It's not often I get excited about comics months before they come out...

In many ways, I'm jealous of the fans that can get that excited over things before they have something to hold in their hands.

Today, I kind of feel like them:

• Chris Arrant interviews Kirsten Baldock and Fabio Moon about Smoke & Guns at Newsarama, and it has me really looking forward to the book. The way Baldock describes the book's mix of real-life anecdotes and the strange, off-kilter conceit (the cigarette girls are the only ones who can sell cigarettes, and are grouped together in ways reminiscent of street gangs) is enough to get me interested, and Moon's artwork absolutely seals the deal. Arrant's interview isn't one of those long, flowing and probing interviews I recently wrote about, but it's short and punchy, and should (I hope) pique the interest of others as it has piqued mine.

• While Heidi had the first Farel Dalrymple Omega the Unknown image, I think, Newsarama has the benefit of having all sorts of knee-jerk reaction to Dalrymple's art. While many people seem turned off by the only image released for the series (and some, too, about "yet another non-comics writer getting work when comics writers should be working," or whatever), the idea of a Lethem and Dalrymple comic is still getting me excited.

God, excitement. And boy, did I need some excitement--puppy-sitting is getting to me. Honestly, I'm miserable about it, as I spent the entire weekend with the dog (a six-month-old St. Bernard), and I've grown quite fond of him and I'm really, really dreading his departure this Wednesday (although Petey, Jessie and Odie will be more than happy to have the status quo returned, so there's that small comfort).

In other link-type things:

• Comic Book Galaxy is having yet another contest, giving away a copy of The R. Crumb Handbook. So, if you're eligible, go and enter--it's a gorgeous book.

• Matt Maxwell has another School of Hard Knocks up at the Isotope Forum, this time on the subject of finding collaborators. I like a lot of what he has to say on this, specifically regarding professionalism:

I’m also not likely to hire you if your screen name is something like D3ATHM0NGR99 or FUH_Q or any other infantile combination of characters. Sorry. I’m just not that punk rock.

I’m not going to hire you if you bag on your own work by calling your portfolio “My crap” or “More crap drawings”. If you don’t respect yourself enough to present yourself in at least a moderately professional manner, you’re probably not ready for the demands of a schedule.

Am I judgmental? Probably. But you know what? I’m taking this seriously. If you aren’t, too, then I don’t have the time to waste on you. You want to waste your own time? That’s great. Go right ahead. But I’m not going to pay for you to waste my time.

Much of what he says is relevant to writers beyond just the finding an artist part--like aspiring comics artists, where "95% of the people with portfolios there weren’t ready for professional work," the same goes for writers (or, more broadly, any creative types). I tend to shudder any time I hear or read someone saying how people just don't get their "brilliance" or "genius." It's kind of like "honesty"--if someone has to shout about his or her honesty through a megaphone, there's a strong chance he or she isn't that honest at all.

• While many message boards have already suggested that Graeme McMillan is a loser, he's decided to go public and admit it in the headline to his latest column.

But if he's a loser, I'm a loser, too.

• God, I'd rather be reading Carter Beats The Devil than working. Or blogging, even. From now on, I will buy every book McMillan suggests that I read (including the Vowell and Kamen books he suggests in the previous link).

• David P. Welsh seemed to really like When I'm Old And Other Stories, so I don't feel so bad for pushing so many comics down his pants a few weeks ago in Pittsburgh.