Unfortunately, Blogger's "recover post" feature doesn't work when there's a week between the time the post was lost & the attempt to recover it. So I've got something like 3 weeks worth of books to write about. Fortunately, I haven't finished all that many lately.

Books

148. Queen & Country, vol 7: Operation Saddlebags by Greg Rucka, Mike Norton, & Steve Rolston. The story collected in this book is the first one where I hadn't read the individual issues first. (I stopped buying them as a way of saving money.)
     
149. The Hedge Knight by George R.R. Martin, Ben Avery, Mike S. Miller. This is an adaptation of a short story set in the same work as Martin's A Song of Fire & Ice series (which I haven't read, but I indend to do so someday).
     
150. Madrox: Multiple Choice by Peter David & Pablo Raimondi. David revisits characters from his run on X-Factor. I hope this did well enough that there will be more mini-series (and that the X-Factor issues will be collected).
     
151. In Nomine Game Master's Guide by David Edelstein. I re-read this in preparation for the In Nomine game I began running last Wednesday.
     
152. Buddha, vol. 5: Deer Park by Osamu Tezuka. When Tezuka is on his game (as he is here), I can see why he was called "the god of manga." Simply amazing work. I am very glad the publisher will be releasing paperback editions of these books. (Checked out of the library.)
     
153. Star Trek The Next Generation: Forgiveness by David Brin & Scott Hampton. Yes, that David Brin. (Library.)
     
154. YuYu Hakusho, vol 4: Training Day by Togashi Yoshihiro. I might have more to say about the contents of the manga books published by Viz if, when I looked them up on Amazon, I could actually find them. It pisses me off to no end that whenever I try to find these books, I end up with a huge list of French translations. If I go over the list, I can find the English translations, but more often than not they're from some other publisher. I can usually find one or two books from the series I'm looking for, but not the particular volumes I want. The advanced search option seems to have been removed from Amazon's website. But it's not like it was that much help anyway. The options for narrowing your search by language were "Spanish" or "All Languages." Bah!
     
155. YuYu Hakusho, vol. 5: Focus Your Mind as One by Yoshihiro Togashi.
     
156. Knights of the Dinner Table: Bundle of Trouble, vol. 9 by various. This collects 3 issues of the hilarious (but poorly-drawn) comic book series about a group of roleplayers.
     
157. Knights of the Dinner Table: Bundle of Trouble, vol. 10 by various.
     
158. Bread & Wine: An Erotic Tale of New York by Samuel R. Delany & Mia Wolff. This is an adaptation of a short piece by Delany about how he met his lover. (Library.)
     
159. 24 Hour Comics All-Stars by various. This includes a variety of 24 hour comics by comics professionals, including the first one ever created (by Scott McCloud). Paul Smith & Dave Sim are also represented.
     
160. Plastic Man: On the Lam! by Kyle Baker. Very silly stuff. Lots of fun. Baker is the perfect choice for this series.
     
161. Revelations IV: The Fall of the Malakim by various. In addition to re-reading selected In Nomine books for the game, I am also reading the ones that I never actually got around to before.

Okay, time to try this again. I have already made a copy of the post into Word in case Blogger eats it again. I'll try to update movies later.

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Sixth Level of Hell - The City of Dis!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Very High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Moderate
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very High
Level 7 (Violent)	High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Test

I guess that's what I get for not believing in God. I should make everybody who'll be in the In Nomine game starting tonight take this test before we begin.
(link stolen from Reza)

Well, I did an entry, but Blogger ate it.

My grandfather died yesterday.

He had been ill for a while, but it was still surprising.

Still trying to get caught up.

123. Talk to the Hand! by G.B. Trudeau. This is a Doonesbury collection. It includes the strips in which B.D. loses his leg in Iraq. (Checked out of the library.)
     
124. Ultimate Nightmare by Warren Ellis & Trevor Hairsine. That's not the full title of the book, but the full title gives away a revelation from the end of the book. You'd think somebody at Marvel would know better than to put spoilers in the title.
     
125. Starman: Sons of the Father by James Robinson & Peter Snejbjerg, with David Goyer. This wraps up the collections of the Starman comic. (Well, there are a handful of uncollected issues, the Shade miniseries, and some short stories from Showcase. I really hope DC decides to put out another collection.) This was my favorite superhero comic of the past few years, and I'm very happy that the entire run (mostly) is available in book format. I just wish Robinson were still writing comics. He does much better at that than he does at screenplays (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen).
     
126. Queen & Country, vol. 5: Operation Stormfront by Greg Rucka & Carla Speed McNeil. This series can be damn depressing, but considering that it's a realistic treatment of spies, that's not surprising. Because the artist changes with each storyline, the art quality can vary quite a bit, but they made an excellent choice for this story. McNeil's style works very well for the subject matter, even though it's very different from her own, excellent, series, Finder.
     
127. Kingdom of the Wicked by Ian Edgington & D'Israeli. (Library.)
     
128. The Punisher, vol. 3 by Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon, & Tom Mandrake. More ultra-violence.
     
129. Queen & Country, vol. 6: Operation Dandelion by Greg Rucka & Mike Hawthorne. What can I say? I like this series.
     
130. Venom vs. Carnage by Peter Milligan & Clayton Crain. I picked this up because I generally like Milligan's writing. Unfortunately, I couldn't stand the art. Also, I don't understand the popularity of Venom as a character, so I wasn't exactly the target audience for this.
     
131. Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again by Frank Miller. Not everybody liked Miller's sequel to Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Certainly the tone is very different. But I liked it quite a bit, not the least for the digs at Shrub.
     
132. My Faith in Frankie by Mike Carey & Sonny Liew.
     
133. Dr. Radium Collection, vol. 3: It's Science with Dr. Radium by Scott Saavedra. For some reason, the very first Dr. Radium stories weren't reprinted until volume 3 of this series. Very silly stuff about the power of Science! (complete with an exclamation mark).
     
134. Tryx by Matt Howarth.
     
135. Shaman King, vol. 5: The Abominable Dr. Faust by Hiroyuki Takei.
     
136. Queen & Country Declassified, vol. 1 by Greg Rucka & Brian Hurtt. This is a spin-off of the main series. The spy story here is set back in the 80's.
     
137. Spyboy: Final Exam by Peter David & Pop Mhan. And we move from a realistic spy story to a completely ludicrous one. But still entertaining.
     
138. Fortune & Glory: A True Hollywood Comic Book Story by Brian Michael Bendis. I felt like rereading about Bendis's attempts to sell one of his graphic novels in Hollywood. The more I learn about the way the movie industry works, the more amazed I am that anything good ever gets made.
     
139. Maison Ikkoku, vol. 7 by Rumiko Takahashi. More of the romantic comedy series.
     
140. The Book of Ballads by Charles Vess et al. These stories are adaptations of folk songs from the British Isles. Vess's art, as always, is absolutely beautiful.
     
141. The Life Eaters by David Brin & Scott Hampton. This is an adaptation & expansion of Brin's novella "Thor Meets Captain America" about an alternate history where Germany wins WWII because they were able to summon the Norse gods.
     
142. Sleeper, vol. 3: A Crooked Line by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips. This series is very dark; how could it not be when it's about a man who goes undercover in a criminal organization & is abandoned there when the one person who knows the truth ends up in a coma?
     
143. Samurai Executioner, vol. 1: When the Demon Knife Weeps by Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima. By the creators of Lone Wolf & Cub, this series is related to the other. It has more information about execution practices in feudal Japan than you may have wanted to know.
     
144. 2 Sisters: A Super-Spy Graphic Novel by Matt Kindt. (Library.)
     
145. In Nomine by Derek Pearcy. I've got to refamiliarize myself with this game if I'm going to be running it soon.
     
146. Planetary, vol. 3: Leaving the 20th Century by Warren Ellis & John Cassaday. In some ways, this feels similar to what Alan Moore does in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novels. Ellis pulls in pop culture references from all over the place (Tarzan , Jules Verne & the Fantastic Four make appearances in this volume).
     
147. Point Blank by Ed Brubaker & Colin Wilson. This volume serves as an introduction to the Sleeper series.

Well, two weeks ago I didn't have many books to write about. Last weekend I didn't have computer access. This week I don't have a lot of time to update, but I'll try to get this updated as much as I can.

Books

118. The Punisher, vol. 2 by Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon, & Darick Robertson. Ennis is probably the best writer for this character. He understands the absurdity of the premise & fills the comic with black, black humor.
     
119. One Piece, vol. 6: The Oath by Eiichro Oda. The latest volume of silly pirate manga.
     
120. Scurvy Dogs: Rags to Riches by Andrew Boyd & Ryan Yount. More pirate silliness. Thanks for recommending this, Doug. I really enjoyed it.
     
121. Liber Reliquarum: The Book of Relics by various. This is a source book for the In Nomine role-playing game. I'll be running an IN adventure in a few weeks, and I'm finally getting around to reading the books I've had for a while.
     
122. Swamp Thing: Bad Seed by Andy Diggle & Enrique Breccia. I was very skeptical about this at first: Who could follow Alan Moore's run? (Well, Rick Veitch, but still.) But it eventually won me over. Not enough for me to buy this or subsequent volumes, but I did end up enjoying it. (Checked out of the library.)

Okay, I'm not even close to caught up, but we're going to go see Sin City and we're leaving shortly, so I have to get off the computer. More later.