First, because I can’t do a strip featuring Truman without showing a real-life picture of the little guy…

There. Does that make your Wednesday or what? He’s a sweetheart, folks.

Drastically pushing the timeline forward in the “Nerd Justice” story arc, I began to contemplate what it would really mean to lose your nerd license, should such a thing exist.

Surely one of the first privileges to go would be the internet. This is not to say that nerds are the only people who use the internet. We just use it so much better than the rest of you.

I don’t know what I would do without the internet. But strapping a satchel to Truman’s back doesn’t seem that far fetched when I really stop to think about my options. It’s either that, or start writing crazed, repetitive notes to myself Jack Nicholson-style.

“All work and no play make Tom a dull boy.”
“All work and no play make Tom a dull boy.”
“All work and no play make Tom a dull boy.”

Because it is obligatory, I want to remind everyone that pre-orders for shirts WILL END next Monday, May 16. So be sure to put your order in now so your purchase will be included in the batch that I send to the printer. We have a lot of really great, new designs to choose from – So choose wisely!

I wanted to quickly call your attention to a review that was handed down to Theater Hopper from the fine web site Journey Into History. You can find it if you follow that link and scroll down a little bit. For the impatient, a link directly to the review can be accessed here.

You might not be familiar with Journey Into History because it’s just getting off the ground. But it’s a very cool idea for a site. Basically, the concept is to take a web comic and use it to review… other web comics! Artist and writer Bob Stevenson then dissects the comic in a follow up blog.

I was very attracted to the site largely because of Bob’s writing style. I think he is very concise and accurate with his opinions. I just got the vibe from reading his stuff that he didn’t tolerate much B.S. – But that any criticisms he would make were fair and delivered with a velvet glove.

While not entirely complimentary to Theater Hopper, I felt Bob has some very strong insights into the mechanics of the comic. Stuff that I hadn’t even considered, but when pointed out to me, rang true.

He had plenty of good things to say about the comic – and that’s always welcome – but it’s the politely worded criticisms one can use to really advance their art.

A lot of other “review” sites could learn a lot by Bob’s example. You can tell he really takes the time to digest the material he’s reviewing – even when the archives are huge.

For example, Bob freely admitted that while he read most of the comics in the archive, he didn’t read all the blogs. He also confessed to not being that familiar with movies from the last 5 years ago, so he wasn’t the best to judge whether my opinions on recent cinematic offerings were on the money or not.

These deficiencies on his part did not color his review at all, I felt. Some people might look at this comic and say “Well, I’m not into movies – so therefore it sucks.” Bob gave it a fair shake and worked with the material he took the time to absorb.

Anyway, I’m ranting a little bit. But it’s just so refreshing to get feedback like this. Do yourself a favor and check our Journey Into History. Read the archives. Odds are Bob has covered another one of your regular reads at some point. It’s good stuff.

In the meantime, everyone should really consider signing up for that mailing list thingee over on the right hand side, below the comic. If you were signed up before hand, you would have already known about the Journey Into History review because it was something I shared with the subscribers Tuesday afternoon.

You never know when I might drop some more knowledge. Wouldn’t you want to be the first to know it?

More later. Maybe some vitriolic missives about the assured suckitude of The Fantastic Four when I have a minute later in the day.