Every evil genius
needs a memorable laugh

Creator Joss Whedon of "Firefly," "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" has a campy new hit — and it's entirely online.

"Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" features Acts I and II of a three-part pilot series. Act I, which went live Tuesday, crashed the site with the amount of traffic it drew, owing mainly to Whedon's existing base of sci-fi and comedy devotees.

The main character (Neil Patrick Harris) is a mediocre evildoer who uses the blog to sing about world domination, his secret crush, and his desire to join the Evil League of Evil, a fictional sect of elite villains. View the trailer:

The idea was conceived during the WGA writers strike, which paralyzed TV networks for over three months. "During the strike I started writing a musical intended as a limited internet series, 3 episodes of approximately 10 minutes each," Whedon wrote in a note to fans.

In another letter, Whedon said Dr. Horrible was intended to become "a really thrilling, professionalish piece of entertainment specifically for the Internet."

Act III of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog goes live on July 19 at the site, on Hulu and on iTunes. All three Acts will be available until midnight on the 20th, after which fans must purchase episodes on iTunes or buy a planned DVD of the series — whose quality, humour and inventiveness "signify a great leap forward for online video," the Globe and Mail gushed.

While the web series already has a strong initial cult following, it remains to be seen whether devotees are willing to float it on a pay-per-view basis.