TRULY, I HAVE THE PULSE OF THE PEOPLE

Writing last nights post, swear to the deity of your choice, monkey trickster gods excepted, I thought about Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark; more evidence, I think, that what the kids want is not, or at least not always, reassurance and mollycoddling in four colors. Spend a bit of time Googling around, trying to find Sean Collins' blurb on the book before I quit and went to bed.

And now this morning, it's talked up everywhere. I wish I could claim I sensed the moment, but being lucky is enough for me.

THE DIRECT MARKET VERSUS THE WISDOM OF OLD DEAD GERMANS

Interesting juxtaposition: over here, vendors in the direct market bemoaning the fact that comics are too dark for kids, over there, an appreciation of the power the darker of Los Bros. Grimm's fairy tales exert over children. I'm not disputing the wisdom of those on the retail front lines; learned my lesson there, I have. But still; it'll take a whole lot of work to convince me that kids don't want the dark stuff.

GIVING UP TO THE GHOST

So. I've been outblogged lately by the zombie corpose of Grotesque Anatomy, if the Blog-o-Tron is to be believed; damn Jakala, he gets me to check every day, and for nothing. Clearly, a condition that cannot be allowed to stand. But what is a lazy blogger to do? Ah yes: linking.

Timothy Burke gives up on modern superhero comics; see also this earlier essay for his way forward. I'm not certain I agree with his argument, but then again I'm markedly more willing to ignore continuity than most comics fans. That Alfred may (if I've read the boards correctly) have killed a man doesn't work to retroactively or prospectively taint other Batman stories for me, any moreso than does the existence of Disney's Snow White taint the Brothers Grimm version. At least for me.

Newsweek has a short blurb on Baghdad Journal, upcoming through Fantagraphics. I think I ordered this, but I can't confirm that. One of pre-orderings little pleasures: the comic shop surprise.

TWO THOUGHTS, NON-COMICS VARIETY

I really, really don't understand what constitutes pass interference in the NFL anymore. The game is slowly turning into the NBA, in which the call is less dependant on the on-field event than on the star-value of the perpetrator. An ominous sign.

Also, I'd have been much better off saving all the money I spend on seven years of fancy-pants education and simply investing in a construction-crane rental company.