My favorite comics-related magazine is COMICOLOGY. There have only been five issues--one in the first volume, four in the second --but each was terrific.

I would have to go with Marvel's "New Universe" from the mid- eighties with STARBRAND, PSI-FORCE, NIGHTMASK, and DP7.

A clarification. I voted for the Original Valiant universe revival, but would absolutely love a Christopher Priest/Mark Bright revival of QUANTUM & WOODY more than most possible revivals with living creators. They were the highlight of the Acclaim universe. And any Valiant revival would need Bob Layton on board!

The X-Files definitely jumped their shark (and I jumped ship) when the show continuously flogged repetitive cliff-hanging season-enders while returning to the status quo with each new season. Woo hoo, what a phenomenal idea...if by phenomenal you mean watching paint dry!

And Senator McCain doesn't need to leave the Republican Party to run for president; party politics need to be booted. I couldn't care less if he ran as a Republican, Democrat or Federalist, just as long as he returns to run again.

The last time I commented on your poll questions, my comments prompted a nasty-gram from the Steve Lieber, Nicest Man in Comics (TM). Since that letter, ME AND EDITH HEAD has hit one of my local comics retailers. Based on a positive review by Dave Van Domelen, over on Usenet's rec.arts.comics.misc, I picked up and read EDITH HEAD--and thought it was really quite good. I still liked RUSE #1 better, but since RUSE wasn't nominated for an Eisner, ME AND EDITH HEAD would certainly make a worthy winner. But I'm a comic book fan, so it only follows that I'm a glutton for abuse. So pour it on...

I still haven't seen STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE and don't feel any poorer for it. So I'll just skip the question on ATTACK OF THE CLONES.

Which type of X-FILES episode did I enjoy more? I voted "No Preference" because my preference changed as the series went on. I'd have voted "Mythology" up till the end of season five; "Monster of the Week" thereafter. Carter and company clearly had no clue what they would do if the series went over five years--and it showed. By season six, the "mythology" episodes were as confusing and poorly thought out as a mid-1990s Marvel X-book.

As for favorite recurring character, it's the Lone Gunmen. I loved them on the X-FILES, and I loved their spin-off series (which was better than 90% of the last three years of the X-FILES itself). I even loved the third-from-last episode of the X-FILES, which tied up the loose ends of their series and let the Lone Gunmen go out heroes.

And to the clueless commentators online who thought seeing the Gunmen buried in Arlington National Cemetery was a cop-out because in life they were "anti-government"...they completely missed the damned point! They may have opposed the government, but they loved their country. One might have thought the fact that LONE GUNMEN theme began with an electric guitar rendition of the first bar of the "Star-Spangled Banner" might have been a clue as to what they were about.

Of course if that question had been about the actors, and not their characters, I'd have had to go with William B. Davis, the Smoking Man. Davis is a real-life skeptic and uses his fame from his X-FILES role to speak out in support of science and reason. UFOs, magic healing, and psychics can make thrilling entertainment, but when people try to apply the unreal to real life, things seldom work out well.

My favorite Lone Gunman has to be Byers--even though Langley was a fellow RPGer. Throughout their own series, and the handful of X-FILES episodes that focused on the Gunmen, Byers was quietly the most heroic character in either series. He wasn't afraid to put his finances, his life, or even his dignity on the line for what was right. If Bill Jemas lost his mind tomorrow and made me writer on CAPTAIN AMERICA, I'd probably write Cap a lot like Byers.

I refuse to answer question five. I think the whole "Jumped the Shark" thing has itself jumped the shark.

On the 1990s comics universe question, I'll vote Milestone. Although I enjoyed comics from several of those other universes (QUANTUM & WOODY, MIKE DANGER, HARDCASE, THE STRANGERS, and FLARE), overall, Milestone had the highest across-the-line quality of any of them. I still find it funny/sad that the characters and concept of STATIC can support a TV series, but not a comic book. We are truly a weird industry sometimes.

Favorite comics-related magazine? Of those listed, COMIC BOOK ARTIST is my clear favorite. I try to wait for the collections, but I never quite manage to. Anyone who is interested in the history of American comics should read COMIC BOOK ARTIST. The editor, writers, and interviewers of CBA are--issue by issue--assembling a mammoth work of oral history. And as more and more pioneering comic book creators pass away each year, the value of the work the staff of CBA are doing is only reinforced.

There's one comic-related magazine that I really enjoy that was not listed: COMICS AND GAMES RETAILER. I find the business side of the industry fascinating; this Krause mag is an excellent way to keep informed.

On to the Overstreet question: Since I don't really care about the "value" of my comics, I only use the OVERSTREET PRICE GUIDE for its historical information. I find picking up a used copy every five years or so works fine for that.

Finally--don't get me started on John McCain. I consider campaign finance "reform" legislation of the type McCain champions to be a cynical attempt to use the law to unconstitutionally freeze out voices from outside of the two major parties. I wouldn't vote for him, but there are few candidates in the Democrat or Republican parties that I would. I proudly "waste my vote" every two years (in national elections) on mostly Libertarian candidates.

I also read comic books in public; I'm perfectly okay with people thinking I'm nuts.