I love toondoo! My cats have starred in a number of strips! http://www.bubbleshare.com is also similar, but different, and fun.
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/ is a different animal and well worth a look. The students use the stock characters on the site, which allows them to focus more tightly on their writing (or limits them, depending on your point of view/focus). The creator was on a podcast recently (teachers are talking?) and I was really impressed by him--he has a long and passionate history with comics, which he credits comics for teaching him to read, along with a teacher who really cared about him. The site is run entirely at his own expense. I'll look around later and see if I can get a link.
Sarah
I just visited toondo. It looks really interesting, but how do you manage it? Looks like each student has to join. Is that correct? So everyone has their own username and password? Do you just keep a spreadsheet with you when you class is working on comics?
Hi Richard! Yes! Each student needs a username and a password. At the school where I work at everybody has one , so it really is not a problem for me. I have tried this site with 4th and 5th grade students. They love it. They do take a lot of time exploring... I still do not know how to do certain things... like for example the toonbooks.
I liked toondoo, but I what made me back away from it is that users can leave comments and I couldn't find a way to moderate them. If I'm wrong about this, let me know and I'll definitely use it.
Make Beliefs Comix is also good, but there's no way to save their work. You have to remember to email it or print it at the end of the day or the session.