Now we start agitating for the Astonishing Excursions (aka Victorian Narbonic to the Moon! And Venus!). (Apparently the format will make this unlikely, which is a damn shame. I suppose a luxury treatment with fold-out sections for the larger strips is … unlikely.)

If you enjoyed that, check out Dungeons and Discourse (featuring Tiny Carl Jung) and Advanced Dungeons and Discourse (“Guys, shut up I found it! The map to Occam’s Razor!”). And really the whole of DC, although you’ll be hopelessly confused by the Hob stories unless you read ‘em in order.

Yes, this is no substitute for a Real Post. No, you’re not going to get anything better. I am Writing My Dissertation. This state of affairs to continue Until Further Notice.

Bad news: Waterstones (Amsterdam branch) is fairly pricey.

Good news: Said “graphic novels” are on a 3-for-2 sale.

Bad news: In fact only about half of said “graphic novels” are on a 3-for-2 sale.

Good news: One that I want is covered. (Alison Bechdel, Fun Home.)

Bad news: One that I must have isn’t. (The second volume of collected Moomin strips.)

Good news: They have several others that I would like to own eventually (Maus, Black Hole, various Sandman volumes…)

Bad news: The ones I want most aren’t on sale; the ones on sale are expensive. One Sandman volume is marked down, one isn’t; I couldn’t justify Black Hole without Maus, but Maus isn’t marked down (if that’s not a “Graphic Novel” then I don’t know what is), and arithmetic is not my strong point and now my brain is starting to steam

Upshot: much dithering and trips back and forth to the stands, and eventually Fun Home and the Moomins.

Consolation prize: $1.52 on a “Waterstones Card”. They know how to taunt a bibliaddict.

Beth should ditch the jerk, says I.

That’s Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip. (It’s actually “Volume 1″ of “The Complete…”, projected to run to five volumes, which to my mind is a bit of dodgy advertising, but whatever.)

My day is complete.

They’re filming Watchmen.

Whether it’s a train wreck or a triumph, I am seeing that film.

The book I’m reading is the first Narbonic collection, a previously-web comic about evil mad scientists; there are four more and a sixth on the horizon. The story’s over (and rerunning as “The Director’s Cut”, with commentary), the archives are open, you know what to do.

Sincere thanks to Freek for the photo, Shaenon Garrity for the comic, and the Dutch weather for the opportunity. Well, two out of three ain’t bad, no?

After posting the review I started wandering through other people’s reviews (the perils and joys of LT…). Kate Nepveu has a good one, covering a couple of things I wanted to get to but didn’t find space for: the pervasive kindness, and her anxiety (which I shared) that something bad was going to happen (the closeup of flames in the eyeball of the man who tells the story of the giants gave me all the wrong kinds of associations).

(Special thanks to Olga for discovering the book, and for letting me read her copy before she’d even had time to herself.)

Awesome.

On the subject, there’s a fantastic animation on YouTube: Kiwi!.

Previous editions:

• Animals Have Problems Too
• White Ninja gets a Kiwi
• kiwi en kiwi gaan nergens over

If you didn’t get some of the jokes, I’ve got some cross-cultural explanations after the little “read the rest” linky thing.

• How to Prepare a Kiwi: you see, overseas they call the fruit just a “kiwi” as well. I know, weird, huh?
• AHPT: you see, overseas they call the fruit just a “kiwi”, as well. I know, it’s still bizarre.
• White Ninja: you sea, overseers they calles the … oh, sod it, you get it right?
• Kiwi! I actually had to explain to someone over here that kiwis can’t fly. … Okay, I can see how that clip doesn’t make much sense if you don’t know that.
• kiwi en kiwi gaan nergens over: sorry, can’t help you with that one. It doesn’t make any more sense if you speak Dutch. (The title means literally “kiwi and kiwi go over nowhere” and idiomatically “kiwi and kiwi talk about nothing”. Not that that helps much.)