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their old show, and basically start over, at the beginning.

Coincidentally, I also read Strangers in Paradise #43 that same day. I’ve very much enjoyed Terry Moore’s work on the series, and SIP is one of only three comics the missus begs me to let her read first when I get them (the other two being Promethea and Ministry of Space , for those of you keep ing track at home), so, as you may well imagine, I follow this one a little closer than most. As I finished this latest issue, I was really quite struck by the deft way Terry made the long-standing members of his audience realize just what it was they enjoyed so much about his characters, by showing alternate future versions of them while almost simultaneously resetting his characters and situations back to the beginning. It’s as if he was sitting around his studio one day and said to himself, "I’ve developed quite a fondness for these characters, and I’ve been putting them through the ringer for years. I want them to have a happy life, and you know what? No one’s stopping me from giving it to them." It’s as if Paramount, on the one hand, and Terry Moore, on the other, both independently realized that complexity is not necessarily maturity and that a diamond in the rough is still a valuable gemstone. Sure, the first episode of Enterprise is a little coarse and creaky, but I think I may be watching this one before The West Wing each Wednesday from now on. And I have no doubt Francine and Katchoo and David will still be the cen ter of drama and pathos and joy; it’ll just be a different sort of drama than the first forty-two issues… This is a cue for the whole comics industry, if you haven’t seen this point coming. To the folks who create and to the folks who produce: what a good time to take stock of what you’re doing and who you’re doing it for; to look deep into what makes you love comics and… …start over, fresh. You don’t have to throw anything out… just… remind your audience why it is they love what you do. Do The Math October 5, 2001 Maybe it’s because my pal Steven Grant mentioned the ol’ True Facts col lection in his latest column, or maybe we’re cracking through to more folks’ perception, or maybe it’s just the way the planets have aligned lately… I dunno. But it seems like my publishing house has been getting a whole lot more submissions than usual.

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