Fire eye'd boy give 'em all the slip



Why haven't I posted my top ten albums of 2005 yet? We're already well into February! At first I was delaying my selection because I had to catch up on a lot of records that I hadn't gotten around to listening yet. But now, I'm just stalling because I can't come up with a full list of ten albums. I keep stalling out at nine... there just wasn't another album last year that I enjoyed nearly as much as the nine listed below (in no particular order):



Broken Social Scene - "Broken Social Scene"

Ben Folds - "Songs for Silverman"

Spoon - "Gimmie Fiction"

The New Pornographers - "Twin Cinema"

Beck - "Guerro"

System of a Down - "Mesmerize"/"Hypnotize"

Deathray - "Believe Me"

Franz Ferdinand - "You Could Have It So Much Better"

Gorillaz - "Demon Days"



I guess it's ten if you count both discs of the System of a Down double album. Or, you could make it ten if you included The Go Team's "Thunder Lighting Strike," but that was really a 2004 album that just took forever to get an official release in North America.



But heck, what does it really matter anyway? I am just a man with a website, recommending some tunes that I enjoyed. I guess nine albums is probably good enough!



Sam Logan

And you're walking away, but where to go to



Claire, my partner in crime, is looking to part with a few of her pets, thus slightly -- slightly -- decreasing the total size of the animal kingdom occupying our apartment. We have a remarkably friendly bearded dragon named Thor who would love to find a new owner who can spend more time with him than we can. We also have several hand-raised rats of various ages who are available now because Claire is retiring from the breeding business. The rats are free to good homes, but we're asking for a little cash for Thor because he comes with a tank and all of his required lighting equipment.



Claire has started a thread on our forum full of details and adorable photos. If you live in our neck of the woods (Victoria, BC) and would be a responsible, caring pet-parent, we'd love to hear from you!






Several people have asked me if Mr. Blank (that's my nickname for the masked man appearing in this week's storyline) is a reference to a flash cartoon called Madness. To answer your question... no! I'd never seen this Madness cartoon until you folks pointed it out to me. It does look pretty similar, though, doesn't it?



Actually, Mr. Blank's face originally was blank. I only added the cross because it was too hard to figure out what way he was facing without it. I pencil that cross on the face of every character I ever draw as a reference point for placing the eyes and nose. For Mr. Blank, I just decided to leave it on there instead of erasing it afterwords!



Now you know. And knowing is half the battle!



Sam Logan

Look in a book (in a book), It's in a book



Two of my webcartooning comrades are unleashing new books! Over on the Girly side of things, Josh has finally put together his best comic's first print collection, which you can preorder now. Meanwhile, in Scary Go Round territory, John is relreleasing his first collected volume with a new cover and other goodies. These are the first two webcomic-related books I have ever bought on the intertron. Money well spent! Who needs to eat?



Speaking of books, you can look forward to more Sam and Fuzzy collections later this year. The mini-book has done very well for me, and I'm eager to follow it up with something more comprehensive... a true "volume one", if you will.



But comprehensive or not, it won't include any of the exclusive comics found in the current mini-book. Lots of people have already bought it, and I would not want anyone to have spent their hard-earned money on a redundant collection! Instead, I will just do my best to keep the mini-book in print and available for newcomers to snag for as long as I can.



Sam Logan