I had never heard of Charley Parker prior to reading his Internet-published cartoon Argon Zark! for the first time in its first published, printed edition.

The book has so far received some fairly raving reviews, including one from the San Jose Mercury News stating, "A culture isn't complete without its own comic books, and Charles Parker's Argon Zark! is a comic for the data age." There's no doubt about that.

Argon Zark and his robot Personal Digital Assistant, along with a delivery girl named Zeta Fairlight, are sucked into a Web of chaos that sends them on a time-travelling journey through the World Wide Web to make the Web safe again by putting the evil Badnasty Jumpjump completely out of existence.

The storyline quickly jumps from page to page and the plot continually keeps you guessing, although it was no surprise to me that Zark and Fairlight would be together somehow at the end of the book.

The humor is as dry as the Sahara, but those who enjoy dry-witted humor will definitely enjoy the subtlety of Parker poking fun at Salvadore Dali, among others, in the storyline of this book.

Parker's artwork is also highly detailed, complete with stimulating backgrounds and images that strongly support the storyline's context.

While the book is clearly a comic book printed in paperback form, it clearly deserves a place somewhere on your shelf. I am not an avid follower of Argon Zark, nor am I a regular reader of Parker's comics, but I found the book to be both entertaining and lighthearted. If you're a sci-fi fan, a programmer or an Internet junkie, this book would make a wonderful addition to your literary collection, or to your comic collection. At only $6.95, you can't afford not to.

You can continue to follow the exciting adventures of Argon Zark at www.zark.com and you can purchase this wonderful book at Amazon.com.

-John Mudd