Your New Favorite Webcomic: Ryan Fox and Doug Groves' THE PRACTICAL DEAD

Today is launch day for a new webcomic by two good friends of mine in Toronto, Ryan Fox and Doug Groves, with whom it is great fun to drink way too much Guinness and come up with off-the-wall, high-concept story ideas and laugh yourself sick, as I personally can attest.

The Practical Dead projects their own personalities, more or less, into a world in which the Zombie Apocalypse is actually happening and these two rather entrepreneurial slackers (it's not a contradiction in terms, really) find a way to make a buck or two amid the chaos.

Groves and Fox are doing this -- and another comic which Groves, Paul Laroquod and I cooked up over Guinness the first time we ever hung out, which I am currently scripting for Fox and Groves to illustrate that will debut soon -- old school, with Fox on pencils and Groves on inks. Real pencils, real paper, real inks. They both work in digital content so it's a fun break for them to kick it analog.

Go read the first three pages, up today, then bookmark the page, subscribe to the RSS feed, or follow The Practical Dead on Twitter. Fox is on there as @RyanFox_AD and Groves is @Dougplanet (and I'm @KateSherrod if you didn't already know that). You'll want to be able to put on your hipster glasses and tell people you knew them/us first.

Now, I've got to get back to scripting a certain other, even sillier, series. Watch this space for details on that, chickadees.

My Dinosaur Comics White Board Is Here!

Click to Dino-Size!

My friends on Twitter already know of my great enthusiasm for Dinosaur Comics, that wondrous webcomic whereat Ryan Q. North makes his daily commentary on modern life as viewed through the perspectives of a dysfunctional and self-centered Tyrannosaurus Rex (who is addicted to stomping on houses and cars, Godzilla-style), a Dromiceiomimus who is sort of T-Rex's ex, and T's comedic foil Utahraptor, who exists mostly to deflate T's giant ego bubbles.

And yes, it uses the exact same artwork every day -- yet still manages to be fresh and hilarious. Take a look through the archives and you'll see what I mean. Watch out for in-jokes that have been known to appear upon my own personal chest in the form of tee-shirtery.

Today the Mud Room of Squee brought me more Dinosaur Comics goodness in the form of a white board with the standard art permanently affixed. I can now leave notes to myself like which very logical place I put the peanut butter away in or let the two hemispheres of my brain duke it out in battles royal whenever I want, just like Ryan does!

Above is my first one, mocking my enthusiasm for Dark Shadows and also making a lame joke about hipsters and the difference between bird-hipped and lizard-hipped dinosaurs which I'm sure Ryan could do better (and maybe has done) but then again, maybe not.

Ryan?