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What are you reading right now?
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What are you reading right now? (August 2021)
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A Civil War soldier sees soldiers turn into monsters and fights them.

There's about a half dozen dystopian future ideas thrown out here, none of which mesh together or make any kind of sense.

Gives off strong Ms. Marvel vibes but peters out in the 2nd half.

If Don Bluth ever made a horror movie, this would be it. Absolutely loved it.

Reading this made me yearn for Stranger Things to return. Houser and Zub captured the relationship between the kids very well.

A bloated but serviceable 22-part crossover across all 9 X-books.

Some solid fantasy adventure as this party sets off for treasure. I don't know that they ever find much of it but they do get themselves into a lot of fine messes that build off one another.

Ram V.'s Swamp Thing was the best story in this.

Just when you think things can't get worse, The Order of St. George arrives in Arrow Peak.

DC's keeps Tom Taylor busy pumping out these Elseworlds books. It's a good thing Taylor is very good at it.

Bone follows the three Bone cousins as they are kicked out of Boneville and quickly lost in a wasteland before discovering the valley where the rest of the story takes place.

Jeff Smith's animation influenced style really works for me.

Some of the humor of the first two gives way as Smith begins to build up the larger story to come.

The series continues to be a great source of humor, drama, and adventure. If you've never read Bone, you should really check it out.
Here's what the IRCB folks read on this week's episode: Episode 292 | I Live. I am Born Again Because of This Book. (ft. interview w/ Gabe Cheng, For Molly Kickstarter).
- Kara: Itty Bitty Hellboy
- Rene: Yongbi the Invincible Book 1, Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky Vol. 1: Know Fear (Daredevil
- Mike: Fangs, Attack on Titan, Vol. 1-34, Haha #6
Check out the episode to hear what we thought.
Also: This week's episode is all about the Reading Challenge! Check out why Kara, Rene, and I picked the books we did for the challenge and our thoughts on the books we've read so far.
- Kara: Itty Bitty Hellboy
- Rene: Yongbi the Invincible Book 1, Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky Vol. 1: Know Fear (Daredevil
- Mike: Fangs, Attack on Titan, Vol. 1-34, Haha #6
Check out the episode to hear what we thought.
Also: This week's episode is all about the Reading Challenge! Check out why Kara, Rene, and I picked the books we did for the challenge and our thoughts on the books we've read so far.

I've read most of "Bone", but never finished it. I wish I could remember where I stopped.

Skybound X #5
Deadpool: Black, White and Blood #1
Geiger #5
The Nice House on the Lake #3
American Vampire: 1976 #10
Justice League #66
Suicide Squad #6
Swamp thing #6
Fire Power #14
Hellions #14
Seven Secrets #11
X-Men #2
Superman: Red and Blue #5

-Araki Won't Be Tamed, vols. 1-2
-Atsumori-kun's Bride-to-be, vols. 1-6
-Beware the Kamiki Brothers, vols. 4-6
-Four Kisses in Secret
-The Full-Time Wife Escapist, vol. 1
-Love in Focus, 1-3
-Queen Bee, vols. 1-3
-Star-Crossed, vols. 1-4
-Vinland Saga, vols. 9-10
-When We Shout For Love, vols. 1-3
-When We're In Love, vols. 1-10


The Visitor by Paul Levitz, MJ Kim (Artist) ★ - It saddens me to say that I really did not enjoy this and I was confused a lot. Here's my review on Goodreads.

The Mighty Captain Marvel, Vol. 1: Alien Nation ★★★ - I used to be a huuuge Captain Marvel fan, but the artwork in this was sadly a bit disappointing. Here's my review.

The Future State Wonder Woman Singles ★★★★ - Loved the artwork in these and the stories were great! This was my first introduction to Nubia. Here's my review.

Future State Superman 3.5 ★ - I didn't read all the singles of this collection, but I enjoyed some of them. Here's my review.


The latest Black Hammer spinoff puts a new spin on the Batman / Robin / Joker dynamic by giving Batman a Punisher take.

Fone and Smiley Bone take Barteby to the mountains to return him to his own kind, the rat creatures.

The rat creatures have invaded the valley and destroyed the town with everyone holed up in Old Man's Cave as a last redoubt.

Most of the story is the Bones, Thorn, and Rose navigating the Ghost Circles as they head south to Atreia.

A much better balance of humor and action than in Ghost Circles.

And so ends Bone. It's been quite the wild ride, packed with humor, adventure, and danger.

One of the greatest self-published comics of all time. The perfect balance of humor and action in this fantasy adventure.

I suggest borrowing this one from the library for the Bone story and skim through the rest.

God, I just wanted this to end. I typically really enjoy Grant Morrison's writing. Morrison drones on and on with all kinds of science fiction gobbledygook without saying anything. It's Morison at his most Morrison.

The new Wonder Woman, Yara Flor, is the most interesting character to come out of Future State. Her two stories were great. The other two not so much.

We return to the Arthurian legends in this arc, with two more rearing their heads.

A bunch of evergreen Superman stories featuring Superman as the Boy Scout.

A worthy successor to the original Vertigo run. Taylor's Constantine is smarmy and smart even when talking to the Devil.

Introductions to half of the soon to be killed off members of The Suicide Squad.

I'm glad to see Ablaze reprint these Filipino horror comics. Trese is a John Constantine type, helping the police with supernatural cases.

The Unbelievable Unteens #1
Campisi: The Dragon Incident #1
Justice League: Last Ride #4
Rorschoach #11
Children of the Atom #6
Hellboy: The Secret of Chesbro House #2
Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow #5
X-Force #22
X-Men Legends #6
Here's what the IRCB folks read on this week's episode: Episode 293 | “You Guys Like Serial Killers?”.
- Kate: The Witch Boy, Kodi
- Brian: The Department of Truth, Vol 1: The End of the World
- Mike: Megg and Mogg In Amsterdam (and Other Stories), One More Year, Bad Gateway, Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 0, Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 1
Check out the episode to hear our thoughts!
- Kate: The Witch Boy, Kodi
- Brian: The Department of Truth, Vol 1: The End of the World
- Mike: Megg and Mogg In Amsterdam (and Other Stories), One More Year, Bad Gateway, Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 0, Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 1
Check out the episode to hear our thoughts!


If you've even been curious about Hellboy but didn't know where to start, this is a great introduction.

A story that gets crazier and crazier as it goes along, making less and less sense.

An artist revisits his summer job working at a paper mill without much of substance to say.

The Craft meets Mean Girls. The storytelling was pretty bad in this.

A solid prequel to Dune but not a great jumping on point.

As with most of Dave McKean's comics, it's all about the art. The story itself never really comes together.

Bandette is a delight. She is an irreverent French thief seemingly more obsessed with sweets and drawing pictures of animals than thieving. Yet, she's a renown thief who things always seem to work out for.

There was probably a pretty cool story here. Unfortunately, I couldn't follow it due to the art and coloring.

Steve Niles gives us exactly the story you'd expect from Jack the Ripper meeting Frankenstein's Monster. There's barely enough story here for a one-shot though, let alone three issues.

As one would expect from a Sam Keith series, the story is largely incoherent. While each page looks fantastic, the characters drone on and on without saying anything of value.

This is not the Marvel Zombies of old. This is a new universe where everything is fine until the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Avengers investigate why Galactus is floating aimlessly in space.

Yes, we could get into a debate on whether these should exist or not and that it goes against the creators' wishes, but the fact of the matter is they do exist and they are actually pretty good.

A Bone picture book for very young readers. Each panel is a page. It's a simple story but a good way to introduce your children to the great storytelling of Jeff Smith.

Jeff Smith gives Smiley Bone his own counting picture book for preschoolers.

The first 7 issues of the original comic. I loved the annotations for each issue by Eastman and Laird. It's something of a lesson in self-publishing and how much work it was.

Franklin and Val are left to hold down the fort on Earth while the Fantastic Four galivant through the events of Empyre.

Still, it is a great concept putting all of these famous figures and industrialists from the 1920's together, giving the book a bit of a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen feel only with real people instead of fictional characters.

- Claremont's The Uncanny X-Men run, two volumes so far (now I know why it's a classic!)
- Silver Surfer, Vol. 1: New Dawn by Dan Slott (loved Allred's art and that's about it)
- Spider-Woman: Baby Talk by Hopeless Hallum (fantastic)
- Moon Knight: Crazy Runs in the Family by Max Bemis (did NOT like)
- Magnificent Ms. Marvel, Vol. 3: Outlawed by Saladin Ahmed (so mad Marvel cancelled this)
- All-New Wolverine, Volume 1: The Four Sisters by Tom Taylor (fantastic, my first book w/Laura)
- Highwayman by Koren Shadmi (trippy, poignant, thoughtful)
- Cyclopedia Exotica by Aminder Dhaliwal (one of my favorite cartoonists, fantastic story)
- Heartstopper: Volume Two by Alice Oseman (i'm obsessed)
Here's what the IRCB folks read on this week's episode: Episode 292 | I'm a Notorious Cheapskate.
- Nick: Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 4, The Unbelievable Unteens #1
- Paul: Barbaric #2, Queen of the Ring: Wrestling Drawings by Jaime Hernandez 1980-2020
- Mike: Runaways #38, Bleach: New Breathes From Hell
Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever your get your podcasts to hear our thoughts!
- Nick: Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 4, The Unbelievable Unteens #1
- Paul: Barbaric #2, Queen of the Ring: Wrestling Drawings by Jaime Hernandez 1980-2020
- Mike: Runaways #38, Bleach: New Breathes From Hell
Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever your get your podcasts to hear our thoughts!

Eat the Rich #1
X-Men: The Trial of Magneto #1
Superman: Read and Blue #6
Superman and the Authority #2
Marauders #23
Serial #6
Spider-Woman #14
Way of X #5
X-Corp #4
XO Manowar #5
Bat and the Cat #6
Nightwing #83

Nice.

Two Moons
Superman: Son of Kal-El
The United States of Captain America
The Nice House on the Lake
Justice League Infinity
The Me You Love in the Dark
Shang-Chi
Batman '89
Infinite Frontier
Ordinary Gods
Batman/Catwoman
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow
Eat the Rich
Some back issues I'm working on:
Claremont's X-Men - I'm near the 1st appearance of Proteus
Catwoman by Jim Balent - I'm a few issues into this. I have mixed feelings about Tom King's Batman run but it has had the side effect of making me obsessed with her & I'm really enjoying these 90s stories 😍
Fullmetal Alchemist - I'm on volume 17

Oof, I don't think I'll ever be ready for Runaways to be over. It's times like these I'm grateful to be a trade reader, so I can put it off a little longer!

"You can make your superhero a psychopath, you can draw gut-splattering violence, and you can call it a 'graphic novel', but comic books are still incredibly stupid." (p. 171)
Yet, he also says:
"I continue to believe that comics are an art form capable of any level of beauty, intelligence, and sophistication." (p. 207)


This is actually a very good starting point for Usagi Yojimbo that showcases the different kinds of stories Sakai is known for.

A shorter Avatar story about Suki's time in prison that doesn't bring anything new to the canon.

The Craft with fairies. Bad art. Ham-fisted writing.

Faye Faulkner is a teenage witch who hangs out at the loser table. When an internet spirit targets the students at the school, Faye gets involved.

The story of a middle class boy who wants to be a costume designer and a rich girl who wants to be an actress. Neither of their parents will listen and leave their career choices up to them. So they band together to do cosplay.

Starts off as a slice of life story that veers into supernatural cult territory halfway through. It feels like someone took two different books, cut them in half and then glued them together into one story.

Dorothy returns to Oz but not before getting sucked underground during an earthquake inspired by the San Francisco disaster in 1906. There she meets up with the Wizard of OZ and they explore underground worlds of vegetable people, invisible bears, wooden gargoyles and baby dragons.

As Shanower states in his forward, this is the weakest of Baum's Oz novels. There's not much to it other than Dorothy and Toto along with 2 new friends go on a walking road trip to Oz.

Eric Shanower's and Skottie Young's 6th and final adaptation of L. Frank Baum's Oz novels. (Yes, I know there are fourteen. This is the last one with Dorothy in it and where they decided to stop.)

I like how the creative team weaves the machinations of Zeno into the real life events of post World War I, like supporting the rise of Hitler and being involved in the death of President William G. Harding.

An interesting origin story for the infamous hitman of XIII.

Irina the assassin's origin story. A well done noir tale of the seductive Russian female spy.

This was awful. Jones is barely in this. Instead, it's about a black soldier that befriends her when she's 10.

Excellent backstory for Colonel Amos. He tries to uncover a Mossad spy operating in the U.S.

The origin of the real Steve Rowland, the man who XIII impersonates.

Betty and Carrington head back to South America to clean up the SPADS when things go awry.

I'm not really sure why this even exists. Martha Shoebridge is such a minor character in XIII that I didn't even remember who she was.

An introduction of sorts to the other half of the cast James Gunn plans on killing off in The Suicide Squad. (I did watch the movie last week. It's great. And no , I'm not going to tell you who lives and who dies.)

A financial wizard is buying the various Mexican drug cartels to corner the market on cocaine while pursued by an IRS agent.

This is an interesting European comic. It's about a small group of IRS agents that are more along the lines of spies. It's like James Bond if he was an accountant.

Me, too! I've been trying things from "Europe Comics" on Hoopla. They are an all-digital enterprise, translating non-English works into digital English versions.
Zombillenium has an interesting premise: a horror theme park staffed by actual ghosts, vampires, etc. It isn't as good as I'd hoped, but it's OK. Very weird translation choice, though. Even though it is obviously in France, the translator throws in references to make it seem like it is in the USA. I've seen this done before, and I never understand it. I can see with my own eyes that it isn't the USA.
Next I tried Miss: Better Living Through Crime. It has a glowing recommendation and preface by Ed Brubaker. But, it doesn't live up to Brubaker's own comics, so it was "Miss" for me.
I've spoken before of liking The Stingray by Jean Dufaux. (A fantasy/crime story set in France under Napoleon.) So I decided to try another by the same author: Murena.
Murena is a 10-part story of Rome under Nero. The parts focused on Nero are basically like "I, Claudius", picking up where that story ended. When Nero isn't the main focus, the story involves a fictional character Lucius that lets us explore some other parts of the Roman empire. Just like in "Game of Masks", the artwork is beautiful.
In Hoopla, I was able to get books 1-4 in a single combined volume, but have to use 6 more of my credits to get the rest of the story. It's worth it.
My real-life comics club picked Jupiter's Legacy Vol. 1. I didn't read it before our meeting, and now I think I won't do so. It seems it is a prequel and is only of value if you already know these characters.

Gentlemind. Episode 1 by Juan Díaz Canales (author of Blacksad). The story is mildly interesting, but the art is stunning.
Dixie Road - Volume 1 is also written by Jean Dufaux. But this time he leaves the European setting and tells a story of a series of crimes in Southern Louisiana in the 1920s. This crime story worked much better for me than "Miss" did. (See above.)

You're better off reading those in publication order so I'd read Jupiter's Circle first.

King Spawn #1
Wonder Woman: Black and Gold #3
Wolverine #15
Thor #16
Strange Academy #12
Something Is Killing the Children #19
Once and Future #19
Black Widow #10
Alien #6
Echolands #1 <--- JH Williams III's new comic. It's bound at the top instead of to the left of the comic. Still standard comic book size, just turned 90°.
Here's what the IRCB folks read on this week's episode: Episode 295 | It's Hot!... But Comics Are Cool (ft. The O.Z. #1-2 Kickstarter chat with David Pepose!).
- Brian: Spider-Geddon
- Kait: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Color Classics, Vol. 1 (for the GR Reading Challenge!)
- Mike: Planet Paradise
Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.com/episodes/epis...
- Brian: Spider-Geddon
- Kait: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Color Classics, Vol. 1 (for the GR Reading Challenge!)
- Mike: Planet Paradise
Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.com/episodes/epis...


The story of a young French woman who finally realizes she has Asperger's and learns how to cope with it, readjusting her life to meet her needs.

a formulaic kids' comic about some children getting powers and fighting evil.

A new focus on showcasing Hellboy's early cases with the BPRD.

The stories are modern takes on fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm.

Paul Levitz has written a lot of great comics over the last few decades. This is not one of them. It does tie in with the beginnings of the 4001 AD Valiant universe.

Set during World War II, Pin-Up is the story of two star-crossed lovers separated by the war.

A refugee in a stark Alice in Wonderland meets Kafka type world sits before a bureaucrat telling his story of hardship.

A strange Turkish comic about a girl born without a mouth.

Hudi is an overweight kid with one lung, an overactive imagination and a crackling wit. His parents want him to lose weight and sign him up for sports, switching to a new one after each colossal failure. This was really funny for kids and adults.

A childrens book by George A. Romero. Yes, that George Romero, creator of Night of the Living Dead.

This kids book is perfect for the story of DB Cooper. It's a fascinating story.

The full page illustrations remind me of Gustave Klimt.

The kind of wacky idea that works best in comics. Imagine Jurassic Park set during World War II.

A prose novel featuring the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers.

I've read all of the Future State books now and DC made the correct decision in ditching 5G.

These original TMNT comics were great. Highlights include the crossover with Dave Sim's Cerebus and the tribute to Jack Kirby.

This was so much better than I ever expected an Elvira comic to be. Elvira is hired to act in a homage to The Shape of Water.

This was one of the best times for the X-Men comics outside of Chris Claremont's run.

For something that's supposed to be a new jumping on point and the reboot of the universe in New 52, this references a ton of events that happened in the past without explaining them. Somehow Static's sister has been cloned and it's a major ongoing plot that's barely explained.

I gotta say I was somewhat disappointed with this Gail Simone book. It's about one of the characters Dynamite resurrected from the scrapheap, the Death Defying Devil.

The founder of Boneville, Big Johnson Bone, gets his own miniseries.

Hex Wives- Stepford Wives meets Bewitched in this tale of witchcraft and revenge. It had potential but I came away very disappointed.
Once & Future V3- I love this series of twisted King Arthur tales. My favorite series that is currently being put out.


The latest Black Hammer spinoff puts a n..."
I loved Once & Future V3! Each volume is fantastic, and I'm crushing on Duncan ;)

Me, too! I've been trying things from "Europe Comics" on Hoopla. They are an all-dig..."
I don't like how they relabeled this series- because now people are going to read this volume (formally Jupiter's Circle) and not want to read further. The two Circle books are soapy and a good prequel to Legacy, but you need to get established in the original two volumes first.

- Claremont's The Uncanny X-Men run, two volumes so far (now I know why it's a classic!)
- [book:Silver Surfer, V..."
I thought I'd give some Moon Knight books a read after I'm done with Invincible. My library has some MK graphic novels by Lemire that I thought I would start with. I'll definitely tune into the series with Oscar Isaac & Ethan Hawke, so I want to have some background knowledge beforehand.

If you hurry, the first volume of Bendis's Moon Knight run was a bonus borrow on Hoopla this month. You've got until midnight.

I nabbed it from Hoopla! Which would be better to read- the Bendis or Lemire stories?
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Books mentioned in this topic
Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men, Vol. 1 (other topics)Black Hammer, Vol. 1: Secret Origins (other topics)
Skulldigger + Skeleton Boy (other topics)
The Visitor (other topics)
Grimm Tales from the Cave (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Juan Díaz Canales (other topics)Jean Dufaux (other topics)
What are you reading this month? Anything you're looking forward to on the horizon?
Don't forget to check out the IRCB Goodreads Reading Challenge!
For even more recommendations, you can always see what the IRCB crew is reading on the weekly Top of My Pile posts on Patreon! Posts go public after one week.