Whats everyone reading?

[Ancient Otter]

Just finished The Shoot Horses, Don't They? and considering Captain Alatriste next.

[Karl Stephan]

Tracked down and read The Jock Collection that came with Meg 275. YES! Also got Al's Baby in the Exxtreme Edition and a bunch of stray progs I wanted.

Related to this, Megacity Comics are having a sale 50p for a prog, 1.99 for a Meg. Seems someone went and dumped their near complete collection on their counter.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

Warren Ellis' new novel 'Gun Machine' is a great read. Dark and funny (of course!) with a nice central mystery.

In Stevie's Too Read Pile.

Stayed up all Monday night reading his debut novel Crooked Liitle Vein that was started on the bus home from work. Why isn't this man writing Doctor Who?

[Mabs]

Sandman Vol 10: The Wake. Just nearing the end and what a fine end it is to a magnificent series. There will never be another comic series as fucking brilliant as Sandman.

yes indeedy. There is a volume 11 too - Endless Nights - a collection of short self-contained stories featuring each of the Endless siblings. Features art by Glenn Fabry and Frank Quitely among others.

Annoyingly (this is one for the Spines thread) my copy is taller and wider than volumes 1-10 so sticks out on my shelf. Grrrr!

Yeah i read volume 11; really enjoyed that. Glenn Fabry does some great stuff in it along with all the other artists. I also read Dream Hunters which i must say was an absolute joy to read.

After reading Sandman i felt a bit depressed - because i knew i won't encounter anything as enthralling and beautiful as Gaiman's series.

[Mabs]

In terms of most recent reads, i just finished The Walking Dead Compendium One last night; near the end of the volume i felt sick, like someone had hit me with a sucker punch in my guts. I started reading it last Friday, which is over a week ago and finally managed to finish this massive volume into the early hours of the morning, and what an engaging and brilliant read it was too. Charlie Adlard's artwork was outstanding, never once faltering regardless of the length. I hope to carry on with the series soon.

As for now, i'm just getting started on B.P.R.D Plague of Frogs HC Volume 2; i really enjoyed the first collection so really looking forward to this. Guy Davis' art is really beautiful to behold.

[Hawkmumbler]

Currently reading:
Skullduggery Pleasent: kingdom of the Wicked
D.Gray-Man volume 22

[mygrimmbrother]

Approaching the end of the first 'Charley's War' hardback. The first day of The Somme, with the British troops walking across no man's land after the top brass assured them the German defenses would be reduced to rubble, and the inevitable horrific outcome was very emotional and hard to read. What an uncompromising tribute to the men who died in their millions during that awful conflict. I have to admit to not being a fan of Mills' recent output but this one is a fantastically crafted saga. Joe Colqhoun's art too - the hours he must have put in researching all the period detail alone, and without Google images too. An Herculean effort.

Gonna be ordering the next one in February I think.

[House of Usher]

Because I'm retaking A-level English after 23 years, I'm currently reading

* 'Journey's End' by C. J. Sheriff,
* Complete Poems by Keith Douglas
* 'King Lear' (which I hate! - I once sat through a very tedious performance of it), and
* 'Oedipus Rex' by Sophocles.

There were seven other texts before Christmas and there's The Wife of Bath's Tale and Prologue to come.

[Dark Jimbo]

Thanks to Santa, I've just finished the America TPB and finally got to see what all the fuss is about. I imagine it would have had more impact at the time, but it's still a tour de force today. I love these 'citizen's eye view' type stories anyway but this is easily one of the best of the lot, and Macneil's art is frabjous. I was already reading Tharg's goods by the time the third story appeared in the Megazine, but I skipped it because I wanted to read the others first if possible - in retrospect I probably wouldn't have done if I'd realised what a massive role Beeny was going to play in the years to come, but it did mean I could approach the first two relatively spoiler-free, and the third story had a much greater impact than I imagine it otherwise would.

What surprised me most, given that I'd never even heard him mentioned before in discussions of America, was that it was Robert who emerged as my favourite character -  as the only character (other than Dredd) to appear (living) in all three stories, he inadvertently becomes the emotional heart of the piece - particularly in the slightly weak second outing, when he more or less carries the last few parts, and it's his death that serves as the end coda to the whole saga. He conjured up fond memories of Simon, Judge Death's equally loyal robot butler, from My Name is Death - Wagner just has a way of writing robots, with an understated way of speaking that cuts straight to the heart of the matter at hand. I wonder if this is an effect of reading all three stories back-toback over three days? Maybe his impact was less noticeable when these stories originally ran stretched over several years.

It was lovely to see some really explicit links drawn between the USA and Mega-City One - obviously we know one eventually became the other, but it's usually only implied. It's interesting that they see themselves as a distinct entity now. Also nice to finally see where Total War came from! The've been a fairly ubiquitous prescence in Dredd since I started reading in late 2000, but I'd never realised they had an origin story as such. A great read overall, and I suddenly feel much more invested in the character of Beeny as a result.

[Link Prime]

You've just strongly persuaded me to re-read America tonight DJ.
A stone-cold classic.

[Mabs]

Thanks to Santa, I've just finished the America TPB and finally got to see what all the fuss is about. I imagine it would have had more impact at the time, but it's still a tour de force today. I love these 'citizen's eye view' type stories anyway but this is easily one of the best of the lot, and Macneil's art is frabjous. I was already reading Tharg's goods by the time the third story appeared in the Megazine, but I skipped it because I wanted to read the others first if possible - in retrospect I probably wouldn't have done if I'd realised what a massive role Beeny was going to play in the years to come, but it did mean I could approach the first two relatively spoiler-free, and the third story had a much greater impact than I imagine it otherwise would.

What surprised me most, given that I'd never even heard him mentioned before in discussions of America, was that it was Robert who emerged as my favourite character -  as the only character (other than Dredd) to appear (living) in all three stories, he inadvertently becomes the emotional heart of the piece - particularly in the slightly weak second outing, when he more or less carries the last few parts, and it's his death that serves as the end coda to the whole saga. He conjured up fond memories of Simon, Judge Death's equally loyal robot butler, from My Name is Death - Wagner just has a way of writing robots, with an understated way of speaking that cuts straight to the heart of the matter at hand. I wonder if this is an effect of reading all three stories back-toback over three days? Maybe his impact was less noticeable when these stories originally ran stretched over several years.

It was lovely to see some really explicit links drawn between the USA and Mega-City One - obviously we know one eventually became the other, but it's usually only implied. It's interesting that they see themselves as a distinct entity now. Also nice to finally see where Total War came from! The've been a fairly ubiquitous prescence in Dredd since I started reading in late 2000, but I'd never realised they had an origin story as such. A great read overall, and I suddenly feel much more invested in the character of Beeny as a result.

Glad you liked it Dark Jimbo! America is easily my favourite Dredd story, and high up in my list of favourite comics overall.

I did a review of it over at Empire which you can find here: http://www.empireonline.com/forum/tm.asp?m=3248389&mpage=31&key=

Its such a great story, and as you say, MacNeil's artwork is really special. Like you, one of my favourite character's in the entire story was Robert the robot butler! Such a great character and as you've mentioned, Wagner does a grand job bringing him alive. A superb collection overall.

[Dandontdare]

I've just finished "The Nao of Brown" by Glyn Dillon from Self Made Hero. It is, without going in to hugely hyperbolic frothing nerdism, one of the best things I have ever read in any format. Beautiful (incredibly well observed artwork), upsetting, fascinating, cruel, funny, thought provoking, cute, ugly and above all brilliant. It shines.

My flatmate got this for Xmas - Kerrin has just saved me the bother of writing out all those adjectives. Top stuff. Beautifully designed too - there's a relief Enso under the dust jacket that you discover with your fingertips first.

[judda fett]

I've just finished "The Nao of Brown" by Glyn Dillon from Self Made Hero. It is, without going in to hugely hyperbolic frothing nerdism, one of the best things I have ever read in any format. Beautiful (incredibly well observed artwork), upsetting, fascinating, cruel, funny, thought provoking, cute, ugly and above all brilliant. It shines.

My flatmate got this for Xmas - Kerrin has just saved me the bother of writing out all those adjectives. Top stuff. Beautifully designed too - there's a relief Enso under the dust jacket that you discover with your fingertips first.

Ditto, finished it today.  Will be looking out for future Glyn Dillon books on the strength of this.

[Karl Stephan]

After reading Sandman i felt a bit depressed - because i knew i won't encounter anything as enthralling and beautiful as Gaiman's series.

Except maybe his new Sandman series Can't wait for it later this year.

[Mabs]

After reading Sandman i felt a bit depressed - because i knew i won't encounter anything as enthralling and beautiful as Gaiman's series.

Except maybe his new Sandman series Can't wait for it later this year.

Yeah,  i read about it. I cannot wait!