What webcomics have you STOPPED reading?

[Sockmonkey]

Generally if it's anything that's updated irregularly or goes on a month long hiatus every so often I'm not going to bother with after the inital archive binge. If people don't know when to check back they usually won't. I get that most people do them for fun and don't always feel like writing but really, write a few strips ahead when you can to give yourself a buffer. Nobody can stay interested in anything when it's a slow irregular trickle.

[Felstaff]

I went back to read through PvP, and I realised the last strip I read was March 2009. I can't believe how much time has passed. It was enjoyable burning through a year of Scott Kurtz without having to read his opinionated blog alongside this (fairly enjoyable) websoap.

It was also satisfying skipping through all the guest comics. Confession: I generally think cartoonists suck.

[Bright Shadows]

8 bit really did end this time. 8<|:D It finally made it. Hopefully, soon HIKYM will get off the photoelectric effect.

VG cats hasn't updated. What a shock. D: You guys reminded me to look.

I haven't looked at Boxer Hockey in a while. I'll be back though.

[Jorpho]

Really?

I recently tried picking up 8-bit from where I left off, but just couldn't make it beyond around 950 - it was just so painful. Does it recover?

[Jessica]

I love erfworld. Mainly because it's so detailed. Yes, it uses random internet culture, but it's part of the world, which is interesting. Everything makes sense. References fit in, and aren't just random one off jokes.

[The Pigeons' Rule]

Never really got into CAD. C&H I love, even though I don't follow it like I used to. Those guys are probably some of the most talented writers out there.
I have been tempted to give up on PA, but I keep coming back, even though I'm not that much of a gamer. There must be reason for that, and I think it's quality.
I quite liked 'Copper' and 'Anders Loves Maria', but they are both caput by now...

[Switch31]

I recently stopped following "Least I Could Do." I'm not really sure why. It was just really normal. The writing was okay, but not outstanding. I think it's because I kind of gave it shot on account of the quality of art. But the characters never resonated with me. Ce la vie.

[vaguelyhumanoid]

Rock Paper Cynic because it's too cumbersome to navigate, and thus a huge chore to make up for lost time.
Questionable Content because it's too daunting to keep up with.
I used to read Nature of Nature's Art, but the plots are too hard to keep up with.
0/1, simply because it was already over by the time I started reading it.
Really xkcd is the only webcomic I seriously follow.

[meatyochre]

I'm on the verge of leaving LFG because it's all drama and no fun since Richard stopped nuking the shit out of everyone who crossed his path. I'll probably check out the movie if they ever release one (as they've threatened to do for some time now). But meh. The whole reason I got attached to the comic in the first place was because of his hilarious warlocky murderosity. It's like M*A*S*H now. Characters bemoaning the atrocities of war and death. blehh, nty

Also 8 bit theatre, like others. It's been probably a couple years since I stopped reading it... after about 20 comics in a row with no plot advancement whatsoever, I quit checking back. I imagine they're all still on the journey to the 3rd orb.

I would have respected Brian Clevinger much more if he'd gone the way of Arrested Development instead of The Simpsons. Hell, I even donated 15 bucks to the guy once, and I don't donate to ANYTHING online. No respect anymore. If a comic is doing well, wrap it up before it gets old and start another one. If you're worth anything as a comedian or artist, it will do just as well--if not better. If you're not and it doesn't, well... it's only by luck that your first one went anywhere, anyway. Be happy with what you've made and done and don't follow the long, slow, pathetic path of The Simpsons.

Tangentially, as much as I'm upset with the author of PBF for stopping production, I greatly respect him for it. He may have run out of ideas or artistic direction and, instead of slowly slitting a dying duck's throat and making his readers listen to the "quehhhhhhhck," he ripped the bandaid off quickly.

But I do still cry
I miss my PBF!

[Woopate]

I've never really given up on a webcomic, it takes so little effort to keep a feed in my Sage. BUT! The Gods of Arr-Kelaan, he changes the narrative style drastically for each arc, and some of them I just find uninteresting. I usually stick to the ones actually involving the gods. It's a good read, I bet most people here would get a kick out of it.

[Jorpho]

Is that one still going? It was a good read, but there were so many separate arcs going madly off in different directions that I got confused.

[Woopate]

It seems like every 3 or 4 arcs he does an arc with Ronson and the Gods, most of the other ones come too far from left field for me.

[Tricks Choices]

Gaia's minicomic just went sour for me after a while. The plotlines just never seemed to follow through. And I gave up on C&H regularly, but I'll drop in for a few giggles every once in a while.

[Adacore]

I love erfworld. Mainly because it's so detailed. Yes, it uses random internet culture, but it's part of the world, which is interesting. Everything makes sense. References fit in, and aren't just random one off jokes.

Is Book 2 worth reading? I never really got into it, it just didn't grab me like Book 1 did.

[Jessica]

Personally, I found book 2 to be fantastic (if you read the text updates as well as the comic updates).

But, I really like the world of erfworld. I think it's a magnificently detailed creation, and the stories and characters are really interesting.

But, you really need to read the text updates as well. And if you're not really willing to read the text updates, then I can understand not wanting to read the comic.

[Woopate]

I cheered at the ending of book 1. I don't do that. I was excited about it for days. To date, Erfworld is my favorite webcomic. Beautiful art, awesome storytelling, great characters, and a really cool setting.

Oh, yeah. Just remembered that I stopped paying attention to Looking For Group.

[Jorpho]

Why can't I break free from User Friendly? Reading it every day has become a habit devoid of meaning. It's in reruns, and it's not even good reruns.

I guess this is why we still have Garfield and Family Circus.

And fie on Erfworld. Fie, I say!

[tentacleTherapist]

I stopped reading Cyanide and Happiness for pretty much the same reasons others have mentioned. I haven't really been keeping up with QC as much as I used to; It just doesn't seem like it's going anywhere anymore :/
I used to read Goats a lot but then Rosenburg decided to do A Multiverse instead so who knows when it might come back

[charolastra]

Megatokyo was my first webcomic when I was "like, so original" or something. I probably stopped reading it in 2004 or 2005. That was also around the time I stopped writing my notes to a certain subset of friends in 1337. Yes. I was that girl.

[Bright Shadows]

I dropped CAD like a ball of fire, after it putting off for so long, because I learned some about the author. Even if I didn't take half of what I saw seriously, the comic was pretty bad anyway. If half of what I saw is correct... well, half of what I saw probably isn't correct. Some of the stuff just sort of builds on itself in totally inhuman ways. The annoyance remains though.

[Herra Monologi]

Megatokyo was my first webcomic when I was "like, so original" or something. I probably stopped reading it in 2004 or 2005. That was also around the time I stopped writing my notes to a certain subset of friends in 1337. Yes. I was that girl.

Oh, I fell love on you.

I stopped reading Sinfest at last summer. I just asked myself "Where is the humour and the idea?" and checked the first three strips and then compared to the new ones. No humour or idea found.

El Goonish shive. Too much changed during the years.

Penny Arcade and Ctrl+alt+del. They have fallen to the Garfield-level.

Technically I never stopped reading the Megatokyo. I just don't read it on the web because I enjoy it as paperback so much more.

[Thadlerian]

Girl Genius has been my favourite for a long time, but if it goes much longer without any plot development in sight, I might ditch it. They've seriously had the same fights over and over for at least a year now. Defeated characters refuse to stay defeated, and some new syndrome is always threatening the progress. Nothing seems to be at stake any more.

[SecondTalon]

.... what? I.. I mean, if that's your opinion, that's your opinion, I just.. can't figure out where you're pulling that from.

Perhaps it's because I only started following Girl Genius a few months ago, and read the archives (that is, all 9ish years of them) over the course of several hours spread out over a couple of nights. From what I'm seeing, it's still got quite a bit to straighten out. I mean, if we were to smash it into Campbell's Monomyth, it's still in the part where the Hero is gathering weapons and allies. It's in a development slow bit because they're in what is essentially a prison, and working to try and get out. The various people Our Heroes have met are all working to their own ends, and it's a bit difficult to see where everyone's going to end up when Our Hero finally gets the Castle back in working order.

Now, it does move with all the speed of a sluggish glacier, I'll grant you that. It's also seeming to relay about a half-page worth of Standard Funnybook Information per update, so you're basically getting 1 and a half pages a week. Yes, it's been for 9 years, but hell.. Sandman would take, what.. 21 years at that scale? (75 issues - 22 pages per issue, 1650 pages total, at 1.5 pages per week, 1100 weeks which is.. 21.15 years)

Hell, even at 3 pages per week, that's still 10 and a half years to put up the entirety of Sandman.

My solution - stop reading it for now. Check in again in six months.

[Jorpho]

At least its artwork is still pretty nice. I might compare it to the impassable doldrums of 8-Bit Theatre, which lacked that aspect entirely.

And it's a little easier to follow than it was back in, what was it, Chapter 3 or so? With the Geisterdamen? I could never quite figure out who was allied with what back then.

Also, I finally broke myself of my User Friendly habit. Go me!

[Vaniver]

Sort of agree with Thadlerian. It has been three years since Agatha entered the castle, and I started reading it regularly... four or five years ago? It's still got a place on my reading list for a year or so, but after that I think I'll take a break until the castle is resolved.

[Thadlerian]

The problem is that it moves just as much backwards as forwards. The ordeal with changing skin colours, which seemed tangential to the main plot at best, took the better part of a year to sort out. During which Agatha had to shut down the castle's mind, as it tried to kill Gil and Tarvek - which in turn was caused by the kill/revive cure required for the tangential colour affliction subplot.

And then they were attacked by Von Pinn, and had to take her out (death ray through countless floor layers - which, as it turned out, took out some vital castle function as well, I don't remember what effect that had), only to revive her and put her into the cat clank body - which again took a lot of time. And then there was the android-like clank.

Meanwhile, nothing seems to be happening outside the castle. Two and a half years ago, the Baron called in the equipment necessary for destroying the castle. Half a year later, they brought in Othar, for whatever purpose. Othar is inside the castle doing something, but we haven't heard of him for ages, except when he met his sister. Last time we heard from the Baron, he wasn't concerned about the castle at all, but was fighting the doctor who tried keeping him in bed.

We're facing the third major fight with Zola. The second fight (October 2010) seemed to have no actual consequences - despite Zola being fed an overdose of Movit 11, and Higgs being stabbed through the chest, they're both present for a re-match in Monday's installment. Zeetha seems injured, but as Gil demonstrated in fights against Vole and Merlot, sustaining major injuries does not have to visibly impede ass-kicking. Even if the current Zola fight is the last, they'll still have to deal with Othar, which will probably take just as long as dealing with her.

Intrigue keeps relying on some shticks that are getting old. Airman Higgs' "survives everything" was hilarious during the first airship flashback, but is getting overused. Zola is always capable of being more powerful than previously believed. Girl Genius is essentially reading like Steven Erikson's Malazan books of the Fallen.

The major plot progression these last three years seems to be Moloch's recent plan to fix the water wheel, aided by the tiny clanks (if they've resolved their non-sequitur dominance struggle). The protagonists still haven't made any significant headway towards connecting the disconnected parts of the castle. Fight scenes are interspersed between various repeated filler elements, including Gil and Tarvek's half-serious rivalry (with Agatha being sent back and forth between them, to share tender scenes with both in turn), comic relief with the castle's mad scientists, and Moloch's inadvertent womanizing. All the while Lucrecia keeps resurfacing, although Agatha seems to be more or less in control now, even without the locket.

I can't really see this story as a monomyth. The five Departure stages can be found in the beginning of the comic, true, but after that everything is chaos. As for the gathering of allies and weapons (which stage is that?), we've had Gil, Zeetha, and Tarvek for ages now, and everyone else is just disposable comic relief. The point is that ever since they entered the castle, the plot stopped moving forward. The heroes are not substantially closer to achieving any major quest goals than they were three years ago.

The characters are occasionally depicted as repairing things, but these repairs don't seem to have any actual effect (apart from disabling traps, but the traps stopped being an issue ages ago, anyway), such as making the castle more helpful, or allowing them to get information about who's where (which would have been very useful for avoiding the constant surprise attacks).

[Vaniver]

Tomorrow, hopefully, Zola goes down for the count and that side story is resolved permanently. I put the odds of that at less than 10%. Far, far more likely is Zola is giving up, Lucrezia is taking over, and things will get worse for Tarvek and Agatha.

[Thadlerian]

Tomorrow, hopefully, Zola goes down for the count and that side story is resolved permanently. I put the odds of that at less than 10%. Far, far more likely is Zola is giving up, Lucrezia is taking over, and things will get worse for Tarvek and Agatha.

Doesn't seem we're that lucky. Today's comic seems to initiate yet another thread: Gil needs Zola alive, for some (as far as I can see, as Tarvek seems oblivious to it) yet-undisclosed reason.

[Vaniver]

Well, Zola lives, but not for the reason I thought. Sigh.

[modularblues]

Kawaii Not and PHD. Although I do occasionally go back once in a while (not compulsively like before) so this might not really count...

[Dobblesworth]

I've given up on Darths & Droids, having previously been quite big on it, but dropped off my readership during the Attack of the Clones arc as they invented some crazy backstory linking Jango Fett with Darth Maul and them being investigator partners together. Left it alone a few weeks or beyond, then found myself thinking ever since that I was so behind on numerous episodes I'd just be dedicating far too much time going back at it and catching up.

[broken_escalator]

The recent pages with General Grevious are amazing. I really love how they rewrote his character. Just look at the recent 4 or 5 pages where obi-wan is fighting him and see if you like it. It did have a small lull for a bit, but Windu being oblivious to everything always has me cracking up.

Still, its hard to compare to the earlier episodes when Jim played Qui-Gon, but now hes mostly out of the picture

[Vaniver]

dropped off my readership during the Attack of the Clones arc as they invented some crazy backstory linking Jango Fett with Darth Maul and them being investigator partners together.

Really? I thought that was a masterful move, and enjoyed the whole "everything you've done has been a terrible mistake" aspect.

Also, the Grievous from Darths and Droids is a fantastic character, as pointed out. The fight starts here.

[HighwoodFool]

I stopped reading 8-bit Theater about halfway through the archive for reasons other people have mentioned (got old, flat characters, frustratingly anti-climatic, etc). However, I recently went back and read through the whole comic and actually enjoyed it, though I can't quite explain why.

[Jorpho]

So how did you get through that awful crap around the 950-mark? How long does it last?

[Amnesiasoft]

I'm going to add Misfile to my list, it just has been going on forever, and the plot has basically gone absolutely nowhere.

[rabidmuskrat]

How I killed your master
vgcats

[TimelordSimone]

I loved Pictures For Sad Children back when it was about Paul, Who is a Ghost, but then there was a lot only vaguely connected updates, and then a lot of weird art stuff I guess, and I just don't even know what it is any more.
I stopped reading Gun Show because... it had an ongoing plot I didn't care about, so I just forgot to check it? And then when I went back I didn't care any more? I'm not really sure.
(That said, I still love the PFSC guest strip the person who does GS did.)

Rob and Elliot I lost interest in (basically because their neighbour Baron Von Doomsday doesn't feature enough). I think I'm losing interest in Amazing Super Powers. I gave up on Homestuck once I realise I wasn't following the plot at all. (I nearly gave up on Erfworld for the same reason, but I'm glad I didn't.)
There are probably more, but mostly I stop reading webcomics because I forget about them, which makes it hard to remember them now.

[peri_renna]

Wow, I'm going to be here for a while. Ground rules: these are comics which I, first, archive-binged all the way from the start to the latest update; second, followed religiously for some period of time; third, quit reading, intending never to start again; and fourth, either never started again or quit after starting again. In other words, comics which Had Me and then Lost Me.

(The fourth requirement is necessary due to El Goonish Shive and DMFA.)

Spoiler:

Right off the bat, Dominic Deegan: Sequel Escalation. I survived through the Storm of Souls storyline, but by then I realized that the grumpy, underpaid village seer with a heart of gold had been retconned out of existence, and while I had no objections to the precognitive manipulative wizard-ninja that replaced him, he wasn't compelling enough to make me want to read yet another unplotted Epic Fantasy Serial.

I'm not sure I ever caught up to the present update in Megatokyo, so I won't count it.

Delving into old bookmarks files, now: Unshelved. I've gone to the website occasionally (e.g. when Randall Milholland of Something Positive did a guest comic) but I never found it gripping.

I think The Rainbow Orchid. Lovely ligne claire art (a la Tintin), but it didn't grip me.

Copper. Sparse updates, and didn't find it gripping.

Goblin Hollow & Nip & Tuck - the other comics by the Tales of the Questor guy. TotQ I still read, but his politics seep too much into his other stuff. I dropped Quentyn Quinn: Space Ranger, too, but more recently and for boredom reasons.

Shortpacked! Zaniness didn't seem to be going anywhere.

Code Name: Hunter. Lost me with the reboot.

Count Your Sheep. I don't remember why I dropped this - I think I wasn't enjoying it.

Something Happens. Not my thing.

Irregular Webcomic. See "Shortpacked!".

CRFH!. See "Shortpacked" and "Dominic Deegan". Also, went way too dark for me.

PVP. Wapsi Square (wow, I didn't know I ever caught up on that one!). Nukees. Two Lumps. Darken. Inhuman. Goats. Dresden Codak. Dinosaur Comics. Crimson Dark. Penny and Aggie. Punch an' Pie. Darths & Droids. Weregeek. Suicide for Hire. Flaky Pastry.

Cetic - stridency.

FreakAngels. I think I stopped liking the protagonists.

Anywhere but Here. Another rebooter.

Evil Diva. Bobwhite. Stolen Pixels. Outsider. Five Glasses of Absinthe (super NSFW). Ginger's Bread. Candi (roundabout the vacation storyline). Lackadaisy Cats. Vexxarr. Spinnerette. Two Keys. Robot Beach.

There are probably others, but I think that's enough to establish that I have spent way too much time reading webcomics.

I still read Freefall and Misfile. I'm about five "Inner Peace (Through Superior Firepower)" updates behind on ErfWorld.

Homestuck I actually haven't read until recently - I was looking at the ComicMix March Madness, and I didn't want to vote for or against a comic without having read a significant amount of it. I've been enjoying it up through Act 4, and there have been enough bits that tie together to save it from the Chris Carter Effect so far.

[Jorpho]

(That said, I still love the PFSC guest strip the person who does GS did.)

Ahh, such a beautiful strip, that one. Someone made a Youtube version, though of course it isn't as good as the original.

I keep PFSC in my RSS feed in case anything comes up.

(I nearly gave up on Erfworld for the same reason, but I'm glad I didn't.)

Care to go into more detail? I read up until the end of the first season and still found it to be a pretentious pile of crap.