Whats everyone reading?

[Sideshow Bob]

I visit my local library at least once a week and always have a look through the Graphic Novels section.....The library is being renovated,  so there are some internal modifications being done and moving around of bookcases and book sections.......
I picked up 2 this week.....Ian Rankins' graphic novel about John Constantine 'Dark Entries' and Gambit 'Once a Thief'...
When I took them to the librarian to get them 'stamped',... we had a chat and she asked me what I thought of the 'new' layout of the library.....I told her I thought it was great,  but also said I thought it was a 'bit of a surprise' that they had put the Graphic Novel section 'almost next'  to the childrens'  picture novels.....

She said that they were being categorised as 'young adults / teenage' novels so the logical way to lay it out was Childrens' section, Teenagers / Young Adults' section and then Adult Section.....

I asked her if she was aware of the content of Graphic Novels were sometimes more 'adult' than 'teen', and she replied 'they put a Parental Warning on those novels that are not suitable for children'......
After showing her a few examples of 'unsuitable' for younger children ( without the warning stickers ) she is now looking at moving the graphic novels into a more Adult area to ensure that younger children cannot 'flick' through them......

[Mabs]

Probably the most sexually graphic comic I've picked up from my library. Just a tad worried about the idea of a young 'un coming across this title,  as there's no age recommendation on the cover. 

Tricky one, Mabs, because we don't want it banned from your library. Likewise, I know I wouldn't want my boy to pick it up and have a flick through it! Does you local library have an 'adult' comics section (I don't mean pornographic, I mean comics for adults  ) and did you get it from there? There is a 'comic friendly' librarian in my local, so if it were me, I'd have a chat to him. If you have an equally nice chap or lady at yours, maybe approach them and see what they say?

I absolutely agree SimeonB, I wouldn't want it banned. The place I found it, in the comics/ graphic novel section, it's accessible to everyone but mainly more older readers frequent that area. There is a childrens room specifically, and they do have their own stuff, like Tin Tin, Asterix and so on. And occasionally the stuff from the (adult) comic section finds its way to the childrens section. So when I'm looking for stuff for my boy I sometimes come across mature titles, like Hellblazer and Sandman etc. And my worry is what's stopping a more graphic comic like Neonomicon ending up there? When I first borrowed Neonomicon a while back it was from another library, and that comic section was accessible to everyone. I don't know, it's quite a tricky issue...but I think best thing to do would be to maybe speak to a staff member like you suggested. Because as much as I love the mature stuff, I wouldn't want this particular title finding its way into my sons hands!

[Basilisk]

Today the Dredd's CCF3 "fell". I ended it. I think it's a mixed bag. It's not only the thinnest of the CCFs i have, but also a melting pot of short stories.

But one in particular made me think about future stories. The one of the scientist that had the house search and the Judges didn't found even the slightest offense or fault. And then Good Joe has a feeling, and yep, the guy is trying to sell the defense stuff plans to the sovs, and so on. I think the seed for the Apocalypse War was planted there.

I also returned to Game of Thrones, the first book. I'm reading a few pages per day. I also have the 2nd that will be the next. I'll get if i can buy the 2 first seasons, but and i'm "late", to read the books before the series, but i can't wait to see HBO's work.

[Professor Bear]

The Phoenix, which not for the first time gave me some genuine belly laughs in a way few comics - yes, even that one - can manage.  From the dark, black undercurrent of of Gary's Garden that can spring anything from doomed love to the death of a parent on the reader as the basis of its otherwise silly and malice-free jokes, to Corpse Talk's use of nudity, violent deaths and even a ninja being graphically shitted on by a nameless anus as he waits inside a toilet to stab someone in the asshole, this is what I would have liked to have been reading as a child, but am instead reading it as an adult and probably enjoying it more than I do the prog.
Recent highlights include Garen Ewing's Hergé-inspired Secret of the Samurai and a biographical overview of the sad life and unappreciated career of HP Lovecraft delivered by his own reanimated corpse.  It finished a while back, but the Etherington Brothers' Long Gone Don was a not-quite UK comics but not-quite Eurocomics either-style blast that I hope ends up in an an annual-sized collection sometime soon so it can take its place in school libraries alongside the collections of other materials from the Phoenix and its sadly-missed forebear The DFC.  It took me a while to cotton on that there's no ads, and the pages you'd normally expect to hold ads instead have puzzles, reader's art, letters. self-made comics, or other silliness and encouragement to join in with the book and its community while being creative.
A constantly-improving highlight of my comics-reading week.

The High Ways - very Euro-flavored sci-fi miniseries from honorary forum member John Byrne.  Follows the first voyage of a young man as he joins a tight-knit group of space truckers as they set out on a routine six-month mission when Stuff happens.  It's not Star Wars or Star Trek by any stretch, it's a lot more indy in setup - if very Byrne-ish in execution - than I'd expect, but all told, I enjoyed it, even if I struggle to understand who it's aimed it - me, I guess, as I'd certainly buy more.  It's not quite dense, but not-quite decompressed, either.  The sci-fi seems very down-to-earth (space-smuggling and space-poaching, etc), but there's plenty of high concept in there, too (space police and space pirates).  Some great linework from Byrne and colours from Twoothy alum Len O'Grady.

[I, Cosh]

Perturbed and touched by the sad demise of Iain Banks, I realised that I'd only ever read a handful of his "straight" novels with the most recent of those being Complicity. Resolving to change this, I proceeded to my local library only to discover that everyone else in Glasgow had had the same idea and the only one left on the shelves was Transition. This one is very much a halfway house between his M and non-M books. The basic setup could easily fit into the Culture but, while those are never really hard sci-fi, there's a lot less regard for the consistency of the many-worlds background.

As ever, the mellifluous prose keeps you turning the pages but the book ultimately seems rather unfocused. There are obvious digs at The War on Terror and the culture of greed leading to the banking crisis. In fact, by far the most entertaining character in the book is the one shoehorned in for the sole purpose of illustrating the latter. Maybe I'm missing something but, ultimately, it feels like a bunch of ingredients mixed together because that's what's in the cupboard rather than because they complement each other.

Also halfway through Reheated Cabbage, a collection of Irvine Welsh shorts. It doesn't have the life and novelty of The Acid House - a couple of the pieces come across as tired retreads of earlier stuff - but there's still an eye for absurdity and an ear for dialogue that makes me laugh.

[Simon Beigh]

Just finished reading The Dark Knight Returns. What can I say? Epic! Simply one of the best comic books I have read. The first two parts I struggled with a bit. The style is very different, with a lot of frames and text filling each page and the first two parts really set the scene for the later action. And action is what happens in the last two parts. Great stuff. I can see why it is a much loved and much respected book.

[Hawkmumbler]

Simeon, do youself a favour and don't read The Dark Knight Strikes Again. That way your love for TDKR will be left untarnished.

[Simon Beigh]

Cheers Hawkmonger. That tallies with what a mate at work said. He put it like "I have it, you can borrow it, but I read it once and will never read it again". Not a glowing recommendation

How did Frank Miller get it so right, then so wrong?!

[Hawkmumbler]

He got into extreme masogony. The rest is, as they they, bigotry.

[Colin YNWA]

I have to say I don't think Dark Knight has lasted the test of time the way other lauded books of that era have. It's not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, well in fact it's very good, just dated. Not a patch on either Year One, or Born Again, which for me are the real Miller classics.

[Simon Beigh]

Blimey, if there are better Miller Batmans I shall be glad to make their acquaintance!

Cheers Colin, I will add them to the reading list 

[I, Cosh]

I have to say I don't think Dark Knight has lasted the test of time the way other lauded books of that era have. It's not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, well in fact it's very good, just dated. Not a patch on either Year One, or Born Again, which for me are the real Miller classics.

Hmm. I came to it late, but I've never thought Year One was in the same league as the other two. Born Again is the daddy though.

[Mardroid]

I recently finished 'Let the Old Dreams Guy'. Apparently from one story which made little sense to me, great stuff. Highly recommended. If you prefer the endings of Let the Right One In and Handling the Undead to remain [spoiler]ambiguous[/spoiler] (and I kinda do in the case of the former) you might wish to skip the two 'sort of sequels' in this volume. Which would be a shame as I thought them great little tales in their own right.

I've just started 'Vampire Circus'. I was curious on seeing it in the library at I rather like the original Hammer Horror film on which this is based. I'm undecided yet on how good the book is, but it's not bad so far. Changing the setting to the present day rather than retelling the period drama of the first was a curious decision.

[Mabs]

Just reading Saga Vol. 2 right now, which I had delivered this morning along with Prophet Vol. 2...

http://nexuswookie.wordpress.com/2013/06/29/recent-comic-purchases-5/

Awesome stuff so far! :-)

[EddieHitler]

Saga Vol 1 & 2.

It is the the best/most enjoyable comic/gn I have read in a very long time.