Post Delayed On Account of Oscars

Somebody really, really needs to tell Nicole Kidman that she would look better if she dressed in dark colors.

Celebrating George and Abe

As has become standard practice for three-day weekends, I'm updating on Monday rather than Sunday. (As you may have noticed.)

On to the books.

74. Teen Titans: Year One by Amy Wolfram & Karl Kerschl. Nice take on the early Titans from one of the cartoon series' writers. And I like the take on Aqua Lad, giving him the Innsmouth Look. (Checked out of the library.)
    
75. Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, Hulk, and Iron Man: Triple Threat by Paul Tobin & Alvin Lee. I absolutely love the idea that Klaw, Master of Sound, would go straight & form a country-western band.
    
76. Jack Kirby's The Demon. So happy that a lot of Kirby's work is finally being collected. Now if only there were affordable reprints of Kamandi.
    
77. Cromartie High School, vol. 5 by Eiji Nonaka. More absurdity at Japan's toughest high school. (Library.)
    
78. Notes Over Yonder by Scott Morse. Silent comic that doesn't really work. At least not for me. Beautiful art, though. (Library.)
    
79. The All New Atom: Small Wonder by Gail Simone, Rick Remender, Mike Norton, & Pat Olliffe. I really enjoyed the end of Simone's run, but did not like the beginning of Remender's. It lost all the charm it had and grimmed things up, not a move I approve of. (Library.)
    
80. Batman: The Man Who Laughs by Ed Brubaker, Dough Mahnke, & Patrick Zircher. The story of Batman's first meeting with the Joker. Because if there's any part of DC continuity that's under-explored, it's the early stages of Batman's career.
    
81. Doctor Who: Agent Provocateur by Gary Russell, et al. This could have been a pretty good story if the people involved had been better at using the comics medium to tell a story. (Library.)
    
82. Tamara Drewe by Posy Simmonds. This is great. It's a retelling/updating of Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd done in comics format. I haven't read the original, but this is extremely well done. Wonderful. (Library.)
    
83. Journey, the Adventures of Wolverine McAlistaire, vol. 2 by William Messner-Loebs. The remainder of Messner-Loebs' story of life in the Northwest Territory in the early 19th century. So, so happy it has been collected.
    
84. Criminal, vol. 4: Bad Night by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips. The latest volume of Brubaker's & Phillips' noir comic. I don't know why I never really got into crime fiction, because I certainly love it when it's in comics form.
    
85. House of Mystery, vol. 1: Room and Boredom by Matthew Sturges, Lucca Rossi, Bill Willingham, et al. Pretty good, but I did find it annoying in places. It is not made clear to the reader if all the people you see in the House of Mystery are trapped there or just the main characters, and one of the characters spends too much time freaking out to listen to another character when they try to explain what's going on. Once would be fine, but it happens several times, and I just ended up thinking the first character was an idiot.
    
86. The Immortal Iron Fist, vol. 3: The Book of the Iron Fist by Matt Fraction, et al. More kung fu action. Lots of fun.

Movies:

• Mystery Science Theater 3000: Manhunt in Space.
  
• MST3K: Mad Monster. I am so happy Teena loves bad movies as much as I do.

More Books, A Couple Movies

61. MPD Psycho, vol. 5 by Sho-u Tajima & Eiji Otsuka. More hints about the shadowy organization that seems to be behind the barcode killers. (Checked out of the library.)
    
62. Battlestar Galactica: Sagittarius Is Bleeding by Peter David. As I believe I've mentioned with Star Trek novels, I don't normally buy tv show tie-in books, but I make an exception for Peter David. Pretty good, but I find myself annoyed by a joke late in the book in which Adama says "It's a shame she won't live. But then again, who does?"
    
63. Hunter's Moon by James L. White, Dalibor Talajic & Sebastian Cardoso. Like many books from this publisher (Boom! Studios), this graphic novel appears to be a pitch for an action movie. (Library.)
    
64. World War Hulk by Greg Pak & John Romita Jr. Big, loud, comics. (Library.)
    
65. Rosario + Vampire, vol. 2: Witches by Akihisa Ikeda. I like the concept of a human stuck at a high school for monsters, but there's a bit too much fan service here for my taste. (Library.)
    
66. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling. More stuff from the world of Harry Potter, and for a good cause. (Borrowed from Teena.)
    
67. The All New Atom: Future/Past by Gail Simone, Mike Norton, & Eddy Barrows. I'm quite enjoying this (even if I'm getting the volumes out of sequence). (Library.)
    
68. Daredevil: Cruel and Unusual by Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, & Michael Lark. I enjoyed this more than the past two volumes, probably because it isn't about destroying the main character's life. (Library.)
    
69. Rex Mundi, book 5: The Valley at the End of the World by Arvid Nelson & Juan Ferreyra. Conspiracy, Merovingians, magic, and an alternate history. Very good. (Library.)
    
70. Grendel: Devil Child by Diana Shutz & Tim Sale. Disturbing.
    
71. Chronicles of Wormwood: The Last Enemy by Garth Ennis & Rob Steen. Over the top, as is not unusual for Ennis.
    
72. Wolverine: First Class: To Russia, With Love by Fred Van Lente, et al. A Wolverine comic I enjoy. That's pretty unusual. Fortunately, it doesn't take itself too seriously.
    
73. The Flash: Emergency Stop by Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, & Paul Ryan. Quite enjoyable.

Two movies this week.

• Mystery Science Theater 3000: Soultaker. Starring Joe Estevez, who looks and sounds a lot like his brother, Martin.
  
• Coraline. Impressive, particularly in 3D. Very good, too. I hope it does well.

Superbowl Sunday

Not that I watched the Superbowl. I did watch the Puppy Bowl, though.

47. One-Pound Gospel, vol. 1 by Rumiko Takahashi.
    
48. One-Pound Gospel, vol. 2 by Rumiko Takahashi.
    
49. One-Pound Gospel, vol. 3 by Rumiko Takahashi.
    
50. One-Pound Gospel, vol. 4 by Rumiko Takahashi. Another romantic comedy from Takahashi. This time, the protagonists are a boxer who has trouble keeping his weight down and a novice nun. Cute, and it doesn't go on too long.
    
51. War Is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle by Garth Ennis & Howard Chaykin. Another war comic from Ennis, this time dealing with WWI pilots. (Checked out of the library.)
    
52. The Programme, vol. 1 by Peter Milligan & C.P. Smith.
    
53. The Programme, vol. 2 by Peter Milligan & C.P. Smith. Super-powered beings as relics of the Cold War. The art is good, but doesn't do the best job of telling the story. Too often the characters weren't identified for the reader.
    
54. Mail, vol. 3 by Housui Yamazaki. When I started reading this series, I didn't realize it only ran 3 volumes. That's a shame, because I liked the stories about a detective who exorcises ghosts by shooting them. (Library.)
    
55. John Byrne's Compleat Next Men, vol. 2. Finishing out what may be Byrne's final good work.
    
56. Hulk: Giant Size by various.
    
57. Daredevil: Hell to Pay, vol. 1 by Ed Brubaker & Michael Lark. (Library.)
    
58. Daredevil: Hell to Pay, vol. 2 by Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark, & Paul Azaceta. Matt Murdock's life gets worse & worse (like always). (Library.)
    
59. Showcase Presents the War that Time Forgot by Robert Kanigher & Ross Andru. WWII soldiers vs. dinosaurs! How could that go wrong? By being basically the same story over & over again. (Library.)
    
60. Cairo: A Graphic Novel by G. Willow Wilson & M.K. Perker. Urban fantasy, but with a Middle Eastern flavor. I liked the hardback when I checked it out of the library a while back, so I picked up the paperback when it was published.

Didn't watch any movies this week.