Back Up to Speed

When I'm not in the middle of an 800 page novel, I read more books:

75. Last of the Independents by Matt Fraction & Kieron Dwyer.
    
    Great heist comic from before Fraction hit it big at Marvel.
    
76. R.E.B.E.L.S., vol. 3: The Son and the Stars by Tony Bedard, Claude St. Aubin, et al. More space adventure fighting Starro the Conqueror. (Checked out of the library.)
    
77. Heralds by Kathryn Immonen, Tonci Zonjic, et al. This didn't really grab me. I keep hearing great things about Immonen, but her style doesn't really work for me. (Library.)
    
78. Hikaru no Go, vol. 21: Great Expectations by Yumi Hotta & Takeshi Obata. (Library.)
    
79. Casanova, vol. 1: Luxuria by Matt Fraction & Gabriel Ba.
    
    The book that turned me into a Matt Fraction fan. James Bond crossed with Jerry Cornelius as played by a young Mick Jagger. Fantastic ideas thrown about with reckless abandon. I bought the issues when Image first published them. I bought the Image collection. When Marvel's Icon imprint reprinted the issues, I bought them again. And now I bout the Icon collection. Haven't regretted one of those purchases. One of the best comics being published.
    
80. Richard Stark's Parker, bk. 1: The Hunter adapted by Darwyn Cooke.
    
    So stylish. Noir comics have never looked so good. I really need to get the second adaptation.
    
81. Madame Xanadu, vol. 3: Broken House of Cards by Matt Wagner, Amy Reeder, & Joele Jones. I guess I shouldn't complain that this series has been canceled, since I only bought the collections and not the issues, but I have to make choices about what I can afford. This is good stuff, and I'm looking forward to Wagner's next project, whatever it is.
    
82. House of Mystery, vol. 4:The Beauty of Decay by Matt Sturges, et al. While I like the short stories that appear here, I can't say the overall story has grown on me.
    
83. Essential Fantastic Four, vol. 5 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, et al. The last of the Kirby-drawn issues is collected here. I have to say the stories got less interesting after he left.
    
84. Showcase Presents Teen Titans, vol. 1 by Bob Haney & Nick Cardy. Once again, a middle-aged man's attempts to write teen slang of the 60s is vastly amusing.

Starting off movies with one I forgot last week.

• The Color of MagicWow. Amazing job of translating the first two Discworld books onto the screen. Great casting (including Sean Astin & Tim Curry) and wonderful visual effects (the Luggage looked great). Kind of blown away by this. Makes me want to see more adaptations. Hogfatheris also available, but that's a Christmas story, so I think it'll have to wait.
  
• Speed RacerThe most visually overloaded movie I've ever seen. Unlike anything else anybody else has done. And unfortunately, since it didn't make a ton of money, we're unlikely to see its like again. Full of heart and fun. The Wachowski's really explored what could be done with green screen, but they did so with a story that contains not a single ounce of cynicism. I adore this movie.
  
• The King's SpeechTeena & I wanted to see this before, but scheduling didn't work. The Oscar wins mean that it's showing more often now, and we took advantage of that. Excellent movie, with some fantastic performances.

The podcast this week is This American Life. If you listen to NPR, you probably already know all about it. And if you don't, check out the site. It's a good show.