…But the Damage is Irreversible (shortened to AiLBtDiI from now on) by artist David Hellman and writer Dale Beran feels somewhat like a forgotten secret among webcomics these days, but still, it’s one of my definite favorites, featuring exquisite art and fantastic writing. It has sadly been on hiatus for the past few years, with no signs of it returning any time soon, but the archive is full of brilliant gems that encourages frequent re-reading anyway. Actually, AiLBtDiI is one the comics I go to whenever I feel my own creative inspiration dwindling, as the comic is wonderfully imaginative, often thought-provoking and even strangely moving at times, and succeeds in sparking the readers imagination in ways comics rarely do. The random stories being told ranges from completely bizarre tangents, to heartfelt profound realism all the while being, more often than not, hilariously funny.

Also, if you want more of David Hellmans art, and let’s face it – why wouldn’t you, check out the fantastic downloadable Xbox360 (and soon PC) game Braid, featuring gorgeous art by Hellman. His watercolor backgrounds and fluid style really suits the gameplay of the time-manipulating platformer which received a ton of great reviews when it was released last year. But still, as great as the gameplay is, I feel it wouldn’t be half as successful if it wasn’t for the art, not to mention the fantastic implementation of the music as well. And in some way the game feels like a continuation of Hellman and Berans webcomic, as the premise and atmosphere of the game in some odd ways wouldn’t feel out of place as an installment of ALiLBtDiI.

So yeah, that’s two recommendations I guess, and both the webcomic and the game are literally jaw-droppingly good. No seriously, I can guarantee you will be picking up the pieces of your jaw at least at one point when reading the comic or when figuring out the puzzles of the game. Enjoy!

As I cleverly teased along with the most recent strip, I apparently had found some “hidden” goodies in the Photoshop file while preparing it for upload. Quite frankly I had completely forgotten about this since this strip is a few months old, but evidently I decided to redo the last panel for some reason. This happens to me sometimes; I almost finish a comic, zoom out a bit in Photoshop, and suddenly it’s apparent that an alternate take would work better. Very frustrating of course, but it’s all for the best – if I can muster up the willpower to do the necessary changes, that is.

Anyway, here’s the first version of the last panel, which works OK as well I guess, but I felt a lot of the elements didn’t quite work. (Note that the coloring isn’t completely finished, and that I with this version probably meant to remove the “Yaaayy!” speech balloon from the third panel.)

So, is it better/worse, or just equally as unfunny? Let me know what you think.