Vacation is Over

Returned Monday night from four days at a cottage with the girlfriend and her cadre of friends. Good times. Good food. Read the first 200 pages of Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (this is my third attempt at reading the book, the previous two never getting past page 20), so I'm pleased about that and hope to finish it sometime this month if at all possible. Oh, and I got to go swimming for the first time in... I want to say over ten years. I honestly cannot remember the last time I went swimming, so that was a lot of fun. But, enough about that, let's get to comics...

First, the Splash Page: Wednesday Comics week four went up with me contributing for part of it before leaving town. Tim, wisely, found several others to contribute and make up for my absense. Yes, it takes four people to fill in for me. Damn right.

Second, this week's reread review on Mark Millar's Ultimate X-Men is actually just a reposting of one I did here (and is found in the links at the right). I assumed that many/most of Comics Should be Good's readers had never read it and it's one of my favourite essays that I've written.

Third, I'm doing a reread review series counting down to the finale of Young Liars, looking at one issue a day with issue 17's post going up on the day before issue 18 arrives. So far, I've done issues one, two, and three. Issue four's post will go up tonight around 9 pm EST (the daily time for every post).

Fourth, go read non-random thoughts posts from yesterday where I discuss my planned upcoming blogathon on Saturday August 22, which will be happening right here. I did it in 2007 and I'm doing it again this year. I will be discussing Brian Michael Bendis's Avengers work with many, many tangents. I want to save those as surprises, but I will give you a hint for two of the tangents (as they're related): they're mini-series that happen to have the same name as a New Avengers story/trade and will be discussed before and after said story/trade. And they're not written by Bendis, but both are written by the same writer. Remember, it's for charity! So donate if you can and let me know so I can keep track of how much I raise, and dole out the proper thanks.

That's about it. I'm off soon to buy comics. I should be reviewing five books this week -- and both Tim and I are in our respective homes, so the Splash Page will be normal... except for the special guest commentator that's joining us. I'm excited about his joining us, too, since I'm a fan of his online writing. Let the speculation begin!