DCAH Weekly

1. This issue: SMBZ Games talks about their new PPT | RPG strips compared |DCAH Survivor Group DCAHWeekly Crimson Calvin Use buttons like this one to turn the page!

2. TableofContents What’s New At a Glance The Freshest Strips Trending Forums SMBZ Mania Preview Corner Calvin’s Columns Flashback Strip Stackups Review Corner Fun Stuff Contribute!

3. Table of Contents What’s New Sonic the Hedgehog (no, not THAT one) has created a new club called DCAH Survivor Group. This might bring bad memories of the previous “club war” from a while back, but if it’s kept under control, there’s little to no chance of another conflict. So far, though, members haven’t been joining, and if this keeps up, the DCAH Survivor Group might fizzle out into nothing. Now, the club’s survival is in your hands. Would you like to join it and keep it afloat, or would you rather keep your distance?

4. Table of Contents At a Glance Hottest Strips Coldest Strips Popular Strips run!5 Plants vs Zombies PT1 4.33 The House on Haunted Hill 3.67 A bad day 3.58 Calvin and the HUGE Wagon Ride! 3.33 Stpendous Man out of Order 3.25 C-Zero 3.25 A Picture Tells A Thousand Words 3.21 Calvins call 3.19 The Hero 3.17 Calvin Wars Pt 1 no votes in 28 days Calvin and Hobbes Go FORWARD in Time!no votes in 26 days Calvin's Trap no votes in 16 days Calvin's Ranks Part 1 no votes in 16 days School Hater no votes in 12 days Ranks for happiness no votes in 12 days The Epic struggle 1 no votes in 6 days episode 1 no votes in 5 days TV is Evil 29 votes ATTACK OF THE SNOW GOONS PART ONE! 28 votes calvin and hobbes: MAXED OUT! issue 8 26 votes calvin and hobbes: MAXED OUT! issue 7 23 votes The ultimate team-up part 1 23 votes Philosophy in Four Panels 22 votes Ratings for food 22 votes Man-Eating Bed 21 votes Calvin and Hobbes Race Around the World! 20 votes

5. Table of Contents The Freshest Strips Christmas Gone Insane Kick Butt A bad day Idiotic The Epic struggle Snow Wars 8hade Stupendous Man out of Order To-Do List Calvin vs. Jake episode 1 Moe gets it Trasherz The Hero run! A lesson is in this. NOT REALLY Spiff in school Plants vs Zombies PT1 Stupendous mans worst day ever Calvin on Selfishness Spiff vs. Susie Featured Strip This strip shows something Calvin and Hobbes fans have wanted to happen to Moe for years: A punishment! It’s very satisfying, and even though it’s short, it’s worth a read.

6. Table of Contents Trending Forums I have a question. DCH Survivor group. I was thinking about making a wiki for this site… New Digital Calvin and Hobbes magazine coming soon! Would anyone be interested in a contest?

7. Table of Contents SMBZ Mania When you think of good graphics in PPTs, you think of SMBZ Games. Their first hit, Super Calvin World, made a big splash in the PPT community when it was first released. We at DCAH Weekly agree that it has the best graphics of any game released on Digital Calvin and Hobbes! Now, SMBZ Games has announced a new game, which is rumored to be even better than the previous one. We managed to get a hold of Ari Singer, head of SMBZ Games, to ask some questions about this new game. What is the game’s title? The title is undisclosed at the moment and could be subject to change. However, we have codenamed the game “Project 2600,” for reasons I'll explain later in this interview. What genre is it? The game's genre will be action/adventure. There's a LOT of story involved in the game, so that influences the classification. What’s the plot? Well, the game is a science-fiction title, set in the year 2652. It opens with a MONSTER cutscene featuring Star Pilot Third Class Calvin Watterson (aka Calvin) piloting Terran Cargo Pod 41 while his copilot Hobbes takes care of other systems. Suddenly, a Coralamstarfighter appears and starts blasting away at the tiny vessel. The Coralam come from CorlomPrime, and they are the main antagonists in this game. It is unknown why they have become so hostile, as they are usually quite peaceful. The pod's starboard thruster is hit, and it goes spiraling out of control. Calvin initiates (cont.)

8. Table of Contents SMBZ Mania (cont.) [cont.] an emergency (crash) landing where they meet Susie Derkins, a bounty hunter on a mission for the Galactic Federation. Not much is known about the Federation until later in the game. The rest of the game is currently undisclosed and mostly unplanned. 4. Will there be any new characters in this game? We don't know yet. Obviously these alien powers will be new characters, but as for main characters, only Calvin, Susie and Hobbes are being planned out so far. When will it be released? Well, we're trying to release it by mid 2012, probably. ...Okay, you want the truth? We're trying not to extend the project into 2014. This game will have killer graphics, revolutionary gameplay, and several play styles throughout the course of the game. This project is going to be big, and is planned to be released in several versions. I really wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. Ari Singer’s enigmatic avatar Anything else you’d like to say? Some final words: This game is going to be huge. Hopefully both in size and in popularity. Nothing like this has ever been attempted before, and we want to go where no one else has been in terms of PPT gaming.

9. Table of Contents Preview Corner Check out these exclusive images from Maryanne Freeman’s upcoming game, Calvin Star Duo! These screenshots are the first ever revealed for this PPT. Click on any image to enlarge it. The demo will hopefully come out this Christmas. Failing that, expect to see it sometime in Q1 2012.

10. Table of Contents Calvin’sColumns • Characterization • by Maryanne Freeman • I’ve noticed that some people have trouble keeping certain characters in-character in their strips. I’m not completely free from the problem myself, but here are some tips to avoid common mistakes: • Don’t make Calvin a noble hero that wins everything. Even though he’s a hero in his head, it hardly translates to real life. If he must be in the hero role, give him a good (read: selfish) reason to be saving the day. • Susie, Rosalyn, Miss Wormwood, and Calvin’s parents are NOT evil in real life. Don’t have them planning the next evil scheme, use Moe or a new character. • Hobbes is one of the hardest characters to write well, but at least keep in mind the basics: He’s more sensible than Calvin, but still has an animal-esque side to him. Ari’s Editorials #1 by Ari Singer Just what are we doing for the planet anyway?We humans have made countless technological advances that have really messed up our fair planet. Now, we could fix this anytime we wanted to, until around 2020 at least. The problem? We don't really seem to want to. We pretend to help the planet, but then we just laze around watching electricity-consuming television, and driving cars that are probably turning the planet into a gas chamber as we speak to houses a block away. When will we learn? It's now or never. We can't put it off until tomorrow, because it's always today. We need to act now, and I mean right now! (And don't just leave it for somebody else to do.)

11. Table of Contents Flashback The Alternate Calvin and Hobbesis a big name in DCAH strips – well, at least it should be. Why? Well, for starters, it’s extremely long! For several years, Christian Cueva continued releasing new parts (albeit irregularly). It also had an overarching plot, in addition to being a gag strip. With all of this, it’s no wonder that DCAH Weekly decided to consider this series a classic! However, some parts of it have not aged well. The spelling is rather bad in a lot of places, and the jokes might be a bit tired. There’s also the newer strips that followed in its footsteps, which managed to surpass the original in quality. Still, this series is definitely worth a shot! If you have a lot of spare time, check it out. Just be warned that it was never given a real conclusion. G.R.O.S.S. Adventures by Andy Meade is a worthy honorable mention. It fits in the little-known genre of interactive strips, where you are a character in the story! It looks like it really had potential to be good. Why am I saying that? Because the series fell inactive after a meager three strips! Nevertheless, you might be able to get some inspiration from it. Who knows? You might get an idea for a strip that could be featured here someday!

12. Table of Contents Strip Stackups In this section, we’ll take some strips with a similar theme and have them fight to the death! May the best strip win. This time, we’re pitting three RPG-themed strips against each other. All of them are strong contenders, but only one will come out victorious! RPG Calvin style This was the first of the trio to be released, and also the longest. Long and entertaining RPG battles with branching paths make this a good read. It almost seems like it should be a real game! Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be completed. Calvin RPG This came out shortly after RPG Calvin style, and appears to be a knockoff at first glance. However, if you can get past that, there’s still some fun to be had, even though the battles aren’t as in-depth. Be warned – it’s the least finished of these three. Calvin and Hobbes RPG Since this one has the most proper title of the bunch, you’d have high hopes for the rest. However, this doesn’t have any RPG elements at all! It’s good in its own right, being complete and even having sequels, but it doesn’t live up to its name. And the winner is: RPG Calvin style!

13. Table of Contents Review Corner Dimensional Travel This is a series that’s not too long and not too short. It’s about Calvin and Hobbes travelling to other dimensions, and is a fun parody of other media. Recommended. The Hitler Paradox This is a strange series that is still in progress. It’s about Calvin travelling back in time and transmogrifying Hitler. If you don’t mind the weird plot, check it out. The Calvin’s All That Glitters Isn’t Gold This series is about Calvin and Hobbes making a feature film in Hollywood! This looks like it could’ve been really good, but it fell idle just as the plot was picking up. temps de se coucher Although this is not a series, it is still interesting in its own right. It’s one of the few foreign strips on the site! There’s a rough translation in the followup, so you can enjoy it too. This PPT is the first of a three-episode series. Does it hold up on its own? Not really. On one hand, the animations aren’t too shabby, and the art generally fits the situation. On the other hand, the script is a little weak, with two pointless segments and even a joke lifted from the original strip. You should probably skip this one and watch Calvin Adventure instead.

14. Table of Contents Fun Stuff This section is almost completely user-generated! This will contain jokes, activities, games, etc. that YOU send in! Since this magazine has just started, there isn’t anything here yet. However, this section will formally launch next issue! What are you waiting for? Send something! Meanwhile, there will be a daily strip from the original comic on the bottom of this page every week. This one is the first comic, and the famed debut of Calvin and Hobbes! There won’t be any Sunday strips, unless it’s a slow week and nobody’s sent anything in yet. (Please don’t deliberately not send anything in just so you can see a Sunday strip, though!)

15. Table of Contents End Contribute! Do you like DCAH Weekly? Want something of your own to be featured? No problem! Here’s some sections that you can contribute to: What’s New Preview Corner Calvin’s Columns Fun Stuff If you have something really big to talk about, you can even get your own article! What are you waiting for? Send your contributions to dcahweekly@gmail.com