Safe Havens by Bill Holbrook

Safe Havens

Samantha Argus, 26, is the foremost expert in genetics at Havens University and perhaps in the world. In fact, she's cracked the code that lets ordinary humans transform into any living thing at the drop of a hat and has cloned a few dodos back to life. The world isn't quite ready for this knowledge yet, though, so she keeps it under wraps while she works as a dorm RA, professor, and researcher. But life isn't all boring-- her fellow RA is a talking cat, her husband's overseas agent is a time traveler, and her late grandmother can talk to her from heaven through any reflective surface.

Safe Havens began life as a syndicated comic strip in 1988, set in a daycare called Safe Havens. The characters have aged in real time and are having children of their own now. Dave Hamper grew into a professional basketball player and Samantha's husband; Thomas Volant is a Cirque du Soleil performer married to a mermaid, with a trapeze-swinging, half-fish son; and Bambi is a famous singer with plans to travel to Mars.

Safe Havens is available online at safehavenscomic.com. The first comic posted online is from October 2010.

Appeal: Science fiction, puns, black representation, anthropomorphism, adult relationships

Other: Bill Holbrook also writes Kevin & Kell, an anthropomorphic comic strip, and On the Fastrack, a strip set in the technology offices of Fastrack, Inc. Some characters from On the Fastrack appear in Safe Havens.

Holbrook, Bill. "Safe Havens." safehavenscomic.com. Web. 4 May 2014.

Girls with Slingshots by Danielle Corsetto

Girls with Slingshots

Hazel is making her way through life post-college. She's a writer, sort of, when she has work, and she tends to mope, but her best friend Jamie is cheerful enough for both of them. This comic started as a gag-a-day strip, but has developed into a continuity strip about Hazel, Jamie, and their friends. Since the first strip, Hazel has acquired a long-term boyfriend and gone through a difficult break-up; Jamie has found the love of her life, now has an open relationship with her; Thea has gotten over her dating dry spell and found a wonderful woman to marry; and Clarice is finally dating her crush, but still trying to hide her part-time job as a dominatrix. Hazel doesn't always understand her friends' lives and desires, but underneath her prickly exterior she cares about them as much as Jamie does.

It is online at girlswithslingshots.com. Read from the first comic here.

Appeal: Slice of life, making it in the world, family relationships, friendship, queer representation

Art: Shifts dramatically from detailed realism in the first years to the current bright, cartoony style

Text: Conversational, sarcastic, personal

Other: Danielle Corsetto has been cartooning since she was 8 years old. She began Girls With Slingshots in 2004, and it became her full-time job in 2007. Corsetto has worked on the Adventure Time comic book and The New Adventures of Bat Boy for the Weekly World News.

Corsetto, Danielle. "Girls with Slingshots." girlswithslingshots.com. Web. 4 May 2014.

Something*Positive by R.K. Milholland

Something Positive

Following the lives of three friends in Boston--Davan, PeeJee, and Aubrey-- and their assorted friends, family, and enemies, Something Positive is sarcastic, cynical, and sometimes touching. The characters age in real time from the comic's 2001 debut to today. Davan dates many unkind women before moving back home to Texas and eventually marrying a newer character, Vanessa. PeeJee holds a number of unpleasant jobs, and now lives in Texas with Davan, helping to care for his witty, Alzheimer-diagnosed dad Fred. Aubrey started a successful phone sex hotline catering to nerds and gamers, and adopted a child with another character, Jason. The characters encounter little oddities like Davan's semi-liquid cat Choo Choo as well as everyday concerns like the Christian haunted house where Fred stages an impromptu protest. 

Something Positive is available at somethingpositive.net. Read from the first comic here.

Appeal: Sarcasm, cynicism, family relationships, adult relationships, work humor

Art: Realistic, it improves over time but the style is consistent. 

Text: Dark humor, conversational, mature

Other: R.K. Milholland writes two other comics: Super Stupor, a dark parody of superheroes, and Rhymes With Witch, watercolor illustrations of very dark children's cautionary tales. Both are available from somethingpositive.net.

Awards: Something Positive won the Web Cartoonists Choice Award for Outstanding Character Writing in 2005, and for Outstanding Dramatic Comic in 2006. 

Milholland, R.K. "Something Positive." somethingpositive.net. Web. 4 May 2014.

Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel

Dykes to Watch Out For

A continuity and political and social commentary comic about a group of friends, mostly lesbians, in an American city. The characters age in real time from their 20s to their 40s, finding new partners, break up, losing and getting jobs, having children, and participating in political activism. Mo Testa is the main character, a neurotic, paranoid lesbian trying to survive in a world of conservative politicians and the threat of World War III. Mo's paranoia is balanced by her best friend Lois, a laid-back drag king with little interest in politics. By comparison, Lois's roommates Sparrow and Ginger often argue politics with partners and moms Clarice and Toni, who split their time between work, each other, and their son Rafael. 

Appeal: lesbian and queer representation, person of color representation, realism, liberal politics, ironic humor, adults.

Art: Cartoony, expressive, consistent throughout the run.

Textual style: Debate, diatribes, simultaneous conversations among multiple parties.

Other: Alison Bechdel has written two memoirs and drawn comics for many national magazines. She won the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2012.

Awards: The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For won a Publishing Triangle Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction in 2008, and had a starred review in Publisher's Weekly.

Bechdel, Alison. The Essential Dykes To Watch Out For. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008. Print.

For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston

For Better or For Worse

A continuity strip covering 30 years in the life of a middle-class white Canadian family and their friends. Babies are born, children grow up, parenthood's ups and downs are explored, and characters experience changes in and conflicts with spouses, families, jobs, children, and lives. Ellie, the mother, goes from being a full-time homemaker to a part-time toy store employee to the store owner. Michael grows from a toddler to a teenager to an adult with a family of his own. Elizabeth spends years figuring out what to do her life, and whom to spend it with. In one infamous story arc, the beloved family dog saves the youngest, April, from drowning in a river and dies in the attempt. This is a comic about family, love, hardship, and joy. It is available online at gocomics.com.

Appeal: slice-of-life, family drama, realism, family-friendly, middle grade plus

Art: Starts off sketchy but expressive, becomes more detailed in the middle years.

Textual style: Lots of exclamations and pronouncements, some sentimentality.

Other: Lynn Franks Johnston was born and raised in Canada, and attended the Vancouver School of Art. Over the course of her career she has been awarded several honorary doctorates, and been made a member of the Order of Canada, a member of the Order of Manitoba, and been inducted into the Canadian Cartoonist Hall of Fame and the National Cartoon Museum Hall of Fame.

Awards: The author has won the Reuben Award, the Gemini Award for Best Cartoon Series, and the National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Comic Strip Award.

Johnston, Lynn Franks. It's All Downhill From Here: A For Better Or For Worse Collection. Kansas City : Andrews, McMeel & Parker, (c)1987. Print.