Comic. Experiencing recurring cold. That’s what I get for calling it Virus comix. Stressful week(s), hence delays and a comic that in all likelihood might be a complete piece of shit, but hey, whatever. Thanks to everyone who’s written in recently, anyway. Lots of comments on Captain Estar of late. Much appreciated. As for me, finally bought that “Watchmen” comic the kids are always talking about. Fuck is it ever good. It eases the pain. This is like the first thing ever that’s actually lived up to the hype. Alan Moore? Yes. Tell him he’s invited to my birthday party.
HNY,
Rowntree
Virus Comix News 
January 12, 2009 at 4:45 am
oh god, it’s so true.. *cries* haha
sorry about your cold, feel better : \
January 12, 2009 at 4:53 am
Maybe we can bring Mr. Moore in for the month so he can attend both High Feasts. Incidentally, putting my house in order was my only resolution this year. I want everyone to get their stuff back in case I die. Also, I don’t want to die with The Generals’ first and last number one trapped in my head for no one else to hear. Maybe that’ll be the first order of business. Okay, second. Gotta trim my bramblebrows.
January 12, 2009 at 6:45 am
awesome!! 😀
January 12, 2009 at 8:39 am
Love your comic.
Re current 01/11/09 panel in using the word
“sited” = placed in a specific location
I think you mean “sighted” = viewed
January 12, 2009 at 11:01 am
This may not mean anything to anytone else here, but . . “binklebonk’. And that’s not spam.
January 12, 2009 at 11:48 am
Amusing ideas for resolutions. I’ll have to make some of those myself!
I haven’t commented before, but I’d like to say that your comic is an interesting insight into your point of view and always offers something to think about. Keep up the good work, and I’ll do my best to spread the word.
January 12, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Nice. Follow your own resolution, it is not ‘a piece of shit’. Just quiet.
On a prior topic, Magical realism
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_realism, see also Pratchett)
and the Sphynx:
Bell the cat scenario: City or private: someone comes up with a wonderful piece of jewelry for the Sphynx: a necklace that is crafted by one of the city’s leading fashion people, featuring a synthetic ruby or sapphire that is as big as a human’s fist. Delivered by a robot similar to the bomb defusing robots if city or similar to someone’s fun robot if private. Delivered by placing it around her neck as she sleeps. What she does not know is that it contains a GPS unit and a slightly powerful transmitter (powered by sun and by the radio waves around us). Person/city then sells radios that pick up on the Sphynx and warn when she is near.
Cow scenario: City decides that regular deliveries of livestock is cheeper then letting the Sphynx forrage/hunt for herself. Cow is delivered with ‘eat the cow’ painted on both sides in Greek.
Protest scenario: As people are now one notch lower on the food chain, a protest with ‘meat is murder’ signs creates more symphathy. The Sphynx, reasonably full, touring the city, comes up to the meat market protest. What would she do?
Paparatzi: Keeping track of the sphynx is a full time job and one that is vital to the community. Keeping track of her moods and how much she has eaten lately can be vital. The cheep ones use real people, the smart ones use robots, but at least one news feed on her should run 24/7. Victims names are posted after relatives are notified, and gory details of her kills are on You Tube. How does she feel about this?
January 12, 2009 at 12:23 pm
And then there is the impulse to worship.
She is beautiful, and immortal.
She gets attention.
Some might feel that worship is her due.
The non-fanatics worship from afar, as that is safest.
The Traditional religions deal with her as an avenging angel.
How would she feel about that? Aside from eating the fanatics, if they get to be a bother?
January 12, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Bell the cat scenario, take 2: seeing the profits from the Sphynx warning radio, some one else gives her another similarly loaded piece of jewelry. Since this may not be easily distinguished from the worshiping fanatics, it will be confusing. If enough gold, then some of the concept might be to load her down with enough weight to slow her down, as a good side effect.
January 12, 2009 at 12:41 pm
And hopefully lastly, the city tells the Sphynx that she has won a all expense vacation to another city! For real, as the city would do almost anything to get rid of her.
January 12, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Re: Watchmen. Have you read The Sandman comics? Finally got around to reading them myself at the end of last year and damn, were they good..
January 12, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Glad you’re back to work. Get well.
January 12, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Great comic! Definitely my favorite on the web. Keep up the hilarity
January 12, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Agooga!
I felt exactly the same when i first read Watchmen.
You are now one of the clan.
January 12, 2009 at 9:17 pm
I liked it except for the punchline.
January 13, 2009 at 2:45 am
winston,
just discovered your work, i think it’s truly brilliant!!! (and i consider myself a connoisseur)
thank you.
-dj
January 13, 2009 at 10:16 am
Heh, judgemental, aren’t they?
Bad habit to get into, especially if it always focus on the negative.
Still, a nice take on how it comes to be and thought-provoking, as usual.
January 13, 2009 at 3:17 pm
I love how the punchline is never quite what you expect it to be 🙂
Yay for Watchmen but I wouldn’t want Alan Moore at my party, the man’s genius but a bit freaky 🙂
January 14, 2009 at 3:07 am
Aooooga! Spiffyniss of comicosity sighted!
Hope ya feel getter soon!
January 14, 2009 at 3:07 am
Er, better.
January 14, 2009 at 6:34 am
Am I the only one who finds it amusing that a bridge which is apparently frequented by suicidal folks (hence the Distress Hotline number on the sign) is next to “Argh! st.”?
Thought provoking as always, and get well soon, eh?
January 14, 2009 at 7:28 am
Cheers for the healthful wishes. Feeling better. Running alongside high-speed trains, keeping pace for 20 miles or so. Doing cartwheels between raindrops. High-fiving the guy flying the space shuttle just as it leaves orbit, and then gliding safely to earth. Running marathons with a dishwasher strapped to my back. Traveling from Toronto to Vancouver and back by precisely jumping from signpost to signpost, never touching the ground, periodically perching on a traffic light to take a sip of Mountain Dew. Taking long walks. Writing weird comments.
January 14, 2009 at 11:39 am
[audio src="http://www.sounds.beachware.com/2illionzayp3may/ovyuz/AOOGA.mp3" /]
Wish I’d realized decades earlier that all that self-judging would make me overly critical of others. After all, it was such a relief to criticize *them*, for a change.
Your comic continues to be a source of fun and insight. So many are good, I’ve concluded you must be a committee of smart people working together for the good of humankind. Sort of like Ark II, except without the big white tram.
Be that as it may, I’ll keep this week’s strip in mind when next I’m tempted to savagely critique the work, wit or hygiene of some office bozo.
January 14, 2009 at 4:52 pm
A message all of us can benefit from in this strip. Well done.
I’m curious as to what the brunette woman means by “repeated sexual assaults” on herself. Masturbation? It’s kinda hard to masturbate unwillingly, except maybe while sleeping (people have been known to eat, drive and even attempt sex with others while asleep, so…). I suspect she’s referring to sleeping with guys while a part of her feels bad about it for whatever reason (doesn’t love him, isn’t sure whether she does, maybe doesn’t even like him but just feels horny, etc.).
January 14, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Ezra- sometimes people jerk off because they’re depressed bored or looking for an escape, they don’t get anywhere with it and in frustration do it tell they’re raw. Not everybody has idyllic masturbation habits. Sometimes you just got to be like, I’m sick of humiliating myself-to-myself, I need someone to do this for me.
January 14, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Definitately-not-Nick — Makes sense. Also, I suppose for some people it could become a compulsive habit they engage in whether they really want to or not.
January 15, 2009 at 11:15 pm
A world with a Sphynx is so different from a world with a legend of a Sphynx. It is more mystical, and more real. Both everything would change from jokes to goth styles, and nothing would change between people. It would be as shaking as any natural disaster, and as grand as anything ever known. But even living in such, life must go on.
January 16, 2009 at 12:07 am
Speaking of Logrolling, just posted a link to this comic (amongst dozens of other granted) on my main forum plotz:
http://www.halforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1070
Please note the Squeeeeeeeee after Sphinxie is in no way trademark infringing, nor carbonated.
January 17, 2009 at 8:13 am
I’m loving Captain Estar, but I can’t read page 15 of part 6! Is it just me? Is there a higher resolution version somewhere?
http://www.viruscomix.com/estarsix15.html
January 17, 2009 at 12:32 pm
It’s not just you, but I can’t really describe it without being spoilerish.
January 17, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Dusty668: Cheers, i appreciate the link.
Kashkin: Don’t worry, it’s not meant to be readable. The individual elements you already read earlier in the story.
January 18, 2009 at 6:27 pm
What is the t-shirt supposed to say?
“m not stic b” = these am not plastic boobs?
January 18, 2009 at 6:31 pm
“I’m not a plastic bag.”
January 23, 2009 at 10:45 pm
all my weird imagination story’s usually end with the comically untimely death of someone. Good on you for something better.
February 3, 2009 at 12:40 am
You’re a genius.
April 21, 2009 at 8:25 pm
This is about me and Maia clearly. OMG. I’m gonna start saying Aooooga.
October 13, 2009 at 3:24 am
What I love so much about this comic, isn’t the punchline so much as the funny conversation. I think Bill Watterson mentioned in his Calvin & Hobbes 10th anniversary book, that he found funny conversation much more satisfying than just a punchline. Reading this comic reinforced that for me. The entire new years resolution conversation is just hilarious.
August 7, 2010 at 4:02 pm
And then they get married, years afterwards. 🙂
January 11, 2011 at 7:47 pm
This is Marie and Annaliese, right? I get confused because sometimes Annaliese has dark hair tips, sometimes not.
February 6, 2011 at 1:06 am
wait… sexually assaulting yourself?