Just wanted to clarify that the monthly Elephantmen series from Image is indeed prequel to the Hip Flask books, and reveals a lot of backstory, characterization and details that should help you make sense of the whole thing.

JG

Someone likes my taste! God Bless the internet!

Meanwhile, my flatmate who was in the loungeroom while I read it, was there when I finished and said 'That was fucking fantastic, you should check this out!', won't.

Now if I can ever convince someone to check out Strangehaven I'll be a happy man.

I won't.

Because I already own it!

HA HA Greg, you're slipping man!
Reviewing stuff I've already read, it's like you don't just post for me to read, or something.

In fact I think I recomended it in a comment to one of your columns a while ago.

Anyway, I'd second your recomendation wholeheartedly. Everyone should read Solstice.
Because if everyone did, we'd get more good adventure/psycholgical thiller comics on the shelves, and that's something I desperately want.

I really appreciate your column, Greg. As someone that lives far from a proper comic shop and usually treks out for a handful of graphic novels at a time I find it to be an invaluable resource. Particularly since you spotlight some of the more interesting and less hyped books which I would otherwise never hear of.

Mike - I have not read Blacksad. What's the deal with it? Who publishes it, who did it, that sort of thing. I'm always keen to check new stuff out. As for the writing, I'm actually with you on the old Hip Flask stuff. I got "Unnatural Selection" when it came out and was frankly pretty confused. This book is much clearer, as is the monthly series (which is, unfortunately, not Ladronn's work), so it seems like the kinks have been worked out. There's still a lot that's unexplained, but it at least feels like Starkings has a plan.

I have 2 of the Ladronn Hip Flask issues, and they're absolutely beautiful. The writing, however, did not engage me. I haven't read them in a few years, but I remember feeling a little lost, maybe because the visuals overpowered the narrative. Perhaps I was looking for more noir and less sci-fi, or the time between issues was too long for me to remember characters and events. Is the writing in the ongoing better than the writing in the Ladronn books?

If the cartoonist did his or her job properly, the art looks a lot better on paper at somewhere between 300-600dpi as opposed to 72dpi.

Surely if the job is a webcomic then if the artist has done their job properly it'll look as good as possible on the screen. how it would look printed out at a higher resolution is almost irrelevant

There are a handful of reasons to want print editions of webcomics. You've got the ability to peruse the archives without sitting at your computer. If the cartoonist did his or her job properly, the art looks a lot better on paper at somewhere between 300-600dpi as opposed to 72dpi. I don't know if the Sore Thumbs volume does this, but some collections toss in extras like sketches or commentary. It's a way to help support the cartoonist (or at least help him not go bankrupt on the production costs), in exchange for a nifty collectible. They look neat on a shelf.

Lots of people seem to think so, too. Penny Arcade's got three volumes out from Dark Horse. PvP has a deal with Image. Megatokyo is currently being published by DC, under the CMX Manga imprint.