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A brief conversation with a co-worker starts with Archie and ends with Gary Owens, with cameos by Scooby-Doo and Batman! (No Kevin Bacon, alas.) Read on to discover the crazy linkage!

The anniversary of Jim Henson's passing gets me thinking...

As previously noted, we were guests the other night on Comic News Insider's gala 400th episodealong with Ben Templesmith, Chriss Cross, Becky Cloonan, Paul Pope, Emma Hayley, and many more. And we were there to announce a new partnership between CNI and The Beat!

Over the weekend, Cory Marder passed away after a long illness. The wife of Beanworld creator Larry Marder, Cory was best known to a small group in the industry, but loved by everyone she touched. Charles Brownstein has a beautiful tribute here that says everything. My heart goes out to Larry on this irreplaceable loss.

We're looking for a few good people to help cover this year's San Diego experience. What you get: a press badge. What you do: write.

Pop culture writer John Tebbel passed away yesterday. An occasional contributor to ComicMix and frequent commenter here and at other comics sites, John was probably most familiar to the comics world as the husband of Martha Thomases, herself a comics writer and DC's publicity manager for most of the '90s. He was also an expert on animation and you can find some of his articles on the subject scattered about the internet. He and Martha also co-founded Comedy Magazine.

How far would you walk for a copy of your favorite comic? Would you do it with a group of friends? How about a road trip? People wander in pub crawls, sometimes in costume, so why not do it for comics instead of cheap beer?

The Avengers are fighting the X-men, yes, but why? As someone who hadn't read any 616 Avengers or X-men for a while, would I even be able to understand Avengers vs X-men? I figured it out and so can you - for your convenience, a (mostly AvX spoiler-free) guide to understanding Marvel's newest comics event.

While looking for a comics cover for a sick alert, I realized that the heyday era of the doctor comic was definitely the early '60s. Licensed comics were such a big deal then, especially for Dell/Western. They licensed just about anything. The BEN CASEY and Dr. KILDARE comics were based on popular TV shows of the time. Dr. KILDARE lasted about 9 issues, BEN CASEY 10, although it did spin off into a comic strip which was written and drawn by Neal Adams.

Regular posting will resume....hopefully.

"You've just won the MegaMillions lottery! What are you going to do with your winnings?"

We're growing, moving and shaking here at Stately Beat Manor and we want YOU to be a part of it!