The peculiarly logical webcomics of Øyvind Thorsby

Features William Schwartz | August 5, 2026 Back in the webcomic era — late nineties, early aughts — a great many ambitious artists tried their hands at the infinite canvas of the Internet. The results were, to be blunt, quite mediocre more often than not, often quite obviously the work of untrained artists appealing to niche audiences like video game and tabletop gaming fans. Nevertheless, this was an exciting time in comics, as the Internet made even the most arcane, nerdy interests seem all too accessible. Øyvind Thorsby, whose work started in 2001, has a crude, stilted art style and a peculiar niche that to this day maintains and even exceeds that classic Web 2.0 aesthetic. Thorsby's alien worlds and creatures do not exist for their own wacky sake. His stories align on two highly specific axis: Elaborate explanations of evolutionary biology, and classical farces based on this biology, often in the style of Oscar Wilde. Panel from Lies, Sisters and Wives. Despite being a mundane strip, the best introduction to Thorsby's work is Lies, Sisters and Wives, a short 34-page strip which lacks any biological world-building. It centers entirely around the abortive efforts of Jim to hide t...