Dead Part of the Year
The week between Christmas & New Year's always seems like down-time to me. Here is one last entry before my end of the year post.

442. Showcase Presents Metal Men, vol. 2 by Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru, et al. These comics are insane. Mere words cannot do justice to the weirdness. They have to be experienced to be believed.
     
443. Irredeemable, vol. 4 by Mark Waid & Diego Barreto. I am enjoying this, but I hope Waid has a conclusion in mind. A comic about a Superman-equivalent going bad cannot be maintained forever. (Checked out of the library.)
     
444. Ex Machina, vol. 4: March to War by Brian K. Vaughan, Tony Harris, & Chris Sprouse.
     
     Still re-reading this series.
     
445. Essential Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man, vol. 2 by various. Comics I recollect fondly from my childhood. Still entertaining. And how can you go wrong with a comic where Spider-Man fights a Nazi made out of bees?
     
446. Doctor Who: The Only Good Dalek by Justin Richards & Mike Collins. The story is good, and the art is well done, but it isn't very strong in terms of story-telling. There were times when it was unclear what was happening. (Library.)
     
447. Star Wars Legacy, vol. 3: Claws of the Dragon by John Ostrander & Jan Duursema. I expect to get volume 10 next week, and I am refreshing my memories of this series.
     
448. North 40 by Aaron Williams & Fiona Staples.
     
     Lovecraftian story about a Texas county that gets exposed to eldritch horror.
     
449. Ex Machina, vol. 5: Smoke Smoke by Brian K. Vaughan & Tony Harris.
     
450. Ex Machina, vol. 6: Power Down by Brian K. Vaughan & Tony Harris.
     
451. Star Wars Legacy, vol. 4: Alliance by John Ostrander, Omar Francia & Alan Robinson.
     
452. Ex Machina, vol. 7: Ex Cathedra by Brian K. Vaughan & Tony Harris.
     
453. Thor: Tales of Asgard by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby. Nice presentation of back-up stories from the 60s. Stan & Jack were firing on all cylinders with these stories. The comics; however, have been re-colored for this collection. The colorist did a good job and clearly knows what he is doing, but he used a subdued palette here, which really does not suit Kirby's artwork. Kirby artwork should be full of bright, high-contrast colors, not subtle gradations of muted colors.

A few movies since I last updated:

• Mystery Science Theater 3000: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians Another of the movies Teena & I watch each December.
  
• Rifftrax: Live Christmas Shorts-Stravaganza This one isn't a tradition yet (we saw the live show last year and watched the DVD of that show this year), but it may well become one.
  
• True Grit I had never seen the original version before this. Fortunately, it aired on cable before we went to see the Coen Brothers' version (which will be later this week).
  
• It's a Wonderful Life The last of the movies Teena & I watch every December. It may be sentimental, but I love it.

I'm Here After All

Turns out I do have a chance to update today. Don't count on it next week, though.

431. Excalibur Classic, vol. 3: Cross-Time Caper, book 1 by Chris Claremont, Alan Davis, et al. I really enjoyed this until Davis stopped doing the artwork. The quality went way downhill right away. (Checked out of the library.)
     
432. Rolling Stones - Voodoo Lounge by Dave McKean.
     
433. Star Wars: Legacy, vol. 1: Broken by John Ostrander and Jan Duursema. The final volume of this is out, so I am re-reading all the previous volumes.
     
434. Greek Street Vol. 2: Cassandra Complex by Peter Milligan & Davide Gianfelice.
     
     Re-working Greek myths to contemporary London. Can't wait for the next volume.
     
435. Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga by Paul Levitz & Keith Giffen.
     
     Nice presentation of a years worth of LSH comics from the mid-80s. It's the kind of storyline you couldn't do nowadays. At the time, the identity of the bad guy was a mystery, and the reveal late in the story was a genuine surprise. Now it would get spoiled months in advance, and people would pick it to shreds on the internet. It helped that this was one of the first uses of Darkseid outside of Kirby's original Fourth World comics. He has been way over-used since then.
     
436. Skin Horse, vol. 2 by Shaenon Garrity & Jeffrey Wells. The second collection of the web-comic about the black-ops social service agents tasked with aiding the sapient non-human community. This volume contains the entire Alaska storyline that ran for months & months. I have to say, it reads better all at once. Not that it was bad in small daily doses.
     
437. The Best American Comics 2009 edited by Charles Burns.
     
438. Star Wars Legacy, vol. 2: Shards by John Ostrander, et al. I do like how not all the stories in this series are about Cade Skywalker.
     
439. Ex Machina, vol. 1: The First Hundred Days by Brian K. Vaughan & Tony Harris. As with Star Wars Legacy, the final volume was recently published, and I am going back & re-reading the earlier volumes before tackling the new one.
     
440. Ex Machina, vol. 2: Tag by Brian K. Vaughan & Tony Harris.
     
441. Ex Machina, vol. 3: Fact vs. Fiction by Brian K. Vaughan & Tony Harris.

Possibly Last Post for a While

We will have some house guests starting soon, so I may not get a chance to update again until after New Year's. I'll try, but no guarantees.

418. DC Comics Presents Batman #2 by Ed Brubaker & Scott McDaniel.
     
419. Supergirl: Friends and Fugitives bu Sterling Gates, Greg Rucka, Jamal Igle. (Checked out of the library.)
     
420. Birds of Prey: The Battle Within by Gail Simone, Joe Bennett, Ed Benes, et al. I love Simone's writing on this series, but I can't say I like the artwork, particularly Benes's work. Awful cheesecake stuff.
     
421. Superman: New Krypton, vol. 4 by James Robinson, Greg Rucka, Pete Woods, & Ron Randall. (Library.)
     
422. Captain America: Two Americas by Ed Brubaker, Luke Ross, & Butch Guice. This is the book that collects the issues that garnered controversy by depicting the tea party movement as largely racist. Unfortunately, Marvel caved and edited the (accurate) offending panels.
     
423. Picture This by Lynda Barry.
     
     Like Barry's previous book: What It Is, this is a meditation on creativity. Beautiful, wonderful book. Barry just keeps getting better. Which isn't to say that I wasn't very excited to learn that next year we will see the first volume of a series collecting her comic strip work. I'm really looking forward to it.
     
424. Gravel, vol. 3: The Last King of England by Warren Ellis & Mike Wolfer. I found the conclusion of this series somewhat unsatisfactory. At least, if it is the end of the series. If there is more to come, it's a good ending to the volume.
     
425. Fingerprints by Will Dinski. (Library.)
     
426. R.E.B.E.L.S.: Strange Companions by Tony Bedard, et al. (Library.)
     
427. Li'l Abner, vol. 27: Dailies 1961 by Al Capp. Capp was fairly misanthropic, but boy was he funny. Definitely thinking more about picking up the new collections.
     
428. Heart Transplant by Andrew Vachss & Frank Caruso.
     
     This may have started as a screenplay, but it is currently a heavily illustrated novella about bullying. (Library.)
     
429. Essential Defenders, vol. 2 by Steve Gerber, Sal Buscema, et al. The weirdness often found in Gerber's work hasn't fully manifested itself yet, but it grows in this volume.
     
430. Batman & Robin: Batman vs. Robin by Grant Morrison, Cameron Stewart, & Andy Clarke. I am one of the people who has really been enjoying Morrison's run on Batman and associated titles, and they read even better when collected.

Okay, it has been way too long since I updated movies, so here goes:

• Dexter: The Fourth SeasonThis may have been the best season yet. John Lithgow certainly gives an excellent performance. However, I got this season from the library too soon after the previous season, and we had not had time to decompress from the previous season. Watching 12 episodes of this intense series in only 3 weeks can be hard-going.
  
• Doctor Who: The Hand of FearSarah Jane's final story.
  
• Mystery Science Theater 3000: Bride of the MonsterEd Wood & Bela Lugosi. Not to mention Tor Johnson.
  
• MST3K: Devil DollCreepy ventriloquist movie.
  
• MST3K: Devil FishItalian rip-off of Jaws featuring a prototype of Sharktopus (from the SyFy Channel movie of the same name).
  
• Love ActuallyThere are certain movies Teena & I watch each December. This is one of them. We adore this movie.
  
• Mystery Science Theater 3000: Santa ClausAnother of the movies we watch each December. Mexican kids movie in which a devil tries to thwart Santa.
  
• MST3K: Robot MonsterAwful movie that makes no sense. None at all.

Back on Track
I hope. Two weeks in a row. Fingers crossed I keep it up.

403. Barry Windsor-Smith Archives Conan, vol. 1 by Roy Thomas & Barry Windsor-Smith. The comics collected here are from before Windsor-Smith had fully developed as an artist, but his talent shows through.
     
404. Showcase Presents Legion of Super-Heroes, vol. 4 by Jim Shooter, J. Winslow Mortimer, et al.
     
405. The Extremist by Peter Milligan & Ted McKeever. Short Vertigo mini-series finally collected.
     
406. Power Girl, vol. 2: Aliens and Apes by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, & Amanda Conner. Light-hearted super-heroics. (Checked out of the library.)
     
407. Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys, vol. 11: List of Ingredients by Naoki Urasawa. More twists. I'm still with this, but I wonder if the story can support another 14 volumes.
     
408. Batman: Dark Detective by Steve Englehart & Marshall Rogers.
     
     The creators of some legendary Batman comics in the 70s reunite. Rogers' art is gorgeous as always, and Englehart is one of my favorite comics writers.
     
409. Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance by Joe Casey, ChrisCross, et al. Superheroes as celebrities. It's been done before. (Library.)
     
410. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, vol. 7: Twilight by Brad Meltzer, Georges Jeanty, et al. The big bad of season eight is revealed. Caught me by surprise.
     
411. The Annotated Northwest Passage by Scott Chantler. Adventure and derring-do in 18th century Canada.
     
412. The Purple Smurfs by Peyo. The original Smurf comics are being translated into English, so I thought I'd check them out. Don't know that I'll get any for myself, but if Teena wants more for her classroom, I'll probably read them before passing them on. (Borrowed from Teena's classroom.)
     
413. Siege: Battlefield by various. Assorted one-shots tying into Marvel's "Siege" cross-over. (Library.)
     
414. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation adapted by Tim Hamilton.
     
     The art is good, but it doesn't do a great job of storytelling. The story, on the other hand, is a classic.
     
415. Dragon Puncher by James Kochalka. Silly story for kids. (Borrowed from Teena's classroom.)
     
416. Grant Morrison's 18 Days by Grant Morrison, with Mukesh Singh.
     
     This is the series bible and scripts for the first three episodes of an upcoming (?) animated series adapting The Mahabharata, the Indian epic. It also includes lots of gorgeous concept art. Based on this, I would love to see this series. However, the site for the series says it is coming in Spring 2010, so I doubt we will ever actually see it. Which is a shame.
     
417. Grandville Mon Amour by Bryan Talbot. Much better than you would think from something that could be described as "funny-animal, steampunk Sherlock Holmes". But really, this is great.

Too lazy to do movies today. Maybe next week.

So Far Behind

Not much in the way of discussion. I've go a lot of books to get through.

372. The Playwright by Daren White & Eddie Campbell.
     
373. Godland, vol. 4: Amplified Now by Joe Casey & Tom Scioli. Kirby-esque madness. (Checked out of the library.)
     
374. Usagi Yojimbo, vol. 24: Return of the Black Soul by Stan Sakai.
     
     So good. Best use of "funny animals" I've seen.
     
375. Farscape: Scorpius, vol. 1: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie by Rockne S. O'Bannon, David Alan Mack, & Mike Ruiz.
     
376. Godland, vol. 5: Far Beyond the Bang by Joe Casey & Tom Scioli. (Library.)
     
377. Black Jack, vol. 11 by Osamu Tezuka.
     
378. The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, vol. 11 by Eiji Otsuka & Hosui Yamazuki. (Library.)
     
379. X-Men: S.W.O.R.D.: No Time to Breathe by Kieron Gillen & Steven Sanders.
     
380. Achewood, vol 2: Worst Song, Played on Ugliest Guitar
     
381. Phonogram, vol. 2: The Singles Club by Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie. Very good, but I think Gillen needs work in toning down his insufferable music snob tendencies. On the other hand, this is a comic about people who use music to create magic, so where better to indulge those tendencies? (Library.)
     
382. Capote in Kansas: A Drawn Novel by Ande Parks & Chris Samnee. A fictionalized account of Capote's experiences in researching In Cold Blood.
     
383. The Titanic Awards: Celebrating the Worst of Travel by Doug Lansky. (Library.)
     
384. Johnny Boo, vol. 4: The Mean Little Boy by James Kochalka. (Borrowed from Teena's classroom.)
     
385. Side Jobs: Stories from the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.
     
     A collection of short stories. The first couple stories are pretty rough, but they are from early in Butcher's career. Can't wait for the next novel, due in spring.
     
386. Savage Sword of Conan, vol. 3 by Roy Thomas, et al.
     
387. Batman: King Tut's Tomb by Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir, & Jorge Luis Garcia Lopez. (Library.)
     
388. Stephen King's N. by Marc Guggenheim & Alex Maleev. Adaptation of an extremely creepy short story. (Borrowed from Teena.)
     
389. Hellboy: Masks and Monsters by Mike Mignola, James Robinson, et al.
     
     Hellboy team-ups with Batman, Starman, & a character from Dark Horse's attempt to create their own super-hero universe.
     
390. Astro City: The Dark Age, Book 1: Brothers and Other Strangers by Kurt Busiek & Brent Anderson. Reread this because book two is finally out.
     
391. Astro City: The Dark Age, Book 2: Brothers in Arms by Kurt Busiek & Brent Anderson. Astro City's longest & most ambitious story yet.
     
392. Questionable Content, vol. 1 by Jeph Jacques. Collection of a great webcomic, even if it is about disaffected twenty-something hipsters. (Borrowed from Teena.)
     
393. Rin-Ne, vol. 4 by Rumiko Takahashi. Yeah, it's the same formula as all of Takahashi's other comics, but it's still entertaining. (Library.)
     
394. Excalibur Classic, vol. 1: The Sword Is Drawn by Chris Claremont & Alan Davis. Davis's art is wonderful (as always), and the writing is from before Claremont's tics completely took over his prose, so it is readable as well. (Library.)
     
395. Excalibur Classic, vol. 2: Two-Edged Sword by Chris Claremont & Alan Davis. (Library.)
     
396. DC Comics Presents: Chase by D. Curtis Johnson & J.H. Williams III. Four issues of a series I have heard good things about but never read before now. It is good, and I wish there were going to be more collections, but it seems unlikely.
     
397. Wonder Woman: Contagion by Gail Simone, Nicola Scott, et al. Simone's final issues of Wonder Woman.
     
398. Rasl, vol. 2: The Fires of St. George by Jeff Smith. Lots of info on nerds' favorite mad scientist: Nicola Tesla. (Library.)
     
399. Secret Six: Danse Macabre by Gail Simone, John Ostrander, Jim Calafiore, & Dustin Nguyen. Would love to see Ostrander get more comics to write.
     
400. I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett.
     
     The final Tiffany Aching volume. Still great. I keep expecting each new Pratchett book to be his last, given that he has early-onset Alzheimer's. But he still keeps writing excellent humor novels that say something serious about people.
     
401. Fallen Angel Omnibus, vol. 0 by Peter David & David Lopez. Collection of the entire first Fallen Angel series, which is nice, since DC never got around to collecting the final eight issues.
     
402. Li'l Abner, vol. 26: Dailies 1960 by Al Capp. It had been so long since I had read any Li'l Abner strips that I had forgotten how funny they are. Since the Kitchen Sink reprints I had have been water damaged (and are long out of print), I may start picking up the IDW reprints (which have the advantage of containing the Sunday strips, not just the dailies).

And that brings me up to date. Movies can wait for next time.

Still Playing Dragon Age: Origins

Maybe during the long weekend.

More Delays

Once again, Dragon Age: Origins is taking up all my spare time; either playing it or watching Teena play. So no update this week either. Maybe next week.

No Post This Week

Just about all my free time is being spent playing Dragon Age: Originsso I won't be updating this week.

Happy Halloween!

367. American Vampire, vol. 1 by Scott Snyder, Stephen King, & Rafael Albuquerque.
     
     Despite all the comics with his name on them, this is the only one that Stephen King is actually involved in (as far as I know). (Borrowed from Teena.)
     
368. John Constantine: Hellblazer - All His Engines by Mike Carey & Leonardo Manco. I finally got around to getting a copy of this. Carey's run on Hellblazer was great, as is this graphic novel.
     
369. Iron Man: Deadly Solutions by Kurt Busiek & Sean Chen. I am sure Marvel put this out to capitalize on the movies. It's okay but nothing special. (Checked out of the library.)
     
370. Farscape, vol. 1: The Beginning of the End of the Beginning by Rockne S. O'Bannon, Keith R.A. DeCandido, & Tommy Patterson. This certainly captures the feel of the show. Scarcely surprising, since the story is by the show's creator.
     
371. Blacksad by Juan Diaz Canales & Juanjo Guarnido.
     
     Absolutely gorgeous art illustrating these noir-ish stories about a private detective. Like Usagi Yojimbo, this tells serious stories using "funny" animals. I hope more stories are coming. (Library.)

I haven't done movies since the Lovecraft Festival. But there's still not much:

Ghost Rider with the RiffTrax commentary. This is the cheesiest movie I've ever seen, and it is plenty ripe for snarky comments. Unfortunately, three guys who never had anything to do with MST3K do the riffing here. They're okay, but not nearly as good as the MST3K alumni.

• Dexter: The Third Season I never thought I'd enjoy a show about a serial killer as much as I enjoy this.
  
• RiffTrax: House on Haunted Hill This was RiffTrax "Live"*. Many of the same jokes as the DVD release, but plenty of new ones. Plus a couple of new shorts. Very funny.
  
• Doctor Who: Battlefield I really liked the character bits, but I can't say the story itself really worked for me. (Not that it's any more ridiculous than other Doctor Who stories.)

*So many live events aren't really live when you live on the west coast.

The Past Two Weeks

345. Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love by Chris Roberson & Shawn McManus. Spin-off from the Fables series. (Checked out of the library.)
     
346. Icon vol. 2: The Mothership Connection by Dwayne McDuffie & M.D. Bright. Great super-hero comics from the 90s. I wish more of the Milestone comics were collected.
     
347. Crogan's March by Chris Schweizer.
     
     More historical fiction about the Crogan family. This time about a member of the French Foreign Legion. Great stuff, well-written, largely historically accurate (as far as I can tell), and nicely illustrated. I can't wait for the next volume. (Library.)
     
348. Sandman Mystery Theatre, vol. 8: The Blackhawk and the Return of the Scarlet Ghost by Matt Wagner, Steven T. Seagle, Matthew Smith, & Guy Davis. This was a great series.
     
349. The Adventures of Superboy by various. A collection of the earliest Superboy stories. Interesting to see these stories from the 40s. (Library.)
     
350. Ultimate Comics Iron Man: Armor Wars by Warren Ellis & Steve Kurth.
     
351. Dark Entries by Ian Rankin & Werther Dell'edera. A John Constatine story printed as part of the "Vertigo Crime" series. (Library.)
     
352. Spider-Man: Fever by Brendan McCarthy.
     
     Trippy story with sometimes awkward writing, but great, psychedelic art.
     
353. Superman: Tales from the Phantom Zone by various. Oh man, these stories are fantastically silly. Did you know that Jor-El's evil brother (cousin?) was named "Cru-El"? Isn't that awesome?
     
354. Essential Punisher, vol. 2 by Mike Baron, Whilce Portacio, & Klaus Janson. Some very 80s comics here. Can't say I like Portacio's art, but Janson's is great as always.
     
355. Nancy, vol. 2 (John Stanley Library) by John Stanley & Dan Gormley. These comics almost feel like re-purposed Little Lulu stories, which is not surprising, considering that Stanley wrote Little Lulu for years & years. (Library.)
     
356. Secret Warriors, vol. 3: Wake the Beast by Jonathan Hickman & Alessandro Vitti. (Library.)
     
357. Stephen King's Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill by Robin Furth, Peter David, & Jae Lee. More back-story to the Dark Tower series. (Borrowed from Teena.)
     
358. Super Spy: The Lost Dossiers by Matt Kindt. Odds & ends that didn't make it into Kindt's amazing. Super Spy.
     
359. Jimmy Olsen Adventures by Jack Kirby, vol. 2
     
     Kirby's brand of action & insanity applied to Superman's pal.
     
360. Showcase Presents Wonder Woman, vol. 2 by Robert Kanigher & Ross Andru. Speaking of insanity, these stories don't make a lick of sense. But they're tons of fun.
     
361. Melvin Monster, vol. 2 (The John Stanley Library) by John Stanley. (Library.)
     
362. DC Comics Presents Batman #1 by Ed Brubaker & Scott McDaniel. I'm not sure why DC hasn't collected these comics before, given how popular Brubaker has become.
     
363. Detroit Metal City, vol. 6 by Kiminori Wakasugi. Heavy metal silliness. (Library.)
     
364. Justice League: Cry for Justice by James Robinson, Mauro Cascioli, et al. I got this to see if it was as wretched as I'd read on the internet. Not quite, but close. Robinson used to be one of my favorite comics writers. Not so much anymore. (Library.)
     
365. Captain America Reborn by Ed Brubaker, Bryan Hitch, & Butch Guice. The return of Steve Rogers.
     
366. The Cartoon History of the Modern World, part. II: From the Bastille to Baghdad by Larry Gonick
     
     The conclusion of Gonick's fantastic history of everything. Comics is an amazingly versatile medium, and it's great to see it used for something other than power-fantasies.

Movies can wait until next week.

Another Break

Spent the afternoon putting together a DVD rack. Will catch up next week.

Back to Books

Quite a bit to get through. Over a month to cover.

318. Penny Arcade, vol. 6: The Halls Below by Jerry Holkins & Mike Krahulik. Yet another web comic collection. (Borrowed from Teena.)
     
319. White Night by Jim Butcher.
     
     Still liking the Dresden Files novels. This was NOT borrowed from Michael. I finally bought my own copies.
     
320. Red/Tokyo Storm Warning by Warren Ellis, Cully Hamner, & James Raiz. The trailers I've been seeing for the upcoming movie Red got me thinking about this, so I re-read it. The movie bears almost no resemblance to this, but I want to see it anyway, since I want to see Helen Mirren kick ass.
     
321. Invincible Iron Man, vol. 4: Stark Disassembled by Matt Fraction & Salvador Larroca. The covers on the original comics collected here are great and unlike any other comics I've ever seen.
     
     See?
     Unfortunately, the cover on this collection looks like any other comic.
     
     Not that the art is bad, just not distinctive.(Checked out of the library.)
     
322. Small Favor by Jim Butcher. Volume 10.
     
323. The Best American Comics 2007 by various.
     
324. Showcase Presents: DC Comics Presents: The Superman Team-Ups, vol. 1 bu various. That's quite a mouthful of a title. The stories collected here aren't exactly good, but they are entertaining. And they're a great introduction to DC characters.
     
325. Turn Coat by Jim Butcher. Volume 11.
     
326. Unwritten, vol. 2: The Inside Man by Mike Carey & Peter Gross.
     
     This series is fantastic and keeps getting better. One of the first things I read each time a new issue comes out.
     
327. Unknown Soldier, vol. 2: Easy Kill by Joshua Dysart, Alberto Ponticelli, & Pat Mastoni. (Library.)
     
328. Thor: The Warriors Three by Alan Zelenetz, Charles Vess, et al.
     
     Beautiful, beautiful artwork from Vess.
     
329. Dumbheart: A Get Fuzzy Collection by Darby Conley.
     
330. Empowered, vol. 6 by Adam Warren. As this series goes on, it moves further & further from its roots in cheesecake pin-ups.
     
331. X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back by Kathryn Immonen & Sara Pichelli. (Library.)
     
332. Locke & Key, vol. 3: Crown of Shadows by Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez. This is getting more interesting as it goes along. (Borrowed from Teena.)
     
333. Sir Apropos of Nothing: Gypsies, Vamps, and Thieves by Peter David & Robin Riggs. Comic version of David's anti-hero.
     
334. Criminal, vol. 5: The Sinners by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips
     
     Great noir.
     
335. PS238, vol. 8: When Worlds Go Splat! by Aaron Williams. (Borrowed from Teena.)
     
336. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, vol. 6: Retreat by Jane Espenson & Georges Jeanty. This is getting better. I wasn't terribly impressed with the early volumes, but I quite liked this one.
     
337. Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 23 by Hiromu Arakawa. Not done yet, but winding up to the conclusion. (Library.)
     
338. Shade, the Changing Man, vol. 3: Scream Time by Peter Milligan & Chris Bachalo. Glad more of this is finally being collected.
     
339. John Constantine, Hellblazer: Hooked by Peter Milligan, Giuseppe Camuncoli, et al.
     
340. Changes by Jim Butcher. And with this, I am caught up with the Dresden Files books. Can't wait for the short story collection (due soon) and the next novel (April).
     
341. DC Comics Presents: Jack Cross by Warren Ellis & Gary Erskine. Interesting little story that probably would never have gotten collected if DC weren't trying out a new format.
     
342. Wally Gropius: The Umpteen Millionaire by Tim Hensley. (Library.)
     
343. The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects by Mike Mignola.
     
     Goofy stories by Mignola.
     
344. Patsy Walker: Hellcat by Kathryn Immonen, David Lafuente, & Stuart Immonen. Absurd & silly super-hero stories.

Movie Catch-Up
Before I get into the books I've been reading, I thought I'd deal with the movies I've seen in the last month or so.

• Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Brain That Wouldn't Die
  
• The Matrix Revolutions with the RiffTrax commentary.
  
• Doctor Who: The Sontaran Experiment
  
• Hancock Okay, but not terribly memorable.
  
• Little Big Man I had forgotten how depressing this is. I don't know why, given that it's about Native Americans in the 19th century.
  
• Tokyo Godfathers Another great movie from Satoshi Kon.
  
• MST3K: The Horrors of Spider Island We watched this our first night in the new place. Teena picked it out because the host segments deal with moving.
  
• MST3K: The Giant Gila Monster
  
• Kung Fu Hustle I love this movie. So much fun.
  
• Pirates of the Caribbean : The Curse of the Black Pearl with the Rifftrax commentary. Teena and I like to pretend that Disney showed restraint and did not make any sequels.
  
  And now for the movies from the (last?) H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival:
  
• The Burrowers Nice, suspenseful western. I do think the filmmakers made a mistake in giving the audience a good look at the monsters in the last part of the movie.
  
• Pan's Labyrinth Such a great movie.
  
• Shorts Block 3. Pretty good selection of shorts, including a great parody of those ads promoting religion.
  
• The Whole Wide World Bio-pic of Robert E. Howard. Probably would not have seen it if there had been anything besides readings & panels on opposite it. I'm glad there wasn't, because this was great. Vincent D'Onofrio & Renee Zellweger give fantastic performances.
  
• Shorts Block 2. Not quite as good as Block 3. I really think it is a bad choice to present a dramatic reading as a movie. Either make it audio only or put in the effort to make it visually interesting.
  
• Shorts Block 1. Other than a humorous piece about a "paranormal drug dealer", I didn't much care for this block. Skipped out early so we could see
  
• Dreams of the Witch House. The most incompetently-made movie I have ever seen. Hilarious.
  
• The Unnamable Oh so 80s horror flick.
  
• The Unnamable Returns: The Statement of Randolph Carter Slightly less 80s than the first one, but just as cheesy.
  
• Dagon Pretty good adaptation of Shadow over Innsmouth. Not exactly faithful, but it doesn't abandon the story either.
  
• El Monstruo del Mar. Lovecraft mixed with Russ Meyer. Not good. Too long at 75 minutes, sound problems, hints at backstory that go unexplored, and main characters made irredeemably unsympathetic in the first 15 minutes.
  
  And one DVD that I picked up at the Festival:
  
• The Cosmic Horror Fun-Pak. A collection of short films from a local production company.