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!








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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.