In this weekly series, editor Lucas Wetzel spotlights new and unusual comic features from the GoComics A-Z listing.

Feature: Free Range
Creator: Bill Whitehead
Format: single-panel
Frequency: daily
Recommended if you like: Reality Check, Off The Mark, Kliban, Close To Home

When I explained a job to a friend of mine recently, he told me that I should check out the comics drawn by our friend Thomas's dad. "He posts it every day on Facebook!" my friend told me excitedly. "Oh, great," I thought. For a comics editor/proofreader, hearing that a family friend draws comics is usually prelude to reading dozens of cliched or poorly constructed gags, pretending that you think they are funny, and then receiving a lifetime subscriptions of emails from them "just checking in" to see if you're interested in helping them find their strip a larger audience. But in this case, Thomas's dad turned out to be Bill Whitehead, the author of the daily "Free Range" comic. Not only is "Free Range" a longstanding single-panel strip syndicated by Creators, it appears every day on GoComics! "Free Range" doesn't exactly rewrite the book on single panel comics, but it's also not trying to, and that's a big part of what I like about it. It's very comfortable in its own skin. It inhabits the cliched scenarios of one-panel comics through the decades (psychiatrist's office, homeless guy on the street, guy lost in the desert), but approaches them with a freshness and humor that feels anything but cliche. Many of my favorite gags (a few of which are posted below) get a great joke across without requiring any words. The detailed, colorful artwork is also very impressive for a daily strip. I've enjoyed these on Facebook for a couple of years now, but am happy that it's available to everyone else via GoComics as well. Here's a few more recent faves: 

Read more Free Range comics every day on GoComics!