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Bullstomm.  West Hampstead's the confused cleft between the buttocks of rich-but-tedious Hampstead and the filthy-but-interesting Kilburn.  The upshot is that the place is heaving with skinny jeans and Yaryars and has an enviably low crime rate, but no funker bothers to sweep the streets.  

Been living here a year now, guv, I know whereof I speak.

And no, I can't afford it any more.

My own part in yesterday's Scientology Protest adventures:

Link: http://www.simonspurrier.blogspot.com" target="_blank">You're NICKED, sonnyjim

Why is Frazer Irving growing out of his breastbone?

Release date = "Soon".  OFFICIAL.

Part 4's all written (and has been for a good 2/3 months).  Now that the art wheels are turning again I'm getting stuck back into part 5.

Boo Cook's done us some wonderful illustrations for the backup text story in Part 3, and we've twisted D'Israeli's invaluable arms into doing the same for part 4.

I think we're probably also going to ask Image to publish Part 1 online in its entirety, to regalvanise things.  Momentum's a biiiig part of this stuff, and ours has stuttered and died.

UkD - that's weird...  It was distributed through Diamond, same as anything.  

Mogzilla - it'll be a while yet, mate.  It's a 6-part serial, so it should all be collected as a tpb at the end of the run.  But we've only just finished putting together Part 3, so we're probably looking at late spring/early summer.

That said, Fraze has just churned out a bunch of beautiful pages at his usual breakneck speed, so with a little luck we'll remain on target from now on.

(knock wood)

Shouldn't be long now, mate.  Art's finished, lettering's underway at the mo, then as soon as Image can hustle it out it'll be with us.  

You can bet I'll be making a song and dance about it hereabouts when it's time.

*PLEASE* tell me John Byrne hates Gutsville.  And give me a link.  It'll make my century.

That new poster:  Someone's been channeling Jock.


(Wils: I said *channeling*, you dirty bastard.)

"I've digitally enhanced the image, and I think you'll find it conclusively proves the existance of life on Mars:"

Nonsense!  I too have studied the image carefully, with the help of SECRET SOFTWARE provided by the illuminati, and - based upon muscular arrangements and the particular fashion in which the creature walks - can exclusively reveal its true appearance:

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ecBl2HK60Y" target="_blank">The World In Which You're Living Is So Strange

How fucking depressing if it *were* really an alien figure.  Where are the tentacles?  The electromagnetic ovipositors?  The quantum fucking mandibles?

Pah, I say!  And double pah!

Great work, mate.  

There are pants on the floor.

To be fair, I think the majority of the outcry is coming not from the fans who don't want their beloved status-quo being fucked with (although there are of course plenty of those), but from those who think the specifics of the retcon are absolute guff.

It's one thing to take PP back to his Geeky Singledom days.  It's another to do it in a really flippant, bollocky way.  Fans tend to get a lot grumpier about their favourite characters being "treated with disrespect" than anything else.


Buuuuut like I said, I've not read any of it myself, so for all I know it was handled with tact and grace.  

As I understood it (based on stuff I've seen on reviews/forums/whatnot, cos I ain't read the actual issues), Parker made a deal with Mephisto in order to save Aunt Thingy's life.  In exchange Mephisto didn't want Pete's soul, but "your marriage".  Basically he takes all of PP and MJ's memories which relate to being in love with each other, and changed reality (ka-pow!) so it never happened.  PP and MJ had discussed it all and mutually agreed to it, because "we'll find each other again."

Apparently Mephisto's agenda in all this is that there'll always be a tiny sliver of their souls which remembers the loss and feels contant pain, and *that's* what he's taking as his real payment.

Which is all a bit convoluted and, um... Plop.

But the upshot is that PP is now living with his Aunt again, still has a crush on MJ but thinks she doesn't know he exists, and continues to Spidey It Up.  His age -- no idea.  Is he still at school?

Also:  just before Mephisto did his thing MJ made her own appeal to him, on PP's behalf, to erase from reality all of the Unmasking Stuff as well.  She offered him "something more" in exchange, but I don't think we know what, yet.

So now people "have a vague memory of Spider-Man revealing his true identity in the recent past, but can't remember who was under the mask or what he looked like."

..

..

..

In other words: Toss.

HYPHEN!  SPIDERHYPHENMAN! RRRRRRRRRAAAAAAA!

(Couldn't give a rat's arse, frankly, but I've been told off before and I like to Spread The Love)