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i went to leicester yesterday. being the clever abi i was i bought a return ticket. oops. i returned by car, of course, with lots of dvds and books and also a television, which is now in the front room. it feels a bit less like i'm an intruder now i have stuff in that room.
after this i explored. this consisted of going down the A10 and spending time in a couple of pubs in Stoke Newington whilst reading graphic novels. in the first one (the Rochester Castle, a weatherspoons), I got talking to a couple of random people, including someone who was using long words and then correcting himself and using short ones instead. which is a bit interesting. The second pub (the Coach and Horses) seemed very nice and had good music.
i shall detail graphic novels i have read lately:
Fray - this is by Joss Whedon (you know, Buffy/Angel creator person), and is indeed set in the buffyverse, a couple of hundred years later or so, with the first slaying to be called for quite a long time. it has flying cars. and is good.
Warren Ellis - Global Frequency, vol 1 : each issue is a different story, with only two recurring characters, so a cast of new people each time. they do cool stuff to rescue people from various (usually) man-made disasters. one might almost compare it to to a 21st century version of International Rescue, except that would not do it justice.. this has motivated me to try to find the tv pilot they made of it.
and a couple of things by joe (the guy who made babylon 5):
Midnight Nation (12 issue limited-series, collected as trade): this is simply beautiful. on one level, it is the story of a man walking across a continent to regain his soul. but it is so much more than that. all i can really say is : the ending made me cry.
Supreme Power (first 6 issues in trade paperback): which is kind of a twisted version of the DC Universe characters, by Marvel. In the first few pages, a baby lands on earth in some sort of spaceship, and a passing couple find him and take him home. only for government helicopters to take the baby away in order to ensure he is raised as a good little american.... you get the idea. i read all of the first trade paperback of this, and is has left on such a cliffhanger that i am going to get the 2nd one tomorrow.
Rising Stars Volume 4. Actually, this isn't by joe. it just says "J Michael Strazthingy's RISING STARS" on it. It collects some of the spin-off comics that Fiona Avery (she wrote at least 2 episodes of crusade - one of which got shot), wrote .... i was expecting them to be awfully derivative for some reason - rising stars was a limited series, 24 issues and that's it, and to see a volume 4 was a bit surprising. but avery has done reasonably well in both the stories collected here: featuring Lionel Zerb and Matthew Bright. The Bright story didn't do much for me really, but the Zerb story was better. it was nice how the stories tie into the established continuity Rising Stars, making it feel as if you are reading gaps in the story (in fact the Zerb story appears to have been based on an unexplained hook that was set up there to start with), rather than just being unecessary stories crammed in to an existing continuity. um yes stuff.
I am also reading the reboot of Eternals, by none other than Neil Gaiman. I shall report when it's all done. (yes this means i have bought an actual loose non-collected comic book! gasp)
what should i be keeping my eyes peeled out for here? There's a whole bunch of Alan Moore related stuff out soon, i know (Black Dossier, Albion, Lost Girls)...
after this i explored. this consisted of going down the A10 and spending time in a couple of pubs in Stoke Newington whilst reading graphic novels. in the first one (the Rochester Castle, a weatherspoons), I got talking to a couple of random people, including someone who was using long words and then correcting himself and using short ones instead. which is a bit interesting. The second pub (the Coach and Horses) seemed very nice and had good music.
i shall detail graphic novels i have read lately:
Fray - this is by Joss Whedon (you know, Buffy/Angel creator person), and is indeed set in the buffyverse, a couple of hundred years later or so, with the first slaying to be called for quite a long time. it has flying cars. and is good.
Warren Ellis - Global Frequency, vol 1 : each issue is a different story, with only two recurring characters, so a cast of new people each time. they do cool stuff to rescue people from various (usually) man-made disasters. one might almost compare it to to a 21st century version of International Rescue, except that would not do it justice.. this has motivated me to try to find the tv pilot they made of it.
and a couple of things by joe (the guy who made babylon 5):
Midnight Nation (12 issue limited-series, collected as trade): this is simply beautiful. on one level, it is the story of a man walking across a continent to regain his soul. but it is so much more than that. all i can really say is : the ending made me cry.
Supreme Power (first 6 issues in trade paperback): which is kind of a twisted version of the DC Universe characters, by Marvel. In the first few pages, a baby lands on earth in some sort of spaceship, and a passing couple find him and take him home. only for government helicopters to take the baby away in order to ensure he is raised as a good little american.... you get the idea. i read all of the first trade paperback of this, and is has left on such a cliffhanger that i am going to get the 2nd one tomorrow.
Rising Stars Volume 4. Actually, this isn't by joe. it just says "J Michael Strazthingy's RISING STARS" on it. It collects some of the spin-off comics that Fiona Avery (she wrote at least 2 episodes of crusade - one of which got shot), wrote .... i was expecting them to be awfully derivative for some reason - rising stars was a limited series, 24 issues and that's it, and to see a volume 4 was a bit surprising. but avery has done reasonably well in both the stories collected here: featuring Lionel Zerb and Matthew Bright. The Bright story didn't do much for me really, but the Zerb story was better. it was nice how the stories tie into the established continuity Rising Stars, making it feel as if you are reading gaps in the story (in fact the Zerb story appears to have been based on an unexplained hook that was set up there to start with), rather than just being unecessary stories crammed in to an existing continuity. um yes stuff.
I am also reading the reboot of Eternals, by none other than Neil Gaiman. I shall report when it's all done. (yes this means i have bought an actual loose non-collected comic book! gasp)
what should i be keeping my eyes peeled out for here? There's a whole bunch of Alan Moore related stuff out soon, i know (Black Dossier, Albion, Lost Girls)...