Pearls Before Swine

Even those of you who don't keep up with daily newspaper comic strips probably heard about Bill Watterson's secret return to comics earlier this year. In a storyline in Stephan Pastis's Pearls Before Swine, Pastis was briefly replaced by a second-grader named Libby, who claimed she could draw the strip far better than Pastis had been. While the strip was running, Pastis hinted at a "mind-blowing surprise" for readers, and he definitely delivered when he revealed that "Libby" was actually the legendary creator of Calvin & Hobbes, brought back to comics for the first time since 1995. As you might expect, this was a pretty big deal, but became even bigger this week when Watterson's three strips were sold at auction, raising $62,000 to benefit Parkinson's Disease research.

Each weekday, ComicsAlliance brings you a carefully selected variety of links from around the web about comics and comics-related media, including movies, video games, toys, and whatever else might be worth noting. Quite frankly, these are items you may just need to know about to have a productive day. Take a look at today's hand-picked links after the jump.

Bill Watterson, the legendary creator of the beloved 'Calvin and Hobbes' comic strip, has returned to the comics pages in Stephan Pastis' 'Pearls Before Swine.'

Each weekday, ComicsAlliance brings you a carefully selected variety of links from around the web about comics and comics-related media, including movies, video games, toys, and whatever else might be worth noting. Quite frankly, these are items you may just need to know about to have a productive day. Take a look at today's hand-picked links after the jump.

Unlike CA Senior Writer Chris Sims, who steadfastly scours the funny pages each month for his Funky Winkerbean/Crankshaft chronicle, Funkywatch (to say nothing of his inspiration, Josh Fruhlinger at the daily Comics Curmudgeon blog), there's a good chance you don't indulge in traditional comic strips as much as you'd like...

TV: Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes gives Booster Gold a stern talkin' to in new Smallville images. Anime: Warner Bros. Supernatural anime will see release in the US on July 26, Jared Padalecki's voice is all over the first season, but co-star Jensen Ackles fans will have to hunt for his voice through an unspecified amount of episodes...

Music: Tickets are now on sale for KRACKLEFEST, featuring Kirby Krackle, Adam WarRock and H2Awesome! at Seattle's Hard Rock Cafe on March 5. Webcomics: Ben Towle has begun posting pages from his upcoming graphic novel Oyster War on a designated Tumblr...