Your sit-up-and-take-notice webcomic of the week is Sexbuzz, a smart, suspenseful, and (yes) sexy science-fiction tale from cartoonist Andrew White. Set in an ever so slightly futuristic city currently undergoing "the worst fucking period of all recorded history," it focuses on a quartet of twentysomethings whose dependency on an illegal, intense drug-like sex technology called sexbuzz -- and on each other -- draws them into an underworld of crime and conspiracy. But the plot is just part of the comic's appeal: The focus on the characters, the lush graytoned art, and a continuous vertical-scroll layout that lends itself both to gripping action sequences and breathtaking abstract passages combine for a comic with multiple, complementary strengths.

White hasn't made a lot of waves online that I can see, but his art and writing for Sexbuzz are both crazily accomplished -- fans of the thoughtful near-future science-fiction comics of Dash Shaw and Paul Pope will find much to admire, both visually and narratively. And White only updates the comic in chapter-length chunks, which means it's only updated every few months but is much easier to follow from one installment to the next.

I wrote a lot more about Sexbuzz here, but your first stop should absolutely be the comic itself.