There are two new sprite bonus strips up today – in the first one, a rumormonger wearing a hat gives his reaction to this year’s Rumormonger Idol contestants, and in the second one, Linton has a few thoughts on them.

And in case you didn’t see them, here they are:

What do you think of them?

I had a feeling I wasn’t getting it quite right…

In the alternate version of yesterday’s strip, Linton’s response to being told there is no third planet is “You think I don’t know that?!” And of course, in the Star Trek episode The Doomsday Machine, Commodore Decker’s line upon being told the third planet he beamed his crew down to isn’t there, his response is “Don’t you think I know that?!”

Oh well… I did say it was “Commodore Decker-style,” not an exact quote.

And in completely unrelated news, the groundhog didn’t see his shadow today.

In today’s first bonus strip, the contestants for this year’s edition of Rumormonger Idol are revealed! The judges definitely put some thought into their decision…

Today’s second bonus strip is an alternate version of today’s strip, in which Linton gives the proper Commodore Decker-style response to being told there is no third planet.

Thanks for voting, and Thank You to everyone who voted for Station V3 last month!

Here are two bonuses while we wait for the judges to decide who goes on to the next round of Rumormonger Idol: A sprite strip in which two rumormongers talk about the judges, and a bad translation of today’s strip.

And if you can’t wait for the polls to get started, there’s an updated favorite character poll over on the forum!

For the past six months or so, my printer has been telling me it’s about to run out of black ink. I’ve been using it every day to print out the comic borders and text, and it hasn’t happened yet! (But I have a feeling it really will start to run out soon – fortunately I have the replacement I bought six months ago…)

In other ink-related news, my fine-point pen has dried out. It always seems to be the first to go, and the store where I usually get them was out of them, unless I felt like buying the whole set, including the ones that haven’t dried out yet. So I’ve been doing the comics with the super-fine and medium-point pens for the past week or so.

Ink from the printer AND the pens was involved in the production of today’s new bonus strip showing another Rumormonger Idol tryout – but not in the bonus photo of another potential contestant!

…And that’s all I have to say about ink right now.