Pre-review

Wow, two of my favorite bloggers, Bully and The Fortress Keeper, are both hiatusizing at the same time! Whatever will we do?

I missed my weekend update, but that's not even news anymore, eh?

It's been a little busy. I wanted to post a review of an old comics-related movie, and that will come soon, but I wanted to share this first:

This The Best American Comics 2006, part of The Best American series from Houghton Mifflin (a la TBA Short Stories, TBA Mystery Stories, TBA Essays, &c.). It contains 30 selections, although the endnotes are titled 100 Distinguished Comics from January 2004 to August 2005, so I'll be interested in seeing exactly how it's structured.

I haven't had a chance to go through it yet, having just received it as a gift today. I read the part of the somewhat cranky introduction by world-class crank Harvey Pekar (who also selected the comics included) explaining why there's no superhero stuff in the book - it all sucks. Okay.

The creators included that I recognized immediately were Alison Bechdel, Joe Sacco, Chris Ware, Gilbert Shelton, Jessica Abel, Rick Geary, Lynda Barry, and Robert Crumb. Good company to be in.

When I have a chance, I'll scan some samples and provide more information, but I am looking forward to seeing how a mainstream anthology series will handle a project of this nature.