Quick Comics Hits

If I'd actually taken my Blackberry on to the beach, I'd fear that I got sand in it, but I didn't, so that's not the problem. But for whatever reason, I've been getting nothing out of it in termns of Internet access since early this morning. So now, I've had to borrow my mother's computer and go find a wi-fi location. I'm in an Internet cafe that closes in a few minutes, so I'll keep this short and fall back on something I intended to post last week but never quite organized myself to pull off.

• Check out the new Internet home of Heidi MacDonald and The Beat at the Publishers Weekly Website. She was one of the first comics bloggers and in many ways set the standard for what comics coverage on the Web can be. Not that she needed any further respectability, but the Publisher's Weekly imprimature certainly doesn't hurt. Congrats, Heidi! (I'll change my link at the left when I'm back in Chicago.)

• The new Batwoman made the cover (albeit in a small box in the corner) of The Advocate. Inside, you'll find an article on gays in comics, with a special focus on the upcoming San Diego Comics Con (or Comic-Con International, to use its proper name). While you're on the Advocate site, also check out the interview with Amanda Palmer of Dresden Dolls. They opened for Panic at the Disco! in Chicago on Friday night but sold out before I could get tickets. I'm quite intrigued by them, and I'll return to read the article when my Blackberry returns or I'm not in a time-sensitive situation (or maybe just when I return to my home computer).

• Not everything is an advancement for comics. A week and a half ago at this point, The Washington Post took a look at comics that returned us to those thrilling days of yesteryear. They highlighted the whole DC versus Marvel competitiveness. There's still some of that today, but comics as an industry have moved quite a ways past that. Still, unfortunately, it's an element in most comics shops you'll wander into, so I suppose that we can't sweep it under the carpet entirely. It's an interesting look at one way (limited though it may be) of interpreting the comics community. I'm not sure how much longer this link will be live, but it's still there as I type this.

I actually had a fourth point I wanted to hit, but I've momentarily forgotten it, and the Internet cafe is getting ready to lock its doors, so I'll either think of it in the parking lot and mention it later, or it will be lost to the mists of history. I'm accepting wagers on the outcome.