North World by Lars Brown is a graphic novel-type webcomic about a monster-fighting, sword-swinging fantasy hero who has been assigned by his guildmaster to go back to his suburban hometown (strip malls, old high school buddies who are struggling to pay the electric bill and raise their children, etc.) for whatever reason, and face the challenges he finds there.

In Hollywood pitch-speak, it would be described as The Legend of Zelda meets Clerks.

The central conceit (the blending of such two completely different genres) comes off as natural and ungimmicky -- no small trick -- and the snappy writing, well-managed story pacing, and smooth, slick, but down-to-earth artwork are all outstanding. A couple of weird moments threw me, like the protagonist's confrontation with his father, but I expect they'll make sense as the story progresses.

There's already a substantial archive -- but, again, no RSS feed. Ah well. It's the kind of thing you'll want to read in large chunks, anyway. I've only read the first chapter (they're long, and there are two of them so far, the second one still in-progress).

Updates Monday through Friday. Highly recommended.