Michael Hawkins and I have posted part four of our comic about Justin Bieber. We hope you like it.

At Vorpalizer, I wrote about the Crestwood House monster book series, Geof Darrow’s The East Meets West Portfolio, and Ralph Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings.

Over the past couple weeks I’ve been a busy boy on Vorpalizer, the blog of the Science Fiction Book Club, as usual.

In my Webcomic Wednesday series, I wrote about the art of Heather Benjamin (which I obviously love) and The Long Journey by Boulet, empty calories but tasty, and “About the Author” by Pete Toms (“Repetition works, David. Repetition works, David.”).

And in my Roots and Beginnings series, I talked about The Goonies, bullying, and escapism, and (via art by Sam Bosma) my greatest D&D experience ever.

In this week’s installment of BIEBERCOMIC, a comic about Justin Bieber by me and Michael Hawkins, Justin gets some bad news about Selena Gomez.

I wrote about Matt Furie and the joys of creature creation for Vorpalizer.

Also for Vorpalizer, I wrote about the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and the Wu-Tang Clan as sonic fantasists and world-builders.

I wrote about the early-’90s Marvel trading cards for Vorpalizer, explaining how for kids like me were our primary exposure to comics at all, and what that means.

I wrote about the history of Wolverine for Rolling Stone, marking the occasion of the release of the new movie The Wolverine by tracing how the Len Wein/John Romita Sr./Herb Trimpe–created, Chris Claremont/Dave Cockrum/John Byrne–developed character went from throwaway antagonist to one of the most popular in all of fiction.

And I wrote about Saman Bemel-Benrud’s webcomic Abyss for Vorpalizer, exploring its handling of information technology as a vector for the fantastic.

A new page of “Destructor and the Jewel of Alpha Mountain” has been posted.

To read the entire story so far on one continuously scrolling page, click here.

Over at Vorpalizer, I wrote about A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin, and how it derives much of its strength from its depiction of physical and emotional isolation, a relatively rare thing for fantasy. I think it struck a nerve with people.

I also wrote about Gabrielle Bell’s July diary comics, 2013 edition. I think they’re the best she’s done.

I wrote about The Offering by Anna Bongiovanni for Vorpalizer.

Part two of BIEBERCOMIC, a comic about Justin Bieber by me and Michael Hawkins, is up. Here’s part one.

I wrote about “Spirit Hand” by Julia Gfrörer and “Here” by Richard McGuire for Vorpalizer.

The new page of “Destructor and the Jewel of Alpha Mountain” by me and Matt Wiegle is up.

You can read the entire story so far on one continuously scrolling page by clicking here.

I wrote about some new Pim & Francie pieces by Al Columbia for Vorpalizer.

I also wrote about Ghostbusters, the greatest New York City movie.

Kim Thompson was one of the very best people in the history of comics, in every way that “one of the very best people” could be meant. He would be a hall-of-fame editor if all he ever did was get Jacques Tardi and Jason across to North American audiences, and of course he did so much more than that. As the co-publisher of Fantagraphics he was 50% of the greatest comics publisher of all time; without him I would not be doing what I do for a living, in a very real way. His editorial eye, his multilingual translation capabilities, even his jocularly merciless presence in comment-thread debates are irreplaceable. I will miss him, and my heart goes out to those lucky enough to know him better than I did.

Michael Hastings was a fearless reporter who actually damaged the war machine, the highest calling of humanity. I didn’t know him but know and work with many people who did, and to hear them talk about how kind and inspiring he was on a person-to-person basis, quite aside from the importance of his work, has just given me chills. I hope those who knew him and loved him can draw some comfort from the incontrovertibly powerful and positive impact he had on people and the world.

James Gandolfini gave the greatest TV performance of all time on the greatest TV show of all time. He was an absolute marvel of an actor; I can’t think of another performance that influences me on a day to day basis years after watching it like his does. I can hear him say the words “Agent Harris!” like he just said them in my ear; I imagine him reacting to the world to this day, like sharing his enthusiasm for “Game a’ Trones” or something similarly inconsequential, since as an actor he knew that’s where the consequential stuff would emerge. He created a human, and launched a new golden age, and again, I would not be doing what I do but for his work.

Each of these people is an enormously practical loss. Each of them did things that now simply won’t get done. A huge blow to all of us.

Go read XOXO, a collection of comics and art inspired by Gossip Girl, edited by Robin McConnell and featuring contributions by Maré Odomo, Brandon Graham, Warren Craghead, Jacob Ferguson, Benjamin Marra, Mike Myhre, Jen Vaughn, and myself & Dan White. It’s online in its entirety at Study Group.

Michael Hawkins and I made a comic about Justin Bieber called BIEBERCOMIC. It’s not safe for work. Here’s part one. We hope you like it.

Page two of “Destructor and the Jewel of Alpha Mountain” has been posted.

Read the whole story so far on one continuous page by clicking here.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve written about Memory Palaces by Edie Fake, “The Sea-Bell, or Frodo’s Dreme” by J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Ghoul Man” by Jaime Hernandez, and “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe for Vorpalizer. Check them out.

I interviewed Simon Hanselmann, creator of Megg, Mogg, and Owl, for The Comics Journal. We’ve both been looking forward to this for a long time, and I’m as proud of it as I’ve ever been of an interview I’ve done. Please check it out.

Gloria in Excelsis Deo
Sean T. Collins, script
Colin Panetta, art