Review-a-palooza!

Hello world-out-there,
It's gotten a bit colder, summer is biting the dust. Labor Day has come and gone, no more wearing white according to Emily Post. What I do know though is that there will always be books! Onwards!

Reviews
Blowing My Cover
I've been interested in this book for a long time. This memoir takes us through the CIA training/career of C.O. Lindsay Moran. I was fascinated by all the crazy training and psychological games Moran goes through The Farm, the CIA training facility. It's pretty shocking how revealing Moran is. It doesn't seem to have been vetted or censored at all. I was less interested in the latter half of the book which deals with Moran's dissatisfaction with her first assignment turning low level gangsters in Macedonia and Bulgaria. The deglamorization of the spy profession goes on for a bit too long. In the end I found this to be just another mediocre memoir about someone's crazy life experience.

Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 1
Seeking something fun I decided to venture into the FF universe. Marvel likes to use the Ultimate Universe to reboot their main characters without the drag of continuity. I enjoyed this almost as much as Ultimate Spider-Man because I could jump right in fresh. It was fun to see a young Reed Richards show his genius. The art was also great, Kubert's Mole monster was great. Highly Enjoyable.

Five Fists of Science
This book was a huge disappointment. I picked it up because I had heard good things about it and it's creator Matt Fraction. Unfortunately this turned out to be a rip off of the League of Extraordinary Gentleman. Now Fraction is a fine writer and their are some funny lines but he's no Alan Moore. And the art is terrible. While I know this is from Image and independent, that's still no excuse. Some panels were so badly sketched that I couldn't tell what was going on. A mighty disappointment.

Scalped Vol. 2
This book continues to be incredible. Jason Aaron finds the good and bad in every character involved in this dark tragic world. In this volume Aaron works more fleshing out the world of "the Rez" and its side characters. I was particularly taken with the issue that focused on Catcher, a man who sees more than anyone knows. Why aren't you reading this series?

Astonishing X-Men Vol. 2
Another enjoyable time although a tad bit too metaphysical for my liking. Whedon is able to catch the angsty voice of these mutants. He is able to make this a book about characters rather than action. I really love how he stays true to each character and stays consistent in their interactions. Cyclops is the heroic leader, Emma Frost the femme fatale. In this volume we do get to see the relationship between Peter and Kitty which comes to a head in an issue of talking head panels. Their dialogue makes clear how these two desperately want to communicate but can't. The art is also consistently amazing which isn't surprising. Cassaday is my favorite X-Men artist. Unfortunately Whedon gets a bit strange here in the end, but he does set up an interesting twist.

Announcements & Shout Outs
I've mentioned that I spend time peddling/pushing books to the masses, well now they've set up a blog page and asked me to contribute. Finally they've posted some of my entries and you can find those here. There I'll be posting some longer reviews and some other free-association musings. So check it out and enjoy some of the other writers there too.

What's In My Bag
Books
In the Woods
Birdwatching

Comic
Kill All Parents

Magazine
Four Four Two

Comic Pull List: TBA

Check Out Count: Improving.

Enjoy your week folks! See you on the interwebs. Bookslave.