Today's Online Commentary & Diversions is a potpourri:
• Guide: Alex Carr of Amazon's Omnivoracious blog provides a fourth opinion (after ours, the A.V. Club's, and Comic Book Resources') on How to Read Love and Rockets, offering these opinions on new L&R collections: "…pick up the recent Locas II: Maggie, Hopey, & Ray and Luba collections. These round up all the stories from Volume Two's respective creators and make for a superb reading experience…. [W]hat keeps me returning to Jaime's stories [is] the affectionate realism in contrast with disparate narratives, characters, and tones. Not to mention his unmatched artwork. And it's all here in the oversized Locas II…. Gilbert's ability to weave the most implausible and bawdy moments (a busty, lisping therapist named Fritz who conceals a gun-play fetish?) into affectionate fiction is matched only by his frank, playful pencils [in Luba]."
• Review: "It’s all classic Hernandez material, but this volume’s key element that really makes the book sing louder than ever is the amount of focus placed upon Ray Dominguez…. Some of the richest material Jaime has ever produced focuses on Ray’s pursuit of Vivian, a former stripper and wannabe actress that leaves nothing but pain and suffering in her wake…. There’s so much good stuff in Locas II, though, that I could talk about it until my fingers bleed…. Locas stands alone. I highly recommend you read it and see why." – Marc Mason, Comics Waiting Room
• Commentary: Chris Baer of Movement Point looks at some of the more obscure pop culture references in The Complete Peanuts 1973-1974
• Profile: Wired spotlights Robert Goodin's Covered blog and features Rob's commentary on 10 favorite submissions (including those by Jon Vermilyea, Richard Sala & Paul Karasik)
• Interview: At The Daily Cross Hatch , part 2 of Brian Heater's Q&A with Hans Rickheit: "I guess it’s sort of a digestive process of the brain where you have the end product on paper and the end product sometimes resembles fecal matter."
• Plugs/Oddity: Jog runs down a bunch of our new books arriving in comic shops tomorrow; also, the issue of The Comics Journal with his favorite ad in it is still available if you want to see it with your own eyes
• Things to see: Bob Fingerman presents another nifty outtake illustration from Connective Tissue
• Divination: Dame Darcy will read your palm and/or tarot cards