In The Awakened, Chase Sigismund, a troubled high schooler, finds himself in the middle of strange events – but only he seems to be able to perceive them. During a walk in the forest, he is attacked by several supernatural creatures, only to be rescued by three talking wolves and told that he is not like other humans – he is a fighter for good in the Eternal War, a war over the lives of ordinary humans that is destined to last until the end of time. Though the plot is a little confusing at first, it is purposely so – Chase is confused, so we are, too. The characters are a little over-the-top at times, but this does not detract from the enjoyment of the story.

Each page is in full, vivid color and the backgrounds are extremely detailed. As of the writing of this blog, the author is offering to put readers’ characters in the comic as background extras. Though there are a few problems with the art in the beginning, these problems seemed to have been smoothed out.

The website hosting the comic is well laid-out and straightfoward. It includes guest art, forums, profiles for the main characters, a store, and off-site links to its own wiki and the artists’ various blogs and art archives.

The comic updates irregularly. It is enjoyable for most audiences in high school or older, though readers should be warned of swearing, violence, mild sexual scenes and blood.

Rating: B+

Okashina Okashi is another comedic webcomic, but this time with a coherent plot. It all starts when five young woman and one young man get transported to an alternate universe by a geek trying to summon his own harem. These six people, none too happy about being plucked from their homes, search for the writers of the book said geek used and end up being transported through several different worlds on their search for a way back to our Earth. This webcomic parodies several different genres of anime, manga and video games. The characters are purposefully over-the-top and stereotypical. Many of the references would probably be lost on those who aren’t familiar with at least one of the parodied subjects above, but for those who are involved in the anime, manga or video game scene, this is a highly enjoyable read.

The art does not show a vast improvement from the beginning, but it does change from fully black and white to fully color, which is nice. The drawing is a little rough, but not rough enough to detract from the enjoyment of the comic. This comic works in arcs rather than chapters, so there are no proper “title pages,” but there are intermissions with guest artworks and extras by the artist.

The website is fairly straightforward, but it doesn’t spoil us with features like many other webcomics do. It has a profile page for the main characters, a page for guest art, a store, some links, and a forum.

This comic updates every Thursday. It is aimed at fans of manga, anime and video games. Readers should be warned of numerous sexual references, especially during the “Amazon Land” arc and the “Pr0n Land” arc.

Rating: B+

Earthsong stars Willow, a mysterious purple-skinned young woman who wakes up on the planet Earthsong with no recollection of who she is or where she came from. Soon, she finds herself in the middle of the war between Haven’s guard, fighters Earthsong’s sentient spirit and the Mandragoras, fighters for Beluosus, the spirit of another planet. Most of the characters are based on mythological races such as elves, harpies and vampires and they all come from different planets. The comic’s strength is the richness of the setting and interesting but easy-to-follow plot, though the characters come across as being slightly flat. Nonetheless, Earthsong is a good read when you want to be entertained.

The art is very well-drawn, somewhat in the anime style, and each page is in full, rich color. The comic is being redrawn from the original, so the artist has already gained much experience and settled on her style before the current version of the comics began. Unlike Drowtales, however, all of the old versions of the chapters have been taken down, so navigation is not difficult.

The website itself is fairly straightforward, with links at the top for archives, character profiles, information about the story and the author, and more. The font chosen for some of the section titles is a little hard to read, but appropriate for the comic and the characters.

The comic is updated not updated on a regular schedule. It is aimed at girls. There is very little offensive in this comic besides some light swearing and some blood.

Rating: B