I always knew crows were up to something…

Do the names Ananth Panagariya and Yuko Ota mean anything to you? They should, if you’ve ever perused the techy happenings of Applegeeks or read the wonderful and varied vignettes presented on Johnny Wander. But everyone—the uninitiated included—should head immediately to Dark Horse Presents, where the comicking duo has just posted a short comic that is by turns mysterious, wry and creepifyingly excellent. (Click the fourth story on the menu, because, surprise!, their handy “link directly to this story!” link doesn’t work. Dark Horse, you fail in some many ways.)

Their combined sense of humor tends to combine the very cutesy with the very morbid, to often hilarious effect. This piece is a bit darker than their usual fare, but ends with a signature twist. Yuko’s artwork seems to have jumped light-years ahead in the past year or so—especially on the stellar “Delilah and the Basilisk” and “Girl with the Skeleton Hand” shorts on Johnny Wander—but this is another level entirely. Do yourself a favor and check out “Callie Eats Feathers” on DHP, since these two are definitely going places!

And, confidential to Dark Horse/MySpace Presents: why on earth would you set your pages to automatically scroll to the bottom when they load? Do you—the self-styled harbingers of new webcomic talent—not understand that the punchline of a comic happens in the last panel? On the bottom of the page? That place where my browser is forced to go when the page loads, thereby previewing the final panel of every new page before I can read the top of it?!

Tantalizing tales coming our way

Ian McDonald (River of Gods, Cyberabad Days, Brasyl) has made writing speculative fiction set in second and third world countries a house specialty. Coming down the pipe in June/July of this year will be “The Dervish House,” a new techno thriller that takes place in a country woven through with complex dichotomies and warring traditions: Turkey.

According to A Dribble of Ink,

“In the sleepy Istanbul district of Eskiköy stands the former whirling dervish house of Adem Dede. Over the space of five days of an Istanbul heatwave, six lives weave a story of corporate wheeling and dealing, Islamic mysticism, political and economic intrigue, ancient Ottoman mysteries, a terrifying new terrorist threat, and a nanotechnology with the potential to transform every human on the planet.”

Sounds like classic McDonald to me: seemingly disconnected character plots that eventually cinch close and tight, some sort of techy/bioware crisis that only they can prevent, and a fascinating, richly textured country in which to set his characters racing.

Load up your playlist with some Mercan Dede and get out your Turkish-to-English slang dictionary, because this will be a frolic through some amazing territory. Can’t wait.

Gosh, and what’s this little number below, which drops around the same time as “Dervish?”

Why, yes, yes it is.