Okay, I've read Unmanned, the first volume of Y the Last Man.

My comic shop dealer said that Y is more popular in the graphic novel format than in the individual books because it's kind of slow-moving. You can get more of a plot in one sitting.

It wasn't a page-turner. I put it down with one issue to go, and didn't pick it up again for another week. But I have to make an allowance to give the author time to set up the board and position the pieces. In the last chapter of this volume, he brought in what looks like another major character.

I like it that the title character is an immature jerk. I like the exploration of how different people react to the end of our species, often blaming themselves. So far I'm unimpressed by the Special Forces guard, but she's being left plenty of room to grow. Beautiful, deadly little Miho doesn't belong in this 'realistic' universe. The motivation of the Israeli army burning the research facility escapes me.

I am sufficiently interested in the story that I'll be ordering the second volume. They're available for $9.84 at Buy.com, but I'm supporting my local retailer. (He just had his fifteenth anniversary, and I've been buying comics from him since he opened. )

In the mean time, I've been re-reading my Sin City books, which are rambunctious and loud. Totally different sensibility, and I get dragged along by the story at a hundred miles an hour.

Word on the street is that Quantum and Woody may be coming back into print in the near future.

So yes, there is a reaosn to keep reading comics!

here's another reason to read comics

kurt busiek and stuart immonen's secret identity

Check out LOVECRAFT by Hans Rodionoff and Enrique Breccia it is an astounding piece of work.