A traditional morning ritual used to be get up, make coffee, shower and then sit down for a nice brekkie of unfertilized fowl embryos with a side of porcine flesh while reading the paper. Now it's usually alarm, panic, shower (perhaps washing certain parts faster and more furiously than others, but that's really your concern, not ours) Pop Tarts and coffee in the car. A victim of this progression is the time-honored tradition of reading the funnies, which has fallen to the wayside. I know what you're thinking (no, not that): "The comics are lame." Yeah, one or two may still give a smile, but for the most part you've outgrown their sanitized humor. This is where Big Panda.net (yes, .NET — a vital part of the equation, Johnny) swoops in and saves the day. Well, swoops as much as a nonexistent electron-based panda can, but swoop nonetheless. To aid in your quest for well-drawn chuckles, Big Panda provides pull-down menus with various categories such as college, bizarre, animals, etc., and has its very own search engine. Or, you know, you could read the captions by each link. Just a thought. The best part is that all these comics are creator-owned and operated and not subjects to the corporate editing process. Therefore, some are more adult oriented and may offend more delicate sensibilities. I'll go so far as to say that some of them may touch subjects in a very naughty place while yelling out your mom's name. But while you're yelling, "That is so wrong!" you'll be laughing your ass off.
—Patrick J. Graney
This article appears in Apr 5-11, 2001.