Tweet Dreams

Yesterday, Book of Biff creator Chris Hallbeck posted the following on Twitter:

This morning I woke up from a dream about twitter. #whatdoesitmean

And sure enough, after reading that, I myself dreamed about Twitter last night. I dreamed about retweeting a Theater Hopper strip for Wednesday's Pick of the Day; I forget exactly what the joke was, but in classic form, TH cartoonist Tom Brazelton was making fun of his inner Iron Man fanboy. I then dreamed about reading a webcomic titled "Terry and John's Guide to Time Travel," in which the titular characters attempt every bad time travel idea in the book. The particular strip I read featured Terry going back in time to try to eat his past self alive.

What the crud, subconscious.

The Weekly Wrap-up with Wes Molebash

If I were giving out some kind of award for building community, I would probably award it to Wes Molebash for what he's done with his latest comic, Max vs. Max. Several times a week, he posts a question to start some conversation, such as "What are the signs of a 'bad' webcomic?" or "Is it OK to read your Bible while sitting on the toilet?" People get talking, interaction happens. It's simple and effective.

But I'm writing this post to tell you about another of Wes' traditions: The Weekly Wrap-Up. Every Friday, he posts a run-down of posts from other blogs, comic strips he's enjoyed, the Tweet of the Week and/or Comment of the Week, and an inspiring (usually cartooning-related) video link that he's found. It's pretty cool, simply because it's a way of supporting cool stuff--it's a way that Max vs. Max points to stuff outside its own site and is like, "Hey, check this out."

And that's a good thing. You know I do the Pick of the Day thing on my Twitter, to share cool comics with you, so no surprise that I think it's a cool idea. When you share a cool comic, everyone wins. (I do tend to share strips from the same handful of comics, though. It's not a perfect thingy.)

I have some other thoughts on that, but for now it's about time to wrap this post up. For now, just wanted to give a shout out to the cool things that Wes is doing over at Max vs. Max. Check it out!

The Pick of the Day

As long-time readers of this blog know, in my Twitter feed I have a "Webcomics Pick of the Day" as a semi-regular feature. Some weeks I have more to share than others, but in the past week or two I feel that we've had some particularly tweet-worthy picks.

Thus, it's time for a special #pickoftheday edition of...

• In this post-fourth-of-July strip, Greg Dean of Real Life offers a useful lesson on physics and photography for those attempting to photograph fireworks. Informative and irascible!


• Toy Story 3 has made a well-deserved splash not only at the box office, but also among webcartoonists. I've seen a number of strips and reviews, but what stood out to me was this touchingly geeky tribute from Hijinks Ensue.
  (Also, if you haven't seen it yet, go see Toy Story 3.)


• In addition to its regular storyline and some timely Fourth of July tales, Axe Cop also brings a one-off spin-off introducing the Zombie Vampire Hunter team Jack and John. It's not the first time Axe Cop has addressed matters of theology, but Jack and John's story sheds further light on the nature of God and good vs. evil in the Axe Cop universe. You know I'm a sucker for religion in comics...


• Zorphbert and Fred, of Dawn Griffin's comic Zorphbert and Fred, have their own twitter accounts by which to provide an alien perspective on human culture--including their own Webcomic Picks of the Day. Lately they've taken a liking to Max vs. Max and the insights that it provides into the online dating experience. Zorphbert and Fred, you guys have good taste in webcomics!
  One thing I enjoy about Z&F's picks is that they regularly read an entirely different segment of webcomics than I do. If you're a twitterer, checking out their feeds (@Zorphbert and @and_Fred) can expose you to some good comics that you might otherwise not encounter. It's a good way to broaden your webcomic horizons.

Zombies Are the New Ninjas

So, this weekend the horror-comedy Zombieland tore up at the box office, and I couldn't help but notice that numerous webcomics are getting in on the zombie craze. To commemorate the zombie-comic epidemic, for the rest of the week the TWIW Pick of the Day will feature only zombie comics! This even includes Saturday.

For those not familiar with Pick of the Day, you can find my daily webcomic pick by checking out my Twitter account. Just search for the hashtag "#pickoftheday" and you'll have each of my Picks of the Day in one handy feed. You'll also have other people's Picks of the Day, plus some unrelated crud about Betty Crocker and whatnot. I can't help it if other people want to use the #pickoftheday hashtag for stuff that's not related to webcomics.

But I digress. Stop by Twitter and come check out the zombie action. We're kicking things off with Wednesday's cliffhanging installment of Multiplex, and there's more zombie action to follow from comics all across the 'net. If you spot any zombie comics yourself, I encourage you to join in and tweet 'em up!

The Pick-of-the-Day Project

It's been awhile since I did a genuine, bona fide week-in-review update--and I've got a special feature planned for this Friday, so it'll be longer still--but you can still get my recommendations of the best of the recent best. I update my Twitter with a "Pick of the Day," my favorite strip from my regularly-checked webcomics (and whatever others I may happen to read that day). If you need your recommendation fix, just tune in on Twitter.

Whenever a strip you read is particularly good, I'd like to encourage you to do a Pick of the Day of your own! Just tweet it up with a link to the comic, and hashtags #webcomics and #pickoftheday so that it's easy for us to pick up your recommendations. I look forward to seeing what you've got to recommend, and I'll see you all on Friday with a brand-new special feature!