Back of the Envelope

Sluggy Freelance — Calix and Donaly go to get the map, and who do they find but Kada? It's lust at first sight. Too bad Calix has to steal the map from Kada in order to save his village. She's not going to like that. Well, once Donaly double-crosses him, Calix can try out the bomb Bun-bun planted in Donaly's hat, assuming he can find the right detonator. I think Kada will be going with them, whether she likes it or not. I can't wait to see her meet Bun-bun, as I'm still thinking she's the daughter or granddaughter of Sasha and/or Riff.


Day by Day — Let's see, who gets mocked this week? The UN, of course, the mainstream media, Howard Dean (Sunday's Rove-Bush discussion of Dean is especially fun), Playgirl, and Martha Stewart. All in all, an easy week for Chris. Imagine if these people would just make an effort to be less mock-worthy.


Scary Go Round — Amy's attempt to forget her troubles in Bulgaria is interrupted by the curse she earned from her poor tipping. So she goes drinking in order to forget her new trouble. So far, no pianos falling on her head, but how long can that last?


College Roomies from Hell!!! — Dave's in big trouble at the beginning of this week. Satan is planning on killing his cat so he can mess with Dave's soul, and all Dave can do is pray. And boy does he get an answer! We're not really sure what's happened yet, but dang does that look like some good old-fashioned smiting! Bright light, noiseless explosion, Satan down, Dave free and not just unharmed but healed.


General Protection Fault — Professor Wisebottom's research has revealed that Fred has an undiscovered ability. He can control people. Arrgh! He's one of those weird take-over-the-world alien parasites that appear in all those sci-fi shows. I don't think Fooker particularly cares for being under Fred's control.


Schlock Mercenary — And just when it looks like the mercenary crew is about to be arrested, help arrives in the form of a mysterious force attacking everyone and everything except the mercenaries. It's Petey! I kind of guessed that. He must have found out about the conspiracy to destroy the galaxy. You could do worse than to have Petey on your side. Too bad it's so hard to trust him.

I'm a bit behind schedule like this. Heh, I was behind schedule last week too, but that was mostly because I set the date wrong in the post scheduling. Anyway, I'll put this where it belongs in the archives later--last post Saturday night, same as always.

Sluggy Freelance — Lots of Z-Com filler and very few regular comics. In the regular ones, Bun-bun and Calix reach an agreement surprisingly easily, due to the fact that they have different goals. Bun-bun just wants out, while Calix just wants his village back. Now, if Calix can just do his job without goofing up, maybe they can both get what they want. The Bikini Suicide Frisbee Days comic was fun, too, even if there was a slight glitch.

Day by Day — Damon meets Jan's dad. He seems to view them as a couple, which Damon is surprisingly comfortable with.

Scary Go Round — Amy's boyfriend dumped her, which Shelley is just as happy about. While Amy considers joining a nunnery, she's just a little too wild for the normal kind, and the mother superior recommends a Satanic nunnery. Cartoonist John Allison has curious ideas about religious orders. Anyway, they decide to head out to Bulgaria for a vacation. Mr. Allison also has curious ideas about vacations.

College Roomies from Hell!!! — Roger and Margaret are having a moment. Well, if apologizing for killing someone's mother and having him say he accepts the apology but can't stop hating you counts as a moment. At least Roger isn't biting her head off. It's much better than the moment Dave is having with Joe. Even if Joe's not Satan, it's clear he wants Margaret, which frankly Dave wouldn't be too upset about if Joe weren't such an evil creep with a proclivity for possession. It's when Satan takes over that it turns into a real nightmare. With Dave tied down and his eyes taped over, things are not looking good.

General Protection Fault — Planning weddings is tough. Unless you do it like my sisters did--at our parents' house, with just friends in attendance, for under $1,000 apiece. Nick and Ki briefly consider skipping the whole wedding thing and just eloping (another economical way to go), but decide that they just can't do that to their friends and family.

Schlock Mercenary — Deus ex Machina it is! A Battleplate arrives to save Tagon's Toughs, which would be good if they knew whether it was on their side or not.

If you read enough webcomics, then you'll go through patches where one or more webcomics are absolutely engrossing while others are dreadfully dull. Occasionally, a whole bunch will become exciting at one time, but usually some are up while others are down. I remember when I first moved home for a while last year, I didn't really bother reading CRFH!!! for a while. I was on dial-up at that time, and I checked less webcomics than usual, but I was staying up to read Sluggy every day of That Which Redeems: it was just that exciting. These days I'm just skimming Sluggy, which is on a Bun-bun-centric storyline, but often staying up later than I should waiting for CRFH!!! to update. There's two storylines going on right now in CRFH!!!, the first one being the April-Mike-Marsha love triangle, which is just sad and I wish it would end, and the much more interesting Margaret-Dave-Blue, with a side of Satan, triangle, which has just become very, very interesting. Of course, I'd get more sleep if it was Sluggy that had my full attention, as that one updates earlier.

Sluggy Freelance — No filler this week, but the plot's moving at a nice clip. Bun-bun doesn't trust Calix, which is good, but Calix is smarter than his predecessors, and his primary goal is saving his village rather than getting revenge. In other news, it looks like Bun-bun is being betrayed by one of his other crewmembers to the pirate Blacksoul, who may very well be a Teknokon, robotic explorers of timeless space who are able to travel between it and the real world at will. Finding the ship that moves them back and forth is Bun-bun's primary motivation for finding that map.

Day by Day — McCain and McCain-Feingold get lots of criticism this week, as bloggers are worried that it can be used against them. Also in Chris's sights are the bankruptcy bill, the UN, and Giuliana Sgrena.

Scary Go Round — Well, Shelley survived after-all, as did the Child. He is one creepy little kid, though. And while Shelley was surviving a missile attack, Fallon was quitting her government job, and Tackleford's mayor was presiding over a riot. His re-election chances don't look good.

College Roomies from Hell!!! — This was a big week for CRFH, even if computer problems meant that Maritza only did four updates. First, Satan made very explicit his threat on Dave. Second, Margaret finally admitted her love for Dave. A lot of us suspected it, but Margaret herself has been in denial for a long time, so long that even Dave has given up on her and is now with Blue. On the bright side, I think that if they do get together in the future, they've both shown enough signs of growth that they'd have a better chance than previously, where Dave was too dependent and Margaret was too independent. Third, I was right, and Joe, Mr. Devil Incarnate himself, is the one holding Dave prisoner, which gives Satan's threat added weight. The odd thing is that Joe doesn't seem to be the devil at the moment, doesn't seem to know about the soul-link or Dave's laservision, and is claiming to be Chester's former owner. Curiouser and curiouser, although I still expect the Satan-Margaret-Dave plot to be coming to a head, requiring participation from all three members of it, which is why it makes so much sense for Joe to show up now.

General Protection Fault — Ki and Nick go shopping for tuxes, but decide against the Turbo Tux 6.5, complete with webcam, Wi-Fi, and a host of other unnecessary features.

Schlock Mercenary — And just as Kevyn's trying to save the galaxy, the Bangers arrive looking to kill him and his mercenary company. Tagon's Toughs beat a hasty retreat, but it doesn't look like it was hasty enough.

Sluggy Freelance — Oh no, it's more Z-Com filler. Pete better get this story moving again. Fortunately, we have a few comics of storyline, and it looks like the Caribs know where a map to timeless space is. It's Kada's map, I bet. I'm looking forward to seeing if Kada herself is recovered. Meanwhile, Bun-bun signs up Donaly, and exchanges ships with him. And, cool, it looks like Clay Yount is taking over Saturdays, with some non-canon, old-school Sluggy. He always did do the best filler, and I'm looking forward to more.

Day by Day — Chris Muir goes after Democrats, Fisk, Ward Churchhill, MoveOn.org, and McCain-Feingold, which now looks like it can be used against bloggers. McCain-Feingold is a travesty that never should have passed, that should have been vetoed when it did, and overturned by the Supreme Court when it became law. Well, it looks like freedom's doing well in the Middle East, at least.

Scary Go Round — Shelley made a deal with the Secret Service to deliver The Child to them. She tried to do so once she had him. Unfortunately, they decided that he's too dangerous, and went for overkill measures. It looks like they killed Shelley! Again! How many times has that girl died?

College Roomies from Hell!!! — Well, I guess April didn't want Dave's help. Which is good, because Dave found Chester. And the moment he knocked on the door to retrieve his cat from the mansion he's inside, he got zapped by the owner, whom he recognized, and dragged inside. It looks like Dave's out to prove that no matter how hard she tries, there's no way that April can have a worse day than he. Mari's keeping the attacker a secret, but I think it's Joe, aka Satan in disguise. The house matches, he knows about Chester, Dave would recognize him, and he'd have reason to attack. If we're lucky, this will tie things back to Margaret and Roger. If Dave's really lucky (which never happens), maybe April will remember where she left him. Her bad day looked to get worse when she had to ask Mike for the money, but she managed to freak him out, so it looks like things came out even on that end.

General Protection Fault — Trudy finally left, narrowly escaping the UGA in the process. She took a Bible with her, and has actually started reading it. Can Trudy find redemption? I'm actually hoping she does. Meanwhile, Akhilesh is caring for Trish, who's still in a coma, it seems.

Schlock Mercenary — Uh oh. Someone's trying to destroy the galaxy. Kevyn has a plan to fight back, but he needs help from his sister. Unfortunately, she wasn't in a safe place when he contacted her, and it doesn't look like she made it out. I'm not betting on her death quite yet, but Tayler killed off Tagon a few months ago, so it's possible.