Being on detail leaves me lots of free time to sit around my hotel room and read. I have been studiously avoiding my book club reading of On the Road in favor of the following trades...
1) Spider-Man's Tangled Web vol. 1- This collects the first six issues of a series that was a pretty cool idea. Instead of being about Spider-Man, per se, these stories all involve characters on his periphery. The first three issues involve an old bully of Peter Parker's who not only figures out that Parker is Spider-Man but also attempts to replicate the accident that gave him powers (with horrific results). This kind of reads like a normal Spidey story (but more disgusting) and didn't impress me much. The second story is about an underling of the Kingpin being called in by his boss after failing to account for Spider-Man's interference on caper. It is called "Severance Package" and works well as a one-shot crime story. The third story is "Flowers for Rhino" which follows the idea "what if the Rhino became super intelligent?" The story is funny and engaging at the same time. For fans of anthology style comics, it is worth a pick up used or from a library.
2) Astro City vol 1 Life In the Big City- Like the Tangled Web comic, this is an anthology title set in a city populated with superheroes created by Kurt Busiek. The best antecendent I can think of is the Spirit. Over the first six issues of the series we follow The Samaritan (a Superman analog) going about an average day in his life, a reporter retelling the story of how he witnessed a tale too incredible to tell, a thug witnessing the unmasking of a hero, a young woman commuting to work in a city filled with danger, an old man who spies on heroes and a date between Samaritan and a Wonder Woman analog. These stories don't really connect or create a larger narrative but they are all interesting and well-told. I like seeing fanstastic stories from the ground level point of view and these work great. I can't believe I waited this long to start it and I want to read more.
3) The Losers vol. 1 Ante Up- This series by Andy Diggle is about a group of rogue black ops agents who are out to screw over the CIA. The first collection is all about a couple of well-planned operations that end up going off the rails completely. If you like heist movies or seeing plans come together A-Team style, this is a fun book to read. Nothing earth shaking but solid action and adventure.
4) Ex Machina vol. 6 Power Down- For those who don't know, this is a series about a mayor of New York who has the power to talk to machines. He was a super-hero and saved one of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11, thus making him electable. This was the first trade of this series that felt like a bit of a rip-off. I am also getting a hang of Brian Vaughn's formula here, also. Pick a real life event or political controversy, tie a present threat into something mysterious from Mitchell Hundred's past, bake at 350 degrees and you have an Ex Machina storyline. Unlike Y: the Last Man (see below), I don't get the sense that this series is going anywhere fast. Also, this trade only has four issues in it and some behind the scenes crap I couldn't care less about. If you are already reading the series, by all means get this volume but if you haven't started, I wouldn't worry about it.
5) The Ultimate Galactus Trilogy- Having recently read the Ultimates Volume 2 and liking it almost as much as the Ultimates volume 1, I have decided to explore the Ultimate Marvel universe some more. Warren Ellis (one of my favorite comic writers) used three limited series and a one-shot (Ultimate Vision) to tell the classic story of Galactus' first attack on Earth. Starring the X-Men, Fantastic Four and the Ultimates; this series is all about wide screen action of a sort. The first series (Ultimate Nightmare) is well-paced and ends with a good fight scene in a Russian lab where the Vision is being kept. The second series (written by Millar of Ultimates fame) is more about the heroes facing off with an alien race called the Kree to get more info on Galactus. The Vision one shot gives more exposition. You see where this is going, right? The final third of the book (Ultimate Extinction) tries to cram waaaaaaay too much into too little space. We are told about a cult of suicidal types enthralled to a series of Silver Surfer style aliens but we never really see them. By the time an army of cloned Moondragons are attacking the Triskelion, I was almost interested. It is an awful lot of good build up for a rushed and (frankly) sloppy payoff. I would only recommend this if you are super into the Ultimate universe.
6) Y: The Last Man volume 8 Kimono Dragons- This series is great. I can't say enough good things about it. Vaughn captures characters and a narrative thrust that is undeniable. This is a series about a man and his pet monkey who wake up to discover that they are the last males alive on Earth. By this volume, our hero and his entourage of a secret agent, geneticist, Australian spy and two monkies make it to Japan where they must face a Yakuza run by a Britney Spears analog and their old ninja foe- Toyota. There are great plot twists and action scenes here plus a moment that made me laugh out loud ("Is she having one of my dreams?"). I cannot recommend this whole series enough, it is great.
I am currently reading Exit Wounds, Y: the Last Man volume 9, and The Losers volume 2. See you soon.
Josh
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