New BASEMENT TAPES up today:

CASEY: So, I figure you probably tool around the comic book-related websites as much as I do. Something that's always interesting to watch are the various and sundry "bandwagons" that can occur within our twisted little culture. We could call them trends, sure, but I actually think that lends too much credence to what I'm talking about.

Every so often a publisher, an editor, a creator, a journalist, a blogger or even a random message board poster -- either on purpose or inadvertently -- attempts to kickstart some sort of mini-movement of style or opinion that sometimes, inexplicably, others seem strangely eager to attach themselves to. Sometimes it's even just a word or an intended catch phrase. Frankly, the bigger the platform, the worse it can be (which would lay most of the blame on publishers and creators)... someone somewhere espouses a new way of writing/drawing/creating/thinking about comic books and suddenly more creators are jumping on that bandwagon. So, I'm just curious -- just talking in hypotheticals -- what are the benefits of jumping onto a particular bandwagon? What does one get out of it?

FRACTION: Y'know, I've thought long and hard about this one and I think my working hypothesis-- and I stress "working" there, I still need to kick the tires of the idea and subject it to my normal rigorous battery of ideological play-testing and whatnot-- is that comics are stupid.