* So I made it to the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival after all! I wrote a lengthy con report for Robot 6. It was a pretty terrific show, and being able to swoop in and out with a round-trip travel time that isn’t a whole lot longer than going to visit my mom when it’s trafficky out made it even better. Read the report, and then also read Heidi MacDonald and Rickey Purdin‘s reports, and check out Heidi’s photo parade. Meanwhile, con organizer challenges Heidi’s characterization of the show as not being the progeny of Jack Kirby. Interestingly, he says the organizers reached out to “mainstream” artists in vain. Jesus, can you imagine if they persuaded John Romita Jr. to show up? He’d be greeted like a god-king.
* I put together an alt-horror update for Robot 6 that tracks recent developments in the worlds of Renee French, Hans Rickheit, Tom Neely, Benjamin Marra, Al Columbia, and Josh Simmons.
* Speaking of Simmons, Tom Spurgeon reviews Cockbone, a real comic-of-the-year contender.
* Hey look Marvel.com re-released my interview with Paul Pope about his Strange Tales contribution.
* Tucker Stone reviews the decade in comics so we don’t have to. Seriously, his capsule characterization of the fates and fortunes of each of North American comics’ many branches is masterful. Great ending, too. A must-read, dare I say it.
* Am I the only one who forgot Dan Clowes is being published by Drawn & Quarterly now?
* Oh crap new Kevin Huizenga strip, with words, in English and everything.
* And here’s the complete Kevin Huizenga/Art Spiegelman interview from The Comics Journal #300. Man I didn’t even have close to enough time to read that today–it’s long!
* DC is sort of doing Ultimate Batman and Ultimate Superman series in graphic-novel format. That’s pretty interesting, but the main thing that’s interesting about this to me is Geoff Johns and Gary Frank doing Batman. I have no idea what a Geoff Johns Batman would read like, though I’m reasonably certain a Gary Frank Batman will look awesome. AICN’s Ambush Bug talks to Johns and Superman writer J. Michael Straczynski. Heck, I’m even a bit intrigued about JMS’s end of things.
* Eli Roth’s still talking about his giant robot movie. We’ll see.
* Matt Maxwell says goodbye to World of Warcraft in part one of what augurs to be a genuinely epic series of posts (if his con reports are any indication). Matt has been playing WoW since it was in alpha, and his history lesson is delightful for an outsider like me.
* Bookmarked for later reading: Jason Adams reviews [REC]2. It’s amazing what a formula these sequels have, huh?
* Sean “Strange Ink” Belcher’s Top 100 Films of the Decade. Fuck yeah The Lord of the Rings.
* Real Life Horror: Remember those three prisoners who coordinated their suicides at Guantanamo Bay? Looks like we straight-up fucking murdered them. Ever feel like that kid at the end of Stephen King’s “The Jaunt”?