New comics to sample

How time flies. It's already time to change out the guest comics for another four weeks.

For this tryout, we're bringing in "The Other Coast," "Ollie and Quentin" and "Home and Away." They will run on Mondays through Saturdays from today through Aug. 9.

Here are quick descriptions:

• "The Other Coast," by Adrian Raeside, bills itself as "where folks aren't deep enough to be shallow." It's a quirky take on contemporary culture, with a large cast of characters, including Toulose, a "vertically challenged" writer; Vicky, his activist wife; Ernie the Embezzler, a former Enron accountant; and Simon the Vegan, who has been known to eat office plants.
• "Ollie and Quentin," by Piers Baker, has one of the oddest pairs of friends you're ever likely to find in a comic strip. Ollie is a seagull, and Quentin is a lugworm. Now, a lugworm would normally be food for a seagull. But not in this case. Ollie is always there for his buddy, even when Quentin is mistaken for a balloon or a stick of chewing gum.
• "Home and Away," by Steve Sicula, is a brand-new strip about a family dealing with the hectic world today. Dad Sam telecommutes from home, where he handles many of the chores. Mom Sandy is the Type-A primary breadwinner. Somewhere in the middle are kids Karen and Timmy.

Go to the comics forums at forums.triangle.com to share your opinions with us and others. You also may e-mail us directly at comics@newsobserver.com.

We'll be rolling out our comics poll soon, where you can vote for which guest comics this year have been your favorites. It's safe to say our previous three guests -- "Scary Gary," "The Knight Life" and "Pooch Cafe" -- will be back for the vote.

Let us hear from you, and thanks for reading.