SpiderForest Comic of the Week:
Precocious by Christopher J. Paulsen.

Precocious is a charming humor strip about four kids who go to a school called the Poppinstock Academy for Gifted Children. Though its creator, Chrispy, has kindly assembled a page for new readers which offers a sampling of strips, I’d personally recommend going to the cast page first, as much of the appeal of the comic is derived from the personalities of its central characters (rather like Peanuts, which Chrispy lists as one of his influences). I found it useful to quickly get to know those personality-types first before diving into the actual strips (which I enjoyed more as a result). Also, pre-orders are being accepted for the first Precocious collection, if you’d rather read it in print (and who wouldn’t?).

Poll will run from now till June 15th. Without further ado, here are the candidates:

1) The Secret of Cass Corridor – We are introduced to the denizens of Cass Corridor, including Rona and Jen as they run into Jason Kane and his cronies in a dark alleyway. Rona has her first encounter with the Lady, who shows up and metes out her specific brand of justice on Kane and gang (and later, on a muscle-bound demon named Stag). MC Vlad gives Rona a drink which causes her to hallucinate. She meets Zorro, who reveals to her the Lady’s secret.

2) The Realm in the Middle – Our first real glimpse of Subrealm, that curious neighboring reality that’s often the catalyst of events in this series. The Lady takes Rona on an astral journey, introducing her to a certain former escape artist turned grey alien and helping her locate the ghost of her father, who is on a spiritual quest of his own.

3) The Disappeared – Our Lady comes to the aid of Fang, a channeler turned shape-shifter accused of murder. Featuring the first appearance of paranormal “threat” handlers P.T. Shaw and Doctor Marjorie Dreyfuss.

4) Oblivion Symphony – The Lady has to rescue a former warrior ally/protege from the clutches of the demon troll Belahm. Rona is introduced to the Nemsiiki art. Along the way, Perse and a bunch of astral voyagers get involved, and the quest takes our entire crew deep into Subrealm, to a place called Rwahle that’s bathed in orblight.

5) Angel of Death… Nemesis of Decay – Eleanor, the Lady’s ostensible arch-nemesis (now that’s a loaded term), unleashes her grand plan. The Lady and Eleanor have an epic face-to-face. (Or is that arm-to-arm?) The ever-nutty Doctor Dreyfuss returns in all her showtune-loving, death-defying glory. Jason also makes a comeback. All that, and zombies.

6) Dance of the Indwellers – The ghost of Kiko, a twelve-year-old boy, seeks the Lady out in a bid to avenge his murder. Francesc, the brooding leader of a goth-rock band, appears to be the prime suspect. Meanwhile, Jen meets Isabella, a retired songstress and amateur demonologist whose mansion houses a rather mysterious garden of unearthly delights. Things then get a bit… complicated.