I know, I know...and I'm not saying it has to be Plato's fabled sea-sunken (and in fiction, too-overused) land...but it fits rather well. I thought Smith would at least mention it...

Last time I brought you supernovae. Two of them. This time I bring you volcanic eruptions...

Boring exposition? Perhaps. But with some of the most violent spectacles in nature as a backdrop---

And the explanations will stop and the action begin, pretty soon. But MM wouldn't have gotten involved unless there was a mystery to solve...

Featured link:

SATURNALIA---Blade Runner-like plot, musings on androids and their rights, manga art...good stuff.

Did I mention I have a new interview up at COMIXPEDIA?

This is a review of FOOHON PIE---some might object since it hasn't been updated since early June, but Vince said they would return by July 1st, and we'll take his at his word---and hey, isn't this really the BEST time to review it, so they can implement any changes they might want to take as a result of the criticism?

The opening page and web design seems a little "busy", but I guess it's all in the intent. It's "busy" for a site that's solely a webcomic, but about usual for a blog, and this hybrid of blog/webcomic has to be treated a little differently, I guess. But it looks like the blog hasn't been updated since mid-April...that the comic is more important to you---perhaps you should move it to the top?

I dunno---I think SNAT (Still Needs A Title) might be a better title than FOOHON PIE. I know the origin of the title was told here at [url]http://www.foohonpie.com/foohonquestion.html[/url], but it kind of makes people do double-takes---"Hey, check out the latest Foohon Pie." "What's a Foohon?" Etc.

But I'm not going to go into the journal/blog, just the comic...

All the links seem functional. It's nice to see who Robbie and Steve are, and what position they hold in the staff..

. The art's minimalist (all based on one sketch, eh?) and of course I'd LIKE some more detail, but that's not even in the original parameters, right? But at least the background progressed...and color starting here! It looks MUCH better in color.

The humor's very random...but because they're based on real people, perhaps, they sound very real, like real give-and-take between friends. A lot of them made me smile, (although very rarely laugh-out-loud) and you know how to deliver a punchline.Sometimes the very randomness is its strength---one of your strongest comics was this one where the randomness of real conversations was caught, and the punchline is, "And the sad part of this is, none of this is ficitonal..." It's different from a lot of humorous websites in the same sense that Woody Allen's humor is different than, say, the Marx Brothers. Another example---this one where the characters refuse to make a joke about something tragic---and in doing so, make it all a joke.

Usually it's a mistake to break the fourth wall. Breaking the fourth wall here is the POINT, though. You never forget that these are characters in a comic strip, even though representing real people. Especially here where they're reflecting on the blankness around them, and how one character's hands seem stuck in his pockets, and Vince replies,

"That's not my doing..."

"Okay, that's just disgusting..."

Or here, where they forgot to set up the comic punchline---and made their own ineptness the punchlines. Or here where Vince's lack of sleep makes everything fade away. Or where "the rules" are displayed.

This is the ONLY one of the strips that made me laugh out loud, though. Where Robbie and Steve complained about always being in the same position, and the next thing we see, they're dry humping, with "Next time, I'll do the talking"...

To tell you the truth, I wasn't thrilled with the demonic Robbie storyline. Oh, excuse me, the "good twin" storyline. The Jesus saving him was a little funny, but the fact He looked like a bodybuilder was just TOO random. But continuity isn't good for your type of humor. The only really funny part of that storyline is when you yourself realized that, here and realized you weren't being random enough. On the other hand, the Bell and Whistle gags leave me cold. Give me the humans, anyday. Sort of the same way I hate it when in SINFEST they move their focus from Slick and 'Nique to the dumb dog and sarcastic cat.

You're at your best when you do humor ABOUT humor. Like here.

Yours is a gentle humor, a Woody Allen rather than the Marx Brothers, a Seinfeld stand-up instead of Chris Rock. Examples abound. This one---apathy is a beautiful thing sometimes, indeed....is a good example.

No continued stories. No more demonic...uh...good twin...oh, the guy with the horns!--Robbie. It might be interesting to experiment with real or collage backgrounds against the unmoving characters, occasionally---I think that would work well with the strip. It might be interesting if you can get a continuing female character in the strip, just for variety's sake.

This will never be the funniest site out there. But for its type of low-key, soft-sell ironic humor, it does very well indeed.