For the entire cast, check out UGO.

He may have worked with Count Basie and Frank Sinatra, but jazz composer Neal Hefti will likely be best remembered for a piece of music: The Batman Theme. Hefti passed away last week at the age of 85. You can find his obit in the Washington Post here.

Not only did Hefti create The Batman Theme, but he also was responsible for another classic TV tune, The Odd Couple Theme.

(Sadly, we spent like a half-hour looking for the “nanananana fishing” clip from The Simpsons, but couldn’t find it. Shame.)

FYI: The above album is actually still available from Amazon.

UPDATE:

Posted by Mark Coale.

Our first Halloween art comes from Raina Telgemeier, artist of the Babysitter’s Club GNs for Scholastic. Even more excitingly, it’s just been announced that her webcomic Smile has been picked up by Scholastic, to be published in full color.

Observers who follow executive moves at the Big Two are buzzing this afternoon over word that James “Ski” Sokolowski is ankling DC for Marvel, where he’ll take the position of COO. He was director of Publishing Operations at DC. Ski is already a well-known industry figure from his first go-round at Marvel, back in the pre-Jemas days. He’s also worked at Curtis and High Times.

Linda Lee, who was formerly Director - International Business Development for DC has also left in recent weeks for a position at Nickelodeon.

Are Scandinavian comics the next big thing? We’re not sure if a big thing is even possible anymore, but they are one of the freshest, funniest new waves of comics out there, and the scene is definitely producing some amazing young artists who will make a mark in the future. However, the cartoonists that are already here are pretty good, too. You know we worship at the alter of laconic Norwegian adventure poet Jason, but we also laugh at the zen antics of the Dongery crew (also from Norway), who always make a strong showing at SPX. Plus, Top Shelf has just released FROM THE SHADOW OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS, the first ever English anthology of Swedish comics.

Then there’s Martin Kellerman’s ROCKY, one of the most popular comic strips in Sweden, but don’t take that as damning with faint praise…it’s a lovingly savage look at slacker life that translates very well, using an anthropomorphic cast of characters. Fantagraphics released a volume of ROCKY reprints back in 2005, and a new one is on its way. To pave the way, Fantagraphics is running Rocky online DAILY.. You must sign up for the FBI site, but it’s FREE and it is WORTH IT! Skoal! Now no signup is needed! Just go and enjoy.

Fritz The Cat meets Jane Austen!?! This mostly autobiographical daily strip details the rudely hilarious travails of a young cartoonist and his layabout pals and neurotic girlfriends. Basically, it’s the pottymouthed animal-headed Seinfeld-esque comic strip we’ve all come to love. A smash hit in its native Sweden, presented in English for the first time. Join us Monday through Friday for a new daily strip, with a rolling archive of a week’s worth of strips. (If you’re eagle-eyed you might notice the occasional gap in the numerical sequence; a few of the original strips have Swedish cultural references that don’t translate for non-Swedes, so we’ve omitted them.)

Bonus: Our own interview with Kellerman from 2005.

Today’s Must Read: Yaoi Press publisher Yamila Abraham explains the reality:

1. OEL manga must sell much better than licensed titles to be successful, because it’s at least 3 times more expensive to publish. It is absolutely cheaper to license manga than to produce OEL works. The idea that companies were making their own graphic novels in order to save money is a myth. It’s cheaper and easier to license titles than to create them from scratch.

2. Unfortunately, opportunities for OEL manga creators are almost zero in the USA right now. A sad fact is that OEL manga that sold well, even as well as licensed titles, were still publishing money-pits. There is no incentive for publishers to continue taking chances on relatively expensive new talent.

3. Large publishers which still appear to have calls for OEL submissions are actually looking for licensed properties. Not licenses from Japan. They want to do manga adaptions of Dean Koontz novels, or manga based on CSI. This is why the encourage artists to submit far more than writers. They don’t want writers submitting their unproven original ideas. They want artists to draw the ‘Star Wars’ manga, etc.

These three pessimistic points are the reality right now. All of us on the industry side of OEL know it.

Abraham goes on to explain how Yaoi Press has kept going, despite the yaoi glut, via hard work and knowing their audience.

[Link via Brigid]

Mike Fiffe’s historical webcomic, CUBA, is heating up at ACT-I-VATE, we’re told.

Glitter twins Dean Haspiel and Jonathan Ames will be appearing tonight at 7:00 pm at the Barnes & Noble Tribeca, 97 Warren St. (at Greenwich St.), where they will talk and doubtless celebrate their New York Times review:

It should be noted, for the faint of heart or easily offended, that “The Alcoholic” is unflinching in its depiction of sexual situations and drug use. Some are comical, like Jonathan’s first attempts at intimacy (however fleeting), while others are disturbing, as when he wakes up in a garbage can, naked, after a cocaine-fueled night with a gay drug dealer.

Another Euro comic has been optioned for an American movie, this time, Alexis Nolent and Colin Wilson’s HEADSHOT, or “Du plomb dans la tête,” as it is known in its native France. This is the third of Nolent’s BDs to be optioned by an American company, so he must either be a very hot property or have a great agent. The film will be produced by Alexandra Milchan and “Smallville” creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.

In “Headshot,” an unlikely alliance between a cop and a hitman takes place after each watches his partner die. The new partners seek revenge and discover they have a shared enemy and much in common despite being on opposite sides of the law.

Deal marks the second Nolent title for WB and Milchan. The studio is developing “Cyclops” as a directing vehicle for James Mangold, with Cathy Konrad producing with Milchan. Milchan also is producing an adaptation of Nolent’s “The Killer” at Paramount for David Fincher to direct.

• As you have probably heard by now, Oscar® nominee Don Cheadle has replaced Oscar® nominee Terrence Howard in the role of James “Rhodey/War Machine” Rhodes in Iron Man 2:

One scene featured Howard looking at a silver suit of armor and saying “Next time,” a line that caused great delight for fans.

But there will be no next time for Howard.

Marvel had no comment, but sources close to the deal said negotiations with Howard fell through over financial differences, among other reasons. Marvel, which had wanted to work with Cheadle, then decided to take the role in another direction and approached the actor, who is shooting Antoine Fuqua’s “Brooklyn’s Finest” with Richard Gere and Ethan Hawke.

Rhodes is expected to play a larger part in the sequel, which is rumored to go beyond high-tech villains. Justin Theroux is writing the screenplay.

Hm…Marvel’s legendary budget tightening appears again? Chances of a War Machine spin-off were definitely there for the popular movie, but Howard played hardball, and it fell through. Would we be stinky if we noted that Cheadle is a bit on the shortish side to wear a giant suit?

Via an ad for mattress giant Sleepy’s, which somehow involves a benefit for the American Cancer Society:

If Dr. Bruce Banner gets a bad night’s sleep, he’ll get angry…and you know what happens next. Luckily, a starred-and-striped hero in nightshirt and cap—the whimsical mascot of Sleepy’s, The Mattress Professionals—is there to calm the bad-tempered Hulk with a super-comfortable mattress. That’s how the artists of famed Marvel Comics tell it in a comic book produced exclusively for Sleepy’s. The comic, available at nearly 700 Sleepy’s stores across the Northeast, is a result of a partnership that began with this summer’s blockbuster hit The Incredible Hulk.

Sleepy’s is donating one hundred percent of the proceeds from comic sales to the American Cancer Society (ACS).

What is the Rhino doing in there, anyway?

Andy Mangels sends us a novel-length press release on Wonder Woman Day, a day of benefits for domestic violence shelters & crisis lines. It will be held in Portland, OR and Flemington, NJ. Adam Hughes, Allison Sohn, Gail Simone, and others will be appearing at the Portland benefit, while Neil Vokes, James Fiorentino, Rob Kramer, and Chris Muller will be in NJ:

One of the most recognizable female icons in the world, Wonder Woman debuted in American comic books during World War II, and was the super-heroic star of a popular television series in the 1970s. Now, for the third year in a row, the heroine brandishes her Amazon bracelets and golden lasso as a star-spangled symbol for a charity benefit for Portland’s most protective domestic violence shelters - Raphael House and Bradley-Angle House - and the Portland Women’s Crisis Line. Excalibur Comics will host “Wonder Woman Day” on Sunday, October 26th from 12noon to 6pm. The free all-ages event will include a quartet of comic book creators signing Wonder Woman comics and special art prints, as well as a silent art auction with over 150 of the world’s top artists contributing original art, plus costumed super-heroes on-site, raffles and prizes, rare memorabilia, and more!

Additionally, a second “Wonder Woman Day” benefit will take place on Sunday, October 26th, in Flemington, NJ, at Comic Fusion, as part of their “Super-Hero Weekend.” This East Coast event will benefit Safe in Hunterdon, a domestic violence shelter in New Jersey.

Full Event Details:

Wonder Woman Day III (Portland)
Sunday, October 26, 2008 - 12noon-6pm, FREE
Excalibur Comics, 2444 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, Oregon
An ALL AGES benefit and celebration for Domestic Violence shelters and Crisis Line!
Proceeds Of The Event To Benefit:
Raphael House Of Portland * Bradley-Angle House * Portland Women’s Crisis Line
A Part Of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Wonder Woman Day III (New Jersey)
Sunday, October 26, 2007 - 12noon-5pm, FREE
Comic Fusion, 42 Main St., Flemington, New Jersey
Proceeds Of The Event To Benefit:
Safe In Hunterdon Of Hunterdon County, New Jersey

We’ve been ranting and raving about quality and so on for the last week or two, and while each reader must make his or her own decision, the role of the critic/trusted source is an important one for some. Noah Berlatsky is a critic/blogger we’ve quoted here many times, and while we don’t always agree with him, at least he argues his opinions well. And then he comes up with something that is just… well, enough to shatter your assumptions, like this review of the first volume of 100 BULLETS by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso:

I was pretty disappointed, though. In the first place, Eduardo Risso’s art is lousy. The figures are stiff, the anatomy is shaky, the layouts are cluttered and confusing, and the coloring (by Grant Goleash) is more muddy than moody. If you’re going for stylish noir, it’s really important that the art be…well, stylish. You want Alex Toth or Howard Chaykin; bold blacks and whites, dramatic page design — the art should scream sex and danger and class. Risso just doesn’t have the chops. I mean, look at that page below. [Update: Johnny B in comments notes that the cover below is not by Risso (who I still don’t like), but rather by Dave Johnson (who,apparently, I like even less.)]

Well, first off, we can understand not liking Risso’s work, but…lousy? Shaky figure work? Really?

9The above page is not from 100 BULLETS, BTW, it’s from Eduardo Risso’s TALES OF TERROR, a reprint of his Argentinian comics. Maybe he got a lot better later on.

Okay, I can understand not LIKING Risso’s art, but saying his art isn’t moody? Debatable. However, not knowing the difference between Eduardo Risso and Dave Johnson? That’s enough to shatter one’s illusions. Berlatsky, you need to spend some time in the woodshed. (We would agree that that’s not Johnson’s best cover ever, however.)
§ Speaking of Azzarello, Jog reviews the new Azzarello/Bermejo JOKER graphic novel:

I liked this book good enough. It’s a sturdy piece of trans-genre craftsmanship, getting the job done with a minimum of fuss and a few worthwhile dabs of inspiration. I suspect it’ll go over really well with a lot of superhero readers, and maybe attract a few curious bookstore browsers. It’s ’serious’ in a comic-book-superhero-characters-are-serious-business way, ‘realistic’ via the ‘less funny costumes, more pulpy drama’ tradition, and ‘grim’ in a manner that nonetheless accommodates underworld lifers who never use the really dirty cuss words and slimy strip joints in which no nipples are visible at any time. Hey: the movie was PG-13 too.

UPDATE: Vulture now has a preview of JOKER up; we may be ignorant bloggers, but it sure looks sharp.

§ ICV2 reports that, bowing to retailer pressure, DC will publish a SPIRIT movie tie-in, of sorts:

DC Comics is rush soliciting The Spirit Special #1, a 32-page, full color collection of four classic Will Eisner stories intended to introduce modern readers to Eisner’s timeless creation, which is the subject of the Frank Miller movie debuting on Christmas Day. The Spirit Special #1 (cover price $2.99) ships to retail on November 19th and has a final order cutoff date of October 30th.

DC’s Vice President of Sales Bob Wayne noted that DC was “pleased to offer this Special based on suggestions made at the Diamond Retailer Summit in Las Vegas. This issue will be a great way to introduce curious customers to The Spirit as the movie gets closer.”

§ This week’s DC mailer also include the following “You don’t say” news release:

Please note that THE GUARDIANS OF METROPOLIS SPECIAL #1 (SEP080140) and THE GUARDIANS OF METROPOLIS SPECIAL #1 Variant Edition (SEP080141) will arrive in stores with the new title ADVENTURE COMICS SPECIAL FEATURING THE GUARDIAN #1. This is “New Krypton” part 3 of 9, written by James Robinson, with art by Pere Perez, a cover by Aaron Lopresti and a variant cover by Victor Ibánez.

At least there is no colon in the title.

§ Laura Hudson previews the just out COMIC FOUNDRY #4 with The Quotable Comic Foundry:

“I didn’t so much become a Muslim as discover I already was one. There is a passage in the Koran that describes a very personal belief I held growing up, one I had never articulated to anyone, and there it was spelled out in this 1,400-year-old document. That, let me tell you, was like getting hit in the face with a shovel. Nothing was the same afterwards.”
-G. Willow Wilson

§ J.K. Parkin interviews Faith Erin Hicks on her just-released THE WAR AT ELLSMERE:

JK: When did you decide you wanted to make comics for a living?

Faith: I … uh, don’t yet make comics for a living. Maybe someday! That’s a question I ask any full-time cartoonist I happen to bump into: how do you make a living wage doing this? So far the answers have been varied. And the term “living wage” gets me laughed at a lot. Not many make a living wage.

§ Darcey McLaughlin at the Miramichi Leader looks at the top five Native American characters in comics:

In fact, there is a great book called Native Americans in Comic Books by Michael A. Sheyahshe that takes a critical look at the role of Natives in comics. Well worth the read.

Still, there are some great Native characters out there that many people may not know about. So today I thought we’d take a look at five of those characters.

§ They are casting for a comic book movie in Guam.

From the Corrections & Amplifications page at the Wall Street Journal:

Tintin is a Belgian comic-book hero. A page-one article on Monday incorrectly described the nationality as French.

Well, old ENGLISH Huckleberry Hound: The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive reprints some Huck comics from a 1964 British comics weekly.

The interesting thing about this piece isn’t so much the quality of the artwork… it’s pretty generic… it’s the quantity of it. I eliminated a few pages of puzzles, games and stories, but the majority of the sheets are devoted to large, full-page comic stories. You would never see such a generous collection of comics in a publication that sells for as little as this today. But there is wisdom behind the generosity… The best way to get kids to watch the Huckleberry Hound Show (and buy Kelloggs cereal) is to engage them with the characters and situations. What better way to do that than a loss-leader newsstand comic?

What’s interesting to US is that all those dinky panels are clearly where Chris Ware and Ivan Brunetti stole their styles from. ‘Fess up, boys!*

*Note: this is a joke. It is unlikely that either cartoonist was influenced by 1964 British children’s comics.

Dear Beat Faithful, it’s almost that time again when witches and goblins cavort amidst sexy policewomen and the 456th Jason mask shows up on your doorstep and demands candy.

To get into the spirit of the season, we’d like to get Beat supporters in on the act. If you’re an artist with some Halloween art kicking around, send us a link or a JPG. If you send a JPG, make sure you send your website. We’ll post the results every day at the witching hour…6 pm!

You know the email…make sure you put “Halloween” in the title so poor Old Beat’s brain doesn’t get too befuddled.

Cartoonist and SVA teacher Nick Bertozzi posts the results of some homework. His comics storytelling class was assigned the test of adapting a story by O. Henry. The results can now be seen at the O. Henry Anthology.

It’s an interesting exercise to click through the various stories; SVA turns out lots of future cartoonists and comics pros every year. Is there one lurking in this anthology? We spotted one person who will someday be working for Marvel or DC but we also think that JJ Marik (left) is just about ready for some indie anthologies.

Via Chris Mautner.

The embers of the most recent battle over “What is good?” are cooling to ash, and our own humor-based comment found a cold reception. To be honest, I don’t quite understand why calling poor comics poor, whether they be superhero, indie, kiddie, or “mainstream,” is always taken as a personal attack. I thought that would be left to the artists who are called poor, not the readers of the genre the work belongs to. But such is not the case.

And of course, reading crappy comics or watching crappy movies or reading crappy blogs doesn’t make you a crappy person, and it’s a free country, and blah blah. But that doesn’t mean it’s safe to always give crappiness a free pass. Yesterday, economist Paul Krugman was awarded the Nobel Prize, and while I’m about as capable of understanding his theories of free trade as I am quantum physics, many people pointed to his post Supply, Demand, and English Food as an example of his thinking. Basically, he asks, why was English food, until the past 10 or 12 years, so dreadful? The reason. Krugman argues, goes back to swift Victorian industrialization, and the difficulty of transporting fresh food to rapidly expanding urban centers. However, British food remained suspect for years and years past the point where decent ingredients became available…and Krugman’s answer is somewhat germane to the discussion here, I think:

For the answer is surely that by the time it became possible for urban Britons to eat decently, they no longer knew the difference. The appreciation of good food is, quite literally, an acquired taste–but because your typical Englishman, circa, say, 1975, had never had a really good meal, he didn’t demand one. And because consumers didn’t demand good food, they didn’t get it. Even then there were surely some people who would have liked better, just not enough to provide a critical mass.

And then things changed. Partly this may have been the result of immigration. (Although earlier waves of immigrants simply adapted to English standards–I remember visiting one fairly expensive London Italian restaurant in 1983 that advised diners to call in advance if they wanted their pasta freshly cooked.) Growing affluence and the overseas vacations it made possible may have been more important–how can you keep them eating bangers once they’ve had foie gras? But at a certain point the process became self-reinforcing: Enough people knew what good food tasted like that stores and restaurants began providing it–and that allowed even more people to acquire civilized taste buds.

Only last week, I was bowling with the family in Waterville, Maine. Future Mr. Beat, who is English, was happy to discover that at the alley they had one of the fine local brews on tap: Casco Bay Riptide. He was so happy that he remarked to the barkeep on how excellent the brew was. She replied, “It is, but no one drinks it. Everyone likes Bud LIght.”

At the risk of not only being branded a snob, but an INTERNATIONALIST snob, I have to mention here that FMB, who is nothing if not a beer aficionado, will not under any circumstances drink Bud LIght because it is vile, an opinion which I share. Interestingly, Budweiser is drunk in Europe, but it is nothing like the brew sold in the US…that brand of puddle water would never sell in England or Europe. It’s not that they don’t have their crappy frat beers in England, like Carllng, but that they are just better — by every objective and subjective measure — than our crappy frat beers. What this says about America and our standards doesn’t keep me up at night….but plenty of other examples of the like that don’t involve alcohol do.

Anyway, are comic books like beer…or even food? Not exactly; however, I do believe that when presented with an endless expanse of poor fare, one will eventually forget what a superior example of art is like. All of us need to remind ourselves on a regular basis of how great comics can be, and demand better quality in our beer, food, AND entertainment. And that’s what I’ll endeavor to do, in my own imperfect way.

Chris Butcher investigates the ASP/Kunoichi/DDP situation and asks the question everyone is thinking: What about MOUSE GUARD?

I guess what I’m getting at here is that it’s fascinating that the crown jewel of the ASP line hasn’t been mentioned in any of these discussions; it’s the elephant in the room with an army of tiny adorable mice riding its back. If someone told me all 9 issues of Mouse Guard published to date sold more than every other comic book ASP has published combined, I wouldn’t even blink–I certainly know that’s true for us at the store, in our limited experience. I’d go so far as to say that the vast majority of the reason one would want ASP, and demand partial ownership of all of their properties, is solely to get a hold of Mouse Guard.

According to Butcher (and corroborated by some conversations we’ve had with various folks associated with the transaction), ASP’s deals, while very favorable to the creator, also have a no-compete clause which would prevent properties from being taken elsewhere. Butcher notes that MOUSE GUARD creator David Petersen hasn’t updated his blog in a while…or produced an issue of Mouse Guard since February, 2008. Considering that the book is a top seller for ASP, and has sold briskly for Random House, this could be…a problem, especially if the Kunoichi sale asks for a bunch of rights that Petersen doesn’t wnat to give up. Or as Butcher puts it:

- What if that “Industry Standard Contract” was a lie, in an industry with Image, or First Second Books, or even Villard (with whom you’re already working)? Where not every publisher demands those rights from you? In fact, factoring mainstream book publishers, most pubs don’t make those requests of you.

Ya gotta say one thing for DJ Coffman…he’s persistent. The former Platinum Studios cheerleader has turned into an implacable foe, reporting on every up and down of the company. Now, it seems, the recently acquireed Wowio is still late on payments to creators:

The money troubles and bad PR continued as their recently “acquired” Wowio.com are way late on paying the creators and authors from there. (56 days as of this post I guess) There are many authors talking to one another and I’m kept in the loop. I see some have contacted lawyers now, which Wowio is aware of because it was reported that the legal eagles who represent Wowio were contacted. So yeah, that’s turning into a major headache for people… it’s a shame. It’s not really effecting me, but I do know some creators who had their earnings in upcoming budgets for things and they’re left hanging with no communication or clarification.

MEANWHILE, Todd Allen has a much longer look at Wowio’s original business plan:

The first objection from the publishers is to the non-guaranteed availability of these free/sponsored ebook downloads. Chris Crosby is widely quoted as calling the availability of those downloads “a crapshoot.” Yes, telling people to go to Wowio and get a free download, but not knowing if it will be really be free is a questionable business practice. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard any comments on what percentage of the time sponsored downloads are available. I did go to the Wowio site and downloaded the first issue of The Trouble with Girls, which was kindly sponsored by EA Sports and Madden NFL ‘09. This is where that trust issue comes into play. There are a lot of vocal publishers that don’t trust Platinum to maintain sponsorships 24/7. Alas, until you’ve watched it for a few months and tracked availability, making a judgment on sponsorships is problematic. If they have sponsorships up 95%, this might not be such a big deal. If 50% is closer to reality, you might have second thoughts about promoting your work there.

Yesterday, we reported on DMP manga cancellations. Today, we report on Anime News Network’s report of revised release dates. Only one title is postponed with no new date; however, most of them are delayed until “late 2009″…which is, technically speaking, a while.

§ We thought we would never, ever again link to an SPX report, but Ed Siemienkowicz’s is the “Birth of a Nation” of SPX reports, with photos of every single joy and despair, from the high of karaoke to the miseries of no cabs coming. This is what it is like.
§ Noah Berlatsky reviews the comics of David Heatley:

The piece I read was “My Sexual History,” a story in which David lists (virtually) all of his sexual experiences, from pulling on a friend’s penis as a five-year old to rear-entry intercourse with his pregnant wife as an adult. David has, as it happens, had a lot of sex, and to fit it all in to fifteen pages he resorts to an 8 X 6 grid, with 48 tiny panels per page. This is an unfortunate choice for a cartoonist whose main strength is layout and design. Given a little space, David’s capable of striking illustrations, where complex images and colors resolve into a harmonious whole — as, for example, in his striking cover for My Brain is Hanging Upside Down, his new anthology for Pantheon. Forced to shoehorn his work into repetitive miniscule borders, though, David has to rely on his draftsmanship and character design, which means that what you get is standard, ugly, unstylish alterna-art.

§ Rob Clough reviews the new THE BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2008:

As one might expect, the choices here are rather eclectic, and are taken from a number of different sources. As befits an artist with such a long history in independent/alternative weeklies, there are strips here from Derf, Kaz, Matt Groening, and Alison Bechdel. A number of stories are reprinted straight from minicomics. Barry also had a way of rooting out interesting stories that weren’t widely seen by many comics fans. Chris Ware’s Thanksgiving covers for the New Yorker is one example, David Axe & Steve Olexa’s WAR FIX excerpt is another, and Kevin Pyle’s BLINDSPOT excerpt is a third.

§ Richard Gehr writes about the Lynda Barry/Matt Groening summit at the New Yorker Festival:

“Sometime,” said Barry, “I think the only art left for us is slowly peeling a label off a beer bottle while somebody tells you about a dream they had.” This statement served three functions: 1) It made us laugh, 2) it undermined any pretensions you might attribute to the speaker, and 3) it happened to be a fairly profound metaphor for the state of consciousness Barry believes all us artist/writer wannabes need to attain. It’s the way our critical facilities relax while hearing a joke (like the one Barry told us about snoring and testicles) or when plunging into the so-called “Cereal State of Mind,” defined by Barry as the trance a kid enters into while reading the list of ingredients on a box of breakfast.

Somehow or other, someone indicated that Vertigo has revamped its landing page. We haven’t been there in a while, so maybe this happened months ago. Anyway, it does look nice.