Shooflypie

Last weekend I had a hard time deciding which of the too-many books in my TBR pile I wanted to start, so I ended up reading some single issues and finishing a trade instead. After that, I made a decision and managed to read a book during a busy week. Oh, and the new issue of Astro City came out. Some thoughts... Astro City: Confession - I love what Kurt Busiek does with this six-part storyline. It's the story of Brian, who moves to Astro City after the death of his father and sets about getting involved in the world of super-heroes. He manages to get noticed and becomes Altar Boy, the sidekick of The Confessor. That's the basic plot and it sounds like a typical type of super-hero comic. It's not. Sure, we are given some scenes of The Confessor training Brian but those scenes are marginally about the nuts and bolts of fighting crime with no powers and a cape. Brian is also learning how to be a detective and about that world of super-heroes he is joining. This story deals...

I started out the year buying single issues of comics but stopped after a couple months. In July, I bought an iPad and started reading single issue digitally, which I liked more than I thought I would. I also continued to read collections and original graphic novels like I usually do. Between all those ways of consuming comics, a few series were clearly my favorites... 1. Saga - Brian K. Vaughan is already responsible for one of my all-time favorite comics, Y: The Last Man , and with this series it looks like he is on his way again. He teams with Fiona Staples to build a SF universe full of magic and bounty hunters and sex planets and ghost babysitters and more that is completely grounded in the relationship between Marko and Alana, who are new parents and should not be together. The comic is gorgeously-drawn and wonderfully-written and I recommend it to everyone. 2. Hawkeye - This Matt Fraction comic with art by David Aja and Javier Pulido began this fall and has quickly become ...

I've written often about my relationship with comics and how I consume them. Back in the middle of March I  made the decision to stop buying single issues of comics again and to once again revert to trades. It was easy to do, especially having well over a dozen trades stacked up and waiting to be read (many are still waiting right now but that's beside the point). A month ago, I decided to buy an iPad with money I received from very generous friends and relatives for my college graduation. I further decided to give digital comics a try. It turns out that I love reading comics on the iPad. Something about the glow of screen mixing with the art just works for me on a level I didn't expect. As an added bonus, reading comics digitally also solves one of my biggest problems with buying single issues - having a pile of comics around all the time. So, I am officially hooked. When I stopped reading single issues in mid-March, I'd read 22 this year. As of last night (the end...

I thought I'd take a few minutes to show some love to a few things I've been digging lately... Chew Vol. 3: Just Desserts - I don't know how long this trade has been sitting in my stack but it's got to be at least six months. I have no good reason why I haven't gotten to it yet and after reading it that goes double. For those who don't know, Chew is the story of Tony Chu, a cibopath who works for the FDA in a future where chicken is illegal after a bird flu epidemic. What's a cibopath, you ask? Someone who can taste where food came from...and who can taste someone's blood to figure out what happened to them. That skill does come into play here. This series is funny and fun and gross and engaging. I will soon be ordering Vol. 4 and won't wait months upon months to read it. Happy Endings - I jumped into watching this show over Christmas break and I've still probably seen only six or so episodes. That said, I'm becoming a big fan. The six...