Creator: Mike Dawson Publishing Information: Self-Published, mini-comics, 40 pages, 2010, $5 Ordering Numbers: There was a wonderful moment -- for me -- in the fourth issue of Mike Dawson's Troop 142 comic book when a fat kid scrapes his chest on a wooden pier while falling back into the water from which he was trying to extricate himself. This specific instance is something that happened to me several times, but as tends to the case with the best moments of recognition in fiction this was not something I recalled until I saw Dawson's comic. The strange thing about Dawson's series is that despite being one of the few comics I can recall using a camp as its setting, which one might think a place instantly recognizable to most people, a lot of his focus is on very specific experiences. These experiences were not my own. Its setting is a Boy Scout camp rather than a YMCA camp, campers stay in tents instead of cabins, there is a lot of downtime (and ability to get into trouble) rather than very little (and almost none), the programs serve as an extension of the troop experience back home instead of as a getaway experience, and the "counselors" on hand are a mix of fathers and familiar-to-the-kids youth leaders as opposed to the happy and cliquish high schoolers we were asked to emulate and admire. So instead of revisiting my own experience or seeing something brand new, reading previous issues felt like I stepped off the wrong bus. Luckily, a chest scrape is always a chest scrape, and on this fourth try I was able to settle into the comic. Dawson's comics tend to mine humor out of putting on display in the full flower of their stupidity the grand plans of unambitious dopes. As might be expected, the camp setting seems to support that kind of thing very well, and as a series of comedic set pieces it's a stronger than average comic book. I've had two problems with the story as I become more absorbed into its rhythms. The first is that the whole thing feels suffused with an antic, artificial energy as if the characters know they're the subject of a story and act accordingly. This isn't a totally foreign feeling at summer camp: I think kids spent most of the early '80s pretending they were in Meatballs. It's just that the relentlessness of it here made it harder to feel for the characters because they don't seem to have a life beyond the pull of the narrative. The second is that there's a bit of message-making here, including a clumsily-handled fireside chat about atheism and the scouts where you can almost hear the studio audience hiss their disapproval at one of the major characters involved. I'm reminded that Dawson's last work, Freddie and Me improved greatly by reading the whole book -- Dawson's stuffed plotlines take you from one place to another and make the journey feel significant. In that spirit, I'll reserve judgment until Final Campfire.

July 30 * If I Were In Athens, I'd Go To This July 31 * If I Were In Portland, I'd Go To This * If I Were In Oxford, I'd Go To This August 1 * If I Were In Oxford, I'd Go To This August 6 * If I Were In Pittsburgh, I'd Go To This August 7 * If I Were In London, I'd Go To This * If I Were In Pittsburgh, I'd Go To This * If I Were In Sydney, I'd Go To This August 8 * If I Were In Pittsburgh, I'd Go To This * If I Were In Sydney, I'd Go To This August 18 * If I Were In London, I'd Go To This August 21 * If I Were In MN, I'd Go To This August 28 * If I Were In Baltimore, I'd Go To This August 29 * If I Were In Baltimore, I'd Go To This September 10 * If I Were In DC, I'd Go To This * If I Were In The UK, I'd Go To This * If I Were Near Bethesda, I'd Go To This * If I Were In Helsinki, I'd Go To This September 11 * If I Were In The UK, I'd Go To This * If I Were In DC, I'd Go To This * If I Were Near Bethesda, I'd Go To This * If I Were In Helsinki, I'd Go To This September 12 * If I Were In The UK, I'd Go To This * If I Were In DC, I'd Go To This * If I Were Near Bethesda, I'd Go To This * If I Were In Helsinki, I'd Go To This September 23 * If I Were In Hamburg, I'd Go To This September 24 * If I Were In Hamburg, I'd Go To This September 25 * If I Were In Boston, I'd Go To This * If I Were In Hamburg, I'd Go To This October 1 * If I Were In Poland, I'd Go To This October 2 * If I Were In Poland, I'd Go To This October 3 * If I Were In Poland, I'd Go To This October 8 * If I Were In NYC, I'd Go To This October 9 * If I Were In NYC, I'd Go To This October 10 * If I Were In NYC, I'd Go To This October 30 If I Were In Salem, I'd Go To This if you don't see your event above,

* sorry about the erratic posting recently; I've been on vacation. Okay, not really. That's an awesome-looking place, though. * Johanna Draper Carlson is first out of the gate with an analysis of the difficulties facing the probably-about-to-be-euthanized Friends Of Lulu advocacy organization. * not comics: the hobby business and news analysis site ICv2.com brings word of various licensing announcements for Phil Foglio's Girl Genius property, another seeming success story for the open initial release model made possible by the Internet. * not comics: I think the language of this post about Top Cow teaming with a film company to develop a property will become commonplace as more and more comics companies contribute to the development end of things. * I quite enjoyed the idea behind this essay from Michael Cavna, connecting John Callahan to Harvey Pekar as favorite-son cartoonists linked to specific places. * wait, the Hero Initiative charity is using a budget person whose name they don't know? * the funny thing about Therese O'Neill's article on graphic novels for people who hate comics is that as much as I like the books she recommends, the one I want to read most is the imaginary bad one she describes in the first paragraph. It sounds awesome. * finally, several of you sent along this Wil Wheaton essay about Comic-Con from over at Techland. He has more of an investment in nerd culture as its own thing than I do, but it's an intriguing point of view.

Will DnA's galactic epic spin into a space-bound team of Earth's Mightiest Heroes? We ask the writers about that and much more - plus an exclusive preview of Thanos Imperative #3.

For the last six years, Brian Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim series has been one of the most important comic books on the market. Not necessarily for it's artistic contributions to the medium, but because of the sheer amount of commercial success it's received. Now with the release of the final volume and a movie less than a month away, Scott Pilgrim fever has taken over the country yet again.

Taskmaster spent years training the world's most dangerous villains how to kill, but when a rumor hits the streets that he is working for Steve Rogers, the deadly assassin finds himself the target of a billion dollar bounty hunt!

This week turned out to be a significant one as we see new Batman, X-Men, Green Lantern and Avengers releases in the wake of Comic-Con. Our crew assembles to give their thoughts on the final books of July 2010.

IGN reviews Fear Agent #28.

Creator: Julia Gfrörer Publishing Information: Sparkplug Comic Books, comic book, 40 pages, 2010, $6 Ordering Numbers: This is my first encounter with the Portland artist's comics work, although I'd been made aware of her web site through casual mentions here and there on the Internet from various peers. One of Sparkplug Comic Books' individual issues that almost look like historical recreations in this alt-comics light era, Flesh and Bone tells the story of a witch who reunites a man with his deceased love. Gfrorer manages to walk that thin line between piercing right down to the motivational core of her characters and leaving some doubt as to important nuances of behavior that might help us decide what happened and why. I don't know if our ostensible lead feels actual affection for the love-lost man or is just lonely in general; I don't know if the cruelty on display when she's practicing magic is necessary or a conscious choice. I do know that watching the drama play out proves to be moving because you never doubt these characters' seriousness. It does feel like an early comic in front of stronger comics to come. Gfrorer uses a rough drawing style and employs slightly abstract character designs, each in a way that may remind readers of Carol Swain's comics. She also shares with Swain a sense of humor about the resolute melancholy she inflicts on us. It's rare comic book when the demons are both terrifying and a sort of comic relief. This is a rare comic book in more ways than one.

The X-Men were hit hard by the events of Second Coming. As Uncanny X-Men movies into its next arc, the team starts to pick up the pieces and begin the hunt for the next generation of mutants. Does "Five Lights" begin a bold new era for the team, or does it stumble out of the gate?

J. Michael Straczynski's first full issue of Wonder Woman puts a new spin on Diana's origin in a way that amplifies her mythological roots while modernizing the backdrop against which her story is set. In that regard, at least, this tale so far is very similar to his work on Thor. Where it differs from Thor is in its overall lack of humanity, falling far short of the relatability, humor and heart JMS garnered from repositioning Asgard in the midst of a blue collar Oklahoma town.