Wednesday - October 6, 2004:

I still haven't finished reading all of the reviews in the first edition of the Graphic Novel Review. they're sitting in a folder on my news reader waiting to be read and I hope to get through all of them before the second issue comes out, but I'm not all that excited about the site. Mostly, I'm afraid I'll find something I really need to read, ergo buy, at a time when I really am trying to make a break from the world of print comics. I have no idea how that break will play out with an office full of long boxes and several botched attempts at selling my collection. The bottom line is, I'm still hooked, but with a smaller and smaller hook every month. I couldn't turn down golden age books at a dollar each. I couldn't turn down the latest copy of "Stray Bullets". I had to have my own copy of "Persepolis II". I'm really trying to get excited about comics on the internet, and my interest is increasing for several reasons, but I still haven't gotten excited about enough strips to abondon the print world.

I do have hope though. I keep running into people on discussion boards and through blogs who are genuinely excited about lots of different web-comics. I can't recommend Websnark enough. His excitement about the medium is infectious. As for strips, I keep track of only three on a regular basis, "Scary-Go-Round", "Narbonic", and "Acid Keg".

Of course, the print comics I love seem to keep ending on me. Of the comics currently in print, I can call myself a fan of only three, "Stray Bullets", "Conan" and "Ex Machina", another superhero deconstruction book. "Plastic Man" was on my list, but it has become rather formulaic. "Bone" ended. "Castle Waiting" hasn't been out in a long while. "The New Frontier" has ended. Of course there are the occasional one-shot gems like last year's "Blankets" and "Persepolis," but they seem few and far between. I guess I'm trying to talk myself out of print. At the end of my day, the best argument fills my office. Damn the long boxes.

-Bob Stevenson