Whats everyone reading?

[Barrington Boots]

I haven't read Cujo for years, I really should go back to it after Tjm's cool words about it.

The Doc is right re. Dark Tower in my opinion. A good start, followed by a descent into rot and then an ending that'll have you casting the book away from you in frustration.

[Fortnight]

I haven't read a Stephen King novel in years, and not read the Dark Tower ones at all. I've read a great many older ones though. My favourite is probably the Langoliers, from Four Past Midnight. I don't remember the other stories in that volume, but I've read that one lots.

The biggest issue I have with King is his tendency to go off into multi-chapter-long flashbacks, remembrances, or some other sort of aside, and leave the "main" narrative hanging for an excessive amount of reading-time. It's a common technique, I know, but he does it to a degree that's beyond just irritating, and it actually puts me off re-reading the longer books, or reading newer ones at all.

Meanwhile, Lost Treasures from Hibernia has just plopped on my doormat (figurative - I don't have a doormat), so I'll be reading that!

[JayzusB.Christ]

The exception that proves the rule being Revival. Brrrr.

OK, I've read Revival now.
Our Stevie's still got it.

I've finished The Stand and made a nice dent into Revival on your recommendation.  My god, I'd forgotten how Stephen King could turn down-home folksy chuckles into vicious brain-drippimg horror so quickly.

[BadlyDrawnKano]

Batgirl Vol. 1: Beyond Burnside by Hope Larson, Rafael Albuquerque - This is from the 2017 Rebirth timeline, though I don't really keep up with DC anymore so don't know if this was any different before. It's also a little weak, Barbara's either a teenager or in her early twenties, comments that she used to be in a wheelchair but isn't any more, and then she's buggering about in Japan and there's way too much telling and not enough showing with a lot of the dialogue explaining things over and over again. It's a shame as I like the set up and the art's decent enough, but the poor script really lets it down. 2.5/5

The Authority: Revolution Book 1 and 2 by Ed Brubaker and Dustin Nguyen - I've read various Authority series in the past including the Ellis run, but this somehow passed me by. The first volume's not bad either as Brubaker explores what it'd be like if the team took control of The White House, but the second reads like Brubaker is Mark Millar's number one fan and jesus it's embarrassing. Obviously Brubaker's responsible for some classic series (Gotham Central being my favourite of his though I've only read the first Criminal trade) but the dialogue is full of sexual threats (including one involving skull ****ing that is deeply unpleasant) and I found myself wincing petty much constantly throughout the final three issues. 1.5/5

[PsychoGoatee]

Uncanny X-Men: From the Ashes (starts with issue 168), great stuff! What a run. Taking me years, but fun chipping away at this epic saga.

Also reading Archie Mega Man, Kelly Deadpool, Usagi Yojimbo, Mirage TMNT, lots of stuff to get back to.

[Tjm86]

Just finished Susan Cooper's Silver on the Tree and the full Dark is Rising Sequence.  A fascinating collection that follows that tradition of merging English folklore with Arthurian Legend.  One of those books that I'd always looked at down through the years but for some reason never got around to reading. 

For my money it leaves Rowling's Harry Potter in the dust.  The quality of writing is an order of magnitude better than those books.  Even though it's a fairly standard tale of good versus evil, it is far more original and lacks the over-dramatisation of that more popular series.

It's fair to say that Cooper's work deserves its status as a classic of British literature even if it is criminally under-appreciated.

[Barrington Boots]

I've dipped back into Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise, which I read a bit of a long time ago and remember enjoying, and either I've changed or this has aged really badly.
Katchoo is an awful, violent person but what did it for me is when David, who is presented as a good guy throughout, tells her he doesn't believe she is a lesbian for no other reason than because he fancies her and then doubles down on that when she rightly tells him to get lost.
Denying someones sexuality = not cool. That's the 90s for you I guess.

[BadlyDrawnKano]

I've dipped back into Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise, which I read a bit of a long time ago and remember enjoying, and either I've changed or this has aged really badly.
Katchoo is an awful, violent person but what did it for me is when David, who is presented as a good guy throughout, tells her he doesn't believe she is a lesbian for no other reason than because he fancies her and then doubles down on that when she rightly tells him to get lost.
Denying someones sexuality = not cool. That's the 90s for you I guess.

I had real issues with this too, I read the recently released first compendium and as a whole really enjoyed it, though struggled with David's presence in their life once it's revealed who he really is. Still, I knew it was a series which went on for a long time and so hoped they would address that in the second volume, but I absolutely hated it when I bought it on its release date. I've never been in a situation where my opinion changed so suddenly and so enormously, Katchoo's violence / crimes are horrifying, David becomes such an insanely unpleasant stalker-esque type I could not understand why either of them would tolerate him in their lives, and as you say, the denying someone's sexuality aspect is appallingly handled.

Phew, that was a longer rant than planned. But yeah, liked a lot of the first collection, the second means I'll never read a single page more, and I'm quite surprised I even finished it.

[Rara Avis]

My favourite King anecdote:

Stephen King has already made so many lasting contributions to popular culture, but he casually tossed off another all-timer in Rolling Stone this year when the interviewer asked him if there was any truth to the rumour he loved Lou Bega's Mambo No.5.

King's response?

"Oh, yeah. Big time. My wife threatened to divorce me. I played that a lot. I had the dance mix. I loved those extended play things, and I played both sides of it. And one of them was just total instrumental. And I played that thing until my wife just said, 'One more time, and I'm going to fucking leave you.'"

[BadlyDrawnKano]

I've read the following recently:

Surfer by John Wagner and Colin MacNeil - A hologram film company (or something like that) are making a film about Chopper and SuperSurf 7 and hire a young surfer to be a stunt double, except early on it becomes much more complicated than that. I was very fond of this, I've not read many stories set in Mega City One which don't feature Dredd but his absence here isn't an issue, and I was impressed by both Wagner's dialogue and MacNeil's often very moody and stylised art. I picked it up in the Forbidden Planet sale for £2.99 recently and would definitely recommend it to any one at a price like that. 4/5

New Avengers Volume One by Jonathan Hickman and Steve Epting - This is the hardback version with issues 1 - 12, where our heroes learn that Earths from other dimensions are going to start appearing in the sky, and the only way to survive is by destroying them within eight hours. This starts of as a very serious, moody piece as the new Avengers sit around discussing just how far they're prepared to go to continue living, while Atlantis and Wakanda get really ****ed off with each other as a subplot, but then the final few issues get caught up in that year's Marvel crossover "Infinity" storyline, which I've read before and liked, but it means that the main story is almost forgotten about and it's only part of the main action again with the very last issue. I was really enjoying this until Infinity gatecrashed the party, but those last few issues didn't do it for me, and due to that I can't say I feel any urge to buy the next volume to find out what happens next. 3.75/5

Sara by Garth Ennis and Steve Epting - A very sombre world war two set affair where a group of female soldiers are caught in a bleak situation, which of course only gets worse as the war continues. This really impressed me, it works as both a character study and a horrors of war morality tale, and it's instantly become one of my favourite things that Ennis has produced in the last two decades. 4.5/5

[Tjm86]

DeadMan Love After Death / Exorcism Baron and Jones.

I read the first part of this literally decades ago and it never left me.  Baron's take on the character is radically different to what little I've seen of other takes on the character but the absolute star of this is most definitely Kelley Jones.  His artwork takes macabre to a whole different level.  I'd seen it in places in the early Sandman run and some of his Batman work.  Here it is absolutely sublime and perfectly captures the bizarre and horrific world he is caught up in.

Baron weaves a couple of fascinating little tales mixing together Deadman's search for some sort of emotional connection and his struggles with his past experiences.  Baron casts him as a schizophrenic, struggling with conflicting aspects of his self.  Not entirely sure how necessary it was to throw that in although Deadman's behaviour is certainly off the wall throughout.

There is apparently also a run of issues in Action Comics Weekly that Baron and Kelley did.  I'm seriously tempted since the graphic novel of Kelley Jones' work on the character also includes these two mini-series which I've already got.  It might be worth the double dip but then again it might be better sourcing the original comics.

Anyway, this is a prime example of Vertigo at its very best.  An amazing creative team let loose to take the character where they want.  Sufficiently bizarre, obscene and horrific for those who like something more intellectually stimulating than the standard slash and gore so many seem to think is the sole extent of horror.