Comic Book Marathon

Due to some pain, I actually had a chance to rest and read a couple of these today, starting with:

SCOTT PILGRIM VOL 2: VS THE WORLD GN

This chapter in Scott Pilgrim's life takes the touch of surrealism that was key to the coolness of volume 1 and WAY overdoes it. Still a lot to like about this volume, including more great characters and sticky situations for Scott to get caught up in, but the FOUR "battles" in this issue and the continuation of Scott quest against Ramona's 7 evil ex-boyfriends? It just leaves me cold, even if the allegories are clever. I do want to see even more of Kim now though, after her move into the foreground in this volume.

JLA CLASSIFIED #8 - I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League Part 5 (of 6)

The Superbuddies hit a detour on their way back from hell and end up in a universe with a giant G'Nort, an S&M Marvel Family, and an exotic dancer named Sue Dibny. Our Blue Beetle, suffering from amnesia, keeps his team grounded and light so that they don't end up overwhelmed by this grim and gritty world. Meta-commentary, anyone? Anyway, the next chapter concludes this alt-universe adventure and the door closes on Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire Justice League forever, so some savoring is recommended, as this is as humorous and as heartfelt as you are going to find in mainstream comics today.

TRIGGER #7 (of 8)

A day in the life of an amoral and destructive Trigger: when a man's subconscious mind spends most of its time murdering and raping, the conscious mind bears the brunt of the repercussions. Not bad on its own, but since the first 6-issue story arc fell flat, it's too little too late.

STRANGERS IN PARADISE VOL 16: MOLLY & POO TP

This book collects the 3 Molly & Poo stories from SiP, which were mainly illustrated prose. It's probably been about a decade since I read the first story, I remember it as an entertaining if clumsy suspense story that did not warrant a sequel; it will be interesting to see what Terry Moore has done with the characters since then.

STREET ANGEL VOL 1 TP

The darling of the blogosphere. All I have to say is that so far it reminds me of Pop Gun War and if it is even half as cool, I'm a fan.

ACTION PHILSOPHERS #1

Last week's "All-Sex Special" (really, AP #2) was suprisingly good, so I picked up the first issue from my LCS this week. My judgment that it was a factoid book similar to Cartoon History of the Universe was spot on, and it compares favorably to Gonick's masterwork. My only quibble so far has been the title and marketing, which draw too many comparisons with the inferior and fictional Tales from the Bully Pulpit. Trust me, this book is nothing like TftBP and it may be the best new book of 2005. Check it out.

Other Stuff of Interest

WARS END PROFILES FROM BOSNIA 1995-96 HC - Collects Stories From Bosnia #1: Soba (which I own) and "Christmas with Karadzic" from Zero Zero #15 (which I don't own, but shouldn't be too hard to track down). Like Ice Haven last week, it's bit difficult to justify paying $15 for stuff that I mostly already have, but it IS Joe Sacco, so it goes on the "if I have spare cash" list.
CONAN & THE JEWELS OF GWAHLUR #3 (of 3) - WFTT
DAREDEVIL #74 - WFTT
EX MACHINA #12 - WFTT
STRANGERS IN PARADISE #74 - WFTT

The night never owed you nothing anyway, makes promises that he never intends to keep every day.

I feel the need to buy everything ACTION PHILOSOPHERS related. I got the All-Sex issue at MoCCA, and it blew me away. I really wasn't expecting to like it, as it had been talked up so much, but it deserves all the good press it gets.