Corn Flake Mysteries

Some quick thoughts on things I've read recently...

House of Mystery - There are quite a few mysteries laid out in the first volume of this series, which is as it should be. What connection does Fig have to the titular house and why is she the only one who can hear it talk? Why can it talk? Who are the mysterious figures that chased her to the house? Why are only five people not allowed to leave? Plus, we get stories within each story, as story is the method of payment in the bar. Matthew Sturges is the driving force behind the title, though Bill Willingham sometimes writes the stories within. The main artist is Luca Rossi, who reminds me of Tony Harris back in his Starman days (that's a good thing)); backups are by a variety of artists, like Jill Thompson and Sean Murphy. After reading this volume I went out and bought the second; I look forward to it reaching the top of the stack.

Adventure Comics #6 - The momentum on this title was slowed by the Superboy Prime two-parter (which I did like quite a bit) but this issue finishes up Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul's brief run on the book. Their work on this book has been so good that I wish they were staying on the title instead of moving to Flash (still not sure how I feel about Barry Allen's return but I'll have to check it out). The Legion back-ups disappeared but it looks like they'll soon have this book and a new Legion book in a few months, so I can probably wait.

The Unwritten #9 - This closes up the second storyline with some horrifying developments. Next issue appears to be another one-off like the brilliant Rudyard Kipling-centric #5. I love this comic book.

Corn Flakes with John Lennon - This is a memoir from rock critic Robert Hilburn and is an interesting look at the artists he got to know a little bit - Lennon, Dylan, Springsteen, and U2, to name a few. If you love any of them (and how could you not at least love one or two), you'd find plenty to enjoy in the book. I do and did.

Ex Machina - It feels like it's been forever since I read Vol. 7, so I was happy to sink into Dirty Tricks (Vol. 8). I'm guessing there are only two volumes left to go in this political/super-hero book by Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris and I'll be sad to see it finish.

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.