Monitor Duty by Randy Lander "An Important Announcement About Snap Judgments in June" Well, folks, it's finally come to this... my comp pile is about to kill me. I've got stuff that indy creators sent to me last year among the stuff that came in last week, and I'm beginning to feel a little like Sisyphus (Google search it) of comic reviewers. So I'm going to do something a little crazy in June in order to catch up in time for San Diego. Effective immediately, I'm putting my First Look and regular reviews on a sort of weird, temporary hold. Best of the Weeks from me will likewise be temporarily halted. Instead, I'll be reviewing in a massive capsule format that should, if all goes well, be a cross between Snapshots, my one-and-only Backtracking (another victim of an excess workload) and special columns like the feature on STAPLE. I will be putting all my effort into getting everything currently in my comp pile reviewed, in rough order of when I remember getting it. I'm not promising to hit 100% of everything ever sent to me, because honestly, I don't think I'd ever catch up, but I will try and review at least one thing that everyone has sent me. Now, those of you who aren't into the indy vibe, don't fret. For one thing, there are a lot of new number ones that I'm interested in reviewing, and that means I'll still be reviewing stuff from the big publishers along the way... it just might wind up in a sort-of capsule format instead of getting the full-blown treatment. Or it might be a week or two late. For another, my comp pile includes a number of graphic novels, and I'm going to try (no promises!) to hit at least one of those every week in a more extended review format. For those of you who are sending me comps or review copies... your stuff will go in the pile, and I will get to it in the order received, although I'll still try to hit stuff on the week it's released if it's a new number one or jumping-on point. In theory, when I get through this marathon reviewing session, I'll be able to go back to the routine and stay on top of what's sent to me better, reviewing books the week they come in instead of putting them on an ever-growing stack. My hope is that this will expose a lot of people to a lot of books they otherwise hadn't heard of, that I'll be able to keep on top of the cool Marvel/Image/DC/Dark Horse/etc. stuff coming out this month as well and that I will clear out both my physical backlog and the immense guilt load I've been carrying as a result. If I can accomplish at least one or two of these goals, I'll be happy. My guess is that I'll be doing this weird format up until San Diego, and that I'll go back to a more regular review schedule after that, which translates to the end of July. It's also possible that this won't take as long as I expect, and I'll be back to regular reviewing sooner. Thanks in advance for the support on this format change, and I hope you all will enjoy the modified Snap Judgments for the next month or two. Oh, and one other note, Down the Line isn't going anywhere, Dave and I will be bringing you that as usual, and Don will be sticking with his regular format (including Best of the Week) during this time as well. Email Randy Lander comments about this column.