Another Week, More Books

38. Scary Godmother: Ghoul's Out for Summer by Jill Thompson. Comics featuring Thompson's spooky characters. For some reason, I did not get this when it first came out years ago. And I have regretted it ever since, as the book went out of print. Fortunately, I found a used copy at Powell's. Fun stuff for all ages.
    
39. Siege: Thor by Kieron Gillen, Billy Tan, et al. I still haven't read the main Siege story (and it sounds like I'm not missing much), but this is quite good (although it does feel disjointed, since a lot of the story is happening elsewhere). (Checked out of the library.)
    
40. John Constantine, Hellblazer: India by Peter Milligan, et al. More horror. This time dealing with some aspects of Britain's colonial legacy.
    
41. B.P.R.D., vol. 14: King of Fear by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, & Guy Davis. The conclusion of the first part of B.P.R.D.'s story. I'm guessing later parts won't take 14 volumes to cover, but I am looking forward to reading them.
    
42. The Creeper by Steve Ditko.
    
    While Ditko's art is very stylized, I like it a lot, and it does not disappoint. The writing on the stories collected here, on the other hand, is not exactly, scintillating. Still, it's nice to see Ditko get some love.
    
43. Marvel Adventures Spider-Man: Spectacular by Paul Tobin, Roberto Di Salvo, et al. I have now caught up on the collections of Tobin's Marvel Adventures Spider-Man. (There are other Marvel Adventures books he has written I still need to get.)
    
44. Marvels: Eye of the Camera by Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern, & Jay Anaclete. Sequel to Busiek & Alex Ross's Marvels. Well done, but kind of depressing since it focuses on a time when Marvel Comics were filled with anti-heroes.
    
45. Tangent Comics, vol. 3 by various.
    
46. Ayako by Osamu Tezuka.
    
    Tezuka's saga about a powerful and decadent family in post-War Japan.

Not much in the way of movies this week, so I'll put those off.

Lots of Books

25. Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, vol. 14: Thwip! by Paul Tobin & Matteo Lolli. All-ages comics. Lots of fun. Wish I'd picked this up when it first came out.
    
26. The Muppet Show Comic Book: Family Reunion by Roger Langridge & Amy Mebberson.
    
    Great translation of the Muppet Show to comics.
    
27. Hikaru No Go, vol. 18:Six Characters, Six Stories by Yumi Hotta & Takeshi Obata. A break from the main storyline for some side stories about characters other than the main one. (Checked out of the library.)
    
28. 20th Century Boys, vol. 12: Friend's Face by Naoki Urasawa.
    
    Half-way through the series. The identity of the mysterious and sinister "Friend" is finally revealed.
    
29. Marvel Adventures Spider-Man: Peter Parker vs. the X-Men by Paul Tobin, et al. Oddly, Marvel decided to stop numbering these digests with this volume. Also, the chose to skip an issue. Don't know why. Don't care about the numbering, but wish they had included issue #57.
    
30. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents Earth (the Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race. Funny stuff. Great bathroom reading.
    
31. Starman Omnibus, vol. 5 by James Robinson, Peter Snejbjerg, et al.
    
    The penultimate collection of the best super-hero comic of the 90s.
    
32. Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch. Great fantasy story about "yet another troll-fighting 11-year-old Orthodox Jewish girl." Can't wait for Stumptown to pick up a copy directly from Deutsch. (Library.)
    
33. Essential X-Men, vol. 6 by Chris Claremont, John Romita Jr., et al. Oh, the angst.
    
34. Gorilla-Man by Jeff Parker & Giancarlo Caracuzzo. Parker knows how to write enjoyable comics. In this one, we get the back story to one of the characters from Agents of Atlas.
    
35. Marvel Adventures Spider-Man: Amazing by Paul Tobin & Matteo Lolli. One advantage to having fallen behind on Tobin's Marvel Adventures stories is that now I have a bunch of cool comics to read.
    
36. Set to Sea by Drew Weing. Short graphic novel about a poet who gets Shanghaied and discovers his love for the sea. (Borrowed from Teena.)
    
37. Dr. Horrible and Other Horrible Stories by Zack Whedon, et al. Basically back-stories for the major players (and a couple minor characters) from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Several movies this time around:

• Doctor Who: The Beginning The first three Doctor Who stories from 1963. I had never seen these before. The first Doctor was quite the jerk. Interesting to see the very first Dalek story too.
  
• Despicable Me Teena saw this over the summer when she was in California, but I hadn't seen it before. Funny & very sweet.
  
• Clash of the Titans The new version, but we watched it with the RiffTrax commentary. It wouldn't have been unwatchable without the jokes, but they made it a lot more palatable.

First Movies of 2011

• Fantastic Mr. FoxCute stop-motion animation. Definitely a Wes Anderson film.
  
• Toy Story 3Finally saw this. Wow. This may be my favorite of the series. Very moving.
  
• Doctor Who: The Caves of AndrozaniPeter Davison's final story as the Doctor. Very dark.
  
• Doctor Who: Spearhead from SpaceJon Pertwee's first story as the Doctor. A good introduction to the character. And, this is the first thing we watched on Netflix Watch Instantly, which we recently signed up for. We've been really enjoyed WI so far and will be keeping it for a while.
  
• Dragon Wars - D-WarWe watched this with the Rifftrax commentary, which is the only reason the movie was bearable. This is an Ed Wood level bad movie. No attempt at continuity. Many plot-holes. Characters who are never introduced. Terrible, terrible movie.

Another New Design

Decided I wasn't terribly happy with the note paper design, so I have changed it.

14. Star Wars Legacy, vol. 7: Storms by John Ostrander, Jan Duursema, & Omar Francia. Better Star Wars stories than Lucas has done in over 20 years.
    
15. Marvel 1602: Spider-Man by Jeff Parker & Ramon Rosanas. Nice re-imagining of Spider-Man. (Checked out of the library.)
    
16. Echo, vol. 5: Black Hole by Terry Moore. Looking forward to reading the whole story at once when it is completed.
    
17. Star Wars Legacy, vol. 8: Tatooine by John Ostrander, Jan Duursema, & Kajo Baldisimo. Finally got through the volumes I had read before.
    
18. Star Wars Legacy, vol. 9: Monster by John Ostrander, Jan Duursema, & Dave Ross.
    
19. Captain America: The Bloodstone Hunt by Mark Gruenwald & Kieron Dwyer. Solid super-heroics aimed directly at kids. Not high art by any means, but fun and entertaining. (Library.)
    
20. Star Wars Legacy, vol. 10: Extremes by John Ostrander & Jan Duursema. The final volume of the ongoing series. There is at least one mini-series continuing the story of Cade Skywalker. Looking forward to that collection.
    
21. Thor the Mighty Avenger, vol. 1 by Roger Langridge & Chris Samnee.
    
    Great, fun comics. Unfortunately, the series has been canceled. Apparently sales were low because too many fanboys won't buy out-of-continuity comics because they "don't count". Which is a stupid attitude to take. (I have to admit that I didn't buy this series either. In my defense, I decided not to buy it for budgetary reasons. I was waiting for the collection. Not much consolation for the creators, though.)
    
22. A Red Mass for Mars by Jonathan Hickman & Ryan Bodenheim. Interesting take on super-hero cross-over events. (Library.)
    
23. Peepo Choo, vol. 1 by Felipe Smith. I've read some interesting things about this series online, so I thought I'd give it a try. Not really my thing, but I have to admit that the end of the volume got me curious about the next book.
    
24. Seige: Thunderbolts by Jeff Parker & Miguel Sepulveda. Team of super-villains caught up in a Marvel cross-over.

I have tomorrow off, so I will update movies then.

First Books of 2011

Here we go:

1. Rocketo, vol. 1: Journey to the Hidden Sea by Frank Espinosa.
   
   Adventure & pulp-influenced derring-do. (I had listed this on my A-Z list, but that was incorrect. The list is for books that I read for the first time this year. It's just that when I read it before, it was from the library. I enjoyed it enough that I wanted to own it.)
   
2. Rocketo, vol. 2: The Journey to the Hidden Sea by Frank Espinosa. Beautiful, stylized art.
   
3. Chew Omnivore Edition, vol. 1 by John Layman & Rob Guillory. This series is growing on me. I still don't quite get why so many people rave about it online, but I am enjoying it more. (Checked out of the library.)
   
4. Invincible Iron Man, vol. 5: Stark Resilient, bk. 1 by Matt Fraction & Salvador Larroca. (Library.)
   
5. The Guild by Felicia Day & Jim Rugg. Backstory for the web series about a group of MMORPG players. Very funny.
   
6. Star Wars Vector, vol. 2 by various. This contains Star Wars Legacy, vol. 6.
   
7. Castle Waiting, vol. 2 by Linda Medley.
   
   Wonderful, low-key fantasy series. I am saddened and frustrated that Medley seems to have abandoned it. The story is nowhere near done, but there hasn't been a new issue in ages, and her website has disappeared. Her Wikipedia page says she's working on a series of graphic novels based on the Oz books. I'm hoping they come soon and she returns to Castle Waiting (although I am afraid the series may not be financially viable for her). A bit of oddness about this book: Medley's name only appears in the copyright notice and on a sticker on the back cover. (Borrowed from Teena.)
   
8. Secret Warriors, vol. 4: Last Ride of the Howling Commandos by Jonathan Hickman & Alessandro Vitti. (Library.)
   
9. Black Widow and the Marvel Girls by Paul Tobin, et al. All-ages friendly comics.
   
10. Spider-Man and the Secret Wars by Paul Tobin & Patrick Sherberger. More all-ages stuff. I really enjoy Tobin's work. This volume also reprints the first issue of the original Secret Wars comic. Man, Jim Shooter wrote some ham-fisted exposition. It's terrible.
    
11. Haunted Mansion by various. Anthology of stories set in Disney's Haunted Mansion.
    
12. Ubu Bubu, vol. 1: Filth by Jamie Smart. Comic about a cute kitty possessed by a demon and the hi-jinx they get up to.
    
13. Two-Step by Warren Ellis & Amanda Connor. Fun science fiction set in a near-future London. "He's a Zen gangster. She's a bored camgirl. They don't fight crime."

Movies can wait until next time.

2010 A-Z

No regular post, as I haven't read much since yesterday, but here is my list of A-Z titles read throughout 2010.

Agents of Atlas: Dark Reign, by Jeff Parker, et al
B.P.R.D., v. 11: The Black Goddess, by Mike Migola, John Arcudi, & Guy Davis
Children of the Sea, v. 1, by Daisuke Igarashi
Detroit Metal City, v. 1, by Kiminori Wakasugi
Electropolis: The Infernal Machine, by Dean Motter
Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds, by Geoff Johns & George Perez
Gravel, v. 2: The Major Seven, by Warren Ellis & Mike Wolfer
Heart of the Beast, by Dean Motter, Judith Dupre, & Sean Phillips
Icon: A Hero's Welcome, by Dwayne McDuffie & M.D. Bright
Jack Staff, v. 4: Rocky Realities, by Paul Grist
Kickback, by David Lloyd
Life and Times of Savior 28, by J.M. DeMatteis & Mike Cavallero
Mourning Star, v. 2, by Kazimir Strzepek
No Hero, by Warren Ellis & Juan Jose Ryp
Order of the Stick, v. 4: Don't Split the Party, by Rich Burlew
Pluto, v.7, by Naoki Urasawa
Question, vol. 6: Peacemaker, by Dennis O'Neil & Denys Cowan
Read Responsibly: Unshelved, v. 5, by Gene Ambaum & Bill Barnes
Shivering Sands, by Warren Ellis
Thor: Ages of Thunder, by Matt Fraction, et al
Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai, by Stan Sakai
Vixen: Return of the Lion, by G. Willow Wilson & Cafu
What a Wonderful World!: v. 1, by Inio Asano
XKCD, v. 0, by Randall Munroe
Yotsuba &!, v. 6, by Kiyohiko Azuma
Zorro, v.2: Clashing Blades, by Matt Wagner & Cezar Razek.

Last Books of 2010

454. Ex Machina, vol. 8: Dirty Tricks by Brian K. Vaughan, Tony Harris, & John Paul Leon. Glad I decided to re-read this series before reading the final volume. There are lots of details I had forgotten.
     
455. Excalibur Classic, vol. 4: Cross-Time Caper Book 2 by Chris Claremont, et al. (Checked out of the library.)
     
456. Ex Machina, vol. 9: Ring Out the Old by Brian K. Vaughan, Tony Harris, & John Paul Leon.
     
457. Ex Machina, vol. 10: Term Limits by Brian K. Vaughan & Tony Harris.
     
     I'm not sure how I feel about the end of this series. It fits, but feels unresolved and unsatisfying. I can't wait for Teena to reread the series & get to this volume so I can discuss the conclusion with her.
     
458. Star Wars Legacy, vol. 5: The Hidden Temple by John Ostrander & Jan Duursema. Going slower on this re-read since I don't have the final volume yet.
     
459. Dark X-Men by Paul Cornell & Leonard Kirk. (Library.)
     
460. DC Comics Presents Batman #3 by Ed Brubaker & Scott McDaniel. Not sure why DC chose to reprint these comics in this format (basically a thick issue of a comic, complete with ads) rather than as a book, but it's reasonably priced, and the comics are good, so I'm not complaining.
     
461. Untouchable by Mike Carey, Samit Basu, & Ashok Bhadana. Horror story set in 19th century India & England.

And those are all the books I read in 2010.

A couple more movies:

• Doctor Who: The King's DemonsChristmas present from Teena. Short Fifth Doctor story.
  
• True Grit. Blown away by this movie. Glad I watched the original before seeing this. Amazing performances by Jeff Bridges and especially Hailee Steinfeld. I don't love every Coen Brothers movie, but when they are on, they are ON.
  
• RiffTrax: ManiacAbsolutely insane 1934 movie nominally about mental illness. Shockingly, this movie contains nudity, not something I expected to see in a movie this old.