Let’s be honest with ourselves, life is really only worth living between the ages of six and sixty, after that we’re in bonus levels.

Did you see this article in the Telegraph—“The Kardashian sisters are the true heirs to The Brontës”? I don’t know if you have the Kardashian app yet or not but my phone pinged with it first thing.

Winslow wishes he had this kind of power over me, but let me just say: “Never again!”

So you’re expecting the scrrrrrrrrritch of little claws—congratulations! You’ve heard the old saying that hatchlings don’t come with instruction manuals, but in fact many well-meaning friends and relatives are probably already bombarding you with advice. Never fear; no one expects you to know everything, and even the best parents occasionally slip and eat their offspring. For now relax, take a deep breath, and start familiarizing yourself with the basics.

I’m an old man, so I remember the Golden Age of newspaper comic strips, back in the mid-80s to mid-90s when you could look forward to Gary Larson’s Far Side and Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes every morning. Those days are long-since past, and while many artists have tried to replicate Larson’s and Watterson’s success (sometimes by outright copying their shtick or their style–unsuccessfully, I’m happy to say) few cartoonists have replicated their success. And with newspaper strips being eclipsed with independent webcomics–like Ben & Winslow and about a bazillion others–few cartoonists will really have the same opportunity.