Comic Book Resources

Last week, I read Paul Auster’s latest novel, Man in the Dark, which made me go back and reread “The New York Trilogy.” I finished City of Glass and Ghosts, and am currently in the middle of The Locked Room.

Just finished reading volume one of Justice League Elite, and started vol. 1 of Terry and the Pirates.

The last novel I’ve read was Scarpetta, Patricia Cornwell’s latest book.

Still re-reading the Savage Dragon circa # 75-on.

I finished Charlie Huston’s the Mystic Art of Erasing All Signs of Death, which was an immensely entertaining modern noir story about an LA slacker who ends up working for a crime scene cleanup crew, and now I’m reading Ragnar’s Claw, the second book in the Space Wolf Omnibus by William King. Warhammer 40k fiction is one of my biggest guilty pleasures at the moment, though I’ve rarely read an entire book at once outside of a plane trip. I tend to read them a few chapters at a time as a palate cleanser between books. (The one exception to this was Ian Watson’s Inquisition War trilogy, which reads like some deranged, hyper-violent Michael Moorcock/Star Wars hybrid. It’s one of the few legitimately great pieces of franchise sci-fi I’ve ever read.) Tomorrow I’m gonna be picking up Drood by Dan Simmons and Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk from the library, so I’ll probably get started on one of those once I reach the next chapter break in the 40k book. I also recently got Neil LaBute’s Autobahn cycle of plays, and considering the whole thing is 90 pages long I should be able to breeze through that pretty quickly as well.

On the comics front I just finished reading Yves Chaland’s Freddy Lombard series after Jog and Tucker’s writeup of it in the Désastre Hurlant series, and found it to be pretty excellent. The Comet of Carthage and F-52 stories were definitely the highlights, but it was all excellent stuff. I’m currently working my way through Volume 1 of the Herbie Archives.

Also Greg, when it comes to Gantz, you really are gonna want to stick with it until at least Volume 8 before making any definite decision about the series. I realize that might seem like a long time, but Volume 8 is a total game-changer in terms any preconceptions you might have had about the direction of the storyline. Back in junior year of college, my girlfriend at the time and I were following scanlations of the series and that was the point where we both really fell in love with the series. Gantz is probably my favorite pure action manga outside of Berserk, and it similarly requires a substantial commitment to get to the really good stuff the author is building up to.

I’m on a bit of an Ellis binge at the moment. Finished DV8: Neighborhood Threat and started the Red/Tokyo Storm Warning flipbook collection.

I just finished reading Brecht’s Threepenny Opera, which was a really good work. Now I can read the new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic!

I read the second volume of Tyler Page’s Stylish Vittles, a charming and well-drawn auto-bio series focused on his developing romantic relationship while in college. Check out Nothing Better, his charming and well-drawn fiction series on relationships in college at this link.

I also have been re-reading some old issues of Hate! and Promethea. Boy, those are great comics!

Funny, since reading LoEG: Century 1910, I’ve actually been meaning to seek out Threepenny Opera so I can have a better understanding of the musical elements in it. This is kind of a broad question, but is there any seminal performance or translation of the work I should be particularly seeking out in this regard?

I’m working my way through Greg Bear’s novel ‘Eon’, which is a nice sci-fi novel, although you have to forget how the world really went as it was written in the eighties so Russians are a world power, the Chinese are a friend you put up with and there is no internet.
Comic wise I just read the fourth volume of Scalped – it rocks – and have the first part of GL: Sinestro Corps War and Superman: New Krypton volume one to go!
(I just signed a lease on a new apartment so I’m all broke from paying a lease and a months rent up front… but I will have an ensuite bathroom now, which I’m way to excited about).

Desperadoes Omnibus by Jeff Mariotte and a bunch of artists, including John Cassaday, John Severin, and Jeremy Haun.

Made any inroads with this yet?
I brought it a month or so ago, but still haven’t made it past the first storyline – it just hasn’t grabbed me as anything enw or special yet.

I’m on a bit of an Ellis binge at the moment. Finished DV8: Neighborhood Threat and started the Red/Tokyo Storm Warning flipbook collection.

How was DV8 for the first time?
I was like 14 when they came out, so it was a wicked treat at the time – lots of violence and sex and messed up stuff, just the way a 14 year old likes it… I’ve only been able to re-read it as a nostalgia piece – did it hold up for you?

Also, Red and Tokyo Storm Warning is the big let down of the flip books – one is a one issue story dragged out for three, and the other is a comment (put-down) on a genre that’s actually been done better and deeper in that genre.

Hi, Dave–

The play premiered in 1928 and has been revised several times since. It was first published in 1931 in a slightly altered form. From what I can tell, the standard translation these days was completed by Stefan Brecht, the playwright’s son, in 1979. It basically uses the 1931 version.

I read the Penguin Classics edition released in 2007 (ISBN: 9780143105169). Its appendices include alternate portions of the play, including changes from the 1928 version and four songs re-written in whole or in part for post-World War II stagings that address Nazism. It also has some good supplementary material; I will recommend it.

I can’t say much for performances, as I haven’t yet seen any, but there was a film version made in Germany in 1931 that I’m sure would be interesting to see. The 1954 English recording was the standard for a long time, but it apparently excised some ‘questionable content.’ I’m sure Brecht loved that!

Lately it’s been various MODERN MASTERS volumes by TwoMorrows: George Perez, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, and Mark Schultz. Also read SWAMP THING: THE CURSE TPB finally (one of three volumes, only two more to go…)

I really need to get caught up on my ANALOG / ASIMOV’S / MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION (I think I have 3-5 isues each left to go), but then again, I need to be writing my own stuff, too. Ugh, I probably need to go to the bookstore and get the latest issues, too. *sigh*

And I have a bunch of back issues I should read and eventually will, whenever I get around to it. No rush there.

Started reading Confederacy of Dunces a few days ago. Good book, if you ignore the bits of racism and sexism and count them as part of the time it was written. Ignatius would likely be diagnosed with Asperger’s or something similar nowadays.

Not reading any comics at the moment. Me poor. Still want to get around to buying Strange Girl vol. 2 and The Exterminators Vol. 3, because I have the books that come after those already for some reason.

@Tomt Fitzpatrick
I remember seeing that series as a little kid. Now I’m grown up and can appreciate Kelly to the full extent. Mahnke did some crazy art for that.

This week I picked up Paradise Lost. Up to book VIII and I’m still overwhelmed with how powerful it is. Really gorgeous stuff. On top of that, I’m working through the recent Shadowpact run and some random Excalibur issues from the year I was born. Fun times in the literary world, friends.

I’ve got so much on the go that its blurring into a huge confused mess, but I’ve just finished reading Walking Dead 8 and 9(Brutal but great), House of Mystery Vol 1:Room and Boredom (officially trade-waiting this from now on), with bits and pieces from Essential Marvel Horror vol 1 (just started Steve Gerber’s Son of Satan run), and Essential Captain America vol 1, which I’m enjoying a lot. Book-wise I’ve picked up Cyberabad Days by Ian Mcdonald but haven’t got a lot of time at the moment to start it so it may go back to the library unread

I just finished I Kill Giants, which was well executed, but a bit sappy for my taste.
Also, Kabuki v4, which is definitely the best looking volume of the series so far, and not as overwritten as the first few. Not sure if I’ll pick up v5.
As well, LoEG: Century. Enjoyable, but I really feel like I need to check out Threepenny Opera. I’m surprised at how many online reviewers didn’t get the Stardust reference, though.
Finally, the GN based on the Legend of the Five Rings game property. The story was pretty good, but a bit disjointed. Artwork was acceptable. Don’t know if I’d recommend it to non-fans unless they wanted an introduction to the game line.

Just started into the Great Books of the Western World set that I bought (well, 4/5 of it) almost 7 years ago and never got around to cracking open.
Prior to that I reread all 11 vols. of FABLES and was impressed at how much better the last couple seemed this time around.
Oh, and lots of job ads. Anyone here hiring in the Birmingham, AL area?

Flipping back and forth between Blazing Combat and the first Enemy Ace Archive. Amazing art, and great writing. The EA material is a little repetitive, but the quality is unwavering. Both books are living up to their reputations.

Chad – I just read the “New York Trilogy” for the first time a few weeks back and really enjoyed it. I’ll have to check out Auster’s latest.

As for what I’m reading now, I just started “Empire” by Stephen Baxter. I’m not sure if I like it yet or not – Baxter can be kind of hit or miss for me, and I’m starting to get the sinking feeling this one is a miss.

Comics-wise, I just finished a fun little “Atomics” collection by Allred and an assortment of other good artists (J. Bone, Clugston-Major, others I can’t remember at the moment), and the first trade of Scalped. I’ll be picking up the rest of those in short order. Meanwhile, I’ll be cracking open the new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (though now I’m starting to wonder if I should read the Threepenny Opera first).

Dave: I’ll probably stick with Gantz unless it goes completely off the rails. I was just surprised how very quickly volume 1 breezed by – there was a lot of posturing in the book to the detriment of the story. I was comparing it to something like Eden, which is packed. But I did like it, so I’m on board for now!

FGJ: No, I haven’t cracked the Desperadoes Omnibus yet. One of these days I’ll get to it!

I’m reading the classic H.G. Wells “The War of the Worlds” right now, and just finished “Walking Dead” Greg Rucka’s newest Atticus Kodiak Novel.

Comics-wise, I finished “Grendel: God and the Devil.” I’m actually working my way through all the Grendel I can get my hands on, which is the majority of it, but I think I’m going to hvae to spend time on e-Bay to finish it all off.

I just reread all of Astro City the Dark Age, which I didn’t really enjoy the first time through, but which is much better when read together(duh). Still, it’s probably my least favorite arc of the series.

I just started the first Cerebus phonebook, thinking about reading an issue a day for 300 days. Maybe, if I’m enjoying it.

And I started the “influential”(???) novel Super Folks, which is kind of slightly OK, I guess.

Hey Felty, thanks for inspiring me to read Threepenny, which I enjoyed, and which plays a central role in 1910. I don’t know what I would have made of 1910 without it. Now if I only had more than a passing idea of who Alistair Crowley was…(his occultism does nothing for me, but he was also a spy and a mountianeer who found the route that would eventually lead to the first successful summiting of K2? Wow!).

Good God, you read a lot.

I’m currently reading Michael Chabon’s Yiddish Policeman’s Union, and it’s pretty good so far. I hope to actually finish this one like I never did Kavalier and Clay. I’ll get back to that one some day.

I’m also a couple hundred pages into Showcase presents: Doom Patrol, which is bloody brilliant, completely mental fun. I love it.

You’re welcome, sgt pepper!

Yeah, reading Century without knowing The Threepenny Opera would be like reading vol. 2 without knowing the story of War of the Worlds. I’m really glad I waited to read Brecht’s play first.

I hope to actually finish this one like I never did Kavalier and Clay. I’ll get back to that one some day.

You should – that was a good book and a hoot as well… possibly too many adventures and crazy stunts for one life (I jut couldn’t accept the bungee jumping off the empire state building), but that was kind of the point.

@FunkyGreenJurasalem
@Bill Reed

I read Kavalier and Clay and The Final Solution in High School and remembered liking them.
But a few months ago, I tried re-reading Final Solution and fought back the urge to sleep.
Is it just me, or is his writing listless? Something about it now is so…glazed over that I can’t seem to get a hold on it.

Novels wise i finished reading Flow My Tears,the Policeman said and im starting to read The Thin Man by Hammett.

Comics wise i have read The Walking Dead 55-57 and Inhumans secret invasion mini issue 1.

Is it just me, or is his writing listless? Something about it now is so…glazed over that I can’t seem to get a hold on it.

He likes to show his research, which the Pulitzer’s also like, but I didn’t mind his prose.
I think the novel tried too much by giving them each way too many crazy adventures to mirror the strips they made, which was kind of unnecessary – to me anyway, the hook for me was of course the early days of comics – but Kavalier and Clay held up for me, although it is the only of Chabon’s novels I’ve read so I’m not an expert on his books.

@FunkyGreenJerusalem
You know what? That’s exactly it. So much detail, it borders on inanity.
Hmm, I guess I’ll give it another try then. Not soon, but definitely by the end of the year. Thanks.

“And I started the “influential”(???) novel Super Folks, which is kind of slightly OK, I guess.”

I was liking it when I was reading it. The references are really a product of the time, and the use of superheroes is old hat if you read everything that came after it. But I dunno, I liked it a little better than you, I’d say. Of course, I haven’t read it in months.

“You know what? That’s exactly it. So much detail, it borders on inanity.”

That’s probably why it’s left me cold so far. It’s like reading Ayn Rand; yes, I can appreciate all of the detail and all, but that doesn’t mean I don’t find it tedious after a while. I really, really want to like it, but just can’t get in to it.

Oh, and I just finished reading Fables vol. 2. Also just got Eternal Smile and the Filth trade (looking forward to finishing that; I got the first 7 issues years ago and wasn’t crazy about it), and was trying to get back in to the Invisibles vol. 1 today at the doctor’s office, so I may keep up with that.

I really ought to read that Wolverine Omnibus to justify buying it, too. Or at least finish reading the parts I haven’t and really want to (that Kitty Pryde and Wolverine mini and that Captain America Annual Mike Zeck drew that awesome cover for) so I can sell it on Amazon or something. Since I barely ever read novels anymore, I’m not really working through anything there, and my comics reading tends to be sporadic outside of Wednesdays. I just pick up whatever’s around.