PBS’s Off Book series has done a really interesting job of taking a look at some of the new communities and new ideas about community that have arisen with the internet. Today, they’re talking about webcomics, and while no eight minute video could possibly cover the entire breadth of the webcomics community, this is a good introduction to the way webcomics are becoming a new and powerful distribution and creation model for the comics industry. Also, it’s got Christina Xu of Breadpig and Lucy Knisley of Stop Paying Attention!

(via Laughing Squid.)

We Love Fine had so much demand for their Coulson shirts, they had to make him his own category. We are all about that. Agent Coulson Appreciation Life! (We Love Fine)

It’s the beginning of the true summer season, and what that means in comics is that DC and Marvel are revealing their solicits for September, that is, the artist lineups, covers, and brief plot teasers. For DC, September is the first anniversary of their New 52, which means special issue #0′s for everybody, each one focusing on (though not necessarily retelling) their origins.

Judging by the cover for Catwoman 0#, Catwoman’s new origin is that she’s a refuge from Lumpy Space. Naturally this did not go unnoticed by some of our favorite webcartoonists. (Post is probably NSFW, if it isn’t already.)

Yesterday, Matthew Inman‘s The Oatmeal was embroiled in the quickest of internet controversies: he published a comic that’s purpose was to illustrate his personal experience that female gamers who are playing badly don’t get called out on it by their male teammates, while when he screws up, he is “eviscerated” with foul language and threats of violence. Naturally, this particular perspective on online gaming culture, particularly in first-person and third-person shooter culture, doesn’t skew with most female gamers’ experience, or, at the very least isn’t the dominant trend in their experiences. And many people told him so. After clarifying his intentions when writing the comic, and the presumably hearing from a lot more people, Inman apologized, admitted the comic was “stupid” and made a significant donation to a worthy, gender-related charity.

So, the story’s over, and it turned out in a pretty satisfying way, so you might be wondering why I’m even talking about it. And it’s because I look at a lot of controversies over harassment in gaming and other aspects of geekdom every day, and not all of them turn out to have even remotely satisfactory resolutions. And let it not be said that I can’t laud a good outcome when it happens, even if most of the others are bad, so lets talk about what went right here.

If you found yourself wondering what the name of the second general of the Dutch Revolution was, or if that was even real, and you ventured on over to Wikipedia to look it up, you probably noticed that the site looked different today. Different, as in blacked out. And then you may or may not have panicked, because now how would you satisfy you thirst for random trivia that is probably somewhere else on the internet, but your go-to site has shut itself down, and now your brain must find something else to do for the next — hey, someone mentioned you on Twitter. You should check that out.

Anyway, you most likely heard about this earlier in the week, when the site’s administrators announced that in protest of the highly controversial internet censorship bills SOPA and PIPA, they would “censor” their own site for 24 hours. But Wikipedia is not the only site protesting today. After the jump, find out who else has shut themselves down, and see what the internet will look like should these bills become law.

Above is a still from the new Toy Story short, Small Fry, which will be shown before The Muppets when it opens later this month. Why is Buzz Lightyear so small? Because he’s not the real Buzz Lightyear — he is the McDonald’s Happy Meal toy version of Buzz Lightyear (voiced by animator and director Teddy Newton). (via Bleeding Cool)

It’s a strange day in the Northeast, because after the Summer That Wouldn’t Die, we are now experiencing a winter storm and there is snow in the forecast the weekend before Halloween. (And not one “Winter is coming” joke from my geek friends. Seriously, guys.) But anyway, that said, if you’re also cooped up inside — or just unmotivated to travel further than your couch — then you might want to check out this web comic series from Tony Cliff, Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant. Raised by an English father and a Greek mother, Delilah Dirk is trained in swordplay, martial arts, is a “high-ranking member of at least three royal courts,” and is a skilled escapist, so even if you tried to capture her, she’ll be out of there before you can figure out what to do with her. She travels in a flying sailboat and is also crazy. It takes place in 18th century Constantinople, and it feels like Indiana Jones meets The Venture Bros., except with a female lead.

New chapters are posted every Saturday, and you can read the four existing ones right now!

(via io9)

This is a sand cat, aka “sand dune” cat, aka “any excuse to make a Dune reference” cat, which had become extinct in Israel, but was recently bred in captivity. We will treat you to more details and another picture after the jump.

I like to be there when inevitable chaos is born. (At Geek Art via Diary of a Death Starlette)

Larry Wentzel had the brilliant idea of mashing up Doctor Who with Charlie Brown, and the result is adorable. And it makes us wonder if Linus has been a time lord all along and how Schroeder would interpret the song of the Oods. More pics after the jump, all courtesy of Mr. Wentzel’s Flickr page.