Dan's Webpage: Because everyone loves a farce: End of August: Remainders

1. I beat Suikoden III last night. Another great game that doesn't let you play after the credits: disappointing. So many monsters still unslain, so many items still uncollected... I guess I should start Shadow of the Colossus now, but I can't summon the enthusiasm.

2. Friday is our last day at 1591 Passive-Aggressive Place. Markieland is seceding, moving to Graham's apartment bulding in Minneapolis — the nickname contest for that place is already underway — and Jenna and Our Bold Hero are moving to posh new digs in a fancy neighborhood closer to St. Paul. The next place won't have lousy water pressure, an ineffectual landlord, or gigantic house ~~millipedes~~ centipedes.

3. I am terrified of gigantic house ~~millipedes~~ centipedes. Yes, that makes me less of a man. Lately I've actually been researching insect recipes. Yes, that makes me a bit creepier. One of Flo's friends in Germany, a cool albeit suspiciously wealthy guy, raised grasshoppers and crickets for food; the grasshoppers were quite good, as I recall.

4. I've been working, well, training, in Minnetonka this past week. I keep running through the numbers in my head, trying to figure out if I'll need (yet) another job to pay the bills; unfortunately, all the numbers I have are just guesses. In any case, I'm anxious to start editing again. Oh, and weekends are much much sweeter when you've got actual work to take a break from.

5. I finished the second version of Swamp Thing around 5:30 this morning. Good stuff until Mark Millar took the reins around issue #140. He ends it well, but there's a lot to slog through on your way there. I'd recommend ending with #138. Noble Joshua: thoughts?

6. I can't keep track of every magazine's supposed political affiliation, but it seems like my del.icio.us linkblog has been strangely conservative of late. There has been no actual change in my politics, however. Be sure to check out the long WaPo profile of the "new" McCain; I'm much more wary of him than I was when he last ran, probably because this time no one is quite sure what he actually believes.

I just revisited Sandman and last night I started in on the monumental task that is Hellblazer. I'm only 6-7 issues in and it hasn't really grabbed me yet.

I haven't read Swamp Thing's early series, particularly the influential 2nd series with Mr. Moore, but I can pretty much confirm that after Nancy's run the series probably went downhill. I read some of the 4th series (the reboot that started with Andy Diggle), but didn't hook me really. Brian K. Vaughn did some writing at some point after the Millar run, so if you're an Ex Machina, Y fan that might interest you.

Probably best leaving off after the Nancy Collins run, though. I'd hazard to say Moore hurt the book as much as he helped it. His run was too iconic and I feel that all previous writers have been trying to recapture a sense of his stories. Would that be an accurate criticism? Moore was too good!

Do you have millipedes or centipedes? Millipedes might be a problem, but house centipedes are excellent predators of other insects. I wish I had house centipedes: I had a horrendous roach problem a few months ago, though I've since stomped them out with traps and poisons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_centipede

I meant all writers after Moore. I Should have checked a little more closely before submitting.

Why, I've learned someting from the internet! They're house centipedes, after all.

Some quick fanboy talk: I read Hellblazer (nadir: issue 80-something) before I read Swamp Thing, but sometimes it clearly seemed like I needed to be reading both in chronological order for maximum effect; you might be a little lost when you get to issue #9 of Hellblazer, which is Constantine's version of a long Swamp Thing plotline that culminates in Swamp Thing #76.

I'm going to assume you explored the whole Sandman universe, especially the fantastic Lucifer, before you returned.

I read about 1/2 of Lucifer before I trekked across the Pacific. It's finished now, correct?

I just got nostalgic for it, since it had been 3 years since I read it.