In this age of Photoshop, sometimes pics on the Internet look a little suspect, I admit, but today, the day of the first game of the ALCS, Boston-based WBZ-TV's morning show flashed a copy of Surviving Grady:



America's Most Beloved Ballpark meets America's Most Beloved Publisher. Go Sox!

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Also, Happy Anniversary, Mrs. Young.

Those of you picking up The Black Diamond #4 will no doubt have enjoyed the back-up tale by the pre-famous artist Josh Boulet and part-time industry gadfly Rob Lavender. Further, you may well have noted the appearance of the world-famous Olympia Diner, which, by the time of The Black Diamond, has been moved, shall we say, upstairs by those who want their goodness unregulated.

Ol' Rob sends thusly: "John, Mom, & me were breakfasting at the Olympia Diner before going to the Fair on Friday, and I was showing them issue #4 of BD. Mom, of course, points it out to the waitress, so suddenly I'm signing copies for her, the owners, and the lady sitting behind us whose husband's into comic books. Luckily, I had the box you'd sent in the trunk of the car."

Always travel with yer latest, that's what I always say:



Never know who's going to want the ol' John Hancock. Nice one, Robert.

Last of the Independents gets reviewed by Matt Brady: "One thing that struck me about the book was some of what seemed like symbolism for the comics industry. The book's title, for one thing, seems like it might be referring to its publisher, a well-known independent purveyor of comics. Larry Young has a bit of a reputation as a maverick publisher, so he seems somewhat analogous to Cole. Billy is good at mechanics and explosives, like the mainstream superhero publishers, with their slick production values and violent stories, but he's not too smart. He remarks that his favorite place is the corporate theme park that put Cole's establishment out of business, and he wants to use his share of the money to buy it and have it all for himself. Maybe he's a self-critical analogue of Fraction, who likes words, is good at constructing a story, and wants to work on the big icons of comics. Of course, at the end, Billy dies, and the "corporate" mafia thugs are all defeated, so maybe that's a triumph of the independent over the mainstream. Despite the title, this book and this company are far from the end of independent comics."

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H over at The Comic Treadmill shines his light on Monster Attack Network: "Marc Bernardin and his co-writer Adam Freeman know how to write tight comic book stories that are perfectly suited for the medium.

"And Monster Attack Network, another AiT/Planet Lar funfest, is a brilliant piece of writing in which two protagonists whose job is the daily grind of fighting monsters on Monster Island, an island nation where citizens cope with regular monster attacks the way we deal with daily traffic jams-treating them as an inconvenient pain in the ass that is nothing more than a delay to the day’s plans-live out an adventure involving one protagonist’s dirty little secret, an evil businessman’s dirty little scheme, and even some dirty little tomfoolery between the protagonists.

"Monsters, numerous big blustery battle scenes, fast-paced plot movement, snappy dialog (my favorite – 'you’re a good person Lana. Just not good enough'), two witty protagonists fighting a mutual attraction, an evil schemer, all set in a delightful world where every day is the UHF Saturday afternoon monster movie."