Sorry, sorry, sorry.

• Sunday, I had the pleasure of Eric Colossal & Jess Fink’s company for fun, Thai food, and a quick recap on how her books are doing. It occurs to me: Jess will someday have another sexy book. Oglaf volumes will presumably continue if the first one does well. Top Shelf, TopatoCo, somebody needs to make a discount two-pack. This is something that needs to happen.
• Speaking of sexy comics full of sexy times — new webcomic alert: erstwhile Bad Mile creator Tom Walker (who is not Christopher Baldwin and has nothing to do with Christopher Baldwin, pinky swear) has decided that sci-fi comedy is the genre to be in, and thus has started telling the tales of the SS Myra, wherein there is a spaceship and a promise that things is gonna get porny on Tuesdays from now on.
• Have you noticed that Box Brown is collecting cartoons that he has submitted to and had rejected by the New Yorker? Because he totally is, and some of them are really good; others are really damn good.
• Confidential to MH and KS: congrats. They know why¹.

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¹ Maybe because they got married in the presence of dinosaurs? I used to think that my wedding was a pretty good time, but now I see that it was totally insufficient.

Hope for a better tomorrow. Hope for new beginnings. Hope for smutty laugh-chuckles and hope that the Toronto Man-Mountain will see his oppressors utterly destroyed.

Let me ‘splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

• Once upon a time in a mystical land on the far side of the globe, a princess named Trudy told stories about valiant knights, crafty dwarves, evil enchantresses, and a hapless guy named Ivan and how they all got it on. Repeatedly. Except for Ivan. For various reasons, these stories were collectively called Oglaf, and yea they were not welcome in the working-places of the kingdom, where the guildmasters grew wroth and greatly angered when their ‘prentices and journeymen did look and laugh at the on-getting.

  Seeking to make Princess Trudy’s stories available far and wide, the powerful trading house of Topato did collect the stories into yon booke, priced that even the lowliest peasant could afford the tales on on-getting. But the Queen of Winter, lonely for company, did descend on the store-houses of TopatoCo, and none could come nor go until her need for companionship was assuaged. The valiant soul that brought pleasure to the Queen is not known be in these parts we’re betting it was KC — dude’s up for any kind of adventure as long as there’s a McRib in it. And they lived happily ever after!

• Also, Ryan North has a new book out, to replace the ones that the printer sent earlier in the year with the extra-special pages fall out when you open them feature. Ryan is the sort of guy that doesn’t want the pages to fall out of your book when you open it (unless that’s what you want, in which case he’d be more than happy to arrange that for you), so he and TopatoCo have spent considerable time fighting with the printer¹ who apparently thought that supplying books in this state and not replacing them with actual, functional books was just fine and dandy.

  Have you ever seen Ryan North in person? Giant of a man. I would not want to be that printer, no sir.

  So, new supply of books procured², you are now able to purchase Dinosaur Comics: Everybody Knows Failure Is Just Success Rounded Down, which includes all the adventures of T-Rex ‘n’ Friends from 2007 plus a host of guest strips. And the secret title code begun in the previous Dinosaur Comics volume³ is continued here. See if you can figure it out!

And that, my friends, is how TopatoCo saved Christmas!

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¹ In a supremely classy move, they have not disclosed the name of said printer, though it has certainly earned scorn.

² I have no facts to back this up, but I suspect that the former printer of this Dinosaur Comics collection is now no longer printing anything for the associated creators of TopatoCo, due to the extremely high likelihood that their physical plant has been reduced to a smoking crater in the ground.

³ Dudes Already Know About Chickens.

Because sometimes things sneak up on you.

• It passed without me noticing¹, but a week ago was the one year anniversary of Machine of Death Day, when readers of anthologized, speculative fiction banded together and accidentally pissed off Glenn Beck. MoD2 edges ever closer to completion, and an official celebration of a year of Deathy Goodness will take place on November 17th in Hollllywood².
• Breaking earlier than I expected³, news from Ryan Sohmer about a project he’s been working on. Sohmer’s pretty well known for his strip where the POV character is the living embodiment of what 14 year old dudes think they’ll become if they douse themselves in enough AXE products. Also his other strip where the breakout character is a sociopathic, gleeful bringer of death and destruction and general antisocial tendencies. Basically, his main oeuvre doesn’t scream “family friendly”.

  But if you read his forum posts, and awful lot of them are about how awesome it feels to be a dad to his toddler son. So although it looks like a bit of a disconnect on the surface, it maybe isn’t a surprise that he’s been working on a kids-and-grownups-too picture book called The Bear, which is about small moments in the lives of first-time fathers and their sons.

  It’s touching. It’s sincere. It’s adorable. I know — even with that last paragraph to prepare you, these words don’t immediately associate themselves with your preconceptions re: “Ryan Sohmer”. I’m lucky — I had a bit longer to digest the thoughts, as I got hints as to its existence (although, tantalizingly, no details) last month at NYCC in conversation with Sohmer’s creative partners on The Bear, Becky Dreistadt and Frank Gibson.

  I said it was adorable, didn’t I? Nobody does adorable (without being cloying) like Becky, and given the gorgeous look of the pages available for preview, I understand (and retroactively don’t mind so much) the relative dearth of TKT and Tigerbuttah updates of late. The Bear will be released next year; start planning which father-and-son pair you’re going to give it to now.

• It’s been eight years, just about exactly, since Child’s Play was born. In 2003 we all felt awesome that an improvised, thrown-together effort raised US$250,000 in only a little more than six weeks to benefit a children’s hospital in Seattle. In 2011, the ninth iteration of Child’s Play launched (thanks to it’s year-round activity and some major sponsorships) on Day One with US$450,000 in donations already counted and a network of more than 70 hospitals worldwide.

  Every year has seen an increase in receipts over the year prior, with only the Great Meltdown of 2008 even able to slow down the year-on-year growth. At the end of 2010, less than US$1500 separated the total donation from the US$9 million dollar mark, and it’s a rock-solid certainty that the US$10 million mark will be obliterated this year.

  New website. New goals. New events. New person hired pretty much solely to run the damn thing year round. Same purpose. Go, give.

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¹ Bad hack webcomics pseudojournalist! No tasty biscuits for you!

² Like Bullwinkle J Moose always said, you have to pronounce it “Like it’s got three or four Ls.”

³ But then again, he has a habit of surprising me.

Just because Halloween is over (and the mythical sexy ____ costumes overrunning our once-proud streets fade into the background) for another year doesn’t mean that things can’t still be sexy around here. Let’s sex this place up with sexy sexiness.

• From the sexy twitters of the very sexy Sylvan Migdal:
  

  Hey! This month, all proceeds from Curvy books go to Planned Parenthood. Sexy comics for reproductive rights & health! c.urvy.org

  Curvy, for those of you not in the know, is probably not safe for your work, unless you work on Oglaf or Chester 5000 for your day job, in which case you have won this game we call life. Much respect to Migdal for recognizing that sexy times have consequences, and being prepared for them makes everything sexier.

• Nothing is more sexy than the modern power grid¹, which makes so much else that is sexy possible — and word comes to us this morning that Eastworks, site of TopatoCo, Dumbrella & NEWW, is again part of the early-to-mid 20th century. Internet is still out in that part of Massachusetts, so merch orders are not going out just yet, but the crack staff of TopatoCo can at least stare lovingly at all that stuff that they know somebody wants. Maybe they’ll give it a hug! We also hear that various residents of that corner of Webcomikia are getting their electric back, leading to a 100% improvement in mood, core body temperature, and shower-assisted cleanliness. Hooray for Science!
• Speaking of Science — sexy Science — the new two-volume Narbonic omnibus edition is in Shaenon Garrity’s hands and shipping to those that helped Kickstart it into existence. There will be a book release party at Borderlands Books in San Francisco from 5:00pm to 7:00pm on Saturday, November 19; Garrity is on record as promising cupcakes and wine, presumably from a box.
• Finally, it appears that nobody spent their All Hallow’s Eve dressed as Sexy James Madison, but that’s okay — yesterday saw the release of the Kate Beaton interview at The Sound of Young America, and Jesse Thorn wasn’t about to let that conversation go by without a discussion of the Strong Female Characters². Remember — sexism is over, not sexiness! Different things.

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¹ The only exception to this is Rich Stevens, who is the Platonic Ideal of sexiness.

² Alas, the pure, unbridled sexiness of beach volleyball didn’t seem to come up. Maybe next time.

A fake message from the IRS to my Fleen email, telling me I need to answer all your questions to settle my unpaid taxes, and you can’t be arsed to hide the fact that your email came from Brazil? Actually, this correlates neatly to other sorts of spam, junk (physical) mail, and cold calls I get; somebody, somewhere, has decided that I’m older than I actually am¹, and thus more vulnerable to transparent ruses, or receptive to certain come-ons² that in fact hold no interest for me. Want me to read your scam attempt? At least pretend you’re linking me to a spectacular new instance of Strong Female Poses by Yuko Ota.

• I was going to say, Huh, I must have missed Zach Weiner’s new book announcement when I saw a link tweeted to his store, but then it turned out it hadn’t been announced yet. The store link tweet went live approximately 34 minutes before the announcement tweet. Anyways, here’s the announcement, and here’s the store page.
• Noted at the Twitter of Scott McCloud, a link to a new social-network-exchange-dealy that treats time as money. Here’s why I hate it already: go look at the page that explains what the hell is going on here, and read. It seems to me that it’s a very clever means of harvesting contact information on a lot of people, which is fine if you want to give all of that info away. Be my guest. My hackles start to rise on slide 2 of 7 [no direct link] where there’s an emphasis about how you can trade (technically, it’s an obligation for 10 minutes of time, but really it’s contact info) on anybody:
  

  Even if they aren’t on allthis yet.

  Exact quote. They felt it was important enough to call it out. Why? Because they want to plant that idea in your head in preparation for slide 5 of 7 [no direct link]:

  Not only is it possible to buy the token of someone who isn’t on allthis already, it’s actually rewarded! [emphasis original]

  They are enticing you, setting a bounty system for all intents and purposes, to find somebody that doesn’t want to be in their metadata farm³ and rat ’em out. It’s bad enough that when I get an invite to join Facebook (I’ve never had an account) from my nearly 70 year old aunt, it somehow figures out that “other people I might know on Facebook” includes, say, Kazu Kibuishi⁴; this is equivalent to Mark Zuckerberg⁵ offering a reward to drag me kicking and screaming in whether I want to be there or not.

  Somebody at allthis (extra strike: stupid name) might come up with an explanation to convince me that this isn’t the single creepiest business model on the internet, but I doubt it. So on the off chance anybody wanted 10 minutes of my time, talk to me face to face. Tell me that I’m being traded against my will to benefit All This, All That, Inc.⁶ in their attempt to claim proprietary rights over the fact that I exist and I will punch you in the neck.

• With any luck, that neck will be nice and tender and hurty because you got visited by Bulimic Dracula (click forward). The digression today into the lyrics of the worst song of the 21st century was a moment of sublime genius by Jeff Rowland.

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¹ I started getting invites to join the AARP before I turned 35, so somebody thinks I’m approaching retirement age by now.

² Including leases on Mercedes-Benz convertibles, wealth-preservation and estate-planning services, and the Republican party.

³ Hi. How the hell are ya?

⁴ Not an exaggeration, that actually happened to me.

⁵ He’s the CEO, bitch.

⁶ Somebody was (or will be) paid to have thought up that name. Jesus Tapdancing Christ.

Another day, another … actually, today is remarkably similar to yesterday. Not much “another” anything going on. Weird.

• For those that missed the notice that Machine of Death 2¹ had a submission from Antarctica, some supporting details have been posted to the MoDblog. Not only did a story come from McMurdo Station, but the submitter had previously sent in a story from Afghanistan.

  Aside from frequenting sections of the planet that neatly demonstrate Tyson’s Antigaia Hypothesis², Erik Zimmerman is a firefighter. Apparently, going into innately hostile locales is not exciting enough for him as he then seeks to also be someplace innately hostile and on fire. I will bet you twenty dollars American cash money that Zimmerman’s own Machine of Death prediction card reads either ASLEEP AFTER A LONG AND HAPPY LIFE or EXPLODING BECAUSE THE WORLD CANNOT CONTAIN HIM, both of which beat mine⁴ hands down.

  Also at the MoDblog — news of a MoD-related 24 Hour Comic, and sample attribution text that MoD fanarters and other creative types may use to legally put their own spin on MoD stories. Go nuts.

• We at Fleen have mentioned the work of Michael Jonathan — minicomics with soundtracks; the entirely safe-for-work Eros, Inc — in the past, but he’s been running pretty low profile for a while. Today we found out why:
  

  I’ve been working as the showrunner’s assistant on this new show Good Vibes, which premieres on MTV this Thursday at 10:30pm (after new Beavis and Butthead). I even do a few voices in later episodes and I’m super proud of the show. I think it’s really great stuff, but if you don’t believe me you can watch the entire first episode online, mere days before it can be watched in real-time.

  Seems like there’s some good talent attached to Good Vibes even before you scroll down to Other Crew. Alas, the same crappy network speeds that are keeping me from catching up to the end of the latest chapter of Homestuck will keep me from this sneak preview. However, it’s possible that the hotel’s TV lineup includes MTV, which means I can catch it as it airs, following the finale of a frankly-disappointing season of Project Runway. It seems so long ago that Tim Gunn was commenting on Paul Southworth’s puking clown shirt design, doesn’t it?

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¹ Death Harder.

² In which Neil DeGrasse Tyson attempts to refute the notion that the Earth is a nurturing, life-promoting orb that we should all be in perfect harmony with, by noting that if he were to randomly drop you “bare-assed naked”³ at a random point on the globe, you would almost certainly be dead 15 minutes later because the Earth not only doesn’t care about nurturing you, most of it will actively try kill you.

³ His words.

⁴ TRUCK.

NYCC was a low-key, short-duration affair for me this year; other commitments kept me from being there the full weekend, but hey — anytime I can spend shooting the breeze with Brad Guigar about ladies and their disturbing cosplay¹, that’s a good time².

• Speaking of eyeballs, I got some great news from Magnolia Porter about Monster Pulse. “Speaking of” because I led off by telling her how much I’ve enjoyed the current chapter (The Eyeball Kid), and how well she’s nailed the character of the eponymous Kid — he comes across all strong, ruthless, doing whatever he must to survive, but show him a plate of chicken nuggets and he’s just a kid again. Perfect. The good news was that Monster Pulse will run for the next couple of years — no end in sight, which means I get to enjoy this one for a good long time.
• Similarly, Evan Dahm let me know that the nearly 200 pages of Vattu posted so far are the tip of the iceberg — we’re still getting setup, the story has so many place to go, and will be both “the largest story [Dahm] has ever told” and require “more than 1000 pages”. Hopefully, we’ll get printed versions along the way, because I’m not sure if I could wait another 800 pages (at three a week, or more than five years) to give him money in exchange for this story. Especially since he was kind enough to give me a copy of the Vattu: The First Day mini, which I would point you to in his store, only it’s not there. Look, just give the guy money, okay?
• Speaking of talking with creative types and ongoing stories, Jim Zubkavich seemed to get a lot of attention (and well deserved) for various Skullkickers developments, but I was happy to talk to him about Makeshift Miracle. Interesting development — book 1 of the remastered series will pretty much follow the story of the original webcomic/print collection, but after that he sees the story will diverge. Look for an interview with the esteemed Mr Zub in the coming weeks.
• Most interesting talk I had of the weekend was probably with Jon Brence, Ogeeku cofounder and SMBC Theater regular. Zach Weiner was there, too, but he had a nasty case of biological colonization going on and his voice was just terrible and I didn’t want to stress it. Anywho, Brence was able to give me some good news about the forthcoming sci-fi web series — new equipment has been obtained, shooting planned out, and principal photography will complete pretty quickly. There’s going to be a lost of post-production though; this project will feature lots and lots of CGI, the better to find new and interesting ways to destroy James Ashby in space³. Speaking of, James’s new video series with Marque Williams on cheap eating? Check it out if you haven’t yet.
• I was able to have nice long talks with my friends from Dumbrella, which is actually good and bad. Good for me, bad that long talks means that there weren’t people interrupting to engage in fan interactions and commerce, due to the vagaries of floor layout. Dumbrella were given space against the back wall, behind a major Marvel comics installation, which provided a near-perpetual knot of people that were difficult to break through. Dedicated fans found their way back, but casual floor-walkers probably looked at the congestion and went the other way. One person who was able to break through the knot was Cory Doctorow, but I’m told that he wasn’t wearing the goggles and cape. Booo.
• Things learned: Meredith Gran is working on a project with Frank ‘n’ Becky that is going to make many of you go Oooo! Chris Yates continues to make a name for himself in the world of handmade wooden puzzle aficionados, who appear to develop intense loyalties to the few skilled individuals that can do what he does. Jon Rosenberg’s twin sons (Team Babies) have beaten all conceivable odds and turned out adorable; nevertheless, children are expensive (what with wanting to be fed and clothed and all), so do Jon a favor and buy some of his stuff.
• Purchases that I was lucky enough to make: The Anime Club, Amazing Everything, O No Sashimi (except mine is red).
• Finally, I didn’t get to track down or talk to Ramón Pérez but that’s okay, because soon Kukuburi will be back, so very, very back.

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¹ Specifically, one young lady that didn’t seem to be dressed as anything particular at all (or at least, we didn’t pick up the reference), but whose eyes were completely black. Pupil, iris, sclera, the whole thing, inky black. “Nice contacts,” I told her. “What contacts?” she replied. “I’ll rephrase,” I countered, “If those aren’t contact lenses, I’m calling an ambulance for you, because whatever could be causing that couldn’t possibly be good.” She laughed and didn’t die, so I guess that’s okay.

² Yes, yes, I know. We’re wild, self-destructive party animals. Tell the cops to bring the riot squad, there’s no controlling me ‘n’ Brad. Mostly Brad.

³ I suggested spaghettification in a black hole, but I’ll settle for explosive decompression.

Not going to lie to you, there’s few better ways for a hack webcomics pseudojournalist to start the day than with a link from The Spurge. Although it doesn’t hurt that as soon as I’m done with work I get to spend some time with my peeps¹ at NYCC, then I’m meeting Jorge Cham after the screening of PhD: The Movie at UMDNJ tonight². The things I do on work nights for you people.

So since it’s gonna be a busy evening of webcomickry (also hopefully booze), let’s point you at a few things and call it good:

• Softcover Abominable Charles Christopher! 50 sketch editions available! Pre-order now for mid-November shipping! The economical alternative to the sold-out hardcover which is probably only available at usurious prices on eBay!
• Know whose projects always catch my eye? Larry ‘mckenzee’ Holderfield, because anybody that could pull off a mixture of the Eddas and Cthulhu in woodcuts or “an exploration of the recent travails of Nepal and the Nepalese royal family, depicted as furries” deserves your attention. Listen up, peoples:
  

  I have declared February 11th, the most 42nd Day of the Year, to be Robotmas, in honor of the original BBC airing of R.U.R., the very first televised science fiction program ever, on February 11, 1938. It being the 42nd day of the year is a coincidence, I’m sure.

  There is a website in the offing and I’m hoping to entice my webcomicky friends to play along.

  ROBOTMAS: Celebrate Accordingly!

  If there’s one thing we at Fleen do, it’s engage in various actions accordingly.

• Hot on the heels of his various reboots of DC properties, Aaron Diaz³ has found himself on the other end of the creative exercise: DC (the comics company) have proposed a reboot of DC (Diaz’s Dresden Codak). I particularly love their carefully-considered descriptions of the female characters:
  

  Kim’s just coming out of her shell, so she’s not quite as strongly dressed as the other ladies here, but she’ll come around.

  Alina’s usually dressed like her twin brother Dmitri, but because of her stripper past (a new backstory we’ve added) she’s more confident in herself and dresses like a strong female supporting character should.

  Since she’s probably a D-cup, Vonnie’s the strongest female character Dresden Codak has to begin with.

  If there’s one thing that the world needs, it’s more strong female characters, so here’s hoping that Diaz takes the offered redesigns to heart and incorporates the new Kim, Alina, and Vonnie into his current storyline.

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¹ Is that a thing you kids still say? I’m not implying that I will be spending time with delicious sugar-coated marshmallow treats that can be made to fight to the death in a household microwave.

² Although listed as being at/for the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, the Q&A appears to be hosted by the Rutgers Graduate Student Association. This is because the UMDNJ Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences is affiliated with the Rutgers Graduate School via the Joint Molecular Biosciences Graduate Student Association. Aren’t you glad you asked about Garden State educational politics? In any event, 6:00pm tonight, multipurpose room at the Busch Campus Center in Piscataway.

³ The Latin Art- … oh, hell, you know the gag by now.

First, a quick update to our ongoing Who’s Gonna Be At NYCC discussion: Scott C will be at (and have copies of his new book, Amazing Everything for sale via) the Insight Editions booth, #1939. He’ll also have signings/appearances at the Simon & Schuster (#2612) and :01 Books (1730) booths at various times on Saturday, in support of Zombie in Love (S&S) and Nursery Rhyme Comics (:01), respectively. Schedule here, and speaking of Nursery Rhyme Comics, the fine folks at :01 (hi, Gina!) sent me a review copy yesterday and I can’t stop smiling when I look at it. Guys, I need to find a small child available for short-term leasing so I can read these nursery rhymes and thus mold the intellectual development of a small person.

• Once upon a time, there was a man named George Plimpton; he engaged in many acts of experiential reportage, inspired at least one videogame, and was celebrated in song. Oh, yeah, and a great literary journal that he founded had a chat with Kate Beaton, continuing her metaphorical Sherman’s March to the sea of popular consciousness¹. Also, it is entirely likely that this marks the first time that the words alcoholic dickbags ever appeared in the The Paris Review.
• Also from across the Ocean Sea³, Internet Jesus has some words on digital comics (cf: yesterday, this page), webcomics (cf: every day, this page), and some critical points of distinction between them. It’s worth reading the entire thing, but some of his most salient points are made not in the text, but as captions inside images, which I will reproduce here as an amuse-bouche for your electronic media palate:
  • Why people like digital comics: you can charge for them, and they look pretty on an iPad.
  • Why people like webcomics: they’re free.
  • Webcomics are broadcast.
  • (This is the point at which this whole entry just got the hell away from me and became an extended fugue state ramble about the shape of comics and, God, I don’t know, a dozen other things. Abandon hope all ye who read on. It’s not going to get better.) (Seriously.)

  Señor Jesus was wrong on one point — his thoughts may have come from a fugue state, but they are not a ramble, and no hope need be abandoned. There’s quite a lot of Ellis-style cut through the bullshit and say what everybody else is too polite to say about what webcomics are good for, about how digital (paywalled small chunks of story) may or may not do, and where we may see either or both progressing in the future. Read it carefully, set it aside for a year or so, and read it carefully again to see what the passage of time has brought; I’m betting he’s more right than wrong.

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  ¹ At this rate of progress, Beaton will soon infiltrate the culture to the point that the collective neurons used to track things like Snooki and Kardashians will be reduced to scorched earth, the better to be rebuilt to a new and more useful purpose.²

  ² Don’t look at me like that; we both know perfectly well that grey matter is better used to track the delightful exploits of fat ponies and cookie-eating Napoleon than any current inhabitant of People or US Weekly.

  ³ Alternate views of Columbus and his legacy may be found on the internet.

For lo, the day long prophesied at Canadian World Domination have come to pass, as our Northern Neighbors have begun their conquest. First webcomics, comrade … then the world.

• Where else to start but with Kate Beaton? In the ten days since the official release of Hark! A Vagrant, Beaton has debuted on the New York Times bestseller list for graphic novels (hardcover) in the top position. Somewhere, the bookish equivalent of Casey Kasem is noting that Beaton is Number one … with a bullet. The bullet, naturally, will be used to enforce Canadian dominance over the unwilling careful stewardship of we poor, blighted ‘Mericans.
• Beaton is, of course, published by Drawn and Quarterly, proud Canadian publishers of quality comics, and inhabitants of Montréal. Also found in the francophone corner of the Great White North — Blind Ferret, home of Ryan Sohmer’s various reaches into comics — webcomics, animation, and even an actual brick-and-mortar comic shop. Never content to rest on his laurels, The 4th Wall is expanding to a second location. 4th Wall East (so named by Sohmer in his twitterfeed) would presumably be closer to the the center portion of Montréal, given that the original is to the west of downtown. Thus, he continues his march on the heart of the seventh-largest city on the continent, the better to seize power.
• A bit south of the border (way south, as far from Canadian as you can get, mostly), Randy Milholland occupies a corner of Texas. It seems a bit obvious in retrospect, but as near as I can tell, today was when he made it official on Twitter:
  

  When I get home, I’ll post pictures of the final prototype for the Choo-Choo Bear plush – which is in production now.

  Excitement! And a promise of quality!

  They’re being made by the same company that makes @dcorsetto’s McPedro plushes

  Here’s where I was going to do a bunch of investigation and fact-checking to confirm my hunch, but Milholland went and spilled the beans in a later tweet, so screw it — all this ties into Canada because Corsetto’s merch (including the McPedro plush)is handled by the aforementioned Blind Ferret, so that’s where Choo-Choo Bear will be coming from, too. Aw, who am I kidding? Huggable pudding cats are enough to even make me forget to be terrified that Sohmer’s reach now extends across the entire United States to the very borders of Mexico. “World’s only superpower” my ass — if he’s conquered Texas, Sohmer is on his way to his very own Bond villain style volcano lair.