Attention, comicsblogospheriverse: it's not so much that "kids aren't reading comics;" it's that the comicsblogospheriverse isn't talking about the comics out there for kids. But, yes, by all means, enjoy all the same stuff you've always had. As I said; those of us out here on the dance floor still are still making the entertainments, even though the "kids" have given up on the "comics" long ago, anecdotal evidence to the contrary.

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Meanwhile, Tom McLean from Variety looks at Rock Bottom: "The surprise of this book is Adlard, whose normally inky and chunky art gives way to a bright and clear open line style, with splotches of half tone gray indicating the progression of Dare’s disease. A quick but affecting read. Grade: B+"

Of course, we point you to our folks' awesomeness, and that's not really news. "AiT publishes a book that's entertaining and will enlighten you at the same time." Not a big deal, really. But this one is notable for its context: "When you read Seven Sons, you don’t need color to see the shadows cast by firelight on a character’s face, a deep crimson to communicate blood, or a light blue to communicate water. Tone, value, and texture all do their part and do it well..."

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Variety says the Nobody pilot is a go.

Scroll down a bit and see John Voulieris' All The Rage reveal some Monster Attack Network art, with some news from co-writer (with Adam Freeman) Marc Bernardin. You can see how to sell me on a concept: "Our book is set on the fictional Pacific island of Lapuatu, which is lousy with giant monsters in the same way that California is lousy with mudslides and wildfires and the midwest is lousy with tornados. As a result, Lapuatu's governing body has established the Monster Attack Network, a mix between the Office of Emergency Management, paramedics, and FEMA. They manage the crisis and rebuild afterwards. Our lead character, Nate, runs MAN and takes the job very seriously. Too seriously, probably. His No. 2, Zeke, is the dapperest black guy in all of the Pacific... and really handy with a forklift. Our mysterious femme is Lana, a newcomer to both the island and MAN. And there's a bad guy, and a giant octopus, and human sacrifice, and salty language… you know, for the kids."

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Jason McNamara pops the question to Graeme McMillan. No, not "will you marry me?" but that why-no-comics-for-kids-after- Mister-Pulitzer-threw-down-the-gauntlet? thing. Interestingly, this dense and layered question, with Mac and Tony's response evolves quickly on the Blogarama boards within five messages into "kids don't want to be segregated out of continuity titles."

This sort of thing makes me crazy.

I don't have the time to do a whole "Loose Cannon" about this, what with it being the holidays, and all of our freelanceers wrapping stuff up for 2006 so they can clear the slates, and all, but listen: just like in 1976 when Logan's Run came out, my pals and I went to go see it because there were flame guns and people exploding in mid-air and robots and boobies and somebody gets stabbed with an American flag in the future overgrown Senate chambers, for God's sake. That's some pop culture entertainment. We didn't think to ourselves, "Hmmm; the opening weekend gross is underperforming expectations, let's wait until next week to see the percentage drop and make our decision then to see if we shouldn't just wait for second run or drive-in." What crap. Flame guns! Robots! Jenny Agutter! Why wait?

And that's the same thing with kids. No kid in their right mind is thinking, "You know, I'd enjoy this book about pirates and conquistadors and talking ducks and a man made out of fish... if it was only in continuity! I enjoy the safety of the endless corporate teat-suckling I get from the latest Atom relaunch instead of the beginning/middle/end satisfaction of a good story, well-told, like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, or, you know, Colonia. Oh, what? Comics and graphic novels cost money? Forget it; I'm off to the Wii my uncle just got me for my birthday."

So, there you go; that's why "kids" don't read "comics." "Kids" haven't read comics since 1969, and "comics" just hadn't noticed.

Meanwhile, those of us still on the dance floor have something for everyone; scroll back up to the pull-down up there that says "worthwhile reading," and click over to Amazon. If you haven't read it yet; it's new to you.

Back from Vancouver and the Nobody set:


More when I can, but I'm sure I'm not leaking anything early about the production when I say that director Jeff Woolnough is one of the coolest guys I've ever met, and really helped me out with many gems of good advice. I learned more having two days of conversation with him and observation of his set than I have in the last two years of hard knocks.