•Â First things first... let's all join hands and sing Kum Bah Ya, the Blue Wave on election day signaled massive dissatisfaction with the lock-step GOP. Now maybe we can set out to deal with Iraq, have some real checks & balances to government, and return some safeguards to the very fabric of our constitution. The netroots really proved their worth this election, and i can only hope that the Dems the people elected can grab their figurative cajones in their hands, and affect real change.

•Â Stellar short interview at Newsarama with Eric Stephenson from Image Comics.

•Â Following is a list of mini-comics, comics, graphic novels, art books and other sundry items from the two conventions i attended in October, SPX and the Stumptown Comics Fest. Now, normally i'd be providing boatloads of web-links to nifty things i like. This list ended up so long though, it'd take me a freaking week just to do this work. So if you have any interest in the items listed, by all means google said item, and you should be able to find almost everything here.

•Â Stuff i came home with from SPX:
Meerkats Among Us, by Alex Kim
Pomegranate #2, by Joseph Belden
The Mourningstar, by Kazimir Strzepek (Bodega)
Golden Herring, by Lilli Carre
Fifty-fifty, jam book by Lilli Carre and Jeremy Tinder
Girl Stories trading cards, by Lauren Weinstein
Simple Routines #5, The Other Side, and Unattached, by JP Coovert
The Aviary (galley), by Jamie Tanner
Power of 6 #1, and Local Stations, by Jon Lewis
Rabid Rabbit #4, anthology edited by C.M. Butzer
Folded Paper Assembly #2, by James Hindle
Husky #2, by Alex Robinson and Tony Consiglio
PulpHope.A, by Paul Pope (AdHouse)
Project Romantic, anthology edited by Chris Pitzer (AdHouse)
Survival of the Fittest, by Gregory Benton
Tales of the Unusual, by Joey Weiser
Gilded Lilies, by Jillian Tamaki
Double Yellow Line, by Hope Larson and JP Coovert
Meathaus #8, anthology edited by Farel Dalrymple
Fox Bunny Funny, by Andy Hartzell
The Mother's Mouth, by Dash Shaw (Alternative Comics)
Bugbear, self-published 2-person anthology, featuring Drew Weing and Eleanor Davis
The Beast Mother, by Eleanor Davis
Phase 7 #10, by Alec Longstreth
Becky and Friends, by Lauren Weinstein
The Drips, by Taylor McKimens (Picturebox)
Cold Heat #1 and 2, by BJ and Frank Santoro (Picturebox)
Craig Yoe's Weird But True Toon Factoids
Lucky, by Gabrielle Bell (Drawn & Quarterly)
Curses, by Kevin Huizenga (Drawn & Quarterly)
The Vagabonds #2, by Josh Neufeld (Alternative Comics)
Daybreak, by Brian Ralph (Bodega)
New Tales of Old Palomar, by Gilbert Hernandez (Fantagraphics)
KSOFM, by K. Thor Jensen
Venus magazine #29, with a Melinda Gebbie interview by Joe McCabe

•Â Stuff i came home with from Stumptown:
Mome: Winter 2007 (Fantagraphics)
Popeye Vol.1 (Fantagraphics)
Gene Deitch's Terr'ble Thompson!: Hero of Hist'ry! (Fantagraphics)
The Comics Journal Library: Harvey Kurtzman (Fantagraphics)
Mine Tonight, by Alixopolis (Sparkplug)
Four volumes of Kip Manley's short-story zine City of Roses. (AMAZING covers.)
Touchfood, by Jen Wang (Favorite comic of the year)
Home Portrait, also by Jen Wang (Second favorite comic of the year)
I Am Hans Krunkle, by Chris Baldwin
The Fish Keeper, by Georgine Goodwin
Papercutter #3, featuring Elijah Brubaker, Lille Carre, and Graham Annable (Tugboat)
Empire Builder, jam book by Lilli Carre and Jeremy Tinder
Swell, by Lillie Carre
Meat Beaters, by Sean Bieri
Guapo, anthology for an event at Guapo Comics
Jesusland, by David Chelsea
Personal Mission, by Carolyn Main
Pet Noir, anthology edited by Shannon O'Leary (Manic D Press)
BadAzz MoFo, edited by David Walker.... whoo hoo!! It's been too long!
Pandora's Garage, featuring work by Alan Bennett.

I didn't buy any of his print,s but a guy named Chris Turnham had some of THE coolest art prints i've ever seen. In the Bruce Tim, Darwyne Cooke school.