What I Read - Week of August 10, 2009

Watchmen - Chapter 5 - Last week I wrote about how I should take my time and savor each chapter of Watchmen. This week I showed that I have zero discipline. I read all of chapter 5 in one fell swoop. I loved how all the different story lines were laid one atop the other the newsstand, Tales of the Black Freighter, Rorschach, Dan and Laurie, Ozymandias. It very different from chapter 4, in which Dr. Manhattan was the focus. The text piece at the end of chapter 5 about the fictional rise of pirate comic books in the 50s and 60s, which Tales of the Black Freighter was part of, was great. The whole chapter was great, possibly my favorite so far. It was like mainlining crack. I just couldn't stop reading.

I definitely wanna buy the Absolute Edition of this book but I'll probably wait a couple years before doing so.

Phantom Stranger # 21, 22 - Not great but they were fun to read. I didn't bother with the back up stories. I was most interested in the Jim Aparo art, sappy dialogue, and half-baked plot.

Superman: The Bottle City of Kandor - Started to read it last night. The first story (from Action Comics # 242) has some great moments. Loved the art work by Al Plastino, especially some of the facial expressions. Loved how silly and simple some of the science is. Both Kandor and Brainiac make their first appearance in Action Comics # 242. I bought the collection because I love those old Superman and Superman family stories from the 1950s and 60s.

I finished reading the story after having dinner at Mark's Kitchen. The waiter ribbed me for reading Superman. He even went as far as to ask the manager if I would get a Superman discount. I did my best to grin and bear it and ignore his silliness.

20th Century Boys v2 - link - This collection is vindicating my faith in Naoki Urasawa. I can see the story is going to be a slow burn and take its time to develop but I like the direction the story is going in and more importantly I like most of the characters. I like the art too. I especially enjoy looking to see the expression on Kanna's face when she does appear. Quite often I have to go back to look for it because she's in the background and I skip right over her. Kanna is Kenji's niece whom he carries around on his back.

Carl Barks' Greatest Ducktales Stories v2 - link - Another fun read. A nice change of pace but I wouldn't want to read stories of Uncle Scrooge, Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie all the time.