Yes, Jon. No pictures at all, not even the cover.

I've finished Vol. 2 of the Tales, and I have to say that everyone should at least read the final story, written by Jane Espenson. It concerns the core Scoobies and is set in Sunnydale. I won't say anything more for fear of spoilage. Go to your local store and read it there, if you have to.

I am buying this RIGHT NOW. AIFG!

And - upthread folks mentioned Y The Last Man. I just finished the 1-5 TPB and I loved it - am waiting for a friend of a friend to loan me the rest. (Though I just read that 6-11 TPB comes out August 13). I am relatively new to comics and was just blown away by this.

And Hi - by the way - I delurked in Buffy a while back but have never posted in any other thread.

My wife & I read the 1-5 tpb of Y: The Last Man just last night. We both dug it lots.

New Buffy one-shot out today.

Will comment on it on Friday

I read 1-5 of Y, too, and I think there's a very Buffista-ish reason for why Yorick survived. Hint: It's all about the monkey .

I like Holli's theory.

Holli, do you go to Big Planet in Bethesda?

Yeah! Not often, 'cause it's a bit of a journey for me, but yeah.

Yeah! Not often, 'cause it's a bit of a journey for me, but yeah.

OK. This is how weird my train of thought is. I looked at this exchange, and thought how small of a world it is, and thought back about all the times I've asked someone about some place I know in their part of the world--which, considering I've mostly travelled as either a college student or a poet--is bars, but that's neither here nor there. Then I wondered if, when I ask questions like this, if the person on the other end can't help but think I'm stalking them. Which would be bad, but then I get this devil in my ear saying I should post follow-up questions like, "What are you wearing?" Which would be totally inappropriate, so it's a good thing I don't. But once upon a time, I would have done so with impunity. I was reminded of this today at the dollar store, where a teenage girl came up to me and tried to convince me to buy these silly little prints, which are part of an effort for her youth group to combat teen drug and alcohol abuse. She even went so far as to compliment my English accent, the barest traces of which only re-emerge when I'm annoyed and trying to keep my composure. Anyway, I politely begged off, but couldn't help think that, once upon a time, I would have replied, 'I'd love to, but drug and alcohol abuse is the only thing that kept me alive in my teenage years, and why should I deprive someone of the opportunities I've had?'

The moral is: The mind is its own place.

I think we'll see if Holli is right soon. This is one of the few titles I read where I honestly can't wait until the next issue. It seems that most other comics don't take advantage of the serial nature of the medium to drive interest for each month's issue. Nowadays, everything seems to be setting up for the trade.

I'm all for the increasing prevalence of trade paperbacks, but I wonder if the sales of the monthly issues will be high enough to get to the trades. Y - The Last Man is selling well enough, but there are plenty of others that aren't.