No Spoilers Here

NOTICE: Sorry folks, but as both Otakon and my return to Tech approach on the same week, things are getting chaotic. There will be a comic tomorrow (monday) but it'll go up later than the usual before-dawn (EST) timeframe. It'll probably be up late afternoon-ish. I appologize for the delay. I thank you for your patience.

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Buzz Comix is at long last returned from the dead. This makes me glad in ways I can't understand. It's just nice to know that despite their problems, they have returned to us. It might also be that it's the largest list of webcomics I think I've ever come across. Just thought I'd give people a head's up!

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And we are at long last back to "normality." Anything you can no longer cope with is your own look out. And before anyone says anything, yes this one is rather random.

I need to express once more how completely awesome you guys are. Save Connecticon reached it's goal last Wednesday. $34,000 in a week and a half. My God, you guys rock. Hardcore! You did it!

In mildly related news, we're gearing up for our next convention: Otakon in a couple of weeks. That week is going to be hell for us, since we'll be moving into our new appartment the day before the con and starting class the day after. Yippie. But it'll be awesome as always, and I'm looking forward to it. It looks like we'll also be selling prints of the Teen Titans image there (nice big 11x17" prints). More good stuff.

Now, unfortunately, there are somet things that irk me that I'm going to talk about. Namely, that I am rather angry with J.K. Rowling at the moment. If you can't guess, our contention rests over her latest book: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Now, I promise I won't spoil anything for those who haven't read it. But I can't not talk about this. I've enjoyed the series quite a lot so far. They're nice light, easy reads and quite addictive. I'd finish the series off within 72 hours if I didn't have to go to work. However, in Rowling's latest book, I have become outright angry for the first time. And it's not, as you might assume, over the characters she's killed off. That doesn't bother me. It's sad, yes, because I liked the characters, but it doesn't bother me that they've died. It's slightly aggravating that their deaths are only serve to give Harry something more to angst about, but even that I can deal with. Life doesn't always have a point, and equally often neither does death. However, it is Rowling's disrespect for her characters that I have come to have grief with. In her 6th book, she introduces seemingly important new main characters only to have them ultimately serve a minor role and to be dropped imediately after that role is fullfilled. She killed off characters (bit characters granted) so the serve as the smalles cog in the great turning machine of The Plot. I find these dismissals and sacrifices upsetting at best. I understand why it was done, but the way in which it was acomplished seems amaturish at best, and it gets under my skin. And what she did with what I laughably call Harry's Love Life makes me truly angry. I despise that useless, cliche, angst generating reasoning that you find in too many hero stories. Those who've read it know what I'm talking about. Spider-man did it and I didn't like it then either. And it pisses me off that I can't talk about these things without giving out spoilers. And for the literary snobs out there, yes I know Rowling isn't the pinical of the literary world, but she's done better than this.

I think a lot of the problem stems from the fact that she's trying to cram an awful lot of story into the last couple of books. And with what she's set up in this sixth book, I can't imagine how she'll end it all in just one more. She has set up enough story for five more books. There's so much going on that to tell the story in anything resembling one book, she skims over an awful lot. Which is very sad. I also don't think Harry is anywhere near ready to take on Voldemort, and I have the horrible suspicion that it's going to be chance or providence that allows the boy to win out, rather than his own skill and ablities. *sigh* Oh well. Rowling has at least one more book to set things right, and so I will wait (im)patiently for her to finish it and then I will pass final judgement. But I really don't want to see this series go the way of the Matrix.

Oh, and there's also some nice close-ups behind the vote buttons of this week's strip. And the votes reset to zero at the beginning of each month, so you guys know what to do. Show them all who's number 1, eh?

Welcome to the Comedity. Don't step on the Penguin.
Garth (Sunday - July 31, 2005) -23:30:38