(Am I the only one to think of the television programme Runaround when I say the word ‘blogaround’ in my head, or is that too British-specific a reference?)

As suggested by Laura, according to her rules, I take … The Blogaround Challenge:

Love Manga
This is a nicely designed site with lots of info on manga, which is why I don’t usually read it. I’m scared to dip my toes into the waters of manga because it is so huge. But David makes it accessible and his enthusiasm for the form shines through.

Superblog!!
This is a wonderfully deranged site, with lots of bizarre things posted on a regular basis. I read 9 posts and none of them were about comics, so I should check out more to see if it’s a regular part of the site. Still, any site that has talks about about their love for Carla Gugino can’t be bad …

Successless Comic Blog
This is an offshoot for boyfriend and girlfriend Dylan and Serene where they do all their posting about comics. It’s quite new, but they been doing their other sites for a while, so they have a nice, relaxed writing style. Dylan seems to be undertaking the ambitious task of writing about the Cerebus phone books, for which he deserves credit and probably hospitalisation; hope it doesn’t turn him into Dave Sim …

Irresponsible Pictures
This is another manga blog, which is probably why I haven’t really read it before. It appears to be mostly linking to manga-related post and information, which is a good way for me to find out more about manga, but there is also some comment from Pata as well, in a enjoyable tone.

Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog
The challenger herself – Laura has been doing this a while now, as you can tell from her site, which is very up-to-date and well-laid out, but I never got in the habit of reading her regularly perhaps, I think, because of the inclusion of journal-type posts (which I only find interesting if I know the person or if the subject is something I know about – I know, I’m so snobbish …). However, the blog is a mix of linkarounds, which are very craftily written so that you want to click on the link and find out more from her entertaining comments, the journal-type, and her ‘Rapid Reviews’ with the (I assume) starfish to grade the comics (due to her love of Aquaman). In fact, reading her blog again means I’ll have to read it more often.

The Four Colour Media Monitor
This does what it says on the tin; it provides links to other (professional and amateur) sites talking about comics of the moment. Avi provides some comment as well; if the archives are to be believed, it’s only been around for two months, but it doesn’t feel like that, which is a good sign in my books (even if Avi doesn’t seem to like Grant Morrison, which is practically heresy).

Trash Heap
JK seems to be another long time blogger; I don’t think I’ve ever read this before, but I will be checking it out from now on. From comics to pop culture stuff, there is a lot of crossover in my tastes, and an entertaining attitude to it all as well. And I agree with JK on the annoyance of Blogger’s image interface – why DOES it put any image, after the first one, at the top of the post?

The Comic Asylum [EDIT: blog deleted and not archived]
James’s site is perhaps one of the best reasons for the blogaround challenge; discovering a site you hadn’t tried before that you enjoy and admire. He has interesting thoughts on aspects of comics (from looking at why Annuals should be something of substance, to his detailed and researched look at his greatest comics battles) with a nice writing style. It’s so good that it makes me green with envy and have to find something to nitpick! So, James, you should either not add your name to your posts, or remove it from your permanent link signature, as it just makes you sound so proud of your name 🙂

Cognitive Dissonance
Johanna is a pillar of the online comic reviewing community, her Comics Worth Reading site being a mainstay and always an interesting read. Similarly, her blog is a good read, with its variety of commentary, linking and reviews. Although our tastes don’t cross over all the time, I will listen to her recommendations because she has clear opinions which are expressed eloquently, which is a skill I admire.

Chipped Ham Productions
Evan has been blogging for a while now, although, in his latest post, he asks for people’s thoughts on his blog, as he feels he doesn’t get enough visitors. His site is well presented and he posts some of the ‘classical’ comic blog topics, such as looking at the solicitations from the big publishers and suggestions for comics on new comic day. The thing missing for me is how he feels about the books on a personal level – there is a hint, but not enough, of how much or little he gets from the books he reads. The closest he gets is in talking about the trade for the original Excalibur in this post; I’d like to see more of that in his blog. I haven’t done a full search of his site, but he doesn’t seem to review the books he reads, which would give an indication of his personality more on the blog. This is, of course, in my humble opinion, and I can hardly be considered an expert, what with hardly any comments or staggering visitor numbers myself. But, he did ask for people’s opinions 🙂

And that’s ten. Well, that was an interesting experiment. Thanks, Laura. I might have to do this again in a month or so; I’ll also have to do that post about the blogs that I read regularly as well. And to all I have commented upon, keep up the good work.