Trying to get back on course here. Mostly bulk reading to clean up the comic area. I did add in three new ones just to get things started.

Fans of Terry Moore will most likely enjoy Parker Girls but I was hoping for some sort of style change this time. The characters are all reminiscent of his previous titles and the tone is fairly identical as well. Still worth the read but I’m hoping for a little more change in the next few.

Eve: Children of the Moon is a follow-up to EVE, the climate crisis story from May of 2021. The original arc is continued here as the girls have begun rebuilding plant life, and even civilization, as they keep in touch with the other settlements from the first story. Well, except one… I realize many of you did not read the first trade, but if you are in your public library, give this a go, you might enjoy it.

Briar is an interesting take on the the Sleeping Beauty story. I am not going to pretend it didn’t have a little Shrek feel to it but the story is interesting enough to continue. Dark fairy tales are always a good draw and this one has the right approach. All of the details about the main character, limbs weakened from being asleep for so long, no knowledge of the cultural shifts she’s missed, and her complete irrelevance to others, are put together well.  This could end up a good companion for I Hate Fairyland if it continues the way it is.

• Parker Girls #1
• Eve: Children of the Moon #1
• Geiger #4
• Geiger #5
• Geiger #6
• Briar #1
• Daredevil #26
• Daredevil #27
• Daredevil #28
• Daredevil #29
• Daredevil #30
• Daredevil #31
• Daredevil #32
• Daredevil #33
• Daredevil #34
• Black Widow #11
• Black Widow #12
• Black Widow #13
• Black Widow #14
• Black Widow #15

This week is a little more catch up but also a few I have avoided. The best of them is Daredevil #25, the continuing story of Elektra and Matt Murdock as it roles in and out of love and reality. Matt is in prison, Daredevil is not. The lead in to Daredevil Woman Without Fear was worth the 22 pages.

Not All Robots #4 actually made me concerned about the future in the comic. Robots going obsolete and dealing with being replaced hits a little too close to home. This added to the human uprising and the scary nature of the new version of robots. The parallel to our current political environment of rallies and name calling (both sides) made this a little uncomfortable, good but uncomfortable.

Beta Ray Bill #5 was a let down. I enjoyed the first few but they fell right back to Asgardian wins against Asgardian devil. I hate that. The five issues were not wasted, I just hoped for an original conclusion and a little less orange color as the page count dwindled.

• Grim #1
• The Me You Love In The Dark #4
• Beta Ray Bill #5
• Not All Robots #4
• Joy Operations #1
• Captain America & Iron Man #1
• Daredevil #25
• Shang Chi and the Ten Rings #1
• Skybound Presents After School #2

Sorry for the late publishing on this one. I forgot to push the button.

I decided to wrap up a few older titles I read to just catch up the piles. Spider Woman and Captain Marvel both are favorites of mine and rather than pick two or three issues, I will cover these and one new one.

Spider-Women wraps up the “Mother” story that began with this runs issue #1. Long term readers will get why this took so long but new readers should pass on this one. Family history is never easy and the 70’s base story is just too much to invest in.  That being said, I appreciated the mental state of the issues. Fear combined with long term family problems and anger at a close friend all bubble together. Jess will never be the same after this, but that might be a good thing.

Captain Marvel is a time travel arc. We all know how I love the title but time travel, again? The Marvel characters do show the endearment held for Carol Danvers and what her absence does to the timeline, but we knew this already. Knew “children” of heroes, some X-Men and I just want to scream about Kang for a year.

Minor Threats is a Patten Oswalt creation which I did find interest in. A criminal reform book, you should give this a chance if you want something out of the norm. Forgive the minor transition issues and focus on the larger point, a villain trying to get out.

• Spider-Woman #9
• Spider-Woman #10
• Spider-Woman #11
• Spider-Woman #12
• Spider-Woman #13
• Redshift #2
• Captain Marvel #24
• Captain Marvel #25
• Captain Marvel #26
• Captain Marvel #27
• Minor Threats #1
• Damage Control #1
• X-Men Legends #1

Having taken a mental beating over a rejection letter from the Washington Post, I sat in my tent the last few weeks and drank coffee with Achilles. Today I am back to work and put forth the below.

The two picks for this week are a similar genre in that they both are crime/criminal based and it is hard to decide who the good guy really is. Both reads left a feeling that the criminals have somehow placed a slight amount of accomplice guilt or sympathy in the reader at the end. It could also be that I read to many crime stories … The last pages of Reckless however contains a letter at the end about the creative teams reason for going away from the traditional comic form and cutting loose the story in a series of graphic novels. I really would like that letter done as a podcast by Ed Brubaker with a little further discussion about the pulp industry.

A special mention on Beta Ray Bill. Readers who want to know more about this character should check out the series. There is a healthy bit of character building and historical reference in the characters timeline. The art is a painful style for me but the story continues to get me to read the next issue because of the sympathy built as the story progresses.

• Break Out #2
• Spider-Man #3 (JJ Abrams)
• The Fourth Man #4
• Twig #1
• Black Cat #12
• Strange Academy #7
• Autumnal #7
• Dark Knights of Steel #3
• Stillwater #7
• Spider Woman #8
• Black Widow #10
• Me You Love In The Dark #3
• Beta Ray Bill #4
• Mouse Guard: The Owlhen Caregiver & Other Tales One Shot
• Reckless Volume One HC

I realize these posts have spread out a little but the book store requirements have taken additional time from the schedule and this is one of the things that suffered. I will catch up soon though.

Easter and Mother’s Day are over and it is time to get back to reading. Last week I spent Monday doing an audit of my reading box. I noticed I had ignored a few titles, so in order to try and get some focus I picked a few forgotten issues to read this week. I threw in a few follow ups to keep moving forward, so here we go with The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

The Good: The positives on the list, Animal Castle and Beta Ray Bill, each moved their plot forward as they lead me to believe they would. However both had an abundance of text balloons, dense conversation, and lettering issues so it was tough to enjoy a casual read. The added story details in both titles made the next issue more attractive. The Daisy themed propaganda in Animal Castle was really smart and put hope into the characters which, after the failed rebellion, was necessary to keep me interested. Beta Ray Bill’s ship is now sentient and Bill is trying to get a handle on what caused it and how to move forward. I think the creation of the living ship is good for the comic but five issues may be too short to do it justice. Readers of late 90s Cable may recall we visited this type of plot device with Cable’s “Ship” which later is named “Graymalkin”. I am hoping the writer can make Skuttlebutt as endearing as its predecessor.

The Bad: Radio Apocalypse, Little Monsters, and Me You Love In The Dark all suffered from the sophomore slump. The first issues 9f these titles all drew me in, but the follow ups lacked that same interest level. The stories all moved forward but they seemed more extra detail than plot driven additions. Righteous Thirst also reflected the same flaw, body but no real plot progression. This one actually seemed to lose a step in that the normally volcanic stress was replaced with panic, indecision, and even fear to some degree. All four comics made me feel like I paid for a 22 page stalling tactic while the writer figures out where to go. I’ll read the next one but I hope these improve as I did enjoy the previous issues quite a bit.

The Ugly: Marauders #1 from the new releases was just a let down. I realize that writing my own space pirate story makes me a little critical… but nope, just not good. There is no on ramp for new readers, banners for places, times and characters are missing, and it’s the most rushed plot I have experienced so far this year. I realize for the coming Avengers/X-Men event I will likely have to read it but if this is the best the team can do, the X-Men should be dead.

• Radio Apocalypse #2
• Me You Love In The Dark #2
• Animal Castle #2
• Ordinary Gods #1
• Beta Ray Bill #3
• Marauders #1 (20278)
• Righteous Thirst For Vengeance #3
• Iron Man #2 (09866)
• Little Monsters #2
• She Hulk #3

Still managed to get a few things done this past week, even with the catalog prep. Rather than cover the comics this week, I am going to talk a little about the books for children at the end of the list. The more we work on the bookstore, the more I have to become acquainted with the product and feel I should include the audience in the posts as well. I will add the books to the store later in the week but want to get the post done in a timely manner. Continue reading

Every now and again it is good to have given someone the benefit of the doubt. We often tell people that you should give a writer two, if not three, issues to lay the exposition to a story. Many times this does not result in a ramp up, but rather an off ramp. This week I am happy to say that having given the writer (Cliff Chiang) room to fix a story resulted in my willingness to read another issue. Catwoman Lonely City #2 built up the plot, supporting cast and corrected a few things I disagreed with in issue #1.

• Catwoman Lonely City #2
• The Me You Love In The Dark #1
• Nice House on the Lake #3
• King of Spies #2
• Amazing Spider-man #67 Chameleon Conspiracy part 1
• Amazing Spider-man #68 Chameleon Conspiracy part 2
• Amazing Spider-man #69 Chameleon Conspiracy part 3
• Amazing Spider-man Chameleon Conspiracy Giant Size
• Ghost Cage #1
• Break Out #1

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Sorry this is a little late. The list looks short but the two titles in blue are actually nine issues combined, since they are in trade form.

• Eve Volume 1
• She Hulk #1 (2022)
• Doctor Doom #8
• Snow Angels Volume 1
• Buffy The Last Vampire Slayer #1
• Werewolf By Night #32 (reprint of 1975 issue)
• Carriers #1

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Last week we missed the post due to the catalogs. I tried to make up some of the lost time, but life just gets in the way sometimes.

Spider-woman #7 was my favorite for the week. Not so much because of the actual story but more for the metaphor of the trials of friendship. King In Black hit the title and the group is faced with a symbiote to fight. Jessica is caught in a fight for life against a toxin, Carol Danvers involves her in the current conflict which triggers buried issues between the two characters. Reading the comic you get the feeling the conflict and rage is fear combined with rage, much like recovery from actual addiction. It was nice to see someone roll in the abuse issue, include the friendship, and leave the wound open as the issue ends. There was a lot going on in this comic but more metaphorically, than as actual plot. Very impressed.

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Not as many this week as I would like but between accounting and the catalog closing, I’m a little pressed for time.

I continued last week’s DC focus by reading Low, Low, Woods #1. The book wasn’t bad, just not as good as I felt the plot could have been. The dialog seems a little broken, like the writer was distracted or something. Maybe the editorial step in the publication process was missed or a thought changed. I was intrigued by the mystery at the theatre and the weird animals on the trip home. The coal mine story in the middle was okay, but the last page fit none of the previous pieces. Yes, you are correct. There were too many things going on in just 22 pages. Continue reading