I am – Hercules!!

Up early this morning, trying to secure lodging for Comic-Con online and by phone (tricky! frustrating!), so I was able the comic shop just after it opened at 11 a.m. By far the tallest stack of new comics, towering over even the new “Uncanny X-Men” and “Countdown to Final Crisis,” was “Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season Eight #11.” So I guess it continues to sell well!

Eleven is scripted, like ten, by series mastermind Joss Whedon.

BEWARE SPOILERS:

* It’s Buffy’s birthday again.

* No Willow or Giles.

* Page one is the Littlest Slayer batting righty.

* Page three is Simone Doffler making the devil sign.

* Pages six and seven are Giant Dawn cavorting drunkenly with 60 slayers.

* Page eight begins Buffy’s date with the individual who woke Buffy with a kiss a few issues ago. We learn that Buffy regards her date as “hot” and possessed of great taste, among other things.

* On page 11 Buffy pre-emptively deflates a villain’s menacing banter.

* On page 13 Buffy finally meets the pair of boots introduced on page 12 of issue one.

* Page 20 made me laugh aloud, and harder than any comic-book page has made me laugh in some time.

Next month begins a four-issue arc scripted by Drew Goddard, the “Cloverfield” screenwriter who wrote the best episode of “Buffy’s” seventh season.

The Second Five Episodes of Season Eight!!

$39.99: Every Issue 1963-2006!!