Apologies, my Favourite Comic Strips and Future Plans.

Sorry about Monday's comic being a bit late...the Comicgenesis system seems to be backing up on a fairly frequent basis these days. Afraid there's not much I can do about it aside from stomping my feet and fussing on the Comicgen forums...and all that usually gets me is being told, "Hey, shut up! It's free!" and really, I can't argue with that logic.

Anyways, a few days ago I promised I'd actually update with something semi-interesting soon, and so I shall (a week or two late). Ever wondered what comic strips the creator of Zoology reads himself? No? Come on...play along. Yes? Well great, because I'm about to tell you! Strap yourself in...

The Noob: Written by official "pal of Zoology" Gianna Masetti! In fact a lot of you reading may have found your way to this site through the generous links to Zoology Gianna has provided on her site. Although it deals heavily with the ins-and-outs of the online gaming world, you don't really have to know all that stuff to enjoy this comic. It's got a sort of intangible European comics style charm going...which is appropriate since Gianna happens to be from that continent.

Elf Only Inn: Written by another official "pal of Zoology" and all-round cool guy Josh Sortelli. It also, like the Noob, happens to revolve around online RPGs...apparently there is some kind of overlap between MMORPGs and lovers of fuzzy animals. Anyways, he doesn't update anymore, which is a shame because he's a talented cartoonist.

Achewood: Achewood is...well, Achewood is Achewood. It exists in a completely unique universe created by madman Chris Onstad. It takes a while to get used to, but once you understand the twisted internal logic this strip runs on it should start to click. Give it a chance (like Achewood really needs my help).

The Perry Bible Fellowship: There tends to be a lot of chest beating in the webcomic community...both amongst those that make 'em and those that closely follow/read them. Webcomics are far better in ever way than those stodgy old boring print comics. Problem is, it isn't often that it's actually true. Perry Bible Fellowship on the other hand I can point to as a comic that is both genuinely superior to almost anything else out there on the web or in print, but is probably something that would have never succeeded the way it has without the Internet. So yes, in the case of The Perry Bible Fellowship the webcomic community's hubris is justified.

PVP: In this case though, the snobbishness of the Webcomic community isn't justified. Webcomic fans love to shit on poor ol' PVP mainly I think because it reads very much like something you could get in your paper (except with more dick jokes). That enough is apparently enough to get some people to turn their noses up in disgust, ignoring that it's actually a rock solid, funny comic whose cast is always very consistently characterized. All in all it's a nice well-done nod to the newspaper comics that were the forbearers of today's webcomics.

White Ninja Comics: This comic is basically all the ideas other cartoonists have when they're sitting around but then dismiss because they're just too stupid. White Ninja instead runs with these hilarious/idiotic ideas and somehow it all works amazingly. All the other cartoonists are jealous as hell.

Wapsi Square: A truly unique creation that revolves around demons, ancient Aztec mysticism and lots and lots of cute girls. I'll admit I mostly read it for the art. Paul Taylor does some of the best girl art around...it's very highly stylized and yet somehow his girls seem more alive and true to life than most more realistic art.

Nedroid: A master of doing more with less. His jokes are usually wonderfully simple and understated, yet hilarious. His art is reduced to as few lines as possible, but it's still amazingly expressive. I want this guy's talent.

Liberty Meadows: Hot chicks and funny animals...it's my 2 favourite things to draw and it's Frank Cho's too.

Zits: A funny well-drawn newspaper strip. It really does capture teenage life pretty well...although it is held back somewhat by the content restrictions of syndicated newspaper comics.

Slylock Fox and Comics for Kids: What? Why are you looking at me like that? I've always enjoyed this feature since I was a kid and I still like it. It's filled with funny little bits of subversive humor, as is the case with any good children's entertainment. In our world of Teletubbies and Barney it's nice to see some decent quality children's entertainment is still being produced.

Pooch Cafe: Really sharp and somewhat edgy writing that would be at home on a show like the Simpsons. The spiritual successor to Snoopy.

Blondie: This old standby has been going almost 80 years and it's still one of the best comics in the paper. Yeah that's right, I like Blondie...whatcha got to say about that? The addition of John Marshall as new artist seems to have livened things up as well as it's been particularly good as of late. Oh, and that Blondie is still a fox for a woman who should be over 100 by now.

Overboard: Terrible art, but nonetheless somehow charming strip about Pirates.

Herman: Greatest comic of all time. That's all there needs to be said.

*Phew*...this went longer than I thought it would! Anyways, I'm sure I've missed something, but I hit most of the major bases. So folks, now that you know what I read, what do you read (aside from this fine strip of course)?

Oh and I'll probably be adding a new writing section to the site fairly soon...I'll collect together links to various freelance pieces I've done around the Internet in one place and probably add some original stuff as well. Hopefully the Zoology site can become a central place to find all my various projects in the future.