some of the funniest and most interesting comics are difficult to find unless you look on the web. here’s a few of my stalwart faves, finely drawn series from witty, twisted, ink-stained wretches. i’ll begin with tony millionaire. he has gotten noticed; he’s been book-reviewed in time and he did a couple of animations for saturday night live. But neither he nor his maakies are a household name, and so what harm can I do adding my recommendation?

His traditional side gives us handsome sailing ships and tiny landscapes to get lost in. His edgy side is, well, everything else on the page. There’s drinkin’ and suicide, and savagely cynical views of war in the ‘drafted’ cartoons, and outrageously dark ribaldryin ‘dan’l boone and the editor.’ sometimes he just refuses to pander to the audience with a joke at all, as when a character in the middle of a sea battle shouts that this is no time for humor; other times the joke sneaks up from out of nowhere, like the priceless expression of horror on the faces of the mice in the last panel of ‘this is for what you did to billy.’

red meat has been around a while too, and max cannon has some books out as well as this website. The titles are an art unto themselves, offering such nasty turns of phrase as product-free cruelty and countertop tapeworm dispenser. always funny, and sometimes just plain true, as in something warm for the whelps.

The other strip I want to mention is mark fiore’s animated political cartoons. this week’s flash animation is called freedom of the prosecution. you can see it at his site or at mother jones, one of the few honest political magazines you can buy.