Max vs. Max, a new strip from Wes Molebash

Merry Christmas, everyone. For Christmas, I wish to give you a gift: the gift of information.

Specifically, I wish to inform you of Wes Molebash's latest comic offering, Max vs. Max, a strip about being your own worst enemy. The main character Max grapples with faith, insecurity, and guilt feelings in the wake of his recent divorce, and with help from friends and family, he tries to make sense of his life.

So far, the strip's off to a strong start; it's open, honest, and human, and it plunges right in with Max and his friend Reese discussing getting back in the dating game. That segues naturally into a story arc in which Max dreams about God showing up in his bed. Currently, the strip has begun a third story arc about visiting family for Christmas, and apparently Max's mom makes a mean meatloaf.

I'm glad to see Wes Molebash making comics again. He's refreshingly personal in his cartooning, and his characters are real people with real flaws. You can't help but root for them, though, because you can see something of yourself in them. Wes also brings a refreshing approach to faith in his comics that I find sadly lacking in the webcomics scene at large.

I certainly missed Wes' comics after he ended You'll Have That, and I missed them again after he put Myron and Charlie on hold to take a break from cartooning. It's good to see him back in the saddle. And you've got to love a comic whose underlying theology allows for a God who goes for coffee at 1 in the morning.

I may be giving you a Christmas present right now, but Wes Molebash gives you a present every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and it's pretty awesome. Give his new comic a look--I bet you'll enjoy it.

A Schedule Change Announcement

Hi, everyone. As you are reading this, I'm already at my new full-time job with National Liftgate Parts, learning the ropes and managing product. It's one of many exciting recent developments in my life (another one would be, oh say just for example, being merch guy for the freaking Multiplex Store). Obviously, with so much going on, I won't have nearly so much time to peruse webcomics at my leisure.

However, this doesn't mean you'll be getting any less This Week in Webcomics! I still plan on bringing you the weekly post by whatever means possible, because that's just my style. To accommodate my new work schedule, you can expect each week's post on Monday rather than Friday.

Also, you can expect an increased focus on reviews in the future, which I'm sure all of you who voted "you should review MY comic" on our last you-choose-the-reviews poll will be glad to hear. Vote in the poll above, and check out links to the comics up for voting in the post below.

Keep on tuning in, and I'll keep talkin' comics with you guys. I'll see you next week with a brand new review.

This Guy is Going to Put Me out of a Job

Webcomics Update

As a webcomic blogger, I sometimes find myself beaten at my own game. I'll be considering doing a comic-form update, and then the Webcomic TV guy goes and starts Webcomic TV. Just recently, I was thinking of writing a review of Daisy Owl, and then El Santo of Webcomics Overlook goes and posts a review that pretty much says it all. And now there's this guy, the Webcomics Update Guy.

What I do roughly every week with my "Week in Review" posts, this guy does every day. He reads a host of webcomics and writes a few lines of summary and reaction to each daily update. It's what I do, only more concise and more frequent. Curse you, Webcomics Update Guy! You have rendered me obsolete!

In all seriousness, I thought you guys might enjoy seeing what this guy is up to. Drop back here on Friday for your usual week-in-review post...assuming you haven't all migrated over to Webcomics Update. Or, for that matter, Is It Funny Today?, which is still the best online equivalent of the newspaper funny pages. Open it up and find yourself some funny.

Poll Results: The Readers Have Spoken

Behold the voice of the people!

The results are pretty clear: you want more reviews! To a lesser extent, you also want more interviews, and free waffles. There are numerous opportunities for me to do reviews: ranging from my long-promised review of Rice Boy (I haven't forgotten!), to another entry in my Jump Leads review series once Issue #5 is completed, to any one of the comics from Recommendation Rampage Friday. Interviews should be quite possible as well--I've actually got one in the pipes at present. As for the free waffles...well, that's a bit trickier, but I'll see what I can do.

I'm going out of town this weekend to visit friends in NC for Easter, so this week's post will be on Thursday. See you then!

EDIT (4/7): Somehow I neglected to mention The Book of Biff's April Fool's Day joke. In the same vein of last year's "eyebrows stunt," we have the April Fool's version and the revised "official" version of the strip in question. Dated news, sure, but I'm nothing if not thorough, and there's an extra "layer" of joke there for regular Biff readers.

Happy Labor Day, one and all. I would like to extend a special thanks to Ari Collins, who provided a guest update last week and gave us a refreshing selection of comics that are neither Nobody Scores nor Cat and Girl. I, Jackson Ferrell, am beginning this week with a special bonus update because I cannot shut up about webcomics.

Kris Straub's F Chords has been going for a couple of weeks now, but until last week, I remained unconvinced that it was anything more than a good second-string comic. Then along came this strip: the strip that sold it for me. Our musician friends come up with a sweet hook, but can't think of lyrics to go with it to save their lives. "I know you like how I do the thing" is not even the most hilariously pathetic of their attempts. Then, as the week progresses, we see Wade accidentally play the hook while recording music for a radio commercial. Aw snap!

Suffice it to say, with a hilarious intro strip that segues into a cool storyline, I'm--pardon the pun--hooked. (Audience groans.) But you should go read F Chords, because the Straub is a much funnier man than I. Just listen to Ash describing his work: "This is my magnum opus. My .357 magnum opus. This song will put a hole in a man the size of a grapefruit."

Last week, Penny and Aggie dared to ask questions on the topic that few webcomics dare to touch: God and religion. Kudos to the creators of P&A for daring to broach the big questions. I will probably return to that business for this Friday's update, but for now, let us note that Penny Arcade has also been tackling the tough theological questions: namely, what God smells like.