Whats everyone reading?

[Colin YNWA]

... And I was considering rereading Alan Moore's Future Shocks again the other day but then spotted Ed Brubaker's Kill Or Be Killed in a charity shop, so picked that up and started reading it instead.

Oh good choice. 'Kill or be Killed' is great.

[BadlyDrawnKano]

... And I was considering rereading Alan Moore's Future Shocks again the other day but then spotted Ed Brubaker's Kill Or Be Killed in a charity shop, so picked that up and started reading it instead.

Oh good choice. 'Kill or be Killed' is great.

I really enjoyed the first volume and will definitely get the rest of it, December's an expensive month due to Christmas and because of the nature of the work I do I'll have an unpaid week off next month, but I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it early next year. I wish I could get it via my library, but I did an online search of the entire county's catalogue and the only Ed Brubaker graphic novel they have is Fatale Volume 4!

On the plus side, up until recently their very small graphic novel section only consisted of about twenty slim volumes but that's now doubled, and today they had Barry Windsor-Smith's Monsters available to borrow, so I'm looking forward to reading that later this evening.

[Blue Cactus]

... And I was considering rereading Alan Moore's Future Shocks again the other day but then spotted Ed Brubaker's Kill Or Be Killed in a charity shop, so picked that up and started reading it instead.

Oh good choice. 'Kill or be Killed' is great.

I really enjoyed the first volume and will definitely get the rest of it, December's an expensive month due to Christmas and because of the nature of the work I do I'll have an unpaid week off next month, but I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it early next year. I wish I could get it via my library, but I did an online search of the entire county's catalogue and the only Ed Brubaker graphic novel they have is Fatale Volume 4!

On the plus side, up until recently their very small graphic novel section only consisted of about twenty slim volumes but that's now doubled, and today they had Barry Windsor-Smith's Monsters available to borrow, so I'm looking forward to reading that later this evening.

Monsters is quite a thing. Enjoy!

[BadlyDrawnKano]

Monsters is quite a thing. Enjoy!

It really is! I'm one hundred odd pages in now and finding it fascinating, the artwork is superb and the plotting very strong, I've a couple of minor issues with it, but I won't say anything further until I finish reading it as they may well be addressed.

[Hawkmumbler]

Made a start today on Kazuo Umezz' absolutely mammoth opus 'THE DRIFITNG CLASSROOM' via it's recent deluxe rerelease, three absolutely gorgeous volumes at nearly 1700 pages combined of some of the best horror comics ever put to page.

Or so I'm told, will have to report back on my opinions. But my god is it off to a good start.

[BadlyDrawnKano]

Made a start today on Kazuo Umezz' absolutely mammoth opus 'THE DRIFITNG CLASSROOM' via it's recent deluxe rerelease, three absolutely gorgeous volumes at nearly 1700 pages combined of some of the best horror comics ever put to page.

Or so I'm told, will have to report back on my opinions. But my god is it off to a good start.

I know there's a 1987 film based on it which is apparently pretty bad (with comparisons made to Manos: The Hands of Fate and some Ed Wood movies), but on the imdb page about 90% of the reviews are from people who were in the film as kids, and absolutely loved their time on the set, and it's actually rather quite sweet to read. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125201/

[BadlyDrawnKano]

Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith - When young Bobby joins the army he's sent off to a secret army base and experimented upon by a former Nazi scientist, but instead of turning out like Captain America he's a gigantic tumour filled creature. Of course he's not the titular monster, it's nearly everyone else in this bleak tale that's filled with flashbacks, and sometimes flashbacks within flashbacks, as we learn what has shaped many of these characters. It's brutal and sickening portrayal of 1940's patriarchy, sadism and cruelty, and the way war could psychologically damage someone, and the scenes where Bobby and his mother try to cope with his father returning from the war a very different man are powerful and affecting. But elsewhere in the story there's an element of spiritualism and the supernatural which I'm not convinced was needed, it felt like something from a Stephen King short story, and the sort of positive ending didn't sit well with me at all and lost it a couple of points. 4.25/5

[Tjm86]

Having started a re-read (well, partial and then finishing off the series) of Patrick Tilley's Amtrak Wars, I have to say it does end in a very odd way.  ISTR reading somewhere that Tilley was considering a new series to follow this up before he passed away.  Certainly I can see why as there are more dangling threads than a teenager's ripped jeans.

It's definitely brain candy overall.  Nothing particularly deep and in some respects the characters are even shallower.  Describing Steve Brickman as a tw** is probably fairly accurate.  Certainly he comes across as incredibly narcissistic and opportunistic.  Then again so do half the characters.

The racism that permeates the series can also be a little hard to swallow at times.  This is especially true of those parts of the storyline that take place in the territory of Ne-Issan which seems to account for a substantial part of the series.  It's not just the strictly hierarchical society that is described but also the way many of the Japanese characters are portrayed.  As time goes on it does become a bit wearisome.

What is most peculiar though is that at the heart of this series is some sort of prophecy about a super-being that is going to unify the Plainfolk, a sort of hybrid American-Indian / African-American offshoot of the gang survivors of the distant holocaust.  For a plot device that seems to be central to much of the action, the fact that it is left unresolved in the final novel is baffling.

I suppose if it were not for the fact that it such an easy read and right now I just need something that is not going to engage my brain too much, I doubt very much I would have bothered.  Certainly compared to Fade Out and Mission, these are very poor fare.

[M.I.K.]

Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith - When young Bobby joins the army he's sent off to a secret army base and experimented upon by a former Nazi scientist, but instead of turning out like Captain America he's a gigantic tumour filled creature.

Originally conceived of as a pitch for a Hulk story which was apparently ripped off by somebody-or-other at Marvel, with the domestic violence angle being incorporated into the official Hulk backstory.

[Colin YNWA]

Ducks by Kate Beaton. Heard so much about this at the end of last year I picked it up when noting the comics I've not read that I really should and since it had been niggling at me for the best part of a year that I need to read more 'real mainstream' comics when I spotted a gap on my Reading List (spreadsheet) this got a boost and I'm so glad it did.

It deserves all the praise it gets. An autobiography of Beaton's two years working on the Oil Sands in Canada its a superb piece of work and one that has made me think as much, or more than anything I have read for a LONG time. Its both quietly slice of life and horrifying big picture at the same time. Its at once deeply personal and astonishing universial. Its both pointedly targeted and open minded and forgiving. Most importantly the moment I finished it I instantly wanted to read it again, knowing that each time I read this I will see and learn more about myself and human nature.

Quite brilliant and I don't think I got more that 38% of what I can from it.m

[JohnW]

Never having encountered him outside of LOEG: Black Dossier, I was only vaguely aware that Bulldog Drummond was an actual literary character. I picked up the first of Drummond's adventures for next to nothing on Kindle the other day and breezed through it without any trouble. It was one of those books I was content to read with no intention of seeking out any of the follow-ups.

The Great War has just ended and Hugh Drummond, Distinguished Service Order, Military Cross, square jaw, answers the appeal of a charming young thing and uncovers a dastardly plot to overthrow everything decent and English. Needless to say, Drummond's forthright pluck wins through in the end.

What struck me was how well-mannered everyone is. Confrontations take place over tea at the Carlton or dinner at the Ritz, but not so much as a teacup is broken or voice raised. One does not do what just isn't done, one supposes. So the dastardly plotters happen to live right next door to the charming young thing, yet neither hero nor villain chooses to resolve matters by simply strolling across the lawn and shooting his opponent twice in the head. No – Drummond is too sporting, and the plotters are too devious. When they do decide that Drummond is too great a threat they do things like loose a gorilla on him in the garden, or have a small 'native' with a poison blowpipe hide on top of his wardrobe. That, of course, may not be quite the done thing, but these are the sort of bounders Drummond is dealing with. He, of course, relies on his wits and the strength of his manly limbs, as a true Englishman should.

Socialists are dupes or knaves. Foreigners are much the same. There's an acid bath, a jewel theft, and a cobra thrown in because the genre expects the like.

I found this not so much an adventure story as a fantasy. It makes Biggles look distinctly hard-edged.
There were worse things to read while on the train to a funeral.

[Barrington Boots]

I've read a few Bulldog Drummond tales and agree with pretty much everything here. Drummond himself I feel is what stuff like Flashman is poking fun at: through a modern lense he's very much a posh, racist bully but he's presented as a mighty hero. I'm sure I've mentioned on here about Tarzan and Biggles books being horribly dated in some of their attitudes but Drummond is absolute king of bogus old ideals.

The stories are great though. Real boys own stuff. Although if you've read one you've read them all.

Hope the funeral went as well as it could have.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I've just finished The Passenger.  Definitely not up there with the epic scale of Blood Meridian and the fully-immersive horror of The Road, but those are two of the best novels I've ever read and the sadly-missed Cormac McCarthy will go down in history as one of the great American novelists.

[Barrington Boots]

I've been tearing through books post-Christmas. Aside from that Chat GPT one on the other thread that I gave up on, I've demolished Godkiller by Hannah Kaner and a couple of early novellas from Adrian Tchaikovsky but the book I've most enjoyed so far has been Dirty Shirt by the forums on John Ware. It's a hugely enjoyable tale of the The Royal Munster Fusiliers at the start of WWI. It doesn't skimp on the horrors of the situation but at the same time its told in a very convivial manner that pulled me right in as a reader and had me enaged from the off. It's not humorous but there's a lightness of touch to the storytelling that draws you to the characters and the situations they find themselves in. I highly recommend it to anyone here.

[JohnW]

Barrington Boots gets my vote for Forum's Sexiest Boarder – this year and every year.
You rock, Barry.