Here it is, the last day of the year, and I am going to get caught up today.

429. Continuity by Jason McNamara & Tony Talbert. (Checked out of the library.)
     
430. Avignon: Gods and Demons by Che Gilson & Jimmie Robinson. Perhaps a little too gothy for me, but quite good. (Library.)
     
431. A History of Violence by John Wagner & Vince Locke. There's an aspect to this story that I find stretches my willing suspension of disbelief, but other than that, I really enjoyed this. For a second, I wondered if my sticking point made it into the the movie version, but then I realized that it is something that's right up Cronenberg's alley, so I'm sure it was retained.
     
432. Ghost Rider: The Road to Damnation by Garth Ennis & Clayton Crain. I didn't have high hopes for this, but Ennis is almost always at least entertaining. I was pleasantly surprised. This story felt very In Nomine-ish, and that's a good thing as far as I am concerned. (Library.)
     
433. Blab!, no. 1 by various. A large number of 60's underground comics artists write about how they were influence by EC comics, especially Mad.
     
434. Cowboys & Aliens by Fred Van Lente, Andrew Foley, & Luciano Lima. I picked this up on impulse because it was written by the writer of Action Philosophers! the best comic book about lovers of wisdom (also, it was cheap). Pretty good. Nothing spectacular, but entertaining.
     
435. Marvel Holiday Digest by various.
     Panic, vol. 2 by Al Feldstein, et al.
     
436. The Dark Horse Book of Monsters by various.
     
437. Ex Machina, vol. 4: March to War by Brian K. Vaughan, Tony Harris, & Chris Sprouse. I continue to enjoy this series, but I don't have a lot to say about it.
     
438. Sachs & Violens by Peter David & George Perez.
     
439. Ragmop by Rob Walton. I was thrilled when I read that Walton's brilliant series was finally being collected. Unfortunately I felt a little let down when I read it. I think it's because I had built it up in my mind too much in the decade or so since it was originally published. Also, after 6 years of GWB's America, Walton's depiction of the machinations behind the US government doesn't seem nearly as transgressive as it once did. Don't get me wrong, this is still a great & hilarious story about politics, religion, history, and dinosaurs. I just had my expectations too high.
     
440. Dragon Head, vol. 4 by Minetoro Mochizuki. (Library.)
     
441. Dragon Slippers by Rosalind B. Penfold. (Library.)
     
442. Three Tenors: Off Key by Bill Messner-Loebs, Dave Cockrum, & Clifford Meth.0785123210
     
443. Captain America: Red Menace, vol. 1 by Ed Brubaker, et al. (Library.)
     
444. The Authority: The Magnificent Kevin by Garth Ennis & Carlos Ezquerra. (Library.)
     
445. Frontline Combat, vol.3 by Harvey Kurtzman, et al.
     
446. Crime SuspenStories by various.
     
447. Pocket Essentials: Alan Moore by Lance Parkin. A slim but very informative book about Moore's writing history. I liked this, but was puzzled by a couple of gratuitous swipes at Neil Gaiman.
     
448. Fiddling for Waterbuffaloes by S.P. Somtow.
     
449. Bleach, vol. 16: Night of Wijnruit by Tite Kubo.
     
450. Fables, vol. 8: Wolves by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, & Shawn McManus. While I enjoy Willingham's writing, there's something about it that has bothered me for a while. I have finally figured out what it is: his characters are too rational. In his stories, nobody ever does something stupid because they weren't thinking or because they were caught up in the moment. I'm not saying his characters are unemotional, just that they never let emotions affect their judgment.
     
451. Supreme Power, vol. 2 by J. Michael Straczynski, Gary Frank, & Dan Jurgens.
     
452. Maison Ikkoku, vol. 14 by Rumiko Takahashi.
     
453. Maison Ikkoku, vol. 15 by Rumiko Takahashi. I used to say that Inu Yasha was Takahashi's best work, but that was before it started dragging on & on. It's got a great mix of adventure, romance, & comedy, but it has gone on too long. Maison Ikkoku on the other hand, wraps up nicely in 15 volumes. I haven't read everything Takahashi has written, but right now I believe this is her best work. This is a lovely, sweet ending to the series.
     
454. The Order of the Stick, vol. 0: On the Origin of the PCs by Rich Burlew. Finally bought a copy of this.
     
455. Blowing Up Hong Kong by Chris Jones. This is a source book for the Feng Shui role playing game.
     
456. The Twelve Terrors of Christmas by John Updike & Edward Gorey.
     
457. The Five Fists of Science by Matt Fraction & Steven Sanders. Nicola Tesla & Mark Twain vs. J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, & Thomas Edison. What's not to love? (Library.)
     
458. The New Avengers, vol. 4: The Collective by Brian Michael Bendis, Steve McNiven, & Mike Deodato Jr. (Library.)
     
459. Runaways, vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan, Adrian Alphona, & Takeshi Miyazawa.
     
460. Lost Girls by Alan Moore & Melinda Gebbie. Sometimes this worked for me, sometimes it didn't. If nothing else, it's interesting. But then Moore's writing always is.

As I am unlikely to finish any more books in the 6.5 hours until midnight, this concludes my listing for 2006. Join me next year, when I will update more frequently: at least once a week for books, and at least one more post a week for movies (until I get caught up on them; but since it's been something like a year & a half since I listed any movies, that should last a while).

Well.

Back in October I spent a week updating and getting caught up. And now, a month and a half later, I'm finally updating again. I'm going to try to get caught up before the end of the year. In 2007, I am going to try to update the book list at least once a week. Let's see if I can maintain the pace.

385. The System of the World by Neal Stephenson. When I finished this, the last of Stephenson's Baroque Cycle books, it took me a while to readjust to reading about something else. I had been immersed in 18th century intrigue, high-finance, and politics for so long that it felt like it should keep on going, even though I'd finished the book.
     
386. Ultimate Spider-Man, vol. 7 by Brian Michael Bendis & Mark Bagley.
     
387. Showcase Presents: Justice League of America, vol. 1 by Gardner Fox & Mike Sekowsky.
     
388. American Born Chinese by Gen Luen Yang. Before I read this, I had read a lot of very positive reviews of this book. They're all right. (Checked out of the library.)
     
389. The Pulse, vol. 3: Fear by Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos, & Olivier Caipel.
     
390. Thieves & Kings Presents: The Walking Mage by Mark Oakley.
     
391. A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 13: The End by Lemony Snicket. In some ways, this book is very disappointing, because it leaves so many unresolved questions. But one of the points of the book is that life doesn't tie up loose ends. Also, I think I will love this book forever because of one particular event that happens towards the end of the book. (Library.)
     
392. Desolation Jones, vol. 1: Made in England by Warren Ellis & J.H. Williams III. Ellis channels Raymond Chandler through a filter of post-modernism. Great stuff.
     
393. Runaways, vol. 6: Parental Guidance by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona.
     
394. A Distant Soil, Book 2: The Ascendant by Colleen Doran.
     
395. A Distant Soil, Book 3: The Aria by Colleen Doran.
     
396. The Little Man: Short Strips 1980-1995 by Chester Brown. (Library.)
     
397. Klezmer, Book 1: Tales of the Wild East by Joan Sfar. (Library.)
     
398. A Distant Soil, Book 4: Coda by Colleen Doran. I do hope there isn't as large a gap between this volume and book 5 as there was between book 3 and this volume (5 years).
     
399. Sight Unseen by Robert Tinnell & Bo Hampton. A pitch for a horror movie done up as a graphic novel. (Library.)
     
400. Charley's War: 2 June 1916-1 August 1916 by Pat Mills & Joe Colquhoun. Very well done & well researched stories about WWI. (Library.)
     
401. Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill by Michael Avon Oeming, Dan Berman, & Andrea DiVito. Eh. (Library.)
     
402. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. Short stories & poems by the always-excellent Gaiman.
     
403. Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham, et al.
     
404. Gotham Central, vol. 4: The Quick and the Dead by Greg Rucka, Michael Lark, and Stefano Gaudiano. Man, I wish this series about the police in Gotham City were still going. But I guess comics fans want superheroes more than they want good stories.
     
405. The Rann-Thanagar War by Dave Gibbons & Ivan Reis. There was too much going on in this comic. A lot of stuff happened "off-screen", and it feels like it was written that way because there was too much happening (in this editorially-mandated mini-series) to fit it all on the alloted pages. So the readers were told a lot of things rather than shown them. (Library.)
     
406. Scrum Bums by Darby Conley. More great "Get Fuzzy" comic strips.
     
407. Captain America: Winter Solider, vol. 1 by Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, & Michael Lark.
     
408. Captain America: Winter Soldier, vol. 2 by Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, & Michael Lark. I never would have guessed that I would enjoy a comic that resurrected one of the two people in the Marvel Universe that everybody assumed would never come back from the dead. But I did.
     
409. Death Note, vol. 8: Target by Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata.
     
410. Scrublands by Joe Daly. (Library.)
     
411. Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett. I am constantly amazed that Pratchett has not run out of things to say with his Discworld books.
     
412. A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick, adapted by Richard Linklater.
     
413. Essential Moon Knight, vol. 1 by Dough Moench, Bill Sienkiewicz, et al. These comics from the 70's hold up remarkably well. Solid superheroics.
     
414. Inverloch, vol. 1 by Sarah Ellerton. (Library.)
     
415. Dragon Head, vol. 2 by Minetaro Mochizuki. (Library.)
     
416. Luba: The Book of Ofelia by Gilbert Hernandez. The short stories here started to feel repetitive after a while. I think I like Beto's work better when he does longer stories.
     
417. Available Light by Warren Ellis. In this book, Ellis wrote short stories & essays to go with photos he took with his phone, with some interesting results.
     
418. Y: The Last Man, vol. 8: Kimono Dragons by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra, & Goran Sudzuka.
     
419. Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 10 by Hiromu Arakawa.
     
420. Spider Man: The Other: Evolve or Die by various. Another example of editorially-mandated comics selling well but not being very good. (Library.)
     
421. Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip, Book One. As a kid, I enjoyed Jansson's Moomintroll books, but I never knew that she had created a comic strip featuring the same characters. Fortunately, these charming strips are now being collected. I'm looking forward to future volumes.
     
422. Outlaw Nation by Jamie Delano, Goran Sudzuka, & Goran Parlov. I'm afraid I never bought any issues of the comic that is collected here, and I therefore contributed to its early demise, but I did enjoy reading this book.
     
423. Polly & The Pirates, vol. 1 by Ted Naifeh. There's something about Naifeh's other work that puts me off, but I enjoyed this a lot and hope he does more volumes. (Library.)
     
424. Can't Get No by Rick Veitch. I like a lot of Veitch's stories, but this didn't work for me. I think that's because it's closer to his dream comics than a more straight-forward narrative. (Library.)
     
425. The Sandman Papers edited by Joe Sanders. Academic papers about The Sandman. As with other academic books about pop-culture I have read, this was a mixed bag. For me, the low point was this quote: "As Moonwomon-Baird has said, 'I have come to think that language use among lesbians, at least across ethnicities and social classes of English-speaking American lesbians, is peculiarly lesbian in that interlocutors assume shared knowledge about many extradiscoursal matters touching on both gender and social-sexual orientation'." In other words: people from a particular sub-culture have experiences & knowledge in common, and they assume this when they talk. Wow! What insight!
     
426. Dragon Head, vol. 3 by Minetaro Mochizuki. (Library.)
     
427. Maison Ikkoku, vol. 12 by Rumiko Takahashi.
     
428. Maison Ikkoku, vol. 13 by Rumiko Takahashi.

I'm not caught up yet, but this did get me into December. More later.

Which Historical Lunatic Are You?
From the fecund loins of Rum and Monkey.

It's been nearly a year since I did a mix CD, but here's my latest effort:

Red vs. Blue: The W Years

1. Mr Helpmann from the Brazil soundtrack
   
2. Beth Watson - Waiting at the Border from Tom's Album
   
3. America, F**K Yeah from the Team America: World Police soundtrack
   
4. Blame Canada from the South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut soundtrack
   
5. Tom Lehrer - Send the Marines from That Was the Year that Was
   
6. Randy Newman - Political Science from Sail Away
   
7. David Bowie - 1984 from Diamond Dogs
   
8. Eurythmics - Doubleplusgood from 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother)
   
9. The Beatles - Piggies from The Beatles (The White Album)
   
10. R.E.M. - Exhuming McCarthy from Document
    
11. Devo - Freedom of Choice from Devo: Greatest Hits
    
12. The Clash - Know Your Rights from Combat Rock
    
13. Austin Lounge Lizards - Jesus Loves Me (But He Can't Stand You) from Lizard Vision
    
14. James Taylor - How Great Our Lord from Randy Newman's Faust
    
15. Richard Thompson - Outside of the Inside from Old Kit Bag
    
16. T-Bone Burnett - Fear Country from The True False Identity
    
17. Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint - Broken Promise Land from The River in Reverse
    
18. Leonard Cohen - Everybody Knows from Leonard Cohen Live
    
19. Dixie Chicks - Not Ready to Make Nice from Taking the Long Way
    
20. Pavement - No More Kings from Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks

This may be bitter, but it's been building for several years. The elections last month may be a sign things are turning around, but the cynic in me suspects the Democrats will screw it up & squander their chance to hold the thugs to account.

So I have a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and the guide book is on its way.

Unfortunately, I do not have a Wii on which to play the game. And I would guess that my first chance to get ahold of one won't be for another couple of weeks. But after Christmas seems much more likely.

In the meantime, I'm re-playing Ocarina of Time to assuage my Zelda cravings.

It may be a bit late, but here is a reminder:

VOTE!

If we can oust the Republicans from control of Congress, and if by some miracle the Democrats grow a spine, maybe we can remind Bush that the Constitution, not his whim, is the supreme law of this land.

The best license plate ever.

Doing my bit to help restore the America I believe in:

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl

--AZ-01: Rick Renzi

--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth

--CA-04: John Doolittle

--CA-11: Richard Pombo

--CA-50: Brian Bilbray

--CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave

--CO-05: Doug Lamborn

--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell

--CT-04: Christopher Shays

--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan

--FL-16: Joe Negron

--FL-22: Clay Shaw

--ID-01: Bill Sali

--IL-06: Peter Roskam

--IL-10: Mark Kirk

--IL-14: Dennis Hastert

--IN-02: Chris Chocola

--IN-08: John Hostettler

--IA-01: Mike Whalen

--KS-02: Jim Ryun

--KY-03: Anne Northup

--KY-04: Geoff Davis

--MD-Sen: Michael Steele

--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht

--MN-06: Michele Bachmann

--MO-Sen: Jim Talent

--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns

--NV-03: Jon Porter

--NH-02: Charlie Bass

--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson

--NM-01: Heather Wilson

--NY-03: Peter King

--NY-20: John Sweeney

--NY-26: Tom Reynolds

--NY-29: Randy Kuhl

--NC-08: Robin Hayes

--NC-11: Charles Taylor

--OH-01: Steve Chabot

--OH-02: Jean Schmidt

--OH-15: Deborah Pryce

--OH-18: Joy Padgett

--PA-04: Melissa Hart

--PA-07: Curt Weldon

--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick

--PA-10: Don Sherwood

--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee

--TN-Sen: Bob Corker

--VA-Sen: George Allen

--VA-10: Frank Wolf

--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick

--WA-08: Dave Reichert

Vote, just not for these people. Follow the links to see why.

Happy birthday to me. I turn 39 today.

What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?

You will be smothered under a rug. You're a little anti-social, and may want to start gaining new social skills by making prank phone calls.
Take this quiz!








Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

This entry should get me all caught up.

369. Fantastic Four: Books of Doom by Ed Brubaker and Pablo Raimondi. (Checked out of the library.)
     
370. Emma Frost, vol. 1: Higher Learning by Karl Bollers and Randy Green. (Library.)
     
371. Superman: For Tomorrow, vol. 2 by Brian Azzarello and Jim Lee. Azzarello's writing style is simply not suited to Superman. And I have to say that Lee's artwork doesn't grab me. It never has; and I just don't understand the affection a lot of people seem to have for it. (Library.)
     
372. Iron Empires, vol. 2: Sheva's War by Christopher Moeller. Apparently the Multnomah County library system only has one copy of the first volume of this series, and that is listed as missing. So I had to start with volume two. I quite liked this science fiction story that uses the same setting as the Burning Empires role playing game. (Library.)
     
373. Dragon Head, vol. 1 by Minetaro Mochizuki. Online controversy about this manga series (the publisher had decided to stop supplying it to stores and to only sell it directly; the online ruckus caused them to change their minds) got me to check this out. It's good, and I think I'll be picking up further volumes. (Library.)
     
374. The Avengers: Kang - Time and Time Again by various. (Library.)
     
375. Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan and niko Henrichon. This is very good. The only problem I have with it is the same one that all the reviews I've read have mentioned: we have difficulty with the idea that lions rape.
     
376. Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man by Peter David, Mike Wieringo, and Roger Cruz. It's nice to see David back on Spider-Man. Now if only there would be a moritorium on editorially-mandated cross-overs and arbitrary changes. (Everybody knows the costume change will be undone by the time the third movie is released.)
     
377. The Beatrice Letters by Lemony Snicket. I'm really looking forward to The End, and this book provides some tantalizing hints about the mysteries of the Series of Unfortunate Events.
     
378. Free Comic Book Day Tokyopop Sneaks by various.
     
379. Fallen Angel, vol. 1: To Serve in Heaven by Peter David and J.K. Woodward.
     
380. The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Companion by Don Rosa.
     
381. Neil Gaiman by Steven P. Olson. This book is part of "The Library of Graphic Novelists." It looked interesting, but it was too expensive, so I didn't buy it. Then my local comic book store had a big sale, so I picked up a copy. I'm glad I didn't pay full price for this. It's okay, but it's clearly written for an audience of teenagers. This is intended for high school (or junior high) libraries. I'm really glad I didn't pick up any of the other books in the series.
     
382. A Distant Soil, vol. 1: The Gathering by Colleen Doran. Volume four of this series came out several months back. However, since it has been several years since volume three was published, I decided to reread the previous volumes before tackling the new one. It's taken me this long to get around to starting that project. Doran is a fantastic artist, and has great storytelling skills. And she draws lots of pretty, pretty people.
     
383. Essential X-Factor, vol. 1 by various. This started out as an example of editorially-mandated comics. Somebody wanted the original X-Men back together, even though one of them was dead. And we got a mediocre comic book with a stupid premise (if anti-mutant hysteria is on the rise, what would possess a group of mutants to think it would be good idea to pose as high-profile mutant hunters?). But once Louise Simonson took over the writing (especially once her husband Walt took over on the art), the comic got much better.
     
384. Spike vs. Dracula by Peter David, Joe Corroney, and Zach Howard. The story of why Spike hates Dracula.

There. Caught up. Five months of books listed in a week.

I won't have a chance to update this evening, since I will be attending the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, but if things go as planned, I should get caught up on my book list on Saturday morning.

I'm on a roll.

351. H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds adapted by Ian Edginton and D'Israeli. (Checked out of the library.)
     
352. Sloth by Gilbert Hernandez. Hernandez's work doesn't grab me as it once did. (I think his best work may be Blood of Palomar.) But he's still damn good.
     
353. Strange Killings: Necromancer by Warren Ellis & Mike Wolfer. Zombies.
     
354. Hellspawn: The Ashley Wood Collection by Brian Michael Bendis, Steve Niles, and Ashley Wood. There's some beautiful art here, but the storytelling is terrible. Don't draw or paint comics if you can't show the reader what's going on. (Library.)
     
355. Omega the Unknown Classic by Steve Gerber, Mary Skrenes, Jim Mooney, et al. It's amazing how wordy Gerber could be, especially considering that the title character doesn't speak in most of the comics collected here.
     
356. A Man without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. It's been years since I read any Vonnegut. I'd forgotten how good he is. (Library.)
     
357. Doom Patrol, vol. 4: Musclebound by Grant Morrison, Richard Case, et al. I say this every time, but I am so, so happy that these comics are being collected. I just hope the Flex Mentallo mini-series gets its own book or at least shows up in a future Doom Patrol volume.
     
358. Playback: A Graphic Novel by Raymond Chandler, adapted by Ted Benoit and Francois Ayroles. (Library.)
     
359. Batman: Face the Face by James Robinson, Don Kramer, and Leonard Kirk. Robinson's return to comics doesn't rank with his best work, but it's still pretty good.
     
360. Platinum Grit, Book One by Trudy Cooper, Danny Murphy, and Doug Bayne. Odd stuff.
     
361. Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 9 by Hiromu Arakawa. It wasn't until I read this & the previous volume that I realized that the anime series diverged from its source material. Still enjoying this, especially now that I don't know what's coming next.
     
362. Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne, vol. 3.
     
363. Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne, vol. 4. Based on his more recent work, I had forgotten how good Byrne used to be. These are really solid, entertaining superhero comics.
     
364. Dzur by Steven Brust. I hope there's not as large a gap between this & the next Taltos book as there was between this and the previous one. (Borrowed from Teena.)
     
365. Bleach, vol. 15: Beginning of the Death of Tomorrow by Tite Kubo. The Bleach anime series recently began airing on Adult Swim. While we were watching it, Teena asked if there was any explanation why the title was "Bleach." I had to tell her that after 15 volumes of the manga, I still had no idea.
     
366. Zombie Powder, vol. 1: The Man with the Black Hand by Tite Kubo.
     
367. Fantastic Four: The Life Fantastic by J. Michael Straczynski, Mike McKone, et al.
     
368. The Gremlins by Roald Dahl. Apparently this is Dahl's first book, and it's been out of print since WWII. I'm glad it's available again, but I have to say that Dahl got much better.

And the streak continues.

331. Dramacon, vol. 1 by Svetlana Chmakova. (Checked out of the library.)
     
332. Kingdom Hearts, vol. 1 by Shiro Amano. (Library.)
     
333. Toxin: The Devil You Know by Peter Milligan and Darick Robertson. I like a lot of Milligan's work, but his superhero work (other than X-Force/X-Statix) simply isn't all that good. (Library.)
     
334. Walt Kelly's Our Gang by Walt Kelly. (Library.)
     
335. Girl Genius, vol. 5: Agatha Heterodyne and the Clockwork Princess by Phil and Kaja Foglio. If you like mad science or steampunk stories, I cannot recommend this series highly enough. The Foglios have created an amazingly though-out world.
     
336. X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl by Peter Milligan, Nick Dragotta, and Mike Allred. Speaking of good superhero work from Milligan, here's an example.
     
337. The Legend of GrimJack, vol. 5 by John Ostrander, Tom Sutton, et al. There was a huge delay in the publication of this volume. I fervently hope more volumes are coming. This series deserves to be widely known.
     
338. Marvel Monsters by various.
     
339. La Perdida by Jessica Abel. I wish I knew what to say about this other than that I quite enjoyed it. (Library.)
     
340. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel. An extremely well-crafted autobiographical tale of Bechdel's relationship with her father. (Library.)
     
341. Lost at Sea by Bryan Lee O'Malley. (Borrowed from Alex.)
     
342. X-Men/Black Panther: Wild Kingdom by Peter Milligan, Reginald Hudlin, et al. eh. (Library.)
     
343. Invincible, vol. 6: A Different World by Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley. (Library.)
     
344. Wolverine/Punisher by Peter Milligan & Lee Weeks. (Library.)
     
345. Death Note, vol. 7: Zero by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. I continue to enjoy this horror series, and this volume contained some twists I was not expecting.
     
346. Batman and the Monster Men by Matt Wagner. This is a retelling of one of the earliest Batman stories, and I have to say I enjoyed this version quite a bit more than the original.
     
347. X-Men: Deadly Genesis by Ed Brubaker and Trevor Hairsine, with Pete Woods. (Library.)
     
348. The Book of Lost Souls, vol. 1: Introductions All Around by J. Michael Straczynski and Colleen Doran.
     
349. Maison Ikkoku, vol. 11 by Rumiko Takahashi.
     
350. Skrull Kill Krew by Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, and Steve Yeowell. Not Morrison's best work, but okay in a mindless, violent way.

Less than a month behind now. At this rate, I may just actually get caught up by the end of the week.

I'm not sure I've ever posted on three consecutive days before, but I want to get caught up, and I'm still listing books I read in July.

306. Marvel Team-Up, vol. 2: Master of the Ring by Robert Kirkman, Scott Kolins, and Paco Medina. (Checked out of the library.)
     
307. Marvel Team-Up, vol. 3: League of Losers by Robert Kirkman and Paco Medina, with Cory Walker. (Library.)
     
308. Stagger Lee by Derek McCulloch & Shepherd Hendrix. I was very impressed with this examination of the history of the song(s) mixed with a story about the real people who inspired that song. (Library.)
     
309. I Luv Halloween, vol. 2 by Keith Giffen & Benjamin Roman. (Library.)
     
310. Pantheon: The Complete Script Book by Bill Willingham. I had never heard of the comic series, but I'm glad this script book exists, because it's quite good. I hope at some point there's a collection of the comics, because I'd like to see the art.
     
311. The Batman Chronicles, vol. 1 by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Gardner Fox. The very first Batman stories were something. Exactly what, I'm not sure.
     
312. Fullmetal Alchemist Profiles by Hiromu Arakawa. (Library.)
     
313. PS238, vol. 3: No Child Left Behind by Aaron Williams. More adventures of the students of the world's first grade school for superhumans. (Borrowed from Teena.)
     
314. Concrete, vol. 6: Strange Armor by Paul Chadwick.
     
315. Finder, vol. 8: Five Crazy Women by Carla Speed McNeil. The latest volume in McNeil's wonderful series of "aboriginal science fiction."
     
316. Decimation: Generation M by Paul Jenkins and Roman Bachs. (Library.)
     
317. The Originals by Dave Gibbons. This is fairly close to being "Quadrophenia : the Comic Book" but with science fiction trappings. Not that I mind. I'm just not sure why Gibbons chose to do this as SF rather than as a period piece.
     
318. The Reaper of Love and Other Stories by Berni Wrightson. Various early stories by Wrightson.
     
319. Star Wars: Clone Wars, vol. 9: Endgame by various. More John Ostrander stories are collected here.
     
320. Bizenghast, vol. 1 by M. Alice LeGrow. An interesting concept (if a bit goth-y for my tastes), but at times the storytelling is a little muddled. (Library.)
     
321. The Confusion by Neal Stephenson. This is the second volume of Stephenson's Baroque Cycle. I had intended to go straight into this book after I finished the first volume. But these books are quite long and pretty densely written. It ended up being more than a year between the two. However, I intend to start the third book next week.
     
322. Showcase Presents: Metamorpho by Bob Haney, Ramona Fradon, Sal Trapani, et al. I have no idea what (if anything) Haney was on, but he wrote some weird stories.
     
323. Halsted Street: Torment and Drama from the Hog Butcher by Skip Williamson.
     
324. The Incredible Hulk: Tempest Fugit by Peter David and Lee Weeks. I wish David's return to the Hulk had sold better.
     
325. Jim Henson's Return to Labyrinth, vol. 1 by Jake Forbes & Chris Lie. I quite enjoyed this sequel to Labyrinth, but I with the art were a little more polished.
     
326. Bleach, vol. 14: White Tower Rocks by Tite Kubo.
     
327. Concrete, vol. 7: The Human Dilemma by Paul Chadwick. This story contains what may turn out to be Concrete's "jump the shark" moment. We'll see when (if?) Chadwick produces any more stories with these characters.
     
328. Enemy Ace: War in Heaven by Garth Ennis, Chris Weston, and Russ Heath.
     
329. Black Hole by Charles Burns. Wonderfully creepy.
     
330. The New Avengers, vol. 1: Breakout by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch

(By the way, this blog had its third anniversary last week.)

Still working on catching up.

275. Maison Ikkoku, vol. 8 by Rumiko Takahashi.
     
276. Maison Ikkoku, vol. 9 by Rumiko Takahashi.
     
277. Read or Die, vol. 2 by Hideyaki Kurata and Shutaro Yamada. (Checked out of the library.)
     
278. Sexy Voice and Robo by Iou Kuroda. (Library.)
     
279. Batman: Thrillkiller by Howard Chaykin and Dan Brereton. (Library.)
     
280. Firebreather by Phil Hester and Andy Kuhn. (Library.)
     
281. B.P.R.D., vol. 5: The Black Flame by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, and Guy Davis. While I do miss Hellboy and Mignola's artwork, the other B.P.R.D. characters are more than capable of supporting their own stories. And I'm always happy to see that Guy Davis is working; his artwork is among my favorites.
     
282. Death Note, vol. 6: Give-and-Take by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata.
     
283. Fables, vol. 7: Arabian Nights (and Days) by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, and Jim Fern.
     
284. Maison Ikkoku, vol. 10 by Rumiko Takahashi.
     
285. Down by Warren Ellis, Cully Hamner, et al. Somewhere I saw this described "Grand Theft Auto the comic book," and I can't disagree with that assessment.
     
286. Star Trek: The Trial of James T. Kirk by Peter David, James Fry, and Gordon Purcell.
     
287. Grease Monkey by Tim Eldred. Very cool science fiction story. (Library.)
     
288. Narbonic, vol. 3 by Shaenon K. Garrity. Mad science comic strips. And gerbils!
     
289. Last Fantasy, v.1 by "Creative Hon" and Yong-wan Kwan. When I saw this solicited in Previews, I nearly ordered it, because it was billed as a parody of Final Fantasy. I'm really glad I didn't. The attempts at humor fall extremely flat, and the characters are completely unsympathetic. (Library.)
     
290. Fantastic Four by J. Michael Straczynski and Mike McKone. The thing that most stood out to me about this collection is that one of the supporting characters clearly had his appearance modelled on Paul Giamatti.
     
291. I Luv Halloween by Keith Giffen & Benjamin Roman. (Library.)
     
292. Scott Pilgrim, vol. 3: Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness by Bryan Lee O'Malley. More kick-ass, game-logic filled, relationship comics.
     
293. Common Grounds by Troy Hickman, et al. (Library.)
     
294. Challengers of the Unknown: Stolen Moments, Borrowed Time by Howard Chaykin. I'm torn about Chaykin. I love his artwork, but his writing seems to be doing less & less for me.
     
295. Daredevil, vol. 5 by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev.
     
296. X-Men Vignettes, vol. 2 by Chris Claremont, John Bolton, et al. I don't know what to complain about more: the fact that the credits do not tell which stories in this collection were written by Claremont & which were written by others, or the fact that the stories are all full of Claremont's writing tics (including the introduction of a whole new world that looks interesting but is never mentioned outside of this one story). I should know better by now. In my defense: it was on sale, and Bolton's artwork is gorgeous.
     
297. Negima!, vol. 10 by Ken Akamatsu. (Library.)
     
298. The Maxx, vol. 6 by Sam Kieth. The stories in this finall Maxx collection are fairly hard to take, because they complete abandon the superhero trappings and are straight-forward stories about ordinary people and all the emotional baggage that entails.
     
299. 1000 Steps to World Domination by Rob Osborne. (Library.)
     
300. Shaun of the Dead by Chris Ryall and Zach Howard. The DVD of the movie costs less than this adaptation. What's the point? (Library.)
     
301. Nexus: Alien Justice by Mike Baron and Steve Rude. Man, do I wish more of Baron & Rude's Nexus were available in affordable collections. I applaud Dark Horse's archive editions, but not everybody can afford $50 a volume, particularly when that volume only contains six issues of a comic.
     
302. Disney Presents Carl Barks' Greatest Duck Tales Stories, vol. 2 by Carl Barks. Unfortunately, this appears to be the end of this series. Too bad the Duck Tales cartoon didn't adapt more of Barks' stories.
     
303. Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 8 by Hiromu Arakawa.
     
304. The Nodwick Chronicles V: Tour of Doodie by Aaron Williams.
     
305. Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires by Richard Sala.

Yes, it's been 2 months since I updated. No excuses; but I will mention that Teena & I did get married during that gap (although if you're reading this, you probably already know that.)

Anyway, I'm now 4 months behind in listing books, so comments will be few.

209. Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 7 by Hiromu Arakawa.
     
210. The Punisher Max, vol. 2 by Garth Ennis, Dougie Braithwaite, & Leandro Fernandez. (Checked out of the library.)
     
211. The Fate of the Artist by Eddie Campbell. Excellent stuff.
     
212. Birds of Prey: Between Darkness & Dawn by Gail Simone, et al. (Library.)
     
213. Start Wars: Honor & Duty by John Ostrander, C.P. Smith, & Luke Ross.
     
214. The X-Files, vol. 3 by various.
     
215. The Moth by Gary Martin & Steve Rude. Gorgeous artwork; so-so story.
     
216. True Porn 2 by various. This is a collection of (semi-?)autobiographical comics stories about sex. Despite the title, I wouldn't actually call these stories "porn", or even "erotica".
     
217. John Constantine, Hellblazer: All His Engines by Mike Carey & Leonardo Manco. (Library.)
     
218. Walking Dead, vol. 4: The Heart's Desire by Robert Kirkman & Charlie Adlard. (Library.)
     
219. Trailers by Mark Kneece & Julie Collins-Rousseau. (Library.)
     
220. X-Men: The Complete Age of Apocalypse Epic, Book 1 by various. This is a terrific example of mainstream comics from the 90's: awful artwork, unclear story-telling, and the assumption that all the readers would be intimately familiar with all the characters. Stay away from this. (Library.)
     
221. Tuxedo Gin, vol. 10 by Tokihiko Matuura. (Library.)
     
222. X-Men: The Complete Age of Apocalypse, Book 2 by various. I hated the first volume in this series, and yet, I voluntarily read the second. I don't know what's the matter with me. (Library.)
     
223. Disney Presents Carl Barks' Greatest Duck Tales Stories, vol. 1 by Carl Barks. For a long time, I felt that a series of affordable reprints of Barks' duck stories would be a fantastic idea. Here's a start.
     
224. Tuxedo Gin, vol. 11 by Tokihiko Matsuura. (Library.)
     
225. Invasion of the Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel. (Library.)
     
226. Tuxedo Gin, vol. 12 by Tokihiko Matsuura. (Library.)
     
227. Lucky Lulu, vol. 9: Lucky Lulu by John Stanley & Irving Tripp. (Library.)
     
228. Ju-On 2 by Takahashi Shimizu & Meimu.
     
229. The Goon, vol. 4: Virtue and the Grim Consequences thereof by Eric Powell. (Library.)
     
230. Concrete, vol. 5: Think Like a Mountain by Paul Chadwick.
     
231. Action Philosophers! Giant Size Thing, vol. 1 by Fred Van Lente & Ryan Dunlavey. This book is in the tradition of Larry Gonick's work in that it presents what could be dry information in a humorous way. Lots of fun.
     
232. Tuxedo Gin, vol. 13 by Tokihiko Matsuura. (Library.)
     
233. You Deserved It by Bob Fingerman. (Library.)
     
234. Vampire Loves by Joann Sfar. (Library.)
     
235. Tuxedo Gin, vol. 14 by Tokihiko Matsuura. (Library.)
     
236. Godland, vol. 1: Hello, Cosmic! by Joe Casey & Tom Scioli. (Library.)
     
237. Wonder Woman: Land of the Dead by Greg Rucka, et al.
     
238. Jingle Belle by Paul Dini & Jose Garibaldi. (Library.)
     
239. Tuxedo Gin, vol. 15 by Tokihiko Matsuura. This is the final volume of this series. (Library.)
     
240. A.L.I.E.E.E.N.: Archives of Lost Issues and Earthly Editions of Extraterrestrial Novelties by Lewis Trondheim. (Library.)
     
241. The Authority: Revolution, Book 2 by Ed Brubaker & Dustin Nguyen. (Library.)
     
242. Ice Haven by Daniel Clowes. (Library.)
     
243. The Books of Magic, book 7: Death After Death by John Ney Rieber, Peter Gross, et al.
     
244. Castle Waiting by Linda Medley. This was one of my favorite series, when it was first published, so I was very happy when I learned that it would be collected. And I was even happier to learn that Medley would be continuing the adventures of the inhabitants of Castle Waiting. And apparently, this book sold very well; which bodes well for the continuation of this series.
     
245. Wonder Woman, vol. 3: Beauty and the Beasts by George Perez, et al.
     
246. The New Avengers, vol. 3: Secrets & Lies by Brian Michael Bendis, David Finch, & Frank Cho. (Library.)
     
247. Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story by Michael Malice, Harvey Pekar, & Gary Drumm. As I read this, I was struck by how competitive Malice is: He puts everything in terms of winning and losing, of scoring points against people. Also, he will carry a grudge for a long, long time. Several times he mentions slights that he has not forgiven, even when the people who slighted him are his parents. I wonder if he'd be happier if he realized that life doesn't have to be a zero-sum game.
     
248. Caricature by Daniel Clowes. (Library.)
     
249. The Rabbi's Cat by Joann Sfar. This is a remarkable work about faith, heritage, and the interaction of cultures. Highly recommended. (Library.)
     
250. X-Men: The Complete Age of Apocalypse Epic, Book 3 by various. The only excuse I can offer for continuing to read this garbage is that some of the comics collected in it were written by Warren Ellis. (Library.)
     
251. The Abandoned by Ross Campbell. I'm not sure why, but I found this grim, even for a zombie story. (Library.)
     
252. Dragon Ball Z, vol. 26 by Akira Toriyama. This is the final volume in this series.
     
253. Spooked by Antony Johnston & Ross Campbell.
     
254. Batman: Gotham Adventures by Ty Templeton & Rick Burchett.
     
255. JLA Classified: New Maps of Hell by Warren Ellis & Jackson Guice.
     
256. Tom Strong, book 5 by various.
     
257. The Cartoon History of the Universe III: From the Rise of Arabia to the Renaissance by Larry Gonick. I mentioned Gonick above. He does a fantastic job of making history interesting & understandable.
     
258. Batman: Under the Hood, vol. 2 by Judd Winick, Doug Mahnke, Shane Davis, & Eric Battle.
     
259. House of M: Incredible Hulk by Peter David & Jorge Lucas.
     
260. Ultimate Galactus, book 2: Secret by Warren Ellis, Steve McNiven, & Tom Raney.
     
261. DMZ, vol. 1: On the Ground by Brian Wood & Riccardo Burchielli.
     
262. The Amazing Spider-Man, vol. 9: Skin Deep by J. Michael Straczynski, Mike Deodato, Jr., and Mark Brooks. (Library.)
     
263. The Jew of New York by Ben Katchor. (Library.)
     
264. The Amazing Spider-Man, vol. 10: New Avengers by J. Michael Straczynski & Mike Deodato, Jr. (Library.)
     
265. Teen Titans/Outsiders: The Death & Return of Donna Troy by Judd Winick, Phil Jimenez, et al. This may be one of the best examples of why comics characters should be allowed to die and why continuity can be a bad thing. (Library.)
     
266. Coffee & Donuts by Max Estes. (Library.)
     
267. Hello, Again by Max Estes. (Library.)
     
268. Dungeon: Twilight, vol. 1: Dragon Cemetery by Joann Sfar & Lewis Trondheim. (Library.)
     
269. The Bakers: Do These Toys Belong Somewhere? by Kyle Baker.
     
270. X-Men: Golgotha by Peter Milligan & Salvador Larroca.
     
271. Plastic Man, vol. 2: Rubber Bandits by Kyle Baker.
     
272. Young Avengers, vol. 1: Sidekicks by Allan Heinberg & Jim Cheung. Really solid, fun superheroics.
     
273. Bleach, vol. 12: Flower on a Precipice by Tite Kubo.
     
274. Bleach, vol. 13: The Undead by Tite Kubo.

Okay, that's enough for now. I'm not even close to being caught up yet, but I hope to get there before going to Hawaii next week.

Another personality test stolen from Kat:

You Are: 50% Dog, 50% Cat

You are a nice blend of cat and dog. You're playful but not too needy. And you're friendly but careful. And while you have your moody moments, you're too happy to stay upset for long.

Are You More Cat or Dog?

Stolen from Kat:

You Are A Walnut Tree

You are strange and full of contrasts... the oddball of your group. You are unrelenting and you have unlimited ambition. Not always liked but always admired, you are more infamous than famous. You are aggressive and spontaneous, and your reactions are often unexpected. A jealous and passionate person, you are difficult in romantic relationships.

What's Your Celtic Horoscope?

Wow. Not even close.

Less than 2 weeks between updates!

171. Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back by Nora Vincent. The author disguised herself as a man for something like a year. I think she might have had more insights into gender if she didn't buy into stereotypes about men & women so much. (Checked out of the library.)
     
172. Ultimate Iron Man, vol. 1 by Orson Scott Card & Andy Kubert. (Library.)
     
173. Queen & Country Declassified, vol. 2 by Greg Rucka & Rick Burchett.
     
174. Robin: To Kill a Bird by Bill Willingham, Damion Scott, et al.
     
175. Michael Chabon Presents the Amazing Adventures of the Escapist, vol. 3 by various. These anthologies hold less & less interest for me as the series goes along. Not even Will Eisner's story was very good.
     
176. Death Note, vol. 5: Whiteout by Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata. More twists & turns in this story of a high-schooler who gains the ability to kill anybody whose name & face he knows.
     
177. Sandman Mystery Theatre, vol. 4: The Scorpion by Matt Wagner, Steven T. Seagle, & Guy Davis. I am so happy that this series is finally being collected. I love Davis's artwork, and the stories are great too.
     
178. Hulk Visionaries: Peter David, vol. 3 by Peter David, Jeff Purves, et al. Another series I'm happy to see collected. David's run on the Hulk may well be the best take on the character.
     
179. The Order of the Stick, vol. 0: On the Origin of PCs by Rich Burlew. After introducing Teena to these comics about a party of adventurers, I decided to reread this book. Funny stuff. (Library.)
     
180. Birds of Prey: Of Like Minds by Gail Simone & Ed Benes. (Library.)
     
181. Justice League Unlimited, vol. 1: United They Stand by Adam Beechen, et al.
     
182. War Stories, vol. 2 by Garth Ennis et al. Ennis's serious, non-fantastic stories all have a certain feel. He uses several stock character-types an awful lot. But they're still damn good stories. (Library.)
     
183. Invincible, vol. 5: The Facts of Life by Robert Kirkman & Ryan Ottley. (Library.)
     
184. Zombieworld: Winter's Dregs and Other Stories by various. (Library.)
     
185. Max Hamm: Fairy Tale Detective by Frank Cammuso. (Library.)
     
186. Birds of Prey: Sensei & Student by Gail Simone, et al. (Library.)
     
187. City of Tomorrow by Howard Chaykin. Chaykin is another creator who uses a stock of certain character types over & over. But boy-o-boy, can the man draw! (Library.)
     
188. Astonishing X-Men, vol. 1 by Joss Whedon & John Cassaday. Perhaps not as good as Whedon's TV work, but still pretty good.
     
189. Northwest Passage, vol. 2 by Scott Chantler.
     
190. Gotham Central, vol. 3: Unresolved Targets by Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, & Michael Lark. Another story about the cops who work in Batman's town. It's too bad the comics market doesn't support more books like this. But I guess comics fans aren't interested unless the people in spandex have the spotlight.
     
191. Shaman King, vol. 9 by Hiroyuki Takei.
     
192. Bambi & Her Pink Gun, vol. 2 by Atsushi Kaneko. More over-the-top violence. (Library.)
     
193. Negima! vol. 8 by Ken Akamatsu. (Library.)
     
194. The New Avengers, vol. 2: Sentry by Brian Michael Bendis & Steve McNiven. (Library.)
     
195. Negima! vol. 9 by Ken Akamatsu. (Library.)
     
196. Mary Jane, vol. 1: Circle of Friends by Sean McKeever & Takeshi Miyazawa. (Library.)
     
197. Dr. Slump, vol. 5 by Akira Toriyama. (Library.)
     
198. Green Arrow, vol. 6: Moving Targets by Judd Winick & Phil Hester. (Library.)
     
199. The Goon, vol. 2: My Murderous Childhood (And Other Grievous Yarns) by Eric Powell. Goofy, fun stories about a thug who rules a city's underworld through threats & intimidation. (Library.)
     
200. Mary Jane, vol. 2: Homecoming Sean McKeever & Takeshi Miyazawa. (Library.)
     
201. Star Wars: Clone Wars, vol. 2: Victories & Sacrifices by various. I finally found a used copy of this selling cheap enough that I'd be willing to pay that price to have the issue or two written by John Ostrander that are collected in this book.
     
202. Queen & Country Declassified, vol. 3: Sons & Daughters by Antony Johnston & Christopher Mitten.
     
203. Y: The Last Man, vol. 7: Paper Dolls by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra.
     
204. Tuxedo Gin, vol. 9 by Tokihiko Matsuura. (Library.)
     
205. The Punisher MAX, vol. 1 by Garth Ennis, Lewis Larosa, & Leandro Fernandez. I liked Ennis's take on the Punisher better when he didn't take the character entirely seriously. (Library.)
     
206. What's Michael? vol. 11: Planet of the Cats by Makoto Kobayashi. Goofy cat comics from Japan.
     
207. JLA: Crisis of Conscience by Geoff Johns, Allan Heinberg, & Chris Batista. Yet another attempt to make superhero comics serious & grown-up that just makes them seem grim & humorless. (Library.)
     
208. The Goon, vol. 3: Heaps of Ruination by Eric Powell. Silly absurd stuff, much more to my taste. Plus, there's a guest appearance by Hellboy! (Library.)

Quiz time!

What Teen Angst Novel are You? - funny, lots of results, with pix, from the author of The Boyfriend List

KISSING VANESSA, by Simon Cheshire.Wicked funny and heartfelt. Sweet and delightful. Go read it. It's you.
Take this quiz!








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I've never even heard of this book.

Damn. The last time I updated, I was nearly caught up. Then I procrastinated for almost 4 months, and now I'm something like 150 books behind. Well, the list won't update itself. There won't be much discussion, simply because if I try to say something about even half of the books I've read since March, it'll seem too much like work, and I'll fall even further behind.

109. Wrong About Japan: A Father's Journey with His Son by Peter Carey. (Checked out of the library.)
     
110. Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde, vol. 4: The Devoted Friend and The Nightingale & the Rose, adapted by P. Craig Russell.
     
111. Runaways, vol. 1 by Bryan K. Vaughan & Adrian Alphona, with Takeshi Miyazawa. Oversized reprint of the entire first Runaways series, with extras and much nicer paper than the digest-sized volumes I'd read before.
     
112. Miyuki-Chan in Wonderland by CLAMP. (Library.)
     
113. Robin/Batgirl: Fresh Blood by Bill Willingham, Andersen Gabrich, et al. (Library.)
     
114. Captain America: Bicentennial Battles by Jack Kirby. (Library.)
     
115. The Flash: Ignition by Geoff Johns & Alberto Dose. (Library.)
     
116. Runaways, vol. 4: True Believers by Brian K. Vaughan & Adrian Alphona. It'll be a while before the next Runaways hardback, so it's back to the digests for now.
     
117. The Flash: Blood Will Run by Geoff Johns & Scott Kolins. (Library.)
     
118. Sky Ape: All the Heroes by Phil Amara, Tim McCarney, Mike Russo, & Richard Jenkins.
     
119. Death Note, vol. 4: Love by Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata.
     
120. Showcase Presents: The Green Arrow by various. From reading this, I think Green Arrow actually does have a superpower: precognition. Because in every story, he just happens to have exactly the right trick arrow to get him out of whatever situation he's in. (Library.)
     
121. Buddha, vol. 7: Prince Ajatasattu by Osamu Tezuka. I've said this about every previous volume in this series, but this is a remarkable work. Amazing stuff. (Library.)
     
122. Green Lantern: Rebirth by Geoff Johns & Ethan Van Scriver. (Library.)
     
123. Negima!, vol. 5 by Ken Akamatsu. Without realizing it, I stopped buying this series when Peter David stopped doing the English adaptation. And while there hasn't been a noticible drop in the writing, I think that was a good decision. The series is amusing enough, but not really worth shelling out money for. (Library.)
     
124. Runaways, vol. 5: Escape to New York by Brian K. Vaughan & Adrian Alphona, with Takeshi Miyazawa.
     
125. Identity Crisis by Brad Meltzer & Rags Morales. (Library.)
     
126. Naruto, vol. 9: Turning the Tables by Masashi Kishimoto.
     
127. Concrete, vol. 4: Killer Smile by Paul Chadwick.
     
128. Knights of the Dinner Table: Bundle of Trouble, vol. 16 by Jolly Blackburn, et al.
     
129. Superman: Sacrifice by Greg Rucka, Mark Verheiden, Gail Simone, et al. Nothing to say about the story itself, but I do have something to gripe about. This book collects several issues of a few different comics, and the credits have been stripped out of the individual issues. The creators are listed at the beginning of the book, but there's no way to tell who did which sections. This system works when the collected comics are all by the same creative team. But not here. On the other hand, I'm sure this book is not about building an audience for a particular creator but about building an audience for Superman and the continuity of his comics. (Library.)
     
130. Negima!, vol. 6 by Ken Akamatsu. (Library.)
     
131. Iron Wok Jan!, vol. 11 by Shinji Saijyo. (Library.)
     
132. Buddha, vol. 8: Jetavana by Osamu Tezuka. The final volume. And now the publisher has finally begun releasing these books in paperback. I'm picking those up, but I'm going to hold off re-reading this series until I own all 8 volumes. (Library.)
     
133. Bloody Mary by Garth Ennis & Carlos Ezquerra. (Library.)
     
134. I Want to Be Your Dog by Ho Che Anderson
     
135. Sunset City by Rob Osborne. (Library.)
     
136. Essential Godzilla by Dough Moench & Herb Trimpe. Man, this took me back to my childhood. Mid-70s monster madness from Marvel.
     
137. Negima!, vol. 7 by Ken Akamatsu. (Library.)
     
138. Real Life: The Complete Year One Collection by Greg Dean. (Library.)
     
139. Essential Doctor Strange, vol. 1 by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, et al. Ever since Marvel started the Essentials line of cheap black & white reprints, I'd wanted a collection of early Doctor Strange stories. I love Ditko's artwork, but I don't think I'd ever seen a reprint collection of his Doctor Strange work. Finally, they put out this book. That was several years ago, and I tried to read it when it first came out, but I got bogged down early on. As fantastic as the art is, the beginning stories are all the same. This time when I read it, I plowed through. After about a third of the way through the book, there's an extended storyline that finally breaks the mold of the first stories. It's great. Unfortunately, once that story is over, other artists take over for Ditko. Sure, Marie Severin is good, but she's not Ditko.
     
140. Navigating the Golden Compass: Religion, Science and Daemonology in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials by various. Some interesting essays & some not so interesting. (Library.)
     
141. Hellboy, vol. 6: Strange Places by Mike Mignola.
     
142. Beet the Vandel Buster, vol. 2 by Riku Sanjo & Koji Inada. (Library.)
     
143. Showcase Presents: House of Mystery, vol. 1 by various. (Library.)
     
144. Bambi & Her Pink Gun, vol. 1 by Atsushi Kaneko. Very violent. (Library.)
     
145. Smoke and Guns by Kirsten Baldock & Fabio Moon. (Library.)
     
146. Banana Sunday by Root Nibot & Colleen Doran. Amazingly cute.
     
147. Ex Machina, vol. 3: Fact v. Fiction by Brian K. Vaughan & Tony Harris.
     
148. Tuxedo Gin, vol. 6 by Tokihiko Matsuura. (Library.)
     
149. Invincible, vol. 4: Head of the Class by Robert Kirkman & Ryan Ottley. (Library.)
     
150. Demo by Brian Wood & Becky Cloonan. (Library.)
     
151. Teen Titans, vol. 4: The Future Is Now by Geoff Johns, Mike McKone, et al. (Library.)
     
152. JLA, vol. 17: Syndicate Rules by Kurt Busiek & Ron Garney. Not Busiek's strongest work. (Library.)
     
153. One Piece, vol. 10: Let's Stand Up! by Eiichiro Oda.
     
154. Girl Genius, vol. 4: Agatha Heterodyne and the Circus of Dreams by Phil & Kaja Foglio. More fantastic steampunky adventures. Great, great series.
     
155. The Suit by Mike Kazaleh.
     
156. Read or Die, vol. 1 by Hikeyuki Kirata. I thought a manga series about a librarian with the ability to transform paper into nearly anything would be great, but the storytelling was really unclear. A lot of the time I could not tell what was supposed to be happening. Just a jumbled mess.
     
157. Coyote, vol. 3 by Steve Englehart, Chaz Truog, & Steve Ditko.
     
158. Marvel Team-Up, vol. 1: The Golden Child by Robert Kirkman & Scott Kolins. (Library.)
     
159. Dragon Ball Z, vol. 25 by Akira Toriyama.
     
160. Secret War by Brian Michael Bendis & Gabrielle Dell'Otta. (Library.)
     
161. Tuxedo Gin, vol. 7 by Tokihiko Matsuura. (Library.)
     
162. Hunter X Hunter, vol. 7 by Yoshihiro Takahashi. (Library.)
     
163. Knights of the Dinner Table: Bundle of Trouble, vol. 17 by Jolly Blackburn, et al.
     
164. House of M by Brian Michael Bendis & Olivier Coipel. (Library.)
     
165. She-Hulk, vol. 2: Superhuman Law by Dan Slott, Juan Bobillo, & Paul Pelletier. (Library.)
     
166. Star Wars: Clone Wars, vol 8: The Last Siege, the Final Truth by John Ostrander & Jan Duursema. More comics that blow away anything Lucas has done in 20 years.
     
167. Ju-On: Video Side by Takashi Shimizu & Miki Rinno.
     
168. Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 6 by Hiromu Arakawa.
     
169. Little Star by Andi Watson.
     
170. Tuxedo Gin, vol. 8 by Tokihiko Matsuura. (Library.)
     

Okay, that takes me through the end of April. That's enough for now.

Michael and Alex are probably the only people reading this who know the Legion of Superheroes, but I just had to link to these repainted Simpsons figures.

Is Sideshow Mel supposed to be Phantom Lass? And I'm afraid I don't recognize who Kent Brockman is supposed to be.

Haven't seen the third X-Men movie yet, but I have come across this cartoon explaining some of the differences between the movie & comic book versions.

You Are Austin

A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll. You're totally weird and very proud of it. Artistic and freaky, you still seem to fit in... in your own strange way. Famous Austin residents: Lance Armstrong, Sandra Bullock, Andy Roddick

What American City Are You?

I was hoping for San Francisco, but from what I know of Austin I'm not unhappy with this result.

Stolen from Reza:

You scored as Geek. Goth 75% Geek 75% Loner 69% Drama nerd 56% Prep/Jock/Cheerleader 19% Punk/Rebel 19% Stoner 6% Ghetto gangsta 0% What's Your High School Stereotype? created with QuizFarm.com

I answered as I would have in high school. I'm surprized my geek score wasn't much much higher.