Upcoming on Fourth Rail:
Time for my monthly update on what's coming from me on Fourth Rail in the future (both near and far). This is roughly in order of when I expect to get to them, but pay careful attention to the "roughly" in that sentence.

*Another Indy Spotlight (Comic Pulp Vol. 1, Rocket Rabbit 1, The Calling, Something So Familiar, The Wandering Schoolgirl, Nothing Left to Lose) - Next week, maybe?

*Speakeasy Focus (The Hunger TPB (due next week, I believe), The Living & The Dead OGN, Parting Ways OGN, Adventures of Bio-Boy #1, Spellgame #1-2, Ellium Vol. 1, Super-Crazy TNT Blast #1, Helios: In With The New #1, Elk's Run Compilation and maybe a couple more) - Expect this one about a week after The Hunger TPB comes out, so probably mid-November

*Manga Spotlight (Rising Stars of Manga Vol. 5, Steady Beat, I Luv Halloween, Naoki Urusawa's Monster (running late), Japan v.1, The Monkey King v.1) - Waiting on Monster's release, which at this point may be late November or early December... if it's later than that, I'll probably run this without it

*Another First Issue Spotlight (The Lonely Tombstone, Giant Monster, Army of Darkness vs. Reanimator #1, Robotika Preview, Zombie Tales: Oblivion, Season of the Witch, Black Harvest plus whatever first issues come in between now and this feature) - I'd like to hit these earlier, but if all the other spotlights come through, it seems likely it'll probably be first or second week in December

*Another Mini-Comics Spotlight (Red Ice, Happy Birthday Anyway, Styx Taxi: As Above, So Below, 3 from Rob Croonenborghs) - Probably late December, want to wait until I get a couple more submissions if possible - I suppose I might pick some up at Wizard World Texas, which might move this up

*Graphic Novel reviews including some or all of: Tales of Supernatural Law v.1, Off-Road, Ring of Roses, Hack/Slash Vol. 1, Faceless: A Terry Sharp Story, Indigo Vertigo, NYC Mech Vol. 1, Zombieworld: Winter's Dregs, Sea of Red Vol. 1, Runoff 2, Decoy Menagerie, Humor Can Be Funny, Full Moon Fever, 2 Sisters, The Ride, Tozzer 2, Electric Girl 3, Ronin Hood of the 47 Samurai, Wings of Anansi, And The Sky Turned White, Ojo, The Legend of Wild Man Fischer, Hutch Owen: Unmarketable!, The Groo Odyssey and The Irregulars - I try to hit some of these on a weekly basis

*Series spotlights (Raider 1-3, Cocopiazo #1-4, Students of the Unusual #2-6, Penguin Books' Treasure Island, The Wizard of Oz and MacBeth) - I'm trying to work these in on lighter weeks... which I don't seem to have anymore

*Book Reviews (whenever I get time to read them) including: Foul Play! (The Art and Artists of EC Comics), Path of the Just/Path of the Bold, Will Eisner: A Spirited Life, I Was Someone Dead, Superman On The Couch, Hellboy: Odder Jobs - These will probably take some time

That is, of course, in addition to all the stuff that comes into my house and my comics shop on a weekly basis. I'll be done with the "spotlight" stuff by the end of the year, but some of the books and graphic novels (and maybe some of the series) will probably roll on into 2006. Once again, my apologies to those who send me stuff that you often have to wait for the reviews, hopefully they're worth it (positive or negative) when they do hit.

On top of this, I'll be doing my weekly "Recommended Reading" columns, which I hope everyone is enjoying. I'm certainly enjoying the shift in format that writing those columns offers, and would like to thank Johanna Draper Carlson for the inspiration, as she's been doing it in Comics Worth Reading for years. Up next in these columns are: Runaways, Fables, Solo, True Story Swear to God, Age of Bronze and Usagi Yojimbo, which will take us into mid-December.