One of my favorite online reads is Jeffrey Rowland’s strip Magical Adventures in Space. Humbly drawn, the draw of the strip for me is in the characters and the way they talk. Topato Potato is a Space Potato made of poison and has incredible bludgeoning power, which he uses indiscriminately accompanied with high-toned language. Sheriff Pony is his nominal boss, and enjoys being polite. They’re Princess Awesomelope Dongle’s Royal Warriors, and they go around having…magical adventures in space!

Magical Adventures in Space actually picks up, sorta, from Rowland’s previous effort Wigu, which was the story of this boy Wigu, his goth sister Paisley, and their parents. Mom is a stockbroker. Dad makes a living composing music for pornographic films. They’re all good guys. Magical Adventures in Space is the cartoon that Wigu likes, except of course it’s actually real. The drawing is cruder, but the dialog is pure multisyllabic bliss; If you’re a fan of Tony Millioniare and Steve Purcell, you know what I mean. The writing, man, the writing!

Rowland has some internal logic at work that just works for me: the 7 year-old adventuring spirit as interepreted by a still-kickin’ sardonic adult brain. It’s also, surprisingly, somehow emotionally true to itself. Great stuff, if you’re a demented kid at heart like me :-)