Oh, dear. TenNapel's started up a webcomic.

Doug TenNapel of Earthworm Jim and Sockbaby fame, has a new webcomic out, called Ratfist. It only just started, so there isn't much to say about it yet. So far, it's reminding me of nothing so much as the love child of Axe Cop and Sam & Max. It remains to be seen whether that's a good thing or not.

Boardgame review: The Target

Every Tuesday, the local gaming store has boardgame night. Usually, this means a bunch of three and four player games happening at the same time, but sometimes it's fun to get everyone together into one big game. So, we're always on the lookout for good games that accommodate large numbers of players. The Target by Closet Nerd Games looks like it would fill that niche. Anywhere from 4 to 12 take the roles of spies secretly working for either the CIA or the KGB (Or maybe even working for themselves as double agents). Each turn, one player is the "Target", and every player plays a card that targets them. The ultimate goal for each team is for enough intel cards to be played on their HQ to win.

I really wanted to like this game. The theme is perfect for this sort of secret agenda game. A first glance of the rules and contents made me imagine the players trying to work out each others loyalties, tracking the path of intel so they can either help it to its destination or steal it for their own side. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work out that way. I'll be blunt: this not a good game. There's some good ideas in there, but nothing is implemented very well. It all comes out as a jumbled, confusing, awkward mess.

Boardgame review- Ascension:Chronicle of the Godslayer

Ever since Dominion has come out, there have been a number of entries in the deck-building game arena trying to dethrone it. I already reviewed Thunderstone, which didn't quite manage the task. Can the new entrant, Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer by Gary Games step up and do the job?

The List: 16-18

16: Girls with Slingshots Another of those slice of life comics I love so much. Actually, the evolution of the art for this comic is interesting. Corsetto's gone from a more elaborate style, with softer curved lines, to a simpler, more angular style over the course of the comic. I kind of miss the old style, but I bet the new method's easier to get out on time. And this comic is definitely worth keeping up with, so anything that keeps the strips coming is fine by me!

17: Lackadaisy 1920's mobster kitty cats. It's exactly as adorable and wonderful as it sounds. Don't really have anything else to say, other than that it's a must read.

18: Punch an' Pie
More slice of life stuff! This one follows a tiny tiny woman trying to sort out life and love and all that. Written by Aeire, who previously did Queen of Wands(where Angela first appeared), and drawn by Chris Daily, who also does Striptease, which I already mentioned. It's pretty good, all in all, but right now it's stuck in one of those holding patterns that SoL comics tend to get caught in, where the plot just sort of idles a bit until everyone's lined up for the next big event.

The List: 13-15

13: VG Cats Not much to say about this, it's a one-shot gaming humor comic. Chances are, you've already got your own opinion. If you don't, go take a look and form one. Sometimes he runs a side comic; the current one is Super Effective, which is kind of a parody telling of first-gen Pokemon. It's amusing, but at the rate it's updating it'll never get past the first game.

14: Shortpacked! This is David Willis's newest entry in the Walkyverse and... it's nothing like the original comics, really. Except when it is. Originally, this comic was just a gag comic about toys, with no story at all, just the author talking to the audience. When It's Walky! ended, Willis ended up turning Shortpacked! into a story comic, but he still seemed to want it to just be a joke comic with no drama ever. He lasted all of 12 minutes before giving up on THAT. I might have to give the Walkyverse comics their own post at some point, there's way more than a paragraph worth of stuff to say about them.

15: San: Three Kingdoms Comic A parody of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It's about a story that Americans typically aren't familiar with, written by a non-native English speaker, and makes no effort at making the jokes and references actually accessible. And I love it. I couldn't even tell you why.

The List: 10-12

10: Sore Thumbs One of the giant heap of Crosby comics. It originally claimed to be a political-slash-gaming comic, but pretty soon degenerated into insanity. Unfortunately, the insanity of Superosity is more interesting, but at least Sore Thumbs has good fanservice.

11: Superosity Considering its historical importance to the world of webcomics, it seems like this would be a little more dignified, wouldn't it? Just as crudely drawn as when it started, and the humor hasn't matured much, either. And it's still just so offbeat and random that I still look forward to reading it every day. This was the flagship that helmed the Keenspot comic collective, back in the days when no one thought you could make any money off webcomics. And they were pretty much right, but Keenspot's still around, sort of, and that counts for something.

12: Striptease Good artwork, but the spotty updating schedule and occasionally facedesk-worthy writing makes this hard to recommend. It's on hiatus right now, anyway. Maybe I'll have something nicer to say when it comes back.

The List: 7-9

7: Joyce and Walky! The denouement of It's Walky! I've been reading David Willis's stuff since the Roomies! days (geez, the man loves exclamation points even more than I do). J&W is actually a subscription comic with the occasional free sample that doesn't seem to have much to do with the storyline. I haven't been assed to buy a subscription yet. If I ever do, I'll have more to say about it, I'm sure. Meanwhile, it's mostly just on my list out of inertia.

8: MoonDog This would be a great comic if it would just update once in a while! Yeah, yeah, sense of entitlement and all that, but still. Well, it's a good read, anyway, and I keep it on my list hoping against hope that it will update again in the vague and distant future.

9: Sabrina Online Honestly, not sure why I keep this on my list. The art is great, but it's a comic that's paced for a daily schedule, but released on a monthly schedule. Never mind that the overflow of fandom references and nerdier-than-thou jokes. It's more work to delete it from my list than to check it once a month, I guess, but it's not on my must-read list.