2009 Wrap-Up

496. The Art of Bryan Talbot. Not a lot of actual reading here, but some very nice art.
     
497. Incognito by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. The story of a super-villain who has gone into the witness protection program.
     
498. The Long Haul by Antony Johnston & Eduardo Barreto. I love a good heist story. The fact that this one is also a western is just icing on the cake.
     
499. The Arrival by Shaun Tan. Wordless story about the immigrant experience. Teena wrote a great post about it. (Borrowed from Teena.)
     
500. Birds of Prey: Dead of Winter by Gail Simone & Nicola Scott. Picked this up at a signing Simone did at a Portland comic store.
     
501. North World, vol. 2: The Epic of Conrad by Lars Brown. I enjoyed this quite a bit more than I did the first volume. I think that's because all the various elements introduced in the first book coalesced into a story in this one.
     
502. Templar, AZ, vol. 2: The Mob Goes Wild by Spike. Filled in the gap in my print collection of this great web-comic about an alternate-history world.
     
503. The Golden Age of DC Comics: 365 Days by various. Selected panels from the Golden Age of comics, one per day for a year.
     
504. The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My by Tove Jansson. Children's picture book.

And those are the 504 books I read in 2009.

Here are a few more movies watched last year:

• Avatar. The story may not be the most original (and it may contain no surprises), but the movie is extremely entertaining, and it looks absolutely gorgeous. The most convincing CGI characters I have ever seen.
  
• Cinematic Titanic: East Meets Watts. Many jokes cracked at a kung-fu blaxploitation film.
  
• Mystery Science Theater 3000: Night of the Blood Beast. Roger Corman. Need I say more?
  
• MST3K: Warrior of the Lost World. Such an 80s depiction of a post-apocalyptic world (that doesn't seem all that post- apocalyptic).

Last January I resolved to read at least one book a month that was not a graphic novel. I succeeded in that resolution. In fact, I read at least two non-graphic novel books each month (and in October I read four). I was also good about not getting behind in listing the movies & DVDs I watched. I was less successful in my resolution to make a dent in the number of unread Showcase Presents and Essential volumes I own. I have been reading them more frequently than ever, but I also have been buying more of them.

This year I resolve to maintain the resolutions from last year. And I am adding an A-Z reading challenge that Teena participated in last year. Basically in 2010 I'm going to try to read at least one book starting with each letter of the alphabet (detailed rules can be found in Teena's post). I will keep a running account in the sidebar.

I don't have much to report in 2010 yet, so I will save that for next week.