So, following on from my reviewamarathonarama last week, it's pretty fair to say that my brain was fried - I finished reading Plain Janes on Saturday evening, and suddenly became unable to stop reviewing everything in sight ("This sandwich is Good, but if it had had more onions, it might've made Very Good." That kind of thing always makes Kate happy, as you can guess). It also made me unable to enjoy anything, because my head was just constantly spinning arguments and potential negatives to be weighed about everything that I was reading... which meant that it was time for me to recharge my batteries and get a palate cleanser of a comic to read. Which, this time, was Scott Pilgrim.

Now, I know that there are people out there who don't dig the Pilgrim, but those are people who have no joy in their lives and have never stopped to smell the roses or danced their little hearts out to "PO Box 9847" (which is possibly my new favorite song, by the way; if I could sing or play a musical instrument, that would be the song that I'd cover all the time). Rereading them - again! - this time around, the sheer fucking JOY just shone out from each page, the dumb jokes and not so dumb ones, the emotional subtext becoming text in the third book (Am I the only one who really gets choked up by the Scott/Envy slow breakup flashbacks? I can't be the only sap out here, surely), watching Bryan Lee O'Malley becoming a more confident and stronger artist over the three books, the whole shebang.

There's something wonderfully COMICS about the series for me, in the same way that there is about Eddie Campbell's Alec, or Kirby's Fourth World or Eternals. It's the love and joy for the medium that's there on the page, the inventiveness on display, that completely wins me over and makes me feel as if anything is possible. But I'm not telling you any of this to convince you of how much I love Scott Pilgrim, but instead to ask those who are brave enough to comment: What are the comics that you completely and unconditionally love that always give you the indescribable thrill when you read them?

(Also, if you haven't read it yet, check out Jeff's movie reviews below. They're Excellent. Shit, there I go again.)