As you might know, this past Saturday was Free Comic Book Day across North America, and as such, I was fulfilling my duty as a geek to go hang out with Darth Vader and some Stormtroopers at Heroes Comics in Fresno. The place was absolutely packed, even beyond what I expected. There was hardly any parking available and the line was out the door, so I knew it was gonna be good.

The opportunity to snag a free comic book and rub elbows with Central California’s Geekiest was a treat, but second to the real reason I showed up–to meet Brock Heasley, creator of the ridiculously awesome comic, The Superfogeys. Brock is a super nice guy; he did a great sketch of two of his characters, Captain Spectacular and Dr. Rocket, and hey, he even threw in a free bookmark for my friend Jenelle. I dropped a few dollars on some comics to support Th3rd World Studios, and I’d whole-heartedly recommend that you mosey on over to their online store and do the same if you’ve got a little money burnin’ a hole in your pocket. In addition, I got a free copy of Omega Chase from Brock, as well as an issue of The Stuff of Legend from the store. Both are presented by Th3rd World Studios, and both are definitely worth checking out.

I know about a month ago I promised to put out a list of my top ten favorite lesser-known webcomics, so I have to apologize for the fact that I haven’t yet done so. Every time I sit down to bang out a few names to put on the list, I get caught up in a new comic that I want to add. Not only that, but some of these comics aren’t what I’d even call “lesser-known,” just “new to me” (and perhaps just not as mainsteam as something like Penny Arcade or PVP). That makes me want to rework the theme of the list entirely, as I don’t want a comic that gets a lot of hits to be painted as “lesser-known.” Anyway, rest assured that I haven’t forgotten about it and that I’ll have tons of new recommendations for you to check out soon.

As a final note, George got a nice mention over at Coyote Trax’s Webcomics Critique, so I’d like to say thanks to Coyote Trax for that. Check out his blog for lots of new, quality webcomics.

Well, I’m scrapping my plan to do a “top ten lesser-known webcomics” list. Now, wipe that frown off your face, kemosabe–I’m replacing it with something even better. I’m going to be posting at least a few installments of what I hastily, lazily named the “Twitter Webcomic Roundup.” These are each going to be links and mini-reviews of six great webcomics that, without Twitter, I might not be reading right now. It seems like for every person who embraces Twitter, there’s another person who rejects it as more pointless online busywork which distracts us from life’s real issues, like economic woes and shrimp-flavored chips from Japan. While I definitely can understand that sentiment, I personally feel that Twitter is a remarkable way for webcomic artists to market themselves and keep in touch with each other while also generating reader interest. In the past few weeks, I’ve discovered or re-discovered no less than twenty great comics that I’d like to begin sharing with you. Right….NOW.

Bullfinch: I discovered this comic through Brock Heasley’s Superfogeys (which I’ll cover later), as the artist for Superfogeys: Origins, T.L. Collins, authors Bullfinch. Confused yet? You should have taken the red pill. He’s a fantastic artist, and the comic has a fantastic premise: A human is accidentally hired by a company that is populated with magical and mythological creatures. They’ve got it all covered. You’ve got your unicorns, your centaurs, your talking animals, even little magical imps called Brownies who apparently taste delicious when ground into a fine powder. Mmmm. Them’s good eatin’!

Addanac City: Addanac City updates daily, which, regardless of content, is a feat in and of itself. That it’s consistently funny makes it a near-Herculean feat (in a dimension where Hercules was a cartoonist known for meeting even the shortest of deadlines). It’s about a troublesome little snot named Hank Addanac and the people he makes miserable. But, another person’s misery is always funny, right? One word: Schadenfreude. There’s a little bit of quasi-adult humor here from time to time, so you can either take that as a warning or a recommendation.

Console Hopping: Sometimes a comic’s artwork leaps out at me in such a manner that I simply must reach for its RSS feed. That’s not to say that the writing of Console Hopping isn’t also good, but the artwork is so slick and professional that it’s what really stands out, here. This is definitely one you oughtta keep your eye on.

Myron and Charlie: From extremely talented cartoonist Wes Molebash comes the new strip, Myron and Charlie, which is family-friendly while not being at all boring or sappy. Clean, professional line work and top-notch writing make me look forward to every update. It’s about a boy named Myron who accidentally creates a very nice, not-at-all-frightening monster named Charlie, who apparently everyone can see–so it’s a nice deviation from a typical “imaginary friend” comic. I recommend starting at the first strip and working your way forward.

Savage Chickens: Crazy talking chickens drawn on sticky notes. Do I really need to say more?

The Superfogeys: In fairness, I was reading Superfogeys before I started riding the Twitter wave, but at some point along the way, I started forgetting to check it for updates. I think I lost the RSS feed and, as that’s pretty much the only way I read comics these days, Superfogeys fell off my radar for a while until I came across Brock Heasley on Twitter; I was suddenly, joltingly reminded that I was not getting my normal dosage of Superfogeys anymore. It was restored to its rightful place in my Google Reader and I caught up on everything I had missed, and was astonished at how much it had grown while I was away. Brock’s always been a great cartoonist, but more recently it’s just gotten blindingly good. There’s also the afore-mentioned Superfogeys: Origins on the site, which portrays the beloved washed-up old superheroes as young studs (and…studettes?) again, in a comic book format. I, for one, can’t wait to get my hands on an actual comic book of it, whenever that may be produced.

Well, that’s the end of the first Twitter Webcomic Roundup. I hope, like my dad in a cuckoo clock store, that you saw something you liked. I’ll be back with the next installment on Friday.

Just a quick note–Over at the Superfogeys website, you can cast your eyes on a piece of fan art I did for Brock–scroll down a bit to see it (but don’t forget to read the comic and the bit about Newsarama!).

Hope everybody enjoyed the first installment of the Twitter Webcomic Roundup! Without…any ado, here’s number two.:

1977: I’ve often felt that, if I had to choose another time period to grow up in, I’d love to be a teenager in the 70’s. What a heck of a scene to be in. Everything seemed so much…cooler back then. Luckily, I’m able to live vicariously through 1977, the comic. And, I mean…major props to any webcomic which has a store that sells hand-made ceramic cups, right?

Daisy Owl: It’s just…I really have no way to describe this comic. I–I can try: Bizarrely hilarious? That works. You should go there and press the “random” button and see what comes up.

I’m Not Bob: I can’t explain it any better than the author, Robert, can: “Geeky and juvenile humor revolving around Bob and his 2 college buddies, Frank and Dwayne, as they start up an online comics review business.” It’s a funny comic that, so far, features a lot of guest strips, totally getting the webcomic community involved.

Gill: Gill is one of my favorite new comics, about a…husky boy named Gill who’s dirt-poor and not overly bright. I love the title of the first Gill book, I’m Not Retarded, I’m Big-Boned! Gill lives with his mother, who is estranged from Gill’s father–there’s a certain dysfunction going on with all the characters that makes it seem much more real and relatable than standard newspaper-strip fare, yet it also wouldn’t seem out of place in a newspaper, either. Which, I guess makes sense, because Norm Feuti also authors the syndicated comic strip, Retail. So yes, he is quite a talented individual. Who I am not at all jealous of.

Imy: Imy is a very likeable comic strip about a girl who likes rock music so much, she actually wears a shirt with the word “ROCK” across the front. A webcomic after my own heart. Much like my own comic, the artwork has really evolved a lot since the beginning–what started out looking like your average webcomic grew into something not only fun to read, but visually much more interesting as well. Also, did I mention it’s about a girl who loves rock music?

Dog Eat Doug: Much like Superfogeys, Dog Eat Doug is a comic that briefly fell off my radar until I hauled it back on the truck via Twitter. It’s actually one of the first webcomics I began reading, as I seem to remember it started around the same time George did. Dog Eat Doug went on to bigger and better things, however–newspaper syndication being one of them! It deserves it, though–it’s whimsical, fun, humorous, expertly-drawn, family-friendly, and overall a great addition to anyone’s collection. Of comic strips.

Part 3 on Monday!

Dumm Comics: I just…I have a thing for freakin’ bizarre comics, I know. Dumm Comics updates daily with a different comic each day–like Big Pants Mouse, 1930 Nightmare Theater, and Skadi, among others. Weekends are reserved for guest comics. The artwork here is always great, and with such a wide variety of comics, there’s probably something here you won’t completely detest looking at!

The Suckerboys: Jim Thorpe puts together a nice little comic here, with good artwork and punchy writing. I mean, one strip features a hair-eating magical hamster who poops leaves. I just…I dare you to find that in any other strip.

Misery Loves Sherman: This is one of those comics that could easily appear in newspapers, if newspapers were actually cool and not regularly used solely for collecting bird droppings. The strip features two aliens and a pint-sized Grim Reaper (Mortimer L. Death), as well as a poor kid named Sherman who just can’t catch a break. Come for the art and the writing, stay for the young boy who is abused by his family!!

Spud Comics: Single-panel comics in the vein of The Far Side…if you’re in to things like that, you’ll like Spud Comics. And it updates every weekday, so there’s always plenty to see. Zeus toasts his bread, Kermit the Frog gets a prostate exam, fishes fart underwater, and Pinocchio gets a flaccid nose, among other things.

Canned Ham: The comic from May 4 features Piglet getting evicted from the Hundred Acre Wood by a sanitary-mask wearing Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. You can’t really ask for anything better than that.

Nedroid: Nedroid is created by Anthony Clark, colorist on the phenomenal comic, The Adventures of Dr. McNinja. Look, pictures are worth like, thousands of words or something, so just look at this and tell me it’s not worth reading.

I’ll be back with one more Twitter webcomic roundup on Wednesday, and then that’ll be it for a while–but fear not, I’m following new Twomics (Twitter comics, right?) every day, so I’m sure there’ll be more of these in the future.