Recommended Romances: A Quickie Poll

"What's your favorite webcomics romance?"

T Campbell asked this question of many webcartoonists. The answers were revealing.

I saw some preference among Keenspotters and Modern Talers for strips "within the family," but if diversity is strength, the state of romance in online comics is strong indeed. Only a few comics were cited more than once, and sometimes not for the same romance. No romance was cited more than twice. The most-cited was It's Walky, mentioned by four different cartoonists (two for "Joyce and Walky," two for "Jason and Sal").

If you're a webcartoonist who'd like to take part in another poll like this, send me your e-mail address and I'll keep it on file.

*****

Me an' Damonk!

OK, I gotta say I get a big kick out of Hero and Cherry in RPG World. It's such the typical destined-but-let's-draw-out-the-tension-as-long-as-possible romance, but it's still so much fun, thanks to Cherry's frustration and bitterness and Hero's lovely oblivious and sword-happy persona.
Meaghan Quinn

*****

That's easy! Chris and Arcadia in Chris Crosby's Superosity! Nothing else comes close! 🙂
Ian McDonald

*****

Chris and Arcadia from Superosity warms my heart for some insane reason. Maybe it's the old "hopeless geek gets a pretty girl" thing. 😉
Carson Fire

*****

The Wigu, Stupidetta & Hugo triangle, from Wigu.
Chris Shadoian

*****

Jon and Megan (Goats).
Boxjam

*****

Sal and Jason from It's Walky, mostly because it took them both forever to get the guts to do anything about it. 😛
Brian Daniel

*****

Alex and Ilia. Because it's one of those romances that gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside when I read it and makes this cynic want to fall in love herself.
😉
Ping Teo (a.k.a Phalanx)

*****

At the risk of blowing my own horn, I have to say my own. 🙂

Hard Science Fiction and Romance? Despite the apparent interest of my readers, it does have the benefit of rarely being tried. 🙂
Scott Kellogg

*****

T-Rex and Utahraptor of Dinosaur Comics.
Justin Pierce

*****

Kevin and Kell.
PS: Chelsea and Rose gets second.
Jamie Robertson

*****

You and your writing. 😉

Actually Joyce and Walky in It's Walky.
Steve Troop

*****

Ralphie (Any of Them) and Roberta (Any of Them), from Melonpool.
John Troutman

*****

Mine and my wife's, of course! ^_~

That depends. I have favorites for different reasons, but I'll try to sum up a few simply for you:

Favorite couple: Walky and Joyce

Favorite non-romance comic with romance subthemes: It's Walky

Favorite romantic tension and evolution: Winter and Otra

Favorite realism with romantic themes: Boy meets Boy

These three are from my current regular reads, really.

I hope that this proves useful to you?
Frank "Damonk" Cormier

*****

Hmm… Tough one. Honestly, I find most romance stories frustrating. It's not that I don't LIKE romance, exactly, it's just that I lack the patience to put up with most of them. So many characters just spend FOREVER in a holding pattern, circling each other, being angsty and confused and coming up with new reasons not to GO anywhere, until you just want to reach into the screen and beat them senseless. Or I do, anyway. 🙂

I prefer couples who I actually get to see AS COUPLES, rather than as two people trying to become a couple, well, maybe, sort of, except, etc. For example, I like Mike and Marsha from CRFH, largely because their "Getting Together" stage was mercifully brief, and, if memory serves, mostly off panel. So what we've seen has mostly been the "Being Together" and "Trying to Stay Together" parts, which I tend to find much more interesting. Also because Mike is such a manipulative evil bastard, and it's such fun to see him with Marsha, being sweet, caring, and occasionally totally pussy-whipped, but loving it.

Naturally, much as I love them, I feel that Margaret, Dave, and Blue should be locked in a small sealed space and not re-released on the world until they have either worked through the issues, or have all died due to violence or starvation. Whatever. 🙂
Dani Atkinson

*****

James and Amy at American Elf… and mine.
Edward J Grug III

*****

I'm going to second James and Amy, if only because so many of their conversations remind me of my wife and me.
Alexander Danner

*****

The Stiff.
Shaenon Garrity

*****

Copper and the girl with the fancy sunglasses, in Kibuishi's Copper.
Joe Zabel

*****

Torg and Zoe, because after all these years we still don't know whether it's going to be a romance or not. I like ambiguity.
Michael Roberts

*****

Liz and Prana from Gun Street Girl.
Steve Bryant

*****

Rex and Thorn in Sorcerer of Fortune.
Jim Keplinger

*****

Mine is a tie for favorite:

Dominic and Luna, Dominic Deegan.

Fooker and Sharon, GPF Comics (something special about geek love).
Aric Campling

*****

I'll say Nick & Ki from GPF.
Bill Holbrook

*****

At the risk of sounding conceited and self-serving, I'd have to say Nick & Ki from GPF. This is mostly because of my personal emotional investment in the characters and how many of their little quirks are drawn from my relationship with my wife. Yes, there are plenty of differences between the real-life Jeff & Keri and their GPF counterparts, but deep at their core Nick & Ki are very much us. The second reason is probably because I read far fewer comics on a regular basis than I should (or that I'd like), so I feel kind of inadequate in really providing an answer at all.

Aric mentioned Sharon & Fooker, which I find totally interesting. Now that Fooker is back in the GPF fold and we have two geek couples on staff, expect some interesting stories in Year Seven that compare and contrast the two.
Jeffrey T. Darlington

*****

Hands down– The Makeshift Miracle.

Sacrificing your own existence so the one you love (are?) can and will survive.

Now that's love. Made me cry.
Amber "Glych" Greenlee

*****

Scott Kurtz with himself.
Scott R. Kurtz

*****

A tie between Rikk and Alisin / Jason and Sal.
Maritza Campos

*****

Dave & Helen, Narbonic.
Dirk Tiede

*****

Killroy and Tina. 😉
Sylvan Migdal

*****

Max and Ravenwing from Clint Hollingsworth's The Wandering Ones was the one that came to mind, so that's my answer and I'm sticking to it 😉
Monique MacNaughton

*****

Gabe & Tycho.
Joey Manley

*****

Gabe and Tycho. Totally.
Iain Hamp

T Campbell is a staff contributor for Comixpedia.

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