Halloween Eve

Mass Effect has been eating up a lot of my time lately, so I'll keep things short.

374. Motel Art Improvement Service by Jason Little.
     
     (Checked out of the library.)
375. Showcase Presents: Secrets of Sinister House by various. Horror stories from the early 70s. I've read one of the other horror Showcase Presents volumes before, and I wasn't impressed. I think I liked this one better because I read a story or two a day rather than devouring the whole thing at once.
376. Snuff by Terry Pratchett.
     
     After learning that Terry Pratchett has early onset Alzheimer's, I keep expecting each new Discworld novel to be the last, but he's still going strong. This latest one may be a little predictable, but Pratchett still understands human nature as well as ever.
377. Dracula: The Company of Monsters, vol. 3 by Kurt Busiek, Daryl Gregory, Damien Couciero & Scot Godlewski. Conclusion to the best vampire story I've read in a long time. (Library.)
378. The All-New Atom: Future/Past by Gail Simone, Mike Norton & Eddy Barrows.
379. Invincible Iron Man, vol. 8: Unfixable by Matt Fraction, Salvador Larroca, et al. (Library.)
380. Sigil: Out of Time by Mike Carey & Leonard Kirk. Great young-adult fantasy story. I hope to see more of this.
381. Essential Monster of Frankenstein by various. Frankenstein's Monster in Marvel comics. Pretty good, although the stories from the black and white magazines (that were not subject to the Comics Code) were too nihilistic for my tastes.
382. Superman/Batman: Worship by Paul Levitz, Jerry Ordway & Renato Guedes. (Library.)
383. Greek Street vol. 3: Medea's Luck by Peter Milligan, Werther Dell'edera & Davide Gianfelice.
     
     The final collection of this comic updating Greek myths to current day London.
384. Vertigo Resurrected: The Eaters by Peter Milligan, Dean Ormston, et al.
385. Dungeon Zenith, vol. 3: Back in Style by Joann Sfar, Lewis Trondheim & Boulet. (Library)
386. The All New Atom: The Hunt for Ray Palmer by Gail Simone & Mike Norton.
387. DC Comics Presents: Superboy's Legion by Mark Farmer & Alan Davis. The DC Comics Presents format is giving DC a place to reprint a bunch of Elseworlds stories. Fine by me.
388. Showcase Presents: The Phantom Stranger, vol. 2 by various.
     
     More Comics Code-approved horror.
389. Morning Glories, vol. 2: All Will Be Free by Nick Spencer & Joe Eisma. The Prisoner meets teen drama. I enjoy this series quite a lot, but I do hope we start getting at least a few answers soon.
390. Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis by Warren Ellis & Kaare Andrews.

Movies:

• Doctor Who: The Two Doctors. The 6th Doctor (Colin Baker) meets the 2nd (Patrick Troughton).
• Thor. Enjoyed this more than I expected. Plenty of jokes and some spectacular action.
• Howl's Moving Castle. When it has been a while since I've seen a studio Ghibli movie, I forget how beautiful they are. I love this movie.
• Kakurenbo. Japanese animated short. Horror story about a special game of hide & seek.
• Bride of Frankenstein.
• Frankenstein. Teena & I probably should have watched these two in the other order, but once we finished Bride, we realized there was time to watch the first movie. Really impressed by Karloff's performance, especially in that costume & under that makup.

And that brings me up to date.

Skip Week

Not many books this week (since I read a novel). And since I spent the afternoon playing Mass Effect, I'll put things off until next week.

Some Spooooky Books

We are well into October, so I have been picking some horror titles for my reading. Not everything, but some.

367. The All-New Atom: My Life in Miniature by Gail Simon, John Byrne, & Eddy Barrows. Finally got around to picking up the collections of Simone's run.
368. American Vampire, v.2 by Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque & Mateus Santolouco. I'm enjoying this series, but I'm not blown away by it. (Checked out of the library.)
369. Hellboy, vol. 11: The Bride of Hell and Others by Mike Mignola, Richard Corben, Kevin Nowlan & Scott Hampton.
     
     Latest collection of Hellboy short stories, including the one in which Hellboy spends time fighting as a luchador in 50s Mexico. Great stuff, as always.
370. Captain America: Man Out of Time by Mark Waid & Jorge Molina. The story of Cap dealing with culture shock after being rescued from the ice where he spent the years since WWII. Very well done. Waid really gets the character and what he stands for. (Library.)
371. iZombie, vol. 2: uVampire
     by Chris Roberson & Michael Allred, with Gilbert Hernandez.
     This series is really growing on me. I like the characters and am looking forward to seeing where Roberson takes them.
372. Amulet, bk. 4: The Last Council by Kazu Kibuishi.
     
     And now I am caught up with this series and will have to wait a year before I learn what happens next. Great, all-ages comics. (Borrowed from Teena.)
373. Scary Godmother Comic Book Stories by Jill Thompson.
     
     It's so nice to have all of Thompson's Scary Godmother comics collected into one book. Really fun stuff. Aimed at kids (complete with craft projects and snack recipes) but enjoyable by adults as well. Tons of spooky fun. Highly recommended.

And now for movie catch-up:

• Bringing Up Baby. Cary Grant & Katharine Hepburn are hilarious in this screwball comedy. I was surprised to learn that the movie didn't do well when it was first released, because it is fantastic. Wonderful performances all around.
• Ocean's 11. The original from the 60s. The recent remake bears almost no resemblance to this. It's interesting, but a very different movie.
• Clue. About the only good movie I can see being made from a board game. So many great comedians in this.
• James Burke's Connections. Thanks to Netflix, Teena & I watched this series about how things are connected. Some amazing chains of connection. Absolutely fascinating. We will be getting the later series soonish but need a break right now.

Lots of Books This Week

349. Mermaid Saga, vol. 4 by Rumiko Takahashi. Final volume of this horror series.
350. Frequently Asked Questions: An Unshelved Collection by Bill Barnes & Gene Ambaum. More comic strips about a public library. (Checked out of the library.)
351. Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch.
     
     Enjoyed this so much when I got it from the library a few months back I decided to pick up a copy at Stumptown Comics Fest. Deutsch is local, and he was there. So I got this copy signed. Wonderful story. I hope there will be more.
352. Invincible Iron Man, vol. 7: My Monsters by Matt Fraction, Salvador Larroca & Carmine Di Giandomenico. Another Iron Man collection. This one includes a story that takes the Iron Man villain The Mandarin, and rescues him from his racist origins as a Yellow Peril cliche. (Checked out of the library.)
353. Taskmaster: Unthinkable by Fred Van Lente & Jefte Pao. A minor character that's been around for ages get a back-story. Both funny (especially Don of the Dead) & touching. (Library.)
354. The Other Side of the Mirror, vol. 1 by Jo Chen. Romance comic. The art is very nice, but the story feels amateurish. But then, this is one of Chen's first published works.
355. The Other Side of the Mirror, vol. 2 by Jo Chen.
356. Shadowland: Power Man by Fred Van Lente & Mahmud Asrar. A new character emerges from a Marvel cross-over. (Library.)
357. Strange Science Fantasy by Scott Morse.
     
     Fun, weird stories using comics tropes from non-superhero genres: war, detective, adventure, science fiction. I quite enjoyed this. (Library.)
358. Korgi, vol. 3 by Christian Slade. Latest volume of this silent comic about a magical korgi and his friends. (Borrowed from Teena.)
359. The Sandman by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
     
     I had gotten used to Golden Age comics being more about enthusiasm than skill. A lot of the comics I've read from the 40s have an undeniable energy (stemming from the excitement of young people doing something that's brand new), but they're just not very good. That is not the case with the stories reprinted in this book. They're great. Simon & Kirby knew what they were doing, and they crafted some highly entertaining stories about a guy in a purple and yellow jumpsuit. So glad I picked this up.
360. Amulet, bk. 3: The Cloud Searchers by Kazu Kibuishi.
     
     The story continues. Still fantastic. (Borrowed from Teena.)
361. John Constantine, Hellblazer: Bloody Carnations by Peter Milligan, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Stefano Landini & Simon Bisley. I am glad that Milligan's run on Hellblazer turned out to be one of the things by him that I enjoy. I'm not sure what is happening with the character now that he is again part of the main DC universe. I hope this continues as a separate continuity.
362. Questionable Content, vol. 2 by Jeph Jacques. The second collection of the web-comic. (Borrowed from Teena.)
363. Ruse: The Victorian Guide to Murder by Mark Waid, Mirco Pierfederici & Minck Ooserveer.
     
     Sherlock Holmes pastiche. Pretty good, too.
364. Essential Defenders, vol. 4 by various. It took me a long time to get through this book. The stories just didn't hold my interest, especially the "Tunnelworld" one. That story dragged on and on. There was a great bit late in the book when Valkyrie and the Hulk go grocery shopping. Other than that, it was pretty dire.
365. Paying for It: A Comic-Strip Memoir about Being a John by Chester Brown. This is a very odd book. Self-serving, I have to assume. I don't think that Brown is going to convince anybody who doesn't already think prostitution should be decriminalized, but his arguments are interesting (if not persuasive). (Library.)
366. Chester 5000 XYV by Jess Fink. Silent steampunk erotic comics.

That's a lot of books, so I'll hold off on movies until next week.

Light on Books, but Finally Some Movies

344. Northlanders, vol. 5 Metal and Other Stories by Brian Wood, Riccardo Burichelli et al. Another volume in this series of stories about vikings. I especially liked the third story, "The Girl in the Ice." (Checked out of the library.)
345. The Ballad of Sleeping Beauty by Gabriel Benson & Mike Hawthorne.
     
     Fairy tale western. Pretty good, but I didn't find it particularly compelling.
346. Amulet, bk. 2: The Stonekeeper's Curse by Kazu Kibuishi.
     
     The next volume. Wonderful stuff. I do seem to be managing to pace myself on these, but it's hard. I want to see what happens next. Wonderful fantasy series aimed at kids but enjoyable by adults. (Borrowed from Teena.)
347. Black Jack, vol. 15 by Osamu Tezuka. Yet another volume. Still great. (Library.)
348. Mermaid Saga, vol. 3 by Rumiko Takahashi. These stories are quite good. I wouldn't be surprised if this didn't sell as well as her romantic comedy stories, but I wish Takahashi would do more like this.

And that's it for books this week. But the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival was this weekend. The main festival has moved to southern California, although, there will be a satellite festival in Portland in spring starting next year. This was a shorter festival to tide us over until then. There were 2 shorts blocks; one of which I didn't much care for (except for a single, fairy-tale like story about mismatched silverware), the other of which was pretty good. There were also 2 feature films:

• The Whisperer in Darkness, which is a fantastic adaptation of the story. Extremely well-done. Very impressive.
• Die Farbe, a German adaptation of "The Color Out of Space", my favorite Lovecraft story. I was blown away by this. This actually captured the sense of dread, foreboding and helplessness of the story. (Very unlike the Italian adaptation I saw a couple of years ago that went for shock and gore rather than attempting to actually capture the feel of the story.)

Enjoyed the festival, and the shorter length meant that Teena and I weren't completely wiped out when it it was over. So that was nice.

Last Sunday in September

332. Atomic Robo, vol. 5: Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science by Brian Clevinger & Scott Wegener.
     
     I'm glad I stuck with this series after the first volume (which felt a lot like a Hellboy pastiche). It keeps getting better & funnier. (Checked out of the library.)
333. Fallen Angel: Return of the Son by Peter David & J.K. Woodward. This appears to be the final volume of this series. There is a chance there will be more, but they will be quite dark, and I'm not sure I will get them.
334. Vertigo Resurrected: Johnny Double by Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso. Another mini-series collected.
335. 20th Century Boys, vol. 16: Beyond the Looking Glass by Naoki Urasawa.
     
     Another nine volumes to go, and I'm still eagerly anticipating each one. Can't wait to see where it goes next.
336. Thunderbolts: Violent Rejection by Jeff Parker, Kev Walker & Declan Shalvey. Don't know what to say other than that I enjoyed this. (Library.)
337. Amulet, Book 1: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi
     
     The fourth book in this series is coming, so I decided it was time to re-read this one and to finally read 2 and 3. I had forgotten how good this fantasy comic is. Looking forward to reading more. (Borrowed from Teena.)
338. Excalibur Visionaries: Warren Ellis, vol. 1 by Warren Ellis, et al. Even though I like Ellis's writing a lot, I resisted picking up this collection of some of his early work at Marvel. But I found a used copy and picked it up. The first issues reprinted here don't impress me, but the final three issues are definitely Ellis doing good work. The character he introduced earlier, Pete Wisdom, starts to feel like the standard Ellis protagonist (if you've read Transmetropolitan or Gravel or just about anything Ellis has written, you know what I mean). I'll be getting the other volumes when the opportunity presents itself.
339. The Best of Archie Comics by various.
     
     Over 400 pages of comics ranging from Archie's first appearance in 1941 to an issue from 2010, all for $10. This is quite a bargain. I will never claim that Archie comics are high art, but they can be plenty entertaining.
340. Showcase Presents: Blackhawk by unknown and Dick Dillin. DC comics no longer knows who wrote these stories from the late 50s, but they do know that Dillin drew them. The first few issues reprinted here are all about how evil Communists are, and the stories suffer for it. (Not that I'm pro-communist. Just anti-propaganda.) Once the Blackhawks' opponents become gangsters with fantastic weapons and vehicles, the stories get more readable.
341. Stan Lee's Starborn, vol. 1: Beyond the Far Stars by Chris Roberson & Khary Randolph. (Library.)
342. Mermaid Saga, vol. 1 by Rumiko Takahashi. Not her usual formula, but this is a horror series, not a romantic comedy.
343. Mermaid Saga, vol. 2 by Rumiko Takahashi.

Still no movies.

Mid-September

323. X'ed Out by Charles Burns.
     
     Disturbing, as Burns always is. I had not realized this was the first volume of a series. Looking forward to more. I wonder if the next volume will also have a certain Tintin feel to it. (Checked out of the library.)
324. Hulk Visionaries: Peter David, vol. 8 by Peter David, Dale Keown, et al. David wrote the Hulk for a long time, and I am very glad his run is being collected.
325. Fantastic Four, vol. 4 by Jonathan Hickman & Steve Epting. Hickman seems a perfect fit for the Fantastic Four. Plenty of super-science concepts flying around. (Library.)
326. Sweet Tooth, vol. 3: Animal Armies by Jeff Lemire. Latest collection of this post-apocalyptic comic. Sweet an horrifying at the same time. The more of Lemire's work I read, the more I like him.
327. Star Trek: The Manga, Ultimate Edition by various. Manga-style comics about classic Trek.
328. The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum, Eric Shanower & Skottie Young.
     
     Comics adaptation of the second Oz novel. I had forgotten just how funny these books can sometimes be. (Borrowed from Teena.)
329. Essential Spider-Man, vol. 7 by Gerry Conway, Len Wein, Ross Andru, et al. When I was a kid, I had a subscription to The Amazing Spider-Man sometime in the mid-70s. The issues I got in my subscription are reprinted in this volume. It was a weird feeling, re-reading something after 35 or so years.
330. Madame Xanadu, vol. 4: Extra Sensory by Matt Wagner, et al. I had thought volume 3 was the final collection of this series, but I was wrong. However, this is the last one.
331. Congress of the Animals by Jim Woodring.
     
     Woodring's comics are always surreal and dream-like, particularly his Frank stories, which are wordless. Freaky stuff, but very good. (Library.)

No movies this week.