Reading '08

I wasn't going to do it but Taco will yell at me if I don't so I decided to do much shorter versions than last year and call it even. I'm combining books and comics this time because reading is reading and if you're one of those people that stick your nose up at comics then I don't want your sorry ass reading this anyway. So without further ado, here are my thoughts on all things reading in 2008.

The best reading last year was probably Philip Roth's Indignation. I read one review that called it an interesting failure which is funny because Roth is probably the greatest living American writer and that critic is, well, not. If this is him failing then more people should fail at writing. If you've never read Roth then obviously you have homework now.

Hot on the heels of that was Ed Brubaker's Criminal. If anything, the series gets better the more he puts out. If you like words like pulp, noir, hard case and femme fatale or just like tremendous writing then you'll love this.

Also pick up Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley. I love Buckley to pieces and if you've ever wondered what would happen if a U.S. president nominated a television show judge for a spot on the Supreme Court because he's pissed off at the senate, and really who hasn't, then wonder no more.

The best nonfiction was easily The Ten Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America by David Hajdu. You don't even have to like comics to like this book, that's how good it is.

The best YA book was Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book just edging out Terry Pratchett's Nation. Both are superb but Gaiman channeled his inner Kipling and produced a book that was flat out amazing.

It seemed to me to be a particularly strong year for first time novelists last year. The best was probably The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes. Other very good first novels that have me looking forward to more from their writers were The Witch's Trinity by Erika Mailman, The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff and A Good and Happy Child by Justin Evans.

Other very worthy '08 releases included:

The Duma Key - Stephen King
The Ghost in Love - Jonathan Carroll
Buffy Season 8 - Joss Whedon
Grendel: Behold the Devil - Matt Wagner
Sharp Teeth - Toby Barlow
2666 - Roberto Bolano
Little Brother - Cory Doctorow

There were obviously many other things published last year that were worth reading but I'm trying to keep it short. If you want recommendations on anything in any genre, just ask.

I also decided to make a note of things that slipped under my radar from previous (though recent) years that I caught up with last year and are more than worth your time. They include:

Absurdistan - Gary Shteyngart
Special Topics in Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl
An Arsonist's Guide to Writer's Homes in New England - Brock Clarke
The Brief History of the Dead - Kevin Brockmeier

We also mourn the passing of two giants in 2008. Arthur C. Clarke and David Foster Wallace, rest in peace.

The year that was: Part V

I'll make this part short because besides me only 2 people (pretty sure it's only 2) that come here regularly will care. The rest of you uncultured heathens can just wait for a few more days until the last part of this little series comes to cover the odds and ends. Anyway, on to the best comics of 2008.

There is no way around the first thing I mention being Matt Wagner's new Grendel series, Behold The Devil. Last year marked the 25th anniversary of this iconic character and Wagner brought him back in style, writing and doing the art (black, white and red of course) himself. You know how you wait and wait for something and then it comes and it's better than you hoped? Yeah, it's like that. Vivat Grendel!

Joss Whedon brought back both Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel for seasons 8 and 6 respectively and is writing and overseeing the comics the same way he did the shows, both of which I love. Since Joss Whedon is my lord and master I implore you all do give him as much money as you can and so sacrifice any creatures it seems right to sacrifice unto him.

Ben Templesmith's (Fell, 30 Days of Night) Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse hits all the sweet spots. A sentient worm inhabits and reanimates a human corpse and spends a lot of time either drinking or fighting to save earth from all manner of foul and loathsome things from horrid dimensions. Horror, humor and action with Templesmith's always eye grabbing art.

Other series/one shots/whatever from '07 that are worth more than a look:

100 Bullets
Y: The Last Man
Criminal
Doktor Sleepless
The Boys
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier
All Star Superman
All Star Batman
The Nightly News

Probably forgetting something but this is still a damn fine example of last year's best. Now some other stuff:

The Award for Best Art goes to Jae Lee and Richard Isanove for their work on The Dark Tower. Isanove painted over Lee's pencils and it was beautiful.

The award for Dumbest Scam to Try to Make You Buy A Lot Of Shitty Comics goes to Marvel. Yet again. Multiple times last year actually. They did their usual massive company wide crossover event, Civil War, which was designed solely to try to make you buy titles you don't normally buy in order to get the complete story (Marvel began doing this kind of shit way back in the late 80's and was part of the reason I stopped collecting the first time) which ended with the death of Captain America (he'll be back if he's not already) and then they IMMEDIATELY launched into another company wide crossover called World War Hulk designed to do the exact same thing. At least they're consistent.

Speaking of Marvel, I was feeling guilty about buying one of their titles (even my lord and master Joss Whedon writing an X-Men book couldn't make me give money to Marvel), Moon Knight, but justified it because it was written by the grabtacular Charlie Huston. I love his novels so I felt like I had to buy his take on Moon Knight. It was awesome. It looks like he doesn't write it anymore so I can go back to quietly ignoring Marvel again. It's sad to see Huston off the book but as long as he keeps writing novels that are all manner of yay then I'm fine with it.

The I Just Stopped Giving A Damn So I'm Not Buying It Anymore Award goes to The Walking Dead. It might be because Kirkman is writing something like 473 monthly titles now but the story just stopped making me give a shit about it. Shame.

And a Zombie will save them

At least I hope so. While I wait for people to answer my questions I figure I'll take a minute to talk about a thing or two.

As those that know me will know, I love movies. Movies are second only to books for me as far as entertainment goes. I see a lot of movies and I do mean a lot. It will also surprise no one (as I will often rant about my feelings concerning genre snobs and their ilk) that I also love horror cinema. I don't say that with a disclaimer attached. I love horror cinema. Not all of it of course because just like everything else, most of it is bad and just like everything else it goes in cycles and follows trends. These cycles and trends are often not my cup of Mexican beer.

The high points make me all manner of happy (the "Golden Age" of the 30's, the rise of Hammer Studios, the ridiculously intelligent things like Psycho and The Haunting from the 60's, the very very beginning of the slasher craze) while the low makes me sad for the genre (the slide into total camp of the forties which while entertaining in itself was shameful considering, the middle and end of the slasher craze, the remake boom, the Japanese remake boom, and everything from the current "torture porn" thing with the sole exception of the first Saw). I could write pages and pages about this but no one would care so I won't.

Anyway, I'm hoping that with the obvious death of the torture porn thing (I don't know who made that name up but that's what all the reviewers call it so, whatever) the next wave will be started next Friday, continued the Friday after that and picked up on for a while.

Rob Zombie please save me from bad horror films.

His remake of Halloween opens this weekend. Normally I would be screaming for his head on a platter but he's Rob Zombie. I've read lots of interviews and he has a real respect for and deep knowledge of horror cinema. He actually called John Carpenter before signing on for this and Carpenter told him to make it his own. My hope is that he will fire on all cylinders and blow me away.

The week after, a movie called Hatchet opens up. It calls itself old school American horror. Please don't let me down. If both of these movies take off it could mean a rebirth of good horror movies after a pretty vicious dry spell. Even if you don't care (very likely) keep your fingers crossed for my sake. The hard part about liking all genres is that you have more things to suffer through when the cycles and trends go south.

Let us pray that Brother Zombie will deliver us to evil. Amen.

Oh and in other geek news, Matt Wagner has a new Grendel series starting in November. Just typing it makes me sexually aroused. Also I have a sentence for you:

Warren Ellis has a new series out called Doktor Sleepless: Future Science Jesus.

If that sentence doesn't do it for you then you may already be dead.

Guess who's still a geek

If you said me, you're right. I know that some of you enjoy reading and some of you enjoy it in any form so I thought I'd drop an update on some very good comics that I have either just discovered for myself or have started getting monthly. As usual if you are one of those idiots that looks down your nose at comics and the people that read them then stop reading and kindly fuck off. We don't want any of your ignorant snobbery dripping on our comics.

Y: The Last Man

This is a title that has been around for a while now and I picked up the first collection, loved the hell out of it and decided that they would all be mine. Oh yes, they will. This is an award winning and ridiculously acclaimed story that starts with the deaths of every male mammal on earth except Yorick Brown and his monkey. Vertigo puts this out monthly and is supposed to run for 60 issues. Like many Vertigo titles there are no capes and super powers here but there is a fantastic story that is packed with layers and layers of yum. Highly recommended.

Buffy Season 8

Buffy the Vampire Slayer went off the air several years ago and a part of me died that day. The show was always one of the most intelligently written on TV and I missed it immensely. JossWhedon then announced that he would do season 8 of the show as a comic book series. After the spontaneous orgasm passed I started getting it. It is everything that the show was and more. There are no budget constraints so the only limit is Whedon's imagination (which followers of Buffy, Angel, Firefly, etc will tell you is abundant). His writing is still sharp and it was great dropping in on the characters again. So far 5 issues have come out and originally it was supposed to go for 20 or so but the ideas just kept coming and now has ballooned to 50+ in short order.

Keep them coming Joss. As long as you do it I'll keep buying it.

The Boys

This is the new series from Garth Ennis (Preacher) with art by Darick Robertson (Transmetropolitan). Let that sink in for a minute. You want it now don't you? I knew you would. Anyway the series is about a CIA backed squad in a world where heroes are plentiful (more so than in a "normal" comic universe) and they sometimes need to be watched, kept in line or even killed. Not the villains mind you, the heroes. Ennis has said that this book will "Out-Preacher Preacher" and if that doesn't do it for you, you're dead inside.

It was first published by Wildstorm (owned by DC) but was dropped after 6 issues due to what they thought of as antisuperhero writing. I think they missed the point. It's more a deconstruction of the superhero myth (kind of like Miracleman but not as, y'know, Alan Moore) than anything else. They agreed to let them take the book elsewhere and publication has resumed this month with #7. A collection of the first six issues is out now. Go get it.

Fell

This is the new title by Warren Ellis (HellBlazer, Transmetropolitan, The Authority, Planetary, c'mon, it's Warren fucking Ellis) about detective Richard Fell. He is one of "three and a half" cops working in Snowtown which is like the worst crime city in the world multiplied by 10. It is strange, it is weird, it is surreal and you absolutely should be reading it. It is so much more than I can explain to you here. The first collection with the first 8 issues is out now and the series is monthly.

And now a few mainstream things that I'm into even though I'm not going to get back into the mainstream ever. Follow me, it'll make sense in a minute.

Matt Wagner (Grendel, Mage) has done two limited series in the early stages of Batman's career. He takes a very pulpy kind of attitude but with a very real Matt Wagner angle to it. If you understand that then you'll love these. None of the bad guys you know and love (Batman has always had the very best rogue's gallery) have appeared yet but I think if he does another one that they will start popping in.

Both minis are collected and they are Batman and the Monster Men and Batman and the Mad Monk. Both up to the high standard that anyone would expect from this giant of the field.

DC has also started two series based on their biggest icons but they are series that aren't really inside the normal universe of either of them. For both they have brought together one well known and respected writer and one well known and respected artist and let them loose to do their thing. The results are All Star Batman by Frank Miller (!!!!) and Jim Lee and All Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely.

The Batman series is very much a Frank Miller Batman series and is set, it seems to me, very much in his Dark Knight universe and not in standard DC continuity. He's gotten some flak for his portrayal of this or that thing or character but what the hell did you expect when you saw a Batman book with Miller's name on it? Nitwits.

The Superman series won an Eisner award and is so good it'll make your toes curl. New life into the Man of Steel? Believe it.

There you have it, for now. Get you to a comic shop and get some or all of these grabtacular things. Go on, I'll wait.

I am geek, hear me roar

So yesterday I finally found a decent comic shop. Not only was the selection top notch but it pleased my OCD in delicious ways by being organized to within an inch of its life PLUS the owner was playing Hank Williams on the store's radio. Browsing for comics (that's right, comics. I will not say "graphic novels" the way some people do because they are ashamed to read comics.) while listening to Your Cheating Heart is a truly sublime experience. Now then, on to the loot and the thanks. I picked up:

The Walking Dead collections 3, 4 and 5. Thanks to Taco for introducing me to this and buying the first two collections for me. It's damn good even if it did steal ideas right out of my mind somehow. I suspect the polar bears.

The Authority collections 1 and 2. Thanks to Noq for suggesting this awesome title. Not many people try for a new take on the superhero genre (at least not many try and succeed) but this is a touchdown all the way.

The Dreaming collection 1. Picked it up because the majority of the writing is done by Caitlin R. Kiernan who is one of my favorite novelists. Thanks to Peter Straub and Neil Gaiman for blurbing her first novel and making me buy it years ago.

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born. When the DT novels ended I thought I had seen the last of the adventures of the gunslinger. Thankfully that was not the case. Hile Roland of Gilead, son of Steven, protector of the White, line of Eld. Hile Gunslinger.

I also ordered/preordered:

The Eternals collection by Neil Gaiman which is his take on Jack Kirby's iconic work (though is there any work by Kirby that isn't iconic?). Normally I hate this kind of thing but Gaiman isn't the type to take something like this on lightly and I know he has a mountain of respect for Kirby and his work so my hopes are very high indeed.

Mage: The Hero Defined. Matt Wagner created two of the very best comic characters of all time, Grendel and Mage. Not many people can claim to have created one thing as important and influential as these and he did it twice. Anyway, this is the second big collection of Mage and I've been trying to get it in hardback and finally have. Now here's hoping that the third and final act will come sooner than the second did.

Tag collection. This is a story by Keith Giffen about a game of tag involving zombies. Giffen. Zombie tag. Are you kidding me? How can a person not buy this?

So yeah, I'm not back into collecting monthly titles and such with great vigor but once again I finally have a place where I can keep my ear to the ground about the occasional things that I have to have. Yay me.