No, not news that the Killer Ice Storm of Aught-Eleven (that construction doesn’t really work any more, does it?) is over/done with/bypassing me; I’m still going to die in a wintry tomb tonight or tomorrow.

No, the Finally! refers to something I’ve been waiting on since last July, when Hurricane Erika told me about her post-DAR! projects. The first of them, the “dick and fart joke murder mystery” is now live, and going by the name Bucko, with words by Periscope Studio-mate and Marvel (Agents of Atlas, notably) and indy comic book (Underground with Steve Lieber) scribe Jeff Parker. It’s off to a rousing, triple-sized start, with future installments promised Tuesdays and Fridays, and this teaser on the plot yet to come:

Poor Rich “Bucko” Richardson just wants to finally get a job and maybe have another opportunity to talk to that one cute girl he met at that party.

A chance case of alcohol-fueled diarrhea at his job interview leaves him desperately running for the bathroom where he discovers a brutally murdered body.

Now it’s up to Bucko to solve this case! And just maybe get that threesome after all…

I’m sold. Parker’s got a wry sense of humor, and nobody draws dick-and-fart jokes better/more adorably cringeworthy than Moen. Jump in now while the jumpin’s good.

• Speaking of Icy Doom, let’s turn to Our Friend To The North for a moment or two. First of all, the big news teasered yesterday from TCAF has released, and c’est une whopper — making her first North American appearance will be Natsume Ono, internationally acclaimed creator of manga. Yeah, there are plenty of internationally acclaimed creators of manga, but Ono’s work is very much in the independent mold of TCAF and its other guests — lots of different visual styles, wide variety of subjects, and many stories that take place in non-Japanese settings.

  Full details at the announcement page, and am I the only one that thinks festival organizer Christopher Butcher might have still more surprises up his sleeve? I mean, it would be ungracious to expect more, but I have suspicions that there will be more Big Announcements.

• Staying north of the 49th parallel for the moment, the Joe Shuster Awards announced their 2011 nominees and I’m betting you can guess the ones of interest to this page already. Webcomickers Cameron Stewart and Jim Zubkavitch got nominated in the categories of Outstanding Comic Book Artist / Dessinateur Exceptionnel de Bandes Dessinées and Outstanding Comic Book Writer(s) / Écrivain(s) Exceptionnel de Bandes Dessinées, respectively (for work that includes Batman [Stewart] and Skullkickers [Zub]).

  The nominations for Outstanding Web Comics Creator(s) /Créateur(s) Exceptionnel de Bandes Dessinées Web are, as is usual with the Shusters, the best slate of names to appear attached to a major award, and include Attila Adorjany, Kate Beaton, Emily Carroll, Karl Kerschl, Drazen Kozjan, Simon Roy/Simon Roy and Ed Brisson, Salgood Sam, and Connor Willumsen. There’s an enormous variety of works there, with different formats, approaches to comics, lengths, story treatments, everything. Though we may all have our favorites, any of the nominees would be a worthy winner. The Joe Shuster Awards will be presented 18 June in conjunction with the 2011 Calgary Comics Expo.

• Finally, dragging our way back southwards, specifically to that section of Manhattan I can see from the office windows — happy first anniversary to the all-independent incarnation of The Beat. Heidi MacDonald gives webcomics the attention they deserve (both good and bad, in their proper measure), and has nothing but love for all forms of this, our beloved comics medium. Next time you see her at a show, give her a damn big high-five.