Okay, I'm taking the time to update at last.
- Megatokyo, vol. 5 by Fred Gallagher. I have to admit I enjoy this series, but there is no way I would have the patience to read it online in real time. Give me the books; there are enough strips in them that something actually happens. Also, somebody really needs to tell Gallagher that a little self-deprecation goes a long way. Denigrating your art skills when you have one of the most popular web comics makes it seem like you're fishing for compliments. (Checked out of the library.)
- Full Frontal Nerdity, vol. 1: Big Book of Epic Fail by Aaron Williams. An enjoyable collection of comic strips about a group of gamers, but I was rather put off by the duplication about half a dozen strips scattered throughout the volume.
- Fell, vol. 1: Feral City by Warren Ellis & Ben Templesmith. A great comic about a police detective newly transferred to a city where social services are coming apart and anybody who can afford to move away has already done so. Often brutal, sometimes touching, always excellently written & drawn.
- Charley's War: 1 August 1916 - 17 October 1916 by Pat Mills & Joe Colquhoun. Meticulously researched WWI comics. (Library.)
- Hicksville: A Comic Book by Dylan Horrocks. When I first read this love letter to comics, I was blown away, and I knew that I would have to own it someday. But I didn't feel any rush to find a copy. Then it went out of print. Fortunately, Teena found a copy for a good price and ordered it for me. Thank you, honey. I love you.
- Crossing Midnight, vol. 1: Cut Here by Mike Carey & Jim Fern. The people at Vertigo know what they're doing when they price the first collections of series so cheaply. I picked this up because I have enjoyed Carey's writing before, and hey, it was only $10. I quite liked this and will definitely be picking up future volumes. It feels sort of like a Japanese version of Neverwhere (although, like Neverwhere, it was written by an Englishman).
- Screw Heaven, When I Die I'm Going to Mars by Shannon Wheeler. I enjoy Wheeler's cartoons, but I have to admit this book felt somewhat padded, with quite a few unnecessary blank pages. But it's got the best title I've encountered in a long, long time.
- Wire Mothers: Harry Harlow & the Science of Love by Jim Ottaviani & Dylan Meconis. A great little book about the man who performed disturbing but fascinating experiments on baby monkeys.
- Levitation: Physics & Psychology in the Service of Deception by Jim Ottaviani & Janine Johnston. The intrigues of stage magicians.
- Usagi Yojimbo, vol. 18: Travels with Jotaro by Stan Sakai. Yay! Dark Horse reprinted this volume, allowing me to fill the last hole in my collection.
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. This is it, the final book. It drags in places, and coincidence plays a much larger role than it really should. In other words, it's a lot like the previous volumes. I really enjoyed this and feel it is a satisfying conclusion to the series. I won't say any more for fear of spoiling things for people who haven't finished it yet. I will mention that Teena (who got to read our copy first since she's a faster reader than me) was 2/3 of the way through the book when she discovered that a 32 page sequence was duplicated. That wouldn't have been too bad, except that the following 32 page sequence was missing. There was nothing for it but to immediately head out & buy another copy. (We'll return the defective one to Amazon shortly.) It must have been nerve-wracking for her, but it did allow me to begin the book a couple of hours before I would have otherwise.
- Clubbing by Andi Watson & Josh Howard. Normally I enjoy Watson's work, but this left me flat. I think it was a combination of an unpleasant main character and a plot twist at the end that felt completely out of place. I don't think Watson played fair with the reader; there was no way the reader could have anticipated the twist, so it feels tacked-on.
- The Black Diamond Detective Agency by Eddie Campbell, with C. Gaby Mitchell. I enjoyed this but don't have much to say about it.
- Usagi Yojimbo, vol. 19: Fathers & Sons by Stan Sakai.
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