A linkpost on a Sunday? What is this, 2009?

ITEM! Longbox Digital has launched its public beta. For those of you who haven't been keeping up with it, Longbox intends to become the iTunes for comics, combatting the pirates by selling cheap digital copies of new comics in lieu of more expensive paper ones. Having downloaded it and tried it out myself, I have come to the conclusion, unfortunately, that it just isn't very good at all. Your mileage may vary, so give it a go. My own review may or may not be forthcoming.

ITEM! Just this week, I've discovered a fantastic new blog we should all be following, Too Busy Thinking About My Comics, written by the wise and mysterious "Colin." The piece that caught my attention, naturally, is his excellent one two three four-part Aquamanifesto, in which he explores what the character means to him. As a fellow Aquafan, I agree that it's often difficult to explain or quantify what makes Aquaman a great, underrated character, but Colin here's a better man than I, and he's done a magnificent job-- his Aquaman meshes quite well with mine. It's not a thesis so much as a synthesis-- Building a Better Aquaman:

It could rightly be said, therefore, that I don't actually like Aquaman at all. After all, I'd couldn't be a fan of Sherlock Holmes if I was lukewarm about the overwhelming majority of his appearances, if I had never believed that his character was consistently well-defined or involving enough. But I don't believe that's how we all grow to love certain comic books and certain comic book characters. I think there's a more natural and creative way that we engage with them. We take the images and the words that appeal to us and we - consciously and unconsciously - join up the dots to create, for example, an "Aquaman" that never existed, and never will, outside of our heads, the Aquaman against which the "real" Aquaman will always be measured, a personal Platonic ideal Aquaman.

It's a great read, and you should take the time for it.

SPEAKING OF AQUAMAN: JMS's run on Brave and the Bold has not been the best or most exciting of comics, but the latest issue, teaming Aquaman with the Demon? It's the best portrayal of Aquaman in years, if not decades. If you can get past the overdone narration, you'll get a stoic, badass Aquaman, fully in control of his watery kingdom. It's also got an army of underwater zombies, and a Lovecraftian monster. This is almost exactly the kind of Aquaman story I want to read on a regular basis. I know, I was surprised too. (Just, you know, go easy on the purple prose next time.)



RANDOM THOUGHT! First it was Darkwing Duck, now it's DuckTales (woohoo!). How does one get a TailSpin comic out of this?

ITEM! Tim O'Neil writes world's longest run-on sentence. It is also a comics review.

ITEM! Project Rooftop has made a triumphant return, with a series of remakes, remodels, redesigns, art pieces, and explications on How It's Done (for instance: the briefcase armor in the new Iron Man 2 trailer). My favorite new article so far, however, is the Retro Fix, in which Friend of CSBG Dean Trippe and company rework an old public domain character. First up, the Red Cross:



REMAKE/REMODEL: Meanwhile, Warren Ellis' mad redesign crusade continued this week with Amazing Adult Fantasy #15, and sensational new character find, "Spider-Man." Naturally, the word "Adult" there brought in some Not-Safe-for-Work imagery, but it also brought awesomeness. Here are some choice pieces from Sean Hartter, Chris Thornley, and the man known as artguy (click for the bigs):







I feel like a lot more happened this week, but I can't for the life of me remember any of it. I blame all the Guinness. Anything you'd like to share, dear readers?