The Penguin

Now, I've never had a knack for political cartoons, but every so often I'll whip one out. Did you hear the thing about North Korea firing on a South Korean island? NK artillery bombarded the island while SK troops were on military maneuvers; several people were killed. There followed an exchange of artillery fire in which 175 shells were used. Trés exciting, non ? Figure 1.1: "The Damoclean Sword". (Sorry, I did misspell "Damoclean" on the image). Just the thought of two small nuclear powers slugging it out, especially with Kim Jong Il being slightly senile, puts one one edge. Then again, India and Pakistan have been doing the same thing off and on for the last twenty years, and nukes never came into play. Still scary, though. A word of explanation, in case you didn't catch the reference: Damocles [Damocles]...was an obsequious courtier in the court of Dionysius II of Syracuse , a fourth century BC tyrant of Syracuse, Italy . Pandering to his king,

Voila: a cockroach. "Dat don't MAKE money, boy..."

Hello, sportsfans. I'm announcing the beginning of a new Dark Corner Productions project. Now I know what you're thinking: "But Rick! How can you announce a new project when you haven't even finished the last one?!" Well, because I can. And yes, because right now I'm extremely bored with Aeolus #3 , and am trying to avoid working on it (I seriously need to get my butt in gear - maybe after I finish up my portfolio, I'll go back to working on it. I promise). But The Human Cannonball is going to be a series to end all series, or at least make the next series think seriously about its options. Here's a picture of the eponymous character, just to whet your appetite: Sidelong Sidely, The Human Cannonball Yes, he's heroic, dashing, daring, and all that other fun stuff. He's also completely bonkers. They call him "Sidelong" Sidely because he's hit his head so many times his eyes point in two different directions. Wacky stuff. I've d