Blog Template Update for July
This is the latest monthly update to the left column of the blog, updating my favorite comics and TV for the previous month. The listings are alphabetical, not by rank of how much I liked them in comparison. My criteria for what makes the list is when I read them, not necessarily when they were published.

July was a resurgence for my comics interest. The first week of July was easily the best week of comics in all of 2006, with the debut of Beyond, Occult Crimes Taskforce, Ed Brubaker's Uncanny X-Men, Lansdale/Truman Conan, the second volume of Death Jr. and two quarter books (a gorgeous pin-up celebration from Dark Horse and an intriguing lead-in to the next Hack/Slash), not to mention new volumes of BPRD, Fables, Essential Marvel Universe and Flight. The rest of the month was pretty solid as well, and I had a hard time, for the first time in several months, cutting down my favorites to 20 and 10. Seriously, both were pretty much filled by the second week of July.

This was of course good timing, as it sent me off to Comicon with love in my heart for the medium and less venom in my heart for the industry, just in time. It was not as good of a month for TV, as I filled most of my viewing time with poker games on various channels, and I had to cheat and include one-off Amazing Screw-On Head and Psych (which I've only seen one episode of thus far) to make it to 10. I would almost include Heroes, which I saw at Comicon, but I felt like that was really cheating, since it won't even air on iTunes until September 1st. But definitely check out this show, folks... the haters are already out in force at TV Squad and even Entertainment Weekly, forecasting doom for the show before they've even seen it, and I thought it was a strong pilot with potential to be a great series. Don't let somebody else make your mind up for you... and that includes me, if you hate it, that's cool, but give it a look before you decide.

Plenty of notable first issues this month: Beyond, Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways, Conan & The Songs of the Dead, Death Jr. Vol 2, Elephantmen, Escapists, Jack of Fables, Occult Crimes Taskforce and Wasteland.