After reading through a staggering 105 submissions, this year's top ten has been chosen for Bomb Shelter Comics' Webcomic Idol. It's a very eclectic group this year, and a very talented one, too. The complete list can be found here:

http://www.bombsheltercomics.com/webcomic-idol-finalists/

The voting starts on Sunday, so familiarize yourself with the comics you don't know now. The first round will cut the field in half, so be sure to support your favorite comic!

Don't let the title fool you, we didn't burn through thousands of copies and have become insanely rich. There is an explanation in the HPS forums that gives all the details but the basic message is that we've had to reorder and if you order now you'll most likely not get your book before Halloween.

Why are half the blog posts WRITTEN IN HUGE CAPS, OFTEN BOLD, ITALICIZED, AND UNDERLINED?

 Maybe I expect too much? Maybe everyone else doesn't expect enough? Baby-vampire says "Bleh!" to all the "topics", "tags", and "webcomics tags" fields in here as well. 

www.shurikendiaries.com 

Drawn from perfectly reasonable sources… Friends of Lulu Board voting is open; however, only to members. The Comic Wire, no relation to us, has an interview with the creator of Unshelved. Interesting re-visit of the webcomic/ non webcomic debate over at FLEEN. BoingBoing has an article about the Don Martin two volume set. foo

Drawn from perfectly reasonable sources… Friends of Lulu Board voting is open; however, only to members. The Comic Wire, no relation to us, has an interview with the creator of Unshelved. Interesting re-visit of the webcomic/ non webcomic debate over at FLEEN. BoingBoing has an article about the Don Martin two volume set. foo

Why do bullies bully? Check out why in my latest strip.

BILLY THE BULLY

After a lot of work and sweat and tears, Dumok and ArteestX (the creator of the web comic Xolta ) present the first issue of A Call to Destiny: A Gathering Storm.

Now being sold on Lulu.com. ArteestX masterfully rendered this comic and did a kick ass job doing it. The book is available for 10.96 (USD) while the downloadable version is available for 3.95 (USD). Spread the word and pick up a copy today.

LIKE TOTALLY OUT OF THIS WORLD! LIKE A NEW PAGE IS UP AND LIKE IT IS VERY VIOLENT AND STUFF! YOU SHOULD LIKE CHECK IT OUT AND MAKE THE MAN IN THE MASK HAPPY AND STUFF!

Rolling news update today:

MILESTONES 

• Tomorrow, Dave Kellett's Sheldon hits the big 2000. (h/t FLEEN)

DEAD TREES

• Boing Boing writes up the new compilation of Don Martin material from the archives of MAD magazine:

In its heyday, MAD magazine was required reading for happy mutants. Every (cheap!) issue was jam-packed with terrific cartoons, highlarious parody, social commentary disguised as sophomoric humor, and quite a few jokes that I pretended to get but was secretly too young to understand. The Don Martin Department was always my favorite section (along with Dave Berg's strips and the sacred fold-in) so I'm salivating over the publication of The Completely MAD Don Martin, a beautifully-packaged two-volume collection of everything Martin ever did for MAD, from 1957 to 1987.

REVIEWS 

• Mr. Comics Reporter, Tom Spurgeon, reviews Thingpart by Joe Sayers.
• Charles Yoakum reviews Danielle Corsetto’s Girls With Slingshots. (h/t Journalista!)
• Jason Michelitch reviews Awesome: The Indie Spinner Rack Anthology. (h/t Journalista!)

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS

• Poking fun at Walter Disney (link from Boing Boing).
• Tom Spurgeon asks "Are Superhero Comics Near-Exhausted?"
• FLEEN catches the end of Yirmumah, D.J. Coffman's long-running humor webcomic.
• Also at FLEEN, Anne Thalheimer muses about what's a webcomic.  This might be boring or interesting to you - depending on whether you've seen this line of writing/thinking before.
• Matt-Matt Shepherd links to LOLcat Wasteland.  Holy Ragged Claws, indeed!