What are you reading right now? (October 2022)

[Erin]

It's officially spooky season! Reading anything scary to get in the Halloween mood?

Tell us all about what you've been reading this month below!

As always, if you'd like to check out what the IRCB crew is reading, take a peek at the Top of My Pile posts over on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ircbpodcast

[Chad]

Last week's adventures in comics.

Blood Stained Teeth Volume 1: Bite Me ★★
A vampire is in trouble for making other vampires to earn cash. The vampire council has given him a month to track all of these vamps down and kill them.

He Who Fights With Monsters ★★★
As a last resort, some Jews hiding from the Nazis revive a Golem. He doesn't do a whole lot in the long term though and this story overall seemed a bit pointless.

Batman: Urban Legends, Vol. 3 ★★
Batman and Zatanna team up in the first story. While Ace the Bathound has to save Batman in the latter story.

Nubia & the Amazons ★★
If you like your Amazonian stories to be about women in Greek dress standing around talking, this is the book for you.

Punchline: The Trial of Alexis Kaye ★★★
Punchline is on trial for her part in the Joker War but is a master of manipulation, especially on social media.

Hotell Vol. 2 ★★★
Five more interconnected horror tales of weary travelers stopping at Pierrot Courts off Route 66.

Knighted Vol. 1 ★★★★
This really feels like something Garth Ennis would write. It's about a nebbish fellow who accidentally kills The Knight and takes over for him.

Fortnite x Marvel: Zero War ★★★
I only read this on Marvel Unlimited so my nephew could have the codes for Fortnite.

Telepaths Vol. 1 ★★★★
A solar flare causes 10% of the population to gain telepathy, setting off a collision course between a Boston cop and a man on death row.

Jinx Grim Fairy Tales ★★
These could have been good if fleshed out to full stories. Instead the 3 stories are crammed into a 20 page one-shot for Archie's horror line.

Moths ★★★★
This follows around a woman who chooses to gain powers that will kill her in 6 months. Good stuff.

Casual Fling ★★★
Your typical sensual thriller.

American Ronin Vol. 1 ★★
An assassin seeks revenge on the corporation he used to work for. Meanwhile the corp has sent an assassin after him. They both have the ability to take your DNA and inject it into themselves to see your memories. Yeah, it makes no sense.

[kaitlphere]

Here's what the IRCB folks read on this week's episode: Episode 344 | Get In Loser, We're Killing Christopher Columbus

- Mike: Stages of Rot
- Kait L: The Golden Hour
- Kate S: Witches of Brooklyn: What the Hex?!:

Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts on what we read! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.com/episodes/epis...

[Max]

Besides ongoings on the Shonen Jump app and some stuff I haven't finished from september, this is what I got. I don't know quite what to read right now tho.

Red She-Hulk Hell Hath No Fury I saw this on Hoopla and thought why not. Only read an issue and a half so far, but I'm enjoying it.


Saga of the Swamp Thing I wanted to read something spooky and this has been sitting in my ipad for months. I've never read anything by Moore, excited to do so. Literally 3 pages in so no real thoughts.


One Piece Volume 50 I have seen most of the anime, so this is my 2nd time around. Manga definitely has better pacing. I'd even call Thriller Bark a good arc in the manga. I love Oda's zombie designs. All the panelling is so much cleaner than the current stuff.


Spider-Man Beyond I'm cautiously enjoying this one. I've heard terrible things about Zeb Wells' current run, but they say that about every new Spider-Man run. I do love 2 of the writers involved, Kelly Thompson and Saladin Ahmed. All that said, I did give this book 4 stars.

Planet of the Apes/Green Lantern I couldn't tell why I picked this up. It was staring at me in Hoopla. I had to watch Planet of the Apes in preparation for this book. All that said, it's good. Art is serviceable, sometimes more. All the covers are pretty. They play with the setting of PotA.

[Whitney]

I read BRZRKR and caught up on A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance. I’m going to try The Closet next and catch up on The Walking Dead Deluxe.

[kaitlphere]

Here's what the IRCB folks read on this week's episode: Episode 345 | "Ribbit and Rip-It!"

- Mike: Earthdivers #1, モノトーン・ブルー Monotone Blue , Old Dog #1, The Human Target (2021-) #7
- Brian: Alien Vol. 2: Revival (Alien, DC vs. Vampires Vol. 1
- Paul: Best of 2000 AD Volume 1: The Essential Gateway to the Galaxy's Greatest Comic, Ant-Man (2022-) #3 and #4, Santos Sisters #2

Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts on what we read! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.com/episodes/epis...

---

I picked up Lost Lad London, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 from my library on a whim a few weeks back and finally got around to reading those. It's about a teenager who gets wraps up in the murder investigation of London's mayor and works with a grumpy police officer to unravel the murder and his own unknown connection to the mayor.

I'm not big into mysteries or police stories, but this one really works for me.

[Erin]

I've been such a bad reader this year, but planning to get a good chunk of the reading challenge knocked out this month!

[kaitlphere]

Here's what the IRCB folks read on this week's episode: Episode 346 | A Birthday Gift On Mike's Birthday At His Birthday Party With A Birthday Gift

- Mike: X-Men #15, Akira, Vol. 3
- Danny: Orphan and the Five Beasts, Rooster Fighter, Vol. 1, Batman Incorporated (2022-) #1
- Nick: Lost Lad London, Vol. 1, Two Moons #1 through #5

Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts on what we read! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.com/episodes/epis...

[Chad]

I had a small stroke two weeks ago. I'm getting back to normal (but eating better) What I read while on the mend..

Marjorie Finnegan, Temporal Criminal Vol. 1 ★★★
Becomes a super complicated plot about two scumbags trying to subtly change our history for the worst.

Snow Angels: Season Two" ★★
I couldn’t make heads or tails of what was happening with this story. Lots of chasing outside the trench. Didn’t really pick up why though. I expected a lot more out of Snyder and Jock.

Black Hops: U.S.A.-*-G.I.: Omnibus Volume 1 ★★
An extremely smart rabbit works with other altered animals to protect America.

Hegemony (Delta Squadron Book 1) ★★
Some kind of military story. Nothing was explained and it was only 17 pages long. Left me pretty confused as to the point of it.

We Have Demons ★★
Snyder’s first foray into digital comics is a generic snooze fest set at the end of the world. It’s about a group of people who fight demons.

Silk Hills ★★
This one didn’t make a lot of sense. It’s about a private eye looking for someone in a small town. They quickly start seeing strange things doing with moths and deer that turn into people.

Usagi Yojimbo: Tengu War! (Usagi Yojimbo (2019-)) ★★★★
Sakai goes eerie supernatural for most of the stories in this book.

Wonderland Vol. 2 ★★
Wonderland goes after Callie and her daughter again. Pretty much exactly the same as the last time.

Bettie Page: Queen of the Nile ★★★★
The queen of the pinup girls blasts off across time and space.

Doughnuts and Doom ★★★★
A witch who has trouble performing in public and a aspiring singer meet under strenuous circumstances. Will they realize they could be something much more? A light and sassy sapphic romance.

Angel, Vol. 1: Parallel Hell ★★★
Angel set in alternate universe where Angel and Cordi are TV detectives. Behind the scenes everything is pretty much the same as the main universe.

Dejah Thoris vs. John Carter ★★★
Dejah Thoris and John Carter are cut off from their Allie’s with the Longborns threatening to return.

Robin, Vol. 2: I Am Robin ★★★
The League of Lazarus tournament ends with the real reason behind it revealed.

Black Adam: The Dark Age ★★★★
Black Adam’s wife is dead. So is most of Kahndaq. Black Adam is the most wanted person on the planet. All he wants is to bring Isis back to life.

Blue Beetle, Vol. 1: Shellshocked ★★★
A new Blue Beetle appears in El Paso. This one is extraterrestrial with all kinds of powers.

Blue Beetle, Vol. 2: Road Trip ★★★★
I thought this was cleaner an more assessable than the first volume.

Tart Vol. 1 ★★★★
A bit confusing at times but still very enjoyable. It’s about some women who were killed and now have one back as some kind of spirits that help people and kill demons.

Concrete Jungle Vol. 1 ★★★
A hard boiled detective comic set in future Miami. There’s lots of alien scumbags along with a dirty cop and a clean telepath.

Die!namite Vol. 1 ★★★★
The dead invade the many realms of Dynamite. Red Sonja, Vampirella, Peter Canyon, Thunderbolt, Evil Ernie, Project Superpowers, John Carter and a few others all get involved when zombies threaten all their worlds.

Moon Knight Omnibus Vol. 2 ★★★
The second half of the original Moon Knight series along with the second miniseries and some odds and ends. Almost 1,000 pages of comics.

DC Pride 2021 ★★★★
This is one area where DC is far better than Marvel, with their Pride characters. They are much more in the mainstream.

Sacred Six Vol. 1: Numerology ★★★★
Picks up where Vamperella: Seduction of the Innocent left off. Six women are pulled to a small town outside Atlanta where vampires live in peace. Someone is trying to start a war with the undead here after 2 boys go missing.

Marvel's Voices: Pride ★★★
Because of the nature of these types of anthologies, the stories can sometime feel forced. This is the case for some of the stories here but each year they get better and better and get further away from the cliched stories we are used to .

Marvel's Secret Reverse ★★
Another crummy stab at a Western Marvel comic from Viz.

Red Sonja: The Superpowers Collection ★★★
A bit of a generic story about Red Sonja joining the Dynamite’s superpowers team.

Ito Junji's Cat Diary ★★★
It's amazing how Junji Ito can take a rather mundane book about his new family getting two cats and turn it into horror.

Marvel's Voices: Legacy ★★
Marvel has pushed a bunch of these specials out, but this one is not good at all.

The Realm Vol. 2 ★★★
Will and the Rook separate from the rest of the group to go after the orcs that set up the last arc's ambush. Eventually everyone gets sidetracked underground where they fight some spider-people, gelatinous cubes and other creatures.

The Realm Vol. 3 ★★★★
UInfortunately, this seems to be the last volume of this series and it's far from being resolved. That being said, this is another great volume of D and D fueled adventure

Space Bastards Vol.10: Special Delivery ★★
Random stories featuring the space bastiches who run the postal service.

Captain America: Heroes Return - The Complete Collection, Vol. 2 ★★★★
The majority of this deal with the return of the Red Skull, now with the powers of the Cosmic Cube.

Family Reunion (Hawkeye: Kate Bishop, #3) ★★★★
Kate and Clint team up in L.A. to stop Eden and Madame Masque. There's a top of great quips and some character moments with Kate's screwed up parents.

[Mike, Host & Producer of IRCB!]

Here's what the IRCB folks and our special guest read this week for Episode 347 | Reading Comics in Broad Daylight (ft. Brandon Ingram)

- René - One Piece, Volume 1: Romance Dawn
- Brian - Dinosaur Sanctuary, Vol. 1
- Brandon - Superman: Up in the Sky, Superman for All Seasons, Star Wars: Visions (2022) #1
- Mike - Eight Billion Genies #5, A Cat's Day

Check out the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear our thoughts on what we read! Or listen now at https://ircbpodcast.com/episodes/epis...