This is partly a reposting of my comments from this thread, which in part voices my dismay over the decline of gaming webcomics, in relation to their steady uprising.  I have, however, added substantial commentary in this blog post.
 
No webcomic will ever fill the void left by Chris Livingston's "Concerned: The Half-Life and Death of Gordon Frohman."   
 
Its secret, I've found, is based on two principles: first, its humor is unabashed in depending on its readers having thoroughly enjoyed Half-Life 2.   But more importantly, it at no point specifically sets out to be funny.  Funny happens; it reports. 
 
There's subtle humor right from the get-go, with a train that arrives months over-schedule, an obvious lampooning of how distinctively patient Valve fans have become.  Livingston isn't afraid to break the fourth wall, drawing attention to its ultimately hackneyed existence in the realm of gaming webcomics.  But Concerned is peerless in its sharp writing, with most of its jokes skillfully woven in just six panels.   It is almost of a "Mystery Science Theater 3000" variety, walking us through a notable work of art, and riffing it into the trivial ones and zeros it really is.    
 
Gordon Frohman, a foolhardy but dangerously optimistic citizen, may be the main character, but the real star is the Half-Life 2 Universe itself.  Throughout, Frohman is charted along an abridged retelling (or maybe pre-telling) of Gordon Freeman's, our, adventures.  He stumbles upon valleys of explosive barrels, antlions, the gravity gun, and Lazlow, the "finest mind of his generation."
 
Take, for example, comic #7, a simple chuckle-worthy joke in its timing and oddity.  But its added value is in that it instantly harkens back to many gamer's first experience with Half-Life 2.  I personally recall wondering if, perhaps, even my mighty gaming rig had failed to render the graphical complexity of Gordon's hands.  When I finally wielded a crowbar, it started to get weird.  Other strips are painfully brilliant, such as comic #172, tapping into what everyone secretly wonders about first-person shooters in general, while comic #173 can be self-deprecating.   
 
Livingston isn't afraid to lampoon other mediums.  In comic #160, he positively nails the coffin on the countless, Michael Bay-esque action movie characters: how they meet, how they talk, what their fate has in store.  Despite this strips long-winded nature, each joke is expertly interspersed and efficient, all in tune with the running gag, the ultimate joke.  So many webcomics feel the need to flood a page with volumes of dialogue, notably Ctrl-Alt-Delete.  This isn't to say that Concerned merely treats us to an outline, or shies away from the lyrical, colorful way characters should speak, but he makes every word tell.
 
So much of Livingston's humor is unnecessarily clever.  All the chapter names are jarring puns of real chapters from Half-Life 2, such as "Pointless Insertion" ("Point Insertion") and "Water Haphazard" ("Water Hazard").  These titles also bare a strict appropriateness to the plot of each chapter.  "Follow, Frohman" deals with Frohman's antics as he tags along with a band of rebels lead by Dr. Freeman, no doubt playable in the chapter "Follow Freeman."  In the chapter "Anti-Citizen 101," Barney Calhoun begins to recruits scores of rouge citizens for Gordon Freeman to march into battle.  This is markedly ingenious, simulatenously hypothesizing how the City 17 armada came to fruition, while question why exactly, each and every one of them feels compelled to remind Freeman to reload.  The Cast page, in particular, is utterly hilarious, employing several comedic conventions.

Lesser webcomics - ones that limit themselves to the Penny Arcade formula (2PSTART!, Dueling Analogs, Brawl in the Family) - systematically set up a reality in panel one, break it in panel two and/or three, and make a snide, hopefully clever remark in the final panel.  Penny Arcade is skillful in interweaving understated gaming political statements, and doesn't necessarily strive to be funny either, and for the most part, it isn't.  Much of its accolades owe to its age and legacy, with little to do with the actual quality of its humor, or its accessibility.  Penny Arcade is popular because it is popular.  Had it been founded today, it would surely recede into the background of other comics.
 
But Concerned is funny - perhaps the funniest - because of the obvious attention and care that went into each and every panel.  And because of Livingston's obvious affinity for Half-Life 2, expressing his extensive knowledge of every facet of its design.  And because he does all this, not in the hopes of making us laugh, or that we will buy merchandise, or exalt him into internet stardom, but because he felt that Half-Life 2 deserved the highest quality webcomic he could muster.  That attribute, unfortunately, is sadly unique. 
 
Sincerely, 
a concerned citizen.
 
How do you guys feel about the gaming webcomic lexicon?  Are there other webcomics that you feel fit my criteria?  Am I right in charging other comics as a hackneyed, uninspired bunch?  Or am I simply demanding too much out of my free entertainment?