Three in a Row

I really shouldn't be so excited to have updated 3 weeks running.

242. Joker by Brian Azzarello & Lee Bermejo. Pretty good, but I'm not sure how well a semi-realistic depiction of gangsters fits in with Batman & the Joker. In some ways, it reminded me of The Sopranos. (Checked out of the library.)
     
243. Superfolks by Robert Mayer. Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, & Kurt Busiek all cite this 1977 novel about a superhero undergoing a mid-life crisis as an influence. I liked it quite a bit, but I have to admit that the humorous parts largely fell flat for me. I think that's largely the cultural distance between when it was written & when I read it.
     
244. Museum of Terror, vol. 1: Tomie 1 by Junji Ito. One of the things I like about the Japanese horror I've seen is that often there is no reason behind the horror. It's just something awful that happens for no reason & with no origin. In the Tomie stories, Tomie is a young woman who provokes obsession in men. They become so obsessed with her that they hack her into pieces. These pieces then regenerate, sometimes into multiple Tomies. No explanation is ever given as to where she came from or why she has this effect or how she can regenerate.
     
245. Museum of Terror, vol. 2: Tomie 2 by Junji Ito. More Tomie stories.
     
246. Museum of Terror, vol. 3: The Long Hair in the Attic by Junji Ito. More horror manga.
     
247. Essential Ms. Marvel by Chris Claremont, Jim Mooney, et al. Pretty good. Claremont hasn't quite developed into the writer he will be, but on the other hand, his writing tics are not very prominent here.
     
248. Star Wars Clone Wars: The Wind Raiders of Taloraan by John Ostrander & the Fillback Brothers. I haven't seen the show, but I like & trust Ostrander's writing. This was pretty good.

A few movies this week, and a correction:

Last week I identified Mystery Science Theater 3000: Gamera vs. Barugon as being from Dave's collection. That was wrong. It's one of Teena's. I regret the error. (MST3K: Robot Monster from a while back, is from Dave's collection, though.)

• MST3K: Time of the Apes.
  
• MST3K: Rocket Attack U.S.A..
  
• The Film Crew: Wild Women of Wongo.