When you are looking for something to amuse yourself with on the internet, many people turn to webcomics for entertainment. There are a lot out there, with varying degrees of success. If you are a diehard webcomic fan, then I strongly suggest that you go and check out Homestuck by Andrew Hussie. It is one of the best webcomics out there and probably one of the best things I have ever read.

     Homestuck has a perfect mixture of suspense and humor with a strong dose of epicness to go around. More than that, it pushes the boundaries of what constitutes a reading experience by integrating original music and simplistic but touching artwork. Here, go take a quick read:

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     The story kicks off on April 13, 2009, which is the protagonist John Egbert’s thirteenth birthday. To celebrate this occasion, John and his friends; the snarky Rose Lalonde, the hipster cool-kid Dave Strider, and the nerdy Jade Harley begin to play a newly released video game called SBURB. In author Andrew Hussie’s words, SBURB is a cross between The Sims, Earthbound, and Spore.

     However, as the kids start playing the game, they learn the true meaning of SBURB: the game heralds the end of the world. Our four thirteen year-old heroes discover that saving the world is impossible. To complicate things further, the game becomes unbeatable, leaving survival as their only option.

     Homestuck features a wonderfully large ensemble of characters, yet characterization is one of Andrew Hussie’s strong points as a writer. “No matter how insignificant a character is, I always give them the potential to be interesting.” Said Hussie in one interview. This is extremely true, as every character is extremely endearing. Apart from the four kids, we have twelve trolls, four exiles, four agents, four Midnight Crew members, fifteen Felt members, the guardians of the kids, and several others. While this sounds convoluted, the way Hussie spends time on each of them and introduces them into the plot is nothing short of masterful.

     The art style in Homestuck, while maybe not as detailed as some artists, is still nothing short of astounding. What makes the artwork even better are the flash animations. When important plot events occur in Homestuck, Hussie usually takes a week off to create a stunning flash animation that includes his own artwork, his art team’s work (such as art by Lexxy, SkepticArcher, and Eyes5), and his sound team’s amazingly self-composed music. Sometimes the flash animations incorporate a playable minigame. What it boils down to is this: Whenever you see [S] in an update, prepare to have your mind blown.

     Homestuck’s soundtrack is brilliantly composed by extremely talented musicians like Malcolm Brown, Toby “Radiation” Fox, Mark Hadley, Michael Bowman, and many other just as talented artists. Numerous albums of work both used and not used in the comic are for sale at MSPA’s online store. If you plan on buying some Homestuck music, you will not be disappointed.

     All in all, Homestuck is a site to behold. It just goes to show that an amazing story, art, and music never go amiss. Also, unlike some webcomics that suffer from a bizarre updating schedule, Homestuck updates on an average of 5.5 times per day. The only exception is when Hussie is working on a flash animation. If you haven’t started to read Homestuck, then you are missing out.