Well Zingerfans, I have to admit that we’ve been holding out on you. Zingerding is not merely a blog. It’s a plot to change the face of the funny pages forever. Today we announce Zingerding.com, a new website that will push the boundaries of what the internet can do for comic strips.

We’re still working on the main site so after you get all zinged up, relax and be patient. Sign up on our email list and we’ll keep you informed of when we’re ready. And if you’re a cartoonist, let us know because we want your comic strips!

We’ll continue to bring you great and not-so-great strips through this blog but we’ll also now be discussing what is to come. Isn’t this the most exciting thing since… well, ever?

Yo Zingerfans! A while back I featured a Pepsi and Pete comic strip advertisement for Pepsi Cola from 1941. Here is a modern comic form ad for Alaskan Summer Ale. They similarly end with drawings of the bottled beverages. Not much has changed there.

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I’d like to point out a few interesting zings about this strip. If you look at the five panels in the center, they are connected with arrows to guide the order with which you’re supposed to read them. Now this has been done in comics before, especially in more experimental comic books where artists have the entire for unusual layouts. Now why are they in this comic? The natural order of reading panels is right to left, top to bottom. The arrows here point us in a circular order as if we are to read those five panels over and over, watching the killer whale do flips.

I’ll argue these arrows unnecessary. They certainly are not needed in the top panels as those already follow the natural order, especially with the whale literally going from one panel into the other. And quite frankly, would this read any different if you read the bottom two panels in the opposite order of the arrows? Not much as you still get the effect of a crazy whale-riding rodeo. And then why didn’t the artist just flop those two panels anyway? It’s not that big of a deal and it’s not like it ruins the comic, rather it’s just my job to point these things out.

Also, I’m not that much a fan of puns but I like the zinger in this. “Killer Ale”, it’s not funny but it works!

One other zing. The sound effect lettering says SPLASH and… uh… ? FRASH? TRASH? Probably CRASH but that blocky C threw me off since the S is not blocky.

Zing out!

Yo Zingerfans! On Monday I pointed out the need for more bird comic strips. I mean, we all agree that there aren’t enough birds in comics, right? It’s a universal understanding I am sure. So today I bring you The Boids comic strip by cartoonists Campbell and Merrill, first names Larry and Steve (though I couldn’t find who goes with which last name).

It’s a pretty zing new strip about a robotic bird named ‘Flock Unit 2A-6′ built to study real birds, and who accidentally gets separated from the robot flock only to end up in the company of feathered friends. The initial batch of strips are still focusing on the setup of this premise. Like other robotic animal strips, the humor somewhat lacks because of this situational approach. This is very natural for new strips so give it a chance already. It’s a bird strip after all. Once the characters are more developed, this strip will really zing! That doesn’t mean there aren’t good ones in there already. This one really tickled my feathers!

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I also dig the art. At first I was a little put off by the execution of 2A-6 himself. He looks more like origami than mechanics but then it grew on me. I zing his simple, iconic visual style next to the more realistic birds. Two wings up from me! What do you think?

Yo Zingerfans! This one reminded me of a dog I had years ago. (Actually, he was my roommate but it was like having a dog. A bird with a dog? Ha ha!) This Dog Eat Doug comic strip by cartoonist Brian Anderson made me laugh. Dogs love the smell of all kinds of things I would never put my beak to.

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There are soooo many zinging dog strips out there! How do they compete? Well, I guess I could say the same thing about those human people comics. There are tons of those. We need more bird comics, I say!

Yo zingerfans! Marilla and I are back from our little jaunt to the Pacific Northwest. Boy, moss grows on everything up there – trees, brickwork, signposts, cats. Now back at Zingerding HQ, we’re refreshed and ready to bring you some more comic strips!

We’ll start out with the syndicated strip, Prickly City, about a girl named Carmen and her friend Winslow, a coyote pup. Created by conservative editorial cartoonist, Scott Stantis, Prickly City most often has a deep political zing. Carmen is a young Republican kid and Winslow represents a more liberal point of view.

The humor focuses on their conversations, usually as they stroll throughout their American southwestern town and landscape. The cartoonist uses this device first associated with Calvin and Hobbes whereas the characters discuss deeper issues in a whimsical setting. In reading the strip, I actually found the political commentary pretty bland, as if it was trying not to be too offensive or one-sided. An approach like this probably helps sell comics but if you ask this bird, it waters down the power of the medium. The strips I liked best were the ones that commented more on popular culture.

But here is a good political one that zings a funny chord no matter your political affiliation. Click to enlarge it. You can read more Prickly City here.