And of course, after that last entry, it ends up being 8 days before I update again.

Books

• The Gunwitch: Outskirts of Doom by Dan Brereton & Ted Naifeh. This is a retelling of the story from Yojimbo, Fistful of Dollars, Last Man Standing, etc. using one of the characters from Brereton's The Nocturnals. It's okay, but doesn't really bring much tothe story.
  
• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi. This graphic novel depicts Satrapi's childhood in revolutionary Iran. Very moving. (Checked out of the library)
  
• Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. I really enjoyed this, although the end fell a little flat. One of the things that I especially liked was how Maguire created an Oz that reflects Baum's books & not just the movie. (Library)
  
• Justice League Adventures: The Magnificent Seven by various. Another collection of the comics based on the cartoon series.
  
• Real Stuff by Dennis Eichhorn et al. Autobiographical stories by Eichhorn, illustrated by a variety of cartoonists.
  
• Maison Ikkoku, v.2 by Rumiko Takahashi. Romantic comedy manga. This is the second volume of a new edition, published without flipping the artwork (so the book reads right to left). Unfortunately, the number of chapters per volume has changed between editions, so unless I want to buy all the volumes in the new edition, I'll have some duplicated chapters.
  
• Hellboy: Conqueror Worm by Mike Mignola. I'm starting to get excited about the upcoming Hellboy movie.
  
• ad6 Degrees of Separation by John Kovalic. The latest collection of "Dork Tower" comics.
  
• Slow News Day by Andi Watson. Wonderful story about two people working for a newspaper in a small English town.
  
• Nextworld, v.1 by Osamu Tezuka. More manga from "the god of comics."
  
• Batman: Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, v.3 by various. (Library)
  
• X-Treme X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills by Chris Claremont, Ivan Kordey, & Brent Anderson. It's been a while since I read anything written by him, but this confirms it: I'm over Chris Claremont. (Library)
  
• Southpaw by Scott Morse. (Library)
  
• My Sassy Girl, v.1 by Ho Sik Kim & Dae Hong Min. Korean comics. Eh. (Library)
  
• Midnight Nation by J. Michael Straczynski & Gary Frank.
  
• Munchkin Monster Manual 2.5 by John W. Mangrum.
  
• Burning Shaolin by Robin D. Laws. This is a role-playing adventure designed for either Dungeons & Dragons or Feng Shui.* I really liked the attitude the author took to the differences between the two games. In the description of one area, there is a pile of debris. The D&D rules say "In the time-honored tradition of dungeon trash, this refuse pile contains a tiny amount of treasure and a bunch of nasty poisonous creatures." It then describes how the adventurers can find a miniscule amount of saleable junk if they search through it (but they run the risk of getting ill if they do). The Feng Shui rules simply say "Feng Shui characters are too busy looking cool to root through trash for spare change."
  
• Ethereal Player's Guide by Rebecca Sean Borgstrom & David Edelstem. The latest (last?) supplement for In Nomine, a role-playing game about angels & demons. This felt a lot like Borgstrom's Nobilis rpg: Many little snippets of fiction that do a lot to set mood but almost nothing else. Also, the sense that you're being shown a vast & detailed cosmology that bears almost no resemblance to anything that has gone before & therefore doesn't resonate. I'd love to play in a game run by Borgstrom or read fiction written by her, but for me her game-writing doesn't really work.

*Feng Shui is a role-playing game that tries to capture the feel of Hong Kong action movies. It has nothing to do with arranging furniture.