Starship Castle

Webcomics Warp is going to be a feature where we recommend and review comics with fantasy or sci-fi themes. Hopefully you’ll find something you’ll like.

Starslip by Kris Straub, our first recommendation, has been a favorite of mine for a few years now, telling a great science-fiction story that is heart-touchingly hilarious. Straub’s plays works on several levels, simultaneously working within the genre and poking at its familiar tropes.

The strip follows the crew of an explorer vessel, the Paradigm, as they search out new and intelligent life and drive each other crazy. Memnon Vanderbeam, the captain, used to be curator of a museum ship. The security chief Cutter is a former pirate. Mr. Jinx, the science officer and general assistant, is a Cirbozoid and channels the best comedy of C-3PO, Spock, and every other being that doesn’t understand human behavior.

What I love about Starslip is that while it consistently makes me laugh, the jokes almost never feel forced. In many comics the characters become a mouthpiece for the author in the last panel, and while they might say something funny it could be said by anyone in any situation. Straub’s humor is character driven – it comes from the absurd ways each character sees the world, instead of making jokes and trying to be funny.

If you’re new to Starslip, a good place to start would be the New Reader Guide. You can also just jump straight in – I’ve really enjoyed the most recent storyline, Worst Contact, or you can find today’s strip at www.starslip.com.

Starslip updates weekdays, Monday – Friday.