Another shamefully light week in the world of links to stuff on the comics internet, which means either I am dreadfully unobservant, or everyone else is as lazy as I am! It's probably the former. Still, this column may slip to a bi-weekly schedule in future installments, or cease altogether, depending how many cool things I stumble upon and remember to share with you fine folks.

So, six nifty links under the cut, and, to pad things out, another exciting QUESTION OF THE WEEK above the cut, and after this colon: If you were cursed by television executives to turn one mature-readers-only comic book series into a kid-friendly Saturday morning cartoon show, which would it be? Show your work. (I'll share my own answer later on in the comments.)

ITEM! I really loved Justin Zyduck's essay on Spider-Man over at Mightygodking, revealing the Sisyphean dilemma at the heart of Peter Parker's character growth (and/or lack thereof) over the years. It's a great read. Here's an excerpt:

But something about that doesn’t sit right: This portrait of what Spider-Man should be assumes a constant line of upward success. And that doesn’t always happen in real life, does it? We get laid off, get sick, get a run of bad luck. Get set back. This is what Spider-Man, after 47 years of stories or so, represents. Because Peter Parker’s life isn’t really one unending train ride of agony and torture…

…it’s one of mediocrity.

ITEM! I quite enjoyed Tucker Stone's latest Comixology article, weaving together Thomas Pynchon, David Mazuchelli, and the evolution of comics packaging.

Comics--and if you look around, they're already fully on the way there--don't have to fill any of these categories whatsoever. They can appear, like The Hunter, or Vertigo's new Crime line--as fully formed objects. If they want to be serialized, they can pursue the Acme Novelty or Love and Rockets annual route, giving the artists all manner of time to perfect whatever it is they feel the need to perfect. They can change course mid-publication, the way Jeff Smith decided to shorten the length of RASL so he could put out more issues, and still choose to publish a collection that vastly changes the scope and aesthetic appeal of the work by toying with the finished size.

ITEM! The Savage Critics' Jeff Lester and Graeme McMillan continue the only comics podcast worth listening to (sorry, everybody else in the whole world!) with its best episode yet, rambling on about TV and movies and, of course, Aquaman and Chris Claremont. Because comics.

ITEM! Play the game of telephone. The Spurge told the Sterling, and now it's showing up here: a collection of weird and wacky Nancy sketches. Here's T. Edward Bak's, for a sample:



Nancy's a mean drunk.

ITEM! Robot 6 calls this five-page strip by Eduardo Medeiros the best Batman/Aquaman team-up ever. But I dunno, I still like the one I drew when I was three. But if that doesn't count, then I guess this one takes the tuna.



ITEM! Abhay's Dracula: the epic conclusion!



That's it for now. See you on some future Sunday.