Bring on the Online Commentary & Diversions:
• Interview: Sean T. Collins's series of interviews with Marvel Strange Tales MAX contributors at Marvel.com continues with Peter Bagge: "The Hulk story's about both the Hulk and Bruce Banner trying to cope with their many issues via the use of modern pharmacology, in the form of head pills, Viagra, et cetera. Needless to say, wackiness ensues."
• Interview: And another one from Sean at Marvel.com, this time with Jason: "With the Spider-Man story I pretty much followed the Stan Lee formula of him being a super hero but a screw-up as a private person."
• Interview: In the second part of his talk with Brian Heater at The Daily Cross Hatch, Seth discusses his involvement and design for The Complete Peanuts series: "The design evolves slightly for each decade, but it’s all about subtle change. For example, the end papers change each decade. The color scheme changes each decade, but it’s a very subtle shift."
• List: 1979 Semi-Finalist's "100 Best Comic Book Covers" includes Eightball #23 at #72, Love and Rockets #31 at #39, Love and Rockets #23 at #32, Love and Rockets #5 at #30, Black Hole #2 at #28, Acme Novelty Library #1 at #13, Love and Rockets #1 at #7, and Black Hole #4 at #4
• Review: "Fantagraphics' recent release Abstract Comics, while nicely designed and filled with some fantastic artwork (kudos to editor Andrei Molotiu and the Fantagraphics team), brings up an interesting argument…: at what point do you stop calling something comics and start calling it… well, something else?… I'm not sure there is an answer, but it's an interesting debate. Check out this book and come to your own conclusions." – Paul DeBenedetto, Wednesday's Child
• Review: Comic Book Bin's Leroy Douresseaux examines The Comics Journal #298, calling the Trevor Von Eeden interview "scandalous and provocative," saying R.C. Harvey's "Comicopia" column is "both thoughtful and insightful, the kind of exceptional writing that would normally earn a magazine about comic books an Eisner Award," and overall grading the issue an A-
• Plug: The Star Clipper Blog spotlights Locas II , which they say "is just as classic as the legendary first series."
• Plug: "I can't recommend Johnny [Ryan]'s comics highly enough. They go places no one else would dare and, like all great art, show you something you've always known but never have seen before." – Benjamin Marra
• Things to see: On the Covered blog, Noah Van Sciver takes on Power Pack #23