Megatokyo is an English-language webcomic created by Fred Gallagher and
Rodney Caston, debuting on August 14, 2000, and then written and
illustrated solely by Gallagher since July 17, 2002. Gallagher's style
of writing and illustrations is heavily influenced by Japanese manga.
Megatokyo is freely available on its official website, with updates on
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It is among the most popular webcomics,
and is currently published in book-format by CMX, although the first
three volumes are published by Dark Horse. Sales of the comic's print
editions rank it as the best selling original English-language manga.
Set in a fictional version of Tokyo, Megatokyo portrays the adventures
of Piro, a young fan of anime and manga, and his friend Largo, an
American video game enthusiast. The comic often parodies and comments
on the archetypes and clichés of anime, manga, dating sims and video
games, occasionally making direct references to real-world works.
Megatokyo originally emphasized humor, with continuity of the story a
subsidiary concern. Over time, it focused more on developing a complex
plot and the personalities of its characters. This transition was due
primarily to Gallagher's increasing control over the comic, which led
to Caston choosing to leave the project. Megatokyo has received praise
from such sources as The New York Times, while negative criticism of
Gallagher's changes to the comic has been given by sources including
Websnark.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatokyo>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1781:
German-born British astronomer and composer William Herschel discovered
the planet Uranus while in the garden of his house in Bath, Somerset,
England, thinking it was a comet.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus>
1845:
German composer Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, one of the most
popular and most frequently performed violin concertos of all time, was
first played in Leipzig, with violinist Ferdinand David as soloist.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_Concerto_%28Mendelssohn%29>
1943:
The Holocaust: Nazi troops under SS Hauptsturmführer Amon Göth began
liquidating the Jewish Ghetto in Kraków, Poland, sending about 8,000
Jews deemed able to work to the Plaszow labor camp. Those deemed unfit
for work were either killed or sent to die at the Auschwitz
concentration camp.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krak%C3%B3w_Ghetto>
1954:
Viet Minh forces under Vo Nguyen Giap unleashed a massive artillery
barrage on the French military to begin the Battle of Dien Bien Phu,
the climactic battle in the First Indochina War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dien_Bien_Phu>
1996:
In the deadliest attack on children in the history of the United
Kingdom, a spree killer killed sixteen children and a teacher at a
primary school in Dunblane, Scotland, before committing suicide.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_massacre>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
underpin (v):
1. To support from below with props or masonry.
2. (figuratively) To give support to; to corroborate
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/underpin>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Don’t give up! I believe in you all
A person’s a person, no matter how small!
And you very small
persons will not have to die
If you make yourselves heard! So come on, now, and TRY!
--Dr. Seuss
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss>