7/24: Week-in-Review in Comic Form #3 (finally!)

Starslip: Monday, 7/20/09


Matriculated: Wednesday, 7/22/09





Creep House: Monday, 7/20/09


Cat and Girl: Tuesday, 7/21/09


Request Comics #85 (date unknown)

Request Comics #8
Ben Heaton's Tall Comics guest strip

Co-written by Jackson Ferrell and Eli Parker; illustrated by Jackson Ferrell
Unwinder appears courtesy of Unwinder's Tall Comics
Abe Lincoln appears courtesy of Thinkin' Lincoln, or maybe just history
(and frankly he'd probably make a more tolerable co-host, disembodied floating head or not)

4/17: Week in Review

Seems this has been a good week for storylines. It may just be the particular spectrum of comics I read regularly, but while comics like The Book of Biff and Sheldon are good for a daily smile, following the serial stuff has been a real kick this week.

Shortpacked has been crazy this week even by Shortpacked standards. Last week, with Galasso locked up and Ethan...also locked up, Robin proposed that the new manager be selected by fight-probably-to-the-death, while Ultra Car searches for a way to throw pies at Galasso without letting him out of his cage. This week, everything explodes and Galasso is released in the chaos. His first act as a free manager is to fire everyone. Good luck getting a job in this economy, guys, but at least you can go out with a bang. To the shins. Firing the main characters from the strip's titular toy store is a strange move, but we'll see where things go from here.

Moe continues its storyline from last week, in which Moe attends an anti-evolution protest rally at the museum to impress a girl he met. With no particular allegiance to the cause, however, he is easily swayed when the other side has a cuter girl on it. It's a ridiculous parody of the debates of our day, in a world where everyone is dumb, especially Moe. Read the week's comics beginning with Monday's.

This week, Gill initiates a new storyline: with Gill's birthday coming up, he has his heart set on a birthday party at Cheesy Chester's Pizza, but his mother insists on having the party at home. The week ends on a horrifying cliffhanger in Gill's darkest nightmares--what will become of Gill and his desire for a Cheesy Chester's party? Start with Monday's comic and start following the story arc.

Over at Starslip, the crew of the Fuseli Paradigm has encountered the Quel--the highly-advanced hive-minded inhabitants of a planet within an uncharted nebula. This week, Vanderbeam endeavors to facilitate cultural exchange and share the fruits of his own advanced civilization, but the Quel aren't biting. However, when an unnaturally grave surge of bug-predators attacks the Quel, the crew prepares to step in and violate the crap out of the Prime Directive. We'll see soon enough whether their actions are justified, but in the meantime, the week for Starslip starts here.

Penny and Aggie draws its present storyline to a close today. Picking up where Part 10 of the Popsicle War left off, Duane finds a common interest of literature and a new friend in Christian fanatic Charlotte--but also finds that Charlotte is far more interested in him than he's comfortable with. Find out whether he can defuse this relational bomb without turning his overzealous new friend into an enemy: read the ten-page storyline from the beginning.

Finally, Dr. McNinja continues his descent into the Ancient Mayan Tennis Temple, defusing traps, navigating architectural hazards, and dealing with unforeseen complications. The whole thing is light on plot, but heavy on parody: it's a relentless spoof of video-gamey Indiana-Jones-style adventures in which the whole point of the architecture is to kill you. Why not enjoy the whole spectrum of spoof, right from the point that Dr. McNinja enters the temple?

And that's a wrap for this week--though I'm sure with so many storylines going on, I'll have plenty to talk about come next Friday. I may have a review or suchlike ready next week, but one thing's for sure: you can always count on the Friday rundown. And, as always, feel free to drop a comment with anything you've enjoyed this week. Have a good weekend, and adios for now!

I Can't Think Of A Clever Title

Okay so Jackson's all busy being awesome and stuff, so I thought I would give a quick low-down on some of my favorite webcomic moments of this week!

• Starslip continues its reboot with the introduction of the new ship's doctor, appropriately named Dahk. Thankfully his doctoring skills are much better than his shape-shifting. (That last panel cracks me up every time.)


• Girls With Slingshots offered readers the opportunity to snag a date with Jamie, who's a total sweetheart and babe, for Valentine's Day. I cannot wait to see who Danielle chooses as the winner, and what they end up doing.


• This week in Bobwhite Ivy had to deal with Marlene and Lewis's dalliances (okay, it was more than that, but I like that word). I am so chanting "I'M TOTALLY OKAY WITH THAT" this entire weekend. ^_^


• And finally, the moment that a lot of Multiplex fans were waiting for: Gretchen's downfall. I personally like her as a character because she adds drama and makes things interesting, so part of me will be sad to see her go.

And now a bit of news: for those of you in the New England area, you do not want to miss the New England Webcomics Weekend. It's from March 20-22, in Easthampton, MA, which is home to Topatoco, Dumbrella, and Octopus Pie. There's going to be a bajillion webcartoonists in attendance, and best of all it's free. If you ever wanted to hang out with a bajillion webcartoonists, here's your chance. More details are on the website.

I guess since I'm posting this past midnight, happy Valentine's Day! If you're single like me, enjoy the opportunity to eat lot of desserts without worrying about post-Valentine's Day gut. Bye!

~Jen

Have Lemonade, Will Travel: Pt. 2

I'll have to make this short because I've got to pack for my flight in the morning, but I do have a moment to share a couple of recent comics I liked. Shortpacked has been funny this week, gearing up for Valentine's Day with an amusing exchange between Leslie and Amber, and then continuing the unrequited-love theme with today's comic. The curveball punchline at the end made me laugh out loud.

Also, today's Starslip is cute. Happy Valentine's Day in advance, you guys. I'll see you next week.

1/16: Week in Review

This past weekend, I was surfing around and came across a comic by the name of Blank It. It begins with two unidentified protagonists standing in a nondescript field of whiteness, exploring their surroundings. After a bit of walking around in the void and trying to figure out the nature of their situation, they begin to encounter...things. Like a shovel. And a...well, let's just say it gets even more surreal, very quickly. I don't want to spoil it for you.

Because you should read this comic. I will have more to say about it, but you need to read it. It's clever, the characters' back-and-forth banter is genuinely witty, and the art is good--like bordering on Ian McConville good. Go read the archives from the start (it won't take long, there's only about 60 comics!), then tune in next Monday and Thursday to follow along with it.

And with that recommendation--it's now time for the news.

In the wake of last Friday's reality-shattering cliffhanger, Starslip Crisis hits the "reset" button and escapes changed but intact. The crew of the Fuseli have escaped to a new universe, the comic has a new website design, and it's taken on a new moniker! It's now simply known as "Starslip." Kris Straub has even updated the art, which now sports a dash of grayscale spot-shading and a clean, angular style. I think the new art is an improvement--each frame looks more fresh and varied, more crafted than produced. Catch up on the plot and the brand-new universe starting with Monday's strip. Refer to the New Readers Guide if necessary.

As Starslip sets out for a New Beginning in Space, the Space-Adventures over at Ctrl-Alt-Del are drawing to a close. That's right--the latest choose-your-own-adventure installment of Ethan McManus, Space Archaeologist is over. After being dragged through one harmful choice after another by the idiocy of internet readers, Ethan finally crash-lands on an uncharted planet barely alive and intact, with a cliffhanger promise of a third EMSA at some point in the future. Show's over for now, folks! I will now return to my custom of reading CAD like once a month.

Hopefully I won't miss the next EMSA installment. If only there were a mailing list for these dang things!

At Multiplex this week, Jason Atwood's video-store doppelganger Jay has quit his job at Flickhead video and signed on as theater staff. Is he a good fit for the theater job? Jason certainly seems to think so. However, Jay's addition to the staff has catalyzed a measure of friction between Multiplex power couple Kurt and Melissa. We'll see what the drama holds for Kurt and Melissa--'cause you know that with Multiplex, There Will Be Drama.

In terms of simply delivering daily doses of funny, Sheldon has really been on fire this week. No deep and involved storylines of drama and pathos, no profound gravity of character, just well-crafted laughs. And we need some well-crafted laughs sometimes! We've got an unexpected interruption courtesy of Arthur Duck's impulsive side, and a few reflections from Granddad on the value of PJs. And other funny comics besides! I've certainly enjoyed 'em.

Finally: Nobody Scores has its own brand of breaking the space-time continuum when Jane finds a mysterious portal in the couch leading back to 1989--the prime breeding ground of the Nameless Wack MC. Additionally, inside sources tell me that NS is gearing up for its 300th-comic celebration soon, so be sure and check it over the weekend, lest you miss the festivities! It would be a shame to miss the festivities.

That's what I found to be awesome this week. As always, I encourage you to share your own discoveries of awesomeness from the past week in comics all across the internet. Drop a comment and spread the love!

1/9: Week in Review

For the past week, the world of Starslip Crisis has been in crisis. The reality-policing organization Deep Time has planted a bomb at the core of Jupiter that will erase the main characters' entire universe from reality: past, present, and future. All week long, as the bomb ticks down, Vanderbeam and crew have been scrambling to save as much of the universe as they can, whether by defusing the bomb or simply by escaping via starslip drive. Yesterday's comic featured the final ten seconds of last-minute panic. And today's comic breaks all of reality with its genius. I seriously thought something was wrong with the site until I figured out what was going on.

Real Life this week has featured some good laughs. After a recent storyline, techie geek Dave found himself carrying around the supercomputer PAL in his brain, and this past week has seen Dave trying to get PAL out. But Dave must first acquire hardware to download PAL's systems into: a task which Dave undertakes with gusto.

Two items of very-long-comics news this week:

Nobody Scores breaks in the new year with considered reflections on aging, then follows up with Sara's latest business scheme: "Fear Itself(tm)." What is "Fear Itself?" Apparently, a consultation service in which agents expose you to a series of truly terrifying things so that your own problems seem much less intimidating by comparison. But accidents happen, and in typical Nobody Scores fashion, Sara's scheme is thwarted by a lack of competent help. And her own flaring temper.

The postscripts are great.

Very-long-comics news #2: Unwinder's Tall Comics has an update for us this week! In this installment, Unwinder's friend Howard develops the ability to read minds. As he reads the minds of his friends, hilarity ensues, although it is hilarity dependent on the personalities of his friends. If you have never read Unwinder's Tall Comics before, this is probably not the best one to start in on. A better introduction would probably be this comic.

In video-game news, Joe Dunn and Phil Chan of Matriculated fame have teamed up to debut a brand new comic strip: Another Videogame Webcomic. What sets it apart from other gaming comics is that it's also a workplace comic; the main characters, Player One and Player Two, actually work inside the games, donning Street Fighter costumes or full-body Pong Paddle suits as the job requires. Think Ctrl-Alt-Del's "Players," but with less graphic violence and more funny, by which I mean any kind of funny at all. Another Videogame Webcomic already has nine comics up for you to peruse, and it promises to do for video games what Joe Loves Crappy Movies has done for movies, so check it out.

Speaking of CAD, if you tune into CAD for one storyline this year, let it be the current choose-your-own-adventure storyline, featuring Ethan McManus: Space Archaeologist. At present, our protagonist is in dire straits, pursued by mercenaries and with one broken arm as he tries to track down the ancient Mesocron of Knowledge. His fate is in your hands! And the hands of a hundred thousand nitwits across the internet.

UPDATE: The first installment of post-Hob Dresden Codak marks a return to form, with the first of two parts of a second Dungeons and Discourse adventure. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, I suppose. Diaz is employing a slightly different art style--a more subtle color palette and thin/no outlines--but largely it's the same lavishly-illustrated abstruse philosophy-of-science jokes you've come to know and feel strongly about. I would just like to note that "Kierkeguardian" is the best class name ever.

So, that wraps up this week-in-review. Have a good weekend, and be sure to come back on Monday and Tuesday. Tony Piro from Calamities of Nature will share his his thoughts with us on the comic form, social commentary, archetypal characters, and (of course) religion. With too much insight into cartooning for a single installment, it's a two-part interview that you won't want to miss!

Hey there once again, everybody. It's 12:30 as I begin this entry: it's time for lunch, and it's time for webcomics.

At Starslip Crisis this week, Cutter and Holiday have been watching their favorite show: the 21st-century crime-drama, Concrete Universe. Frankly, I didn't get a lot of laughs out of it. "Concrete Universe" tends to be a one-note joke, as the show's writers' tenuous grasp of 20th-century history results in anachronistic technology and slang. I mean, sure, there's another level there where it parodies the inaccuracy of our own "historical" films and TV, but it's just the same dang joke over and over again. Nonetheless, I chuckled at the punchline to this strip. It would seem that, whatever else may change, ham-handedly "clever" television dialogue is a timeless phenomenon.

Also this week, the judges over at the WebComic Readers' Choice Awards have selected their winners! You can check out the website yourself and see how your favorite comics placed, and maybe get introduced to a new comic. Particularly interesting is that to celebrate Angie Kurokami's first-place victory for "Best Supporting Character," Multiplex creator Gordon McAlpin produced an Awards-Ceremony acceptance speech comic in which Angie thanks the readers for their support. It's pretty neat, and it captures all the traits that make Angie such a strong supporting character.

Also over at Multiplex, in a reference to recent news of Don Cheadle replacing Terrence Howard in Iron Man 2, apparently Franklin has been recast as well. But wait, now there are two Franklins? It must be a time warp! The whole thing makes a nice balance to the heavier Religulous storyline of two weeks ago, and plus it's really amusing.

Also, Dresden Codak's Hob Saga reached its final installment today. I'm still a little unclear on what actually happened toward the tail end of the storyline, and the final comic has done little to clear up the muddled plotting that preceded it. Still, it at least sorta brings things full-circle thematically, and ends on a light-hearted tone reminiscent of the Hob story's beginning. I do think DC is at its best when Aaron Diaz is doing unpretentious intellectual weirdness, and of course I'm interested in seeing what's ahead for DC now. Hopefully it'll be either a return to form or a more successful experiment. We'll see.

And finally, let's close out with miscellaneous humor from Thinkin' Lincoln, F Chords, and The Book of Biff. And:

Real Life Corner
about Real Life the webcomic, not about life outside of the internet

In Real Life's current extended storyline, a visit to supergenius Tony Flansaas intended to fix the plot hole in X-Tony and X-Greg's home dimension has met with unexpected complications: namely, the appearance of Tony's arch-nemesis, the Government Agent, accompanied by a clone of Tony. Last week, the clone engaged Tony's base's self-destruct sequence, and this week, everyone hurries to escape. Well, almost everyone. I'm not going to give it away, but rather than a cliffhanger, today's strip ends with a big twist. Does this mean what I think it means? Is Clone Tony not the only casualty from this catastrophe? Next week, we'll find out.

read this week's RL installment
start reading the entire story arc from the beginning

Aaaaaaand we're done. Check back on Monday--maybe I'll say a little something about Rice Boy, or maybe review another chapter of Jump Leads! Until we meet again, have a good weekend, everybody.

Good evening everybody. For a change, I'm going to start today's post off with a Sunday strip. Just because there are so few webcomics that update on weekends, the ones that do tend to get short shrift in this blog...which is really a shame, because you get some really nice full-color strips from the newspaper-style dailies on Sundays.

Take, for instance, this past Sunday's Sinfest. It's a clever recasting of the current socio-economic/political situation as Star Wars Episode III: with the US as (Uncle) Samakin Skywalker, Liberty in the role of Padme Amidala, and Jesus as Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Devil corrupts Samakin by turning him to the corporate side of the Force, resulting in the death of Liberty (sniff). It's witty and well-illustrated, so go check it out.

Here at TWIW, we've been following storylines from a couple of the big dailies for a couple of weeks now: Real Life and Starslip Crisis. Over at RL, the mess that started with Tony, Fem-Tony and the Plot Hole continues to escalate: as the Government Agent crashes the party (having gone indie), Tony breaks out the Battlemech. I totally enjoyed the original storyline that introduced Tony's Battlemech--and maybe it's just because he's working on the comic full-time now, but Greg's mecha-drawing skills have become dramatically more realistic. Not only is this some of the most engaging material from Real Life in a long time, but it's also some of the most artistically impressive. And true to form, today's comic revealed yet another twist to end the week on a cliffhanger. You've got my number, Greg Dean.

So, while the Real Life storyline continues, we turn our attention to the conclusion of Vanderbeam's ordeal with the horrifying mask exhibit at Starslip. In the end, Vanderbeam's solution amounts to chickening out--and Starslip moves on. A couple of strips from this week interested me, in which Vanderbeam and Jinx muse amusingly on the topic of a higher power. Even the normally light-hearted Starslip Extra has Vanderbeam contemplating the elegant cosmic functioning of stars, a little Starslip spin on the teleological argument. Vanderbeam might well make a case for a Cosmic Designer based on the order in the universe, but his tenuous grasp of astrophysics riddles his mini-monologue with scientific inaccuracies...which Jinx calls him on. In the second philosophical Starslip strip, Jinx's alien thought processes (and other processes) deliver the humor, as Vanderbeam inquires into the deepest beliefs and convictions at the core of the Cirbozoid's being. Bill Watterson once said of Hobbes, "An animal perspective sheds some light on religious questions," and apparently the same goes for space aliens.

Over at F Chords, Kris Straub delivered another strip that was interesting to me, if for no other reason than it contained old people. Turns out that Ash owns an apartment in a complex largely inhabited by senior citizens. Ash's neighbor Oscar seems like a nice ol' codger, and I hope we get to see some more of him. In this strip he's mostly there to provide characterization for Ash, but he may get some development of his own down the road. We'll see.

In other news, Thursday's Book of Biff was not just good for a laugh, but also well-crafted. The art on this one is nothing complex, but I think it's really effective. The varying line weights and quasi-isometric perspective really make that cement block look like it's hovering surreally over the sink basin, which is what really sells the punchline for me. I seriously enjoyed the quality and efficiency of the art.

And now, in the interests of time, let's wrap this up with everyone's favorite...

Update Boxers and News Briefs

• @Penny Arcade: Mega Man 9 returns the series to its roots, and it likewise returns gamers to theirs


• @Penny Arcade's Fallout 3 comic series: The vault-dweller has left the vault, puppet in hand, and now braves the dangers of the wastes
  
• @Shortpacked!: Rock Band Week begins here


• @A Softer World: a deeply personal address to our nations future


• @My Stupid Life: the classic lightbulb joke, for web cartoonists. Too true, too true.

And that's a wrap for this week. The promised in-depth look at Rice Boy is in the works; my plan is to start reading through it again tomorrow, gather topics to talk about and comic pages to link to, and work on the entry as I get time next week. Ari will see you on Wednesday, and I'll be back next Friday with the usual rundown. Thanks for tuning in, guys, and have a good weekend!

The news this week is that Rice Boy was great.

That's actually not news, of course. Rice Boy has been finished for awhile now--like not just stopped or ended, but it actually reached the finale of its overarching narrative. A webcomic with a natural beginning, middle, and end, imagine that! A genuine story. And the "old news" that Rice Boy was great is not even new news to me--I finished reading it some three weeks ago. So why am I mentioning it? Because it was great and engaging and creative and I want to talk about it with you.

But that'll have to wait. For now, I've got a week-in-review writeup to write, and it's coming rather late in the day here. Thoughts on Rice Boy, maybe later next week. Right now, the writeup.

Let's start with today. Today's installment of Dr. McNinja simultaneously cracked me up and made me go "Wow," which it actually does fairly frequently. Honestly, it's been awhile since Dr. McNinja did that for me--it was starting to get all "Oh, the grocery chain owner with the big purple monster alternate form got stuck halfway into his transformation, and oh look, now his quadriplegic dad has turned into a giant purple monster that is still paralyzed, that's kind of unusual I guess." But today's comic ended with a total non-sequitur twist punchline that leaves you wondering, "How the crud did he know that?"

When you're piling on the weirdness, sometimes the best way to make things weirder is to throw in something comparatively normal. Go figure.

Next up, we've got Real Life continuing its storyline from last week with Alternate Tony and the plot hole. Tony's gunfight with his female counterpart gets interrupted for exposition in Tuesday's comic, and then in Wednesday's comic, Dave strolls in to deliver another interruption. Initially I was bummed--way to drag all the momentum out of your gunfight, Cartoonist Greg! But the gunfight didn't resume in Thursday's or today's strips, and instead we got another monkey wrench thrown into the equation. Female Tony ain't the only one out for blood, it seems. As it turns out, the whole storyline was well-paced, and my feeling on Wednesday just came from differing expectations.

Just goes to show, sometimes it pays to stick with a storyline and see it out to the end before passing judgment. Heck, that's half the reason I keep reading Sluggy Freelance! The other half is the puns.

Now, let's turn our attention to Starslip Crisis. In the most recent storyline, Vanderbeam has received his first exhibit job as curator aboard the Sai Kan: a collection of mask pieces. Interestingly, the artist himself has specified a detailed layout for the exhibit, ostensibly making Vanderbeam's job easier...but the artist has requested that the centerpiece of the exhibit be hung up across from the curator's bed. The centerpiece turns out to be a soul-harrowing monstrosity! And in Monday's strip, we witness Vanderbeam's first night sleeping across from the thing (I use the word "sleeping" loosely). Once again, a good storyline that gets better as you get into it. You can start reading it here.

And let's round things off with a clever setup and punchline from today's Dinosaur Comics. That's all I got, fellas. Tell me what you think of the storylines in Real Life and Starslip, or maybe drop me a comment and tell me what you enjoyed this week.

Me, I'm gonna go watch Iron Man on DVD with some friends now. Adios!

Here at TWIW, the big news this week is small comics. On Wednesday, I posted a feature spotlighting some lesser-known comics that you may enjoy, so if you'd like to see some hidden talents, they're only a click away.

Today, though, I largely want to talk about Multiplex.

Multiplex focuses on the staff of its titular theater, so one might reasonably offer the critique that too much of its cast comprises the solipsistic-young-adult category. However, recent events at the Multiplex have seen a need for increased security, so the theater has hired a new security guard. His name is James Harris; he's well into his sixties, if not older. He's a retired police officer, and when he was younger, he worked at a theater too.

I find Mr. Harris to be a welcome presence at the theater for two reasons. First, he has wisdom, a trait rather lacking in many of the Multiplex employees. Plenty of them are sharp, but age brings perspective, and I really think that Mr. Harris will provide a grounding presence amidst all the workplace drama. As Jason is showing him around the theater complex, the two of them run across Lizzie Stoner and Whitey lighting up in the back lot. Harris handles the situation very prudently--he's understanding but firm, and he lets them know that while there will be second chances, there won't be a third. I also get the sense that he genuinely cares about the kids.

Secondly, Mr. Harris broadens the strip thematically. Turns out he didn't work at just any theater, either--he worked at the Regal Theater back in the 1950s. Before it was torn down in 1973, the Regal was a major cultural fixture of Chicago's Bronzeville, and in a flashback, cartoonist Gordon McAlpin showcases its ornate architecture through some sepia-toned, hand-drawn artwork. These history-of-theater elements do a lot for the background and substance of Multiplex, and it's all brought in very naturally through the "new" hire. This stuff is a part of who James Harris is and where he's been.

When it comes down to it, Multiplex is a comic about how movies are a part of our lives. A lot of that is strictly on the humor level, sure, and movies are a bigger part of some of our lives than others (coughJasoncough), but there's this other level to it. As humans, we crave stories. And when we go to catch a story on the big screen, we want a good story, one that innovates in the medium, one that doesn't just entertain but says something substantial and resonant to us. And in its own way, with a cast of characters that you really get to know as you keep tuning in, Multiplex embodies those same values that it's looking for in a good movie.

Wait. How did this soapbox get here, and what am I doing standing on it?

Anyway, it's just about time for me to go do productive stuff, but before I do, let's have a...

Quick Rundown of Stuff I Liked This Week

• The Book of Biff presents: Hover Socks!


• Waitaminit, Starslip Crisis! Don't get me wrong, it's a funny strip, but I thought this kinda thing was the province of Dresden Codak!


• New horrific adventures in reptile care courtesy of Nobody Scores!


• Cat and Girl's Bad Decision Dinosaur: last sighted preparing to go on vacation


• Panel three of this Sheldon comic: best description of Flaco ever


• From Boxer Hockey: the intrinsic hazards of good fortune

Good times, good times. See ya next week.

Here's the big news for this week: in addition to his current projects Starslip Crisis and Chainsawsuit, Kris Straub has launched a new strip, F Chords. That's three strips. Seriously, the dude is a cartooning juggernaut. F Chords is about Ash and Wade, two studio musicians who have traded in their dreams of rock-and-roll stardom for the more accessible aspiration of playing music for radio commercials. It updates on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and there are already a couple strips in the archives, so hop on over and check it out.

So while Straub is upping his cartooning output, R. Stevens of Diesel Sweeties is cutting back. He will no longer be running a print edition of Diesel Sweeties, focusing his attention on the main site instead. The last day of comics.com Sweeties will be this Sunday, August 10th. After that, I guess we will all have to get by on just one Diesel Sweeties comic each weekday.

Over at Dr. McNinja, Chris and Kent aren't doing any comics this week--but that doesn't mean that other people aren't! It's the second-ever Dr. McGueststravaganza! My spell-checker tells me that isn't a real word in like five different ways. But anyway, Dr. McNinja has had a bunch of guest comics going up all this week, by such illustrious cartoonists as Kate Beaton and the Nedroid guy. Pretty sweet stuff--and a new Dr. McNinja story begins on Monday. I'm pumped.

Here's some more news about comebacks: Nobody Scores! returns! After taking a month off to retool his comic and general become more embettered (which is like being embittered but for quality), Brandon Bolt brings us the first installment of an extended story about arch-capitalist Sara Peterson's latest purchase. In general, the new Nobody Scores! will have slightly longer "episodes" overall, delivered in installments of slightly shorter shorter individual comics. The details of the new presentation format can be found in this here newspost.

That's all the news about cartoonists this week. Now let's have a quick look at a couple of strips I liked.

Tuesday's Cat and Girl delived a "sites of historical and cultural interest" take on the classic Abbott and Costello "Who's on First" routine. I thought it was a clever little tribute.

Also, as Ebert and Roeper end their run as co-hosts of "At the Movies", Joe Dunn has got a new pair of critics lined up. Who are they? They are awesome.

And that's the news for this week! Tune in next week for your regularly-scheduled Friday webcomics lowdown, plus a special feature on small comics.

Hey, folks. The big event around here this week is yesterday's Thinkin' Lincoln review commemorating its three-year anniversary. Thinkin' Lincoln is a pretty good comic, and you should check it out. But here is a condensed version of the usual week-in-review-style content, providing you with some quick laughs.

Did any webcomics this week make you laugh out loud? Post a link in the comments and share the funny!

Quick Laughs:

• @Starslip: the absurdity of Mr. Jinx's alien physiology never fails to amuse me


• @Starslip again: Vanderbeam's departure from the Fuseli is a momentous occasion and a major turning point for the comic--good thing it's funny too


• @Sheldon: this series of comics, in which Flaco and Arthur purchase a Barbie Dream House, is good for at least four quick laughs, if not more


• @Biff: Biff forgets to feed his pet


• @Cat&Girl: Girl dishes out the burnsauce on a familiar institution

And that's a wrap. See y'all next week!