Having lost much of the last 24 – and foreseeably much of the next 24 – to a stomach bug my son brought home, I am pressed to find the bright side, but at least I’ve done some reading.
The Scott-recommended trade paperback of the first story arc of Ex Machina was quite good. I can’t really qualify it as revisionist, but it is certainly one of the finest super-hero-in-the-real-world stories to cross my gaze in some time. Michael Hundred gains the power to talk to and control machines through a bizarre (and as yet unexplained) accident, tries his hand at being a superhero, and finds out his vigilantism causes more problems and pain than it solves. So of course he runs for mayor of New York City and wins. The story is a blend of West Wing-style politics, mystery, and even a touch of derring-do. And the end of issue one remains one of the most stunning images I’ve seen in some time.
As for the Nathan-recommended Walking Dead – uhhhhhh, I found Volume 2, but not Volume 1, and something tells me I want to read this from the beginning. Hopefully my comics store will have restocked by the time I return.
I’ve made an effort to read a, you know, actual book, the thick things with no pictures. I cheated and chose a piece of fiction, trying to hit at least a couple of chapters a day. The bug has allowed me to plow through more than half, and the fact that the book is a delightfully dark little oddity called Darkly Dreaming Dexter, by Jeff Linday, has made this task very easy. Told in the first person by a serial killer who specializes in killing other serial killers, Dexter is by and large surprisingly light in tone, giving us a monster who is perfectly at ease with his own monstrosity, but befuddled by simple human emotions. Dexter is a blood splatter analyst working in the forensics unit of Miami Dade, and string of bizarre killings seem to speak to him on a killer-to-killer level that fascinates him, and is putting him at risk of discovery of his “hobby”. Now in the final quarter of the book, I’m afraid the mechanics of the plot are starting to get a little transparent, but it’s been a fun ride.
Somewhere in there, I finished the review of Challenge of the Super Friends, Season One.
And now excuse me, the bathroom calls…
3 Comments
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
drfreex.com 
Reading fiction is <>not<> cheating.Hope you feel better, Doc.
as I said, I’m currently really….REALLY digging Morrison’s new revamp on the Seven Soldiers of Victory….some other books I’ve been reading lately and enjoying I think you should take a look at are:The Goon- http://www.thegoon.com/I’ve been a fan of the Silver Age Gold Key heroes for years, even following their Valiant revamps from the early 1990s, and now Dark Horse Comics is publishing some wonderful (but somewhat pricey) “archive” edition reprints of said books….http://www.kenpiercebooks.com/magnus.htmI’ve purchased the Magnus Robot Fighter Vol.1 and am loving it. Russ Heath’s stuff was never better…
I haven’t seen the Magnus collection, but I did pick up the similar reprint collection of <> M.A.R.S. Squad: Total War<>, which I recalled from my youth. I must have read the comic after Wally Wood left, as I was surprised he was on it. As the intro writer points out, I didn’t know Gold Key Comics had it in them. Incredibly violent, high body count, innocent people <>die<>, because it’s, you know, total war.Then again, in the realm of Gold Key not having it in them – I also seem to recall Magnus’ girlfriend had a dress with a semi-transparent top. What was her name? Djeela? I recall she was Senator Klane’s daughter…And oh yeah: SKREEEEE!