Ah, Clamburg. Come for the overcast skies, stay because the giant cat is blocking the only road out.

Meet Vendetta. She’s a grade-school mad scientist of sorts who has the town of Clamburg in her clutches. Classmates flee in terror from Vendetta’s creations (“Fiends,” she calls them) which cause nothing but trouble. Whether it’s a sentient pair of scissors or an over sized hamster with a short temper, these fiends give Vendetta the leverage to get away with whatever she wants. Even the teachers are helpless; for weeks it’s been nothing but recess on the syllabus.

Meet Charlotte. Charlotte is the new girl in town, and is all butterflies and rainbows even in monotone Clamburg. She frequently breaks out into song, which Vendetta dislikes. She keeps befriending the most lethal of Vendetta’s fiends, which Ventdetta really dislikes. And Charlotte is absolutely convinced Vendetta’s her new bestest friend in the world, which Vendetta really really REALLY dislikes. Vendetta would like nothing more than to wipe the smile off of Charlotte’s perpetually cheerful face, but her plans to crush her spirits (or just crush Charlotte) keep backfiring.

So goes the plot of the popular Flash cartoon by Amy Winfrey. Amy’s work is equal parts charming and twisted— see MuffinFilms and Big Bunny. After a three year hiatus, the cartoon is set for revival on Nickelodeon. The show airs weekends at 11 on the Nicktoons channel (but not regular Nick? Come on!!) Of course, you can still catch the old Flash episodes on the official site.

It’s definitely a rarity to see a web cartoon make the jump to TV, and having seen the first few episodes, even more rare for the end product to be so close to the original. So be sure to tune in and support the show!

Deja Vu? Yup, we’ve given the spotlight to Lancaster before, but considering the comic wrapped up a while ago with a spectacular finale, it deserves a second look. A long, way overdue second look, you slacker.

Reading Lancaster is like discovering a long-lost Saturday morning cartoon from your childhood that still holds up today. You could almost swear it used to come on between Dennis the Menace and GI Joe. Poinko hits on all the right notes: memorable characters (a paranoid panda, a reformed spook, and a gadget-building fanboy) nefarious bad guys (a scheming company man, a slacker goat and the evilest dead turtle ever,) fun inventions (Plasmata Palm!) and a surprisingly well-crafted story.

Our hero Lancaster is just trying to get by as Northcod Lake’s resident Ghost Detective; displacing bad spirits and helping the tamer spooks move on to a better afterlife. If it’s not the ghouls after him, it’s the Eclipse Corporation, who would rather be the only ghost hunting game in town. Lancaster must prove himself to his friends and hometown if he wants to continue keeping Northcod’s spectral streets safe.

Poinko’s a hyper-talented artist and author, and I’m humbled to be part of the Scienteers with him. The whole story is online now. Go read it! Also, seems the guy has moved onto a few new projects, so be sure to keep an eye out for what’s next…

Y’know, when I titled my that comic “Still Standing,” I totally didn’t mean it to be ironic or anything a month later. Going through a little life re-organizing at the moment, but I hope to be behind the drawing table and back to the dog-and-alien show fairly soon. Keep watching the feeds, keep posting on the forum.

I’ll give you a topic: who would win in a beauty pageant, Nanny from Muppet Babies, Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget, or Wilson from Home Improvement?

This Chris Sanders kid…. he’s going places. Sure, he’s a fresh new face to the webcomic scene, but you watch. His expressive style and unique characters in Kiskaloo make for an enjoyable, chaotic good time. Here’s hoping Chris keeps drawing week after week… it’s sure to land him a big time job someday.

Japan. They get all the cool stuff.

This is the raddest thing ever. Just picked up “R20 Rockman & Rockman X Official Complete Works”. It’s a major chunk of my childhood condensed into a giant, 300 page art book.

Mega Man (Rockman in Japan) games were my absolute favorite when I was a kid… I loved the music, I loved the predictable sequels every year, and I especially loved the artwork in the game manuals… those had a huge impact on my drawing style. Was this close to putting a spring on Dan’s back. Remember desperately trying to program my own Mega Man game back in grade school… got much further on the drawings than the code.

To celebrate Mega Man’s 20th anniversary, R20 collects hundreds of late-eighties, early nineties video game art from the series. There’s concept sketches from the team at Capcom, artwork of every single enemy and device in all 20+ games, box art from around the world, and lots more. The book features only the first two Mega Man series (Original and Mega Man X,) but any series beyond those two are kinda boring to me. Once Capcom began spinning off spin offs, they totally lost me. Bring back the optimistic bug-eyed robots and mad scientists!!

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So I’m officially sick of Rick Astley.

Hope April Fools day was fun for everyone in internetland. Sorry to burst nobody’s bubble, but no, Progressive will not be sponsoring the site. We’re still ad-free for the moment. Fake ads aside.

What isn’t fake is that loading screen up there. Unfortunately my April Fools plans for this year were a hair too ambitious. Every year I do a swap with another webcomic artist, but this was going to be a first-ever collaboration on the same comic with another person. Sounds like I overwhelmed my accomplice, so the blame is squarely all on me. Rather than rush it, we’re just going to get it done when it’s done… stay tuned for Monday. It’s worth the wait.

If only there was a way to make it up to you all… perhaps some funny Muppet outtakes?

When my comic started way back in 2000, I was on borrowed space. Tripod, Keenspace, Comic Genesis… it was all free, but I had to put up with the ads foisted (is that a word?) upon us. Buying my own hosting back in 2005 finally set the site loose… no more pop-ups, no more questionable ads, I could run whatever I wanted. I enjoyed it, and I hope you did too.

But hosting is expensive. With my renewal up this month, I’m bringing back ads to the site. I have complete control over the whole thing, don’t worry. Looked at my ad options, and while some projects out there sure are wonderful, I think there’s more creative solutions out there.

Progressive Insurance is a perfect fit for our comic. They’re local to northeast Ohio, they’re very forward thinking, and everyone in Cleveland absolutely loves the company. Starting Tuesday, we’re renaming the comic Progressive City.

It will still be the same comic… I’m not getting rid of anything. Your memories will still be the same, only the name is going to be changed. “Breakpoint City” is hardly ever mentioned in the comic anyway.

If all goes well, this could be the start of a strong relationship with the company. There’s talk of mascot rights… dunno about you, but Zaltor makes a better insurance salesman than any pink-haired secret agent I know.

Man, has it been a rough couple of weeks. Old Man Winter (and his close personal friends Middle-Aged Lady Ice Storm and Slightly-But-Not-Quite Old Man Lake Effect Snow) are staying put in Ohio this month. The roads here were totally shut down all last weekend from two feet of snow, and only a fool would risk driving out in the stuff for a video game. And then there’s the giant sinkhole that tore open in Public Square.

Soooooo, not much going on. Comic is in queue for next Monday, and hopefully I’ll get next week’s entry done this weekend. I’m working on a few fake ads again… I miss them so. Hope you do too.