What are you reading right now? (October 2020)

[Erin]

I can't believe it's already October! Any spooky reads lined up for the month? Tell us all about it!

Don't forget to check out what the IRCB crew is reading on the weekly public Top of My Pile posts!

[Anurag]

Assorted list for October:

[Lenny]

Here's what I've been reading over the past week or so - so happy to finally get back into comics!

Isola, Vol. 2 - story still not firing on all cylinders but the art is gorgeous, and also worth picking up for fall - some more horror vibes in this one!
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise, Part 1 - I regret nothing! Rewatched the series over the summer, and Yang and Gurihiru are the perfect comics team to continue Avatar.
The Property - gorgeous and poignant graphic novel by Rutu Modan. I read it in one sitting.

And Shanah Tovah to any fellow Jewish friends in the group (:

[Erin]

Finally did some reading!

For the Discord book club, I read The Woods, Vol. 1: The Arrow - very excited to continue this series!

I also read Coyote Doggirl. I don't know that I would recommend it, but it was a fun way to spend an hour :)

[Chad]

Erin wrote: "Finally did some reading!

For the Discord book club, I read The Woods, Vol. 1: The Arrow - very excited to continue this series!

I also read Coyote Doggirl. I don'..."

I loved The Woods. I'm glad you're digging it Erin.

[Chad]

Last week's light comic book reading now that notifications have returned.

Sam and Twitch: The Writer ★★
When I found out an Italian comics creative team made a Sam & Twitch comic, I was excited, but this was disappointing.

Aquaman Vol. 3: Manta vs. Machine ★★★★
Black Manta just may be my favorite DC villain.

Scene of the Crime: A Little Piece of Goodnight ★★★★
One of Brubaker's earliest works, originally published by Vertigo in 1998, Scene of the Crime is a modern day noir set in San Francisco.

Birds of Prey, Volume 1: End Run ★★★★
Ed Benes's art is oversexualized, but Gail Simone's story rocks.

Milkman Murders ★
Joe Casey has become one of the worst writers in comics.

Hawkman, Vol. 3: Darkness Within ★★★
Shadow Thief gets a major upgrade in this Year of the Villain story.

Justice League of America: The Nail: The Complete Deluxe Edition ★★★★
One of my favorite Elseworlds stories. What if Ma and Pa Kent had a nail in their tire and didn't see Kal-El's ship crash? This may be the best art of Alan Davis's long career.

Iron Man 2020: Robot Revolution – Force Works ★★★
The stories were solid, but unnecessary other than Machine Man 2020 as part of the Iron Man 2020 event.

Iron Man 2020: Robot Revolution - iWOLVERINE ★★★
A collection of completely superfluous tie in books. They have nothing to do with Iron Man 2020 other than they star robots.

Iron Man 2020: Robot Revolution ★★★
Back in the 80's Marvel produced a Machine Man miniseries set in the future where he fought the Iron Man of 2020. Marvel now has created the 2020 version of that story.

Spider-Verse: Spider-Zero ★★★★
Way better than I expected. Miles Morales tours the multiverse teaming up with various incarnations of Spider-Man. Marvel brought in some of their better talent for this book.

Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child ★
This didn't make a lick of sense. Trump is running for office now in the DKR universe and he's backed by Joker (who is inexplicably alive again.) and Darkseid. WTF?

[Chad]

Last week's comics:
Dept of Truth #1
Giant-Size X-Men #1 Tribute
Shang-Chi #1
Artemis and the Assassin #5
The Goon #12
The Resistance #6
Doctor Alpha #4
Strange Academy #3
X-Factor #4
X-Ray Robot #2
Year Zero #5
Batman: Three Jokers #2
Dark Night: Death Metal - Multiverse's End
Hellblazer #10
Legion of Super-Heroes #9

This week's comics
Spy Island #2
X-Force #13
Wolverine #6
We Only Find Them When They're Dead #2
Thor #8
Marauders #13
Locke & Key: ...In Pale Battalions Go... #2
Black Widow #2
Adventureman #4
American Vampire: 1976 #1
Disaster Inc. #4
Fire Power #4
The Walking Dead Deluxe #1 - The Walking Dead in full color for the first time.

[Ed]

In the run-up to Halloween, I've been reading Edgar Allan Poe's Snifter of Terror: Volume One. It is kind of like a mix of "Treehouse of Horror", Mad magazine, and "Drunk History" (with Poe as the drunk).

How could you not like the covers:

Most of the stories are based around one or more Poe story, including some pretty obscure ones. (How many of you remember Poe's stories "Bon Bon" or "Duc de l'Omellette"?)

My favorite stories though are the ones by Mark Russell about breakfast cereal monsters like "Count Chocula", "Frankenberry", etc. They have nothing to do with Poe, unless perhaps "Toucan Sam" represents "The Raven".

Volume 1 is included in Comixology Unlimited. I enjoyed it enough to purchase volume 2. It also led me to discover the publisher "Ahoy Comics" and I also read their High Heaven: The Austerity Gospel about a guy who dies and goes to heaven and it is awful and everyone there hates him.

[Chad]

Ed wrote: "Volume 1 is included in Comixology Unlimited. I enjoyed it enough to purchase volume 2. It also led me to discover the publisher "Ahoy Comics" and I also read their High Heaven: The Austerity Gospel about a guy who dies and goes to heaven and it is awful and everyone there hates him.

If you're checking out Ahoy Comics, you should take a look at Second Coming and Billionaire Island, both by Mark Russell.

[Devon]

Chad wrote: "Ed wrote: "Volume 1 is included in Comixology Unlimited. I enjoyed it enough to purchase volume 2. It also led me to discover the publisher "Ahoy Comics" and I also read their High Heaven: The Aust..."

Secomd Coming looks pretty cool. Bronze Age Boogie also looks awesome

[Ed]

I definitely plan to read both of those Mark Russell books. He talks my language.

[Chad]

Last week's light comic book reading.


Uzumaki ★★★★
A strange horror manga about spirals found in nature. Reminded me quite a bit of House of Leaves.

Batman: Curse of the White Knight ★★★★★
A terrific follow up to Batman: White Knight.

Wonder Woman by John Byrne Vol. 3 ★★★
Byrne's run on WW was kind of boring.

Class Act ★★★★
The follow up to the Newbery award winning New Kid .

Artemis & the Assassin ★★★★
Time travelling, assassins and World War II spies. Does it get any better than that?

Moon Lake Vol. 1 ★
This was like a bad, schlocky, 80's horror film. Dan Fogler mistakes being gross with being funny.

Batman: The Demon Trilogy ★★★
The first book in this, Batman:Son of the Demon was Grant Morrison's inspiration for Damian Wayne.

Dragon Hoops ★★★★
A fun read about basketball from an artist who couldn't care less about basketball when they started this project.

I Am Legion ★★★
Once upon a time, John Cassaday worked on a French comic about strigoi in World War II.

The Flash by Geoff Johns Book Six ★★★★
I'm still not happy about Barry Allen returning and taking the Flash mantle back from Wally West but at least Geoff Johns came up with some good reasons for it and did some interesting things with Professor Zoom.

[Chad]

Just got back from the comic book store.

Dark Nights: Death Metal #4
The Batman's Grave #11
Rorschach #1
Once and Future #12
Strange Adventures #6
New Mutants #13
Hellions #5
Cable #5
Atlantis Wasn't Built for Tourists #2
Superman #26
We Exist #1
Seven Secrets #3
The Doomed and the Damned #1

[Lenny]

My books over the last couple weeks (full reviews on book pages)

Runaways, Vol. 5: Canon Fodder - not the strongest of the series, but still pretty good. Anka returns to pencil an issue.
Doctor Aphra, Vol. 4: The Catastrophe Con - my least favorite book in the series so far, even though it was amazing to see three queer women together in one Star Wars book.
The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars, Part One - DiMartino (co-creator) covers a whole lot of ground in just 76 pages. Along with Irene Koh's art it feels just like the series.

[Chad]

Last week's light comic book reading.

Carthago Omnibus Volume 1 ★★
There's a great story buried within this hunt for a megalodon and eventually Atlantis. What was just an OK comic could make a great movie with some streamlining to the storytelling.

Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds ★★★
Focuses way more on being bizarre than telling a cohesive story, probably having to do some with all the writers and artists that had to pitch in to get this done with Gerard Way only "co-writing" each issue.

Vampironica: New Blood ★★★
It's 3 issues of "You don't know what's going on" frustration followed up the big reveal in issue #4 that's just prologue for another series. Audrey Mok's art though is terrific.

Great Pacific, Volume 2: Nation Building ★★★★
This was a really cool series about a young heir who takes his money to build a new micronation on top of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Great Pacific Volume 3: Big Game Hunters ★★★
Joe Harris does his best to burn this series to the ground after he got the series cancellation notice.

Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer, Vol. 7: 2099 ★★
Although titled 2099, Spider-Man 2099 is only a minor subplot in this book.

John Constantine, Hellblazer Vol. 1: Marks of Woe ★★★
Spurrier ignores the previous 3 John Constantine books of the last 10 years, only acknowledging the original Vertigo series.

Savage Avengers, Vol. 2: To Dine With Doom ★★★
This is not an Avengers book. It's a Marvel Team-Up book starring Conan set in the current Marvel universe.

Red City ★★
A sci-fi noir that doesn't work.

Jungle Girl Volume 1 ★★★
This is like an old campy "B" movie. Jungle Girl helps a group of people when their plane crashlands on an island full of dinosaurs.

The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire ★★★★
Written by one of the cartoon's co-creators. A great continuation of the show.

Strangelands Vol 2 ★★★★
This series is sort of a Mr. & Mrs Smith if they had opposite superpowers that kept them apart but also required them to stay in close proximity.

[Chad]

This week's comic book pickups:

Dark Nights Death Metal: Robin King
X-Men #13
Venom #29
Spider-Woman #5
Something Is Killing the Children #11
Skulldigger and Skeleton Boy #5
Shadow Service #3
Maestro #3
Excalibur #13
Stillwater #2
Batman: White Knight Presents Harley Quinn #1
Juggernaut #2
Iron Man #2
The Scumbag #1
Werewolf by Night #1
Devil's Highway #4
Star Wars Bounty Hunters #6
Dead Day #4

[Chad]

Last week's reading:

Jungle Girl Volume 1 ★★★
Some campy old, B-movie style fun.

Hellblazer, Volume 5: Dangerous Habits ★★★★
Kudos to DC for finally collecting these Jamie Delano stories in the first half but I can see why they didn't. they stink. Then Garth Ennis comes in like a crack of thunder and instantly makes the book interesting.

Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer, Vol. 8: Threats & Menaces ★★★
Meh. Spencer's run on Spider-Man isn't doing it for me.

Hardware: The Man in the Machine ★★★
Revisiting some of the Milestone Comics line.

Red Mother Volume 1 ★★★★
A slow burn horror comic about a woman who loses both her eye and her boyfriend in the park one night while walking through New York. Perfect for Halloween.

Willie Nelson: A Graphic History ★★★★
Willie's a true rebel and music legend, doing things his way.

Batman: Knight Out ★★★
It was refreshing to see 15 Batman issues from the 90's in a row without any interruptions for events. However, these stories weren't anything special.

DC Universe: Rebirth/a> ★★★★★
Went back and re-read this to see what insights it gives into Batman: Three Jokers.

Creepshow ★★★★★
Bernie Wrightson was the perfect choice to illustrate these adaptations of the movie anthology. For years, I've chanted "I want my cake!" on my birthday since I saw this movie as a kid.

Road to Empyre ★★★★
Surprisingly no reprints and all new stories for this lead in to Empyre.

Meet the Skrulls ★★★★
Basically The Americans TV show with skrulls. It's fantastic. Read this before Road to Empyre.

Two Dead ★★★
Loosely based on a true story, a WWII vet with PTSD joins the Little Rock police department where he's saddled with the loose cannon, chief of detectives..

Shadow Master Series Volume 1 ★
Good god, this was awful. The Shadow is barely in it. It's set in the 80's instead of going for the noir of the 40's. The Asian characters were painted yellow. Nuff said.

Star: Birth of a Dragon ★★★★
Spins directly out of Captain Marvel, Vol. 2: Falling Star. Kelly Thompson has created an interesting character with this morally ambiguous character.

Sir Edward Grey, Witchfinder, Vol. 6: Reign of Darkness ★★
Jack the Ripper in the Mignolaverse should be fantastic. Unfortunately, that story is mostly ignored and this was just boring.



And some first issues I got to this week:

Juggernaut #1 ★★★★★
Much better than I expected. Juggernaut helps a kid he finds squatting in a building about to be demoed.

Werewolf by Night #1 ★★★
Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas introduces a Native American Werewolf by Night.

We Live #1 ★★★
The book is set 50 years in the future on a ravaged Earth that is soon going to die. Aliens have sent devices to allow 5,000 children to leave the planet. The children and their guardians now need to make it to the extraction points through jungles full of mutated creatures.

Shang-Chi#1 ★★★
Shang-Chi's past comes back to haunt him. If you want to get all the references though, you'll need to go back and read Master of Kung Fu from the 70's.

The Department of Truth #1 ★★
A cool concept ruined by Martin Simmonds terrible artwork. I couldn't tell what the fuck was happening in half the panels. It might as well have been prose. The art made me furious.

[Chad]

This week's LCS run:

TMNT: The Last Ronin #1
Hellboy and the BPRD: The Return of Effie Kolb #2
The Autumnal #1-#2
Colonel Weird: Cosmagog #1
Star Wars: Dr. Aphra #5
Strange Academy #4
X-Ray Robot #3
Suicide Squad #10
Legion of Super-Heroes #10
Hellblazer #11
Death Metal: Rise of the New God #1
Action Comics #1026
X of Swords: Stasis #1
Batman: Three Jokers #3

[Erin]

Chad wrote: "This week's LCS run: ..."

How was Colonel Weird? I'm so excited for more Black Hammer universe!

[Nancy]

I managed to read a lot in October! Towards the end of the month, I read a lot of horror-themed graphic novels. 

Heathen 2 & 3- This LGTBQ+ Viking trilogy came to a close. Aydis threw over that patriarchy! Great series, tho volume three wasn't as strong as the previous two. 

Once & Future- Think you know King Arthur’s story? Think again! This first volume in a new series about a British scholar battling an undead king with his monster hunting Gran was great.

The Dollhouse Family- A girl inherits an evil dollhouse and needs to fight back once she is grown and her own daughter is at risk. In the new Hill House Comics label- but it didn't deliver. 

When I Arrived At The Castle- I am a fan of Emily Carroll’s past work Through The Woods. This new graphic novel is very reminiscent of her earlier horror-inspired short stories, but this longer story is more adult with a lesbian erotica angle.

Fangs- What happens when a vampire and a werewolf meet cute and fall in love? A fun comic book that is a fast read. 

Uzumaki: Spiral Into Horror- An amazing and terrifying manga trilogy by Junji Ito about spirals. The artwork is a masterpiece with creatures that are macabre and Lovecraftian.