It's official — if you want to make a Raised By Squirrels movie now, you're going to have to talk to my agent.

Piling on the spectactularity that is the Star Trek movie: this illustration from Kate Beaton and this one from Molly Lawless.

Settled in, sending the long weekend off, Monica's reading through the four Seven Soldiers of Victory I picked up at the Albuquerque Collectors Con last weekend. Lobo Anime had complete runs of all sorts of assorted series. I was seriously contemplating the re-purchase of two I'd gotten rid of a while back: Cinnamon: El Ciclo and Scarab, not because they were that good, but because they were flawed; and the Invaders relaunch, most of which I own, but I C.P. Smith's art was so great. But since I'd read them already, I went with some of Grant Morrison's … weirdness … 'cause I'd caught the preview and followed some of the commentary as the series came out.

I knew it wasn't the complete series, but forgot there was a whole giant one-shot special that brought them all together at the end. But here's what I read, in chronological order, last Sunday night:

• The Manhattan Guardian turned out to be, I think, the most successful of the bunch. It combined the whole modern reinvention of the superhero through a character who was the heroic face of a dying medium with the usual sort of Morrison-created oddness of a whole pirate culture in the subways. Satisfying story with tie-ins of what else was going on, especially in …
  
• Klarion the Witch Boy, chock-full of Morrison ideas; Monica noted some similarities to Gutsville (where is that anyway?), I was just happy to know the answer to Crotoan. It unfolded slowly, but surprisingly involvingly. In a more just world, all the Goth kids would've adopted this as the next Harry Potter.
  
• Shining Knight was utterly forgettable. The whole Arthur-before-Arthur a great idea, but too slow to unfold to even care. True of the whole series, by the time the "big reveal" came, I'd lost interest (and track, I think) in the action.
  
• Bulleteer looked awfully nice, and had a lot of great things going on that never quite came together. I think this would've been a pretty great standalone series, in the vein of X-Statix, commentary on the superhero in the celebrity world.

For cheap, I'd love to know what happens in/to the rest. Gives me a quest at any cons I make it to.

There have been new comics, there have been nights of reading them … with any luck there will be some reports from them coming.

Reading Exiles trades on loan from Raph, discovered that someone had come up with the name Nocturne years ago. And I was so proud of that one. Ah, well, Death, Cold As Steel just got a nice writeup at Sequential Tart.

In other news, in how many ways was Star Trek totally awesome? I'm not sure I can count that high.

Want.

A look at some more of Marc's Target adventure that's in the works. Um … kind of a spoiler, but since I'm promising giant-robot-beating action, it shouldn't be too much of a surprise.

Our old friends at the DC Conspiracy will present the fourth DC Counter Culture Festival this Saturday, May 24 from 10:00 to 10:00 at The Soundry in Virginia. Group members with their comics will be among the vendors, and there will be workshops and entertainment throughout the day.

At the Albuquerque Collectors Con tomorrow, Sunday, May 17 at the Sandia Courtyard (formerly the Howard Johnson's) at I-40 and Eubank. We'll be staffing the 7000 BC table for at least part of the day, with all the RBS books and comics from the group. The plan calls for Paul to do sketches and caricatures.

Haven Distributors has produced (warning: it's a link to a 10+ MB PDF) their first catalog of independent publishers. Panel Press is a part of it, as is Jamie Chase — and so are a bunch of other friends and some other great comics creators.

Right now, this company is the only hope the industry has to break Diamond's monopoly on comic distribution and give us little guys a shot. Please check out their offerings — and when you find something you like, bring it to your local comic shop's attention.

Raised By Squirrels volume 1 and volume 2 reviewed at Sequential Tart: "I wanted to see what happened next!"

Shelly, we hear you, we agree with you, and we're working on it. Warsaw took a lot of our time — but now Danny is most of the way through another Bookman Squirrel Tale and I've just delivered the second Janet script to Pete. And once I work out an exchange between Rose and Tyler, work will resume on the next installment of The Mountain.

Not squirrels, but … "McVeigh uses almonds to gain the trust of the chipmunks that live in his backyard. Then he photographs them playing with Star Wars action figures." Coudal again.

The report from New Comic Night:

• Raph tried to warn me away from the first issue of Power Girl, but it didn't take. And it was disappointing, maybe because it was so average. A lot of setup, talky and voiceover-y; and the art, while still good, didn't seem the same stylized cartoon-like that I so like from Conner.
  
• Invincible Iron Man #13, more of the same multiple plotlines unfolding as slowly as possible but no slower. I always finish these off happier with where it's heading than what it actually is.
  
• Agents of Atlas #4 was all about connections, stitching together the past plotline and the current one and how they all tie into what's going on. So it was clever and entertaining enough, it needs another re-read, I think. Just love the art in the flashback story.
  
• And League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1910 seemed oddly accessible; I don't think Moore is dumbing-down the series, but it's less dense that previous ones, a more typical comic read with fewer digressions, though still smart and clever. My dilemma now is, since I either forgot or never knew that, even though in trade paperback form, this is one of three issues; League is the one comic I own in hardcover, so I may very well skip the next two to wait for that.

While we're on the subject of Bond Girl illustrations; via all the cool adblogs.

Some behind-the-scenes on the new Bond book covers. Linked to an earlier article about them while back; both, via Coudal.

Amid the news that IDW is making a big push in the digital distribution of comics, some thoughts on digital content delivery over at Kung Fu Monkey. I have a lot of of doubt that anyone will make money in the creation of any sort of content in the future and think that, ironically, this more open method of distribution will benefit the big players more than the independents.

It's all enough to send me off to look at pictures of Trent Reznor's Greyhounds.

The big wrapup report from from New Comic Nights past. There was ComicFest in there — and that week and the following were pretty big hauls; as of last Friday haven't even caught up, still have I Am Legion (now that I pulled the first installment, purchased on our trip out here in 2003). Here we go, whirlwind-style:

• No Hero #5 was an awful long way to go for not a lot that you could see coming, but still gorgeous and deranged.
  
• Incognito; if you're not reading this already, I can't help you. Just when you think it can't get any better, the coloring gets ratcheted up a notch.
  
• Immortal Iron Fist #25, speaking of seeing where things are going right away. I think I've described this recently as workmanlike, which is true, but there's still some good stuff going on here, building to (hopefully) a big climax next issue.
  
• with Astonishing X-Men #29 … I … I think I officially don't care about this title anymore. There's big ideas and all, but it's just not coming together for me. Going off the pull list soon.
  
• Mysterius the Unfathomable will probably read, as Monica noted, much better in trade because of the multiple plotlines and little things that go from issue to issue, but it is a treat to look forward to each month. I predict this will be the first Honorable Mention for the best of 2009.
  
• Ignition City #2 continues to be, I think, Ellis' attempt at a character-driven tale. With mixed results. But that's part of its charm. Art, likewise, flawed, but I'll keep looking at it.
  
• and, ah, the whole big Fables crossover event. I'll reserve judgement until it all concludes — by which time it will be too late, because I'll have bought all these comics — but it's … OK. Two big gratuitous fights (an homage to classic teamups?) and some other fairly entertaining stuff so far.
  
• Elephantmen is letting me down a bit; #18 is really all just about the art (and it is beautiful), but a story that I don't, one week later, even really remember.
  
• we all know Battlefields: Tankies will end badly for all involved, but I'm enjoying (if that's the right term) this series, which Monica got me to continue on after Night Witches. This one almost has an element of humor; I expect fully expect that, too, to be killed off in some grisly fashion.
  
• and, last but most certainly not least, Uncanny X-Men has released two issues in the past three weeks. I hope it's some sort of mandated Marvel decompression — since it delivers only just enough to get me buying the next issue, and not the writer's doing. But Fraction's bringing back the fun in this series (through multiple plotlines, each with their own tones), even though I'm going to have spend an hour or so with Wikipedia to sort out who all these characters. And where'd the Dodsons go?

Before heading off to the Free Comic Book Day festivities at True Believers (maybe on my bike? is it clearing?) — spent some money on a book that I will gladly pay bucks (American or Canadian) for: Kate Beaton's brand-new collection Never Learn Anything from History.

Free Comic Book Day today. 7000 BC will have a special edition of string available at Comic Warehouse and at Lobo Anime (where Pete and Paul will be doing sketches) in Albuquerque, and at True Believers Comics and Gallery in Santa Fe (where I [and likely some other members] will just be hanging around).

In case you can't pick up a copy in person, download the Free Comic Book Day Edition of string, a selection of comics from the first 12 issues of 7000 BC's monthly anthology.

And it really is kind of Free Comic Book Day every day here at Raised By Squirrels — PDFs of all our issues are available for free download over there to the left; start at the bottom and work your way up.

Update: and some from Richard Thompson.

It's Buy Indie Day today — get out and support your local independent booksellers (and your LCS counts). Update: Blogger issues kept this from being posted on Friday … there's always next year.

Our New West project has actually been moving along these past few years. The stuff of everyday life intrudes, delays happen … but Caleb's just delivered some more pages. And here's one that I got a particular kick out of; you may not know what's going on in the story, but I bet you can figure out what's happening.