Ch-ch-ch-changes: Ninth Art announces a few changes, including a shift to Mondays-only updates and a new weekly Forecast column. In the revamped Comment section, Alex de Campi examines the effect real-world politics are having on the realm of superheroes:

"What we are seeing with DC and Marvel's much- discussed 'spandexification' is a conscious return to the superhero as Don Quixote, pushing the titles that suggest that our system or national character is weak back to the independent publishers where they are more usually found.

"Whether this is symptomatic of an industry under economic pressure, or of a larger need in the American psyche to be reassured in the post 'Iraquistan' debacle, I leave up to you to decide. But I would mention in passing that Marvel is developing a non-spandex title celebrating the heroism of US soldiers in Iraq. And while Chuck Dixon's AMERICAN POWER for Crossgen has been cancelled, that it got anywhere near publication at all shows that certain portions of America are feeling the need to be reassured that their country is still the City on the Hill."