggrin: It's a bit more mature. Which isn't saying much!

skywalker

2010-01-27, 02:15 AM

But... you've said you're in early high school, right? Nobody that age reads the Wall Street Journal!
(Actually, according to Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, nobody at all reads the WSJ; people just subscribe to it to claim intellectual superiority. :P)

Granted, the University freshmen I know who read it do claim intellectual superiority, but they also do actually read it. They also don't subscribe, they steal it off a teacher's desk, apparently.

The lack of Dinosaur Comics makes me sad. :smallfrown: It's my favourite webcomic and is always hilarious.

This surprised me too.

Exachix

2010-01-27, 05:56 AM

Now, I voted for OotS a while ago, but just wanted to share why with all of you.

Because it's the only webcomic for which I frequent (or frequented) the forum of, and it managed to, somehow, get me into the whole 'reading webcomics' thing. It opened up for me the whole world of webcomics.

In addition, it's done more than introduce me to webcomics. Because of this webcomic, these forums were born. Because of these forums, town was born. For those of you who remember town back in 2006/2007, town allowed me to first really get roleplaying. If that hadn't happened, I don't know what I would be doing now - I can probably say it's thanks to OotS I'm doing LARP here in uni. Which is fun. Very fun.

So thank you Order of the Stick, you've opened up a whole world of fun for me. And that's why you're my favourite webcomic.

skywalker

2010-01-28, 12:14 AM

Ent

2010-01-28, 10:02 AM

So, uh, poll's closed (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/comic-riffs/2010/01/the_best_webcomic_its_time_to.html).

Penny Arcade just nipped Perry Bible Fellowship, with Hark! a Vagrant, Least I Could Do, and xkcd rounding out the top 5.

OotS came in 8th.

There are reports of voter fraud ("scripted assault (384000+ votes and counting)"), lol

It is a little uncanny that PBF had such a lead in and of itself, but then PA beating it by exactly 1% at the end is even more so.

Dr. Bath

2010-01-28, 10:20 AM

Probably 4 chan. They do like their Perry Bible Fellowship. Then PA fought back and 4chan lost interest. That seems likely to me.

I'm glad Hark! A Vagrant! did well though.

T-O-E

2010-01-28, 11:35 AM

Probably 4 chan. They do like their Perry Bible Fellowship. Then PA fought back and 4chan lost interest. That seems likely to me.

I'm glad Hark! A Vagrant! did well though.

That seems really, really fishy. There's no way it's more popular than Oots, xkcd, Questionable Content or Least I Could Do. Or even Girl Genius.

Klose_the_Sith

2010-01-28, 12:19 PM

Probably 4 chan. They do like their Perry Bible Fellowship. Then PA fought back and 4chan lost interest. That seems likely to me.

I'm glad Hark! A Vagrant! did well though.

That was my exact thought when I saw the stats. Bloody 4chan >.>

reorith

2010-01-28, 01:39 PM

That was my exact thought when I saw the stats. Bloody 4chan >.>

they've done worse.

deuxhero

2010-01-28, 02:53 PM

Isn't a decade 10 years, not 9? Why are they doing it now?

skywalker

2010-01-28, 03:06 PM

That seems really, really fishy. There's no way it's more popular than Oots, xkcd, Questionable Content or Least I Could Do. Or even Girl Genius.

What, Penny Arcade? I call shenanigans there. They have their own freaking convention.

As for Perry Bible Fellowship, I have no idea how popular it is. But never underestimate the power of anonymous.

Isn't a decade 10 years, not 9? Why are they doing it now?

The decade is 10 years. 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009. See? Decade over.

T-O-E

2010-01-28, 03:10 PM

What, Penny Arcade? I call shenanigans there. They have their own freaking convention.

Hark A Vagrant.

arguskos

2010-01-28, 03:11 PM

What, Penny Arcade? I call shenanigans there. They have their own freaking convention.

As for Perry Bible Fellowship, I have no idea how popular it is. But never underestimate the power of anonymous.
Considering that when Nick Gurwich retired from making PBF, it was a shock through the entire webcomics community, I think he had some connections in the webcomics scene. I don't know if PBF was the best/most influential of the decade, but it was pretty big, that's for sure.

EDIT: Hark! A Vagrant! is a great comic too. Not sure how it made top 5, but eh, it could be worse.

KuReshtin

2010-01-28, 03:27 PM

The decade is 10 years. 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009. See? Decade over.

So, when asked to recite the first ten numbers, you say "0, 1, 2, 3..."?
The decade started in 2001 and ends at the end of 2010.

Dr. Bath

2010-01-28, 03:39 PM

So, when asked to recite the first ten numbers, you say "0, 1, 2, 3..."?
The decade started in 2001 and ends at the end of 2010.

Except it didn't. People treated the Decade as starting at the beginning of 2000, therefore it has been ten years.

People prefer to have an easy reference point for decades (the 'tens' column is alway the decade). It even makes sense if we started at 0 AD (the first year of the first decade).

Pinnacle

2010-01-28, 04:18 PM

So, when asked to recite the first ten numbers, you say "0, 1, 2, 3..."?
The decade started in 2001 and ends at the end of 2010.

A decade is any 10 years. A new one starts every year--or, heck, minute.

Warpfire

2010-01-28, 05:59 PM

Hark A Vagrant.

Umm, if "something fishy" was going on I think Hark! A Vagrant would have gotten a little more than seven percent.

Besides, it just means more people voted in this poll for Hark! A Vagrant. The other comics could have large fanbases that simply didn't bother to vote heavily.

Plus Hark! A Vagrant is plenty popular.

The Extinguisher

2010-01-28, 11:41 PM

So, when asked to recite the first ten numbers, you say "0, 1, 2, 3..."?
The decade started in 2001 and ends at the end of 2010.

Yeah actually. But most people think I'm weird.

Klose_the_Sith

2010-01-29, 06:45 AM

they've done worse.

Oh, undoubtedly. Doesn't mean I don't get to growl at them :smallwink:

GoC

2010-01-29, 08:21 AM

But then comics that updated daily would have a huge advantage over those that updated weekly, or semi-weekly. Not to mention that would include Forum traffic and stuff, which I'm really not sure is designed to be part of it.

Actually it looks about right...
1. xkcd
2. Penny Arcade
3. Questionable Content
4. Least I Could Do
5. OotS

Just so it's known, xkcd's forum has about a third of the posts of giantitp forum (which probably means their current posting rate is slightly lower given their younger age) and Rich says that the forum is only a small fraction of the total traffic. So even ignoring forums xkcd still wins by a large margin.

I would have voted for Drowtales but it wasn't there so I voted for schlockmercenary

dish

2010-01-29, 08:27 AM

A decade is any 10 years. A new one starts every year--or, heck, minute.
Absolutely correct.

However,

It even makes sense if we started at 0 AD (the first year of the first decade).
There is no 0 AD. Even given the fact that BC and AD are classifications imposed on time by much later historians and theologians which the people living at that time wouldn't have understood in the slightest ... the classification of time goes from 1 BC directly to 1 AD without any year zero in between.

Don Julio Anejo

2010-01-29, 11:24 PM

I voted QC. Two years ago it would have been OotS (and I still think it has the best story out of the comics I read), however, there's no way I'm going to vote for a comic that randomly updates whenever it wants to, on average of once every 1.5 weeks with no set schedule or anything.

skywalker

2010-01-30, 02:33 AM

So, when asked to recite the first ten numbers, you say "0, 1, 2, 3..."?
The decade started in 2001 and ends at the end of 2010.

Okay chief, let me know how your campaign to have the 90s start with 1991 and end with 2000 goes.

Actually it looks about right...
1. xkcd
2. Penny Arcade
3. Questionable Content
4. Least I Could Do
5. OotS

Just so it's known, xkcd's forum has about a third of the posts of giantitp forum (which probably means their current posting rate is slightly lower given their younger age) and Rich says that the forum is only a small fraction of the total traffic. So even ignoring forums xkcd still wins by a large margin.

xkcd didn't cover the whole decade, however. Penny Arcade has been around forever (in internet terms).