About The Plate
Allow me to make an analogy, if I may. Webcomics are like food.
Like food, they are put together with a set of ingredients. As diverse the appetite can be, the more diverse the ingredients can be. Whether you want the Peanut Butter and Jelly of Real Life, the Lobster of Mac Hall, the Pretzel Barrel full of Lore Brand Comics, The Veal Parmesean of Something Positive, the Toaster Strudel of Dominic Deegan, etc. Not to say any food is better than any other food. That’s impossible. Try to convince a three year old that they’d enjoy a Caesar Salad over a Chocolate Chip Cookie. Or tell Grampa that he should eat a Hershey Bar over a T-Bone Steak. Everyone has different tastes, and every food serves a different purpose. Just like webcomics.
Now most of us webcomic enthusiasts read them every day. Like eating, we feel very uncomfortable if we haven’t read comics for the day. Or sometimes you’re just aching for a snack, so you reach over to some familiar archives to satisfy the craving. And eating is something we’ve built our habits around, designating certain times of day to ingest the food. And the comics aren’t too far off. We get accustomed to the early morning updates of some, or the later updates of others. Like meals, webcomics are taken in at key points of the day. Even if it’s just that time of day or night that’s “Time to check the comics.”
With food and comics, we all have our personal tastes. I like Snow Peas, but I can’t stand Green Beans. Both green podded vegetables. I like 8-bit Theatre, but I don’t like CRTL+CVZ. Both are Sprite Comics. Things can be way similar, and we just don’t like some of them. Or say, I like a certain chef’s Kung Pao Chicken, but not his Lo Mein. I might like Greystone Inn, but I don’t really think much of Mondays with Mel. They’re each things made by the same guy, but that doesn’t mean I would like them both.
I think I had a point somewhere. Maybe not, but it’s fun segue into how I got the names for my lists. The comics and things I read on a regular basis are the things on The Plate (Separated alphabetically). In the great buffet of the internet, these are all the things I cram on my dish. The Slate, however, is like the slate on the restaurant wall, showcasing the daily specials. The Slate contains the things I plan on reading, or am currently evaluating, having not formed a complete opinion.
In any case, the blurbs I have written are mainly just short descriptions on why I read the comic. No real statements on what I think of the comic critically on the whole. Without further ado, here are the lists:
The Plate, #-G
The Plate, H-Q
The Plate, R- Z
The Slate
During your perusal, if there’s anything you think that I should be reading, but aren’t, go ahead and send an e-mail to phil@biscuitpress.com, and I’ll give it a look over. Feel free to plug your own work as well, I’m always interested in new stuff.