Editorial: Cassandra Complex - X-Treme X-Atlantic
By Antony Johnston
From one extreme to the other: Antony zooms round San Diego, then relaxes in Oxford, all the while musing about why no-one seems to read their comics more than once.

Article 10: The Football Strip
By Paul O'Brien
A self-published comic with an advertising budget of £250,000 and a pre-existing audience of 3.5 million readers? In a market with a terrible track record for launching new comics? Paul O'Brien investigates the strange case of STRIKER.

Things To Come: Previews August for comics shipping October 2003
By Chris Ekman
The pick of this October's comics includes a harrowing work by the superb Paul Hornschemeier, more strange digressions from Dave Sim, the beer-stained adventures of Ralph Snart, and an intriguing Holocaust tale from Joe Kubert.

Short Shrift
By Alex Dueben
Whatever happened to the short story? There used to be a few venues where standalone comics shorts could see print, but these days such tales are a rare discovery. Alex Dueben wonders what it might take to bring the short story to life.

Conventional Wisdom: Terminal Fanboy
By Brent Keane
Ninth Art wraps up its series of convention season essays with a cautionary tale about how conventions can seriously damage your inner fanboy. Brent Keane flashes back to 1996, the year of his first - and last - convention.

Editorial: Face It, Tiger - Conventional Wisdom
By Andrew Wheeler
As Ninth Art continues its seasonal exploration of convention culture, Andrew Wheeler reports on this year's San Diego Comic Con, from Neil Gaiman's hopes for the future to the Hall of Fame's look back to the past.

Article 10: Difficult Princess
By Paul O'Brien
Goodbye England's Rose: Princess Diana has been scrubbed from the pages of X-STATIX, but was it a necessary move on Marvel's part, and what does it mean for the strength of the story?

Editorial: Camera Obscura - Summertime Blues
By Alasdair Watson
It's summertime, and the heat is making Alasdair even grumpier than usual. And he's stuck at home while the rest of the editorial board are on holiday in San Diego. You've been warned.

Conventional Wisdom: Drawing Lines In The Sand
By Frank Smith
With San Diego just around the corner, Ninth Art continues its reminiscences of conventions past with newspaper strip aficionado Frank Smith's story of a chance encounter with a creator who gave him a new appreciation for creator's rights.

Editorial: Cassandra Complex - Innovation & Incarceration
By Antony Johnston
Should artists play it safe or take a chance? Antony argues the case for being unreasonable, especially when progress is at stake, and does some pre-San Diego shilling into the bargain.

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