Separated by more than an ocean: PopMatters examines the strange and complex affair between French and American comic books:

"On the one hand the French find American comics incredibly crude, while on the other (or maybe to make up for what they perceive as the lack of attention by Americans) they reproduce them in lavish versions that look cool on any bookshelf. Then there is the subject matter: while the French might knock American superheroes as 'brainless macho violence,' how do you explain the obsessive fascination of all French comic creators with equally brainless, macho and violent American genres such as Westerns and gangster flicks?"

This edition of PopMatters also features reviews of Michael Chabon Presents: The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist and The One, The Last Word in Superheroics.