There are many webcomics available on the web and while I’ve tried many of them, there are only four that I’ve liked, and only two of those that I read regularly. Questionable Content (QC) is one of those two. I love reading this comic. I love enough that I was eager to purchase both of the printed collections.

I admit it, that means in giving a fair critique of Questionable Content: Volume 1, I’m pretty strongly biased in favor of it already. And re-reading all of the strips collected in this volume didn’t disappoint. Its at least my third time reading these strips and I still laugh (at or with) and empathize with the characters in QC.

I think one of the big selling points for me is that the characters are believable. None of them are so over the top that I have difficulty believing that they could exist, that there could be a Marten-like guy out there with friends like Dora, Faye, Steve and the others. At the same time, there’s a touch of science fiction, particularly in the character of Pint-size, Marten’s AnthroPC.

The artwork of the comic succeeds in supporting the dialogue and action of the story, without “getting in the way”. I never find myself being jarred out of the story by the comic’s art. The art is pleasing the look at, most characters are visually distinct and their differences in looks and personality are very clear.

I should warn other readers that there’s frequently innuendos, sexually explicit comments, “potty” humor, and cussing made by the characters of the comic. Normally, the last two in particular would be either annoying or offensive to me. I think it all succeeds in Questionable Content because Jeph Jacques includes the “questionable” material intelligently. It isn’t cussing for the sake of cussing, its cussing because that’s what the character would say at that moment. It is potty humor, but it isn’t juvenile. The way Jeph writes the dialogue makes it work where author artists/writers wouldn’t be able to pull it off.

Some comments more specific to the collected printed volume: The visual quality of the pages is excellent. The strips are reproduced from high-resolution images and NOT from the web-quality images you see on the website. In a few cases, Jeph had to recreate some strips, which he recreated in his current style rather than attempt to recreate his style of seven years before.

In addition to the web-comics themselves, you also get Jeph’s comments on each strip and a bonus “short story” (a comic strip series not shown on the web) about Faye and Marten.

Overall, I’m quite pleased with my purchase and I’m looking forward to when I can buy Volume 3.

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Questionable Content Books and other swag can be purchased at Topatoco: Questionable Content Store.