Strange gig tomorrow: I have to give a talk on posthumanism and the superhero to a Design Interactions class at the Royal College of Art in London. I suspect it may prove to be a condensed DO ANYTHING. And then I believe I have to see some of the boys from the BERG. So tomorrow’s going to be all quiet here.

Hell, given that PLANETARY #27 is published mid-week, I’m tempted to keep it all quiet for the week.

People keep asking me for some huge conclusive statement about its completion. For me, it was completed some two and a half years ago, when I wrote the final script. John and Laura have done their usual worldbeating work on the last issue, but I could barely bring myself to proofread it. It’s a book I associate with bad times: protracted illnesses, big arguments (I remember John and I once threatening to quit over some idiot move to take Laura off the book, and I vividly remembering arguing for John’s job when DC wanted to fire him over his taking on ASTONISHING X-MEN), my physical collapse and months in bed, and my dad’s long illness and eventual death. All of these things are intertwined with PLANETARY for me, and make it difficult to enjoy the moment. I’m just glad people won’t ask me about it anymore.

Anyway. It’s a beautiful-looking book.

ASTONISHING X-MEN #31 is also out this week, drawn by a man I don’t work with often enough, the superb Phil Jimenez. Phil did the PLANETARY/AUTHORITY book with me, collected in PLANETARY: CROSSING WORLDS, and also, infamously, the "banned" issue of HELLBLAZER I wrote, SHOOT. Which I have heard can be illegally seen here. After a bit of a false start on ASTONISHING X-MEN, it’s just hugely relaxing to work with an old friend who hurls himself into the work, enriching everything he touches while instinctively getting what I need and what the page needs.

Also, there are spaceships, asteroid bases, beasties and explosions. Just a bunch of Big Marvel Fun, for the hell of it. Also, lots of Science Talk and raw meat.

Which is probably not the sort of thing that gets you invited to the Royal College of Art, so ssssh.