Zenkitty, it is very Buffy. It is. There's one line (which I spoiled here) in which Buffy sounds like Xander, but other than that, it is so very Buffy. It's great. My only complaint is that it took mere minutes to read.

I'm just grateful that it's got that Buffy verbiosity. I've been enjoying ASTOUNISHING, but it's been way more visual than verbal, so getting through an issue takes no time at all. This BUFFY took a little longer, as it should, given what a verbal show Buffy was.

I'm just happy that all the characters sounded and acted like themselves because it's actually JOSS writing this. I loved the interaction between Buffy and Dawn. Just because they're sisters doesn't automatically make them best friends. Not that I have a sister, but none of the sister sets I've seen have ever been smooth sailing. Plus, it reminds me a lot of some of the interaction I've had with my daughter and with Buffy having been forced into the parental unit role so young, there's probably still some distance between them because of that. Didn't Buffy express amazement that people called her ma'am, now? There's a world of difference between "ma'am" and "miss," which is where Dawn is at.

Season 8 #1 still a talking point, huh? I got lucky; my store ordered a LOT of copies so I was able to get one the day after release and they still had copies to spare.

ION, the Emerald City Comicon has been happening in Seattle this weekend. The show is getting bigger each year and seems to be well run (a relative novelty compared to some of the slipshod cons in the area). I got to meet and chat with (and goob at) Adam Hughes. It was a delight to watch him draw. Whatever you may think of his cheesecake, that man has exquisite linework.

The guys from Penny Arcade were cool too.

Howard Tayler of Schlock Mercenary is at Emerald City too. I wish I could have gone!

I wish Hughes would do more in the way of superhero comic interiors again. His run on Justice League (especially the Despero story) was probably my favorite period in the book's history.

Well, he is working on a Wonder Woman mini-series, but it's a long way from being done.

Even while Astonishing is more big panels and sparse, I still got a bit let down by Buffy 8.01 at first. I wanted it to be dialogue heavy with banter between the characters and all that. And sure, it was, but not as much as I had hoped. During the last week, I've come to terms with the fact that Joss comic-voice is a lot more visual than his usual radio-on-TV.

Radio-on-TV is something I think Joss vowed Buffy wouldn't be. But, because it's TV, it often was.

Was this linked in here yesterday?

VATICAN CITY - Today the Roman Curia announced that the beatification of Neil Gaiman had been completed, putting the writer one step closer to the official recognition of his sainthood. These steps were carried out despite the fact that Gaiman himself has repeatedly denied being a saint, pointing out that he was not Catholic, not really religious and, most importantly, not dead.

"Really, I'm not dead," said Gaiman when reached at his home. "Not even the slightest little bit. This whole sainthood thing has become something of a bother, with little old women with rosaries joining the usual contingent of Goth girls holding vigils on the west lawn. If you happen to run into Pope Benedict XVI, please tell him that the whole thing is quite silly and somewhat inconvenient."