Marvel 1602 (2006) Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert, Richard Isanove I’ve been wanting to read this for awhile, but not enough that I would actually by it for myself. So I instead bought it for Michael of his birthday, so we could both enjoy it. (And yes, I let him read it first.) In Marvel 1602 […]
Runaways 7: Live Fast (2007) Brian K Vaughan, Adrian Alphona, Mike Norton, Craig Young After ordering and reading volume 6, Parental Guidance, I was able to read volume 7, Live Fast, and I have to say that the beginning made a lot more sense. The Runaways are dealing with their losses, and attempting to adapt […]
Runaways 6: Parental Guidance (2006) Brian K Vaughan, Adrian Alpohna, Craig Yeung I somehow missed publication of volume 6 of Runaways, but saw when volume 7 came out. Considering the events in Parental Guidance, I was quite confused when I started to read volume 7, and quickly realized I’d missed several important events. Luckily, Amazon […]
Fables 9: Sons of Empire (2007) Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Michael Allred, and Andrew Pepoy If you haven’t been reading Bill Willingham’s “Fables” then you have been missing out. In Sons of Empires we spend more time with Pinocchio and Geppetto and learn how they plan to carry the war into the Mundane […]
Jack of Fables: The (Nearly) Great Escape (2007) Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges, Tony Akins, Andrew Pepoy I was slow to pick up this collection–and just as slow to start reading it–because Jack is one of my least favorite Fables characters. He’s a jerk. Why would I want to read an entire book about him? Well, […]
Ex Machina Vol 5: Smoke Smoke (2007) Brian K Vaughan, Tony Harris, Tom Feister, JD Mettler Okay, I must be missing something somewhere, because this is the second volume in a row of Ex Machina that I found to be only so-so. Between the title and the cover, it should be obvious that one of […]
Runaways Vol 5: Escape to New York (2006) Brian K Vaughan, Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa Escape to New York is the fifth volume of the Runaways series. The Runaways are still trying to clean up the mess they created when they took out their parent’s crime syndicate, and for now they’re allowing Victor to remain […]
Runaways Vol 4: True Believers (2005) Brian K Vaughan, Adrian Alphona, Craig Yeung True Believers is the fourth installment in the Runaways series, telling the story of five teens who ran away after discovering their parents were super-villains. Still on the run from Foster Care, the Runaways are hiding out under the La Brea Museum, […]
Lucifer Vol 3: A Dalliance with the Damned (2002) Mike Carey, Peter Gross, Ryan Kelly, Dean Ormston A Dalliance with the Damned is the third book in the Lucifer series. Maziken is in search of a way to return her face to its proper form, Lucifer has decided to create his own Creation, and there […]
Lucifer Vol 2: Children and Monsters (2001) Mike Carey, Peter Gross, Ryan Kelly, Dean Ormston Children and Monsters is the second book in the Lucifer series. Lucifer has obtained the gate, and has now decided to use it. Now he is looking to get some other objects, for whatever plans he has. We also see […]
Lucifer Vol 1: Devil in the Gateway (2001) Mike Carey, Scott Hampton, Chris Weston I’d considered picking up Lucifer since I finished reading The Sandman. I liked the characters of Lucifer and what Neil Gaiman did with him, but I’d hesitated picking up the Lucifer, since it wasn’t written by Neil Gaiman, and I’ve been […]
Mr. Punch (1994) Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean I received Mr. Punch for Christmas. It’s been on my Wish List for a couple of years now, but I’ve never purchased it for myself, because (I’m sorry to say) I’m not that fond of Dave McKean’s artwork. I can understand why it’s interesting and good, but […]
Fables: Vol 8 Wolves (2006) Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha It actually took me awhile to realize that this was Volume 8, rather than another stand alone book. It should have been obvious–after all, it’s been 6 months, so it’s time for another collection, but everything I saw simply said Wolves and not Volume […]
Ex Machina: March to War (2006) Brian K Vaughan March to War is the fourth installment of the Ex Machina series. The president is pushing for war in Iraq, and Mitchell Hundred is dealing with the repercussions of that in New York. A group wants to have a peace protest, and the police commissioner wants […]
Fables: 1001 Night of Snowfall (2006) Bill Willingham If you haven’t read Bill Willingham’s Fables series, then you have really been missing out. Fables tells of the characters–Fables–who have escaped the lands of fairy tales after they were drive out by the adversary, and are now living in New York, hiding their true nature from […]
Fables: Arabian Nights (and Days) (2006) Bill Willingham Volume 7 of Fables struck me as somehow different from previous volumes. Although there is a complete story arc about the Sinbad and the Arabian Fables coming to Fabletown, that story seemed almost secondary to several different different threads that were dropped or mentioned in passing. It […]
Rising Stars: Voices of the Dead / Bright (2006) Fiona Avery This was definitely a disappointment. First of all, it didn’t say on the front cover that this was not written by J. Michael Stracznski. So I was expecting a certain type of writing and story, and didn’t get it. That probably didn’t help matters. […]
The Book of Ballads (2004) Charles Vess To create The Book of Ballads, Charles Vess worked with some of the biggest names in fantasy, to recreate a graphic rendition of some of the best known songs of folklore. Charles de Lint, Neil Gaiman, Emma Bull, Jane Yolen… It’s like a who’s who of fantasy authors. […]
Rearranging bookshelves requires a will of iron. Unfortunately, when it comes to books, I have a will of aluminum foil. Let me repeat what I said the first time I read these: Wow. All I wanted to do was update my book database and rearrange a couple of bookshelves. However, I foolishly opened Born in […]
The Black Forest 2 (2005) Todd Livingston, Robert Tinnell, Neil Vokes I read The Black Forest in January, and liked it. We’d picked up The Black Forest 2, but I’d somehow forgotten we had it, but when I was putting Hellraiser away, I noticed it and picked it up. Although it took me a bit […]
Hellblazer: Rare Cuts (2005) various Rare Cuts is a collection of John Constantine stories spanning 1988 to 1994. It is my understanding that Rare Cuts was published after the movie Constantine came out, as an introduction to the comic, and written by Jamie Delano, Grant Morrison, and Garth Ennis. These stories cover a lot of […]
Hellblazer: Original Sins (1987) Jamie Delano So. Well. I first came across Constantine in the Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes, when Constantine helps Morpheus get his bag of sand back. He was a strange character, and I wasn’t sure about him. But I was curious. Then we watched “Constantine” which was an okay action movie, although […]
Runaways Vol 3: The Good Die Young (2004) Brian K. Vaughan And finally, the conclusion of the story arc started in Pride and Joy. We finally learn why the Pride formed, and what they were trying to do. And the teens finally resolve the problem. We also learn who the mole was, and why the […]
Runaways Vol 2: Teenage Wasteland (2003) Brian K. Vaughan Now that they’ve escaped from their parents, the runaways are trying to figure out what to do with themselves. To amend for their parent’s actions, some of them believe that they should fight evil themselves, but they’re broke and hungry and still scared and shaken up, […]
Runaways Vol 1: Pride & Joy (2003) Brian K. Vaughan The series Runaways came up as a recommendation for me several times, and it looked interesting. However, I am wary books with of teenage characters, because if they’re not well done, I find them intolerably annoying. Luckily, the characters in Runaways may be teenagers, but […]
Ex Machina Vol 3: Fact v Fiction (2006) Brian K. Vaughan Ex Machina Vol 3: Fact v Fiction Now that I’m all caught up on Ex Machina, I suppose I have a six month wait or so before the next collection comes out. Luckily, I have one or two other things around here to read. […]
Ex Machina Vol 2: Tag (2005) Brian K. Vaughan Tag continues the story of Mitchell Hundred, also known as The Great Machine, and current mayor of NYC. Like the first volume, the story jumps back and forth in time. This time the past focuses upon his campaign for mayor of NYC, and how he became […]
Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days (2005) Brian K. Vaughan I picked this up several months ago (before Christmas), but like other books, was putting off reading it until I had time only for something short to read. Then I forgot I had it. It was the name of the series, which first caught my […]
Fables Vol 6: Homelands (2005) Bill Willingham I broke one of my cardinal rules with Fables, which is don’t get involved in an ongoing series. Of course, I didn’t realize I was breaking my rules at the time, but I could have stopped earlier in the series, and waited. But I didn’t. Because the story […]
The Black Forest (2004) Todd Livingston, Robert Tinnell, Neil Vokes We (or more rightly Michael) picked this up at the Bookshelf in early December. Robert Tinnell lives in West Virginia–apparently relatively close, as Jim talked about calling him to bring by more copies. Michael read it right away, but I decided to wait until I […]
Preacher Vol 1 Gone to Texas (1996) Garth Ennis First, a disclaimer. I’m squeamish. In fact, I will walk out of the room during particularly violent scenes in movies, and haven’t watched a horror movie since I was in high school. (Why? Because graphic violence gives me really unpleasant dreams.) Thing is, it all depends […]
Watchmen (1987) Alan Moore So, after so many people recommended it to me, I feel guilty saying it. But. I didn’t like Watchmen. Not at all. I’m not saying it isn’t good, and it isn’t compelling, because it is, on both counts, I’m just saying I didn’t like it. I kept wishing it was over […]
The Sandman: The Dream Hunters (1999) Neil Gaiman & Yoshitaka Amano The Dream Hunters is my favorite Sandman story. It’s not a comic proper, but is instead an illustrated story. And the illustrations are gorgeous. I tend to do little more than glance at illustrations, but the art here is impossible to ignore. Based on […]
Fables Vol 5: The Mean Seasons (2005) Bill Willingham Fabletown has mostly recovered from the invasion of the wooden soldiers sent by the adversary, and so the mayoral election can now be held. Prince Charming has been making promises that things are going to be different if he wins–promises to the fables who live on […]
Y: The Last Man (2003) Brian K. Vaughan I just couldn’t get into this. The story looked interesting, but it just didn’t do anything for me. Some plague–a strange illness, a curse from the Gods, no one knows–has killed every mammal on the planet with a Y chromosome except for Yorick Brown and his pet […]
Supreme Power Vol 2 Powers and Principalities (2004) J. Michael Straczynski In Powers and Principalities we continue the story of Mark Milton, as well as Nighthawk, Stanley Stewart, and Joe Ledger, and are introduced to Princess Zarda and the amphibian woman. (Or, as Michael and I were referring to them: the terrestrial naked lady and […]
Supreme Power Vol 1 Contact (2004) J. Michael Straczynski I picked this up because I really liked J. Michael Straczynski’s Rising Stars. It looked interesting, so I decided to see if I liked this series as well. The story is good, although not quite as good as Rising Stars. But then that was unbelievably good, […]
Fables Vol 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers (2003) Bill Willingham I’m reading this series slowly (or at least attempting to), because it’s not completed, and Book Six is not scheduled to come out until January 2006. I really like the Fables series, and March of the Wooden Soldiers is good, although not quite as […]
The Complete Classic Adventures of Zorro (2001) Alex Toth This! This is the story I remember reading as a child. Well, the first part anyway. The Complete Classic Adventures of Zorro seems to be in three parts. The first part was the basis for the Zorro book I had as a child. The middle part […]
The Sandman Vol 10: The Wake (1996) Neil Gaiman The final book in The Sandman collection, volume 10, The Wake tells of the funeral of Morpheus, Dream of the Endless, and of how Dream rebuilds his realm, and meets the rest of his family. I particularly like seeing how Matthew comes to terms with Dream’s […]
The Sandman Vol 9: The Kindly Ones (1996) Neil Gaiman This is my least favorite book in the Sandman series. Part of it has to do with the fact that it’s a sad storyline. Normally in a book you have the good and bad parts together, however in the Sandman, there were eight books leading […]
The Sandman Vol 8: World’s End (1994) Neil Gaiman This is my second favorite book in the Sandman series. Like my favorite, Fables and Reflections, it’s a collection of short stories. A disparate group of people are caught in storms and end up at World’s End: A Free House. As they all wait for the […]
Delicate Creatures (2001) J. Michael Straczynski Delicate Creatures was not what I was expecting, though I’m not sure what I was expecting. The art was interesting in that it was definitely in a style that I associate with comics, but was written like Stardust and The Dream Hunters–more like a picture book than a comic […]
The Sandman Vol 7: Brief Lives (1994) Neil Gaiman In Brief Lives Delirium decides that she wants to search for her brother Destruction, who abandoned his job 300 years earlier. She goes first to Desire and Despair, both of whom tell her to abandon her idea of finding Destruction. After all, he had reasons why […]
Rising Stars: Visitations (2002) J. Michael Straczynski Published between Power and Fire and Ash, Visitations gives some background stories. The first story, Rising Starts, is a quick history of what caused the specials, an excerpt of Dr Wells’ diary, and the Supreme Court opinion on how the specials were to be treated as children. Plus […]
The Sandman Vol 6: Fables & Reflections (1993) Neil Gaiman This may be my favorite Sandman collection. There are several different tales told, some in the past, some in the far past, and all excellent. It starts with “Fear of Falling,” a story of a man who is afraid to succeed. It’s a short story […]
Rising Stars: Born in Fire (2001) Power (2002) Fire and Ash (2005) J. Michael Straczynski Wow. When I asked for comic recommendations, Tom gave me several suggestions. The one I found locally was Rising Stars. Initially I only picked up the first volume, however I saw that all three volumes were there, so I figure […]
Death: The Time of Your Life (1997) Neil Gaiman This may be one of favorite Neil Gaiman graphic novels. Foxglove is on tour and Hazel is home with Alvie, the child she was pregnant with in The High Cost of Living. Foxglove is falling apart at the seems, and Hazel has made a deal whose […]
Death: The High Cost of Living (1994) Neil Gaiman It’s hardly a surprise that Neil Gaiman would write a comic about Death. In Sandman she was usually far more likable than her brother, Dream, the hero of the series. In one of the early Sandman episodes we learn that once a century, Death takes corporeal […]
The Sandman Vol 5: A Game of You (1992) Neil Gaiman Barbie, who we first met in The Doll’s House, has moved to New York City after her break-up with Ken. She hasn’t dreamed for two years, when she was pulled into the dream vortex created by Rose Walker, but Barbie’s Dreamworld is not content […]