Regular readers of course know that I am a bit of an online comics junkie; and I'm telling ya, it doesn't get much funnier than the classic and long-running Player Vs Player (or PVP), which technically isn't an online-only strip but has also had 25 paper issues published by Image Comics as well, on top of a series of full-length trade paperbacks. Begun in 1998 by the outspoken Scott Kurtz, PVP tells the exploits of the staff behind videogame review magazine "Player Vs Player" -- including balding closet-geek and editor-in-chief Cole, Mac slave and graphic designer Brent, gaming-as-lifestyle latchkey kid and PC nut Francis (seen above), a dimwitted but lovable troll named Skull who acts as their intern, and more.

A worthy successor to "Bloom County" (my favorite comic of all time), Kurtz uses PVP as a way to combine gentle humor and biting sarcasm, concerning not only the typical geek subjects you would expect from such a strip (platform wars, the complicated schemes to get off work so as to stand in movie lines), but also such general subjects as romantic relationships and the ways that parents and children interact when both are finally adults. Plus, in the grand comic-strip tradition, Kurtz sometimes just throws random nonsensical elements into his strips, purely to make us laugh out loud; see Cole and Brent's ongoing fantasy about driving the "Dukes of Hazzard" car whenever they're bored, for example.

It's a hilarious strip, one that deserves to be in the newspapers, and I don't know why it isn't; thank God, then, for websites and RSS feeds and the ability these days for artists to distribute their work directly to their fans. PVP is a perfect example of why we should all be so thankful for the web; I encourage you to stop by there and get caught up with the latest whenever you have the chance.