Google Chrome is the search engine’s long awaited open-source browser project. Thanks to Google Blogoscoped, we have the first ever concrete evidence: a 38-page comic book sent out by Google to announce the Google Chrome project.

The illustrations were created by cartoonist Scott McCloud. This is a challenge to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Google has been working on the product for about two years, but work became more serious when Microsoft launched Internet Explorer 7.

The open source browser is based on Webkit and it is powered by Google Gears. A test version of new software is to be available for download Tuesday in more than 100 countries. No word yet, however, on when the final version will be released.

The comic describes the Chrome browser as having a fast JavaScript engine from “the V8 team” in Denmark. Each browser tab runs as its own process and is sandboxed for stability and security reasons.

It has a default home page that’s automatically constructed by the browser based on the sites you visit and search frequently, presenting your favorite sites in a grid. The product will be open-sourced, meaning others can modify the code, according to the report.

As far as the annoying pop-ups are concerned, rather than allowing JavaScript to popup ads from any web page in the background or in the user's face, Chrome will attach JavaScript notices to the browser window and tab from which they originated.

Google's Chrome is likely to be a fulfillment of Firefox, Opera, and Safari all together. However it’s unclear what platforms the browser will support when it’s released.