What have you been reading?

I loved Ultimate Spiderman, probably my favorite comic series.

Finished Amazing Spiderman #1 (the new one, not the original one). Might be one of the best comic issues I've ever read. Just so much fun, both when he fought crime and seeing him deal with all the shit Doc Ock changed in his life.

It seems digital comic...things might make me FINALLY start reading some comics I've been meaning to check out.

Reading The Trial. Say Kafka is for stuck up literature profs all you want, this is fantastic stuff. It's interesting no matter which angle I look at it from. Helps that I love just how bizarre it is at times. Would've loved to read the original text but that'd be a slog and I don't think I'd get as much out of it given my current german skills

Ever since I got a Kindle Fire, I've been on a HUGE comic book kick, so here's what I've been reading

Miles Morales Ultimate Spider-Man: I swore I was done with Ultimate Spider-Man when Peter Parker died, but then they had to stick him on a new teenage Avengers team with Kitty Pride (who played a huge role in Peter's USM) and Jessica Drew (a female clone of Peter, so basically like having him back) so I had to catch up. And you know what? It's great. I like how they take a very different approach to his uncle influencing his crime fighting and there's actually a fallout from Peter's death. People will say it's in bad taste, Captain America feels a ton of guilt from Peter's death and lashes out on Miles, really good stuff. And Miles himself is a fun character with a fun best friend.

Superior Spider-Man: If you didn't know, until last month Spider-Man comics were about Doc Ock controlling Peter's life swearing to be a better Spider-Man than he was. And it's a cool seeing him as more of an anti-hero and how he interprets "Great power/great responsibility" differently. If the idea itself sounds interesting, then I'd recommend it.

Amazing Spider-Man Masterworks: Basically the classic Spider-Man comics covering his very first years. Hold up surprisingly well. They start out just being a villain of the week without much in Peter's life, but as time goes on they start to do a much better job at his "Can't catch a break" life outside the suit. I still prefer Ultimate's take on the character, but if you love the Raimi movies these are a must.

Astonishing X-Men: Only checked out the first volume so far and plan to read the rest this weekend on my trip, but Joss Whedon really knows the X-Men. The dialog's witty, the plot's smartly written, and it has a pretty big focus on my three favorite X-Men (Beast, Emma Frost, and Shadowcat), offering one of the better interpretations on them. Excited to see where it goes from here.

Here's some more comics I read/finished

Astonishing X-Men- Best take on the X-Men I've seen. New was close, but the ways they were characterized was fantastic, even if the plot and villains weren't quite as strong as New's. Stuff like Wolverine being mind controlled then snapped back when a beer fell on his lap are what made me really love it.

Ultimate Spider-Man- Caught up with Miles Morales as him and holy fucking shit does the quality skyrocket once Venom shows up. These guys aren't content with having a new Peter Parker, he has his own motivation, traumatic events, and ideals that are pretty different from Peter, yet still fit as Spider-Man. And frankly, despite a few stupid ideas (mutants created in an attempt to recreate Captain America....seriously?), the Ultimate Universe gets more and more interesting each issue.

New Ultimates- Only two issues are out so far, but it's pretty good. Only recommend reading it if you are caught up with all USM since the team's Miles, Spider-Woman (female clone of Peter Parker....REALLY long story), Shadowcat (who played a huge role in USM, for a while she actually wasn't an X-Men, was only a part of USM), Boomshot (former Spidey villain), and Cloak/Dagger (introduced in Miles Morales' series). It's kind of like going into Avengers only less accessible without knowing the continuity. And I've always wanted to see a comic where Spider-Woman gets characterized more, and having her live with Kitty makes it even better.

I started up Water Sleeps. I got it and the final Black Company book in the mail recently. Also totally forgot I joined Goodreads... haha.

I love Astonishing X-Men, and not just because of Joss Whedon, I grew up watching that awesome cartoon. I knew it would be a fantastic read when they had to fight the Danger Room. Good from first issue to last.

I have a subscription to Rolling Stone. Whenever a new issue comes in I set it aside until Friday so I can read through it in entirety. The magazine is hit or miss every issue and pretty obvious in what they are advertising. Don't get me started on the reviews. I hate reviews as-is and they always have the most infuriating. I started my subscription because Matt Taibbi is an incredible journalist. Now that he isn't there anymore I don't think I want to resubscribe. Serious dip in quality. (example: An article about Melissa McCarthy spent a lot of time talking about the hotel she was staying at and the food they ate; WTF?)

Astonishing was a good run. So was The Ultimates.

New Spiderman and All New Ultimates came out today. Spidey was decent, but I'm more excited for what it's building up. Ultimates was fantastic. I've wanted Ultimate Spider-Woman to have a series where she can really get some depth to her character for years and they are not disappointing there.

Finished Water Sleeps and moved onto Soldiers Live. Then I am all out of Black Company books!

pspiddy wrote:I have a subscription to Rolling Stone. Whenever a new issue comes in I set it aside until Friday so I can read through it in entirety. The magazine is hit or miss every issue and pretty obvious in what they are advertising. Don't get me started on the reviews. I hate reviews as-is and they always have the most infuriating. I started my subscription because Matt Taibbi is an incredible journalist. Now that he isn't there anymore I don't think I want to resubscribe. Serious dip in quality. (example: An article about Melissa McCarthy spent a lot of time talking about the hotel she was staying at and the food they ate; WTF?)

I subscribed to Rolling Stone (and Entertainment Weekly) for a few years near the end of high school and almost to the completion of college. Like you, I think its hit-and-miss and I'm beginning to believe that the quality dripped after the 90s ended and it started to resemble a Teen Beat magazine what with all the coverage RS gave to boy bands and Spears/Aguillera. I don't even remember the last time I bought an issue.

I know you didn't want reviews brought up but Peter Travers is the fucking worst. THE FUCKING WORST.

I wish I was in on what some of the good magazines were since I do feel there is a quality in (some) printed publications that is still a step above a lot of the schlock online.

As for my book updates: I recently read Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (this book is BEGGING to be made into a movie or animation...or animation movie) and The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut. I'm a big Vonnegut fan so it didn't disappoint.

I love when I read a review and have no idea what they are talking about. Happens a lot with Spin, they just write a bunch of nonsense that has a bunch of word with no point at all. Sometimes I swear people are writing and just start switching words with a thesaurus.

The only publication I've ever trusted with reviews was the old Official Playstation Magazine. Great writers and great reviews. Even when I didn't trust them and got the game despite their less than positive reviews (Vagrant Story, Ehgreiz off the top of my head) I was left unsatisfied, with their reviews echoing true. So looking back their reviews were the only ones that I felt were true.

And pspiddy, I think they originally gave Nevermind a 3 out of 5, but later changed the review. I'm not bringing this up as a Nirvana fan, I'm bringing this up as an example of how they can't be trusted.

Anyone here read Forever War? Interesting book.

I finished Soldiers Live which is likely the end of the Black Company series. I thought the ending was very fitting and wrapped things up well. I loved how the series saw characters change roles and allowed the reader to see them from different perspectives throughout. Great battle descriptions too at times. Cool sorcery. I will certainly miss these. Hoping to find another multi-book fantasy series to dive into next.

Ending up buying The Blade Itself today. Hope its good. I recall Twolf read this one.

I was about to ask if you'd read that series actually...so yeah. I liked it, but I'm not as seasoned of a fantasy reader as you are so I'll be interested to see what you think.

I'm enjoying it so far. Action scenes are especially impressive. I will make sure to post some more impressions once I finish, but I ended up ordering the other two books today.

Checked out some of Marvel's Noir comics, which is basically taking superheroes and fitting them into a 1920's detective story, complete with the look and feel. Spider-Man had a pretty great one. Tweaked it so Norman Osborne runs a gang and except the Vulture (who was some weird cannibal guy), it made a smart choice on which villains to use and fit in there.

X-Men Noir on the other hand was just awful. No one had superpowers in it, which I could role with if it was done well, but it really wasn't. The plot's instead about how Xavier (who's in prison) claimed that sociopaths were the next stage of human evolution and trained a bunch of them to be better criminals who are now known as the X-Men while Magneto's up to some plan as head of the detective agency. It's just a terrible idea. Then there's way too many characters with too few of them doing anything that has a point to the story. And while it had a neat twist at the end, it was just boring and hard to follow for the most part.

@Greenie: There's a PBS documentary on Netflix about comics. If you're as versed as I am you won't find any of the information new, but they put faces to the creators with fascinating interviews. Plus there is an abundance of art.

(sorry to go off topic and bring those terrible moving pictures into the sophisticated literature thread)

I have yet to read a book made after Watchmen that's half as smart as that comic. So we're good talking about our comics here Spid

In that case, check out Strangers In Paradise. The dude intended on it being a screenplay. I mention it because ,besides Sin City, it's pretty much the most progressive comic since Watchmen. If you haven't read it I think you'll highly enjoy it. I think the noir aspect of it will fill what the Marvel stuff you mentioned didn't. And it's nuanced and fun in the way Sin City lacks.

I finished The Blade Itself and really liked it. I will probably write a review for the blog. It had some surprising character beats towards the end and the second to last chapter was thrilling as hell which is:

Spoiler:

I've been reading Joss Whedon's graphic novel called Fray. It takes the world of Buffy and puts it into the future. It's really fantastic, and this is my third time reading it. Makes me wonder why he never pursued making a film out of it. You don't have to be a Buffy fan to enjoy it, the only way it really relates is vampires/slayers and the mythology behind it all. Third time reading it, and still just as good as the first time.

I finished A Shadow of All Night Falling which was alright. I started up Before They Are Hanged which so far, I don't like how the POVs are divided up compared to the first book. Not too far yet so that might change.

The second book was definitely the weakest for me in that series, but that said; as a standalone book it was weak but in the series as a whole it was good.

I finished Before They Are Hanged. I liked it though my above issues still stand. I was also not wholly satisfied with how one of the arcs ended. My guess is there will be something revealed in the third book that makes it work better in hindsight (which might mesh with how you say the book works better as part of the whole than on its own).

I have started the third book, so I shall see soon I guess. Definitely having a good time with the series so far. Curious to see how it all wraps up.

I really like how the series wrapped up, but I have a feeling it's a polarizing type of end. I wont say more than that.

I just finished Last Argument of Kings. I thought it was great. I think I need to think on the ending some more. I definitely wasn't happy with how everything turned out, but I kind of feel like it was a very appropriate ending for this trilogy. I am also impressed with how much got done in the final book. I was curious how basically two wars would be fought that would likely include major characters that were super far away during Book 2. They handle doing this and leave time for like 50 pages to do some sort of denouement. I plan to try and write a review for the series at some point.

Edit: Have you read any of the standalone books Twolf? I think I will get Best Served Cold next time I order a batch of books.