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What are you reading right now?
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What are you reading right now? (October 2024)
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Mod
Here's what folks read this week:
- Mike: Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons
- Kait: Watership Down: The Graphic Novel
- CK: The Ex-Wives of Frankenstein
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.simplecast.com/ep...
Check out the unSEEN/unHEARD Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
Follow CK Online - https://x.com/c_k_carpenter
I realize I’m late to this party, but I am reading a run of core Batman storylines that includes The Long Halloween… and it just occurred to me that I’m doing that in October. A curious riddle to be sure.
Jacob wrote: "I realize I’m late to this party, but I am reading a run of core Batman storylines that includes The Long Halloween… and it just occurred to me that I’m doing that in October. A curious riddle to b..."Jeph Loeb has just started a sequel to Long Halloween and Dark Victory called Last Halloween. There's a 0 and 1st issue out so far. Each issue is a different artist.
Yesterday's trip to the comic book store. Something Crawled Out #1 <-- Something Vault gave away for free
Absolute Power #4
All In Special #1 <-- DC's new jumping on point spinning out of Absolute Power. It also sets up the absolute universe DC is doing.
Birds of Prey #14
Immortal Thor #16
Redcoat #6
Ultimate Black Panther #9
X-Men #5
Hyde Street #1 <-- Ghost Machine's latest comic from Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis.
Get Fury #6
Storm #1
Last week's adventures in comics.The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Ominous Omnibus Vol. 1: Scary Tales & Scarier Tentacles ★★★★
This massive tome is a lot of fun. The glow in the dark cover was a nice surprise too. If you like The Simpsons, you'll like this graphic novel collection.
The Awl Vol 1 ★★
A manhwa about forming unions in Korea. It's about a grocery store chain that is trying to treat its employees so badly they quit. So they try and form a union. This thing is so dry, boring and dense though. There's also all these asides about the manager's time in the military that to me felt like a waste of time. The talks about how unions operate in Korea is so dense.
Hopcross Jilly Vol. 1 ★★★
I thought this was a pretty good introduction to Mercy Thompson's world even if you haven't read the novels. That's me. This is an original story to boot. Mercy is a werecoyote married to the leader of a wolf pack. Her stepdaughter is constantly bullied in high school because her father is a werewolf. The story revolves around a bunch of children's bodies found on a farm. They all died years ago. But it looks like their may be a fae involved.
The Incredible Hulk Visionaries: Peter David, Vol. 1 ★★★
Featuring Todd McFarlane before he become a superstar, you can see his art start to evolve into what it later becomes on Spider-Man and Spawn. The stories and characterizations are a bit clunky to start out. Peter David was saddled with a lot of baggage when he came on the book, like a Rick Jones Hulk and the Hulkbusters. He jettisons both during the book in favor of a Jekyll and Hyde version of the Hulk. We get the first Grey Hulk since his earliest days back in the 60's and he has his own distinct surly personality. No longer the Hulk of few words, this Hulk is cunning and all out for himself. By the end of the book, the stories are already getting more sophisticated.
I liked the little Easter eggs put in the book during the X-Factor crossover. They fight in the printing press where all Marvel comics were printed back in the 80's. I had friends whose parents worked in a sister plant in my hometown and they had boxes of comics we'd read from when they worked at the Sparta press.
Stitch and the Samurai Volume 1 ★★
The art in this was surprisingly good. The story though? Nothing happens. Stitch lands in feudal Japan and the Lord who is in the middle of a war becomes besotten with Stitch treating him like a new pet. It's intended for younger audiences. I think anyone older than 7 or so will be thoroughly bored with this.
The Rebel Army (Shades of Magic - The Steel Prince) ★★
These 4 issues are so shallow and unimaginative. A pirate army is coming to conquer the cities the prince has been left in charge of. What will they do? Exactly what you'd expect. This could have been saved with a better artist. The art is so sloppy that I often couldn't tell who was who. It sucked any thrill out of reading it.
Watchmen Companion ★★★
The only Watchmen material actually sanctioned by Alan Moore. Most of it is 2 modules for a Watchmen roleplaying game along with an extensive sourcebook that gives you more background info on the characters than you could ever imagine. They are original prequels and were actually written while Moore was writing the series. That being said, you are going to need to be a fan of the old DC RPG from the 80s to play these. (BTW, there are Watchmen lead figures too. I have them.) In addition to a bunch of promotional material there's a reprint of The Question #17. It gets a bit meta because you have The Question reading a Rorschach comic (with Rorschach being based on The Question). But outside of that it's just an OK comic book. While this is cool to flip through, it's probably really only for the hardest core of hard core Watchmen fans.
Andy Warhol: A Graphic Biography ★★★
A nice, quick drive by of Andy Warhol's life. It touches on a lot of Warhol's life but none of it in great detail. It really doesn't convey how odd of a person he was. You're better off searching the internet for old interviews to gather that on your own.
Marvel Graphic Novel #29: Hulk/Thing - The Big Change ★★
The great Bernie Wrightson drew this so it looks great, but this is a nothingburger of a story. The Hulk and the Thing get transported to another planet where they basically become bounty hunters looking for some alien. It's basically the two of them on a road trip. This is not the grey Hulk of the current time period either. It's the dumb and uninteresting Hulk so I guess this is supposed to be from somewhere further back in the timeline than in the late 80s.
Fire Force, Vol. 1 ★★★
Actually a half decent comic. It's about a Tokyo where people spontaneously combust and the firefighters who come in and put them out of their misery while also putting out the fires. Some of the firefighters have powers as well. There's some of the cliches that you typically find in manga. The one that really irks me though is the oversexualization of women. I don't get why characters in these things act like they've never seen cleavage before and this comic goes out of its way, actually drawing arrows pointing at them.
The Incredible Hulk: Ground Zero ★★★★
The grey hulk comes out at night as Bruce, Clay Quartermain and Rick Jones try and track down a missing gamma bomb before the Leader can set it off. I love Todd McFarlane's art in this, especially the issues he does his own inks. The book just doesn't look as good when another inker tries to finish off his pencils. I still remember that cover he did with the Hulk's reflection on Wolverine's claws. Just terrific looking stuff.
Hulk: Giant-Size ★★
This is the Giant-Size book of Hulk crap. It's four one-shots and 2 reprints, one of which is about the Fantastic Four instead of the Hulk.
ATTABOY ★
This looks and feels like something created by a 10 year old boy. It's something to do with a video game that no one else remembers. There's no real story here or I couldn't follow it.
Time Traveler Tales ★
This was terribly written. It's about a kid randomly travelling through time and the watch that allows him to travel through time just keeps randomly disappearing for no reason. Then it turns out there's some other kid trying to steal his watch along with the watches of other travelers. Nothing is explained at all. It's a frustratingly bad read. It feels like a web comic that existed without an editor that Dark Horse published in desperation.
Incredible Hulk Epic Collection Vol. 15: Ground Zero ★★★
The beginning of Peter David's epic 100+ issue run on the Incredible Hulk. You can tell at the beginning of this David is finding his footing. The humor is missing and the focus of the story keeps changing. Still the Leader is a strong villain when he's around and most of this is by Todd McFarlane doing his first regular book.
Today's trip to the comic book storeCrocodile Black #5
Exceptional X-Men #2
Geiger #7
Scarlet #5
Space Ghost #6
Transformers #13
Ultimates #5
Absolute Batman #1
Murder Kingdom #1
Jonny Quest #3
X-Force #4
Mod
Here's what folks read this week:
- Mike: Universal Monsters: Frankenstein #1 and #2, Public Domain, Volume 1: Past Mistakes
- Zach: Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees, Knights Vs. Samurai #1
- Danny: ULTIMATES BY DENIZ CAMP VOL. 1: FIX THE WORLD, The Terminator #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.simplecast.com/ep...
Last week's adventures in comics.The Incredible Hulk Visionaries: Peter David, Vol. 2 ★★★★
First, we get the Grey Hulk, Clay Quartermain and Rick trying to track down a gamma bomb before it goes off. All with the Leader manipulating things in the background. Then the Mr. Fixit era begins with the Hulk operating as an enforcer in Las Vegas. We also get Marlo's first appearance who sticks around the book for a long time. Those first several issues look terrific as Todd McFarlane finishes up his run. Jeff Purves jumps onboard for the last 2 issues. His art is fine but pales in comparison to McFarlane.
Blasfamous ★★
This book seems to have a hard time getting to a point or just going anywhere in general. It's a world where church is not only the most important thing but it's merged with celebrity. There's this singer who is at the top of her game but also miserable. She's immortal and being propped up by demons. They keep her around for 30 years or so, fake her death and start over again as another identity. A lot of my problems with the book is the sheer amount of mindnumbing dialogue. There's so many word bubbles that I'm honestly surprised you can see any of Andolfo's art. This DSTLRY company could certainly benefit from hiring some editors instead of just letting these creators do whatever they come up with.
Assassin's Apprentice, Volume 1 ★★★★
A really good adaptation. That should be no real surprise though. Jody Houser seems to be the queen of adapting media to comics. The bastard of royalty grows up neglected in the keep, eventually being trained to become the assassin for the king.
Astro Boy, Vols. 1 & 2 ★★★
This was free on hoopla last month so I decided I needed to check this out. Astro Boy was one of the first mangas and one of the first properties to be exported from Japan to the U.S. It's got a lot of comic strips in the character designs. They are all caricatures and often look goofy. And they clearly had no idea how to draw a dog. The story isn't bad if you read it in the frame of an old cartoon. I do think it's hilarious that Astro Boy has machine guns that come out of his butt. That first story was really weird. They were called the Hot Dog Gang and were dogs that had been transformed into cyborgs.
Bloodborne, Vol. 6: The Bleak Dominion ★★★
I thought this worked well even without having played the game. It's about two hunters seeking out a third green hunter who has set off on their own to a dungeon full of monsters. The Bleak part of the title is well earned. This book is dark.
Holler ★★★
A comic about starting a high school band in a small town in Virginia in the 90s. It's not bad. Sure it's small town stakes. But it does capture the hopelessness of going to school in a small town well and things like being made to go to church by your parents. You can tell Massie put a lot of himself into the story.
The Tipping Point: Slightly Oversized ★★★
An OK anthology. That's about the best you can say about it. It does have a nice combination of creators from Europe, Japan and America.
Underheist ★★
I thought the Laphams were better writers than this. It starts off about a heist gone wrong under Manhattan. Then it turns into some Jacob's Ladder scenario except I couldn't figure out what was actually happening through most of this. It's written so poorly. It's hard to believe this is from the same people who wrote Stray Bullets.
Ghostlore Vol. 3 ★★★
Not bad. Suffers a bit from how fast Bunn flies through everything. Feels like a 36 issue series condensed into 12. The series is about a father and daughter who can talk to ghosts. They all want to tell their stories so they can move on. Meanwhile, there's some kind of evil version of the 2 of them who is gathering monsters. It all wraps up decently but quickly.
Garbage Pail Kids: Origins Collection ★★
Exactly what you'd expect from a comic based on the Garbage Pail Kids. Lots of gross out nonsense. The art is better than I expected. I did think this was odd that this was set in World War II.
The Road: A Graphic Novel Adaptation ★★★★★
An excellent but extremely bleak adaptation. The artwork really brings out the hopelessness of this father and son duo on the road to get to the ocean. Why? I don't really know. Humanity is almost completely gone. Most of the pockets left have turned to cannibalism, keeping people like livestock. This father and son remain the "good guys", mainly by just hiding away from everyone else. The artwork tells most of the story with few passages of dialogue. And the artwork really conveys the starving bodies of these stragglers who remain alive. It's extremely well done. Just not one of those things I'll find myself returning to reread due to how it makes me feel.
John Carpenter's Tales for a Halloween Night: Volume 9 ★★★★
A better than average Halloween anthology with some actual scary and dark stories. Good stuff.
Disney Villains: Maleficent ★★★
Soo Lee's art is fantastic. The story doesn't have a lot to say though. It's just Maleficent not suffering a fool and then beating the people who try and get vengeance for him each issue. Pretty simple plot. One of those things that fails to move the needle even if it looks cool.
Rare Flavours ★★★
Ram V. and Felipe Andrade return for a tour of the food of India, driven by a documentary by a failed director documenting the foodie adventures of a rakshasa. I didn't like this as much as some others. I found the panels on dishes kind of boring and began to skip them because they interfered with the actual story. I also didn't think Andrade's art was very good.
Bettie Page: La Dolce Vita ★★★
This was alright. Bettie heads to Italy to make a movie and finds out she has a double who is in the mob. Her double is trying to disappear with her boyfriend who is in a rival mob in a 20th century version of Romeo and Juliet.
Red Sonja Vol. 1: His Masters Voice ★★★
Red Sonja is handed a cursed diamond and pursued by a man who can take over people at will. It's alright. Geovani's art is always welcome.
This week's trip to my LCS.House of Slaughter #26
Nightwing #118 <-- The final Tom Taylor issue unfortunately. :(
Uncanny X-Men #4
World's Finest #32
Destro #5
Ultimate Spider-Man #10
Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #1
Mystique #1
Flash Gordon #3
Spectacular Spider-Men #8
Nice haul!I picked up some similar ones and a couple additional:
1) Batman/Superman WF
2) COIE #7 foil facsimile
3) Destro
4) Flash Gordon
5) Green Lantern
6) Ultimate Spider-man
7) Wolverine
8) Nemesis #2
Mod
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.simplecast.com/ep...
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Fever Year: The Killer Flu of 1918★★★★
This book was released in 2019, right before the Covid pandemic. Reading this after experiencing Covid was unsettling and uncanny. The spread of the disease, the misinformation, and masking and vaccines, were all incredibly familiar and made me appreciate the leaps in medical science that have happened over the last century. The art style in this book is gritty and occasionally rough, but it complemented the themes of war and sickness.
The Collected Toppi Vol. 1: The Enchanted World★★★
This was an anthology. The setting and characters of these stories varied quite a bit but they all had a theme of something mythical or fairy-like. The stories were mostly somewhat unsettling. I loved the patchwork-looking line art in the architecture and nature areas of this comic book. My favorite story was "The King and the Crow."
Alice in Kyoto Forest, Volume 1★★★★★
This two-volume series is based on a longer series of light novels. I would have continued this series had more of it been adapted to manga but I'm satisfied with how this manga adaptation ended.
The aspects of the magical world are interesting. It seems to be a blend of architectures, traditions, and technologies that combine history, the present, and a fantasy world. I enjoy that Alice has a frog companion as well as a rabbit one. This is a more unique take on Alice in Wonderland than I was expecting.
Alice in Kyoto Forest, Volume 2★★★★
The antagonist in this story was short-lived and unnecessary. I was happy with this being a cozy slice-of-life fantasy story. I like the way the seemingly random frog character was foreshadowed and explained in this volume.
Last week's adventures in comics.007 Book One: Myrmidon ★★★
Decent story, crap art. Bond goes undercover when another 00 agent he respected is killed. I really liked the updating so that women 00's were just as capable as the men. Bond doesn't need to be stuck in the sixties. The art is pretty damn bad. Looks like simple sketches with zero backgrounds.
Madballs vs. Garbage Pail Kids: Heavyweights of Gross Collection ★
This was so unbelievably dumb. A new family moves in the house between the Madballs and the Garbage Pail Kids who are rivals. Terrible puns and stories ensue. If you're over the age of seven, you are probably too old for this.
Vampirella vs The SuperPowers ★★★
Dynamite really turned down the nipplely action in this Vampirella book. Vampy is under cover in one of the multiversal worlds established in the Project Superpowers comics. She's trying to find the source of a drug giving normal people superpowers. Powers have been banned there after 2 world wars over them.
Army of Darkness vs Reanimator: Necronomicon Rising ★★★
Eric Burnham is no stranger to crossing over properties. He's done a bunch of them over at IDW. Now he's over at Dynamite mixing it up with Ash and the Doctor from Re-Animator and it works surprisingly well. Nice mix of humor and horror for Evil Dead fans.
Immortal Red Sonja Vol. 2 ★★★
I liked the combination of Red Sonja and a twisted version of the Arthurian legend. It would have been better served by drawing it out into more issues though. The art is just OK too. Absolutely no backgrounds make it look like a poorly drawn manga at times.
Lord of the Jungle ★★★
A solid Tarzan book that can't be called Tarzan on the cover for some rights reason I'd presume. It takes place in two times, with Tarzan as a young man and turning decades later to right an old wrong he committed for a good reason. Jurgens can right this kind of stuff in his sleep. The artist also drew the newspaper strip. The art had the look of a Joe Kubert type.
Dejah Thoris: Crimson Genesis ★★
Apparently this is supposed to be a prequel to the Edgar Rice Burrough novel. However, there was no indication of that at all until I read the blurb on the back. Dejah Thoris is the princess of Mars. Her city is overrun but she escapes. Then she just gallivants across Mars for the rest of the book. Things are put together oddly, so issues don't really fit together. Characters are introduced as if you are already familiar with them. The ending is awful and just feels like the book was cancelled more than anything else.
John Carpenter's Tales for a HalloweeNight: Volume 10 ★★★
Back for a tenth year, most of the same group of creators return for more spooky goodness. This year's crop isn't quite as good as some of the previous iterations but still worth a read for spooky season.
Vampirella Mindwarp ★★★
This was alright. That Benjamin Dewey cover is fugly though and some of the interior art was suspect at times. Something about how he sometimes draws faces. Vampirella and an old lady sorcerer get transported back into their own bodies 50 years in the past. Then it becomes about reliving your past and Vampirella's past takes place in the goofy but sexy old Warren comics era.
Draculina: Blood Simple ★★★★
This is not very new user friendly. There are many foot notes though to all of the other Christopher Priest comics where things originally occurred in. I do suggest figuring out the puzzle of current Vampirella universe comics and reading all of these since Priest took over. They are good, but complicated.
This one is about Vampirella's older and worse sister and her multiversal teenage version. It all does make sense. You just need to pay close attention. Michael Sta. Maria's art is really good. Much better than you find in most Dynamite comics.
Sainted Love Vol. 1: A Time to Fight ★★
Orlando couldn't decide if he wanted to make this a book about gays in history or explicit orgies. Making it both just made it a shallow mess. Adding a time travel angle just made it even odder. It's about two gay men who fight and then engage in an orgy, then time travel. Wash. Rinse. Repeat each issue. It also ends without any kind of resolution so it all just feels pointless. Here's these random plot points we brought up. None of them are resolved. Book is over.
Red Sonja: Black, White, Red Volume 1 ★★★★
Dynamite has decided to jump in on the black, white and red game. Red Sonja does make a lot of sense here for it. My favorite story was the opener from Mark Russell and Bob Quinn. That's no surprise though considering they had a great run on Red Sonja itself.
“Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle” is the title of an existing book by Edgar Rice Burroughs, with a totally different plot. They may have avoided the full title to avoid complaints while still getting some name recognition. I am not sure if it was one of the Tarzan books on which copyright was allowed to lapse (a long story) but that might also be a problem.
Ian wrote: "“Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle” is the title of an existing book by Edgar Rice Burroughs, with a totally different plot. They may have avoided the full title to avoid complaints while still getting so..."Yeah, Dynamite's notorious for dancing around rights issues and using public domain characters. He's called Tarzan in the comic just not on the cover.
Spooky season reads so far. Batman (The Long Halloween) - Re read
Something is Killing the Children Book One and book 2
Deluxe ( plus the missing issues including in TPB 4)
Ice Cream Man (Sundae Edition) Book one and 2
The EC Archives: Tales from the Crypt Volume 1
(3 quarters of the way through)
Today's trip to the LCS.The Goon: Them That Don't Stay Dead #3
Flash Gordon Quarterly #1
X-Factor #3
Cheetara #4
Avengers #19
Incredible Hulk #18
Rook Exodus #6
Void Rivals #13
X-Men #6
The Hunger and the Dusk: Book 2 #3
Death in the Family: Robin Lives #4
TMNT #3
Gatchaman #4
Galactor #3
Absolute Wonder Woman #1
Flash Gordon #2
Mod
Here's what folks read this week:
- Mike: Black Cloak #7 through #9
- Nick: Mob Psycho 100, Volume 1
- Danny: Batman & Robin: Year One (2024-) #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.simplecast.com/ep...
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Victor and Nora: A Gotham Love Story ★★★★
I've been really enjoying the young adult DC comics. This one could easily exist independent of the DC universe. The story ends bittersweet and leaves a clear opening for a sequel. The storytelling is fact-paced and efficient. The exposition naturally flows with the story. I like the use of blue for Victor and red/yellow for Nora in the art, and the ways those colors interact. I also like the different art styles used for stories within the narrative.
Wynd, Book Three: The Throne in the Sky ★★★★★
The stakes keep getting higher in this series. I really enjoyed the telling of myths and the new species in this volume. I hope they release a nice special edition of this series once it's completed, I love it.
Last week's adventures in comics.Red Sonja: Black, White, Red Volume 2 ★★★
Volume 2 felt a bit lackluster compared to volume 1. The first volume was stuffed with A talent with the less popular creators in volume 2.
Titans Vol. 2: The Dark-Winged Queen ★★★★
Raven been locked away leaving her demon side to manipulate the Titans. It does feel like Taylor may be a bit distracted by other projects at times. It's still solid stuff but not quite as good as the rest of the run. Lucas Meyer takes over on art and it's real solid stuff.
Medusa ★
This was completely incoherent. I had no idea what was happening for the most part. Something about Medusa acting as an action hero who fights some kind of infection. There's some other Greek mythological creatures involved too but their appearances didn't really make any sense either.
John Carpenter's Night Terrors: Blood of the Taken ★★
Two best friends get turned by an old vampire and meander through their new lives. The storytelling was a mess in this. Sian needs to learn some more from their parents (Tom Mandrake and Jan Duursema) on how to tell stories. Sian's art is considerably sloppier than their parents as well. I was also aggravated on how this ended on a random cliffhanger instead of telling a complete story too.
Satan's Swarm ★★
This was OK. Like a lot of Niles's stuff these days, it seemed more like an idea than a fully fleshed out story. It uses the trope of bringing a bunch of strangers to an island under false pretenses. Then it gets even weaker as we almost don't even bother with a plot, just some random kills.
Mortal Terror Volume 1 ★★★
Dracula but flipped on its ear. Everyone are now vampires living below London. Dracula is mortal and some kind of terrorist. Jonathan Harker and Lucy are vampire soldiers working to stop the humans. It's an interesting take. I do wish this had went farther than the normal 4 issues Dark Horse likes to collect in order to have more of a complete story.
Rook: Exodus, Volume 1: Fight or Flight ★★★★
Rook has been left behind on an engineered world that its corporation has abandoned. He is part of the Wardens, trained by the corporation to control a species with a specialized helmet. The Wardens have been left behind on an oft-kilter world whose resources are under threat. Jason Fabok's art makes this book sing.
Third Shift Society, Vol. 2 ★★★
A burgeoning witch and a guy with a pumpkin for a head investigate the supernatural. There's a larger plot going on to with these two demons up to no good. Not bad, especially for spooky season.
Absolute Swamp Thing by Alan Moore, Vol. 1 ★★★★★
First, I'll just say that this Absolute edition is stunning. The oversized pages, the new coloring from Steve Oliff that pops off the page, it just looks fantastic.
The story from Alan Moore, it hits the ground running. Tying up a whole bunch of plots from the previous issues so he can delve into his stories. First issue he delves into how Swamp Thing is not actually Alec Holland but just his memory. To think of that off the bat back in the early 80s is just mindblowing. The stuff was Arcane, Matt and Abby, just all terrific. I love how he mixes in horror elements and at the time, all of the obscure DC supernatural characters, even Cain and Abel and their Houses of Mystery and Secrets appear long before Sandman.
There's also about 30 pages of backmatter. Sketches from the artists along with pages written by Stephen Bissette about how the stories came about and how Bissette, Veitch and Totleben all met at the inaugural class of the Joe Kubert School and then rented a house together, barely scraping by while they made these comics. I loved reading about all of it.
This Land Is Our Land: A Blue Beetle Story ★★★
Blue Beetle's origin story again. It's pretty much the same as the last 5 times it's been retold. This time though they added in Jaime dealing with white supremacists marching in Texas as well. I found it to be heavy handed but I get it. There are plenty of people living in border states that have been citizens for generations that are treated as lesser because they aren't white even though they ARE American citizens.
Avengers: The Children's Crusade ★★★★
Wiccan and Speed finally meet their mommy. All throughout the Young Avengers run, the question was "Are Billy and Tommy really the Scarlet Witch's kids?". Well now we get an answer and it's pretty well done. (Hopefully, Agatha All Along can do it justice. I don't know that they can pull it off.) Along the way the Avengers and the X-Men get involved and they are all dicks, especially the X-Men. But given that the Scarlet Witch did take away almost all of mutant kind's powers they do have a legitimate beef. I do miss the days when Jimmy Cheung used to draw comics. He's a killer artist, even if there are way too many 2 page spreads.
Hulk Modern Era Epic Collection, Vol. 6: Who is the Red Hulk? ★★★
There's a new Hulk in town and he's pissed. He's smart and can fight. Most of this is just nonstop donnybrooks where this new Hulk stomps people into the ground. We still don't know who the Red Hulk is by the end of this. Loeb doesn't do a great job with this mystery. It's pretty clunky. This is the "Hulk Smash!" of writing. Where this book shines is the art. Ed McGuinness does the majority of it with Art Adams and Frank Cho filling in for 3 issues. That's a murderer's row of terrific artists.
X-Men, Vol. 1 ★★★
The Krakoan age is over. Now Cyclops's band of X-Men are using a Sentinel factory in Alaska as a base. New mutants are suddenly popping up that are older, having left puberty behind long ago. The story is moving pretty slowly, especially since they are now publishing 18 issues a year. The art is pretty good, although Stegman has adopted a cartoonier style here.
Star Wars Adventures: Tales from Vader's Castle ★★★
Star Wars goes spooky for Halloween. These are meant for children so nothing too scary here. A rebel crew crash lands on Mustafar and tells ghost stories while they try and escape. It's fun for kids but a little light for adults. Since these are ghost stories told by IDW for a Marvel property I don't think any of it can be considered canon.
Star Wars Adventures: Return to Vader's Castle ★★★
More spooky stories for kids set in the Star Wars universe. The main story is a continuation of volume 1. One of the crew from the first story got left behind and is being tortured by the Sith. Stories come out more or less naturally as the story progresses. Not bad, and certainly something the kids can read without having nightmares.
Star Wars Adventures: Ghosts of Vader's Castle ★★★
More spooky stories for kids set in the Star Wars universe. The framing sequence for these stories is a bit of a stretch to try and tie it into the first two. Great for kids, not bad for older kids and adults.
Batman/Superman: World's Finest Vol. 6 ★★★★
Mr. Myxlptylk and Batmite return to Earth for a serious story where Earth's champion will have to fight the champ of Myx's dimension to the death. Then we get a story about the Trinity investigating a death on Themyscira. Good stuff. Dan Mora handles most of the art even as he's leaving to do Absolute Power because he's a beast.
Scarlett, Vol. 1: Special Mission ★★★
Scarlett goes undercover with Arashikage in order to help Jinx who has been undercover with them for 2 years. Storm Shadow plays a strong part in this too but still no signs of Snake Eyes in this new Energon universe. It's a decent story but feels slight for 5 issues. The art isn't very good.
Doctor Strange Epic Collection, Vol. 3: A Separate Reality ★★★
This starts off very strong with some great stories from Roy Thomas and Gene Colan. Colan's art is really inventive, especially the panelling giving the book a feeling that is weird and magical. Then the title ends and there's some odds and ends. Dr. Strange returns in Marvel Premiere and it's awful. I was surprised how terrible it was considering Gardner Fox wrote it. It's a knockoff of the C'Thullu mythos. The dialogue is mindnumbingly bad. It gets better towards the end when Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner take over, bringing in Baron Mordo and Silver Dagger as villains.
Yesterday's trip to the LCS.Thundercats #9
Defenders of the Earth #3
Wolverine: Revenge #3
Redcoat #7
Devour
Ultimate X-Men #8
Captain America #14
I enjoyed, but didn't love, Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto. The spirit of death comes for an old woman and she does the sensible thing: sucks it up into her vacuum cleaner and locks it in the closet.In my real life club we read Do a Powerbomb! by Daniel Warren Johnson. Everyone but me liked it a lot. For me, I just don't like 'professional' 'wrestling'. But it was better than I expected.
Mod
Here's what folks read this week:
- Mike: Groupies (Comixology Originals) #1
- Kara: The Girl From the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, Volume 1
- Brian: Solo Leveling, Vol. 9
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.simplecast.com/ep...
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I also enjoyed Shadow Life! I gave it 5 stars.
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I Read Comic Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Shadow Life (other topics)Groupies (Comixology Originals) #1 (other topics)
Siúil, a Rún: The Girl From the Other Side, Vol. 1 (other topics)
Solo Leveling, Vol. 9 (other topics)
Do a Powerbomb! (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Hiromi Goto (other topics)Daniel Warren Johnson (other topics)
Reading anything ~spooky~ for Halloween month? Maybe something cute and witchy? Tell us all about what you're reading this month in the thread below!
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