Just got back from three peaceful days in and on Long and Rhode Islands without internet, only to find … nothing to be afraid of in my inbox. Lots of good things happening, including some more upcoming comics and little books and things (that demand many hours at my drawing table in the upcoming weeks), a helluva reading that Blake Butler is putting together down in the ATL, that I’ll be sandwiching between a couple of Athens readings, and this amazing review that Weston Cutter wrote on his excellent books and music site, Corduroy Books. I couldn’t ask for a more ideal reader than this (except for my old friend Rob Hassett, but that’s a different story). When you write a book there are certain things you refuse to dictate but there are also certain specific things that you really hope people will react to in your book – and there are certain fears you have about people “not getting it” (a fear I had when I made the choice to name my characters after the marketed mythologies of my youth – Rainbow Brite, Voltron, Papa Smurf, and so forth). If I sat on someone’s shoulder while they read The Complete Collection of people, places & things and said “Look at that” and “look at that,” I couldn’t ask for more than the reading offered here.

And last week Ben Tanzer was kind of enough to say some kind words about the book on This Blog Will Change Your Life (mentions of Darger and Von Trier certainly made made me smile).