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Part five of my reread is up today.  Those of you with traumatic memories of "exciting news inside, chums!" mergers might get a kick out of my intemperate teenage reaction to the backward American equivalent, when the book split in two.

I'll have to reserve my opinion about Crispy and the fourth Lobster Random story for two more weeks.  That's in part because you should all "stay tuned!" and in part because I honestly don't remember the fourth Lobster Random story, but I'm going to start rereading it tonight!   

How is the should-be-in-stores-as-soon-as-possible collected edition of The Cold Deck going to be laid out?  Possibly The Family Man, Bullet to King Four, and then alternating episodes of the stories?  Are you just trying to give your graphic novel editors and design team nightmares?

In this week's Thrillpowered Thursday, there's a surprise twist in The Vort, and while everybody knew that a twist was imminent, it's not the one they figured was coming. Also, Defoe and Nikolai Dante. Enjoy!

In this week's Thrillpowered Thursday, a really good detective procedural in Judge Dredd, and an epic Nikolai Dante story in which things fall completely apart.

Having said that, if I could wave at you guys for a little help...?  I know some of you enjoy the blog a lot, but I've just looked at my stats and it's been really woeful the last three weeks.  If you're liking it, please share it on Facebook or Twitter or drop Freeman or Spurgeon or McDonald a line or something, because my promotional efforts are apparently hitting that wall of familiarity, where people recognize the weekly link and keep moving.  Or am I doing something wrong with the blog itself, is it just not fun or engaging to read anymore?  Is it getting tired, or do I need a new approach?  Help me out!

That Ceefax page is completely brilliant.

That's actually a really good idea.

Since the first meeting between Armitage and Dredd happened in a novel, and the novel's out of print, a big, epic adaptation of that story would be great for the weekly.  Howzabout a 17-episode version of it?

I totally forgot to tell you guys about the third part of my reread, but that's not important now, because the fourth part is up!  Go and enjoy!

In 1999, Jock provided an Armitage cover for the Megazine that was never used and apparently never seen by the public.  How about dusting that off for the next time Armitage returns to the Meg?  And when will that be, anyway?  Old Crankypants should be in almost every Megazine.

...and I was so enjoying a progs without Sin Dex in them, too.  More Kingdom, definitely good.  More Grey Area, certainly please.  More Insurrection, darn tooting.  Well, three out of four's not bad I suppose.

In this week's 2000 AD (#1807), there is an amazing twist that people are raving about. In this week's Thrillpowered Thursday, the story of another amazing twist from a 2008 issue, plus the return of Pat Mills' Defoe. Enjoy!

In this week's installment, an amazing and underrated Low Life story, and Bob the Galactic Bum!  Have a read and tell your friends!

NFL games are typically played on Sundays, leading water cooler talk at offices on Monday during the season to center around discussions of what the quarterback from the losing team should have done differently.  It's an appropriate metaphor for "what I'd do if I were Tharg," since most pipe dreams ("Indigo Prime, 36 weeks every year") are stymied by the harsh reality of the real world ("John Smith doesn't seem to actually want to write that many, for some fool reason, and we can't force him to.")

Richmond, I'm keen to see whether Stalag 666 is as bad a strip as I recall, but it also ran alongside some excellent Dredds, the first Ampney Crucis, and Lobster Random, all of which I like a lot.

Colin, Valkyries - certainly a stinker - ran opposite all kinds of fine things, including that excellent Red Seas with the Colossus of Rhodes, Sinister Dexter when it was still good, and the Dredd story that introduced Dolman, as drawn by Ezquerra.

Now, it's true that if you back up into the end of 2003, you hit a patch with - horrors! - Dead Men Walking and Synnamon, the practically perfect red-haired girl.  That was pretty bleak.  I expect fan consensus would point to that run as worse than spring '08.

But for me, nope.  Other than that 3-part Dante story, there was nothing in the comic at all that I wanted to read for about eleven weeks.  Dead Signal, in its defense, was better than I remembered it, and I'm glad for the ending of Dead Eyes, but I did not like it at all.  Fortunately, the Megazine was amazing at the time - as will be shown next week - and the Extreme Editions were reprinting "The Slaying of Slade," and right around the corner, there was "The Edgar Case" and "Amerika" and Defoe and The Vort... I just started rereading this run and it was terrific.

So what has been the low light since Smith became editor?  If not this season, when?