Whats everyone reading?

[judgefloyd]

I'm reading 'A Princess of Mars' by ER Burroughs.  It's pulpy fun, with some nice long-winded writing.  There's a very Ayn Randisih bit about how the Martians have everything in common and this has lead to them having a crummy barbarous society, and a rather greeny bit about the oxygen plants and the need for everyone to work together to keep them going.  Oh and the Princess is nude ('destitute of clothing'), apart from jewellery, so John Carter is learning Barsoomian extra-fast, the better to get into her non-existent pants

[Gonk]

RUSSELL EDSON

                                         The Toy-Maker

         A toy-maker made a toy wife and a toy child. He made a toy house
     and some toy years.

         He made a getting-old toy, and he made a dying toy.

         The toy-maker made a toy heaven and a toy god.

         But, best of all, he liked making toy shit.

                                                                                                1976 

[the 'artist' formerly known as Slips]

Game of Thrones...  about 50 pages or so in and its OK but not much is happening except a lot of character introductions and there seems to be a lot of them.  Im a Joe Abercrombie fan and a friend said they were similar in a brutal low fantasy type way.   So I decided to see what the fuss was about. 

The Devotion of Suspect X, I mentioned it previously on this thread, turned into a little gem.  More a police procedural than a gripping thriller, as we knew exactly who the killer was at the start.  The genius of the book lay in its ability to pull the carpet out from under the feet of the reader with twists and turns, especially towards the end.  Well worth the read and it is pretty short.  Is all Japanese fiction like this?         

[Professor Bear]

The Boxcar Children, a depression-era GN which I bought blind from Amazon because it was quite cheap, about some kids who run away from care and live in an abandoned train car they find in the woods.  My first instinct was to assume it would end in much the same way that Seita and Setsuko's story does, but despite some ominous portents here and there it's presented as a peril-free adventure that ends happily for all concerned.  Needless to say, this is actually a tale for younger readers and teenagers and upwards more used to reading Spider-Man would balk at the lack of murder, cannibalism and incestuous rape, and while I thought the art and dialogue was too basic for me to really get into it (that and the short length of the story), I found it more accessible than manga or eurocomics and wished someone would do a decent all-ages version with the mystery elements that were present in the original novel.

Glister and the Family Tree - a whimsical tale of a young girl who lives in a house that has a mind of its own, who decides to grow her own extended family by putting her baby teeth into the bark of a huge and barren tree.  Smarter than you might think it is, the real charm is in the telling rather than the tale itself, the art especially is fantastically clear and expressive and reminiscent of the best of UK kids' comics.  Surprisingly enjoyable for a kiddie book.

The Complete Stainless Steel Rat.  Somehow I have never read these stories before, though I think I read one of Harrison's Bill novels and they're reminiscent of what I remember of that: episodic, light-hearted, and very dated.  They're still good fun even if a little unbalanced and lacking in any real sense of danger to the protagonists, but it's always a laugh seeing earlier versions of big dumb sci-fi ideas like the orbital drop sequence that would later become a setpiece in the Star Trek reboot, yet here is but one of a myriad of ideas burnt through in the space of a couple of panels while the characters are on their way to bigger problems and more outrageous solutions.  If this kind of story appeared in the progs today I would find the smarmy main character deeply irritating very quickly, but as a relic of the early days of 2000ad this is a minor gem.

[Mardroid]

I recently finished Alice in Wonderland. I know it's a classic but it wasn't really my cup of tea. An interesting enough read though.

Reading Varney the Vampire now. I read an excerpt a while back (I'm not sure if it was part of the novel or a sequel as these books were published in instalments, a common occurrence in the Victorian days. Much of Dickens's works were published that way.)  but never read the story from the start. I saw it on the Kobo site going free, and figured, why not?

A review I read stated that it was pretty bad, but as a pre-Dracula novel, I'm curious. Too early to judge yet. So far there's been a massive storm with a hurricane and hail and the main antagonist has just done that archetypal thing of letting himself in the window of a young lovely and helped herself to her neck. That obviously seems quite a cliché now, but bearing in mind the time period in which it was written, it was probably new then.

I've noticed the whole 'they can't come in unless you invite them' rule doesn't seem to apply to Varney like it does Dracula. He just breaks the window and undoes the latch like a regular human would.*

Oh, and he does that same thing with his long nails that Max Shreck does in Shadow of he Vampire. Hee, hee.

I quite like the writing style so far.


*Mind you I think Stoker might have broken his own established rules within his own novel, as I don't remember it being established that Lucy invited him in when she was finished off. She was pretty much in his thrall then, so she probably did.)

[Dark Jimbo]

I've had Varney sitting on my shelf for a while, but much as I love the unashamedly purple prose of penny dreadful fiction I can't quite bring myself to start such a MA-HOO-SIVE book.

[Mardroid]

I've had Varney sitting on my shelf for a while, but much as I love the unashamedly purple prose of penny dreadful fiction I can't quite bring myself to start such a MA-HOO-SIVE book.

That big eh? There's a note at the start of my edition stating:
"This edition does not include the entire 109 episodes, which were published in three volumes."

Maybe yours has the full amount. It's not made clear as to the page count (Kobo books pages reset at 1 each chapter) but it seems I've got 96 chapters worth.

[Dark Jimbo]

Perhaps yours is abridged, then - mine's certainly the full thing! 220 chapters, 1166 pages, rough average 600 words to a page for an equally rough wordcount of 700,000 - it's the book that 'doorstop' was invented to describe. And yet only £2.50 on Amazon. Bargain!

[Noisybast]

Not prog 1779! 

Obviously, we know what happens by now, but I'm trying to avoid specifics of exactly how. Not easy when details keep popping up all over the place! I rushed to my local progsmith after work today, but they were closed by the time I got there.  Bum...

[Evil Pants]

Posted these over in the new comics thread...but thought they might make sense here too. This week's comic haul.

3 Story: Secret Files Of The Giant Man by Matt Kindt (Dark Horse)

3 Story was a graphic novel by Matt Kindt from a few years ago that I really liked. It didn't have the plotting complexities that some of his other work like Super Spy or Revolver had, but in terms of emotional resonance it had plenty. Secret Files is a collection of random apocryphal shorts that fit in nicely with the 3 Story mythos, without distracting from the main story. They were originally part of Dark Horse's Myspace project. Not sure this will mean much to those who haven't read the original, but for those of who have it provides a nice epilogue.

The best part however, is that there's a free preview that comes with this issue promoting Kindt's new series: Mind MGMT. Kindt gives us far more with a 5 page preview than most creators give us with 3 issues, and as such we feel as if we really get a sense of the new series is all about: 2 years ago a flight is forced to emergency land when every single passenger and crew member on board loses their memory. This was a great preview. Good character building, but also sets up the premise well. Looking forward to this.


Manhattan Projects #2 by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra (Image)

How do you follow up an amazing first issue? Do an amazing second issue. And that's what Hickman has done here. He took the "HOLY CRAP HOW ARE THEY GOING TO FOLLOW THAT UP" that he left with us on the last page MP #1, and....well, he followed it up.  And well, I might add. This is the story of an alternate past that isn't so alternate if you're a conspiracy theorist. To those folks, the inmates have been running the asylum for a long time now, and that's what Projects is about. Evil people, having way too much power over evil things. If you believe that science is an enemy to be feared...you definitely don't want to read this. 

Resident Alien #0 by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse (Dark Horse)

This collects the first 3 Resident Alien stories originally published in DHP, and gives us a great framework to the upcoming ongoing. Our hero here is an alien who has been trapped on our planet for decades. He just wants to go home, but somehow gets roped into becoming a family doctor in a small American town, solving a small town murder ysteries. The premise is sound, and the execution strong. It's not going to blow anyone away, but I really enjoyed how character focused this was. 

Ragemoore #2 - by Jan Strnad and Richard Corben (Dark Horse)

Second issue of a new horror epic by the Lee/Kirby of horror comics. The gothic sensibilites that oozed through issue #1 are on full display here, with us learning a bit more about the worst haunted house in the world. I didn't find issue two to be quite as compelling as issue one, as the whole thing just felt like a bit of a Edgar Allen Poe rip-off. Still, Richard Corben is a frickin' genius with shadow.

Prophet #25 by Brandon Graham & Farel Dalrymple (Image)

2012 is turning out to be an awesome year for creator owned and independent comics, but it's also turning out to be a great year for science fiction comics. Between Saga, Manhattan Projects, Casanova, and of course Prophet, there's a dearth of smart sci-fi out there. Prophet is as much of a quest/adventure book as it is a pure sci-fi comic, but it defintely wouldn't be out of place in Heavy Metal or 2000AD. The plan on this book is to constantly be changing artists, with each artist doing 1-3 issues each. Our star here is Farel Dalrymple, one of my favourite indie cartoonists. The style here is very different than the last few issues, but still working well from a tonal perspective with what we've seen before.

Secret History Of DB Cooper #2 by Brian Churilla (Oni Press)

What's the premise you ask? D.B. Cooper is a psychic assassin working for the CIA. He enters something called "The Glut"...kind of information superhighway for psychics. It allows him to go from one mind to another, killing whomever needs killing. If that's not a winner of a premise, I don't know what is. Plus, Brian Churilla is in Powell/Mignola/Davis/Corben territory when it comes to drawing monsters.

Issue one of this just blew me away. One of my favourite reads of the year thus far, as it combined so much of what I love about comics. Issue 2? Well....I didn't love issue two quite so much. Churilla is obviously an artist first, writer second. And it's because he's such an amazing artist that he can afford to be just an ok writer. But there's a clumsiness in his dialogue here that I found distracting, though not enough to stop me from enjoying the whole book.

Reset #1 by Peter Bagge (Dark Horse)

I've been reading quite a bit of Bagge's work lately, and thought I'd try his newest mini right at the beginning. He's got a 60's counterculture cartoony style that won't be for everyone, but it's an interesting backdrop for the sci-fi story he's telling. Reset is the story of Guy Krause, a has-been actor who gets drafted for an experimental mental procedure that allows one to "redo" painful moments of your life. Although Krause is hardly likable (although positively warm and cuddly compared to most Bagge lead characters), he's still sympathetic. That, combined with the solid premise, was enough to make sure I'll check out issue 2.

Rachel Rising #7 by Terry Moore (Abstract)

I've been losing confidence in this horror book, but issue 7 got me back. Rachel Rising is the story of a woman who was brutally murdered, but has come back to life. Her search for her killers, and for the reason why she's still alive, is what the book is about. Fantastic emotional storytelling by Terry Moore, who draws some of the most beautiful women in comics. I found it interesting to see a guy buy this today along with issues of Transformers and Walking Dead. I told him how good it was, and he said that he didn't care, he was buying it because there was a preview in the Walking Dead and so he expected it to go up in value. Oh, and he had 10 copies of the latest WD issue. Sigh....

The Sixth Gun #21 - by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt

Holy crap was that a lot of comic. No words, no dialogue, just 30 pages of pure adventure and action. Wow. Anyone that''s looking to learn how to frame action sequences for comics needs to study this issue religiously.

Dark Horse Presents #11

A slightly more mixed bag as usual. Some highlights included Francesco Francavilla's Black Beetle, the Evan Dorkin Milk & Cheese explosion in the middle of the book, and John Arcudi's The Creep. The Creep in particular really grabbed me. Arcudi is probably the best writer in comics that no one seems to know about. Great noir story. I enjoyed the Black Beetle as well, though I'm not sure why we needed it when we have MIke Mignola's Lobster Johnson.

[Gonk]

Today I'm mainly reading frank zappa by Barry Miles. Is there any famous celebrity Miles hasn't known personally? This biography makes for some amazing reading for a Frank Zappa fan such as myself. I never knew Zappa appeared in an episode of "The Monkeys", and had a walk on part in their only film.

[GordyM]

Batman #8 was a lot better than I was expecting (couldn't help feeling bringing back the Court of Owls so soon was maybe a mistake). Actually excited about how this mini-cross over will develop.

[klute]

Just started reading the walking dead compendium,it's the first time i've read anything walking dead based it's a good ready so far......i wish i'd read it before seeing it on tv

Well i finished the compendium fuck me!!!! [spoiler]how the hell are they going to film anything relating to the governor what a sick twisted piece of shit he was.
I can't wait to see who they kill off (if any different to the book)[/spoiler]

Question???? [spoiler]in the book Lori is shot assumed dead from said shot and yes whilst it look's like she's landed ontop of baby Judy it isn't clear if the baby was hit with the same shot as Lori???[/spoiler]

[Colin YNWA]

Batman #8 was a lot better than I was expecting (couldn't help feeling bringing back the Court of Owls so soon was maybe a mistake). Actually excited about how this mini-cross over will develop.

Can I ask does it seem like the individual comics storylines in 'Night of the Owls' will be independent of each other, or at least read as such. At the end of Batman 8 will the story carry on in Batman 9 or are you directed to go pick up anything else first?

[Albion]

I never knew Zappa appeared in an episode of "The Monkeys", and had a walk on part in their only film.

Here he is in The Monkees movie, Head.

http://youtu.be/JOI-SDYGviM