I therefore declare it Merch News Day at Fleen, on account of, uh, I got a lot of news about webcomics merchandise? They can’t all be gems, people.

• Scott Pilgrim trailer! And at several points (cf: 00:49), clearly-visible Diesel Sweeties Pixel Skull t-shirt!
• Although Andy Bell swears that more of his Android figures will be available this summer in wider numbers than the blink-and-they’re-gone fast sells in February, I somehow can’t bring myself to hope that I may someday have one of these guys for my very own. Dramatic sigh. In the meantime, One may content oneself with the first in a series of process descriptions on how idea became vinyl from the master of nightmares himself.
• Moving sale! A Girl And Her Fed creator (and person most statistically-likely to have me whacked; oh, sure, my wife is most likely to actually kill me, that’s basic criminology, here we’re talking Mafia-style farming the job out) Otter (no last names) is moving house, and you get the benefit of the mad rush to not have to pack up t-shirts and cart ’em across the state.

  If you aren’t reading the story of civil rights, secret government conspiracies, the ghost of Ben Franklin, and the evil genius koala, now’s the time to start, since there will be a brief hiatus in the strip at the conclusion of Part One in about two weeks. Part Two, I’m told, will pick up the story some five years later; jump in while the jumping’s good.

• The official Singer-Songwriter to the Greater Internet and Other Nerdly Quarters, Jonathan Coulton, has broadened the portfolio of the official Merchandise Distribution Service of Webcomickstan, TopatoCo. By joining forces in this fashion, TopatoCo appear to be making good on their stated threats plans to expand out of serving the webcomics industry, and into independent artists of all stripes; sure, they picked up the merch-handling for Maximum Fun/The Sound of Young America last autumn, but let’s be real — this is a much bigger deal. One wonders how much longer TopatoCo can occupy only the periphery of American culture before they start pulling mainstream mindshare. I’ll be sure to ask TopatoCo VP of Special Ops Holly Post this weekend.
• This weekend, naturally is PAX East, at which I expect to see a number of webcomics stalwarts. Then there’s this from the official PAX twitter:
  

  All jokes aside, we just heard norovirus is spreading in Bos. Area colleges. Purell ineffective but WASHING HANDS helps-Avoid the salad bar!

  Norovirus is that thing that keeps making cruise ships cut their trips short because so many passengers and crew end up forcefully expelling partially-recycled foodstuffs from both ends of their gastrointestinal tract simultaneously. Like almost all casually-communicable diseases, there’s an easy way to help break the transmission vector: wash your damn hands. Anybody I see waving their fingertips near the water stream after using the bathroom? I will glove up¹ (to keep your filth off me) and beat you senseless. Get the water as hot as you can stand, soap up, and scrub vigorously for at least 30 seconds. No negotiation on this one — you’re either part of the solution or you suck.

  Anyway, tomorrow’s post likely to be short and written in advance as I make my way to Boston. Apologies in advance, I’ll try to make it up to you next week.

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¹ I’m an EMT. I am never without gloves, loose-poo disease outbreak or no.