No.  I'm actually a week and a day late, and we know why, all of us, and nobody came looking for Bang On! on September 11th.  I don't blame you.

You all know what last week was like, and you've discussed it, and you've heard various angles, and you've thought about it, and I don't want to cover old ground for you.  I do want to let you know what it's meant to the Big Bang, and where we go from here.

For the first couple of days, nobody could imagine talking about what we do here, or thinking about it, or approaching it.  Eventually the subject was broached about some sort of recognition.  Many people didn't buy comics. (If you're wondering for some reason, I did.  Tragedy does not make it proper for me to keep money I've effectively promised my retailer -- by having a pull list -- out of his hands.  But that's me.)

As for reviews, well.  Early on, Kevin Mathews -- who, bless his heart, is our Singaporean way-far-away reviewer -- asked me if I wanted any.  I said yeah, life will have to pick up eventually and people will need something to lighten the load.  By Friday night, Paul Weissburg had decided the same thing, and started sending stuff to me.  Everyone else... hey, I don't blame them, and I said so.

You may have noticed that nothing I have described has been posted.  That's true.  I was gone for the weekend (a much-needed vacation, all things considered), my connectivity was lousy Monday, and I've been sick since. And frankly, we're still getting back in gear, and I expect you're with us, there.

But we've got some reviews.  And they're good, and they're slick, and they'll be up soon -- probably with others that'll come in later this week -- and you can have a look, think about comics, and take a little vacation yourself. It's okay, you know?

And if it's not enough to be entertained, you and comics can pursue greater needs together.  Jamie Rich (Oni Press) is organizing a charity auction next month.  Grayhavenmagazine.com is doing a non-pro goods auction.  When you're ordering stuff with PayPal, give to the Red Cross while you're at it.  If you shoot through our store to Amazon.com to buy some of the books we're hyping at you, you can give money there, too.

No matter what you feel about what comes next for the country, you have to know that people need our help.

We've been talking about new looks, new formatting, new reviewers, you name it.  If you've got a thought, tell us on the forum, and/or drop me a line.  Life lumbers along again, and we're still serious about what we do, in a fun sort of way.

Comics cannot fix what has happened, much less comics journalism.  We can only continue to dream our dreams together.

No reviews or question for the forum this week.  Make with the clicky-click again next week and hopefully I'll have that column on things you should be buying but aren't ready.