Lotta Marvel comics, mindbending French kids books, our old pal Willie Shakes

.

099) The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag, finished November 19

My nine-year-old read this five times and loved it. Keep that in mind.

This is a nice book. It has pretty decent characters and the worldbuilding is fine. The story is a solid metaphor for LGBTQery. My problems with it are very adult in nature. I just don't like how it is not, in fact, merely metaphorical, merely symbolic. Nope. This has crossed the line into straightup allegory. And while there's nothing wrong with allegory, per se, it is by its nature simplistic. I want a little bit more.

But remember my son, the targeted age for this work, liked it very much.

not long


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100) Vacation by Blexbolex, finished November 20

This beautiful wordless book kept startling me. It's a young child's vacation with the choas of love and violence and jealosy and fear and bliss inherent with being a child.

brief









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101) The Mighty Captain Marvel: Alien Nation by Stohl/Rosanas/Garland, finished November 20

The Big O, allegedly to prepare for the movie, checked out a Captain Marvel volume one. Of which there are several. This didn't seem to be the best as there's a lotta balls in the air when it begins. Regardless, it's full of the worst kind of comics pseudoscience and the jokes are pummelly (thus unfunny) and ... while not by any means terrible, this is not the book to convince your friends comics can be literature.

evening


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102) Rocket Raccoon & Groot Vol. 1: Tricks of the Trade by a hole slew o' guys, finished November 28

I first started buying these a year or two ago when my buddy Jake Parker took over art duties on Rocket Raccoon. Biggo checked this collection out of the library and says it's his favorite of the superhero collections we've had around of late.

It as pretty good.

The Skottie Young influence is deep (I mean, he did write every Rocket and draw a good chunk of them) which I find a bit exhausting, but enough voices show up in the collection of a whole that I feel we get a bit of triangulation on these characters. Groot really comes out as the most interesting character overall.

But enough about them.

a few days


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103) Ballad by Blexbolex, finished December 2

Okay, Blexbolex, you wild and crazy (*checks with Google*) guy, you did it again. Lulled me into a pleasant little story for children then proceeded to shock and startle me for a couple hundred pages.

You have to check this Blexbolex guy out, everybody. He is something.

not long


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104) Seasons by Blexbolex, finished December 2

This one, like the first I read by Blexbolex, are catalogued in the JUNIOR PICTURE BOOK section of my county's library system. Yet they qualify for this list.

Alos, I've never read something from the picture-book section quite like these. Of course, there are many wondeful picture books written by incredible writers. But Blexbolex is really changing the rules. Take this book, for instance. It's not that different from any picture book taking us through the seasons. One word per picture per page. Very simple. But this book takes us through many years and it finds the beauty even in the weird and ugly attributes of the seasons. The facing pages hitting DROUGHT and BLAZE certainly caught this Californian offguard.

also not long


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105) The Comedy of Errors by Wm Shakespeare, finished December 4

This play is straight-up bonkers. No wonder it's Shakespeare's shortest! Any longer and it would completely fall apart. It already strains credulity, but it moves quickly enough that I can see how, staged properly, the audience would never get a chance to notice.

Really, some dang funny lines though. It's easy to imagine a hilarious production.

today


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106) Spider-Gwen: Greater Power by Latour/Rodriguez/Visions, finished December 4

I've been hearing about this for a long time, but unlike other recent female-led titles (eg, Ms Marvel or Squirrel Girl), this volume one is very in media res. And although I largely caught up to the story, it was complex and required a lot of Marvel knowledge. My kids "liked" it but they don't feel like they understood it. And I'm only a couple steps ahead of them here.

a week


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107) Captain Marvel: Higher, Further, Faster, More by DeConnick/Lopez, finished December 6

This one was much easier to drop into and enjoy. And this Carol Danvers is a very easy Carol Danvers to like. It's clearer why she's a beloved character.

two days maybe


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108) Legendary Star-Lord: Face It, I Rule by Humphries/Medina/Williams, finished December 6

I like Peter Quill as much as the next guy but Kitty Pryde deserves someone way, way better.

two days maybe


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The other books of 2018

1 – 4

001) Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet Book 3 by Ta-Nehisi Coates &‎ Brian Stelfreeze & al., finished January
002) The Complete Peanuts 1950-2000 by Charles M. Schulz & al., finished January
003) The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, finished January 10
004) El Deafo by Cece Bell, finished January 12

5 – 9

005) Cleopatra in Space: Target Practice by Mike Maihack, finished January 13
006) Nabokov's Favorite Word Is Mauve by Ben Blatt, finished January 15
007) Glister by Andi Watson, finished January 18
008) Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke, finished January 20
009) The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun by J.R.R. Tolkien, finished January 21

10 – 11

010) The Vision by Tom King et al., finished January 23
011) Miles Morales: Spider-Man by Jason Reynolds, finished January 24

16 – 16

012) Anthem by Ayn Rand, finished February 8
013) The City in Which I Love You by Li-Young Lee, finished February 14
014) Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle, finished February 21
015) It Needs to Look Like We Tried by Todd Robert Petersen, finished March 7
016, 017) Fences by August Wilson, finished March 8

18 – 20

018) The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton, finished March 13
019) Star Wars Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to a Galaxy Far, Far Away by Tim Leong, finished March 22
020) Superman: Secret Identity by Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen, finished March 25

21 – 25

021) M Is for Malice by Sue Grafton, finished March 28
022) Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne, J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany; finished March 31
023) It All Started with Hippocrates: A Mercifully Brief History of Medicine by Richard Armour, finished April 6
024) Don't Bump the Glump by Shel Silverstein, finished April 14
025) Coriolanus by Wm Shakespeare, finished April 16

26 – 32

026) The Trouble with Reality by Brooke Gladstone, finished April 24
027, 28) Coriolanus by William Shakespeare, finished April 26
029) The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost, finished April 28
030) Twisted Tales from Shakespeare by Richard Armour, finished April 28 or April 29 depending on when midnight happened
031) Bless The Child: A Romance of Redemption and Glory in the Ancient World by David J. West, finished May 1
032) The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody by Will Cuppy, finished May 3

32 – 34

032) Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, finished May 9
033) Stargazing Dog by Takashi Murakami, finished May 9
034) Vader Down by Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato, finished May 18

35

035) The Book of Mormon: A Reader's Edition edited by Grant Hardy, finished May 23

36 – 50

036) Bad Kitty Camp Daze by Nick Bruel, finished May 24
037) I'm Just No Good at Rhyming: And Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups by Chris Harris, finished May 24
038) The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer by Sydney Padua, finished May 30
039) Princess Leia by Mark Waid et al, finished May 30
040) Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony & Rodrigo Corral, finished June 12
041) Everything You Need to Know About a Mission by Ralph Thomas, finished June 13
042) The Invisibles by Grant Morrison et al, finished June 14
043) The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe, finished June 15
044) Material Volume 1 by Ales Kot & Will Tempest & al., finished June 23
045) Love & Misadventure by Lang Leav, finished June 30
046) The Rain in Portugal by Billy Collins, finished July 7
047) Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier Vol. 1: The Man On The Wall by Ales Kos, finished July 7
048) Monster Verse: Poems Human and Inhuman edited by Tony Barnstone & Michelle Mitchell-Foust, finished July 10
049) Poems Dead and Undead edited by Tony Barnstone & Michelle Mitchell-Foust, finished July 10
050) Mary's Monster by Lita Judge, finished July 11

51 – 57

051) Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, finished July 18
052) Hostage by Guy Delisle, finished July 21
053) The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg, finished July 22
054) Paper Girls, Vol 4 by Brian K Vaughan and Cliff Chiang, finished July 24
055) Chocolate: The Consuming Passion by Sandra Boynton, finished July 25
056) [Aelian's] On the Nature of Animals translated by Gregory McNamee, finished July 27
057) Blue Yodel by Ansel Alkins, finished July 27

58 – 63

058) The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater, finished July 31
059) Bandette Volume 1: Presto! by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover, finished July 31
060) Legends of Zita the Space Girl by Ben Hatke, finished August 3
061) Darth Vader: End of Games by Kieron Gillen & Salvador Larroca, finished August 6
062) How to Read Nancy by Paul Karasik & Mark Newgarden, finished August 10
063) The Selected Poems of Donald Hall by Donald Hall, finished August 14

64 – 68

064) The Encyclopedia of Early Earth by Isabel Greenberg, finished August 15
065) The Humans by Stephen Karam, finished August 15
066) Space Cat by Ruthven Todd, finished August 16
067) Strip Search: Revealing Today's Best College Cartoonists, finished August 16
068) A Contract with God by Will Eisner, finished August 18

69 – 73

069) Space Cat Visits Venus by Ruthven Todd, finished August 19
070) Served: A Missionary Comic Anthology edited by Theric Jepson & Mike Laughead & al., finished August 22
071) Precious Rascals by Anthony Holden, finished August 24
072) The Peanuts' Guide To Life by Charles M. Schulz (sort of), finished August 25
073) Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham by Mike Mignola et al., finished August 28

74 – 81

074) My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris, finished August 29
075) The Customer Is Always Wrong by Mimi Pond, finished August 30
076) Bandette: Stealers Keepers! by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover, finished August 30
077) You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack by Tom Gauld, finished September 6
078) Baking With Kafka by Tom Gauld, finished September 7
079) Mooncop by Tom Gauld, finished September 7
080) Goliath by Tom Gauld, finished September 7
081) Educated by Tara Westover, finished September 12

82 – 85

082) Beyond the Light by Ryan Shoemaker, finished September 17
083) Space Cat Meets Mars by Ruthven Todd, finished September 22
084) Invisible Gifts by Maw Shein Win, finished September 24
085) Middlemarch by George Eliot, finished September 29

86 – 90

086) Murder in Manhattan, finished October 7
087) The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh, finished October 10
088) Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut, finished October 10
089) Lumberjanes, vol. one by Noelle Stevenson and village, finished October 16
090) SkyHeart Book I: The Star Seed by Jake Parker by Jake Parker, finished October 16

91 – 93

091) Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow, finished October 22
092) Homespun and Angel Feathers by Darlene Young, finished October 29
093) A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny, finished October 29

94 – 98

094) The Möbius Strip Club of Grief by Bianca Stone, finished November 2
095) Jokes: Philosophical Thoughts on Joking Matters by Ted Cohen, finished November 7
096) Sunday Funnies by Gahan Wilson, finished November 9
097) Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons, finished November 15
098) Green Monk: Blood of the Martyrs by Brandon Dayton, finished November 15

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