U
Unicorn Jelly
This cute-yet-dramatic strip deals with the goings-on in the triangular cosmos of Tryslmaistan, focusing on the lives
of a young witch, her computer-like daughter, and the half-slime-half-unicorn for which they care. It's reliable, well-drawn,
and always interesting. There's a lot of action.
One of the things I really respect about Jennifer Diane Reitz is the way she created her universe from the ground up. That's
something on which I really missed out with 1/0-- I like being a Worldsmith. Every so often, we get technical descriptions
of the physics of Tryslmaistan, and, occasionally, we also are allowed a glimpse into alternate universes.
I find it odd, given Reitz's attention to the detail of her world, that she can be so deliberately vague about her own existence.
I also find it odd that apparently, in Tryslmaistan, only homosexuals are allowed to have meaningful relationships. Come to think
of it, I also find it odd that she still refers to a three-pointed symbol as a "pentagram".
The strip really is good, though. Apparently she receives it through a sort of automatic writing.
Unlike Minerva
This strip is officially nothing like Minerva. That's right, folks, if you're looking for things that are
like Minerva, you have really come to the wrong place.
Nothing anywhere close to Minerva.
No way, José.
Minerva, with colour art by different artists? Get real. Minerva, with clean (if silly)
laughs and superb dialogue? Don't think so.
No, my friend, you will never find a strip with less similarity to Minerva than this sucker right here.
User Friendly
Very popular with the techie crowd, User Friendly is the original geek strip. It's been reliably daily since 1997,
although that's not saying much, given the usual image quality. You will not get a lot of the jokes if you are
non-nerd.
The UF universe is quite surreal, featuring a sentient AI and a dust puppy as regular characters. To be honest,
the art has never been great, but it's been passable. A lot of the characters perpetrate great acts of evil against
each other, but they're nice, resilient cartoon characters, so it's usually okay.
Zadok is trying to imitate the Dust Puppy here.