Launched in 2002 by librarian Gene Ambaum and cartoonist Bill Barnes is gained an audience of over 35,000 readers a day and has just celebrated its fifth anniversary.

“Is it a comic that only librarians can appreciate? No.” says writer Gene Ambaum. “A library is basically a store — everyone has been on one side of the counter or the other. Fortunately for us there really is such a thing as a stupid question.”

“Unshelved is always a blast to make,” says artist Bill Barnes, “I get to draw Dewey saying the things everyone wishes they could say, except they’d be fired. And every Sunday I draw a scene from a different book. For a cartoonist who was practically raised in a library it’s a dream come true.”

I have not read Unshelved yet, but it is still completely free at the website at www.unshelved.com. Who knows, perhaps it will make the Major Spoilers Top 57 Web Comics list next year.

If you don’t want to read the comic at the website, there are currently four trade paperbacks available from Diamond.

Just another popularity list…

There has been a lot of discussion both on Major Spoilers and various other websites regarding my Top 57 Web Comics You Should Be Reading list. Some comments were positive, some excited about where their favorite strip landed, but most about the web comics that didn’t make my list.

This installment is aptly named Viewer’s Choice. Based on the responses in the forum, comments and other websites that have linked to the original list, I’ve taken all of the recommendations and ranked them according to Alexa (a popular web ranking system).

While web ranking systems are cool, they can be corrupted very easily to give false results. I mentioned this before, but to keep the gates of Major Spoilers from being torn down by rapid fan boys and fan girls, I’ll be using a ranking system for the Viewer’s Choice.

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57 varieties of web comics you should be reading

The Top Ten

Here we are, the big day, the big reveal, the result of all the brouhaha; the big Top Ten. Those that earned a spot in my list of the best web comics have to offer.

But what makes something Top Ten worthy? In my mind it isn’t just the comic, but rather the entire website experience. While I likes me my web comics, commentary, bonus material, news, and more, make me want to linger at that website just a little bit longer. As you’ll see, when you get into the list, there are other sites in the Top 57 that also mimic the delivery of some of these comics, but in my mind these are the ones that do it the best.

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57 varieties of web comics you should be reading

Didn’t want you to think that I had let the day slip by without uploading this installment of the Top 57 Web Comics.  I would never do that to you just when we are hitting the teens. But isn’t that how our teenage years were? Full of disappointment, that left us the bitter bitter adults we are now… No? Well, me neither.

Really.

So today we get so close to the top ten, those on the list must be feeling the heat of being in the presence of such brilliance. That isn’t to say numbers 20 through 11 have anything to be ashamed of, they totally rock!

One thing to keep in mind – this is not a defacto, hands down, scientific, winner-take-all list. These are the web comics I think are worthy enough to qualify as Best Of…

I think The Geek over at the Digital Strips Podcast site said it best in an article he wrote today.

The list is pretty good so far. I’m surprised on a few of the entries but you have to remember the source as several of the comics listed have a comic book slant to them. Also some of the strips I’ve never even heard of, but personally I like that. It gives me a chance to read some new strips as Schleicher provided links to them.

It’s important to remember that this list is just one person’s opinion, every once in a while people will point to a list like this as if it were decided by some scientifically verifiable method. It’s not. It’s not even done by a committee of Web comics experts (can anyone even really call themselves that?). One guys, one list. Just keep that in mind should you or your favorite comic get overlooked.

Hey! The Geek found some new web comics to read! That is totally awesome, and is a great result of putting out a list like this. Maybe you too will find something worthwhile to read that will make your Top of the Best of List too…

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57 varieties of web comics you should be reading

Today we get into the 20s, which is all about relationships; relationships between boys and girls, girls and girls, fantasy and reality, and even relationships between a beaver and a lizard.

But before the list, I promised I would talk briefly about all those webcomic voting sites.

I have nothing against voting sites, they are a great way to find new comics you may never have seen before, but they are in no way reflective of the popularity of a particular strip. This is because the voting systems are easy fooled, can be manipulated to increase the number of votes and so on. One of the most popular ways I have seen web comic sites get votes is to offer a “bonus” strip in return for your vote. Others simply ask for an e-mail address to confirm the vote, but if you have more than one e-mail address you use, you can vote multiple times. Plus there is also the popular notion that those on the top of the lists will automatically attract more votes simply because they hold the top spots.

Voting sites to measure popularity of a web comic – not good. Voting sites as a way to find new strips to read – very good.

With that out of the way, here is today’s installment.

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57 varieties of web comics you should be reading

Day two of the 57 web comics you should be reading continues, with #40-31. Ah, the dreaded 30s. I hated those levels in World of Warcraft as I struggled to move up in the ranks.

Before we get to the list for today, I did receive an e-mail from Chris at Reasonably Clever, who asks, “Are most of your daily reads, comics that have been passed around by word-of-mouth or do you have a particular site you’ll check for new/interesting releases in the webcomic world?”

Glad you asked Chris, my Top 57 comes from two main sources; word of mouth, and ads. In the case of word of mouth, a student or colleague may say, “Hey, check out this comic, I think you’ll like it”. This of course means these people know what I think is funny or good. Other word of mouth comes from direct links in a commentary by the web author (kind of like what I just did with Reasonably Clever).

The other way I find my web comics is through the ads placed on other sites. For example, I found A Mission Deep via an ad link placed on Commissioned Comics. Some days I’m just bored as hell and begin trolling for new comics to read. Sometimes I get lucky, sometimes not so much.

What about voting sites? I’ll give you my thoughts on those in tomorrow’s installment. For now, let’s get to the list.

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57 varieties of web comics you should be reading

When I created the Major Spoilers Best of 2006 list, I placed Web Comics at number nine. There are just so many creators out there doing some great (and not so great) work. I also mentioned in the article (you really should read it), that I have over 50 web comics I visit every day. So why not count them down?

Over the next five days, I’ll bring you my top 57 web comics out there and by this time next week, you’ll either have a lot of reading to do, or a lot of fighting over who did or didn’t make the top 10.

Today, I’m bringing you #57 – 41. Unfortunately, at the bottom of the list many of these have faded – meaning they are not being updated, or have had a huge lapse since the last installment. Some (like A Mission Deep) have struggled to actually restart regular updates. Regardless, even for those that haven’t been updated in months, there is still a plethora of back issues for you to dive through and enjoy.

“Top 57? WTF?”

Hey it’s 56 more than those liars over at Heinz…

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