Well, we moved.
spuffyduds and I are still trying to figure out where to put everything, and the lunkheaded hound has figured out a way to escape the fence out back, but we like the new place.
likeadeuce and her brother stopped by briefly last night, so the fannish rubicon has been crossed, and that brings up a couple of notes on the comics scene now that I've had a chance to catch my breath, run to the comics shop, and bring home a few goodies. To wit:
1) Warren Ellis seems reasonably at home with
Astonishing X-Men, but his first issue didn't bowl me over in quite the same way Whedon's first did. I'm still going to read it, mind you, but I doubt it'll be quite the treat it was in the Whedon/Cassaday glory days.
2) Speaking of glory days, I must say Season Eight of
Buffy is trying to recapture them, and it's certainly going in some interesting directions, though Xander's romances are starting to resemble those of Maggie O'Connell on
Northern Exposure. (If a comsat is involved anytime soon, just remember you heard it here first.) And let me just note: Dawn's latest transformation? Kinky.
3) The final collection of
Y: The Last Man has put Brian K. Vaughan right beside Joss on the Rat Bastards Who Hurt Me But I Like It list. I'm not sure what I can say beyond that, but I'm once again terribly glad that Neil Gaiman decided that it's okay for mainstream comics to just
end.
Sandman set an admirable example in that regard, and many of the best series since its conclusion--
Lucifer, Promethea, Transmetropolitan, and now
Y--have been the better for it, especially when I've seen so many other good books (
The Authority, The Ultimates, 1602, all the way back to Moore's
Swamp Thing and Morrison's
Doom Patrol) continued into mediocrity despite the departure of their creators (or at least their defining creative teams.)
But mostly:
4) If you haven't read Alison Bechdel's
Fun Home, go out right now, buy a copy, and read it. You can use the library's copy if you must, and if your library is cool enough to have it. Wow wow wow. A truly inspiring bit of comics art and a memoir that's brutally honest, beautifully told, and completely engaging. If you still have friends--or at least acquaintances--who don't think comics can reach the status of art, let 'em take a look at this. Personally, I feel like writing her a fan letter.
tired