Thing die in book.

.

039) Screwed by by Tyler Kirkham, Keith Thomas, David Miller; finished June 3

Tyler gave me a copy of this trade collection when I was at FanX. Because of his contract with DC, he couldn't do the art for this story, but the idea is his---it's just written and drawn by other people. All of which is very Zenoscope which, if you are familiar with the publisher, let's you know that this is just the proverbial tip:

The story is designed to allow for maximum carnage which is at least as violent as Ottley (whom I did not meet at FanX as he was never at his booth) but more pervasive and without that sly humor Ottley employs.

In brief, a Frankenstein monster / hot lesbian wakes up in a hospital. She has superstrength but thinks everyone she sees is a monster (with one fellow hot-chick exception). Violence and breasts follow.

Which breasts I found distracting because I kept trying to decide if, even though they were enormous, they were "realistic" in shape. I didn't reach a conclusion. Though this might in part be because the art itself seemed inconsistent. Tyler drew the covers (what you see here) and those I thought were pretty good. The interior art however, although apparently by one person, did not stay consistent in stylization. I don't know how to account for this. Sometimes it was '90s Image Jim Lee lines-everywhere ugly; other times with was different kinds of ugly. (But usually ugly. Mostly intentionally so.) But regardless of the style, both men and women were absurd caricatures of "sexy" in that adolescent comic-book way.

I understand a sequel's coming. Maybe with the origin out of the way, they can do interesting things with this character. My favorite thing about the book was the lead, with her good intentions and evil outcomes. Her I could read more of. (Maybe she could even get a pair of jeans?) And since pretty much all the other characters are dead, maybe she's all I would see more of.

This interview with Tyler talks about his motivations.

week



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038) Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein, finished March 2

I read this book primarily to the youngest, and he primarily liked it, though I think mostly he could tell things were supposed to be funny rather than were funny. I know I enjoyed returning to these pages. (I also enjoyed checking the occasional footnote as this is a copy meant for Korean students. What was footnoted did not seem terribly consistent, but then: what do I know about how they teach English?)

week



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037) Missile Mouse: Rescue on Tankium3 by Jake Parker, finished May 30

My kids have been digging Jake's work, lately. They've been carrying the two Missile Mouse books and Antler Boy (though they don't like "Antler Boy") around, from chair to couch, to bed. I've read the MM story in Antler Boy several times, and parts of the full-length Missile Mouse books, but this is the first time I've read one all the way through in ages.

Good stuff. Very mythic.

Check out his new online project.

evening



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036) Undeath & Taxes by Carter Reid, finished May 26 or maybe a couple days earlier

A gratis copy Reid gave me at the SLC Comic Con FanX after seeing the other zombie-ish freebie a Mormon artist gave me. (Reid made the traditional moan that his work was so awful his people will hate him. I made my traditional eyeroll and showed him the competition. He felt better and gave me a copy of his book.

Zombie Nation tastes and is branded like a webcomic and now that I'm typing up my thoughts, I check, and yup. It is. So you can read what I've read and more besides.

What you won't find (I don't think) is the book's bonus art---celebrities done up zombie-style, guides to the typical varieties of movie zombies, etc. So that's the reason to buy it.

The humor is . . . very webcomicky. Ineffably webcomicky. I mean---without knowing it was webbased, I could immediately tell it was a webcomic. If anyone's written about this webcomicky flavor and what makes it so identifiable, I would appreciate the link. I need some vocabulary to help me explain this new thing.

Zombie Nation's humor is grotesque and silly-sexy and heavy on pop-culture referents.

(And now you can get two books and the eyeball flask.)

about a month





Previously in 2014 . . . . :



Books 40 - 43

043) Rachel Rising 1: The Shadow of Death by Terry Moore, finished June 16
042) Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World by Carl Hiaasen, finished June 9
041) Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher by Jake Parker, finished June 8
040) Silas Marner by George Eliot, finished June 5

Books 36 - 39

039) Screwed by by Tyler Kirkham, Keith Thomas, David Miller; finished June 3
038) Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein, finished March 2
037) Missile Mouse: Rescue on Tankium3 by Jake Parker, finished May 30
036) Undeath & Taxes by Carter Reid, finished May 26 or maybe a couple days earlier

Books 33 - 35

035) Of Many Hearts and Many Minds: The Mormon Novel and the Post-Utopian Challenge of Assimilation by Scott Hales, finished May 22
034) Field Notes on Language and Kinship by Tyler Chadwick, finished May 21
033) The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson, finished May 20

Books 29 - 32

032) Mormon X: Confessions of a Latter-day Mutant by Ben Christensen, finished May 8
031) Consenting Adults; or, the Duchess Will Be Furious by Peter De Vries, finished May 6
030) The Sleep of Reason edited by C. Spike Trotman, finished April 30
029) Ruby's Secret by Heather B. Moore, finished April 12

Books 22 - 28

028) Road to Bountiful by Donald S. Smurthwaite, finished April 7
027) Atlas of Prejudice: Mapping Stereotypes, Vol. 1 by Yanko Tsvetkov, finished April 6
026) Thelwell Country by Norman Thelwell, finished April 6
025) The House at Rose Creek by Jenny Proctor, finished March 31
024) Barnaby, Volume One by Crockett Johnson, finished March 17
023) A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver, finished March 17
022) Irene #3 edited by dw, Andy Warner, Dakota McFadzean; finished March 15

Books 18 - 21

021) Love Letters of the Angels of Death by Jennifer Quist, finished March 14
020) The Iowa Baseball Confederacy: A Novel by W. P. Kinsella, finished March 12
019) The Complete Peanuts: 1989 - 1990 by Charles M. Schulz, finished March 11
018) Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poppypants by Dav Pilkey

Books 14 - 17

017) Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy, Part 2: The Revenge of the Ridiculous Robo-Boogers by Dav Pilkey, finished February 22
016) Who Was Jim Henson? by Joan Holub, finished February 18
015) The Reluctant Blogger by Ryan Rapier, finished February 15
014) The Maid's Version by Daniel Woodrell, finished February 14

Books 10 - 13

013) The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, finished February 12
012) Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown, finished February 5
011) The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell, finished January 27
010) The Complete Peanuts 1987-1988 by Charles M. Schulz, finished January 25

Books 6 - 9

009) Heat by Mike Lupica, finished January 22
008) Happy Birthday, Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel, finished January 21
007) Impasse by Kohl Glass (story by Jason Conforto), finished January 16
006) Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan, finished January 16

Books 1 - 5

005) The Man Who Grew His Beard by Olivier Schrauwen, finished January 12
004) Pokémon Black and White, Vol. 1 by Hidenori Kusaka and Satoshi Yamamoto, finished January 10
003) Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hick, finished January 7
002) The Drop by Michael Connelly, finished January 7
001) The Rejection Collection, Vol. 2 edited by Matthew Diffee, finished January 6