Just Books This Time Around

16. Masterpiece Comics by R. Sikoryak. The Scarlet Letter as a Little Lulu comic. Beavis & Butthead in Waiting for Godot. Garfield crossed with Faust. And much more.
    
17. Empowered, vol. 5 by Adam Warren.
    
18. Children of the Sea, vol. 1 by Daisuke Igarashi. Giving a new manga series a try. It's okay. (Checked out of the library.)
    
19. Mr. X: Condemned by Dean Motter. Stylish as ever.
    
20. Agents of Atlas: Dark Reign by Jeff Parker, et al. I really enjoy Parker's writing, but this comic is hurt by inconsistent art. Not that the art is bad, but there's a new artist every issue or two. But despite that, this is a lot of fun. I'm sad that sales didn't match the comic's quality.
    
21. The Heart of the Beast by Dean Motter, Judith Dupre, & Sean Phillips. A story about the New York art scene in the 90's, but with Frankenstein's Monster as a character.
    
22. Ex Machina, vol. 8: Dirty Tricks by Brian K. Vaughan & Tony Harris. I'm not sure where Vaughan is going with this, but he is clearly building to something, and I'm enjoying the ride. Looking forward to re-reading the whole series when the final volume is published.
    
23. Punisher War Zone: The Resurrection of Ma Gnucci by Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon. Completely over the top. (Library.)
    
24. Memories of the Future, vol. 1 by Wil Wheaton. Remarkably clear-eyed account of the first half of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Wheaton doesn't pretend the first season wasn't wildly uneven (and mostly crap). And he is very funny. Looking forward to volume 2, when he puts it out through Lulu.
    
25. Icon: A Hero's Welcome by Dwayne McDuffie & M.D. Bright. I haven't read these comics since they first came out in the 90's. I had forgotten just how good they are. I hope this did well and they continue to publish collection of Milestone Comics (particuarly Blood Syndicate and Xombi).
    
26. Sub-Mariner: The Depths by Peter Milligan & Esad Ribic. I nearly didn't get this. Milligan runs hot & cold for me. For every X-Statix or Shade the Changing Man, there is an Infinity Inc. or Toxin. However, on the recommendations of Aaron & Evie of the Awesomed by Comics podcast, I picked this up and was pleased to find that it was more like the former than the latter.
    
27. Jack of Fables, vol. 6: The Big Book of War by Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges, & Tony Akins. Still enjoying this.

Haven't watched any movies this week, so this seems like a good opportunity to mention video games.

• Nearly done with Final Fantasy XII. However I just can't seem to get past the final boss. I need to refine my strategy, but when he kills me, I get discouraged & put the game away for a while. By the time I return to the game, I have forgotten the strategy I worked out after I last got killed. (And it doesn't help that there are long cut scenes and three boss battles between your last opportunity to save and the final boss.)
  
• When I either get past that final fight or simply give up on the game, I will move on to The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, which was a Christmas present from Teena. I love the games in this series and am looking forward to playing this one. (Assuming I can overcome my musical stupidity and get past the point where I am currently stuck trying to play some pan pipes.)
  
• And there is the latest acquisition: Marvel Ultimate Alliance, which is fun, but I need to figure the controls out a bit more so I can get past the first big boss: Fin Fang Foom.