blog: things you should check out

The long-awaited How to Make Webcomics book from the Halfpixel guys is finally out! I got my copy yesterday and it’s a chunky brick o’ love: equally pressed, condensed wood pulp AND pressed, condensed comics brilliance. It’s available from Dave, Kris, Brad, or Scott, and since they split the profits you can just pick the dude closest to you: L.A., Texas, Philly or Cairo.

If you like to laugh, and you’re not put off by buckets and buckets of profanity, check out the “David Blaine: Street Magic” videos here. These guys are actors at the Groundlings theater — watch all three Blaine spoofs in order for maximal hilarity.

If you don’t get what they’re spoofing, here’s a real David Blaine video. CAUTION DOUCHE AHEAD

What if Hollywood was run by the comic industry, instead of by movies? If Marvel and DC were the big guns instead of Fox, Paramount and the like, and if starry-eyed youngsters moved to the city to audition for issues instead of episodes? Such is the world of Kevin McShane’s Toupydoops. It’s a great premise that Kevin pulls off pitch-perfectly, with clean artwork and sharp wit. Check it out!

Kate Beaton is a comic artist with a beautifully breezy pen style that communicates gesture and expression as well as any comic I’ve seen recently. All of her comics are really endearing, but I particularly love her wonderfully witty series about historical figures such as Benedict Arnold and Genghis Khan. Kate I dig it please keep it up.

After Tuesday’s strip, a reader informed me of a product called BUG, which is apparently exactly what the character in the comic pined for — a modular, expandable, programmable personal device with wireless Internet built-in and a bevy of attachments available, from cameras to GPS trackers to LCD screens. It’s a start, but truth be told, what I really want is a Swiss Army phone with a tape measure all spooled up inside ready for me to occasionally need it. I am pretty easy to please.