Sheldonista Marisa V. wrote in with a hilarious addendum to the “It’s a Wonderful Life” toons from last week. I had to share this with you guys:

I am a long time reader and have been enjoying your “Questionable Moments from ‘It’s a Wonderful Life'” series, as this beloved Christmas movie has some problems.

But this segment seems now to be over, and I am wondering how it is you missed the most hilarious moment in that movie, where we discover what happened to Mary?

Towards the end of George’s lesson, when he’s realizing how truly awful everything would be if he’d never been born, he has a horrible thought. Mary! What’s happened to Mary?! He demands to know from Clarence, who doesn’t want to tell him. “You’re-you’re not going to like it George!”

And the suspense is killing us. What could have happened? I mean, we’ve already seen the entire town go to hell. His brother is dead, so are all the people his brother saved in WWII. The pharmacist he worked for is a criminal and a drunk, and Clarence doesn’t want to say what happened to Mary? Why? Is she dead? A destitute alcoholic? Married to a horrible abusive man?

But no! It is a fate much worse than all of those put together! Because George was never born, Mary never married! She-she became a librarian! The horror!!!

*screams and faints*

And that, that is the most questionable moment from “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Marisa, you are awesome. That’s very funny.

Just a heads up for Canadians, Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, Europeans, and the 4,800 Sheldon readers in Kuala Lumpur:

Thursday, Dec. 11th is the last day to order from the Sheldon Store and get it there by Christmas!

Americans! You have until Dec. 17th to get your orders in, provided you’re not using “Media Mail”. If you’re ordering via First Class or Priority Mail…you’re fine up until the 17th. We’ll still be shipping daily after that, but any orders after the 17th will be a little too close for comfort.

So get your orders in now, because the postman’s deadlines are knockin’!

I gotta admit, when a Sheldonista sent me this, I didn’t immediately spot this as viral advertising. That’s how clever the text-integration is. It’s clever.

Verrrrry clever.

All the more so, because there was an 8-year old part of me that was going “Finally! The theme park recognition I’ve always wanted….”

Copies of the fifth Sheldon collection, “Nerds on Parade”, are now available in Ye Olde Sheldonne Store! Huzzah! Huzzah, I say!

I’m realizing, after an e-mail from a new Sheldon reader today, that I haven’t described the Sheldon books to new readers. That’s my bad: I had assumed most of you would be familiar by now — but with new folks, of course that’s not the case! So let me take a second to explain “Nerds on Parade”….

This book is 128-pages of collected Sheldon strips, crisply printed in high resolution. It picks up where the last book, “Blizzard of Lizards”, left off. It includes storylines such as: The Embodiment of Wikipedia, The Libary Summer Reading Contest, Arthur’s Time Travel to the Future, Flaco’s Rescue Flight to Mexico in his Little Ridiculous Plane, Arthur ‘n Flaco Living in the Barbie Dream House, “Lost” Moments from Lord of the Rings, and lots more.

Like all the other Sheldon books, “Nerds” looks and feels really slick: The heavy-stock covers are matte-laminated, so they feel super soft, and the printing is crisp as all get out…so you see all sorts of details you may not see online.

The book is just $15, and there are a few dozen Artist Editions (see earlier post) left at $30.

And if you’re looking to start your Sheldon collection, there are plenty of options. You can start with Nerds on Parade of course, or go back to book one, Pure Ducky Goodness. And if you want to pick them all up, you have the option of the 5-Pack of all the Sheldon Collections, or the 6-Pack, which has the collections, plus the “Pugs” book.

All the books are little bundles of awesomeness. And “Nerds on Parade” (Click for larger cover image), is every bit the great collection you’ve come to expect.

Pick up your copy in the Sheldon Store!

In good news, pretty much every Sheldon Store order to date is out the door! Last Friday and Saturday were pretty productive days, but today was a particularly impressive shipping day ’round these parts. We upped our same-day shipping record by about 100 packages. Which, for a tiny li’l mom ‘n pop operation like ours, is pretty good! Here’s a shot of our morning shipment. [The afternoon shipment wasn’t half the size — hence, no cool photo.] 🙂

Lots of responses to today’s strip! As has been rightly pointed out by many, the pool featured in “It’s A Wonderful Life” was the real-life pool of Bevery Hills (where else!) High School.

I only have one friend in LA who went to BHHS…so let’s ask her publicly: Jacky, is that ridiculous pool still in use at the school?

Funniest response to today’s strip came from Sheldonista Karen P.:

I forwarded today’s comic to my sister-in-law who is a big Jimmy Stewart/”It’s a Wonderful Life” fan. I thought she’d really get a kick out of it. She sent me this reply:

“The funny thing about this is I actually believe my dad had mentioned that when the Williamsport (Pennsylvania) High School was built -and don’t ask me when-, but their pool area actually does do this. Unbelievable.”

Should I pop her in the mouth for the sake of the school the next time I see her?

I think, yes, please do, Karen. 🙂

(Click for larger image.)

“Nerds on Parade” will be on sale Monday in the Sheldon Store, but Artist Editions are available now! Woo-hoo!

The Artist Editions are stamped, numbered, autographed, and each contains an awesome sketch inside. There are only 300 of them, and once they’re sold, no other “Nerds on Parade” books sold online will contain a sketch.

And, if you’re a new Sheldon reader looking to start your collection, you can pick up the Artist Edition of “Nerds” along with the other books in a bundle pack — and even save some dough.

Pick up your copy over at the Sheldon Store!

[Edited to note: After the newsletter subscribers got their crack at ’em, there are now only 120 left of the Artist Editions.]

Man! ‘Tis the season for funny pics! Today’s was sent in by Sheldonista Tina N., who writes:

“My pug, Pax, loves your book just as much as I do, apparently. Loves to EAT it, that is…”

Tina, send me your address and I’ll send you a replacement book. It’s the least I can do for the great pic!

HA! This might be the best use of the manatee shirt I’ve ever seen. Sheldon reader Will N. sent this puppy in, and Will, you genuinely made my day!

(The tie is what sells it for me…)

Sheldonista Ulrike P. sent in this funny little anecdote, this morning:

Imagine the following scene:

Husband and wife return home. Wife takes a large envelope from the mail box, and proceeds to unlock the door. Once inside, she looks at the envelope. Husband, entering behind her, spots the label on the envelope, sees that it says “Sheldon Comics” and snatches it from wife, exclaiming “Don’t look at my mail!”. He throws it face-down on the table to hide the label. Wife points out that there is a label on what appears to be the other side of the envelope that gives her name. Husband and wife discover that a) their local mail man bundles envelopes to the same address with a rubber band, b) they both made an order from the Sheldon store, and c), there will most probably be a duplicate gift this Christmas.