Saturday, February 18, 2006

Now to start listing books finished in 2006.

  1. Dragon Ball Z, vol. 21 by Akira Toriyama.
  2. Fables, vol. 6: Homelands by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, David Hahn, & Lan Medina. This volume reveals a big secret in this series. And while I hadn't exactly guessed, I also wasn't exactly surprised. Hints had been placed, and the revelation made perfect sense.
  3. Sgt. Frog, vol. 1 by Mine Yoshizaki. Goofy manga about alien invasion.
  4. JLA: Justice For All by Grant Morrison, Howard Porter, et al. I believe this is the final volume of Morrison's run on JLA that I read. I never picked it up before because he didn't write the whole thing, but I found a used copy.
  5. The Authority: Revolution, Book One by Ed Brubaker & Dustin Nguyen. I stopped buying the collections for this series once Ellis stopped writing it, but I enjoy Brubaker's work too. This was good, but I do kind of wish I'd waited until the whole storyline was available in book form before reading this.
  6. Bleach, vol. 5: Right Arm of the Giant by Tite Kubo. Continuing to catch up on this series that I originally checked out of the library.
  7. Iron Wok Jan! vol. 7 by Shinji Saijyo. More cooking battles. (Checked out of the library.)
  8. Until the Full Moon, vol. 2 by Sanami Matoh. (Library.)
  9. The Dreaming, vol. 1 by Queenie Chan. This is an OEL (original English language) manga; i.e. manga-style comics by English-speaking creators. It's sad that English comics are so superhero-centric that people creating them in other styles feel they have to call them something other than simply "comics." This creepy & atmospheric story about an Australian bording school was well-done, and I'm looking forward to seeing further volumes in the series.
  10. Bleach, vol. 6: The Death Trilogy Overture by Tite Kubo.
  11. Batman/Aliens 2 by Ian Edgington & Staz Johnson. Yes, those aliens. What can I say? It was free. (Library.)
  12. Bleach, vol. 7: The Broken Coda by Tite Kubo.
  13. Bleach, vol. 8: The Blade & Me by Tite Kubo. Either this or the previous book was the first one I hadn't previously read from the library.
  14. Get Fuzzy 2: Fuzzy Logic by Darby Conley. Get Fuzzy is the best comic to come along in years, and I really enjoy rereading these strips.
  15. Mars by Mark Wheatley & Marc Hempel. Slowly, more & more comics from the '80s are being collected. While I liked this, I remember enjoying the individual issues more. I think reading them all together like this highlighted the story-telling shortcuts the creators made, and there are several places where they probably should have explained things a bit better. Still, it's gorgeous; with a great art style.
  16. Death Note, vol. 3: Hard Run by Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata. I wish these volumes were being released on a quicker schedule, because I quite enjoy this series.
  17. Order of the Stick, vol. 0: On the Origin of PCs by Rich Burlew. I have discovered yet another gaming comic strip. I should revamp my sidebar soon, because this strip will be joining the links. Funny stuff. (Library.)
  18. Dragon Ball Z, vol. 22 by Akira Toriyama.
  19. Shaman King, vol. 8: The Road to the Tao Stronghold by Hiroyuki Takei.
  20. Dragon Ball Z, vol. 23 by Akira Toriyama.
  21. Bleach, vol. 9: Fourteen Days for Conspiracy by Tite Kubo. I feel I should point out some of the reasons I don't write more about the manga volumes. A) Most of them are multi-volume series, and there doesn't seem any point in rehashing the premise over & over, particularly considering B) The premises can sound pretty damn stupid when explained in a few words.
  22. Invincible Ultimate Collection, vol. 1 by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, & Ryan Ottley. Cool, fun, superheroics. (Library.)
  23. One Piece, vol. 9: Tears by Eiichiro Oda.
  24. True Story, Swear to God, vol 2: This One Goes to Eleven by Tom Beland. Wow, what a touching comic. This was absolutely amazing. I need to get this, the preceding volume, and any subesquent books. (Library.)
  25. Bleach, vol. 10: Tattoo on the Sky by Tite Kubo.
  26. DC's Greatest Imaginary Stories by various. This is a great collection, if only for the story showing that Jimmy Olsen is too stupid to live. He sneaks onto the grounds of an amusement park that has been shut down for safety reasons and decides to start up one of the rides. Supergirl saves his ass when it (of course) breaks down. (Library.)
  27. Cromartie High School, vol. 2 Eiji Nonaka. Silly, silly, stories about a high school full of punks.
  28. The Maxx, vol. 4 by Sam Kieth. I had forgotten how this series gets stranger & stranger as it went along.
  29. Ronin Hood of the 47 Samurai by Jeff Amano & Craig Rousseau. A blending of English & Japanese stories.
  30. Songs of Our Ancestors, vol. 3: Tree of Love by Patrick Atangan. (Library.)
  31. The Chuckling Whatsit by Richard Sala. Weirdly complex & creepy mystery. Cool stuff. (Library.)
  32. The King by Rich Koslowski. Excellent story about a reporter investigating an Elvis impersonator who claims to be the real thing. (Library.)
  33. Gemma Bovery by Posy Simmonds. I was afraid that, never having read Madam Bovary, I wouldn't get any allusions, but knowledge of that book is not necessary to understand this one. Well-told story with excellent art. (Libray.)
  34. Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter by Steven Johnson. The author makes some good points about how television shows have become more complex over the years and how many video games teach the basics of the scientific method (form hypothesis, test, re-evaluate hypothesis, retest, repeat as necessary). (Library.)
  35. Teen Titans/Outsiders: The Insiders by various. Superhero Sturm und Drang.
  36. Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 5 by Hiromu Arakawa. Another manga series I wished were published more frequently.
  37. Apparat: The Singles Collection, vol. 1 by Warren Ellis, et al. Ellis decided to tell four stories as if the genres from the pulps had continued into comics (instead of superheroes dominating the market). There's a science fiction story, a detective tale, something akin to Doc Savage or the Shadow, and even an aviatrix story.
  38. Kights of the Dinner Table: Bundle of Trouble, vol. 14 by Jolly Blackburn. Gaming comics.


Okay, that's enough for now; I'm only 4 weeks behind.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Totally agree with you about _Mars_, and the general fact of them finally bringing some of the better comics from the 80s indie flood back into print. I haven't picked it up yet, but I'm looking forward to American Flagg! I've got the Comico limited edition books, but I'm hoping they'll go beyond the first 12 issues this time in the reprint.