Web Comic of the Week
One of the beautiful things I've found by doing these regular pieces about my favourite online comics is that it makes me re-evealuate the reasons why I like what I read. This in turn has an effect on my own work as the comments I write can act like a mirror on what I create. Thinking about anything in a critical manner, even the bad, will help a person as long as what you learn from this analysis of others can be applied to your own work. The real strength of analysing quality comics is when you can see how the writing and art come together in a clever and beautiful way. Today's choice is a prime example of that in action.

Web Comic of the Week is Welcome to Heck by Bob Corona - a talented guy who deserves lots of success.



Welcome to Heck has a style and feeling all of it's own. This is partly down to the simple, yet stylish artwork, partly down to the beautiful choice of colours and the way they blend, and partly down to the characters' individual points of view and how they spring some unexpected twists. Which in turn leads to some of the funniest strips I've read online.

I would have chosen this comic strip sooner, but Bob has been in the process of moving to another location and I thought it best to wait until that process was completed. Heck is now hosted at PVComics, a subscription site. Now I'm not advocating that you all sign up and the link I point you to above takes you to the first of sixteen free episodes that previously appeared on the Komikwerks site. You can then make up your own mind if the subscription is worth taking up to continue with this strip.

My favourite episode of those that have appeared so far is the wonderful "Monoculture". I laughed so hard at this one when I first read it that my jaws ached. It still tickles me even when I only think about it. Needless to say, I'm going to keep quiet about the details or the whole thing will be spoilt.

The cast are an incredibly divergent group who arrive in Heck with no real explanation, but it works straight away because the writing and character visualisation fit together to give the reader everything that's needed. And when one of the characters is a cactus called Pablo, what other reason do you need to go there and read it.

There's a kind of philosophical sub-theme to the whole thing which can make you think long after you've had your laugh. It's difficult to nail down, but once you start reading you'll see what I mean. Take a good look and let Bob know what you think.

Return of the King
Went to see this at last today. I am overwhelmed by the breadth of Jackson's vision. Phenomenal stuff indeed!

What form of art are you?

You are Literature.
Your strength is your ability to understand human
nature, and you tend to equate truth and beauty
with humanity. You get along well with Poetry
and Drama.


What form of art are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Discovered at Fembat

Excellent Broken Sword Review
Mark Smith of Game Chronicles Magazine has written a beautiful review of our game, Broken Sword - The Sleeping Dragon. I particularly liked:
"What really steals the show here is the topnotch dialogue and voice acting. Normally adventure games feature long drawn out conversations that will have you tapping your fingers impatiently while you wait to get back to the action, but in The Sleeping Dragon you will actually look forward to each new conversation."

He gave the game a score of 9.2!

To read the full review, you can find it here.

Harold Shipman is dead
He hanged himself in his cell apparently. I'd say good riddance, but unfortunately he will now cost the taxpayer more money as they hold an inquiry into how it happened.

Smiley Street update days
I've decided to update Smiley Street on TUESDAYS and THURSDAYS for the time being.

Something David Gallaher once said about Smiley Street:
With SMILEY STREET, I think you are able to really show the power of cartooning - and heck, I think Scott McCloud would be proud ...
Too kind, David, but thanks.

Almost not funny
This User Friendly comic strip was pointed out to my by Laura (thanks Laura). It's almost too true to be funny. :)

New Juniper Crescent strip
It's Monday, so it's update date for Juniper Crescent.

This week's strip is all true (well kind of). The original artwork will become part of this incredible archive that David Walberg has been putting together. You can find more info about this in a previous posting, here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the piece.

Odd search string
One of the searches that brought someone to my website used the string "pain in my right foot". I find it fascinating that someone would put in something like that. If you are the person who entered this, I'd love to know the story behind it.

Tasks around the house
Spent this morning doing a few tasks around the house. Mind you, using the word few makes it seem like I spent ten minutes when it was the whole morning.

Changing the bed clothes always falls to me because the turning over of the mattress is a "man thing" to quote June. I think it may be something to do with feeble women not being up to the task or something. Or it could be the weak writsts June has due to her arthritis. One of the two, I forget...

I took the vacuum cleaner around the whole house. This appears to have become another "man thing" - much like heavy digging in the garden, cutting the lawn, changing lightbulbs (?), toping the fuel up in the car, etc.

The final, and longest, of the tasks was the ironing. As June does all the washing, I have the unenviable task of the ironing. I hate it and find it so mind-numbingly boring that I don't know what I'd do if I had no music to play. This morning I was listening to David Bowie's latest album as well as a compilation of 70's rock singles. Queen, Thin Lizzy, Derek and the Dominoes, Deep Purple... I nearly got out my purple tank-top and red flared corduroys!