I've got two invites to the Joost beta I can give away. Joost is a video service from the guys who created Skype and one of those filesharing thingees (can't remember which now).

Let me know if you're interested by posting a comment here and I'll send 'em out tonight.

Busy news week already - don't forget to check out all of the articles from March's Short Story Issue (and we added some articles to February's Webcomic Collectives Issue this month as well). Next month's issue will cover science fiction themes - if you are interested in writing for the magazine drop me an email (xerexes AT comixpedia DOT com).

INTERVIEWS

• FLEEN interviews Jennie Breeden, creator of The Devil's Panties.
• T Campbell has posted audio interviews with 3 creators: Evil Inc creator Brad Guigar; Chris Hastings of Dr. McNinja; and Andrea L. Peterson of No Rest For the Wicked.

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS

• It's great to see non-webcomics critics discovering Sinfest: Journalista! linked to one today and Comics Worth Reading recently declared Sinfest "My New Favorite Webcomic". If there's any webcomic that should be in the daily newpaper right now I'd nominate Sinfest. Sure, many of the strips in the archives would not work on the newspaper page but creator Tatsuya Ishida has shown the ability to work within PG limitations. If Ishida could get a deal like R. Stevens' has with Diesel Sweeties there's no question Sinfest could be a huge success in the newspapers.
• Comics212 catches Comic Book Resources columnist Rich Johnson using a piece of Jim Zubkavich artwork as part of a story on a supposedly in-the-works animated Shazam! series. Trouble is that Zubkavich's artwork is simply an illustration he posted on his LiveJournal recently.
• The Daily Cross Hatch has an interview with Bone creator and Captain Marvel artist/writer Jeff Smith.
• Is FLEEN insinuating that Michael Bay is plagiarizing Jon Rosenberg's Goats? I'm a fairly big fan of Goats but I don't think Rosenberg is going to be able to sue anyone for copying ideas like ancient prophecies, end-of-the-world scenarios or even multiple dimensions. But man I would totally pay to see a Rosenberg-scripted movie.

Ok this is a case where I’m doing the right thing and I’m going to talk about something I just stumbled on while browsing the smackjeeves.com forum.

Well, to be more precise, they're going. Yes, as promised - today at Broken Voice Comics we post the final instalment of Laughter in Cold Blood, the latest in the long line of "comics I made before I knew any better". And before the PC replaced the biro, too.

Will our heroes escape? If you have the faintest idea of what I'm talking about, you can leap straight into the final two pages and find out now! Otherwise, you might do better to click the link in the previous paragraph and start from the beginning. Either way, the story's complete!

Then, if you find you've developed a taste for pre-PC comics like this, why not check out our other two ancient artifacts, DajbDevil and The House that Drac Built? They're not big and they're not clever - but that can be a good thing, right?!

The Ursa Major Awards have released their list of nominees for 2006. The award, which is also known as the Annual Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Award, is presented for excellence in the furry arts. Voting is open until April 14 and requires registration after which the ballot can be sent in by email.