Defying Expectations

Hello happy few,
How are you all? Good I hope. I've had a great week with summer winding down. Can you believe it? Time flies man. Last week I met a legend. Comics writer Chris Claremont came & did a presentation in my library. For those who don't know, Claremont was the writer on X-Men for 20 years. He wrote the famous Japan run with Frank Miller, Days of Future Past, etc. etc. He's a pioneer of comics. Now I'm usually one of those people who are nervous about meeting people I admire. What if they are jerks? What if I say something stupid? Who am I to them? But lately I've been trying to get over these neurosies and just go for it. So I went to talk to Mr. Claremont & he turned out to be a nice guy. We talked for about 10-15 minutes. He went on a rant about Marvel editorial. It was great. So the takeaway lesson kids: Don't be afraid to talk to people you admire. They might actually be cool.

Anyway Onward we go!

Reviews
Back to Brooklyn
From the team of Ennis & Palmiotti, Back to Brooklyn is a violent crazy crime story. It starts off with gangster Bob willing to rat out his brother, and the entire Saetta crime family, in exchange for getting his family out of Brooklyn. The feds let him go for 3 days allowing Bob to kill his way to safety. This is not for the weak as their is no holding back. It's grandiose violence reminds me of a Scorsese movie. These writers & artist Mihailo Vukelic take us on a roller coaster ride. Some of the twists and turns are a bit contrived but I was so pulled in that I didn't care. Vukelic's art is a mix of graphic and drawn art that I thought was great. Highly enjoyable.

Other Reviews
fictions | ifanboy

Weapon X (Wolverine)
This is the original series where Wolverine's experience with the shady government Weapon X experiment is explored. As I read this I was shocked to discover that the story is more about the scientists than Wolverine! Wolverine is basically a background character until the final chapter. I actually liked that aspect. The art is amazing especially for 90s comics. The panels are arranged with amazing puzzle visual style. The mini-series is really a metaphysical exploration of who/what Wolverine is as a mutant and a human being. Each scientist has their own reservations about the dehumanization of Wolverine, however it doesn't stop them. I wasn't expecting that at all. I ended up really enjoying it.

(BTW if they had used this book for the movie Wolverine this summer, it would have been great. I still don't understand why when they are writing these comic book movies they just don't use the original stories. There's only 30 years of comics to pull from.)

Bio Info: Weapon X

The Reading List
Books
Hellboy Vol. 1
Gun, With Occasional Music

Comics
Green Arrow & Black Canary

Magazines
Four Four Two

Check Out Count: Somewhat Coveted

Comics Pull List: Amazing Spider-Man #603, Batgirl #1, Batman Streets Of Gotham #3, Daredevil #500, Outsiders #21, Stand American Nightmares #5, Wednesday Comics #7

Have a great week! Book Slave.

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