You can’t take a pot-shot at comic book nerds without calling forth their patron saint. It’s part of the nerd by-laws, or something. It’s just what you do.

Sidebar: The more I do this comic, the more I realize that I draw from the world of comic books about as often as I do from the world of movies and DVD. I was combing through the archives earlier tonight and it’s kind of funny how many of them refer to graphic novels.

I don’t know if that’s because Hollywood continues to make more and more comic-book movies in the wake of success stories like Spider-Man and X-Men or if it’s simply my alternate influences seeping in.

But I digress…

Main blog: Contrary to the statements of my illustrated avatar, I personally am VERY excited to see The 40 Year-Old Virgin this weekend. I think it’s going to be a hit akin to Wedding Crashers and hopefully the proof that Hollywood needs to cement the notion that R-rated comedies can be successful.

Advance reviews have been great and I don’t doubt it. It has Steve Carell in his first lead role and one where he finally hasn’t been propped up to do the anchorman thing that he cultivated so well from his years on The Daily Show. I think he’s been long past due to break out of that mold and I think he’ll prove exactly how versatile he is with this movie.

Second, Judd Apatow directs and was the co-writer with Carell. Apatow is one of my favorite comedic writers – he being the brain behind both Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, which I both loved.

Third, I’m hearing rumblings that Virgin’s effectiveness lies not within it’s ability to be raunchy or shock. But rather in the tenderness it shows it’s characters and the sweetness it allows them to exude. It fleshes them out a little more. Evolves them past the point of catch-phrase dispensers.

At any rate, I have another comic lined up for Friday relating to The 40 Year-Old Virgin, so be on the lookout for that.

A couple of other things you need to be on the lookout for are our two new advertisers – Make With The Funny and Deathfist Ninja GKaiser.

The former is a web comic that’s been around for a while now and I find it puzzling that more people don’t know about it. The art is clean, the jokes are funny and the site design is sharp as a tack. What’s the problem people? Get on the bus now and tell all your friends you’ve actually been reading it for the last 2 years.

The later is a relatively new comic to the scene. Largely manga inspired and heavy on a narrative structure. If you like your comics with an little more characterization, this one is for you. I think these guys do a really good job with both panel layout and color. Their talent is only going to get stronger. Their ad is currently running in the THorum<. A banner that currently isn't up there but probably should be is that I've gotten a whole batch of new shirts in from the printer. If you’re thinking about buying one, now would be a good time. I have a full stock in several sizes, but due to the hit I’m taking on lower ad rates, I’ll probably raise prices on t-shirts by the end of the month.

So like I said. If you want a good deal, now is the time.

Speaking of new, attention-getting ads and t-shirts… If you refresh the home page a couple of times, you might see an ad telling you about the t-shirt I designed for Threadless.com. For about a month or two it was out of print, so I posted an ad on Monday telling everyone to request a reprint.

I did it partially for the satisfaction of seeing if they would do a reprint and partly because I’m very proud that my artwork is on a site like Threadless and I’m trying to tell as many people about it as possible.

Anyway, two days after I put up my ad – wouldn’t you know it, they reprint my shirt! Anyway, if you had your eye on it from afar, better scoop one up now before they run out again! If I remember correctly, the first batch emptied out pretty quick! Looks like I’ll have to whip up a new version of that ad now…

That’s about it for now. I’m still working on my recap of Wizard World Chicago from two weeks ago. I have the recap of Wednesday, August 3 up in the THorum. But I need to get cracking and start detailing some of the action on the convention floor. I know some of you guys are curious to know what happened.

Take it sleazy.