Damn is this funny. Not only funny, but beautifully illustrated and sometimes educational. The Oatmeal has been around for a while and has been publishing a stack of new comics lately. My favourite is ’15 things worth knowing about coffee’. I’d been wondering where the term ‘Americano’ comes from, and due to an amusing illustration and an educational note I now know during WWII American soldiers ordered water with their espresso to dilute the strong flavour. Isn’t that something? To have a laugh and learn a few things, check out The Oatmeal.

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Best for reading in the warm glow of an existential crisis, Dorothy Gambell’s Cat and Girl is a brilliant online comic series. It’s my daily fix of clever puns, political satire, pop culture references and biting wit, lovingly rendered in cute black and white drawings. Cat and Girl are housemates and best friends, and like all best friends, they can talk about anything: from literature, to the economy, to the perils of playing ping pong with a rotten egg. Sure, there are arguments, but most are resolved by Cat’s unwavering sense of surreal humour that balances out Girl’s eternal pessimism. ‘How do you stay warm in the cold shadow of death?’, she asks him, pleadingly. ‘Fireworks’, he replies. Gambell will also draw a personalised comic for you if you make a donation to her site via Paypal. Mine is framed and on my wall at home.