Interface
There is a lot here that I really, really like. Making the site a social networking site of sorts, surrounding these webcomics is absolutely the way to go here. I also really like the vote system, and the instant comments/feedback system for each strip. All of these things are spot on.
Where the interface falls apart is in the viewing of the comics themselves, which is really sad. I'm looking at these comics on a 17 inch flat screen monitor, and in the default setting, it's too hard for me to read. Part of that is some poor choices in lettering I believe, but the comic should be big enough to clearly read with out zooming in or going full screen. The zoom mechanism doesn't really work that well either in the sense that the dynamic panel layouts people are using don't translate well in a zoom. Full screen though, everything is beautiful.
The keyboard navigation is also clunky and doesn't half work. Personally, using a right/left/up/down arrow key or even a page up/page down key make more sens than using the <> keys to move between pages.
I'm also a little surprised that there is no downloadable version of the comics made available. I know these are webcomics, and they don't need to be downloadable; but I would have thought that DC would have covered both markets. Sort of like listening to Internet Radio, and then being able to go download a song you just heard to listen to later offline.
Comics
I'm frankly surprised at how high the quality of art is. Some of the stuff up is fantastic. Not all, but some. There are even some pros in the mix, like Pop Mahn, which surprised me, as I thought this would be more of an amateur showcase.
The stories are pretty much what Jim had said they'd be:
A biographical strip about a comic creator
A biographical strip about someone living in New York
A humor strip about animals doing adult things
A humor strip about life on college.
A serious strip about a person in a same sex relationship
A serious strip about someone dealing with the death of a loved one
A period piece about WWII
A period piece about the Iraq War
A strip aimed primarily at Mexican readers
A strip aimed at Manga readers
A horror strip that reads like X-files
A horror strip that reads like Hellblazer (but with a girl)
No superheroes.
He was dead on with some of these, though we did get 2 superhero strips; albeit offbeat superhero stories. Some of the strips are not very good; but I did enjoy Battlefield Babysitter and The Dead Seas.
I encourage you to check the comics out if you haven't already. They're pretty good, and worth taking a few minutes to check out.
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