999 Reading Challenge Review and Discussion Tread

[Ryan 'gobo' C.]

The Quitter by Harvey Pekar and Dean Haspiel
I'm not a huge fan of the caption box narration style used in this (really didn't like it in Fun Home), unlike Fun Home I really like Harvey himself so I'm still tempted to read more from him.

Air Vol 2
Loving this series so far, still one more in my 999 Challenge but I'll probably buy Vol 4 and read it right after 3, challenge be damned.

Gus and His Gang by Chris Blain
Really solid western. Starts off focusing on Gus but quickly moves on to one of his gang (Clem) for the rest of the book. At first glance the art looks like it would be for a kids book but this is straight up western with plenty of sex and guns. Liked it a lot and am going to keep my eyes open for more Blain in the future.

Black Hole by Charles Burns
This is my first exposure to Charles Burns and it totally floored me. Fantastic art, amazing and inventive dream sequences and a story that is totally twisted in the best possible way. Loved it.

That's 18!

Next 9:
Bossypants
Jimmy Corrigan
Stuff of Legend
Metabarons (Othon)
Pedro & Me
Air 3
Acme Novelty Library
Low Concept 2
King City

[evaD]

Okay. I've been lazy about posting thoughts on what I'm reading. I think I've finished 3 or 4 books since I last posted.
Clandestine by James Elroy. Like most (if not all) of his books, Clandestine takes place in the 1950's in Los Angeles. It's a murder mystery with some twists and turns. Those are the parts that I like best about his books. The twists and turns. It's not that you can't see things coming as you're reading along, it's just that it's so layered that the assumptions and thought you have at the beginning change dramatically by the end. I love the journey. Clandestine is about a golden boy cop who pushes too hard too fast and falls from grace. He can't let go of the case that wiped out his career though and follows it through to the end. I don't know how believable that end is, it seems a little forced, but the journey was a blast.

Swamp Thing - Moore, Bissette, Totleben. Anatomy Lesson. Yeah. It's good. I'm not reviewing it. I will say it's the first arc of Moore's tenure on the title. If you don't at least having an inkling about the first arc of his run or at least that he was on the title and it's very well thought of, I don't know what I'm going to add that will change things for you.

30 Days of Night. I can't remember if I wrote this one up or not. It's creative and interesting, with some beautiful art. Much better than the movie. Although, the movie was fun.

Lost Dogs - Lemiere's Xeric award winning book (am I saying that right?) Perhaps more "from the heart" than his latter works, it's definitely unpolished. But all the more beautiful for it. And what a gut-wrenching end. Not for Hollywood. They wouldn't have the guts to turn that story into a movie, but boy would it be interesting.

Pterodactyl Hunters - Not sure what to say here. I really enjoyed it, loved the art work and the story telling style, but I want more. I loved how this one ended as well. If more is done with this world, I'd rather have prequels or tangential stories. I don't ever want to know what happened next. That would ruin the story for me.

I guess I did have quite a few to review.

[erikh42]

Iron Council by China Mieville
It was interesting, lots of big ideas as is usual for Mieville but I never cared what happened to any of the main characters and the ending was more than a little unsatisfying. Cold.

13 down

I read this years ago and remember having the same issues.  Mieville writes beautiful prose, has crazy big and weird ideas, but for the most part his characters tend to lack depth.  That being said, I'm really interested to see how his upcoming DC work turns out.

[Ryan 'gobo' C.]

King City by Brandon Graham

Wow, I was blown away by this. I kinda missed that the ending happened though, all of a sudden there were backups and I was like "So when are they going to get back to the story?". Still loved it.

[heylook]

jesus christ gobo, you're going to be done by mid-june. slow downnnnn

(05) The Bombyce Network by Cecil & Corbeyan (Humanoids)

http://tinyurl.com/8xymux9

I’ve read very few European Comics since I’ve been into the medium. I don’t know how to access them, I don’t know what’s good and well…I like people in capes punching other people in capes in the face. It’s kind of a shame too, because there is such a long, rich history of apparently amazing comic books or “albums” from places like France, Spain, Italy and Belgium that I would love to get involved with…if I didn’t already feel overwhelmed by the enormous list of American classics I have yet to read and probably will never get to.

I don’t know if France’s “The Bombyce Network” is considered a “classic” oversees, though I gather the creative team are pretty legendary – and from how much I enjoyed this collection, it can’t be far off.

Originally conceived in France as 3 separate albums, the book took a long while to come out. There was a 3 year gap between the first “album” (we’re talking like 50 pages) and the second, and then after fights between the creators, it took 8 years for Cecil to finish the 3rd album completely on his own. I don’t know what the falling out was about, but it happens to creators in every artistic medium eventually – so there is a noticeable, though not alienating change as Cecil takes over the writing in the 3rd chapter, but that shouldn’t really matter.

Because his art is incredible.

It’s hard for me to compare the art and design in this book to anything else, but googling it before I ordered it last fall is what made me absolutely know I needed it. It’s sort of painterly, though it looks like it’s colored with colored pencils. Everything has a unique texture, every character has unique quirks and designs, all the backgrounds are insanely detailed and beautiful – and Cecil never takes the easy way out with his drawings. The panels are all variations of rectangles, but it reads like a movie. It’s incredibly rich and detailed and some of the most invigorating and exciting comic art I’ve ever seen. (Oh and the design/setting is incredible too).

Note: The 8-year gap between chapter 2 and 3 is noticeable in Cecil’s art as well, as the colors are brighter, the characters slightly more…exuberant. It’s still wonderful stuff, but man those first two chapters…

And the story is great too. The main characters are Elmore and Flea, a tall, lanky guy and a bald, former circus dwarf, and they happen to be amazing thieves in 1910′s France. They were extraordinary costumes and use contraptions to get around the city on high wires strung around rooftops. It’s an update on the classic adventure tale, we read in old Pirate books or Robin Hood type books. Flawed “everyday” heroes, using their smarts and willpower to humiliate the rich and corrupted. There’s even a mythological treasure…except, this isn’t a light adventure story. There’s prostitutes, rape, necrophilia, murder, high society snuff films, backstabbing, alcoholism, references to abortion, etc. But it never gets gruesome for the sake of being gruesome. It just makes you hate the “bad guys” and really want to see the “good guys” get out of their poor situations.

The writing isn’t the most amazing ever (most translated comics tend to lack the nuance necessary), and sometimes the word “balloons” are a bit confusing, but the actual arc of the story is great. It delivers things you expect, but it strings you along and stays exciting throughout.

It’s a fantastic book and one I will undoubtedly look at again and again as the years go by. Humanoids has translated the book and put it in an affordable trade paperback, with no frills. You’d be smart to go get a copy.

4.5/5

[Purdie]

Black Hole by Charles Burns
This is my first exposure to Charles Burns and it totally floored me. Fantastic art, amazing and inventive dream sequences and a story that is totally twisted in the best possible way. Loved it.

This is on my list too.  And you've just moved it up nthe reading order.   

[S. Earl]

Damn, I wish I would have had the foresight to add some of those Top Shelf books I purchased on my list when I was putting it together. Oh well, part of the fun is trying to complete what you planned on reading, dancing the girl you brought with if you will. Now that I've finished my Ultimate Comics re read I'm knee deep in a couple of books. Hopefully will have 9 total knocked out by Tuesday. Currently juggling Akira, some Northlanders, and Borstel Boy.

[heylook]

#6

Xombi by John Rozum & Frazer Irving (DC)

http://tinyurl.com/8yx2sn8

Look at this page:

“The origin of the Sisterhood of Blood Mummies is a mysterious one that should be left alone at all costs.”

“In addition to a normal internal circulatory system, they each have developed a second, external one connected to a second heart.”

“The extra blood pumped through their bodies gives them incredible energy and endurance levels, but these women are worse than any hemophiliac.”

“To protect themselves they wear cloaks woven from spider silk, by spiders which crawl all over these cloaks making any necessary repairs and feeding on the mosquitoes drawn to the sisters.”

“Then there is their weapon of choice…”

“It’s a blade weapon in tune wth the phases of the moon, changing the shape of its blade to match the appearance of the moon in the sky.”

Julian: Don’t let them cut you. Those blades have far worse effects than slicing flesh and drawing blood, though they’ll do that too. Each subtle change in the moon’s phases give the blade a different effect. Depending on the day of the month they can strip away your memories of loved ones, your trust in others, your appreciation for music, ability to digest food — twenty-eight different effects in all, and I have no idea which one goes with today.

David: Why is it we never have to get past a regular person with a hand gun?

Nun of The Above: Julian, you’ve beaten them before. What do we do?

Julian: Unless you’ve got a spray bottle full of sugar water hidden away in that habit of yours, I haven’t got the foggiest idea.

- Issue #6, Page 2.

Even without Frazer Irving’s otherworldly art and coloring, this book is something special. I originally read Rozum’s “Xombi” as it came out in 2011, and while I loved it then (I gave it 14th best comic of 2011), I failed to actually realize it’s brilliance. That’s why trade paperbacks are so great. It’s a 6-issue series that you all need to own. Google it on the internet and you’ll see nothing but raving reviews. No one bought it, sure – but those who did hold it in high esteem.

And while I love DC Comics – they need this book back in their rotation.

I don’t even want to get into it too deeply, because it’s really a fantastic read. “Xombi” is David Kim, a 30-something who has been infected by nanites that are constantly repairing his body to it’s peak condition, and able to replicate anything he wants it to. The books starts off with him turning paper into popcorn. Yeah…it’s that awesome.

And if that wasn’t good enough for you, the cast features a scummy magician, and a whole cast of super-powered catholics.

Oh, and Frazer Irving did the art.

Its essentially an adventure story and a tale of redemption, sort of a typical hero story – only there is nothing typical about it. As you can tell by the excerpt I posted above, Rozum’s ideas are literally not found on this world and while there are plenty of “out-there” conceptual writers, where masters like Alan Moore, Warren Ellis and Grant Morrison often seem to make you seek a little too much into their story to get the whole picture, Rozum is able to be clever, imaginative and hilarious, by just putting it onto the page.

It’s a book that begs to be owned. And read and re-read. It’s damn near perfect.

5/5

[erikh42]

15 books read, but this is only the 6th review   

Feynman - review

To date, this is the most disappointing book of the challenge.  I was very much hoping to enjoy Feynman.  At heart I'm a science geek and Feynman sits at the very top of the 'celebrity scientist' charts.  There is nothing particularly bad about Feynman by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick.  The issue is that the comic biography does not really bring anything new to the table.  Richard Feynman's life is something that has already been extensively documented, most notabely in his the subject's own books "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman and What Do You Care What Other People Think?,  Mr. Feynman's lectures are available in books, on web sites and even on youtube.

Feynman (the graphic novel) is a very accurate retelling of his life story.  It hits all the major points of his education, his career and his thoughts on physics and quantum mechanics.  The authors include bits from several of his lectures and do a good job showing the quirkiness of the character.  They, however, do not fully capitalize on the comic form. This could have been an opportunity to try and illustrate many of Feynman's revelations.  Instead, during a lecture the reader gets an illustration of the protagonist lecturing!  Biography can always trend a bit more toward's tell rather than show, but as a graphic novel this approach makes for poor sequential art.

If you want to read about a great physicist and need to do with heavy graphic elements then this book is right for you.  Otherwise, just dive in to the already existing fantastic prose work about Mr. Feynman.

[erikh42]

King City by Brandon Graham

Wow, I was blown away by this. I kinda missed that the ending happened though, all of a sudden there were backups and I was like "So when are they going to get back to the story?". Still loved it.

I think the ending was really a thing of beauty.  It's never about the destination, all about the journey!  When the destination is not what you expect, everything is still okay!

[Ryan 'gobo' C.]

I think the ending was really a thing of beauty.  It's never about the destination, all about the journey!  When the destination is not what you expect, everything is still okay!

Yeah once I realized what the ending actually was I liked it, but it confused me initially

[Tim H]

You guys are killing it with this challenge.  Knocking Regina down left and right.  Very impressive!  I'm enjoying the reviews and you guys' thoughts on what you are reading.

[Jon O]

From my Buy, Buy, Buy category

Flex Mentallo

They finally collected this and it's really fantastic.  Great metatextual Morrison with gorgeous Frank Quitely art.  This is a team that turns any work to gold.  The concepts are both grand and clear.  I love how every plot point was so neatly tied together by the end.  After I finished reading the book I immediately flipped back through the entire book page by page.  So well done.

[JasonP]

Ok I have been reading and participating, but not posting my reviews on what I was reading.  So here we go. . . . .

The Hunger Games Trilogy
I really enjoyed this series of books.  They were quick reads, but I like the story and the ideas that are presented in it.  I wanted to finish reading them before the movies came out, which I did.  I feel as though they did a great job with the adaptation and look forward to more

Child of God by Cormac McCarthy
This is one of the most disturbing books that I have read in a long time.  I love McCarthy's pace and how he writes and this one is no different.  In this book he examines an outsider in the community who lives off of the land.  He starts out by making you feel sorry or compassion for this character before he turns into a monster by the end.  The ending was rather anti climatic, but I feel it is on purpose because he wants you to realize what happens to people after they commit such horrid acts. 

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
I loved every second of this book.  I found the word play fun to read and really never had heard of this book until it was declared a modern classic on CBS’ Sunday Morning.  I think this is a book that I will come back to and possibly use in the classroom because of the lesson that it teachers about being a self starter among other things.  The illustrations by Jules Feiffer make the book even more enjoyable.  I loved that Juster says that this was not a children’s book, but a people book in that everyone should get something different from it.  I did and recommend it to others that have not read it.

Northlanders: Volume 6 – Thor’s Daughter by Brian Wood(w) Various (a)
This book really continues on its great pace and I am really disappointed in the fact that it is ending.  While I know some people have taken issue with the modern language in the comic, I find it less distracting.  I enjoy that each arc is self contained and tells a total story.  I will finish this series till it ends.

DMZ: Volume 11 – Free States Rising by Brian Wood(w) Riccardo Burchielli and Shawn C. Martinbrough (a)

I love the turn that this series has taken.  I think that Matt needs to be redeemed to a certain level because of how he acted in the previous arcs.  He is getting there slowly, but it is going to a painful reminder of what he has done to the DMZ.  You also start to see some of the loose ends getting tied up as we again wind down another great Brian Wood series.

Venom - Vol. 1 Rick Remender(w) Tony Moore Tom Fowler(a)

Rick Remender is writing some of the best Marvel stories around between this and his work on the Uncanny X Force, I love his voice in the Marvel Universe.  I find that it adds the lightness and the fun of comics.  I just love that these are “fun” comics and books that remind of the joy of reading when I first started reading.  I would be remiss if I did not mention the fantastic art by Tony Moore and Tom Fowler.   They both bring an energy and liveliness to the page which works in this ticking time bomb story.

So 8 out of 9 is not that bad . . . . I still have one day to go!

[Tim H]

DMZ: Volume 11 – Free States Rising by Brian Wood(w) Riccardo Burchielli and Shawn C. Martinbrough (a)

I love the turn that this series has taken.  I think that Matt needs to be redeemed to a certain level because of how he acted in the previous arcs.  He is getting there slowly, but it is going to a painful reminder of what he has done to the DMZ.  You also start to see some of the loose ends getting tied up as we again wind down another great Brian Wood series.

I was so glad to see Matty begin redeem himself in the eyes of the DMZ.  He's been placed in some terrible situations and has had to make some very very hard decisions that weren't always as black and white as he might have first thought.

[JasonP]

I was so glad to see Matty begin redeem himself in the eyes of the DMZ.  He's been placed in some terrible situations and has had to make some very very hard decisions that weren't always as black and white as he might have first thought.

That is why I have really enjoyed this series as a whole.   I think Wood has really mapped out a nice character driven arc that really doesn't get the credit it deserves at times. 

[Ryan 'gobo' C.]

Pedro & Me
 

(definitely the best thing I've read from Winick)

Metabarons Othon
Some really gorgeous art and an incredibly imaginative story but it's possibly a little TOO crazy

[Tim H]

That is why I have really enjoyed this series as a whole.   I think Wood has really mapped out a nice character driven arc that really doesn't get the credit it deserves at times. 

I would imagine that the subject matter is going to instantly turn a lot of people off and keep them from ever trying it. 

[whirlwindx]

12 down. I took a bit of break in the challenge to read a few other trades. Crazy I say. 20th Century Boys volumes piling up brought me back. They are too good to just let them stack up and blow through so I'm getting caught up so I enjoy the slow trickle with their cliffhangers.

20th Century Boys Vol.17
What else can I say about this series? Things keep on changing and I keep being just as fascinated as I've always been with the series. It just keeps on raising the stakes.

[heylook]

Phonogram Vol. 1 & 2 by Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie

http://tinyurl.com/d45ncdx

When I first started going to comic shops in 2006 and 2007, the covers of Phonogram really jumped out at me. Obviously, if you’ve looked at this blog or any of my others over the past decade, you know I come from a pop music background. Here was a book about pop music, under the guise of “magic”.

I never really knew what to make of it, even though a lot of people I trust swear by the two miniseries. Furthermore, I have gone on to love Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie’s more recent work at Marvel – but still, the book was never at the top of my list of things to get. I’m just wary of trying to blend two worlds I love like this, because more often than not – these kind of experiments fail.

Anyway, found the trades at a recent convention for dirt cheap, so I gave them a look. And well…I sort of have mixed feelings.

Despite my wariness to combine the worlds of indie rock with my dear comic books, it’s nevertheless oddly fun to have this feeling that here is someone sort of “speaking” for me in this medium that isn’t necessarily known for having creators that are super hip or modern. In the 2nd volume “The Singles Club” especially, where Gillen is talking at length about some of the biggest indie and electronic acts of 2006, it’s fun to remember what I was listening to back then – many of the same bands (many of which I’ve grown to despise), but regardless…it’s fun to be in that world. All that said, it doesn’t really feel like a comic book to me, so much as just Gillen’s ode to music. One of the reviews or introductions says something about the book is almost rock journalism. And it’s partially true…Gillen’s knowledge and love for the music of his past (and the present) is obviously vast, but so is his distaste. And this is where both volumes of this book kind of fall off the rails to me.

It’s under the idea of this “magical” connection that music powers certain things – i don’t know, it’s vague. It’s pop music as an actual elemental force, the same way that Superman gets power for yellow sun. Both volumes are quite a bit different, and I can’t figure out which I like more. I like how centered and the arc of the first volume, dealing with the question “should we let Britpop die?” and whether or not it was ever a thing to care about in the first place. And there is a bit more magic and surrealism in there (being guided around by Luke Haines is pretty brilliant). The second volume is just 7 intertwined stories of other “Phonomancers” at a club, and really seems like an excuse to let Kieron Gillen tell you what he’s listening to. It’s creative still, yes, and the end of the book is pretty cool how it all wraps up, but it just doens’t really seem that poignant to me apart from the big double page splash. It’s not that exciting, but rather a more creative way to write a Pitchfork column or discussion.

I sound jaded, because I’m simultaneously the perfect audience for this and absolutely not the right one. I’m a pop music blowhard that loves talking about it and seeing others talk about it, but I don’t want their opinions placed onto me. I don’t know, maybe I didn’t even get it all.

It’s well written in dialogue and Jamie McKelvie is fucking awesome, but yeah…I just feel kinda empty, which is the exact way that pop music SHOULD NOT make you feel.

Rue Brittania: 3.5/5
The Singles Club: 3/5