Troy’s Book Club: comics and poems

Just a quick post…

-RECKLESS continues the amazing noir collaboration of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. They have been working together for many years now, telling fantastic “modern film noir” stories and this one continues that streak…

-THE AQUANAUT is a funny, odd lil graphic novel, by Dan Santat, about some land-faring ocean creatures and the connections they make on land…

-JAPANESE HAIKU is a great collection of haiku from a variety of authors. Beautiful works…

Troy’s Book Club: January 2023, lots of comics, books

I suppose EVERY “Book Club” post could say “lots of comics, books” but whatever…it’s TRUE. I do read a lot of each…and this time, I also read a couple poetry books.

A bunch of the comics I read were re-reads. XOMBI is weird and often beautifully written; DEADPOOL took that character to a whole new level, while murdering zombie presidents, and making me laugh out loud; THE GODDAMMNED is like a Mad Max spaghetti western set in the Old Testament (BONKERS); THE ATHEIST is like a good BLACK MIRROR episode…

EXIT STAGE LEFT: THE SNAGGLEPUSS CHRONICLES is an examination of the Red Scare, told through the downfall of a gay playwright, who happens to be a pink big cat. ULTIMATE HULK VS WOLVERINE is one of my favorite comics EVER. Damon Lindelhof writes a fast-paced adventure tale with great characterization, and we learn SPOILER ALERT that Wolverine’s spirit-animal is…a panda.

HEART OF JUNK is a journey into the scandal-laden world of…ANTIQUE MALLS!! It’s a fun novel with a distinct voice and very well-realized characters, each with unique motivations. I HOPE YOU STAY is a book of short poems about the writer going through the cycles of relationships found, lost, found anew.

LET’S BE WEIRD TOGETHER and FRESHWATER MERMAIDS are both also about relationships…but where WEIRD is cute and hopeful and filled with cute quirky illustrations, MERMAIDS…is decidedly not.

Troy’s Book Club: total grab bag

I read a good amount of books this year, and a LOT of comicbooks. I re-read some poems from Mary Oliver (beautiful), some old East Coast horror from HP Lovecraf, a Reconstruction-era Western (pretty decent), ANOTHER biography of Houdini, a graphic novel about the oppression in Palestine, a graphic novel about not-good people, and a LOT of digital comicbooks of JOHN CONSTANTINE: HELLBLAZER!

Mary Oliver writes pretty beautiful poetry.

I had never read any Lovecraft before, though I knew something of his history and themes and reputation (and if you want to read a neat, bizarre, sorta-meta biography, read PROVIDENCE by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows). So, this was my first time with his words; I got the book at the Milwaukee Paranormal Conference and was excited to read it. It was some good stuff, but I admit, what I enjoyed most was the surprise appearance of Milwaukee in one of the stories (click the pic above).

STRAY BULLETS is a long, involved story about 4 not-really-great people on the run from a drug boss, who they stole a suitcase of money and cocaine from. It’s pretty good, if you’re into that kinda story. WALKER’S WAY is a novel that Naomi and I read together. It’s written by a Wisconsin author, about a former-slave-turned-bounty-hunter in the American Reconstruction Era. THE SECRET LIFE OF HOUDINI was probably the most exhaustive biography of Harry Houdini that I have read so far (and I’ve read 3 or 4 now…).

I read a few issues of THE SPIRIT, re-published by Kitchen Sink Press. Will Eisner IS the master of modern comicbook art, and his skill with using a panel is unparalleled. Here’s a few examples of his great panel-work…

Thanks to HOOPLA, a digital e-book service, I have read a LOT of comicbooks while laying in bed. 🙂 I’ve slowly been reading/re-reading the entire run of JOHN CONSTANTINE: HELLBLAZER, and I’ve now read through 17 volumes…and still have a good amount to go yet. I’ve also read a bunch of comics written by Tom King (BATMAN/CATWOMAN, THE HUMAN TARGET, ONE BAD DAY). I’m also slowly reading all of Nick Spencer’s run on writing SPIDER-MAN. All these books are great examples of darn good comics!

A friend lent me Joe Sacco’s PALESTINE, and that is probably the most important book I have read this year. It is based on the author’s visit to Palestine in the early 1990s…and does a good job of describing the day-to-day difficulty of living in Palestine. I don’t know what the solution to the Israel/Palestine problem is, but I know that one population oppressing another for over 75 years canNOT end well. A solution MUST be found.

Troy’s Book Club: a BUNCH of comics…

This post is wayyyyy overdue! I put the photos together in MAY…and then forgot to post! So, here they are now, a mixed bag of comicbook trades I read in the Spring of 2023! All of these were gotten from the wonderful, downtown Central branch of the Milwaukee Public Library!

THE PUNISHER INVADES THE ‘NAM – is an interesting book. Marvel publishes THE PUNISHER character, who has a canon part of his origin based on his experience in the Vietnam War. THE ‘NAM was was Marvel’s realistic-ish war-comic based on the Vietnam War. This collection combines them…and it can be a pretty affecting thing when you have superhero-type character interact with real historical events.

WARZONES: SQUADRON SINISTER is a limited series with a complicated backstory…which you (my reader) doesn’t need to know. All you need to know is that this comic is a mashup that combined three groups of characters (New Universe, Shadowline, and Squadron Supreme) that were near and dear to my heart as a junior high comicbook reader and oh my GOSH, it was neat to see them in action again! 🙂

GRENDEL VS THE SHADOW was FUN. I’ve long been a fan of Matt Wagner, of both his writing and his art, and to see him bring these two characters head-to-head, was a lot of fun.

GREAT LAKES AVENGERS: SAME OLD, SAME OLD…has a mixed history of success/fail with the stories told about them. Naturally, living on Lake Michigan, I will ALWAYS read a GLA story! This one…was weird, had potential, squandered it, started plot-lines/seemed to abandon them, went in weird directions unexpectedly…just..was odd.

X-MEN: NO MORE HUMANS…is a comic that I read, and that’s about all I can say for it. 😦

HARD TIME by Steve Gerber, Mary Skrenes, and Brian Hurtt is pretty impressive. It was published by DC Comics between 2004-06, and tells the story of a young man who goes to prison as a result of a school shooting that he may…or may not have been a part of. I think this was the first book I saw with Brian Hurtt’s artwork, and I’ve been a fan ever since. Gerber is good at bringing social issues/satire into comicbooks. Sadly, he passed away in 2008.

Day 3669-Day 3682 (April-Dec 2023)

April 24 – day 3669

walking on that trail,

standing water ‘tween ridges,

all the reflections

---

May 1 - day 3670

standing in the rain,

and waiting to make photos

of people walking

---

May 4 – day 3671

I couldn’t help it;

imagined glaciers and time

as we hiked the hills

---

May 22 – day 3672

in my hands, some cake,

toilet paper, and soda, 

and shiny balloons

---

June 20 – day 3673

around and around

going nowhere, but logging

a whole lot of miles

---

July 10 – day 3674
she was moving out,
but I brought in two boxes
of old comicbooks

---

July 26 – day 3675
talked with the junk-man,
helped get a fridge in his truck,
went on with my day

---

Aug 2 – day 3676

the scent of the rain

was so THERE and I just want

to remember that.

---

Aug 15 – day 3677

it surprised us both

how quickly the light could change,

twilight to sunrise

---

Sept 6 – day 3678

days pass by so fast,

I never get enough done;

just keep on trying

---

Oct 1 – day 3679
“as a little kid,
what did you think you could be?”
he said, “reporter”

---

Nov 1 – day 3680

it was warm inside,

but outside the window, snow

and wind and slick ice

---

Nov 22 – day 3681

saw two small kittens

scurry across the dark street,

following their mom 

---

Dec 13 –

day 3682

sitting at my desk,

wishing I was out running,

getting some more miles

day 3653-3668 (June 2022-April 2023)

day 3653 (06-21-22)

the sun shined brightly,

there was a cool breeze blowing,

and I kept running

=-=-=-=

day 3654 (8-4-22)

the hibachi chef,

smiling, slapped down some butter,

“Japanese ice cream!”

=-=-=-=

day 3655 (8-15-22)
cruising in the Jeep,
we were singing, “please stand up..”;
an unplanned moment

=-=-=-=

day 3656 (8-27-22)

breaking spiderwebs

with my face means I was the first

person on the trail

=-=-=-=

day 3657 (9-11-22)

I’m looking outside,

watching the trees move and sway

in the wind and rain

=-=-=-=

day 3658 (9-19-22)

rolling on a bike,

coat on his shoulders, shirtless,

a dog in his arms.

=-=-=-=

day 3659 (10-11-22)

crossing the Hoan Bridge,

a red moon emerging from

the lake-horizon

=-=-=-=

day 3660 (11-16-22)

in the coffeeshop,

talking about comics and

movies, Superman…

=-=-=-=

day 3661 (12-19-22)

I’m lying in bed;

outside, the winter darkness,

the wind is blowing

=-=-=-=

day 3662 (1-26-23)

tried to imagine

what the eagle was seeing,

flapping ‘cross those fields

=-=-=-=

day 3663 (2-8-23)

seeing the sunrise,

evidenced by the descent

of light down the hill 

=-=-=-=

day 3664 (2-27-23)

I couldn’t see it, 

but could hear the rain falling,

and chose not to run

=-=-=-=

day 3665 (3-14-23)

usually, bird calls,

but that morning I heard snow

falling off branches

=-=-=-=

day 3666 (4-4-23)

today was diff’rent.

I wasn’t jogging alone, 

but with an old friend.

=-=-=-=

day 3667 (4-5-23)

I could hear thunder,

see distant lightning flashes,

then the rain arrived!

=-=-=-=

day 3668 (4-12-23)

when I stepped outside,

the brilliance of the sun

stopped me in my tracks!

=-=-=-=

day 3669 (4-24-23)

walking on that trail,

standing water ’tween ridges, 

all the reflections

Troy’s Book Club: slavery, a genie, life, and Eric Powell

Have been doing a LOT of reading…some very educational and somber, and some very fantastic and dreamy.

First book was HOW THE WORD IS PASSED by Clint Smith. In this book Smith travels around the US, an to Africa, to examine locations that played significant roles in America’s slavery past. It was a pretty neat book to read because it combines aspects of a personal memoir and a history book. So, the personal touch he brings to these examinations makes the “history book” aspect feel more real and present. Pretty much every American should read this and high schoolers, too.

THE DJINN IN THE NIGHTINGALE’S EYE by A.S. Byatt was a very different story to read, once I’d finished Smith’s history book. DJINN was about a woman, a social-anthropologist of sorts, who discovers a genie trapped in a bottle. That’s all you really need to know…

Since my last report, I have read a LOT of comics, too, both digitally and in hard copy. Using the wonderful app, HOOPLA, I read THREE volumes of THE UNCANNY X-MEN (the Hickman stuff), TWO BIG volumes of DARDEVIL (the Bendis/Maleev stuff), and one volume of HELLBLAZER (classic Garth Ennis/Steve Dillon stuff).

The hard-copy comics I read were, like THE DJINN, lent to me by a friend, who I’ve been exchanging comicbooks with, every few months, for the past 8-9 months. It’s been an awful lot of fun, seeing what each of us thinks the other would enjoy reading. 🙂

These two graphic novels were both a bit heavy emotionally – KILLING AND DYING, by Adrian Tomine, was a collection of short stories – some funny, some tragic, some funny and tragic. There were maybe two stories that didn’t work for me, but overall, some real strong work.

STITCHES, by David Small, was equal parts art-piece and memoir. The plot centered around the author’s youth, and some chronic health problems he had, a reveal of which happens later in the book and is -shocking-. Real gut-punch revelation. The art is a minimal of lines, with a maximum of expression. Very evocative and effective.

The two other graphic novels I read were by one of my favorite creators, Eric Powell. One of the graphic novels was a re-read for me – I’d lent THE GOON: CHINATOWN to a friend yeeeeeears ago, and finally got it back. I needed to see if if it was as good as I remembered – it is.

The other gn was a “true crime” read based on the story of Ed Gein, legendary murderer of Wisconsin. “DID YOU HEAR WHAT ED GEIN DONE?”was written by Harold Schechter and illustrated by Powell. It was a real well-done story and I learned a lot I didn’t know about Gein. Schechter told the story in pretty straight fashion and didn’t try to get over the top and make it “exciting”. It’s horrible what happened, and what Gein did, and we should NOT be “thrilled” by it. The book presents Gein in a nearly sympathetic, but still horribly messed-up, light. Powell was a perfect choice to illustrate this story.

Troy’s Book Club: an elephant, magic, and comics

Only one novel to report on tonight, and it was a pretty simple one. After Naomi and I simul-read THE HANDMAID'S TALE, it was my turn to choose our book to read together, and I determined that we needed something...softer after that depressing, ominous Atwood read. While Christmas shopping, I came Kate DiCamillo's THE MAGICIAN'S ELEPHANT, and it seemed to fit the need. It's an easy read about a boy searching for his little sister, a mysteriously-appearing elephant, and a vaguely Eastern European city. It's whimsical, basically a fairy tale of sorts, and it was NICE. I really enjoyed it. 

As always, I continued to read and re-read comicbooks. Here are some of the selections I chewed through since November…

THE THRILLING ADVENTURE HOUR: written by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker and drawn by one of my favorite artists, Phil Hester. Imagine a story about a couple who are deeply in love, enjoy drinking, AND exorcising ghosts!

CAPTAIN UNIVERSE: Ever since I learned of Captain Universe when I was a kid, his whole concept fascinated me – he was “the superhero who could be YOU”! The premise was the universe itself would bestow power on individuals when destiny determined that they were needed. So, coming across this collection of CU stories, I had to read it! Mostly written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by Steve Ditko, that was a noteworthy creative team. They are some odd stories, and pretty dated, but darn interesting.

IRON MAN: WAR MACHINE: was a trade I came across recently and picked up because I always enjoyed this variation on IRON MAN, the more military-ish version of the hero, and because it was written by Len Kaminski, a writer whose work I’ve enjoyed in the past. The trade has plenty of corporate espionage, electronic ninjas, cryogencics, AND Tony Stark dies (or does he??)!

FRONTIER COMICS: The Complete Collection. Everyone knows that Marvel Comics is based in the US, but for many years, there have also been British Marvel Comics, too, usually known as MARVEL UK. For a short period, though, during the early 1990s, Marvel published FRONTIER COMICS, which were sort of meant to compete with DC Comics’ VERTIGO imprint. It was an attempt to tell something other than typical superhero comics, and to attract a more mature readership. Unfortunately, it didn’t last too long, but it DID feature some early efforts from creators who have gone onto become quite influential in the comicbook world – Charlie Adlard, Mark Buckingham, Liam Sharpe – to name a few!

This collection reprints all the FRONTIER comics: CHILDREN OF THE VOYAGER #1-4, DANCES WITH DEMONS #1-4, MORTIGAN GOTH: IMMORTALIS #1-4, BLOODSEED #1-2 and MARVEL FRONTIER COMICS UNLIMITED #1. 

My favorite of these titles was CHILDREN OF THE VOYAGER, a suspense/horror/thriller limited series. Was really fun to re-read this series! The script is very interesting and the art by Paul Johnson was VERY different than anything else I saw at the time!

Troy’s Book Club: hopefulness/ominousness

This Fall, I read a pair of books that were quite the contrast between each other. One was a warning, and depressing, while still being quite a work of art. The other was hopeful, or rather, about the journey to maintain hopefulness while the world keeps pressing down on you.

THE HANDMAID’S TALE by Margaret Atwood is a very impressive bit of world-imagining and fleshing out. It’s obvious in the reading of it that she has thoroughly imagined this horrible “what if?” world, and knows so many details about it. She has thought it through quite extensively! It’s not just “what” she writes that brings this world to life, but “how” she writes it, too. The “voice” of the book is so well-conceived…it’s a challenging book to read, but one that IS important, and is one heck of a cautionary tale.

It was interesting reading Michael J. Fox’s fourth book, NO TIME LIKE THE FUTURE, while reading HANDMAID’S at the same time. Fox’s book has the sub-title of “An Optimist Considers Mortality”, which is interesting as the first of his books that I read was “Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist“. In this book, which is VERY current (at the end, he spends some time talking about the coronavirus pandemic), Fox tells the story of a rough couple years that really cause him to question his generally indefatigable optimism. I won’t spoil what he all went through, but suffice to say that his sense of optimism was sorely tested, and he learned some lessons about it that helped him to be “realistic” AND “optimistic”.

I also managed to read a number of comics in the past month, including two related books, featuring black-dressed defenders of the downtrodden – BATMAN and ZORRO! And, if you know your Bat-mythology, you know that Bruce Wayne had been to a showing of THE MARK OF ZORRO, the night that his parents were murdered. I read BATMAN: DEATH BY DESIGN, by Chip Kidd and Dave Taylor, and ZORRO RIDES AGAIN, by Matt Wagner and Esteve Polls.

ZORRO was a pretty standard re-telling of an early Zorro tale. It was solid, in both writing and art, and was a nice change of pace from the regular superhero stories I read.

BATMAN: DEATH BY DESIGN is a near-masterpiece of art, mood, and script. It’s SO well put-together, really is exceptional. I had minor quibbles with some of the plot, but they were easy to overlook because the book is SO beautiful! Chip Kidd is mostly known as a book-designer, not as a writer, so it caught me eye to see this book that be designed AND wrote. In most comicbooks and graphic novels, the design of it is kinda perfunctory, but in this instance, the design was very clearly an important and considered part of the book. It’s beautiful.

Troy’s Book Club: a big summer of reading!

Wow, this summer, I got through a LOT of books and comicbooks. It was really pretty fantastic. 🙂 Let’s dive right in…

1. AMERICAN GODS by Neil Gaiman. This was a re-read, for a book club, and was just as enjoyable as the first time I read it, years ago. Gaiman does such an excellent job blending fantasy and reality, and packing an emotional punch at just the right moments…
2. THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WALK IN THE WORLD by John Baxter is basically a guided-tour around Paris. Baxter is a writer with a deep historical knowledge of Paris, and the book is a collection of vignettes, furthering the reader’s knowledge of this great city.
3. SMILE AT STRANGERS by Susan Schorn is a neat memoir about a self-defense instructor from Texas, talking about many of the lessons she’s learned in her years of studying karate. A darn neat book with a conversational voice to it.
4. MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN by Jason Reynolds. I’ve read many comicbooks over the years, but this is the first comicbook novel that I’ve read! It was a less-traditional superhero story in that the majority of the book was more like a teen drama than a super-story…and that was very good. Reynolds really fleshed out the characters in the story, and made us readers darn invested in them. And the made the stakes even higher when danger DID present itself!

This summer, I also read a lot of comicbooks, but I am only listing the collections/trade-paperbacks that I read…I got cosmic and street in my reading. TALES OF THE NEW GODS and ORION: THE GATES OF APOKOLIPS are both modern works that explore the mythology of Jack “The King” Kirby’s Fourth World characters. John Byrne and Walt Simonson did much of the writing and drawing of these two books, and they definitely have a good understanding of these characters and the themes they’re meant to explore.

CLOAK AND DAGGER: SHADES OF GREY and CAGE both are characters in the Marvel pantheon that are known for their “street-level” adventures…fighting “real” crime, drug dealers, thieves, and more gritty things. I picked up C&D because it was being written by one of my fave comicbook writers, Dennis Hopeless, and he did a good job even though this was his first time writing these characters. I wasn’t familiar with the name “Genndy Tartakovsky”, but after reading this CAGE limited-series that he wrote and drew, I realized what an important figure he is – particularly in animation – and what a “catch” it was for Marvel, to get Gendy for a project.

And now a few more comicbook trades, but these I read electronically. Naomi and I went to visit Colorado, and while I still wanted to keep my bedtime reading habit going, I didn’t want to bring along a bunch of hardcopies…so my tablet worked great! And thanks to Milwaukee Public Library and the Hoopla app, I was able to read a bunch of comics while traveling! 🙂

BATWING: Good writing and neat to see what an “Batman From Africa” could be like.

ALI: Great bio-comicbook told in a very interesting style Would recommend.

THE LONE RANGER: Good looking book, but eh, the story was only OK.

ICOGNEGRO: Very good, and interesting to see a different kind of noir story, dealing with a difficult part of American history.

BATMAN: BRIDE OR BURGLAR: Good writing, good art from the modern arc that delved into the “Cat and the Bat” relationship.

THE DEATH-DEFYING DEVIL: not really good, sorry.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN Vol 5: Nick Spencer is a hella solid writer, and I’ll give most of his projects a shot. I’ve never been a big Spider-fan, but Spencer and the artists did tell some neat stories here.