When Joe Casey asked me to provide the critical essay for inclusion in the second "GØDLAND Celestial Edition," I said, "hell, yes!" And I had plenty of ideas of how I would approach a retrospective/analysis of the series. Then I reread Tom Spurgeon's essay in the first volume, and he basically said most of the things I was going to say.Then I reread issues #13-24 with a notebook by my side and my critical faculties at their most incisive and started making mad lists of whatever I noticed or felt worthy of comment in an essay. I ended up with a long list and random bits of genius dialogue and imagery that I just had to make note of. I mixed it all up in my brain and felt that the fancy hardcover collection deserved more than just a few thoughts, so I came up with my "Twelve Digressions on GØDLAND," one digression for each issue, even though they aren't tied to any strict chronology.
You'll have to buy the Celestial Edition Vol. 2 to get all twelve (and who wouldn't want the Celestial Edition, anyway? It's gonna be gorgeous), but I'm giving away the first three for free in this week's "When Words Collide" column. And maybe if you're nice and you get my blog up to 1,000 visitors per day, or get me to 666 Twitter followers by the end of the month, I'll post some more for your reading enjoyment. It's all about the give and take. Until then, think GØDLAND!
READ: Three Digressions on GØDLAND!
