We are sure comics are cool now because they are playing a part in The O.C., the teenage soaper that high school kids watch on Thursday night and discuss at school on Friday.  One of The O.C.s' key characters, Seth, has developed his own comic book series, Atomic County, populated with teenage superheroes (including one with the oh-so-cerebral moniker, 'The Ironist').

In the glamorized world of The O.C. creating a comic book leads directly to a party at a mansion in Silverlake, where one of his buddies tells Seth, 'Dude, Joe Sacco is in the kitchen and he wants to meet you!'  Of course Seth had better follow the example of his hero Joe Sacco ('The Fixer? I love that guy') and watch out for the slimy marketing genius ('poached from Fantagraphics'), who looks like he has left his alt comics credentials (Fantagraphics is Sacco's publisher after all) well behind him as he tempts Seth to 'sell out' with a variety of crass merchandising schemes.  Tune in next week and see if our hero can at least retain his 'artistic' purity.