2004 Reading Lists

Yes, I keep track of everything I read. Isn't that sad?



Here then are all of the prose and graphic novels I read in 2004:



Books Read, Winter 2004

Books Read, Summer 2004

Books Read, Fall 2004



Graphic Novels Read, Winter 2004 (part 1)

Graphic Novels Read, Winter 2004 (part 2)

Graphic Novels Read, Winter 2004 (part 3)

Graphic Novels Read, Winter 2004 (part 4)



Graphic Novels Read, Summer 2004 (part 1)

Graphic Novels Read, Summer 2004 (part 2)

Graphic Novels Read, Summer 2004 (part 3)

Graphic Novels Read, Summer 2004 (part 4)



Graphic Novels Read, Fall 2004 (part 1)

Graphic Novels Read, Fall 2004 (part 2)

Graphic Novels Read, Fall 2004 (part 3)

Graphic Novels Read, Fall 2004 (part 4)

Graphic Novels Read, Fall 2004 (part 5)





The best book I read in all of 2004 was probably The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon, which turns the detective novel on its ear and uses the structure of a mystery novel to explore life with autism.

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover.

Who is that on the shoulder of Bizarro Brainiac 5 on the cover of Legion of Super-Heroes #114? It's Bizarro Koko! This cover by Alan Davis & Mark Farmer is our second (of two) Bizarro Monkey covers, following Bizarro Titano from the week before last..

Image is courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

Quick DC Comic Reviews

Action Comics #823

by Chuck Austen, Ivan Reis & Marc Campos

Part two of "Repo-Man" is better than most of the recent issues of Action, though that's not really saying much. The bulk of the issue is a fight scene between Superman & the titular bad guy (whose motivation is, um, being bad?) with the aid of Superboy. Fortunately Reis & Campos excel at fight scenes, so while the comic is slight, at least it looks good. The remainder of the issue is filled out by two pages of the Preus subplot, one page of Doomsday 'Thoom'ing around Metropolis (yet still undetected!) and Lois and Lana acting like bratty high schoolers. I do like the cover though, which seems a throwback to something that would've come from the title in the 60s or 70s.

Rating: 2 (of 5)




Majestic #1

by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, Neil Googe & Trevor Scott

Speaking of slight, not much happens in the first issue of the ongoing Majestic series either. Superman & The Eradicator return with Majestic to the WildStorm universe, only to find itempty of all animal life (including humans) yet otherwise intact. The many one- and two-panel pages give us ample opportunity to gaze at Googe & Scott's rather good skill at drawing cityscapes and backgrounds, and the battle against the giant alien robots iw well-handled as well. But a $3 introductory issue needs to take more than 4 minutes to read, don't you think?

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)




Breach #1

by Bob Harras, Marcos Martin & Alvaro Lopez

Ex-Marvel E-i-C Bob Harras comes to DC to essentially re-tell Cary Bates's Captain Atom #1 from 1987. He's joined by artists Martin & Lopez, for whom I predict great things someday, but this probably won't be it. Still, there are several great scenes to gaze upon, incluing the opening sequence and the shot fo the supercolider that it's certainly worth a look-through. But the story, while mostly competent, does not present a compelling main character.

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)




Green Arrow #46

by Judd Winick, Tom Fowler & Rodney Ramos

As the cover suggests, GA sponsors the new Speedy into the Teen Titans. It's a good change-of-pace issue, keeping the ongoing narrative going while taking a breather from the seriousness by lightening things up a bit. The new art team of Fowler & Ramos is a mixed bag; the opening scenes are quite nice, with animated character and great flow, while the later scenes with the Titans seem stiff and awkward. Chalk it up to growing pains, as I expect that we'll see the new guys settle in nicely within a couple of issues.

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Prof. Gloeckner

I finally got the chance to meet Phoebe Gloeckner in person on Tuesday. We didn't have a chance to talk for long, but she was very personable and intelligent. One of the courses she's teaching here is Art & Design 419: "ILLUSTRATION: Comics & Other Visual Narratives":

This course focuses on how words and pictures are used together in narrative expression, examining various genres of art and literature. A historical survey of historical and contemporary examples from literature and the visual arts and everything in between, from The Bayeux Tapestry and William Hogarth through William Blake and Robert Crumb. Students will be asked to create their own narrative pieces incorporating words and pictures; for example, a multi-page comic story or a series of paintings.

Anyway, this also gives me a good excuse to link to Prof. Gloeckner's recent photo essay. (Link via The Comics Reporter, among others.)

Quick Comic Reviews

Batman/Danger Girl

by Andy Hartnell, Leinil Yu & Gerry Alanguilan

This comic provides everything its title suggests, i.e. Abby Chase and the Danger Girl crew running around Gotham City for some MacGuffin-esque reason while running into Bruce Wayne, Batman, The Joker, Catwoman, etc. It's no deep-meaning work of art, but c-mon: it's Batman/Danger Girl for crying out loud! I've noticed over the past few years that Yu's art has become more and more stylized and that trend continues here, though he still maintains his excellent ability to present an action scene with aplomb. IT all makes for a fun, light-hearted read.

Rating: 3 (of 5)




Youngblood: Imperial #1

by Robert Kirkman & Marat Mychaels

In this issue, poor Doc Rocket is suffering from severe back trauma which causes her to bend over unnatually as she races against time to find a chiropractor to fix her ailments before she is sidelined for good. Okay, that's not actually the plot, just what is suggested by that horrible pose on Rob Liefeld's cover. In fact, Doc Rocket barely appears in this comics at all, just showing up in the crowd shots on a couple of splash panels. The real plot of this book is, um, oh heck, I have no idea. It's all just seems to be pointless fight scenes and random posing. This comic is so poorly written and illustrated that I wonder if the creators are purposely parodying early 90s Image comics. Alas, probably not.

Rating: 1.5 (of 5)




B.P.R.D.: The Dead #2

by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, & Guy Davis

While Abe Sapien confronts his mysterious past in an old New England house, the rest of the B.P.R.D. crew moves into their new headquarters and tries to adjust to their new boss and surroundings. Not a lot actually happens here, but what does occur is tension-filled and moody and so nicely drawn that the slow pace of the plot doesn't bother me much at all. I continue to be along for the ride.

Rating: 3 (of 5)

New This Week: January 12, 2005

Based on the NCRL list for this week's comics shipping from Diamond, here are a few things to look for at the local comic shop tomorrow:



The pick of the week is Jason Lutes's Berlin, book 1 trade collection from Drawn & Quarterly. This is actually a reissue, but it's definitely worth picking up if you haven't yet encountered it. Lutes's drafting and drawing is exquisite, deceptively simple but actually dense and detailed. The art would be enough for me to recommend Berlin, but there's also a fascinating story of love and politics set in the Weimar Republic-era.



In other comics:



Atomeka has Hero Squared Xtra Sized Special #1, from the crew that brought us Formerly Known as the Justice League.



Avatar has the final two of Warren Ellis's Apparat books, Angel Stomp Future & Simon Spector.



Beckett has the seventh issue of Ruule: Kiss and Tell.



DC has the collection of Gail Simone's first Birds of Prey stories in the Sensei & Student collection, as well as Rucka & Johnson's Wonder Woman in the Bitter Rivals collection. The start of Dixon, Beatty & McDaniel's "Nightwing: Year One" is in Nightwing #101, and Mr. Majestic returns to the WildStorm universe in yet another Majestic #1. Also from DC are new issues of Fables (#33), Gotham Central (#27), JLA (#110) & JSA (#69).



Image has the first issue of Darkness/Superman, and something called Two Bits, which I couldn't tell you anything about, but it's only a quarter.



Marvel has the first Araña digest and the first District X trade, a second Marvel Knights 4 trade, the first issue of Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill, and new issues of Captain America & The Falcon (#11), New Thunderbolts (#4), Pulse (#7), She-Hulk (#11), The Punisher (#16), and Ultimates 2 (#2).



Oni has the second Love Fights collection.





Finally, if for some reason you were considering buying the Youngblood Imperial Premium Signed Edition for $24.99, please for the love of all that's right and good take that money and instead donate it to a worthy cause. You have too much damn money.

Quick GN Reviews

She-Hulk, vol. 1; Single Green Female

by Dan Slott, Juan Bobillo, Paul Pellitier, Marcelo Sosa, Roland Paris, Tom Simmons & Don Hillsman

Sometimes you can believe the hype. She-Hulk turns out to be one of the most interesting and fun titles that Marvel has put out recently, and this trade colelcts the first six issues. After She-Hulk's partying lifestyle causes her to get kicked out of Avengers Mansion and her super-hero doings cause her to lose her job as a prosecuting attorney, she finds heself approached to work for the prestigious law firm of Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway. The catch is that the firm wants Jennifer Walters, not her alter ego She-Hulk, so Jen has to spend her time in court de-powered, a state that she is not used to living in. Thus begins the fun as Jen adjusts to her new life and takes on cases with a non-traditional bent, such as a ghost testifying at his own murder, or Spider-Man suing J. Jonah Jameson for libel. The art in the first four chapters is by Bobillo, whose clean line and slightly cartoony style and really shines in the many non-action scenes. The final two-part story is more of a traditional super-hero story, and Pellitier's more action-oriented art serves it well. If depressing super-hero mega-events are getting you down, try She-Hulk for a dose of old fashioned fun with a modern twist.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)




Human Target, book 2: Living in America

by Peter Milligan & Cliff Chiang

In this second collection of the regular Vertigo series, Milligan continues to explore the concepts of identity and American nationality in ways both interesting and thought-provoking. The opening chapter is a story of Christopher Chance taking on the identity of a priest who has been targeted by an assassin, and while you won't be surprised by where the plot goes, it does offer an intriguing look at the nature of faith and forgiveness. The longest story in the collection is the three-part "Which Way the Wind Blows," which finds Chance entangled in a web of violence and deceit involving ex-60's radicals, modern-day anarchists, and the Feds, and interoduces what may be a long-term antagonist for Chance. The book closes with another one-shot, in which Chance takes on the identity of an escaped convict who wants the chance to live free for just five days so he can live life to the fullest. Throughout the book Milligan's writing skills are at the top of their form, and the art by Chiang looks great and moves the stories forward with seeming effortlessness (though as we can see by Chiang's bonus materials, it does require a good deal of effort!) Anyone looking for intelligent action comics should give Human Target a look.

Rating: 4 (of 5)