Whats everyone reading?

[Dark Jimbo]

I just read 2000 AD classic Fiends of the Eastern Front and thought it was a very enjoyable vamp romp well worth the £1.70 I paid for it, even though this edition doesn't include the follow up 

I wouldn't worry too much, it's not a patch on the (classic, but admittedly flawed) original. Cracking MacNeil art but the plot is high on inconsistency and low on atmosphere. It's never made clear whether it's supposed to be a reboot, sequel, prequel or remake; Constanza is featured (but without the rest of his supporting cast) and eventually killed, so how on earth does this relate to his original, classic, appearance? The original does a brilliant job at maintaining a slow build-up of creeping horror as it dawns on Karl(?) what he's dealing with, but the follow-up has Constanza flying about the battlefield in plain sight and turning into a giant bat as early as the second episode, and not a single observing soldier seems to blink an eyelid beyond thinking 'What a terrible war this is to make us ally with such creatures.'

Necronuats is brilliant, and Defoe is just about my most favouritest thing ever.

[TordelBack]

Necronuats is brilliant, and Defoe is just about my most favouritest thing ever.

Mmm-hmmm.

[Mabs]

Necronuats is brilliant, and Defoe is just about my most favouritest thing ever.

Mmm-hmmm.

Great, 'cause i just ordered the former (for a measily £4.35 including p&p; trade also includes 'Love like blood'). Defoe will have to wait, sadly.

[Basilisk]

This morning i received both the Art of Judge Dredd 1995 and the 6th and last Marvel's Secret Warriors trade, "Wheels within wheels". So i "devoured" it. Shame it ended, but at least it wasn't cancelled, but had a proper ending, quite open, but an ending after all.

[Hawkmumbler]

Can anyone reccomend me the Dark Horse run on The Dirty Pair? I must say, after revisiting the TV series and novels i'm keen to look at newer material, do Adam Warren and Toren Smith do the franchise justice?

[Tjm86]

"Tinker, Tailer, Soldier, Spy" - only ever read "The Russia House" before this and just fancied giving it a crack.  Fascinating piece of work.  Can understand why it is so well regarded.  Now onto Stephenson's Reamde.  Know it has had a bit of a mixed review and he can oscillate between fantastic (Cryptonomicon) and bizarre (Anathem) but here we go ...

[Mattofthespurs]

"The Dumas Club" by  Arturo Pérez-Reverte again.

Damned fine book. Damn fine.

[Professor Bear]

Can anyone reccomend me the Dark Horse run on The Dirty Pair? I must say, after revisiting the TV series and novels i'm keen to look at newer material, do Adam Warren and Toren Smith do the franchise justice?

The Warren/Smith Dirty Pair and the original anime/manga are different things entirely, but I love the former very much as it is a heartfelt recreation of the energy and invention of Japanese cartoons and comics first and foremost, and cares not a jot about slavishly recreating the original material as much as being a western version of it, though your tolerance may be tested by Warren's love of huge-tittied doe-eyed bimbos.  I am on the record as liking ladies, sci-fi, comics, and big tits, but there is a serious amount of cross-pollination of those elements going on here that may be off-putting.  Toren Smith's input also helped to rein in the Adam Warren-ness of the dialogue that goes buck wild in later books (if you've ever read a book dialogued by Warren, you'll know what I mean) as he values verisimilitude over absolute storytelling clarity, though there's never anything less than a torrent of sci-fi ideas coming at you hard and fast in all the books that on top of the occasional compression of the pages compared not just to manga but to other western comics may be a little overpowering.
I'd start with something breezy like Fatal But Not Serious or Sim Hell before moving on to earlier stuff like Dangerous Acquaintances, as there's little to no continuity between the stories.

[Hawkmumbler]

Much appreciated Prof. James T Bear. Big fan of the franchise so i'll give any fresh take in my stride and if I don't like it, or even if I do, i'll be sure to post it here. Thanks chap.

[Mabs]

I bought this;



From Amazon Warehouse for only £4.35; the price was low because it was a used copy and the description said 'wrinkle to back and front cover' hence the price. But when i opened my packaging i was more more than impressed to find a near perfect copy with no 'wrinkle' of the sort! It means i've just saved near £10.00, - very chuffed indeed! Looking forward to reading it. 

[Link Prime]

Nice one Mabs, some good reading in that little tome.

[Mabs]

Nice one Mabs, some good reading in that little tome.

Thanks Link, looking forward to tucking into some Rennie/ Irving terror madness!

[Mabs]

Got a few reading materials lined up; IDW's Total Recall volume 1, Halo Jones,  Gilbet Hernandez' Sloth, and of course Tharg's Terror Tales!

And i just had my paperback copy of Red Seas delivered today (which means i now have two copies - paperback and hardcover- of the comic residing on my bookshelf! Also the trade looks awesome). So these should keep me occupied for the next few days.

[shaolin_monkey]

I just finished 'Chicken With Plums' by Marjane Satrapi. It was very good indeed, very touching. It spoke of the ache at the heart of an artist.

[Mardroid]

I've been reading The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.

It has the interesting world characters, religions and another curious scientific-ruled magic system* usual in Brandon Sanderson books (not a bad thing in my opinion, he might play with the same themes, but he doesn't do the same thing with them)  I've still got a way to go but it's got me gripped so far.

*There's a bit in the prologue where the POV character - a kind of ascetic assassin type - uses a power system that seems to be based around [spoiler]manipulating gravity. Now defying gravity has always been a major power in super-hero stories (of which this is not really one) but this power works by actually changing the direction of gravity for a specific person/object. I.e. he achieves flying by changing the pull of gravity to a wall at the end of a corridor, effectively falling down a chasm from his point of view, but flying down the corridor from the POV of everyone else stuck to the ground.[/spoiler]