Mount TBR 2017 discussion
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Over The Top And Back Again with Brian! Blessed!
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Jessika wrote: "The Expanse is on my list, but trying not to start until I get some other series completed!!Go, go, go, you're almost there!"
The Expanse as a Tv series, or as a book series? The book series is a pretty big commitment, given how lengthy and detailed they are. I'm hoping to get the next two finished next year, though. The Tv series I'm caught up on at the moment, and it's going to be a while yet before the third season.
A rush and a push in the next couple of days will get me over the top, phew. Then I just have to catch up on my other annual commitment -- which I'm unfortunately eighteen books short of currently, I think (the Goodreads challenge, which I had at 200 books.)
#147 - Ambassador of the Shadows by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude MézièresThe main book that Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets was based on, and reading it makes me even sadder that the film, Luc Besson's passion project as a lifelong Valerian and Laureline fan, was such a botch job. Unlike the film, the main part of the story sees Time Agent Valerian vanishing when the Ambassador of the title is kidnapped by mercenaries, and Time Agent Laureline, with a Bluxte Converter creature in hand, tracking them both down through the immense and confusing space station Point Central (the erstwhile meeting place of a thousand planets.)
One of the fun things about the Valerian and Laureline stories is that Valerian, though ostensibly in command and the Big Hero type, is actually a rather cheerful meathead, and Laureline, from 11th Century France, is actually the brains of the outfit (and generally *very* funny.) If you need to hit a thing with another thing, Valerian's the guy for it. Need an issue solved without ludicrous behaviour? You need Laureline.
Fun book. Shame about the film.
Quirkyreader wrote: "Only three more to go."Yerp, but I doubtless will not stop there. Also, you can be certain that I will go into the New Year reading. It's what I do. :)
#148 - Avengers: Death Trap: The Vault by Danny Fingeroth and Ron LimPart of Marvel's original 1990s graphic album initiative, which tried to bring the European format to the US...and unfortunately failed, though it did produce some excellent releases.
This, unfortunately, wasn't one of them. In a nutshell: the US Federal government has created a gigantic multi-level prison called The Vault, which is designed to keep the worst of the worst supervillains caged up. It's impregnable, escape-proof, and has a nut of a warden in charge. There's also a giant bomb in case of mass breakout AND a nuclear reactor to run the place.
An accident boosts Mentallo's mind powers briefly (oops), which leads to Venom escaping (OOOOPS), which leads to others escaping (WHOOPS) which leads to the Avengers arriving, Freedom Force arriving, the timer on the bomb set going (and the warden making sure it can't be disabled), and before long there's lots of fighting and racing against time and blah blah blah. It could easily have been part of the regular comics run. Also, a lot shorter. Possibly even a lot less garish, but, hey.
Steven wrote: "The Expanse as a Tv series, or as a book series?" Both. I've watched the first season, but haven't read any books. I'm not worried about the time commitment, I'll make it eventually. It took me 5 years to read all 14 Wheel of Time books, but I did it, lol! But I just have too many other book series on my plate right now!!!
Jessika wrote: "Steven wrote: "It took me 5 years to read all 14 Wheel of Time books, but I did it, lol! But I just have too many other book series on my plate right now!!!"Heh, I've never been able to bring myself to tackle The Wheel Of Time. I do, however, understand the too many book series part, having a few too many of those on hand.
#149 - Wonder Woman Archives, Vol. 4 by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. PeterIncludes the Wonder Woman stories from Issues 25-32 of Sensation Comics and Wonder Woman #8 and #9. While from a critical point of view I'm tempted to knock these stories for their general rough nature and the increasingly primitive and stylized art from Harry G. Peter, my visceral reaction is something else again, in which only the of-the-time racist depictions of non-white characters is jarring to me. Other than that, the stories are silly fun, with elements that would have flown over the heads of the kids who were the majority of the readers.
#150 - The U-Boat War 1939 - 1945 by Ian BaxterAn interesting documentary book that includes a rather unusual collection of photos taken by U-boat crews during the course of WWII. Baxter's text details the fate of many of the submarines here, with details about commanders and crews, but the main text itself has an unfortunate tendency to be sloppily edited (and thus, doubtless, not as well written as it could have been) which makes it difficult going at times.
Still, an interesting book, covering a subject that I personally find of interest (submarines, generally, not just U-boats.) Which is, in a way, peculiar, as I'm horribly claustrophobic, and my one attempt to visit a WWII submarine moored in San Francisco was a hilarious catastrophe.
#151 - Hellboy and the B.P.R.D., Vol. 2: 1953 by Mike Mignola, Chris Roberson, and variousFurther adventures with Young Hellboy, who by now is pretty much college age despite his youth. This volume includes several short stories set in rural England, a brief one set in California, and the highly suburban "Beyond The Fences," which finds the BPRD investigating a case that might connect back to a much earlier one.
It's all lightweight stuff, mind you, little more than Mignola filling in the backhistory of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.
Quirkyreader wrote: "Yea! Welcome to the top. And I liked The Smiths reference."Thank you! And I'm glad somebody caught the reference. :)
Jessika wrote: "Yay, congrats!!"Thank you! Now for the Goodreads Challenge, which I'm still slightly short of.
#152 - Marvel Masterworks: The Silver Surfer, Vol. 2 by Stan Lee, John Buscema, Jack KirbyCompiles the remainder of the first run of the Silver Surfer's book, and features generally shorter stories, thank goodness. They're still turgid and whiny, mind you; the Surfer is pretty much a Cosmic Morrissey who zaps things (and fails his own vow of celibacy, I suppose, in that he's always pining for Shalla-Bal.)
The series ended with a mightily pissed-off Silver Surfer vowing to be a mean rotten intolerant character who was willing to cap some dudes...at which point the cancellation hammer hit. He'd be back, though, still whining.
#153 - British Submarines of World War I by Innes McCartneyAn Osprey book covering the various and often ill-fated British submarines and submariners of World War I (including the K series, which came to be known as Killer Class; they were steam driven submarines that were useless under water, clumsy to run, and prone to catastrophic accidents.) We're treated to stories of submariner derring-do, grand battles, less grand battles, and mad events, photographs, diagrams, and an overview of the rapid development of submarine building in Blighty.
Overall, good, fascinating writing and presentation. I'm looking forward to reading more in this series.
#154 - The Severed Man by George MannTime Hunter book. I'm going to have to reread this one, as I got lost somewhere along the way. It appears to be a horror story mixing up Frankenstein and Jack The Ripper, and then starts bounding around and meeting up in different times with a man who may or may not be dead or may or may not have ever been alive. Emily gets to kick arse and complain about her memory, and Honore seems to be about where I am, trying to figure it out.
#155 - Hellboy: The Midnight Circus by Mike Mignola and Duncan FegredoIt's 1948, Hellboy is four years in the human world, and he's pretty much an adolescent brat, running away from home and stumbling on the circus of the title. Said circus, of course, is a circus of evil and corruption, though its master has murky plans for the kid from Hell, plans that mean protecting the boy from all manner of unpleasantness. Mignola weaves in the story of Pinnochio as well, and does a wonderful job of showing Professor Bruttenholm's love for this lost boy.
#156 - Star Trek: Burden of Knowledge by David and Scott Tipton, et alCaptain Kirk on a mission of first contact and diplomacy with various races, as well as being thrown into a crisis when an Andorian "tune-up" on the ship results in an altercation with the Tellarites. It's a set of mostly done-in-one stories, but there is a clever arc built in as well, one that's neatly resolved.
This is cheerfully lightweight for the most part, very traditional Star Trek, though with less emphasis on punching and more on thinking. It's nice to see the compassionate, intelligent side of Star Trek on display, specially in smart, well-written stories.
#157 - Peculiar Lives by Philip Purser-HallardA Time Hunter book. The science fiction writer Erik Clevedon is writing his memoirs...and very odd memoirs they are, too, as he tells the tale of his encounter with one Honore Lachasseure and his partner Emily Blandish, and their encounters with a young man of remarkable talent. As it turns out, young Percival isn't the only one of his kind, nor are they natural creations. Before long, the truth starts to come out, and all four are propelled backwards and forwards through time, sometimes far into the future.
The book is, at its heart, an homage to Olaf Stapledon, and though at first it seems a bit stuffy and strange, it soon becomes quite engaging and interesting. It's also nice to see Honore and Emily from an entirely different, very personal point of view.
#158 - Valérian - Volume 15 - The Circles of Power by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mezieres#159 - Valerian - Volume 16 - Hostages of Ultralum by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mezieres
Two entries in the Valerian et Laureline series of albums. In the first, the two take a job investigating the mysterious top circle of a peculiarly violent and increasingly absurd civilization. Having grown rich from that (and Laureline having acquired another grumpy Bluxte Transmuter) the next volume finds the two among the rich and useless on a pleasure planet, only for Laureline to end up accidentally abducted when the bratty son of a Caliph is abducted by gangsters working for desperate miners of ultraluminal fluid. That tends to be absurd in a different direction.
In both instances, often very funny, and certainly beautifully drawn.
#160 - Z-Men: All the President's Men by Jeff McComsey, Bill Jemas, Kurt TiedeEssentially Night Of The Living Dead from the point of view of two Secret Service agents and the government...and if the zombies were actually smart, and also tended to heal from inflicted damage. Goes all over the place, adds in some nods to The Crazies and get better as it goes along, although the style makes it seem like storyboards for a movie (and, hey, there's a movie in the works!)
#161 - Krazy and Ignatz, 1935-1936: A Wild Warmth of Chromatic Gravy by George HerrimanThe Continuing tales of life in Coconino County, and the improbable love triangle between a cat, mouse, and dog...really has to be observed, rather than described. Herriman was something of a poet in his dialogue and something of a surrealist in his art, and it's entirely possible to get lost in the Sunday pages as a result...I read and reread many of these strips before moving to the next.
Fantastic stuff, truly.
I agree, Krazy Kat is truly fantastic. Herriman was just so damn inventive.
#162 - Justice League of America Omnibus Vol. 1 by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky, and variousA gigantic omnibus collection (900 pages or so) compiling the first appearances of the JLA from The Brave and The Bold and the first few years of their team book. It's sometimes rough sledding, as Sekowsky's artwork is quite clunky (and chunky) and occasionally bizarre, and Gardner Fox's stories are generally written to a very narrow formula and, despite Fox's background in writing SF, pretty much insane from a scientific standpoint.
That said, they are rather fun to read, especially when the Earth 2 crossovers start, hough best taken in small doses rather than trying to blow through the whole megillah at once.
#163 - King Alfred's English, a History of the Language We Speak and Why We Should Be Glad We Do by Laurie J. WhiteAn appallingly bad "nonfiction" book purporting to examine some of the roots of English. Instead, it's a semi-illiterate chunk of bible-thumping gibberish.
My brain hurts!
#164 - These Are The Voyages: TOS Season Two by Marc Cushman, et alThe second of Cushman's huge behind-the-scenes books on the original Star Trek series, looking at each episode from pitch through to airing. The detail is pretty amazing, and quite fascinating, and it's been entertaining to step through the book episode by episode while watching the episodes themselves. I'm looking forward to reading the third book.
I did thin k about trying to sneak one more in, but, ehhhhh! :)
Great showing! Best wishes in the new year!
Jessika wrote: "Great showing! Best wishes in the new year!"Thank you. And likewise to you too.
Mount TBR 2017
Books mentioned in this topic
These Are The Voyages: TOS Season Two (other topics)King Alfred's English: A History of the Language We Speak and Why We Should Be Glad We Do (other topics)
The Justice League of America: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1 (other topics)
Krazy & Ignatz (other topics)
Z-Men: All the President's Men (other topics)
More...
Go, go, go, you're almost there!