Back of the Envelope

Sluggy Freelance — As I predicted, Horribus is gone while the Demon King remains. It's not quite how I expected, but I figure that even Pete Abrams considers Horribus probably dead. He could bring him back if he really needed him for a cool storyline, but probably won't. And then it's back to the old Sluggy crew, and Torg still hasn't told the others what happened to him. I really think he needs to tell them, but I'd be freaked out if his experiences had no lasting effect on him. Meanwhile, Gwynn's having Book of E-ville problems, and Torg gets caught up in it.

Day by Day — Let's see, there's the Ukraine elections, Moveon.org's dumb comments about owning the DNC, Marc Rich, pajamahadeen, and Hillary Clinton's disparagements of Internet commentators, all in this week's Day by Day. But by far the coolest thing is the music that plays when you mouse-over the title. I never noticed that before, but web-surfing on a computer with a broken soundcard and a dial-up connection might explain that.

Scary Go Round — Shelley wants to reunite Ryan with his father, but her methods range from cruel to ridiculous.

College Roomies from Hell!!! — Maritza's still getting morning sickness, so the comics are sporadic. The Dragon is drawing her own wrong conclusions, while Mike is giving Dave some discouraging advice.

General Protection Fault — Dex's blind date ends pretty disastrously, although it looks like there's a bit of hope there at the end.

Schlock Mercenary — Kevyn debriefs the recuperating Elf, at least if you define recuperating as having a new body grown after being beheaded. At least the possible sexual harassment case is headed off fairly quickly. Um, I think I just punned subconsciously.

Sluggy Freelance — Okay, this storyline is starting to wrap up. As I predicted a long time ago, if Torg leads the demons into the Dimension of Pain, all he has to do is seal the portal behind them and the Dimension of Lame is saved. The goddess does exactly that, bringing Bun-bun and the Torgs to the DoL with her, but though the DoL is saved, Torg is in for a rough week. First off, he lets the other Torg take all the glory so he can return home, only to learn that that Torg came from yet another dimension, summoned by DoL-Riff to be a replacement husband for DoL-Zoe, who was originally married to DoL-Torg, who was killed. As DoL-Zoe never told our Torg this, he's now doubting everything they had together. Personally, I think it was real. The DoLers and the Primes are too different for them to act as simple replacements for each other, but I expect Torg to be in doubt for a while. So the goddess sends our Torg home (without Alt-Bun-bun, whom I was expecting to go) for a tearful reunion with our Zoe. And then it's a flashback in the DoP, showing how Horribus became the Demon Lord, probably to set us up for what's happening there now. Logically, it makes the most sense if Horribus is still alive and the Demon King is dead, but my gut instinct says it's the other way around: Horribus dies and the Demon King survives, although severely weakened by Chaz's damage.

Day by Day — Mocked this week: the UN, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Moore, Terry McAuliffe, Democrats in general, technical men in general, and technical women in general. By technical, you know that I mean people in technical professions, don't you?

Scary Go Round — Sherry convinces Ryan to meet with his father, who is the King of the Tramps. I'm not exactly sure what that entails, but it doesn't involve elegant state dinners.

College Roomies from Hell!!! — Unfortunately, Maritza is sick two days this week. But it's for a good reason--she's pregnant. In comic, Dave and Mike attempt to make good their escape, but the Dragon nearly manages to entrap Dave with a pair of her panties. Don't ask, please! Just read it.

General Protection Fault — Plans to set up Dex with Patty run awry when the imposter-Trish shows up. Patty, who's not too keen on Dex in the first place, would be happy to let Trish have him, until she manages to awake Patty's competitive spirit.

Schlock Mercenary — After the Reverend and his men rescue Admiral Tagon, it's a week with Kevyn as he attempts to figure out if his insurance will pay for Schlock's amelioration. You'll forgive me if I find it a trifle boring, even with the humor.

Sluggy Freelance — A great week in Sluggy. Heck, when was the last bad week in Sluggy? Well, Thanksgiving week was mostly filler, even if I liked the Clay Yount filler a lot... Anyway, Torg opened the fridge, looking for DK's stored goodness, and in the process found a frozen Alt-Torg (who is way too cool for the Dimension of Lame--no wonder he left), who also has an Alt-Chaz, in his case a bow and bickering arrows, and the Goddess of Goodness. Oh, and the Demon King. Only he wasn't in the fridge like the others, he came when Torg set his kitchen on fire. Long story--if you want to know what I'm talking about, go read the the webcomic already! Anyway, in their escape to the Dimension of Lame, Torg finally uses Alt-Zoe-powered Chaz to good effect and wounds the Demon King, perhaps mortally. Go Torg! And go Chaz! Even if that glowing, talking sword is starting to seriously freak me out. I'm beginning to think that, of his numerous names, Weeping God may be more appropriate than Chaz.

Day by Day — Day by Day is back! We start with some Dan Rather mockery, but Chris quickly brings us back to the regular crew, which is good, since it's been a while since we've seen Sam, Damon, Jen, and Zed. Of course, they seem to be mostly talking about Dan Rather, too. I guess that's what's been on Chris's mind during the hiatus.

Scary Go Round — Sherry tires of Amy's hedonistic ways and decides to move out. She'd move in with Fallon if not for her ninja problem. What I'm not sure about is how Ryan and Fallon got together. I know it was hinted at in the past, but I don't remember it actually happening.

College Roomies from Hell!!! — Mike manages to lie his way past his mother. Yeah, he's pretty good at that. The problem is that the Dragon got to Dave. Yes, Blue's family is richer than Bill Gates, but come on Dave! That's no reason to feel inferior. You have laservision, you've taken on Satan and Damascus and werecoyotes and the Dragon's henchmen and lived to tell about it, yet you're still a decent if somewhat excitable guy. Don't let Blue's mom get to you.

General Protection Fault — So Sharon wants to fix Dex up with someone. Seems like a bad idea to me, but it'd be nice to see Dex happy. Good thing we're not starting with the imposter-Trish.

Schlock Mercenary — The Reverend and his support take out an assassination squad targeting Tagon's father. I'm glad to see that Tagon's father has been rescued, and I'm also enjoying the Reverend's rise in prominence. I've always liked him, even if he is a bit cynical for a reverend.