Issue #295 of The Comics Journal is now out online and maybe in a day or two to the stands. Our contributors have several articles in:

• Tom has a great column on a few books that try to breed superheroes with fashion for horrific results. Tom, I sat next to a madcap costume designer friend at the opening of one of his shows, where he bewailed the fact that they’d tea-stained all his costumes to dull the eye-melting colors. Months later, I found out he’s an X-Men fanatic. Hmm.
• Noah with a long article on “Comics in the Closet” and reviews of Zot! (the first paragraph’s a gem) and Donald Dewey’s survey of political cartoons
• My own column on Dousei Jidai (?????by Kamimura Kazuo (????), which is the other great living-in-sin manga from the early 70s, so if you’ve read Red-Colored Elegy, read this. And shorts on the comics movie Independents and Tatsumi’s Good-Bye— I’m still perplexed that it’s Best-Of fodder, read article for why. And I’ll have links & notes for Dousei Jidai on my other blog on Thursday.

Not only that, but I was delighted to see NG SUAT TONG back! He hasn’t lost a step: “Now if this bland listing seems somehow unfair to El Rassi’s artistry, let me assure the reader that the author has none.”

And when did Frank Santoro start doing the minicomics column? This issue? He’s a great choice, and I’m glad to see him there. Frank, welcome, but don’t be surprised if everyone starts assuming everything you say comes from a secret earpiece back to Gary Groth’s command center. (Also glad to see Tender Loving Empire reviewed.)