finally hit the shop after a month... made the mistake of putting the $80 bill on the credit card the Mrs. pays.... uh-oh. But but but, a lot of that stuff was for the kids, baby!

Southern Bastards #s 2 & 3 - not entirely sure how I feel about this. It's good enough fun but the whole thing with the daddy's stick and all... I dunno. Any idea what the intentions are with it? This feels like it would make a good 6-issue mini, but with the letter column and all it feels like they intend it as an ongoing. If so I'll likely lose interest. B/B+

MPH #2 - where #1 felt pretty fresh, #2 feels kinda stale. I think it's because there are so many gaps -
-How'd (presumably the only sample of) this drug wind up in a prison via a no-name drug dealer?
-How could these punks control themselves when the OG clearly couldn't?
Seems like these and other questions will be answered as the book continues but I don't think I'm interested any more. C

Trees #2 - crazy stuff. Not sure how our various stories are connected at this point aside from the trees. Big Idea Ellis but with a nice human touch, this doesn't get lost in the sci-fi. Working very well for me. A

Rachel Rising #20something - still enjoyable but the series would have been better at half the length, alas. I hate myself for saying it but this will read beautifully as a trade, though. Wonder if I would have felt like that about Strangers in Paradise if I'd beeen reading it monthly for ten years... B

Fatale #23 - I had been thinking this was the last issue. I'm happy it's not. Not sure if we were supposed to understand Jo based on that trippy sex scene or what. I don't. But it's still pretty amazing, in and out. Poor guy. A

Eye of Newt #1 - bought this thinking it might be good for the boy to grow into, but it's something he's still a few years away from, I'd guess. It's not bad, just seems heavy on the telling as opposed to the showing, and some convenient scripting items ('my worst enemy's apprentice will be yadda yadda'). Beautiful fantasy artwork, though. B/B-

Saga #20 - SPOILERS - I don't want this to descend into soap opera, which is where the Marco/Alana story appears to be going: drug addiction looming, an affair. Yawn. Plus, would Alana really use a word like 'narcotize?' The Robot storyline rocketed past our main protagonists this time in terms of interest, though. RIP Mama TV Head Princess. And still BKV's writing provides a lot of impressive thematic layering, like the way the Sextiollionstress's comment on the effect of becoming a dad plays back into Marko's story as well. B+

Scooby-Doo Team-Up #5 - Kids all still loving this one, from the just-4 to the 9.5 y.o. Lots of fun to read with them. This one wasn't as good for me - the gang hits Paradise Island, and doesn't really solve a mystery, but there's plenty of action and fun stuff and cowardice from Shaggy. B

Tiny Titans Return to the Tree House #2 - great stuff here. I went through ahead of time and translated all of Backpack's comments, which the kids loved. The Bizarro characters (including Duckzarro) were a huge hit, and the Brainiac spotlight was hilarious. A