Beware the strange man in the lifeboat...

Used an Amazon voucher that my mum gave me for Christmas to catch up on the Creepy Archives.

Things of beauty.

Volume seven includes this cracker of a cover...

Talking of sweet comic covers, Jonathan Ross posted up some of the weirder/rare ones from his collection last night. His brief tour included an absolute classic from Weird Worlds. Worth a look - here.

Reading again

Hello inter-pals!

Hope all is well with you.

It's been so long since I wrote anything on here that I've forgotten how to do it.

What was the old formula again? Mention a comic? Swear a bit? Scan in a panel?

Ah yes, I remember.

I have actually read some comics in the last few weeks. Prison Pit II, Powr Mastrs, couple of issues of Nancy in Hell, which I bought way back in September solely for the Juan Jose Ryp art (I was into his stuff before it was cool to like him, don'cha know?)

Also took advantage of a DC online sale to buy the entirety of Grant Morrison's Batman run for 45p an issue. The catch is that they are digital comics. My other half has an ipad though, so I thought I'd give the old Comixology app a try.

Oddly, I've found myself enjoying reading the digital versions. I'm quite into that feature where you can read the story panel by panel rather than having to look at the whole page. Probably disrupts the rhythms that the writer and artist are trying to establish but on the plus side, getting in that close to a piece of art really seems to work for me. I'm seeing things in panels that I never noticed on paper.

Last night I also downloaded the free zero issue of Image's Skull Kickers. Enjoyed it plenty and I'm considering buying the other issues. Might also pick up digital copies of Orc Stain.

Have to say though, at £1.19 an issue, I still think these things are too expensive. I would really get behind them if they were 50p a pop, but at the moment it's not going to be that much more expensive to trade wait. Still, I'm definitely warming to this digital business - certainly as far as mainstream comics go anyway.

COMICS!

The first since September.

Can't really afford them, but I decided I could no longer do without these four.

The Brothers French

I love this photo.

Little Ad' and Big Dave in all their glory (Ad's dressed as Lex Luthor. Dave always looks like that).

Taken at Sunday's Halloween NerDgasm special, which was the most fantastic NerDgasm yet!

We won it.

On a tie break no less.

The other team didn't know their Mirkwood from their Fangorn.

They also had the temerity to question my assertion that Ro-Jaws had once been an ABC Warrior.

The fools.

I now have Creepshow II, Tomb of Dracula pants and Dario Argento's Demons.

Good times.

NerDgasm Halloween Special!

Dave's doing another quiz!

It's on Halloween!

That's this Sunday folks!

Usual place: Pillars of Hercules.

Slightly earlier start, 6.30pm!

See you there!

It had to happen!

I am, as you know, in a state of suspended animation BUT there are others roaming these corridors while I sleep. Look, over there, in the shadows! A bulky figure, frothing gently down his vest.

Move closer...

HE IS HERE!

I live!

Quickly, quickly, because I'm meant to be working and not listening to the new Manics album or blathering on about comics...

I haven't bought a new comic for more than a month.

It's clear that when I return to the fold I'll have a ridiculous amount of catching up to do, or maybe I just won't bother and start all over again.

It's odd, I'm barely missing the superhero muck, but when I hear there's a new Charles Burns or that Prison Pit Volume Two is out, well, I get a bit twitchy.

"All good things..." as they say.

Tell you what though, imaginary web chums, when I eventually get a job and some cash there's going to be a fuck of a big comics blow out at LLC Towers!

Oh yes, the postman is going to have his back broken by the number of Creepy and Eerie Archives he'll be carrying up my garden path.

As for single issues, I actually read a few of the freebies on Comixology the other day and I was OK with it. Think I might end up reading them digitally, or make the switch to trades.

Right, that's it. Barely worth saying, I know, but it's good to give the sleeping blog a prod every now and then just to remind you it's not dead.