* Tom Spurgeon has posted his 2013 Holiday Shopping Guide. Given how few comics attract my attention these days (both because I refuse to put myself through the monthly Previews ordeal and because I have tried to separate myself from much of the "comics culture" over the past year), I found this a particularly useful post. It reminded me that Matt Fraction's Hawkeye was both fun and accessible, so maybe I will take another look at that book at some point. Fraction's an interesting case to me, in that his writing almost always appeals to me, and yet nothing ever seems to stick in my consciousness over the long haul. I suppose there should be a place for disposable comics like that somewhere in my life. On the other end of the spectrum, also recommended in the guide is Peanuts Every Sunday Vol. 1, new from Fantagraphics, reprinting all the Sunday strips in full colour. This is the opposite of disposable comics, absolutely essential and sure to be appreciated by anyone lucky enough to get it as a gift this holiday season.
* Spurge's gift guide promises to be more useful to me in general as comics has become something that I would rather immerse myself in once a year or so rather than every Wednesday, so I know there'll be someone with taste and passion talking about comics in a place I'll remember to look about as often as I can stand to really dig deep. As a bonus, although I don't always agree with Spurgeon on issues relating to comics, I do respect him and his ability to explain his perspective. There aren't many people left writing about comics about whom I can say that.
* Off the top of my head, if you're buying comics-related stuff for holiday gift-giving, you should consider Lance Parkin's Magic Words, the wonderful new hardcover biography of Alan Moore. In addition to the terrific content, it's also a gorgeous little object. Moore and Kevin O'Neill's Nemo: Heart of Ice hardcover published by Top Shelf would make a great gift for the Moore fan who might not have realized the book ties into the expansive League of Extraordinary Gentlemen mythology. And Corpse on the Imjin, the Fantagraphics hardcover collecting Harvey Kurtzman's war comics, would be an awesome gift as well. In the non-comics category, Sol Republic sent along a pair of their JAX earbuds for consideration this holiday season, and my son grabbed them up so quickly I never got to try them. He tells me they sound great, much better than the previous earbuds he was using, and he likes that the cord is tangle-proof. They also come with some kind of setup so they work with your iPhone, but we don't have one, so I can't speak to how that all works.
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