Chatological humor

Speaking of strips: the Washington Post's hilariously dry humor columnist Gene Weingarten conducts an on-line chat every Tuesday at noon EST in which he posts the Comic Pick of the Week (aka the CPOW) and invites reader comment about the strips run by the Post. (Since the Post runs three full pages of comic strips every day, the range of discussion is wider than you might think -- especially given that we're talking real newspaper-size pages, not stingy tabloid-size.) And he's not afraid to speak out When Comics Go Bad. In fact, he's coined his own comic-strip-specific replacement for "jumping the shark": Marrying Irving (based, of course, on recent developments in the excreable Cathy).

Weingarten also polls chatters every week on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from the quality of specific comic strips (February 15th's and 22nd's polls were a two-part "critical examination" of the strips Brevity and Loose Parts), to the relationships between men and women, to the things that straight people think gay men will find attractive. (Weingarten provides the "correct answers" to the poll questions halfway through the chat, then throws the topic open for discussion.)

And The Flash shows up as a topic on a regular basis. (Usually as a subject of derision or geek-bashing, but still.)

Weingarten's been away on Special Assignment for the past few weeks, and so hasn't been able to chat, but his chat page on the Post website assures us that he'll be back this coming Tuesday, March 22. If you miss the chat itself, though, the transcripts (available on the same page) are a hoot -- and Weingarten updates 'em on an ongoing basis during the week, 'cause he just can't help himself.

Oh -- almost forgot to mention: the cartoon at the top of this item is a rendition of Weingarten by Richard Thompson. The cartoon below is a rendition by Mike Cisneros of Weingarten along with three other famous Genes. See if you can figure out which one is which. (The big green check mark may be a clue.)