Book Binge-ing

Hello cyber-world,
I have been on a wonderful book binge lately. Hopefully you all will benefit from the results. It's hard to turn down the books when they are being sold at discount, y'know what I'm saying? Anyway on with the show!

Reviews
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 1
After reading the Alan Moore interview book last week I decided to reread this great work. Moore takes characters from classic literature, puts them into a team, and throws them into an adventure in 1898. This is great adventure, sci-fi, mystery and humor. Murray and Quatermaine are the Nick and Nora of this book and I love it! I also love the hilarious opportunist jerk that is the character of the Invisible Man. I heartily reccommend this book. (BTW Avoid the film like the plague, it is horrible and not even close to the book. Don't cause yourself this pain.)

Wolverine #64
The "Get Mystique" storyline continues as we follow Wolverine and Mystique through their shared past and the present. In this installment Wolverine is conflicted when Mystique hides amongst American soldiers. Will Wolverine risk their lives to get to Mystique? This internal dillemma and the way it plays out is why Jason Aron is great. While Mystique cares about no one but herself. Wolverine has always been about the conflict between his humanity and his animal nature. I especially like his writing of the confrontation scenes between Logan and Mystique. Awesome art and splash pages from Ron Garney.

Detective Comics #843
This issue written by Paul Dini featured a team up between Batman and Zatanna to take down the Ventriloquist. Zatanna has been hired to do a magic show at the opening of a new night club. Bruce Wayne attends and is kidnapped by the Ventriloquist who is taking advantage of a gang war. While the action and villians stuff is great, I think that actually my fave scene was between Bruce Wayne and Zatanna. It touched upon their relationship, the will they or won't they that Dini introduced last year. Dini definitely writes the best Detective issues and this one was worth checking out.

What's In My Bag
Magazine
Entertainment Weekly

Comic
Secret Invasion #1

Books
Dealing With Difficult People
Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
(crazy4novels thru down the gauntlet on getting this done, It will be done, oh yes it will be done)

Checkout Count: Crazy, but not insane.

If you are interested in more of my pithy pop culture opinions I point you to Never Enough Time. Check it out, enjoy have a good weekend, Book Slave.

Victorian Weirdness

Hello Out There In Cyberland,
A beautiful weather week attached to an overall poor Easter weekend. Thank god for books and cyberspace! Speaking of, This week a review here for an actual fiction book. Wonder of Wonders! Great Hera's Ghost! Insert exclamatory cliche! Anyway Enjoy!

Reviews
The Somnabulist
In this supernatural mystery that takes place in the Victorian era, a magician/detective uncovers a conspiracy that may be true or a complete fantasy. The story begins to read like a Pynchon novel as strange character combines with crazy conspiracy. This reader became tired of the lack of plausible connections between characters and events. An unreliable narrator didn't add to things. While I enjoyed the Lemony Snicket snarkiness of the narrative voice I also wonder if it's a case of too many tricks, and too much cleverness. However I did enjoy characters such as Thomas Cribb and the crazy "Prefects" as they emerged near the end. I only recommend it to anyone who likes Victorian era weirdness.

Wolverine #62 and #63
These are the first two books in the Get Mystique story arc. Now I have never been a Wolverine reader, however I've heard awesome things about new writer Jason Aaron. He is best known for the independent series Scalped, which I plan to get to soon. This comic is awesome. I highly enjoy the cat and mouse play between Wolverine and Mystique as they chase/evade each other throughout the Middle East. Mystique has a lot of great tricks up her sleeve, my fave being her disguise as a nun. However many times Wolverine gets shot though he just keeps coming. In very Lost-like fashion we also get some insight into the first meeting between Mystic and Wolvy in 1921. Yes they go back that far. I highly recommend this as a jumping on point since you really don't need to know continuity to keep up.

Justice League: The New Frontier Special #1
This fun comic is a great showcase for the writing of Darwyn Cook and art of J. Bone. Written and Drawn in classic 50s style we get three stories for $4.99. I have to say I enjoyed the opening page to best. In an Introduction by Rip Hunter, Cook tells the audience (through Rip Hunter, Time Master) to just read the story and enjoy it. "Who cares What world we're on?" he says in response to Continuity hounds and I love it! I also enjoyed the Wonder Woman/Black Canary story where they try to liberate a Playboy strip club. It is self-referential and hilarious. J. Bone's art is also amazing fun.

What's In My Bag
Books
Jumper
Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Comics
Buffy Season 8 #12

Magazine
Entertainment Weekly

Check Out Count: Far too high!
Have a great week! I'll be at the World Horror Convention on Thursday. Maybe I'll see you there. Book Slave