Whats everyone reading?

[SmallBlueThing]

Mr claw, you have good taste. Agree completely about Scalped, but sadly im several volumes behind as i rely on my local library in this case. As for the war in the trenches thing- that sounds interesting, i'll have to look that up. Who's it published by?
And yes, the idea was stated to be for further volumes of Mezolith to come along in due course, but as yet ive not heard anything. Brilliant album though, and i'd snap up a second like a shot.
SBT

[House of Usher]

I'm almost to the end of Outlaw in Strontium Dog Agency Files vol.2. It's a real treat. I had forgotten most of the story, so it's like reading something new. The bits with Scots language are great, it's very funny in places, and there has scarcely been a Strontium Dog story this action packed. The way the situation escalates from one instalment to the next is a really impressive demonstration of the comic book writer's skill, and Carlos Ezquerra's artwork is perfection as always.

[Tjm86]

getting close to the end of Gibson's Zero History.  Much better read than Spook Country and tying in threads from Pattern Recognition.  I know he's moved a long way from his SF roots but a lot of his preoccupation with the subversion and utilisation of different kinds of technology is still there.  Wish I could explain better why it is such a good read.

On the GN front Johnny Red has finally arrived after nearly two years of waiting looking at the original Amazon order!  Would be nice to think that this is the start of a new series a la Charley's War but even if it is just a one off it is thoroughly satisfying.  A trailer at the back is promoting Darkie's Mob, Rat Pack and Major Eazy.  Hope it is not just teasing!

[TordelBack]

Scalped vol 6 The Gnawing - The latest TPB of the Native American crime drama, quite simply the best ongoing title currently published by DC.

Scalped is incredibly good, and somehow manages to keep a tight focus on plot while haring off all over the place following innumerable characters' stories, but like SBT I'm  a bit behind thanks to the irregular library purchasing and glacial slowness of inter-library loans - I've been waiting for Volume 1 of Y: The Last Man since last Summer (although I'm beyond grateful that the service exists at all).

[Strontium Claw]

As for the war in the trenches thing- that sounds interesting, i'll have to look that up. Who's it published by?

Hey SBT
The new English language edition of It Was the War of the Trenches written and drawn by Jacques Tardi was published in the USA last year by Fantagraphics, although it first appeared in France in 1993/94.

On a similar theme, if you like mature war comics you should check out another title from Fantagraphics:
Blazing Combat which reprints all 4 issues of the short-lived 1965 title written by Archie Goodwin featuring such stellar artists as Alex Toth, Reed Crandell, Gene Colan and Joe Orlando. Classic stuff.

[SquashedFly]

I started to read '48 again last night. I think this is the third attempt after trying twice without finishing it. Hopefully I can finish it before I lose track of where I am and start reading something else.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

I'll tell you what I'm NOT reading, and that's Blackest Night.

Surely Stevie's not the only one who is constantly misreading the follow up as Sunshine Day?

If DC had any creative balls they'd be rounding off the thematic trilogy with Afternoon Delight.

Am halfway through Robert Silverberg's 1969 The Man in the Maze. A vanished alien civilization. A deadly maze. A desperate expedition to retrieve the man hidden in its centre. A man who has been changed &, since his apotheosis, does not wish to be found.

Compelling stuff from halfway through that extraordinary fecund decades worth of work wherein the reliable Golden Age wunderkind hothoused himself into a trailblazer of the New Wave.

Silverberg announced his (thankfully temporary) retirement in 1976 in sheer frustration with reactionary American SF publishers who, spearheaded by the likes of Lester Del Ray, didn't want none of that lit'ry shiz round here no siree.  

[TordelBack]

Finished Stephen Baxter's Ark at last.

Sometimes I think Baxter is the cruelest, bleakest SF author I've ever read, and up to now I had thought he might have got the worst of it out of his system with grim books like Raft, Moonfall and indeed Flood.  At one level this book is a magnificent celebration of human ingenuity, endurance and optimism, at many others it's a gripping account of the simply appalling sacrifices his characters must make to even come close to achieving their goal. 

I had thought, early on, that this book was the 'convenient SF science' version of his horrific interplanetary slog Titan, with some of the harsher intractable realities of long-term spaceflight  'solved' for the sake of a workable story.  To an extent this is true, but apparently only so that other, even harsher, realties can be inflicted on his poor characters, and humanity in general.  From the suicidal defenders of Earth's last space launch facility to what it really means to assert that some ends justify any means, parts of Ark are an almost unbearable read.

If you had the stomach for Titan, this is a must-read.  I really hope there'll be another book in this series, I must know what happened next, even if I know it's going to hurt.  A lot.

[Mikey]

Yeah, but did the talking squid turn up or not? 

But in all seriousness, this might move to the top of my list - I like grim!

M.

[TordelBack]

Well, don't take my enthusiastic ramblings too seriously.  It was exactly the type of book I was looking for when I picked it up, in a sub-genre of hard SF exploration that I favour, and had at least one great twist, a lot to say about the closeness of the best and worst of human nature, and some very nice ideas about the problems of goldilocks planets, but as always Baxter's characters are a little flat (for me).  That I found it so very engaging may be down to a thick wodge of my always-dubious personal taste.

[Keef Monkey]

That reminds me, I've got a trilogy of his and only ever read the first one, I might continue with that sometime. Think it's called Behemoth? About mammoths in space. I think.

Reading Case Files 16 just now myself (as well as the Pegg biog which is fairly amusing).

[TordelBack]

Think it's called Behemoth? About mammoths in space. I think.

Hmm, one I haven't read - when the first one came out it was marketed as kid's book, and I passed it over in favour of the crushingly depressing Evolution.  The one I'm looking forward to reading is Stone Spring, whenever the library delivers.  More flood shenanigans, but this time in the Mesolithic.

[Spaceghost]

And yes, the idea was stated to be for further volumes of Mezolith to come along in due course, but as yet ive not heard anything. Brilliant album though, and i'd snap up a second like a shot.
SBT

I had a chat with the artist, Adam Brockbank, at the Thought Bubble festival in Leeds about this. He said there is a story planned and both he and the writer would like to do more but it's unlikely to happen.

Adam, apparently, mainly works as a concept artist on films (such as Harry Potter) and he said that drawing comics is so labour intensive and poorly paid compared to the design work that it's not viable to devote the time required to do it.

A shame, as Mezolith is one of my favourite comics in a long time.  

[House of Usher]

Strontium Dog Agency Files, vol.3 !!!  



Only one story in so far and already they've recycled the plot of The Killing. It's great stuff though. More comedy Scotsmen, and Middenface on a tractor. Hooray!

[Mikey]

That reminds me, I've got a trilogy of his and only ever read the first one, I might continue with that sometime. Think it's called Behemoth? About mammoths in space. I think.

I read the first two mammoth books and thought they were great! Prior to publication of the first, he had the (modified) first chapter in Interzone which convinced me to read on.I was impressed that he was able to make me engage with anthropomorphism of extinct hairy beasties in the yarns and many more in Evolution. I understand the third 'shifts locales' but I've yet to read it (I wandered off for some reason - on a slightly related note I've only just recently bought The Third God by Ricardo Pinto, about 10 years after the trilogy began and a few years after it was finally published.It's like a custom.)

I'm still reading Surface Detail - about a fifth to go! [spoiler](and it's all went intelligent AI replicator swarm tastic!)[/spoiler] Great stuff, this is.

M.