Love Me Nice takes place in a Roger Rabbit-like universe where humans and Toons are two separate races of people. However, unlike Roger Rabbit (or its TV quasi-adaptation Bonkers), it's not such a zany, cartoony world. We don't see anvils dropping from the sky or self-driving taxi cabs (at least not yet). Instead we get all manner of Toons -- visual checks of venerable Disney characters, manga-eyed babes, and girly 80s super-animals with tie-in dolls by Hasbro and Mattel.

Most of the action takes place backstage at the Fable Company, a cartoon production company founded by Mac the Monkey, a famous cartoon star. Claire Domani, a pneumatic Jessica Rabbit too busty to work in front of the camera, is a young Fable executive trying to manage the remake of Mac Sr.'s show, now starring Mac's son, Mac the Monkey, Jr. But if nothing ever goes smoothly in show business, that goes double for the cartoon business. Claire has somehow found herself in a relationship with Mac Jr., despite his petulant slacker ways. And she's the only one willing to deal with Carolina, Mac's naive co-star who literally has stars in her eyes.

Love Me Nice has been sitting in my RSS reader for a couple of months now, but lately it's really crept up on me. It has a real affection for the array of cartoons it references, and I love Claire as a main character: a tough chick who loves her job, but still has an immense capacity for warmth, especially toward Carolina -- who could have easily been reduced to a sexual rival. And we're starting to see some nice, slow worldbuilding. Toons may have an advantage in show business, but when so much of Toon culture revolves around entertainment, it's tough on those Toons who lack the talent -- or the body type -- to play on kids' TV. And we're meeting some new characters in the latest story arc, so hopefully we'll get to peer even more deeply into this world of humans and Toons.

[Love Me Nice]