It was the best of strips, it was the worst of strips.

The daily strips this week were drawn by guest artist Paul Southworth who, as you know if you've been reading this blog, is the artist and co-writer of my new comic strip Not Invented Here which launched this week. But what I didn't tell you is that Paul was my third choice for the job... sort of.

My first choice was me. But I quickly determined that I wanted to work with a partner. It's how I do work best. Since I was determined to write the strip, I needed to find another artist.

My second choice was my good friend Mark Monlux of The Comic Critic, who made this week's Unshelved Book Club, which I believe is our first about a reference work. Mark and I worked together on the new strip for a couple of months but Mark, a successful and very busy illustrator, just couldn't devote the necessary hours to a project with an unknown payment schedule.

I love Mark's and Paul's styles differently, and I'll always wonder how the Barnes-Monlux Not Invented Here would have turned out. If you live in that alternate universe please let me know.

Meanwhile it seemed fitting to put their respective guest strips together in the same week. It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.