Back On Track

Two weeks in a row. Maybe I'll be able to maintain my schedule for a while.

235. Essential Uncanny X-Men, vol. 1 by Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Jack Kirby, & Werner Roth. Not Stan & Jack's best work, but entertaining enough. I have to say that I didn't particularly care for the issues that Roy Thomas wrote.
     
236. Secret Invasion by Brian Michael Bendis & Leinil Yu. (Checked out of the library.)
     
237. 20th Century Boys, vol. 2: The Prophet by Naoki Urasawa. I'm really impressed with this series and am looking forward to reading more volumes as they are released.
     
238. Humbug, vol. 1 by Harvey Kurtzman, et al. A collection of a humor magazine from the legendary creator of Mad. (Library.)
     
239. Hikaru no Go, vol. 15: Sayonara by Yumi Hotta & Takeshi Obata. More manga about Go.
     
240. The Eternal Smile by Gene Luen Yang & Derek Kirk Kim. Three great stories. (Borrowed from Teena.)
     
241. The Mighty Avengers, vol. 4: Secret Invasion, book 2 by Brian Michael Bendis, Khoi Pham, et al. (Library.)

And now for the movies I've watched in the past few weeks.

• Doctor Who: The Armageddon Factor. Finale of the Key of Time storyline.
  
• Mystery Science Theater 3000: Gamera vs. Barugon. Thanks to Dave for providing the tape to this episode.
  
• MST3K: Lost Continent. Two words: Rock climbing.
  
• Iron Man.
  
• Firefly. Teena's father really enjoyed watching this series with us.
  
• Serenity.
  
• The African Queen.
  
• MST3K: Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster. Another episode courtesy of Dave.
  
• Up. Pixar does it again. Absolutely amazing. Go see this movie. Go see it now. Very touching.

We Apologize for the Interruption in Service

Having a house guest for two & a half weeks throws routines into disarray. But I'm back now, and I've got a lot of catching up to do.

198. Countdown to Final Crisis, vol. 2 by Paul Dini, et al. This got pretty tedious. The stories didn't really progress at all in this volume. (Checked out of the library.)
     
199. Hal Spacejock by Simon Hayes. Humorous science fiction from an Australian author. Not bad, but not really worth the extra cost that comes with being an import.
     
200. Black Jack, vol. 4 by Osamu Tezuka. More medical manga.
     
201. Jack of Fables, vol. 5: Turning Pages by Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges, Russ Braun, & Tony Atkins. Still enjoying this.
     
202. Eyebeam: Render unto Peaches by Sam Hurt.
     
203. Superman: Brainiac by Geoff Johns & Gary Frank. (Library.)
     
204. Stephen King's The Stand: Captain Trips adapted by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa & Mike Perkins. I haven't read the original, but I quite liked this, and Teena (who is a big Stephen King fan) says it looks amazingly like what she pictures when she reads the novel. (Borrowed from Teena.)
     
205. Countdown to Final Crisis, vol. 3 by Paul Dini, et al. The stories pick up again in this volume. (Library.)
     
206. The Savage Sword of Conan, vol. 2 by Roy Thomas, John Buscema, et al.
     
207. Essential Spider-Man, vol. 4 by Stan Lee & John Romita. These stories are remarkably good. Really, I think the only stumbling blocks are when Lee tries to depict youth culture. Solid super-heroics.
     
208. Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-Creator, Joe Shuster. The title pretty much says it all.
     
209. Jurgen by James Branch Cabell. I don't know if I got this, when I first read this book, around 15 years ago, but this fantasy novel seems to be an extended metaphor for a mid-life crisis.
     
210. Notes on Jurgen by James P. Cover. Notes on the mythological allusions in Jurgen. Also, the references to Cabell's other works.
     
211. Johnny Boo: Twinkle Power by Jame Kochalka. Kid's comics. (Borrowed from Teena's classroom.)
     
212. She-Hulk, vol. 8: Secret Invasion by Peter David, Vincenzo Cucca, & Larry Strohman.
     
213. X-Men First Class: The Wonder Years by Jeff Parker, Roger Cruz, et al. (Library.)
     
214. Knights of the Dinner Table Bundle of Trouble, vol. 24 by Jolly Blackburn, et al.
     
215. Freakangels, vol. 2 by Warren Ellis & Paul Duffield. I continue to enjoy the webcomic and will be buying collections as long as they keep publishing them.
     
216. Infinity Inc., vol. 2: The Bogeyman by Peter Milligan, Dom Regan, & Pete Woods. I started out buying the individual isues of this series, but it didn't grab me. But I did want to see where things went after I stopped reading. (Library.)
     
217. The Question, vol. 4: Welcome to Oz by Dennis O'Neil & Denys Cowan. This doesn't feel as exciting as it did when the issues collected here were first published, but that's because in the 80s, this was ground-breaking work. Now that it's twenty years later, I've seen stuff like this before. Still pretty damn good, though.
     
218. FX by Wayne Osborne & John Byrne. (Library.)
     
219. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, vol. 4: Time of Your Life by Joss Whedon, Karl Moline, et al.
     
220. Blazing Combat by Archie Goodwin, et al. Some fantastic war comics from the mid-60's, including some amazing art by Gene Colan, Alex Toth, John Severin, Al Williamson, and others.
     
221. The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, vol. 8 by Eiji Otsuka & Housui Yamazaki. (Library.)
     
222. Booster Gold, vol. 2: 52 Pick-Up by Geoff Johns, Jeff Katz, & Dan Jurgens. (Library.)
     
223. Spider-Man 2099, vol. 1 by Peter David & Rick Leonardi.
     
224. MPD Psycho, vol. 6 by Eiji Otsuka & Sho-U Tajima. (Library.)
     
225. Manhunter, vol. 5: Forgotten by Marc Andreyko, Michael Gaydos, et al. The final volume of this series. I'm sorry it's gone, but it did get a longer run than a lot of comics do.
     
226. Fallen Angel, vol. 6: Cities of Light and Dark by Peter David & J.K. Woodward. This pretty much has to be the final volume of this series unless it moves in a drastically different direction.
     
227. 20th Century Boys, vol. 1: Friends by Naoki Urasawa. I was really impressed with this manga about a group of childhood friends & their lives as adults. I will definitely be buying this series as it comes out. There is some real emotion in this story. (Library.)
     
228. Creepy Archives, vol. 2 by various. More horror comics. (Library.)
     
229. Showcase Presents Superman Family, vol. 3 by various. Awesomely stupid comics featuring Jimmy Olsen & Lois Lane.
     
230. MPD Psycho, vol. 7 by Eiji Otsuka & Sho-U Tajima. (Library.)
     
231. Bite Me!: A Vampire Farce by Dylan Meconis. Collection of a webcomic about vampires during the French Revolution. I have to say that for the most part the humor didn't work for me.
     
232. Silver Surfer: Requiem by J. Michael Straczynski & Esad Ribic. Pretty good story about the death of the Silver Surfer. I'm assuming this was never intended to be a part of continuity. Even if it was, it'll be undone pretty damn quick (if it hasn't been already). (Library.)
     
233. Kaput & Zosky by Lewis Trondheim. (Library.)
     
234. Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! by Scott Morse. (Library.)

I'll catch up on movies next time.