I was saddened by the recent death of Elisabeth Sladen who played Sarah Jane in Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Of all the reminiscences online, the one I thought the most touching was by her co-star, Tom Baker.

Dinosaurs: Topless Robot looks at the “10 Most Badass Dinosaurs In Comics.” Something I created made the list, so naturally, I’m linking to it! Thanks to author Jesse Thompson for the shout out.

Royalty: Evan Lewis at Davy Crockett’s Almanack likes Prince Valiant Vol. 2: 1939-1940 from Fantgraphics. “Amazing as the artwork in Volume 1 was, it just keeps getting better.”

Archie: Corey Blake offers up a nice interview with former Archie and Marvel artist Stan Goldberg. Goldberg was the colorist of Fantastic Four #1 and a Goldberg bio or art book is long overdue (looking at you IDW).

Hanes: Michael Hamersky finally discovers Randy Reynaldo’s most excellent Rob Hanes Adventures. “...I've missed reading a really good adventure series comic book run!”

Thor: I’m pleased to see that Marvel’s Thor Omnibus collecting Walter Simonson’s run on the series is looking to be the big tie-in book for the new Thor movie. It’s a pricey read, but it’s a very definitive Thor and simply great comics.

More: And Scoop has a nice interview with Walter about the Omnibus. “I never gave a second thought to collections back when I was doing the comic... I was just trying to write and draw a comic that readers would want to return to, month after month.” He succeeded, big time.

Dilbert: Award-winning sf author John Scalzi weighs in on cartoonist Scott Adams using a pseudonym on the internets to tell everyone how smart he is. “No amount of elaborate self-justification changes the fact you’ve been engaging in sockpuppetry, and sockpuppetry is both obnoxious and sad.”

Fuzzy: And speaking of John Scalzi, he’s rebooting H. Beam Piper’s sf classic Little Fuzzy with an estate-authorized Scalzied version called Fuzzy Nation. It’s getting excellent reviews. Here’s Library Journal interviewing the author.

Spawn: Comic Book Resources takes a look at a new Image title from Szymon Kudranski, called Repulse. The interior pages look like what you’d expect from Szymon: great!

Letters: Fortunately, Beau Smith saves everything, even the letters he got from comic book professionals from back in the day when he wasn’t yet one himself. He’s kind enough to share some of those letters from guys like Mike Carlin, Tom DeFalco, Don Heck and more.

Bongo: Here’s a nice interview with Tone Rodriguez who works on the Simpsons comics (Radioactive Man).

Clowes: The novelist James Reasoner delves into Daniel Clowes’ graphic novel, Wilson. “Bleak or not, this is a well-written book. Clowes’ art is interesting, too, varying from page to page.”

Art: Is there a greater pop culture painter than Robert McGinnis? At least one image is NSFW.

Crime: Peter Rozovsky’s Detectives Beyond Borders has nothing to do with the chain of bankrupt bookstores, but he does have an interesting post about writers that “have fooled us into thinking that usages they made up were, in fact, established terms.” One such writer: Dashiell Hammett. The word? Gunsel. 

And finally, as the world gets ready to yet another royal wedding that will have all the staying power of a DC crossover event, I like what Christopher Hitchens says. I know this has nothing to do with comic books, but I do like reading a writer in top form: “Monarchy, you see, is a hereditary disease that can only be cured by fresh outbreaks of itself.”

Now use your internets responsibly!

[Artwork: Elisabeth Sladen and Jon Pertwee]