CHAOS AND COMICS
@chaosandcomics
Mostly comics and music
I appreciated using color as a gimmick to deliver a new Maggie and Hopey story rather than just a color reprint. But, the drop in quality was surprising and feels especially out of place happening this close to the end of the first 50 issues.
The recent books I've bought aren't even on my current TBR. I just thought they were interesting and bought them with the assumption that one day, in the distant future, they will eventually make it onto the list.
I am trying immersive reading (reading the text while listening to the audio) with a literary novel for the first time. Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu is a very distinct experience this way. I am enjoying the book, but I suspect this approach is more effective for an epic space opera or The Witcher.
Recent reads: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I decided to quit hoping I could read it in Spanish, and yeah I should have read it years ago. An amazing novel, if I re-read it it'll be in 3 or 4 long sittings.
No one told me this Absolute Batman work in progress was worth $150
A few more issues and I'm caught up with Void Rivals. With issue 25 I start the Quintesson War! Still behind ten or so issues on the other Energon titles, GI Joe and Transformers.
Recent reads: Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction Vol 7,8. Great series in a very non-abrasive way. It's certainly much safer than some of Inio Asano's other work. Two more to go.
Recently read: The Detective Comics run by Ram V. Hey it was good and I loved the opera motif but jeez Batman stories nowadays are like trying to squeeze the last bit of juice from the lemon. Can you do something new with Batman? (Don't say fucking Absolute).
Recently read: My Life in the Ring& Out by Jack Johnson. Well what a life this guy lived and that was on top of the boxing the type of racism he faced. And then he lived another 20 years after he wrote this. 🥊
Recently read: Star Wars Thrawn by Timothy Zahn. Part 3 in the duo of trilogies. Anyway it's pretty awesome but you have to want to go this deep down a certain Star Wars path.
Recently read: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. It's awesome and as funny as it is dark.
Recently read: Edward II from the Penguin Monarchs series. Hey they fit in my pocket but then I end up getting a sorbed by them. I guess most of it is wikipedia but these are fun quick books to read if you like this sort of thing.
Recently read: Children of the Sea by Daisuke Igarashi. It's just volume 1 but the uh ¿vibes? are right on. A lot of beautiful sea creature drawings and a fantasy-esque mystery building up.
Recently read: Valerian Complete Collection Vol 2. Way way ahead of any Marvel or DC I've read from the 60s and 70s.
Recently read: This Way For the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeusz Borowski, is about as dark/dry as you can get for holocaust stories. He arrived at Auchwitz on 4/29, they stopped gassing aryans on 4/4, so he was one of the lucky ones. But his experiences are atavism defined.
Recently read: Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw. Looks like a thick one, but it reads fast. The cartooning is simple yet beautiful, and the realism of the writing style really shines through. Shaw says to take breaks between parts, but I say read it straight through.
What we've learned about DC and Marvel comics properties over the last few years: -Your main universe stories are lame and need to be propped up by covers, events, and blind bags. -You need to keep churning out new takes on old ideas that can be contained.
G-mart is always giving me comic book pre-order blue balls. Let's go, it's passed May 1st let me pre-order. 😁😁😁
Recently read, Search and Destroy Vol 2 and 3 by Atsushi Kaneko based on a Tezuka. Somewhere there's a Fantagraphics equivalent in Japan grumpy & disgusted by a remake of something by a master. But our 🇺🇸 Fanta doesn't know anything about that and I'm glad for that ignorance.
Recent read, 'The Court Charade' by Flore Vesco and Kerascöet. Following creators can put you against genres you not be immediately drawn to. This is the case with artist team Kerascöet and this court comedy. Good new though! I loved it!
I can get behind these covers. Or in front, bottom, top whatever.
Recent read: Die Loaded 1-6. Gillen continues the Die saga with a sequel that has all the meta layers that the previous series had and is reason that Gillen is one of my favorite writers in comics today.
Recent Reads: Vol 3 of Ram V's Detective Comics run. Solid but I'd like to wait until I've taken in the whole "opera."
Recent Reads: Dong Dong Circus by Sasaki Maki. The avant garde, the so avant garde that there's no real story, are difficult to have a chance to be my favorites, but I'm glad they exist. A book like this is training to slow down, smell the roses, and look at the drawings.
Recent reads: Love and Rockets 38. Final or penultimate chapters of some of the mature arcs of Jaime's and Beto's.
Recent read. Godlike by Richard Hell. Quick, interesting, entertaining alt proto punk novel about a dysfunctional relationship, artists in NYC in the 70s.