I'm Back

107. Hikaru no Go, vol. 14: Sai vs. Toya Koyo by Yumi Hotta & Takeshi Obata. Still enjoying this.
     
108. The Vinyl Underground, vol. 1: Watching the Detectives by Si Spencer & Simon Gene. Pretty good story about occult detectives. (Checked out of the library.)
     
109. The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones. Another great fantasy novel from Jones. One thing I like about her work is that, unlike in most fiction for kids, the bad guys in her stories are bad in the ways that real people are: they're selfish, greedy, and short-sighted, not cackling maniacs.
     
110. Pocket Full of Rain & Other Stories by Jason. Early work from the Norwegian cartoonist. (Library.)
     
111. Godchild, vol. 1 by Kaori Yuki. I didn't care for this. Too gothy & it felt rather Mary-Jane-ish. (Library.)
     
112. Tiny Titans, vol. 1: Welcome to the Treehouse by Art Baltazar & Franco. Cute, cute versions of the Teen Titans. (Borrowed from Teena's classroom.)
     
113. Scott Pilgrim, vol. 5: Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe by Bryan Lee O'Malley. The latest volume of this fun series.
     
114. Marvel Adventures Avengers, vol. 9: The New Recruits by Paul Tobin, Ig Guara, et al.
     
115. Skrulls vs. Power Pack by Fred Van Lente & Cory Hamscher.
     
116. Alan Moore's The Courtyard by Alan Moore, Antony Johnston, & Jacen Burrows. New, color edition of the adaptation of a Lovecraftian story by Moore.
     
117. Conan: Book of Thoth by Kurt Busiek, Len Wein, & Kelley Jones. Back story for a major Conan villain. (Library.)
     
118. Vigilante: City Lights, Prairie Justice by James Robinson & Tony Salmons. Nice to see some of Robinson's older work being reprinted.
     
119. Wonder Woman: Who Is Wonder Woman? by Allan Heinberg, Terry & Rachel Dodson. I like Heinberg's comics writing, but he seems unable to meet a deadline. When this was originally published, issues were months late. It reads much better all together.
     
120. Cruel and Unusual by Jamie Delano, Tom Peyer, & John McCrea. Satirical look at the US prison system.
     
121. Cash and Carry by Tim Broderick. Thriller originally done as a web comic. I'm not sure I care for the art, but the story is good. (Library.)
     
122. DMZ, vol. 6: Blood in the Game by Brian Wood & Riccardo Burchielli. Still enjoying this quite a bit.
     
123. Streets of Glory by Garth Ennis & Mike Wolfer. Story about the fading days of the Old West.
     
124. Gargoyles: Clan-Building, vol. 1 by Greg Weisman, David Hedgecock, et al. New stories from the creator of the TV show.
     
125. Green Lantern: Wanted: Hal Jordan by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, & Daniel Acuna. (Library.)
     
126. All-Star Superman, vol. 1 by Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely. Had to re-read this because volume 2 just came out.
     
127. All-Star Superman, vol. 2 by Gran Morrison & Frank Quitely. Some of the absolute best Superman stories ever.
     
128. Silverfish by David Lapham. Crime story set in the 80s. (Library.)
     
129. Justice League of America, vol. 4: Sanctuary by Dwayne McDuffie, Alan Burnett, et al. (Library.)
     
130. Flight, vol. 2 by various. Great anthology. (Borrowed from Teena.)
     
131. Harley Quinn: Preludes & Knock-Knock Jokes by Karl Kesel, Terry & Rachel Dodson. Light-hearted stories about the Joker's girlfriend. (Library.)
     
132. The Mighty Avengers, vol. 3: Secret Invasion by Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, et al. Pretty good comics, but not much sign of the Avengers. (Library.)
     
133. Saga of the Swamp Thing, book 1 by Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette, & John Totleben. New edition of Moore's run on Swamp Thing, including his first issue, which has never been reprinted before (because it was all about tying up plot threads from the previous writer).
     
134. Conan, vol. 3: The Tower of the Elephant and Other Stories by Kurt Busiek & Cary Nord. (Library.)
     
135. Narbonic, vol. 1 by Shaenon Garrity. The final volume collecting this web comic was recently published, so I decided to work my way through the previous volumes.

A few movies since last time:

• Guys and Dolls.
  
• Futurama: Bender's Game. Up until the fantasy sequence (3/4 of the way through the movie), this had been the best of the direct to DVD Futurama releases. Then it just fell apart. But the first hour or so is great.
  
• Watchmen. I've got mixed feelings about this. It looks fantastic, and does a good job adapting the central plot from the graphic novel (although I've got some problems with the changes to the end). But by leaving out the minor characters (which I know had to be done; the movie is plenty long as it is), the film misses the heart of the story. It's not quite all surface & no substance, but it's close.