Lots of books and a late start

26. Bound By Law?: Tales from the Public Domain by Keith Aoki, James Boyle, & Jennifer Jenkins. Information about copyright law & the public domain, especially as it applies to documentary filmmakers, presented in comics format.
    
27. Buddh, vol. 5: Deer Park by Osamu Tezuka.
    
28. John Constantine, Hellblazer: Stations of the Cross by Mike Carey, Marcelo Frusin, Leonardo Manco, et al. Horror comics.
    
29. Buddha, vol. 6: Ananda by Osamu Tezuka.
    
30. Laika by Nick Abadzis. A very touching story about the first animal put into orbit. (Checked out of the library.)
    
31. Buddha, vol. 7: Prince Ajatasattu by Osamu Tezuka.
    
32. Buddha, vol. 8: Jatavana by Osamu Tezuka. I have to say that this entire series is simply amazing. A fantastic story, well told. My highest recommendation.
    
33. B.P.R.D., vol. 7: Garden of Souls by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, & Guy Davis. More thrilling adventures. Plus more information about Abe's past.
    
34. The Tarot Cafe, vol. 1 by Sang-Sun Park.
    
35. The Surrogates by Robert Venditti & Brett Weldele. Impressive science fiction graphic novel. I've heard that it's being made into a movie.
    
36. JLA: Kid Amazo by Peter Milligan & Carlos D'Anda. I was disappointed in this. I know Milligan can do better. It felt like he was writing down to the audience. If he hadn't written smart & clever superhero comics in the past, I'd say he hold superhero fans in contempt. Maybe his opinion of the fan-base has changed since he wrote X-Statix. Not recommended.
    
37. Azumanga Daioh Omnibus by Kiyohiko Azuma. Cute, sometimes baffling, comics about a group of high-school friends. (Library.)
    
38. Thunderbolts: Faith in Monsters by Warren Ellis & Mike Deodato Jr. There's quite a bit of nastiness here, but what else would you expect from Ellis writing super-villains posing as heroes? Good stuff.
    
39. Bookhunter by Jason Shiga. Man, graphic novels about librarians have started springing up lately. (See also: Rex Libris and Unshelved) (Library.)
    
40. Powers, vol. 11: Secret Identity by Brian Michael Bendis & Michael Avon Oeming.
    
41. Terrabella Smoot and the Unsung Monsters by Jon "Bean" Hastings. Kid's book.

Still don't feel like writing much

16. Shadowpact, vol. 2: Cursed by Bill Willingham, Tom Derenick, et al.
    
17. Charley's War: Blue's Story by Pat Mills & Joe Colquhoun. (Checked out of the library.)
    
18. NextWave: Agents of H.A.T.E., vol. 2: I Kick Your Face by Warren Ellis & Stuart Immonen. So much fun. Mindless action & funny jokes. Highly recommended.
    
19. Buddha, vol. 1: Kapilavastu by Osamu Tezuka. As you my recall, I checked the hardback editions of the books in this series out of the library. I've had all eight volumes in paperback for a while now, but I kept putting off reading them because it seemed like an intimidating task. I had forgotten how good these books are. They are quick reads and amazingly written. Tezuka was a master.
    
20. Buddha, vol. 2: The Four Encounters by Osamu Tezuka.
    
21. Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 15 by Hiromu Arwakawa.
    
22. Buddha, vol. 3: Devadatta by Osamu Tezuka.
    
23. Buddha, vol. 4: The Forest of Uruvela by Osamu Tezuka.
    
24. DramaCon, vol. 3 by Svetlana Chmakova. (Library.)
    
25. The Journal of Ride Theory Omnibus edited by Dan Howland. This is a print on demand collection of a 'zine put out by a guy I used to work with. JoRT was about amusement parks, particularly Disneyland. Our recent trip to southern California got me thinking about this, and I ordered it from Lulu. Very entertaining.

Another Short Entry

I just haven't felt like typing lately, so I don't have much to say about the following books.

7. Alan Moore's Yuggoth Cultures & Other Growths by Moore, et al. Miscellanea from Moore & a Lovecraftian story written by Antony Johnston.
   
8. Batman: Turning Points by various. An exploration of Batman's relationship with Commissioner Gordon throughout the years.
   
9. Mean by Steven Weissman. A collection of early Yikes! cartoons. (Checked out of the library.)
   
10. Piracy, vol. 2 by various. Reprint of EC comics from the 1950s.
    
11. The Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga by Paul Levitz & Keith Giffen. I've been meaning to re-read this for a while to see if it still holds up. I remember really enjoying these comics when I was a kid. And, while I don't find it as exciting as I once did, it's still entertaining. But probably only for people who are already LSH fans.
    
12. The Legion of Super-Heroes: Eye for an Eye by Paul Levitz, Keith Giffen, Steve Lightly, & Joe Orlando. Not quite as strong as the previous book, but still good.
    
13. Postcards: True Stories that Never Happened edited by Jason Rodriguez. An interesting concept for an anthology. The editor bought used postcards from junk shops & antique stores and gave them to writers & artists to use as story seeds. (Library.)
    
14. Jack of Fables, vol. 2: Jack of Hearts by Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges, Tony Akins, Steve Leialoha, & Andrew Pepoy. The main character in this series may be thoroughly selfish & unpleasant, but the stories about him are entertaining.
    
15. Astro Boy, vol. 21 by Osamu Tezuka.

The End of 2007

I feel I should mention that part of the reason my entries have been pretty sparse lately is that I've been spending a lot of time playing Super Mario Galaxy. (Of course, the main reason is that I'm lazy.)

518. Glister, #3: Glister and the Faerie Host by Andi Watson. Cute fantasy stuff.
     
519. Munden's Bar by various. A collection of back-up stories from GrimJack. There's some twisted stuff here. Twisted, but good.

The Beginning of 2008

1. The Mammoth Book of Best New Manga 2 edited by Ilya. Or, to give it a somewhat more accurate title, The Mammoth Book of Best New International, Manga-Influenced Comics. There's some pretty good stuff here, but nothing all that special. (Checked out of the library.)
   
2. Action Philosophers! Giant-Sized Thing, vol. 3 by Fred Van Lente & Ryan Dunlavey. More philosophy explained in understandable terms & funny drawings.
   
3. The Hood: Blood from Stones by Brian K. Vaughan & Kyle Hotz. Relatively early work from Vaughan about a small-time thug who stumbles across some magic clothes & how he tries use them to move up in the world.
   
4. Wyrd: The Reluctant Warrior by Jim Starlin. Not bad.
   
5. Blue Bettle: Road Trip by John Rogers, Keith Giffen, Cully Hamner, & Rafael Albuquerque. I really enjoy this comic. It's lots of fun. I guess I should be buying the individual issues rather than just picking up the collections, but money is limited.
   
6. Queen Bee by Chynna Clugston.

One of these days I should write about the games I've been playing. And I'm way behind on listing movies I've seen. Plus there's the trip to Disneyland. And I'm still intending to put down my thoughts on the latest League of Extraordinary Gentlemen book. And I want to explain why I think the writers of Lost grew up reading Legion of Super-Heroes comics.

Short, Short Entry

517. Q-Ko-Chan: The Earth Invader Girl, vol. 1 by Ueda Hajime. Strange manga from the creator of FLCL.

And that's the only book I finished in the past week. That's because we spent the week visiting Teena's parents for Christmas. We had a great time, especially the trip to Disneyland. More later.

Bare-Bones Entry

508. John Woo's 7 Brothers, vol. 1: Sons of Heaven, Son of Hell by John Woo, Garth Ennis, & Keevan Kang. (Checked out of the library.)
     
509. Jingle Belle: Dash Away All by Paul Dini & Jose Garibaldi.
     
510. Criminal, vol. 2: Lawless by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips
     
511. Starchild: Mythopolis II, vol. 1 by James A. Owen.
     
512. Unique by Dean Motter & Dennis Calero.
     
513. Batman: Year 100 by Paul Pope.
     
514. Space Usagi by Stan Sakai.
     
515. Narbonic, vol. 5 by Shaenon Garrity.
     
516. Showcase Presents: Legion of Super Heroes, vol. 1 by various.

I don't have a clever title for this entry (not that I ever do)

501. Warren Ellis' Blackgas by Warren Ellis, Max Fiumara, & Ryan Waterhouse. Zombies.
     
502. Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire by Mike Mignola & Christopher Golden. It took me a little while to get into this horror novel, but once I did, I enjoyed it quite a bit. (Checked out of the library.)
     
503. Megatokyo, vol. 3 by Fred Gallagher. Can't think of anything to say about this series that I haven't said before.
     
504. Scott Pilgrim, vol. 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together by Bryan Lee O'Malley. More game-logic and slacker adventures. Fun stuff.
     
505. Bow Wow Bugs a Bug by Mark Newgarden & Megan Montague Cash. Kid's book. (Library.)
     
506. The Escapists by Brian K. Vaughan, Steve Rolston, Jason Shawn Alexander, Philip Bond, & Eduardo Barreto. I never did really warm up to Michael Chabon Presents the Amazing Adventures of the Escapist, the anthology that pretended to reprint stories from the long & varied publishing history of the Escapist, the comic book character from The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. The conceit just never worked. The stories just couldn't live up to the descriptions from the novel. However this story, about three friends who try to make a go of publishing new Escapist comics, works wonderfully. I loved this. Highly recommended.
     
507. Knights of the Dinner Table Bundle of Trouble, vol. 23 by Jolly Blackburn, et al.