Comics Catchup

A couple weeks ago I decided that it was time to make the change back to only trades. I had a bunch of comics I've bought over the last year or so that I would trade in for some credit but I let the pile sit here for a while to make sure I wanted to go that route. Finally, I wrote the note to the owner and took in the comics. After about a week-and-a-half, of course, I decided I was wrong. Luckily, he hadn't gone through them yet and I was able to take them back. I don't know who I'm kidding at this point - my love for comics is as strong as it's ever been; I'll sort out the monetary and space issues one way or another.

I have managed to read a handful of comics and some trades over the last few weeks...

Adventure Comics #521 - This is the issue where the title becomes what I thought it would be when it switched from focusing on Superboy to focusing on the Legion - a second Legion title. Okay, it has been one but the stories Paul Levitz were telling took place in the past and not current continuity. I was so disappointed by that fact that I didn't even pick up the book. I know, I know. Anyway, now that it is set in current continuity I am picking it up. This story is a little scattered between the selection of a new Green Lantern and various Legionnaires getting things done but it was solid enough. The Atom backup was part six and didn't make much sense. It's done now anyway as DC scales back to $2.99 titles and only 20 story pages.

The Flash #7 - This is a patented Geoff Johns look at the lives of the Rogues, this time focusing on Captain Boomerang. While the look back at his history is solid, the most interesting bits come from his chat with Reverse-Flash - clues for the next big story event. This issue is drawn by Scott Kolins, who tweaks his current style to be more in line with regular artist Francis Manapul with better success than his art on Justice Society of America.

Superboy #1 - A comic where The Phantom Stranger shows up on pg. 4 is a comic I will read. I was a big fan of the previous Superboy series when written by Karl Kesel but the character is tonally different these days. That said, I enjoyed this introductory issue by Jeff Lemire and Pier Gallo enough to pick up the second (maybe today).

Thor the Mighty Avenger #7 - This is the penultimate issue of this cancelled-too-soon series by Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee. Seriously, why can't we get more of this fun comic? I'll probably do a longer post on this series after next issue.

The Unwritten #20 - One of my favorite comics on the shelves, hands down.

Fables Vol. 14: Witches - You should be reading this book.

Chew Vol. 2: International Flavor - You should also be reading this book, if you like things that are funny and awesome.

Eight Piles High

I went out and bought the new Fables trade yesterday and I'm looking forward to reading it. However, there are 5 other trades piled on top of it.

I'm trying to finish The Unnamed by tomorrow because it's due back at the library and I can't renew it. I have 3 other books on the shelf to be read after that.

I bought the Hall & Oates box set on Saturday and have only managed to listen to half of the discs.

I started the Oct./Nov. 2009 issue of F&SF and few weeks ago and have only managed about 50 pages. I have 2 more issues of F&SF and 4 of Asimov's sitting in a drawer.

Adventureland arrived via Netflix last Friday and I still haven't watched it. Hell, I have DVDs I got for Christmas three plus years ago that I haven't watched yet.

The DVR is 76% full and set to record 4 more hours worth tonight and 2 1/2 tomorrow night.

Oh, and my Google Reader? It has over 100 unread posts, including links to a number of podcasts I want to listen to.

Sigh.

Aftermath

We spent our annual Christmas at my parents' house the past few days. The season started with a drive through icy conditions to pick my brother up from O'Hare on Wednesday night and included a road being closed right before I was going to go on it; I lost time but was able to get him back to my house by 1:00 in the morning. By 1:00 the next afternoon, we had already decamped to DeMotte and got into the swing of the season with a traditional party and tons of food. Yesterday we opened gifts and got a great reaction out of my son when he opened his new PS3. Lots more eating and some euchre playing and the joy of being together as a family followed.

I am now back home, though in a couple hours we will be off to another traditional party with some very close friends. In the meantime, I'm in my usual post-Christmas state of not knowing quite what to do with myself. There is so much I can do that I have a hard time committing to any one thing, so I've been shuffling through my iTunes and poking around the internet.

I do have plenty to listen to, including The Beatles stereo remasters boxed set. I've actually never heard 5 of their albums all the way through (I know, I know) and I still haven't listened to 3 of them yet. In addition, I got the new live Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers anthology, R.E.M.'s deluxe edition of Reckoning, and a Roxy Music album I've never heard.

I also decided to not read the three library books at once - I have three books stockpiled that I've been wanting to read when I have the time. I have the time now and should take advantage of that; after all, I can always check those other books out of the library again. So, I started Peter & Max, the first prose novel set in the world of Fables, on Christmas Eve.

Maybe it would be a good idea to read some more of that and stick Beatles For Sale in the stereo (that's one of the ones I've never heard). Think I will...

Fables

Truth be told, I didn't love Fables at first. I felt the first story arc, collected in Legends in Exile, was overwritten, had too much exposition. I did like the idea of book, though, with Snow White and the Big Bad Wolf and Prince Charming and all the rest alive and living in New York. So when the second collection (Animal Farm) came out, I picked it up. I haven't stopped buying the book since.

By this point, Bill Willingham's creation is getting close to its 100th issue and I am eagerly awaiting the 13th trade. It has spawned a spinoff series co-written by Willingham and Matthew Sturges, Jack of Fables (which has just seen its 6th collection published), an original graphic novel, a prose novel (still sitting on my shelves waiting to be read), and now a mini-series starring Cinderella (and written by Shooflypie-approved Chris Roberson).

Why has it stuck around so long and proven to be so popular? The characters. The cool ideas. The stories. Mark Buckingham's art. James Jean on covers for years. It has been to Vertigo in the 2000s as Sandman was in the 90s...that's no small feat. It's a great comic.

Consumerism

I started out the day with big dreams, wanting to see two movies, buy two books, download the new Built To Spill album, and pick up some goodies at a sale at the comics shop. I knew I wouldn't be able to do all of it and didn't really have the money to do all of it anyway but some days it's nice to dream. As it turned out, some of my dreams for the day came true and I got some other stuff I hadn't even planned on getting.

I ended up getting four nice shirts that I can wear to work, as well as a new pair of corduroys. I might even end up with a pair of black ones by the time the weekend is over - my wife and I saw them on the way out of the store and she had to make a movie time.

That's right, she went to the movies and I didn't. The good news for me is that I have a four day weekend coming up due to fall break, so I have a decent chance of catching either Where the Wild Things Are or The Invention of Lying (or both!) next weekend. Why not tomorrow? Football, baby.

I went to Barnes & Noble but they only had one of the books I was looking for (the missing one was the new Jonathan Lethem) and that one wasn't on any sort of sale, so I passed it up.

My last stop was the comics shop...and I couldn't decide on anything. I came home. I sat around for a bit. Then I went back to the comics shop.

They had the other book I was looking for, Peter and Max by Bill Willingham, which is a prose novel set in the world of his Fables comic. It was included in the sale. Finally, a decision made.

I had been looking at the first collection of Invincible Iron Man, which I've heard great things about (and read the first issue of about 18 months ago), but I just couldn't commit to it. One day, I will. I did notice the collection of the last DC and Marvel crossover series, JLA/Avengers, which was written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by George Perez. I'd been looking at that for months too and decided to pull the trigger.

That should have been the end of it...but I wasn't done. Even though I had resolved to only buy trades again, I couldn't help myself. I had to pick up a couple single issues and at 40% off it was easier to justify. I grabbed the two most recent issues of The Unwritten (the first four were great), the first issue of Sweet Tooth (which was originally a buck), and Adventure Comics #2 (I can't resist a comic starring the original Legion of Super-Heroes). I would have picked up Adventure Comics #3 if they had it. I don't want to start down that path again but there has got to be a way to make it work for me. I need to figure it out.

Anyway, there's my day of consuming.

Trade Winds Blowing

I've been in denial all summer. I've been buying single issues of comics and pretending that I could continue doing just that forever and ever amen. I can't. I don't have the room for boxes of comics, which is why I got rid of all my boxes years ago. I don't have the patience to just read a single issue of anything, no matter how good (and ADVENTURE COMICS #1 was pretty darn good this week, thanks to a solid Geoff Johns story and fantastic Francis Manapul art plus 10 pages of the Legion). I don't like the inflexibility it creates in my entertainment budget, which is not very big to begin with. And finally, buying all the single issues this summer has meant I couldn't afford to buy any trades (until the new Fables trade this week, which was possible only by some extra work as a math tutor).

I am behind on a bunch of different series that I follow. As I mentioned yesterday, I am 3 collections behind on Jack of Fables (though I did go out and pick up the 3rd volume, thanks to a coupon and some more of that tutoring money). I started reading Scalped earlier this year and loved it but I'm 2 volumes behind with a 3rd out soon. There are now 6 100 Bullets trades that I haven't bought, a series I really want to finish. And that's just a few Vertigo titles off the top of my head.

Don't get me started on the big ticket items like Starman Omnibus (still need the 3rd volume), Nexus Archives (only have 2 out of a soon-to-be 10), Asterios Polyp, and Darwyn Cooke's Parker graphic novel.

I've actually made the decision to revert back to trades a couple times this summer but just never followed through. This time, I have to. And I will.

Dark Days of Summer

When all three members of a household are involved with a school in one form or another, summer comes to an end once a new school year gets started. That's where the Steiner household is at, as we all start back next week. I'm actually ready to get back to it and not just for the fact I won't have to be in the pool 4 to 5 hours a day, although a full week of nothing to do would be nice.

I've been squeezing in as much pop culture consumption as I can before life gets super busy and thought I would share some quick thoughts about some of it...

(500) Days of Summer - This movie finally made it to my neck of the woods (about 20 minutes away) last weekend and I jumped at the chance to go see it. I was not disappointed. The movie tells you up front (via narration) that it is not a love story...well, it is and it isn't. Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) meets Summer (Zooey Deschanel) and work and falls hard. She, on the other hand, doesn't, though she does like him a lot. What follows in an out-of-order look at their relationship, shifting from the good times to the bad. This allows scenes to be cast in a new light, bits of conversation, and so forth. Director Marc Webb gives us a dance number, split screens, and great visuals to match the mix of humor and pain and understanding. Good stuff.

The Magicians - This is Lev Grossman's new novel and the first one of his that I've read, though I loved his brother Austin's Soon I Will Be Invincible. As the title of this one would indicate, it's a fantasy novel set in a world of magic. Specifically, it's set in a world where people have read Harry Potter and a series of Narnia-like books about a world called Fillory. Quentin Coldwater is a huge fan of that series and one day discovers he is able to perform magic and is admitted to Brakebills, a school for magic. So yes, there are some similarities with the world of Harry Potter but this book deals with sex and drugs and depression and there is no big evil out there in the world. It's a story of love and loss and selfishness and yes, magic. Some reviews have taken it to task for trying to be a commentary on this type of novel as well as an example of the species but I didn't think it was more metafictional commentary than just a well-written story that I liked.

District 9 - I went and saw this movie at the first showing this morning and was a bit distracted by the kids who were in the audience. The movie is bloody and the f-word is used an awful lot. An awful lot. Now I don't have a problem with that type of thing but it did bother me at times. As for the movie itself, it is a very grim story of aliens forced to live in slums, corporations that want profit, gangs that want power. Events are set in motion by Wickus, who is in charge of informing the "prawns" that they are being moved to a new residence far from Johannesburg. He becomes exposed to something that starts changing him, both physically and also in another one. Except it's not a saccharine and clean-cut as it seems. The effects are seamlessly woven into the story and it is mostly told in doucmentary form. It is a dark story that echoes problems in our world without it being bludgeoningly so. A thoughtful, gruesome SF movie that looks cool? Interesting summer fare.

Fables: The Dark Ages - Wednesday saw the release of the 12th volume collecting the ongoing series, which also happens to be one of my favorite comics. It's a rather grim volume featuring that aftermath of the big victory over Gepetto. One would think times would be good but they aren't. There's the rise of a powerful new entity, the death of a beloved character, and the destruction of Fabletown. Naturally, I read it as quickly as I could and I can't wait until the next collection in early 2010. In the meantime, I need to catch up on Jack of Fables in trade form - I've only read 2 of 5 volumes!