I Read Comic Books discussion

It's August already! What are you reading this month? Rediscover any old favorites lately?

Tell us all about what you're reading this month!

As always, if you'd like to check out what the IRCB crew is reading, take a peek at the Top of My Pile posts over on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ircbpodcast

Last week's adventures in comic books.

Parasomnia Volume 2: The Dreaming God ★
Makes even less sense than the first volume. Now we've moved into some kind of cyberpunk dream world. Nothing is explained. Nothing makes any sense. This is Bunn at his worst.

Dune: The Official Movie Graphic Novel ★★★★
A straight up adaptation of the new film version. All of the character likenesses are spot on. This isn't going to add anything new as there's no additional scenes but it does the movie and book justice.

Star Trek: Discovery - The Light of Kahless ★★★
A solid backstory to the Klingons that make up the early part of the antagonists for Discovery. This is by no means necessary reading for the show but it does flesh some things out

Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time, Volume 3 ★★★
We finish out our run of 11 Doctors (at the time) before they team up at the end to stop the big bad behind it all.

Noble Causes Volume 1: In Sickness And In Health ★★★
A series I always wanted to try out but always had a hard time finding. Finally found a few old trades at the library. It's about a superhero family on top of the world as its biggest celebrities. Behind the scenes they have all kinds of family drama on top of being powerful enough to murder each other. This was a promising start and I had no idea Patrick Gleason was the main artist at the beginning.

Noble Causes Volume 2: Family Secrets ★★★
The family is still mourning Race's death while Zephyr's baby daddy is the big mystery. I like how this is used to actually tie into some of the other Image titles of the day. This is truly a soap opera hidden behind a superhero family and I dig it.

Justice: A Tale of the Nepali Civil War ★★
This isn't a bad story, it's just too short to be a very interesting one either. The author tries to make it end on a cliffhanger so draws it out to where not much happens until the every end and then we have to wait for at least one more book for the rest of the story.

Wolverine, Vol. 6 ★★★
Beast's character assassination continues. I feel like Percy really just wants to write two Beast comics at this point as that's all Wolverine and X-Force have been about for a long time. Beast has realized the gig is up and fled Krakoa. But he's still attacking mutantkind's enemies because he's become a sociopath devoted to mutantkind whether they like it or not.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Mirror Broken ★★★★
Next Generation finally enters the Mirror Universe. I can't believe it took the comics to make this happen. I like all of the changes to the characters. It's bearded madness.

Grendel: War Child ★★★★★
It was nice to be able to revisit this series. I remember back in the 90's when Grendel moved to Dark Horse with this book and I started buying Grendel regularly. (Before that it was at Comico and hard to find even at comic book stores). It takes place centuries after the original Grendel, Hunter Rose. The leader of the world had passed in the previous book, leaving his son to succeed him. His stepmother though was attempting to usurp power for herself. (You figure out all this as you go along.) Grendel Prime kidnaps the boy, Jupiter Assante, at the beginning of this and most of the book is the two of them on the run.

X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023 ★★★
Basically 80 pages of the X-Men getting fucked (and not in a good way).

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Through the Mirror ★★★★
This go around the evil mirror universe Next Generation crew have their eyes set on our universe. They've figured out how to cross over and are raiding spaceships in our universe for salvage and murdering the crews like pirates of old.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Terra Incognita ★★★
Nowhere near as good as the previous Mirror universe trades. Mirror Barclay captures this universe's Barclay and takes over his life. The stories are really unfocused and barely connect.

Grendel: Past Prime ★★★★
Years ago, Dark Horse started releasing original prose novels featuring their most popular characters. Greg Rucka is a terrific comic book writer. He's also written a bunch of novels, both with his own characters like bodyguard Atticus Kodiak or extensions of Queen and Country along with properties he doesn't own like Grendel. This is the next story in the Grendel cycle after Grendel: War Child. Susan Veraghen is the main character. She's been searching for Grendel-Prime for the last 3 years after he disappeared at the end of War Child.

Grendel: Devil Quest ★★
I typically love all things Grendel but this little ditty was difficult to follow. Just the way it's presented and changes back and forth to different characters. It's certainly not something I'd hand to someone who has never read any of Grendel before.

PREDATOR BY ED BRISSON VOL. 2: THE PRESERVE ★★★★
This uses a lot of the elements from Predators where a bunch of killers wake up on a foreign planet hunted by Predators. It takes off from there, with the people all from various times on Earth. Although it's been many years, Theta from the first series returns as well.

Blood Will Tell (Star Trek Graphic Novel Collection, #127) ★★
Telling some of the original Star Trek episodes from the Klingon perspective is a great idea. However, these droned on and on.

The X-Cellent vol. 2: Unsocial Media ★★
This wasn't at all good. Zeitgeist will become a god if he gets enough followers. X-Statix feel like they are barely in this. I hate making social media nonsense the center of a plot. It all felt pretty pointless. The Allreds are better off sticking to their own comics.

Kriss: The Gift of Wrath ★★★★
The story of a young boy, found as a babe, and raised in a village where no one likes him, except Anja, the blacksmith's daughter. When a tiger attacks the village he goes out and kills it. That's when he starts seeing visions of old dark gods that fuel his power and rage.

Land of the Sons ★★
A brutal dystopian world with two boys living on a boat with their father. When he passes away one brother is obsessed with what his father wrote in his journal. The problem is neither boy knows how to read. So they go on the hunt for someone who can read delving a bit more into this brutal world.

Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation², Volume 1 ★★★
The Eleventh Doctor arrives in 1940's San Francisco with Amy and Rory. But it turns out it was something else. That was a genius way to begin this crossover given how much the Enterprise crew spends here. Somehow the Borg and Cybermen have teamed up. The particulars on how Star Trek and Doctor Who have merged are not divulged in this first half, although the Tardis can go anywhere in time and space.

Star Trek: Mirror Images ★★★★
Takes place completely in the mirror universe. It's a game of cat and mouse between Kirk and Pike as they battle for the captain's chair of the Enterprise.

Here's what the IRCB folks read this week for Episode 379 | The Brutal Murders of Tintin

- Kara: Mimosa
- Brian: Starfinder: Angels Of The Drift #1
- Nick: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin - The Lost Years #1, Swan Songs #1

Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts on what we read! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.com/episodes/epis...

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Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio ★★★★
I finally read Kent State. This was definitely a tough read but Backderf did a great job of paying homage to the victims and researching all the events that led up to the events of the shooting. I don't love the way Backderf draws faces, but otherwise I like his attention to detail in the historic fashions and the setting.

Today's trip to the LCS.

Fire and Ice #1 <--- I have no idea what this is but Bill Willingham and Leonardo Manco made it so I gave it a shot. This is the first non Fables comic Willingham has made in years.
Dr. Strange #5
Dr. Strange #6
By the Horns: Dark Earth #11
Parker Girls #9 <-- Gotta buy whatever Terry Moore makes.
X-Men #25
Conan the Barbarian #1 <-- Decided to pick up the first Conan book from Titan Comics
Avengers #3

Last week's adventures in comic books.

Tenements, Towers & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City ★★★★★
Julia Wertz's love letter to New York City. It goes back and forth between oddball stories from New York like Typhoid Mary or why NYC's tap water is superior to everyone else's. (It definitely is. Although it's not mentioned most people I've talked to say it's from the aquifers upstate.) Then there'll be a bunch of pages of a street corner how it looked in the thirties and then how it looks now. Or things like the best independent book stores in the city. Or how there used to be a pneumatic tube system all through Manhattan. (It's still in a ton of the buildings and I always wondered if it still worked. I worked in Midtown for several years.) I love how she sees NYC the same way I always loved to see it, by walking through it.

Men of Wrath ★★★★
This may be Aaron's bleakest story yet. It's about the Rath family and the cycle of violence passed from father to son. Each issue begins with the violence committed by another generation of Rath men. Ira Wrath is one of the baddest hitmen in the South. The book begins with him murdering an entire family. His latest job is to kill his estranged son who is a fuck up with a pregnant girlfriend.

Grendel Omnibus, Vol. 4: Prime ★★★★
This contains all of the stories with Grendel Prime. He's this bad ass cyborg Grendel who is the preeminent Grendel. The two big main parts are Grendel: War Child and Grendel: Past Prime plus a couple of smaller stories. In War Child Grendel Prime rescues the boy who will be the next Khan from his crazy mother and most of the book is spent on the run. Past Prime is actually a prose novel by Greg Rucka with illustrations from Matt Wagner. It's about a true Grendel from War Child who is on a quest to find the missing Grendel Prime. They are both terrific.

Tim Drake: Robin, Vol. 2 ★★
Whoo. I'm glad that's over. That's the worst Batfamily title I've read in a while.

Batgirls Vol. 3 ★★★
This was actually the most consistent volume of the series. The decision to have the Annual continue on into issue 13 and beyond is kind of a crappy one.

The Forged Vol. 1 ★★★★
Badass cloned women soldiers in mech suits fighting giant alien worms. Does it get any better than this scenario?

Prism Stalker, Vol. 1 ★★★
A sci-fi comic about a girl from a downtrodden people who is chosen for a school where she can become some kind of warrior. There's a lot of interesting visuals but the storytelling is often really hard to follow.

Wytches: Bad Egg Halloween Special ★★★★
A prequel to Wytches about a kid and his mom who are wytch hunters. Wytches are very different than your traditional witches and I'm here for it.

Flavor, Vol. 1 ★★★
A nice setup for a world that revolves around cooking, with a main character that I guess can make killer crepes. Unfortunately, this is all setup for a future volume that probably isn't happening now that it's been 4 years.

The Hchom Book ★
Even though Image put this out, it's not a comic. It's just little blurbs about the author's favorite foods and clothes with the occasional little goblin drawing peeking out along with drawing of her food or outfits. It was completely pointless and boring.

Twisted Romance ★★
Twisted romance that wasn't at all twisted. It was all very bland. You could definitely tell there was some indie creators involved. Some of the artwork was not at all good.

Paradiso, Vol. 1: Essential Singularity ★★★
I only have half an idea of what's happening yet I still dig it. It's a post apocalypse comic where technology is defunct except in this one city that no one can get into, Paradiso. We only get a little glimpse in this city of floating skyscrapers and basically no people other than a few robotic guardians. I hope things are explained better in the back half of this.

Paradiso, Vol. 2: Dark Dwellers ★★
Instead of answering all of these many questions, Ram V. raised in volume 1, we go off on a tangent with the Dark Dwellers that feels like an OK Star Trek episode. So the series just abruptly ends with zero answers to what is going on. Grrr!

Bloodstrike: Brutalists ★★
I get what Fiffe was trying to do here by filling in the gaps of some missing comics in the Bloodstrike run, but those issues are missing because Rob Liefeld's Extreme Studios was poorly run and the comic was terrible.

Death Or Glory Vol. 1 ★★★★
Glory's dad needs a new liver. She grew up an off the grid trucker princess with a penchant for badass driving. Enter her ex-husband who is selling drugs and she intends to rob. Don't stop too long to think about this one. The plot is bananas with all kinds of kooky and despicable characters. It's nonstop balls to the walls action with Bengal providing some killer artwork.

Eight Limbs ★★★★
A comic about a troubled teenage foster kid who is always getting into fights. Then she meets a woman and her husband who run a Muy Thai club and they begin to teach her how to actually fight.

Hellboy: The Silver Lantern Club ★★★
This isn't really a Hellboy book. He only appears in the framing sequence of each issue. It's the 1950's. Hellboy and the Professor are meeting his uncle at the pub to hear old stories of the Silver Lantern Club. So it's really a Sir Edward Grey and Sarah Jewell story in disguise.

Justice League: Generation Lost, Vol. 1 ★★★★★
Spinning out of Blackest Night, Maxwell Lord has returned from the dead and made everyone on Earth forget what he did during Infinite Crisis. Now only some members of the old Justice League International remember him and try to stop the evil bastard. Lord's a great villain because his huge ego allows him to believe he's doing this all for the greater good. And I love any change we get to revisit the old JLI days.

Justice League: Generation Lost, Vol. 2 ★★★★
Very well done. If you missed the Giffen and Maguire era of the Justice League, this brings it all back. All of the action but without the goofball part of the humor. It's a real shame that the return of the Justice League International that's promised here never happened due to the New 52 reboot.

Doctor Strange, Vol. 1 ★★★★
Dr. Strange is back from the dead. Clea and he are reunited while Wong has joined SHIELD's magical division WAND. Meanwhile someone is going around murdering magical beings. Everyone thinks that the murderer is Clea after how she dealt with threats while she was the Sorcerer Supreme. MacKay is killing it at Marvel these days.

Rivers Of London: Deadly Ever After ★★★
At this point we are just farming out comics for minor characters and Aaronovitch isn't even writing it. In this case it's the twin daughters of the river god. They are vapid and uninteresting as they investigate this case where people's wishes are coming true. I'd say this is for completists only.

Green Monk: Blood of the Martyrs ★★★
An orphaned baby is raised by monks. As he grows up, he begins to have fantastical visions that go on for dozens of pages. I personally thought it was too much as this ends where the real story should be starting. Dayton does a great job of showing over telling as the words are minimal.

Isola, Vol. 1 ★★★
This book is filled with lush, gorgeous artwork by Karl Kershl and Msassyk. It's like looking at a Studio Ghilbi cartoon. Unfortunately, Brenden Fletcher's story can't keep up with the artwork. I had no idea what was happening half the time, you can't tell when we're in a dream sequence or flashback. I started getting frustrated because nothing is explained well.

Crude Vol. 1 ★★
The art certainly doesn't help this book. A lot of the characters looked the same. It's about a retired hitman in Russia who has a poor relationship with his son. His son leaves to find work in a company town (which is bad but aren't sure why.) Year later he returns in a body bag and the father heads there for vengeance.

Star Trek, Volume 1 ★★★
This is an interesting idea. Adapt two of the classic episodes of Star Trek, but with the new crew from the Kelvin timeline.

Star Trek, Volume 2 ★★★★
I thought this was better than the first volume, probably because the second half was an original story. The first two issues are an adaptation of "Operation: Annihilate!" where we are introduced to Kirk's brother. Then we get a follow up to the movie with a small group of Vulcans looking for vengeance for the destruction of their home world.

Noble Causes Volume 5: Betrayals ★★★★
Great series combining super heroes and soap operas. The story revolves around a family of super heroes.

Today's trip to the LCS.

Snow White Zombie Apocalypse #3
Ghost Rider / Wolverine: Weapons of Vengeance: Alpha #1 <-- Could this title be any longer?
Avengers #4
House of Slaughter #16
Immortal X-Men #14
World's Finest: Teen Titans #2

Here's what the IRCB folks read this week for Episode 380 | You're Free To Do What Your Told

- Paul: Best of 2000 AD Volume 3: The Essential Gateway to the Galaxy's Greatest Comic, XINO #2
- Kate: The Arrival
- Kait: Batman, Vol. 1: Their Dark Designs, Attack on Titan

Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts on what we read! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.com/episodes/epis...

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Re: Chad: I agree about Twisted Romance and Isola. I believe I have all of both series and have never finished them.

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I finished Attack on Titan! The series was 34 volumes. I enjoyed the first 20 volumes or so and the last few volumes, but there were about 10 volumes in there that I found pretty disappointing. I was determined to finish the series and find out how everything wraps up, and admittedly the last volume left me teary. There are a few offshoots series that I had intended to read when I started the main series, but now I'm feeling pretty uncommitted to reading them.

Poison Ivy #14
I'm really excited for this to come out! I recently started reading the 2022 run of Poison Ivy back in June and it has been fantastic so far.

Gotham Academy Vol 1-3
I discovered this series through reading a crossover between it and Lumberjanes (which I also recently finished) and I'm intrigued to see where it goes.

Here's what the IRCB folks read this week for Episode 381 | Ten Places to Buy Meth But No Place to Buy Food

- Mike: TEKKONKINKREET: Black & White, The Enfield Gang Massacre #1
- Zach: Hearts of Steel - Volume 1 - Debree, Cyrano, and Me, Deep Cuts #1 through #3
- Tia: Mother Nature, Purr Evil #1

Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts on what we read! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.com/episodes/epis...

I have been reading

The Good Asian, Volume One
Really enjoying the art and story.

Last 2 weeks of light comic book reading. Belated on vacation edition.

Me the People ★★★
A bunch of editorial cartoons skewering the first two years of the Trump administration. These are some powerful images. Pia Guerra of Y the Last Man fame doesn't hold back.

Perdy Volume 1 ★
This was terrible. It's a European comic set in the Old West that for some reason Image reprinted. It's about this woman who just got out of prison who is obsessed with sex and crime. She goes to find her daughter who has grown up on her own. They get in this competition over a French doctor in this small town. Perdy's main deal is that she has huge boobs. She even uses them to suffocate someone at some point. The art is awful. It looks like the artist of Ziggy made a bawdy Western.

The Black Bull of Norroway ★★★
This is supposed to be based on some Scottish folklore I haven't come across before. A girl has her fortune told that one day she'll marry a bull and she goes with it. When he arrives when she's older, she's already sold off all the livestock and is ready to hit the road. She discovers he has been cursed along with others in the court. It's a bit maddening how short in information the girl is even though she keeps chugging along with this bull.

Dry County ★★
A complete dud of a mystery. The only part of this mystery I cared about was how to get my time back. It's about a guy who starts dating a girl who is kidnapped and then gets absolutely nowhere trying to locate her.

Eternal Empire, Vol. 2 ★★
Better than the first volume but not by much. This seems like the kind of nonsense a cult would give its members about the true ancient history of the world with people descended from dragons and other assorted horseshit.

The Pervert ★★★
A series of vignettes about a transsexual prostitute in Seattle. They are trying to support their transition through being a nurse and a prostitute which seemed a bit contradictory since she has all kinds of unprotected sex. The jump between vignettes made this feel really disjointed at times.

Cyber Force: Awakening, Volume 1 ★★★
A reboot of Cyber Force that also involves Aphrodite. That's where it gets super confusing. I'm not sure what's going on with her involvement. It appears there's also time travel involved.

The Dead Hand, Vol 1: Cold War Relics ★★★★
I thought this was a pretty cool story of something someone would have actually came up with during the Cold War. It's definitely going to draw a lot of comparisons to Ed Brubaker's and Steve Epting's comics. Think The Truman Show if it had to do with spies.

Rose, Vol. 2: Ghosts ★★★
The plot in this book moves so slowly. This 15 issues series could have probably been condensed into half the issues and been a better book. Also, the women in this book are drawn with barely any clothes on. Very odd for a book written by a woman.

Dissonance, Vol. 1 ★
Sami Basri's art is always welcome but this overwritten and yet halfbaked story is the pits. Some aliens have given Earth technology and some people merge with these aliens because the author says we have to. There's a secret cabal running the world and one alien that I guess is worse than the others. I don't even feel like explaining any further because this thing sucks.

Star Trek, Volume 3 ★★★
I'm liking these new takes on classic episodes. It's a different timeline so I'm OK with some changes. This one hints at some shady Starfleet stuff going on in the background, maybe section 31? The episode it's adapting is "The Return of the Archons" about the old computer that had taken over these colonists. Then we get an original take on "The Trouble with Tribbles".

Star Trek, Volume 4 ★★★
The first two issues are about minor characters from the Kelvin timeline movies and are good. The first one is about the Red Shirts from the perspective of Hendorff who was a thorn in Kirk's side in the first movie. The last two issues are about the Mirror universe version of the Kelvin timeline cast and it's not very good.

Noble Causes Volume 9: Five Years Later ★★★★
The series jumps 5 years ahead. Doc has remarried and his new wife and her adult kids are all part of the team now.

VS, Vol. 1 ★★
The only reason to check this is out is for Esad Ribic's terrific art. The story is bunk. It's your standard war has been taken over by corporations riff, complete with stoppages in the fighting for commercials.

Maestros ★★★★★
I can't believe I let this slip past me for this long. Steve Skroce doesn't do many comics these days but when he does they are terrific. This is about Will, a banished magician who becomes the new Maestro of a magical kingdom when his father and his many wives and kids are all wiped out. It's OK though because his father was a POS. Will grew up on Earth and wants to induce positive changes. The only thing is the people who killed his father are coming after him as well. This book is not for kids.

Scarlet Witch Vol. 1: The Last Door ★★★
A Steve Orlando book that I didn't hate. It actually started off pretty strong. Wanda is operating a book shop in a small town now that contains the Last Door where those on their last hope walk through and Wanda helps them. I don't like how powerful Scarlet Witch is now. She's no longer a mutant and now can apparently do anything with magic including fly effortlessly. Characters aren't very interesting when they have no limitations.

Underwinter: Queen of Spirits ★★
Follows two paramedics as they try and help the people in a building where a bomb went off. Meanwhile the dead are trying to decide to go meet this death creature for help or not. Lots of flowery language that doesn't say anything.

Ice Cream Man, Volume 2: Strange Neapolitan ★★★
This is OK. I haven't found the love for this series that others have. The horror in these stand alone issues feels more like random things happening than a focused story.

The Fade Out, Act One ★★★★
No one does comic book noir like Brubaker and Phillips. It's about a screenwriter who has had writer's block since the War. He secretly partners with someone who has been blackballed for being a communist. He realizes some shady things are going on when the star of his latest movie is murdered and covered up.

The Fade Out, Act Two ★★★★
Great stuff. Go read it instead of letting me spoil it.

A Tale of Sand HC ★★★
This is an adaptation of an experimental screenplay Jim Henson wrote with Jerry Juhl back in the 60's. They attempted to turn it into a film for several years with no success. That's not at all surprising since this would have cost a fortune to make.

The Hundredth Voice ★★
When I saw the only other creator listed other than the writer / artist was a sensitivity reader, I got a little nervous but it was fine. It's a comic for probably middle school kids about a vocal school on an island off England shortly after World War I. It seems like a lightened up take on Faust for kids.

Star Wars: Tales from the Death Star ★★★
Four spooky stories set on the Death Stars for Halloween.

Star Trek Volume 13 ★★★★
NO reimaginings of old episodes in this volume. The first half continues the first of the Kelvin timeline movies. Vulcans are looking for a new homeworld while the Romuluns are looking to finish them off. The second half is about a time / space anomaly (I know they happen all the time in Star Trek.) that is causing the members of the Enterprise from both timelines to switch universes. Good stuff.

Tomahawk Angel Volume 1 ★★★★
A solid new manga set in Greece in the new future. A girl with no memory wakes up in a world overrun by Kaiju. We find out what's happening as Valerie does. I was intrigued. Seems like a combination of Kaiju and maybe a Resident Evil type thing.

All Eight Eyes ★★★
Some homeless people fight giant spiders in New York City. There's not much to the concept other than that.

Macbeth: A Tale of Horror ★★★
Macbeth is the Shakespeare story I'd choose if I had to give it a horror slant. I mean, it honestly has one to begin with, with all of the witches and macabre visions in it already. The creators just expand upon it while maintaining a Shakespearian vibe.

Captain Marvel, Vol. 8: The Trials ★★★
Carol disappears leaving Binary to figure things out for herself. Carol is on trial for what she did to the Enchantress's son in Strange Magic. There's a lesson to be learned here, one that I think you typically learn by 1st grade or so.

Captain Marvel, Vol. 9: Revenge of the Brood, Part 1 ★★★★
This was one of the best Judgement Day tie ins because it focused on Chewie. It was a ton of fun. Then Carol goes old school to hang out with the X-Men when she receives a garbled message from Rogue (who stole all her memories in X-Men back in the 80's). Enter the Brood. I love when the Brood show up, even if they are knock off Xenomorphs.

Dying Light: Stories From the Dying City ★★★
Some solid comics of humans trying to survive in a world of zombies as a prequel to the video game Dying Light 2.

Star Trek: Discovery - Succession ★★★★
Definitely don't read this unless you're seen the first season of Star Trek: Discovery. (view spoiler)[This extrapolates on the ending showing the fight to be the next emperor in the Mirror universe. (hide spoiler)]

Had to separate this into two posts to get them all to fit.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Vol. 1 ★★★★★
I remember back in the day when I heard they were killing off Peter Parker in the Ultimate universe, I was screaming "What?" Bendis and Bagley had such a great run on that book I couldn't believe they were doing it. It may be Bendis's best work period. Thankfully, it didn't stop there. Miles Morales's Spider-Man is just as good.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Vol. 2 ★★★★★
Miles's Uncle Aaron (the Prowler) figures out he's Spider-Man and attempts to blackmail him into teaming up. Meanwhile, the Ultimate version of the Scorpion (who is way more scary) is coming to New York because the Prowler screwed him over and now he's planning to take over the NYC underworld. I'm still adoring this series. It has so much heart and say what you will about Bendis, he has found his way straight into the heart of Miles.

Brooms ★★★
A story set in the 1930's South. Everything is the same as normal history except there is magic. Given that everything else is the same, minorities are not allowed to practice magic just like the rest of the racist practices of the time period. So they have underground broom races like the underground race circuits of the time period.

Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher: The Lesser Evil ★★★
The Witcher goes up against a darker version of Snow White in this story about a wizard hiding in his tower because Snow White is hunting him down.

Dungeons & Dragons: Cutter ★★
Two half-drow siblings fight over a cursed blade. It's interesting at first but then spins its wheels in the middle issues to draw this out to 5 issues.

Dungeons & Dragons: The Legend of Drizzt - Neverwinter Tales ★★★
An original Drizzt comic that doesn't really stand on its own. Without having read the Neverwinter stories, it's hard sailing and seemingly not much happens. Drizzt and his companion search for a vampire while said vampire dwarf refuses to kill anything other than monsters.

Planeta Blu: Rise of Agoo ★
This was incredibly bad. Poor story, poor art, ruddy coloring. It's about 4 kids who are on a school trip when some guys show up to kill them. They are wading in the ocean off Massachusetts, talking about cooling off when they get home even though they are standing in the ocean when they are saved by dolphins. All of a sudden the dolphins are talking and these kids are breathing underwater. They are taken to Atlantis to a conclave of talking animals at the bottom of the ocean where they learn some other some guy has poisoned 90% of humanity and is going to launch nuclear weapons. None of this makes any sense. Seeing talking bears at the bottom of the ocean is a real head scratcher.

The Matriarchs ★★
A comic about a bunch of vampire / snake women operating in secret. Needs to be a little less obtuse about what's going on, but has some potential.

Hellboy in Love ★★★
Back in 1979, Hellboy met and fell for for an archaeologist, Anastasia Brumfield. This details their adventures as their relationship develops. She's on the hunt for evidence of some ancient secret society.

Today's trip to the LCS.

Dark X-Men #1
Planet of the Apes #5
Penguin #1
Uncanny Avengers #1
Big Game #2
Night Club #5
World's Finest #18
Something Is Killing the Children #32
X-Men Red #14
Dark Knights of Steel #12
Fire Power #26
Iron Man #9
X-Force #43
Immortal Thor #1

* I was on vacation last week so this is two weeks worth of comics. I didn't pay attention to what came out this week versus last.

Finished reading and (and am eagerly awaiting the third and final book which comes out next month ) and just started !

kaitlphere wrote: "Here's what the IRCB folks read this week for Episode 379 | The Brutal Murders of Tintin

- Kara: Mimosa
- Brian: Starfinder: Angels Of The Drift #1
- Nick: [book:T..."

That Kent State book sounds like a good one! I especially want to read it because I read Backderf's other book, My Friend Dahmer and that was great too!

Here's what the IRCB folks read this week for Episode 382 | Sorry to Shonen Jump

- Danny: ALIEN BY SHALVEY & BROCCARDO VOL. 1: THAW, Alpha Flight: True North (2019) #1, The Schlub #1
- Paloma: That Texas Blood, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, How Do We Relationship?, Vol. 9
- Kait: Fangirl, Vol. 3: The Manga, Our Not-So-Lonely Planet Travel Guide, Volume 1 and Volume 2

Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts on what we read! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.com/episodes/epis...

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Parenthesis ★★★★
This is a memoir about a woman who has seizures and loses time and memory to them. It's an emotionally difficult read but the story ends optimistically. The art is a little rough but I felt like it matched the tone of the story well.

Tetris: The Games People Play★★★
This is about the development and distribution of the game Tetris. I've heard from a lot of people who loved this book but I wasn't crazy about it. There are a whole lot of characters and I found it difficult to keep them straight, especially when one isn't mentioned for awhile and then is important again much later. I did enjoy the reflective commentary from Box Brown about how games prepare us for life.

パーフェクトワールド 1 (Perfect World vol. 1)★★★★★
I'm reading this on the KManga app, which reads by manga chapter instead of volume, so it's hard to tell where I'm at with this series. This is a romance between an interior designer and an architect in a wheelchair who have to keep making lifestyle decisions and defending their relationship because of their different physical abilities, and the story doesn't shy away from being honest about those difficulties. I find the characters to be very kind and sweet.

Project Superpowers Omnibus, Vol. 3: Heroes and Villains ★★★
Collects a bunch of spin off material from Project Superpowers. None of them stick out that much, but they do expand the world building. The highlight for me was the Christmas Carol. Ebenezer Scrooge is the villain, the Clown, while the ghosts are the heroes, who came from WWII.


Blue Lock, Vol. 8 ★★★★
Blue Lock's unique setting of "death game" lets it add unique twists and turns to the sports genre. Vol 8 builds on everything its setup as Isagi teams up with two old enemies to face off against his old teammates.


Invincible Vol. 3-Vol. 7 ★★★★★
I couldn't put this down. You can see Ottley's art evolve with each issue. I also enjoy reading the behind the scenes bits at the end talking about their process of making the book.


Gold Goblin ★★★★
It's good. Shorter than I'd like to use one of my Hoopla borrows on.


Batman: Hush ★★★★★
My only complaint is that little Bruce and Tom play war simulations in their spare time. Just make them play chess.


Batman: One Dark Knight ★★★
Batman must protect a criminal with the power to destroy the city. There's a lot of cool paneling and artwork.


The Flash by Geoff Johns, Book Three ★★★★★
Fantastic. Geoff Johns ability to weave setup for the next story amazes me. The Clash arc blew me away.


Daredevil by Frank Miller & Klaus Janson, Vol. 3 ★★★★
Not as good as vol 2, but I still enjoyed it.


The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 1: Apocalypse Suite ★★★
I choose this for the month's theme, but they never actually reference a school. Seven super powered children are adopted by a morally dubious man. They become a dysfunctional family of superheroes. 30 years later, their father has died and they must reunite to stop one their sister from destroying the world.
It's Doom Patrol, but not as good. Some of the children do not stand out as well as other. It doesn't help that they all have 3 different names. I'm going to stick with it to see if it gets better.

Last week's adventures in comics.

The Unlikely Story of Felix and Macabber ★★★
The story of a young monster who is picked on by the other monsters until he meets an old monster who used to be the best wrestler in the world. Juni Ba only drew this and I didn't think it was as appealing as his previous work like Monkey Meat.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Vol. 3 ★★★★★
The first few issues are really the end of the last arc with Miles facing his uncle, the Prowler. It's some rough but terrific stuff. Then the Divided We Fall/United We Stand crossover fills the rest of the volume.

Spider-Men ★★★★★
Peter Parker and Miles Morales meet for the first time as the Marvel universe and the Ultimate universe collide.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Vol. 4 ★★★★★
I like how the Ultimate versions of the Daily Bugle employees differ from their 616 counterparts. Betty Brant's change is not one for the better. Venom returns and this volume is just gut wrenching.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Vol. 5 ★★★★★
It's been a year since the last issue and Miles is still no longer Spider-Man. Bendis is doing the Lord's work with Miles Morales. It's all just terrific.

Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol. 1: Revival ★★★★★
Miles is back with the first of many rebooted series. You should go back and read the 3 part Cataclysm: Miles Morales series. It's mostly tangentially connected to the event but that's where Miles tells his dad that he's Spider-Man and it doesn't go well at all.

Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol. 2: Revelations ★★★★
You can tell the end of this was really rushed and condensed to accommodate Miles's move to the 616 universe with Secret Wars.

Dungeons & Dragons Library Collection, Vol. 1 ★★★
These 2 stories honestly don't bring much new to the table even though they are both written by R.A. Salvatore.

Bad Karma ★★★★
The story of two washed up mercenaries. One is missing a leg, the other has major head trauma. They meet a death row inmate who they know didn't kill anyone 10 years ago, because they did it. Now they have to try and make amends.

Star Trek Vol. 1: Godshock ★★★
A solid extension of the Next Generation era of Star Trek. It's 3 years after the end of Deep Space Nine. Captain Sisko has finally returned from the Prophets and set on a mission. He puts together a crew of Star Trek's version of the Avengers (Data, Beverly Crusher, Worf, Tom Paris, and Scotty along with a couple of new bridge crew.)

Animalheads ★★★
This was alright. It's about 4 kids that graduate college and kind of fall into becoming criminals. It's all centered around this one event that they dance around for 300 pages. Just get to the point already.

Project Monarch ★★★
It's interesting to see Oeming and Santos team up because their art styles are so similar even though Oeming just sticks to writing this one. I gotta say though that this story about the Illuminati operating behind the scenes was really obtuse and not very entertaining.

Dungeons & Dragons: Saturday Morning Adventures ★★
Maybe David Booher should stick to creator owned stuff like Canto (which is fantastic) because this doesn't add anything to the terrific Dungeons & Dragons cartoon of my youth.

Cain ★★★
Basically this is a "What If?" story about if Matt Murdoch became a hitman who killed bad guys instead of a superhero.

Marvel Comics: A Manga Tribute ★★★
This is mainly a bunch of Marvel variant covers by Japanese artists like Peach Momoko and Sana Takeda. There's a few pieces of original art and covers specifically for the Japanese market. With all of the different artists involved some pages are excellent while others are awful.

Dr. Moebius and Mister Gir ★★
Surprisingly few drawings considering Moebius was an artist for his entire life. What it is is almost 300 pages of interviews Sadoul conducted with Moebius at three different periods of his life before he passed away. It's extremely in-depth. The kind of thing that only his biggest fans would want to read.

Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1957 ★★★
Collects all of the 1957 one shots. I thought the book end stories were the best of the 6 stories.

Illegal Cargo ★★★★
A bleak story about an El Salvadorian man who goes searching for his daughter after she goes missing in Mexico while trying to make it to the U.S. This was harsh but ends like it probably does for a lot of parents.

Box of Bones: Book One ★★★
A college student writing her dissertation decides to write it on the Box of Bones. It's kind of like the box from Hellraiser but with a whole history of being downtrodden and treated just awfully over the years. Each issue is a new stand alone story with a different illustrator. Some work better than others, especially when you get to panel structure.

Oni Ronin ★★
Some really generic, ronin claptrap. I couldn't keep the first half of the story straight. Too many characters that didn't matter to the story and the like. The last half is told in Hell and didn't make a whole lot more sense either.

Clementine: Book Two ★★★
Walden continues her tradition of making these Clementine books way too long at 280+ pages. Nothing happens for most of the first 75% of the book. Clementine and their friends find an island in Canada to hide out on from all the walkers until it inevitably comes crashing down at the end.

Here's what the IRCB folks read this week for Episode 383 | Touched Grass This Month

- Mike: Dark X-Men (2023-) #1, Occulted
- Paloma: WIND BREAKER, Vol. 1, Godzilla: The War for Humanity #1
- Nick: Alien (2023-) #4 and #5, Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea #1, The Enfield Gang Massacre #1

Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts on what we read! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.com/episodes/epis...

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The Adoption ★★★★★
This is an oversized bande desinee about a grumpy old man whose son adopts a little girl. The end is quite bittersweet. I feel like this fits in with books like Lulu Anew and Always Never, where people find new meaning later in life.

Our Not-So-Lonely Planet Travel Guide, Volume 1 ★★★★★
I read this entire series, which is four volumes. It's a BL manga about a couple traveling the world, trying new food, meeting new people, and supporting each other through their personal struggles. I like the entire series but the last volume was my favorite. I read this on Hoopla.

パーフェクトワールド 4 (Perfect World vol. 4) ★★★
This is the series I've been using my daily free reads for on the KManga app, but it's losing me. The romance series started really sweet and strong but has since succumbed to the "will they/won't they" trope and some jealousy from the characters around them.

kaitlphere wrote: "The Adoption by Zidrou The Adoption ★★★★★
This is an oversized bande desinee about a grumpy old man whose son adopts a little girl. The end is quite bittersweet. I feel like this fits in with books like Lulu Anew and Always Never, where people find new meaning later in life.."

I read The Adoption a couple years back. Absolutely terrific.

Today's trip to the LCS.

The Plot Holes #1 <-- A new comic by Sean Murphy from a new publisher Massive.
Incredible Hulk #3
Danny Ketch Ghost Rider #4
Ultimate Invasion #3
Wolverine #36
Marvel Age #1000
The Hunger and the Dusk #2

For those who loved the Adoption, not sure if it's out in English yet but keep an eye out for it, there is a second cycle. The story is independent from the first one (different characters completely) and revolves around another case of adoption. It's not AS good but it's still pretty great.