2/20: Week in Review

In the words of ELO's Jeff Lynne: "Here is the news."

The first item of news is that a new webcomic-news webcomic has begun broadcasting this week: Webcomic TV. Presented in the format of a televised newscast, Webcomic TV reports on noteworthy findings and plot developments throughout the webcomic world--much like this blog, but with pictures and speech bubbles. Is it gimmicky? Absolutely. But it's also off to a very entertaining start, along with a few installments of humorous metacommentary. Why aren't there more sports webcomics out there? I mean, apart from Boxer Hockey, which (despite being awesome) is not technically an actual sport.

Anyway, Webcomic TV is a pretty cool idea. However, I'm sort of disappointed...I had the idea of doing one of my Friday newsposts in the form of a comic strip, and now if I do so, it'll not only be gimmicky, it will look like I'm totally Jacking WCTV's style.

Here's a news story for you: this week, Calamities of Nature has revealed a new character, Raymond the Raccoon, who has been listening in on Harold's solitary musings for some time now. Raymond's first act as Calamities' newest cast member is to try to instill some confidence into Harold, but Harold is resistant. We'll see what Raymond has in store for this and future storylines.

Our resident Girls With Slingshots correspondent, Jen Mau, reported last week on GWS' date-with-Jamie Valentine's Day contest. Well, the results are in, and GWS reader David has won the right to treat Jamie to his ideal date. What does that entail? Bike riding in the park and baking pretzels, for starters. Unfortunately, even the best-planned date can have unexpected disruptions. Check out Jamie's entire date-with-David starting here.

After recovering his computer from a brutal software failure, Eli Parker brings us a new installment of Unwinder's Tall Comics. This installment satirizes the all-too-easy-to-satirize world of Japanese animation, as Unwinder decides that it is not intellectual suicide to like anime and begins looking for a series to get into. The anime-parodying jokes are somewhat predictable, but there's a good measure of subtle and clever humor stemming from Unwinder's characterization. Unwinder is weird, and his anime tastes are similarly guaranteed to be unusual.

Finally, Thursday's Shortpacked satirizes Matt Moylan's Lil Formers, a comic that I occasionally visit for a few good laughs. Moylan has a way of making "insider" Transformers-enthusiast jokes accessible to the casual reader, and his facial expressions and dialogue quickly convey the Transformers' iconic (i.e. simple) personalities to those who aren't familiar with them. Frankly, I found Willis' satire to be a little mean-spirited. Although Lil Formers tends toward "mildly amusing" rather than "gut-bustingly hilarious" on average, it's not all one-note "children's toys were better when I was a child" ranting, despite Willis' parody. Also, Moylan semi-recently opened up his comic to poking fun at all 80s children's-entertainment properties, which I think has done a lot for his material. Thursday's Shortpacked: merited criticism, or unduly caustic snarking? Read the comic and decide for yourself.

Here is the news: the very latest. Here is the news, here is the news, here is the news.