Zwol.org

The online versions are pretty hip, though I don't think anything will ever replace a portable copy you can stuff in your pocket, and they're no substitute for the good 'ol A-Z London. Online, I'm partial to Streetmap.co.uk

are amazingly unsophisticated. I cannot believe that these are the flyers that the US military is "distributing" to the Afghan people. Get this:

Attention Taliban! You are condemned. Did you know that? The instant the terrorists you support took over our planes, you sentenced yourselves to death. The Armed Forces of the United States are here to seek justice for our dead. Highly trained soldiers are coming to shut down once and for all Usama bin Laden's ring of terrorism, and the Taliban that supports them and their actions.

My word. It's not that I'm pro-terrorist or pro-Taliban, but it just seems to me that the issues are a whole lot more complex than this.

For more of this madness, read the full story:

As he passed through the metal detector, an airport security guard furrowed his brow at Godfrey?s reading selections as they disappeared through the conveyor belt.

On the cover of the book, Hayduke Lives! by Edward Abbey, is an illustration of a man?s hand holding several sticks of dynamite. The 1991 novel is about a radical environmentalist, George Washington Hayduke III, who blows up bridges, burns tractors and sabotages other projects he believes are destroying the beautiful Southwest landscape.

He proceeded through the security checkpoint and sat down to read near his boarding gate. About 10 minutes had passed when a National Guardsman approached Godfrey.

"He told me to step aside," Godfrey says. "Then he took my book and asked me why I was reading it."

As it turns out, it's good to know that Harry Potter's still considered safe to read in an airport.

No comic today; Comic tomorrow. Too tired last night to properly get anything done and with two sub-par comics starting out the week, I really didn't feel like slapping another one up there. This is why I need to get ahead again.

While researching digital cameras at the DPReview.com site (an excellent resource for anybody looking to buy a digital camera), I came across some sample photographs which looked very familiar. I was able to verify quickly that I was indeed looking at photos of Shad Thames, London, the street on which I lived for the entire year of 2000 by visiting their photo galleries, which are packed with tons of photos of the Butler's Warf and Tower Bridge area. It was like coming home again and made me wish (not for the first time) that I'd taken more photos when I was there myself. Somehow, you never seem to take pictures of places and things that are most familiar to you.

You know how it is when you have something to do and you tell yourself that you won't to anything until you've done that thing that you really really need/want to get done? And then because of that, you wind up doing practically nothing? That's how it was with me since Friday. I wanted to get several comics done. Heck- I wanted to get one done, but what happened instead? Nothing. A thoroughly wasted weekend comic-wise. On the plus side, I took a trip to Wendy's and documented it photographically. I had intended to put up a page showing the photos I took but, you know, I had told myself not to do anything before doing a comic so that didn't get done either. *sigh*

Anyhow, tomorrow's Zwol's official first anniversary as an ongoing webcomic site and all that jazz and I hope to good gosh to have something to show to you then. I had really wanted to have the 200th comic to show you, but it looks like I'll have to settle for the- I don't know, 192nd? 193rd? Yeah, that might be it- the 193rd comic instead. I know- there's nobody to blame but myself.

Limping across the finish line and about to start lap two...

Yup. Made it. 192 comics and counting. I don't know why I couldn't work out how many comics I'd done in yesterday's news post- Each one has the number right on it, and I put them there myself! Next milestone is comic #200, at which point things take a turn for the Zwolly.

In the meantime, why not help me celebrate my first anniversary by sticking your head into the forum and letting me know what you like best (or, possibly, don't like) about Zwol thus far. You don't have to be registered to post, so just type away.

Next year I plan fireworks. Today I'm simply tired.

I'm going to finish up the pencilled comic that you see today and then try like the Dickens to get another new comic for tomorrow. This means that there may be two comics here on Thursday.

(And he's not happy!) over at FRAMED!!!

but here's something to let you know I'm working on it. It's late and I've got to get to sleep. More later.