Books

Well we're a week into the new year, past time I listed the books I've finished since 2004 ended.

1. Bleach, vol. 1: Strawberry & the Soul Reapers by Tite Kubo. Manga. (Checked out of the library.)
   
2. Ultimate X-Men, vol. 8: New Mutants by Brian Michael Bendis & David Finch. Man, the way that Amazon lists graphic novels is annoying. I have all the pertinent information about this book except the ISBN, but I can't find it there. (Library.)
   
3. Ultimate X-Men, vol. 9: The Tempest by Brian K. Vaughan & Brandon Peterson. I found this one at Amazon, no problem. (Library.)
   
4. Strip Search by various. (Library.)
   
5. Orbiter by Warren Ellis & Colleen Doran. This book makes me feel like I did when I was certain we would colonize space; it captures the excitement the space program can bring. Unfortunately, I suspect we'd need an event like the one depicted in this book to make space a real priority. (Gift from Teena.)
   
6. Slowpoke: Cafe Pompous by Jen Sorensen. (Library.)
   
7. Electric Girl, vol. 2 by Michael Brennan. Again, Amazon's graphic novel listings fail. They've got volume one, and even a listing for the as yet unreleased volume three, but not volume two. (Library.)
   
8. Mutts 9: Dog-Eared by Patrick McDonnell. This used to be one of my favorite comic strips, but this collection doesn't quite work for me. I'm not sure why, it still has the lyrical quality that at times reminds me of Krazy Kat, but it just doesn't quite work for me anymore. Maybe it was just the mood I was in when I read it. (Library.)
   
9. When We Were Very Maakies by Tony Millionaire. (Library.)
   
10. Things Are Meaning Less by Al Burian. (Library.)
    
11. Catwoman: Relentless by Ed Brubaker, Cameron Stewart, & Javier Pulido. The latest collection of the Catwoman comic, this book continues the noirish stories. Also, very stylish art.
    
12. Sin City by Frank Miller. I finally saw the trailer for the upcoming movie (and was blown away at how much it looks like the comic), so I decided to reread this. It had been quite a while since I'd read it, but it's just as brutal & visceral as I remember. Extremely hard-boiled.
    
13. Daredevil, vol. 3 by Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, et al. I really like Bendis's writing (as you could probably tell from the number of books by him I read). But anyway, this seems like as good a time as any to talk about Marvel's hardcover books. For certain titles, Marvel releases a hardcover edition. These usually collect at least a years worth of a title; they are printed slightly larger than the original comics so you can see the art better; and they often have extras such as samples of the script or pages from the artist's sketchbook. Marvel also publishes paperbacks reprinting the same issues, but because the hardbacks cover the material that ends up in two or three paperbacks, the hardbacks usually end up being a better bargain. However, it is sometimes hard to tell what comics will receive the hardcover treatment, and the paperbacks come out before the hardbacks. So if you don't know the hardcover is coming out (or if you're just impatient for the collection), you end up buying the worse deal. All in all, Marvel's hardbacks are great but frustrating. (Purchased using a gift card I got from Teena's parents.)
    
14. H-E-R-O: Powers & Abilities by Will Pfeifer & Kano. (Library.)

Movies & DVDs

• Greg the Bunny. This is one of many series that Fox has cancelled too soon. Funny stuff, especially the short from IFC in which Greg ponders the nature of art & reality. It's unnerving to watch a puppet go through an existential crisis. (Gift from Teena.)
  
• Mystery Science Theater 3000: Hercules & the Captive Women. Borrowed from Teena.)

Gaming

Played Transhuman Space on Wednesday. In this game, we are playing members of a Singapore triad, and we are bad, bad people. However, we're not as bad as the guy who is threatening to use nanotech to turn Singapore into a puddle of grey goo. I didn't do much of anything this time around, but that's because I was in hiding from the bad(der) guy who wants to turn me over to the Martian triads. I (Philip, that is, not my character) spent the downtime creating a character for the upcoming World's Largest Dungeon game.