Batmania Begins

I simply cannot believe that I've gone this long without knowing that Melbourne, Australia was founded by none other than Batman. And that there are numerous streets, parks, and other places throughout the country named after Batman.

Sadly, Batman died of syphilis at the age of 37.

What I'm Into These Days: Drawings Edition

The idea behind Axe Cop is so simple that it's shocking no one thought to do it before: the stories are written by a six-year-old with a hyperactive imagination, then illustrated by his 29-year-old brother, with all of the strange logic, randomly appearing and disappearing characters, and bizarre plotting intact. Read it now, before the author gets old enough that he starts trying to make sense.

Kate Beaton's Hark, a Vagrant, on the other hand, has a charmingly hand-drawn style and a predeliction to make jokes about obscure historical figures. It's also quite hilarious, even if you have to head to Wikipedia before you can understand the references.

It was via a link on Ms. Beaton's site that I came across a pair of great Lost-themed comics. First, there's Nedroid's #lostcomics on Twitter, a bunch of dumb/brilliant three-panel gags, often involving a heavy-lidded, grinning Jacob and a hope that Vincent still has an important part to play before the series ends.

Also, there's Lost Showdowns, a collection of cute drawings of major conflicts from the series (Faraday vs. Jughead, Desmond vs. the computer, Eko vs. the Smoke Monster). My personal favorite is the drawing of Keamy, Alex and Ben, which is just adorable, until you remember what happens next.

What I'm Into These Days: Music Edition

Childish Gambino is better known as Donald Glover, a comedian who used to write for 30 Rock and currently plays Troy on Community, and has a side career rapping over songs by Pitchfork-approved artists like Vampire Weekend, Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective. There's plenty of stuff to download over at his website, and my current favorite is "New Prince," which features shout-outs to Sports Night, Anna Wintour, the Situation and "nerd girls losing their shit like Prom night," all set to the eardrum-punishing "Crown on the Ground" by Sleigh Bells.

I had never heard of Pavement when they were actually together making music, and didn't bother to do much remedial listening in the time since. Then this track comes along and makes me think this was a foolish decision on my part.

Your calender probably says that summer starts on June 20. Well, your calendar is a filthy liar. The first day of summer is May 17, when the new LCD Soundsystem album is released.