Questionable Content is a great web comic, created by Jeph Jacques, who publishes one page a day five days a week. That’s a lot of work. It’s been really fun to follow, and it’s the first thing I look at online in the morning. I have to find out what happens next.

The comic has been online since August of 2003 and it’s still going strong. The story revolves around the social life of a group of indie friends, with the main character Marten at the center. Senes move from his apartment to the coffe shop owned by Dora, where nearly everyone works at some point. Secondary characters include an anthropomorphic computer and his own circle of friends providing comic banter.

Jaques has really changed his drawing style a lot since the beginning. Not that I didn’t enjoy the original style, but the fact that he has gotten better as an artist makes it kind of personal. It changes gradually over time as his technique improves. Regardless of the art the story telling is very good.

There are several interesting plot devices, such as the black board in the coffee shop which has witty remarks aimed at the customers. Every day it says something different which is often a way to gage the passing of time. I really love this chalk board. Also the Anthropomorphic PC’s which provide comedic banter.

It took me a week to read through all the back issues and and that included reading constantly with as much free time I could find. I’ve only ever done that with a novel before. The one thing that’s irksome about web comics is the slow pace at which new strips are put out. I know it’s a lot of work and some of the best ones have strikingly beautiful art which takes time to create, but Questionable Content is not like that. Jacques is a prolific writer.

I love all the characters he’s created, but my favorite is Hanalore. Characters come and go over time like any real life social circle which keeps the comic fresh without over loading the strip with too many characters to follow.

Give Questionable Content a try. There’s a reason this is the first web comic I’ve chosen to write about.