In another world and another time, drow, descendants of dark elves, live and thrive in a vast, complex system of caverns underground. The drow are a warlike, matriarchal society where the family one was born into determines one’s fate and compassion can lead to death. This is the world of the drow girl Ariel val’Sarghress, the main protagonist of Drowtales. This comic is much darker than the previous two comics I reviewed, though it isn’t without its comic relief moments. Though the culture of the drow is very different from our own, the characters have real emotions, fears and desires and are relatively easy to empathize with. Kern Yates, the creator of the comic, has woven a complex, rich world in such detail that the website has its own online encyclopedia, which is accessible from the website.

Currently, the comic is being redrawn to include better art and a better story. These new pages show such a vast improvement over the originals, they hardly seem like the same comic. While the first chapter is a little roughly drawn, since it was not changed from the original story and was thus not redone, the rest of the chapters are nothing short of stunning. Each page is in full, rich color and the amount of detail is nothing short of incredible.

The website can be a little confusing to navigate for new readers. The main story, Moonless Age, isn’t being updated in chronological order, so the most recently updated page is usually somewhere in the middle of the story. Furthermore, in between each chapter, there are guest pages and extras that have little to do with the main story. Other than that, the website is loaded with extra features, including a blog with extra concept arts, side stories, a podcast, and yearly animations. For a small monthly fee, you can also participate in an interactive, unofficial story called Daydream where the readers determine the direction of the story.

The main comic updates every day from Monday to Friday. It is hard to determine the targeted audience for this comic, but with language and excessive violence, it would be best for young children to avoid it. Daydream is updated Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It is aimed at audiences 18 or over. Subscribers to Daydream should be warned of some language, some violence, and sexual scenes of varying degrees of intensity depending on the story and the direction of the votes.

Rating: A

In Canada, in the near future, there is a blood-transmitted virus that causes people to become vampires. Vampires still have rights, but society views them as second-class citizens. Currently, the debate rages over whether drugs that suppress vampires’ craving for blood is beneficial or harmful to the vampires that take it. This is the setting for Vampirates by Jones in Space, a webcomic about, as the title suggests, a modern pirate crew made up entirely of vampires. This comic achieves a good balance of whimsical humor and an engaging plot. The plot isn’t as dark as you would expect from a comic about vampires, but there are still some more serious themes along with a good measure of suspense, mystery, and good old-fashioned conspiracy theories. The characters are interesting, varied and easy for the audience to empathize with. As a bonus feature, they’re also good eye candy for all the ladies out there.

The art and overall comic shows a vast improvement over the course of the comic. The art at the beginning was pretty good, but nothing spectacular. At this point in the comic, one could easily see Jones getting a job as a professional artist. The quality of the title pages stays fairly consistent throughout the series. It’s clear that Jones puts a lot of effort into the title pages with simple but elegant art of the series’ characters.

One bothersome thing about the webpage is that one can’t access all of the features from the “latest page” page. The only way to get back to the main page is to delete part of the URL or hit your browser’s “back” button. Other than that, the features on the main page are good, though not spectacular. One cool feature that the webpage has that most other webcomics don’t is a tutorial for making your own webcomic using various image editing programs. Jones herself is fairly easy to get in contact with through e-mail, the Vampirates messageboard or the Vampires LiveJournal community.

The webcomic updates every Thursday and Sunday with guest comics every other day until the end of February. The comic is mainly aimed at older teens and young adults. Readers should be warned of violence, swearing, homosexuality and sexual content.

Rating: A-

Red String by Gina Biggs is a webcomic that takes place in Japan. The main character is Miharu Ogawa, a strong-willed Japanese schoolgirl whose parents have arranged for her to get married to Kazuo Fujiwara, the son of a wealthy businessman. Other characters include Miharu and Kazuo’s friends and family members. The comic is full of interpersonal dramas and relationships. Unlike many webcomics, this webcomic definitely aims for realism, so if you’re looking for magical girls and sexy cat women, you’ll be disappointed. Biggs is not Japanese herself, so I can’t help but wonder how well she truly captures Japanese culture. Nonetheless, Red String is a good source of entertainment.

The artwork takes some elements from anime, but instead of trying to pass the webcomic off as a Japanese-style comic book (called manga), Biggs develops her own style and keeps the quality fairly consistent. The art improves from the beginning of the comic, but it was by no means poor in the first place. The title pages are fairly good as well. They show a marked improvement from the beginning of the series, with colors becoming brighter and more vivid and featured characters becoming more dynamic.

The website is fairly easy to navigate with character biographies (under “extras”), extra artwork, and even a web radio station. The artist herself is fairly easy to get in contact with, either through e-mail or through her own messageboard, which is accessible from the Red String main page.

The webcomic updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, although extra pages are added at the end of every month if Biggs gets enough PayPal donations. The story is mostly aimed at teenage girls. Readers should be warned of mild sexual content, mild violence and homosexuality.

Rating: B+