Whats everyone reading?

[Zarjazzer]

Decided to start on the 2nd Mass Effect novel (Ascension), only a couple of chapters in but my love for all things Mass Effecty mean I'm excited already.

There's  Mass Effect novel? Aye carumba!   As I enjoyed the recent comic series i'd have a gander at this.

Currently reading Cthulhu 2000 a collection of short Mythos influenced stories all enjoyable so far.

[Keef Monkey]

Decided to start on the 2nd Mass Effect novel (Ascension), only a couple of chapters in but my love for all things Mass Effecty mean I'm excited already.

There's  Mass Effect novel? Aye carumba!   As I enjoyed the recent comic series i'd have a gander at this.

Currently reading Cthulhu 2000 a collection of short Mythos influenced stories all enjoyable so far.

I think there's 3 now actually! The first one, "Revelation" is a prequel to the first game and this 2nd one takes place just after it. They're written by the lead writer on the games too so can be considered proper canon and that.

[Paul faplad Finch]

Are the esteemed Mr Bishops 2000ad novels good then?

I picked up a Fiends of the Rising Sun book for 20p at a car boot but I've put off reading it so far. For some reason I had it in my head that they weren't that well regarded.

If I do read it, do I need to pick up the Eastern Front books first? Are they interlinked or completely standalone? I'm paranoid about reading stuff in chronological order if it makes even the slightest difference.

Yeh, i was gonna ask that cos i've got that next & i've got the Fiends GN

Anyone wanna weigh in on this one. I ask because I ordered the fiends GN from the library today. They could get the novels as well but I stuck with the GN for the time being.

Twas a bit of a palaver mind. The assistant couldn't spell Fiends. He also refused to believe that Dredd could be spelled Dredd and not dread when I tried to order casefiles 16. When he finally relented and typed it in they couldn't get it anyway. Or Harlem Heroes.

[ghostpockets]

Do not adjust your visual receptors, this thread now has a case of GhostPockets! I got lotsa stuff to be doing and as such my inner demon, Procrastor, compells me to regale you all with my latest reading conquests. Oh yes I read these suckers good.....

First off Doug Tenapel's Ghostopolis, which fulfilled the promise I spake of in my last post. A great fun romp with lotsa action and some real heartwarming moments, [spoiler]only slightly soured by a Deus Ex Machina ending.[/spoiler]

Andrew Boyd and Ryan Yount's Scurvy Dogs: Rags to Riches was initially a self-published comic that made it good and was then bundled into a trade. It tells the tales of a group of anachronistic pirates trying to make their way in the modern world.  This Director's Cut edition includes introductions to each issue and commentary on selected strips where the creator wax lyrical about their experiences and influences at the time. Chief amongst this is cajun food (they are Americans so belly fuel is obviously their primary concern) but also mentioned is a certain British Sci-Fi weekly. The artist cites McMahon's Block Mania as his biggest influence and even has a half-assed Ezquerra style outline on the main character in the first panel of the first strip. I say half-assed as the outline only covers the characters right shoulder, but the intention is there. Seeing as the dude is a squaxx I'd love to praise this to the higest heavens, but I'm afraid I can't as the story is meh to say the least. The first issue starts off okay with the pirates trying to get jobs on dry land, predictable and with some really terrible jokes but pretty enjoyable. However, it quickly descends into Family Guy territory with obscure American pop culture references and irritating running gags. Meh indeed.

Dylan Horrock's Hicksville is initially very engaging but I felt it trailed off somewhat by the end [spoiler]with the mystery not properly resolved[/spoiler]. My favourite aspect of this was the comics within a comic, I would gladly have just read a collection of Sam's autobiographical strips. Will probably reread this at some point to see if I missed something.

Asterios Polyp is a beautiful piece of GRAPHIC storytelling. Wrought by David Mazzucchelli of Batman: Year One fame, this is something completely different. It is done in such a way that the story could not be told in any other medium other than comics. It's not just words and pictures y'know, through use of graphic devices such as colour and negative devices Mazzucchelli has created a classic that not only bears but demands rereading. You NEED to read this A.S.A.P.!

Larry Mader's Beanworld is sheer genie arse, the very anus of a djinn. "A most peculiar comic book experience" and one I can't be arsed to explain here. Suffice to say it blew my already mangled brain (years of thrillpower y'know). I'd recommend going into it with no preconceptions as I did, [spoiler]but ther terminally curious can go here... http://www.rdrop.com/~half/Creations/BeanWeb/Introduction.html[/spoiler]

Alex Robinson's Box Office Poison is massive. A chunky doorstep of a book, this one took me over a week to read and I actually felt depressed when I finished it. Luckily there is a collection of short stories out there with the same characters so I will have to hunt that down. This is a graphic novel in the truest sense. It revolves around a year in the lives of six New Yorkers, and the depth of characterisation is such that it is easy to immerse yourself in that world. You will fall in love with each character at some point, and be equally repelled by the same character at another. I highly HIGHLY recommend this one.

Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw. Another weighty tome and one I imagined would consume my week as B.O.P. did. I was wrong. I got about 20 pages in before I gave up exasperated. Ugly charmless art paired with a dull pretentious writing style is not a winner in my eyes. DISRECCOMEND!

Joann Sfar is a genius! A prodigous talent from France, he has created over 100 books since the early 90s. Only a smattering have thus far been translated into English, but the rest will come in très utile once my French lessons kick in. My eyes and soul gleefully ingested both Vampire Loves and Little Vampire in one sitting and they are hungry for more. I already have The Rabbi's Cat 1 and 2 in my book bag and will surely have finished them in a coupla days depending on whether I do any work or not.

Seizure laters, Alan Gator! Innards vile, Colin Dahl!

[Colin YNWA]

Larry Mader's Beanworld is sheer genie arse, the very anus of a djinn. "A most peculiar comic book experience" and one I can't be arsed to explain here.

You're not wrong there. Big fan of Beanworld. Hopefully book 4 won't be too much longer.

[Dark Jimbo]

Joann Sfar is a genius! A prodigous talent from France, he has created over 100 books since the early 90s. Only a smattering have thus far been translated into English, but the rest will come in très utile once my French lessons kick in. My eyes and soul gleefully ingested both Vampire Loves and Little Vampire in one sitting and they are hungry for more. I already have The Rabbi's Cat 1 and 2 in my book bag and will surely have finished them in a coupla days depending on whether I do any work or not.

I've read and recommend The Professor's Daughter. Utterly charming and very, very funny. I suppose it helped that I've a soft spot for Victoriana. Always meant to seek out more of his stuff.

[ghostpockets]

Cheers Jimbo, will def check that one out. Would the Professor in question be Professor Bell? He had a cameo in Vampire Loves and I'd love to see more of him. It's a good thing I have to learn French anyway as I will get to read them all eventually, and the Asterix books with different puns.

I only read volume 1 of Beanworld so far so hopefully book 4 will come out not long after I catch up.

[SmallBlueThing]

'Night of the Living Trekkies' by kevin david anderson and sam stall. Bought on a whim, despite my inner voice screaming that it'd be awful. Basically a zombie apocalypse centred around a star trek convention. Amusing, well-written and short, i'm enjoying it as a buffer until my copies of The Living Dead 2 and Requiem Vampire Knight 3 and 4 arrive. Each chapter is named after a trek episode (including some i recognise) and the cover, by glen orbik, might just be my favourite this year.

Sort-of recommended. If you love zombies and like star trek.

SBT

[HOO-HAA]

'Night of the Living Trekkies' by kevin david anderson and sam stall. Bought on a whim, despite my inner voice screaming that it'd be awful. Basically a zombie apocalypse centred around a star trek convention. Amusing, well-written and short, i'm enjoying it as a buffer until my copies of The Living Dead 2 and Requiem Vampire Knight 3 and 4 arrive. Each chapter is named after a trek episode (including some i recognise) and the cover, by glen orbik, might just be my favourite this year.

Sort-of recommended. If you love zombies and like star trek.

SBT

Yeah, I saw that and Trekkie thing and laughed, Steev. Seems to be getting decent reviews too.

Me, I'm on a real Brian Keene bender at the moment. Read DEAD SEA in like a week (really fast for me) and am now blowing through DARK HOLLOW.

Both good stuff in very different ways. DH is his 'writer = proteganoist' novel. I guess every writer's got to have one of those!

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

Back on the Philip K Dick short stories The Father Thing and others.

[Albion]

Dresden Files Book 9 - White Night by Jim Butcher.

[Zarjazzer]

Cthulhu 2000 was okay but some of the stories had only the most tenuous link to the mythos. The best one IMHO  being (no surprise) Harlan Ellison's tale. Onto a new book the Black hand Gang -the lady in Waterstones didn't like the cover but I loved it. A story of a company of WW1 British troops transported to another planet/galaxy/dimension-sounds like a jolly twoofy story.

And now a major disappointment I got the Force Unleashed 2 GN (never played th e game but thougt I'd check it out), and the art is very good. The story is fine up to the ending which I  just found ridiculous. [spoiler]There is no way Boba Fett would not take a shot because he suddenly felt "sympathy" or -frankly i couldn't understand why he didn't shoot that over powered git other than no more Force Unleashed.[/spoiler]
Maybe I missed a page...

[Roger Godpleton]

Bit of a long shot, but has anyone in the US read this new Alex Toth bio? I'm sad to report that I'm a neophyte when it comes to Toth and it's a bit pricey so I'm a still a bit reluctant to pre-order it if there's a better entry point.

[Ignatzmonster]

Bit of a long shot, but has anyone in the US read this new Alex Toth bio? I'm sad to report that I'm a neophyte when it comes to Toth and it's a bit pricey so I'm a still a bit reluctant to pre-order it if there's a better entry point.

Hmmm the problem with Toth is that he didn't stay with any comic for any length of time with one exception. So a Toth anthology or biography is a handy thing indeed. My big Toth entry was the exception: his work on Zorro. Beautiful stuff and a fun engaging comic. The only problem is it has a fair amount of talk and you don't get to see as much of his skills at drawing... well everything. Hard to explain properly. I just wish there had been more establishing shots, more panels without dialogue so I could see the background etc. But I do love my Zorro collection so I recommend it.

I do think Toth is a subject worth following. I think more than any other artist his influence in terms of comicbook art has been one of the best.

[Colin YNWA]

But I do love my Zorro collection so I recommend it.

I echo that.Be aware that it is what it is however, reprints of 50's Disney comics and so its not what you'd call hard hitting! That said the art is exceptional