Webcomic Spotlight #1: Sinfest

The internet has caused a boom in the self-publication of creative works, and the same goes for comics. So, roughly every other Friday here at the Mind I’m going to shine the spotlight on a webcomic that I believe stands out from among the (rather large) crowd. First up on the plate is Sinfest by Tatsuya Ishida, available at http://www.sinfest.net/

Sinfest got started way back on January 17th, 2000 and has been running on a daily update schedule ever since, with a bare handful of hiccups in that schedule along the way. Ishida’s art is definitely influenced (although not dominated) by Japanese manga styles, but the writing just as definitely carries a Western tone to it. Ishida has also admitted that the appearance of the main character, Slick, has been influenced by Calvin of Calvin & Hobbes fame, possessing the same unruly blond hair and diminutive stature.

The similarities and influences end there, as Sinfest does it’s own thing to the very last with a quirky cast of characters. Slick is somewhere between “14 and 21″, a wannabe pimp addicted to porn and beer with a career as a beat poet. Monique’s a teenage girl with “many tramp-like qualities, but deep down inside she’s still a tramp”. They’re the main characters, but others include Squigley the chauvinistic pig (no, really), Criminy the bookworm, Seymour the religious fanatic, a devil worshipper, a few angels, and for the moments of cute levity a puppy and cat named Pooch and Percival. Oh, and don’t forget God, the Devil, the Dragon, Buddha, and Jesus Christ. They’re kind of important, yeah?

Sinfest is mostly about humanity itself, with a fair amount of focus put on sex and religion. Despite being a comedy webcomic the strip still manages to make some serious points with its jokes about how society treats both of them, and how the two can affect people. The strip also addresses pop culture, as well as the ills of society in general. And every once and a while it’ll throw a rock in the general direction of the political world.

However, despite the often well-made points the allure of the strip is simply the fact that it is funny. Where else can you see God entertaining humans with a puppet show? Jesus and the Devil playing a game of basketball with Buddha as the referee? A pig debating how to treat women with a religious fanatic? Sinfest is the place for all of these and more. There are also several little ‘features’ within the comic. For instance, sometimes the characters will act out parts in a martial arts movie in “Ninja Theatre”, or perform deadpan “Porn Script Readings”. Whenever its time for just some untainted good cheer Pooch and Percival step up, with Pooch’s unstoppable good nature and Percival’s arrogant scheming mixing very well for a good laugh.

The comic originally started off as a Keenspot comic, but became it’s own creature in 2006. Artistically Ishida has made great improvements over the years; put the 2000-01-17 strip and today’s one together and you can see a marked difference in the quality. Also, after breaking away from Keenspot the comic began featuring full page, full color comics every Sunday. These are sometimes used to wrap up an ongoing story but are also sometimes a self-contained comic (Jesus vs. Devil basketball, for instance).

Despite the long running time there is no need to panic at the size of the archive. While the characters do change over time there is no strict plot to the comic; one can start following it today, never look at the archives, and yet never have to ask themselves what the hell is going on. However, not reading the archives would be a great loss of lots of amusing material, so give them a try.

Despite never making it as an American newspaper comic (rejected 11 times as of last count two years ago), Sinfest has made it into print, self-published in three books so far: Sinfest (2002), Life is My Bitch (2003), and Dance of the Gods (2005), covering the first three years of the comic, although all of it is still available online for free. There is no word on when, or even if, there will be another book published.

So, thanks for reading Webcomic Spotlight! I hope our first subject, Sinfest, has been interesting to hear about and I hope you check it out and enjoy it. Check back in two weeks for the next Spotlight!