The end of the year’s always dead time for webcomics, what with people wanting to enjoy holidays and eat pie and all, but a few things happened while we were all away. A bunch of us got buried under a metric crapload of snow (66 cm ’round these parts), I got severely behind on news, and by the time I came up for air, I just said “Screw it” with respect to writing any kind of year-end retrospective. But we’re back now, and ready to get back to the absolute finest in webcomics pseudo-journalism.

• From the Holy Crap He Did It Desk, word that Ryan North Estrada (edit to add: Dammit! Stop invading my subconscious, Ryan North!) finished his one month animated feature (animation portion) on Wednesday the 29th, and dropped straight into the post-production portion of the work (working through New Year’s Eve). The plan had been to finishing the rendering & compositing over the weekend and release today, but it didn’t quite all come together:
  

  There are still a handful of scenes to composite, but there’s no way we can get them done, uploaded, downloaded, edited, rendered and posted in time.

  But screw that — for all intents and purposes, Ryan Estrada made a feature-length animated film in one damn month, and shortly we’ll all be able to see the fruits of his labors. We at Fleen know that we are echoing all of you out there in Fleenland when we say Well done, Ryan.

• From the Hooray, I’ve Been Waiting For This Desk, Minus pre-order? Minus pre-order! One of the most justly-acclaimed webcomics of the past five years is finally coming to print form. Let’s let Ryan Armand give you the details:
  

  Hi! It is two and a half years late but I was finally able to manage something decent so suddenly there is a minus book available. It’s 141 pages, 9×12 inches in size, weighs almost two pounds and has a new story plus a couple of extra comics included somewhere in the middle. Will be taking preorders through January and should be able to ship the books out by the middle of February. It costs $40 before shipping in the US and a little more for outside the country to make up for extra shipping costs. A sketch will be included with all pre-orders and… I guess that’s it?

  Pick up GREAT Volume One while you’re at it.

• From the Not A Ryan, But Still Really Talented Desk, I (like a number of you) discovered The Wormworld Saga last week (it went up on Christmas Day), and hoo boy is it good. Long story short — Daniel Lieske is a German digital artist, and he’s launched an online graphic novel (first chapter now available) about a boy named Jonas, a secret room, and a summer break adventure that’s just about to be much, much more than he expects.

  If it starts a bit slowly, it’s only because Lieske has really excelled in conveying what life is like for a 10 – 12 year old — all boredom and adults and droning and waiting until you can start the fun you’ve been looking forward to all year. We’re just at the beginning of Wormworld; imagine Dorothy or Alice looking back at their childhoods and relating what happened on that fateful day with the rabbit hole or the tornado, but didn’t quite get as far as the fantastical.

  At this point, it’s an open question whether it’s Jonas or the reader with the greater sense of anticipation to see what happens next. Just be assured that a) the characters have got me hooked, hard; and b) the art is gorgeous. Go read it, and settle yourself in for what looks to be a a long, complex, deeply satisfying story to reveal itself over the coming months and years. The Wormworld Saga merits my highest possible recommendation, and just set the land-speed record for getting added to the blogroll over there to the right.