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Chromatic has done it again, with his tripartite review below -- this time, he presents a trio of books designed for easy digestion. They won't teach you to program in obscure languages, how to track down (and hopefully garrote) abusive kiddies, or make better looking web sites. But hopefully, these three books from the pens of Ian McDonald, Peter Abrams and Bill Holbrook (and all from the network-aware Plan 9 publishing house) will still lighten your day.

Three Books From Plan 9 author (Various) pages (Var publisher Plan 9 Publishing rating 8.5 reviewer chromatic ISBN (Various) summary Online comics come to real life as books; unlikely scenarios that work to loosen the old laughter mucus.

Plan Nine Publishing has done a wonderful thing for the online comic. Founded in 1996, they've helped to legitimize the medium. Dedicated (and new!) fans can now purchase printed collections of their favorite comics, bringing financial stability to a new generation of artist. The books themselves are lovingly designed, if one step below mass-market professional. Never underestimate the bandwidth of a hundred pages (and several months) of art.

Bruno Most Wanted author Ian McDonald pages 168 ISBN 1-929462-22-0 summary Witty, episodic satire about Rothland's most notorious criminal.

Ian McDonald's Bruno the Bandit chronicles the misadventures of an increasingly inept thief and his micro-dragon sidekick. In this second collection of daily strips, the appropriately named Bunkleyutz tangles with everyone from the Imperial Guard to an undead, mostly evil sorcerer turned bartender. Despite (or because of) Bruno's mind-numbing incompetence, he's always a sympathetic character.

McDonald is an extremely talented artist. His detailed drawings convey a good blend of action and humor, his gags land true, and somehow everything looks easy. Logically, the comic is naturally divided into smaller stories, generally between two and seven weeks long. This gives McDonald a chance to explore an episodic format.

Bruno doesn't shy away from controversy. This collection includes McDonald's edgiest story ever, "No Offense!" It's a sympathetic look at faith, religion, and television. Other topics include unionization, syndication, the forbidden topic, fame and publicity, and raising children. (It makes more sense in stories.) A special bonus color story of Bruno's youth rounds things out.

Lavishly illustrated and wittily plotted, Bruno Most Wanted is a clever and thought provoking collection.

Yippy Skippy, the Evil! author Pete Abrams pages 154 ISBN 1-929462-23-9 summary Aliens, vampires, robots, assassins, demons, rabbits, magic, Evil, and college students.

Pete Abrams' Sluggy Freelance continues to break new ground creatively. A simple description could not do it justice -- Abrams weaves bizarre threads into twisted patterns. What kind of evil lurks in the heart of an ordinary kitten? Attempting to unravel things even further without delving into the entire twisted history is probably NP-hard. At heart, it's a simple tale about a freelance web designer and his lovable pet bunny. Think Calvin and Hobbes meets Aliens meets Red Dwarf.

Yippy Skippy, The Evil, the fifth Sluggy Freelance, picks up with a chilling tale of Y2K disaster. Ferret-spread nanobots threaten the world, and only a rogue vampire and time traveling scientist can fix things. From there, a love spell goes wrong, leading to mishaps involving a killer robot gymnast assassin and a shotgun wedding. After a brief detour explaining half of the title (and setting events in motion for the next book), Abrams raises the question, "What happens when your alien secretary eats too many potatoes?"

What follows is a fun-filled attempt to escape an enraged rabbit. (Baywatch hath charms to soothe the savage breast. No pun intended.) From there, Adams tries his hand at mostly-straightforward horror. "The Evil" tracks the adventures of several college students on vacation in a small town. Unbeknownst to them, the devil has been there already. Who will survive? What do you serve his spawn?

Admittedly, this kind of humor is not for everyone. It can be alarmingly irreverent, and the body count is surprisingly high for not being graphic. It's terribly creative, though, and Abrams continues to tell a fine story. Book 5 may not be the best place to start, but Yippy Skippy, The Evil has the potential to recruit a new army of Sluggites.

For the Birds author Bill Holbrook pages 142 ISBN 1-929462-18-2 summary Divorced herbivore + widowed carnivore = nature's truest blended family.

The unbelievably prolific (cyborg?) Bill Holbrook writes three (cyborg!) regular strips. For the Birds is his ninth Plan 9 collection, and the fifth featuring his Kevin and Kell strips. The deceptively simple artwork and matter-of-fact tranquility belie the harsh rule of nature. (Where else would a parent's biggest dilemma be whether to raise a baby hybrid rabbit/wolf to eat meat or not?)

Through the anthropomorphism, Holbrook pokes fun at modern, geeky subjects. Where else would a hunter track prey by waiting for their cell phones to ring? The gags don't get in the way of a sweet story, though. At heart, Kevin and Kell is a gentle story punctuated with several surprises. Holbrook has created a rich world with interesting characters.

The book explores several themes, including family, responsibility, and love. Though nature can be brutal, the world is full of good "people". Holbrook examines ideas of prejudice (domesticated versus wild species, love between predator and prey) but never comes across as preachy. Throughout the several storylines, he always finds time to insert a chuckle or two. (Who else but a chameleon would stoop to typo-squatting?)

After five books, there's plenty of backstory, but the characters are compelling and the humor gentle. For The Birds should appeal to a wide audience looking for something a little more compelling than the daily comics but a little tamer than the Slugfest.

You can't currently purchase Yippy Skippy, the Evil or For the Birds and Bruno Most Wanted at Fatbrain, but you may be able to special order from there or some other vendor.

Lumpish Scholar writes "The Chicago Tribune (no registration required:-) has this long awaited article on Web-based cartoons and cartoonists. (A couple of Web-based cartoonists put together the recent Berkely Breathed interview, as reported here.) The Trib article mentions some of my favorite online cartoons: Kevin and Kell, College Roomies From Hell, and Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet (now in dead tree syndication and online here). Other sources: Keenspot, hosting service for forty online strips; Planet Cartoonist's list of the top 100 online comic strips; a similar list from Big Panda; Yahoo!'s same-day-as-the-papers strips; King Features; Comics.com, home of Dilbert (a.k.a. Dilbert.com), Peanuts (Snoopy.com), and other United Media comic strips, and cartoons from the New Yorker; Plan 9 Publishing, bringing online comics to dead trees near you; oh, yeah, and let's not forget that other online strip." I just wish Gary Larson would come back.