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What are you reading right now?
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What are you reading right now? (October 2025)
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I've been in Europe for the last few weeks. Here's what I was reading while I was gone.Batman and Robin Vol. 1: Memento ★★★★
This was great. It's a continuation of Batman and Robin even though DC labeled it as a volume 1 due to the new creative team. There's a new villain in town, Memento, and he may be the same villain Bruce was investigating in his abroad days in London when he was learning to become Batman.
Meanwhile, Damian is becoming more than a snot-nosed brat. He's having some second thoughts about being Robin after a little girl is hurt under his care. It's interesting to see Damian questioning what he's trained all his life for. Javi Fernandez's art is very good although I'd like to see him be able to complete full issues. He didn't even make it 2 issues before Carmine Di Giandomenico and Miguel Mendonca had to step in and draw pages each issue.
Meat Eaters ★★★
Growing up is hard, especially when you wake up one day in the woods with your mouth covered in blood. Our main character here is a girl who has become a ghoul and has to learn how to deal with that while going to community college and also befriending 2 dipshit werewolves who can barely take care of themselves. I do wish the story was tighter. This has some real potential but some things were unclear as to why they were happening.
Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir ★★★★
Just an incredibly dense read, but one I found that's worth it. It's about generational trauma in the author's family, from her grandmother to her mother to her. Her grandmother was in China when the communists took over. It goes into specific and harrowing details about the atrocities that happened over the era and even later after her grandmother and mother fled to Hong Cong. (The famine got so bad that people resorted to cannibalism in places.) While in Hong Kong, her grandmother suffered with mental illness and was in and out of hospitals for over a decade leaving her mother to raise herself at a boarding school in the city. The book does move on to her mother coming here for college, eventually getting married and having her and her brother. Then the book shifts to how the two of them were in conflict from the time she was teenager on. One of the parts I really wanted to know more about was the free existence Hulls has lived as an adult, taking temporary jobs as a chef in Antarctica and Alaska. And also travelling the world on her bicycle. It's all very interesting. But like I said it's also really dense and just a LOT at times. I often had to read it in chunks as it could just be too much.
The Night Mother, Vol. 1 ★★★
Something of a dark fairy tale that leaves you some in the dark. It's about a world where it's always night and a girl who was raised by her stepfather. She can hear the dead and now the Night Mother is out to bring her home. It's not bad as long as you just go with it and aren't expecting more answers.
The New 52: Futures End, Volume 2 ★★★★
Set 5 years into the future, the main story revolves around stopping Brother Eye before he enslaves the world and turns everyone into cyborgs. Pretty solid book for one of these weekly books that DC likes to put out. They can be difficult to get into because of the multiple ongoing storylines. They used a rotating group of top notch artists for each issue. Aaron Lopresti, Patrick Zircher and Scott Eaton all contribute multiple issues.
The Pale Knight ★
I'm like Charlie Brown kicking the football when it comes to Peter Milligan. I keep coming back expecting to actually get something worth reading like say Enigma and then Milligan pulls the football away again. This was all kinds of boring. It's about a knight who Death tasks with killing another noble in order to save his son from the plague. Then the story proceeds to meander the countryside for 6 issues. I suggest you not waste your time on this book. There is little point to it and the "twist" at the end is telegraphed to anyone who has ever read a story before.
Rogue Touch ★★
If you're expecting Rogue's origin story, that's not really what this is. At least not the one with the X-Men or any other character you may be familiar with. It's more the movie Starman with Anna Marie being a girl who absorbs the memories of anyone she touches. She goes on the run with Touch. (Yeah, I know, that name is really on the nose!) They proceed to steal everything left and right. First only from corporations and banks or bad people but eventually anyone that crosses their paths. And that ending? That was just terrible. If you want to read about Rogue, do yourself a favor and buy some trades of old X-Men comics instead of this nonsense.
Muted, Vol. 1 ★★★★
Muted is the story of Camille, a witch "raised" by her aunt after her family was killed in a fire. Her aunt treats her horribly and after a ritual goes wrong leaves her behind in the bayou to try again. There she meets a bunch of other covens and begins to find out about her hidden past and why her powers are different from the other witches in her coven. I like the world building here and how each coven specializes in different areas of magic. I'm interested in reading the next one when it's released.
I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together ★★★★
A very long memoir of a gay Canadian man who grew up in the 70s. The majority of the book is about his failed romantic relationships (or lack thereof) and how after decades therapy helped him get through his issues. It can get repetitive in places and the therapy bits may have gone on a tad long. Still overall, it was a good read. As a warning, there's enough sexual moments in here to get conservatives in an uproar.
Black Ice Vol. 2 ★★
I really wanted to like this more than I did but it was just constantly confusing. The kid from the first volume is trapped in a big ice block and can't get out. We shift to a completely brand new set of characters and this new girl is black and trying to make it as an actress but struggles with image issues because of how dark she is. Her white boyfriend seems supportive but then randomly starts to forget who she is. It's all really odd. It doesn't end so much as just stop after 300 pages and I still have little idea of what's going on even with 2 volumes under my belt.
Up to No Ghoul ★★★
A fun middle grade graphic novel perfect for Halloween. Grey and his ghoul friend Livinia are back. The town gets into trouble when a strange blood drive starts up in town and people start acting strange. I do like how it takes a turn from what you expect part way through. A fun, quick read.
Bright World (The Hazards of Love #1) ★★★★
This was completely different than I expected. From the title and cover, I expected some kind of YA queer love story but it's not really that. Of the two of them, Amparo quickly gets caught up in this crazy and deadly Bright World. Kind of a dark Alice in Wonderland world where you are slowly changed by being stuck there over time and how you change as you lose more and more of yourself. Good stuff.
Poison Ivy Vol. 5: Human Botany ★★★
Issue #25 is mostly by other creative teams, I guess as an anniversary issue, and it feels like filler. Then Ivy gets unwittingly sucked into this ecoterrorist group, The Order of the Green Knight, and that story is still ongoing. She also is being visited by both the Green and the Grey as we delve into some Swamp Thing type things. Not bad.
Prokaryote Season ★★
I didn’t care for the squiggly art nor did I care for the self-absorbed characters.
The Carlyle School for Kings ★★
Needed to be fleshed out more. It’s about a contest to choose the next king and some of the contestants are truly awful. The problem is that nothing is fleshed out and the characters are paper thin.
A Silent Voice, Vol. 1 ★★★
This is about a deaf girl going to a regular school for 6th grade. Everyone in her class including her teacher are really mean to her. When the class bully fesses up to it, the other kids shun him mercilessly. It’s exhausting to see preteens be assholes for 200 pages and not be able to discipline a single one of them. I think further volumes may be more my thing as they hopefully become more understanding of those different from themselves.
Gunsmith Cats, Vol. 1 ★★★
Found this as a bonus borrow on hoopla. It feels dated but it also came out in the 90s. It’s about 2 women bounty hunters in Chicago. There’s some weird stuff in here like one of the girls is only 17 and very sexually active with older men. If you can get past that there’s some decent action based stories.
Harpy ★★★★★
I quite liked this. It's set about 40 years in the future. It's about a lesbian Chinese cop in South Africa who catches a murder case of a series of Chinese people who have been murdered over 3 decades. Gunnie is a very interesting character. The art is really good. Somewhat stylized but very detailed. My one complaint if I had one is that the ending is abrupt. But overall this was a cool but long read.
Quincredible: A Better World ★★★
This is a pretty complicated plot for this short of a story. It's about a scientist who is poisoning the water supply of the poor areas of New Orleans, trying to mutate the people to generate sympathy to fix the situation. What could possibly go wrong with that scenario?
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures Phase III Volume 4 ★★
This was alright. It was hard to get into because it's one big battle full of an ensemble cast. It's really difficult to get into any of the characters because they get such little screen time. Most of it is just random fighting.
Brawlhalla Tales: Nix ★★
About what you'd expect from a video game comic. Nix is a grim reaper trying to get out of the deal she made with a demon and teams up with a Valkyrie to fight in a tournament.
The Serpent in the Garden: Ed Grey and the Last Battle for England ★★★★
Gruagach from Hellboy is back, basically so Mignola can give him a proper sendoff. He also comes up with a way for Sir Edward Grey to return to the comics as well. These comics are so much better when Mignola is personally involved.
Aurora: Vol 1 ★★
There are so many infodumps into the world building here and 90% of it is completely unnecessary. the gist is that a magician is able to defeat one of the many gods of this world and this spawns off a piece of his avatar into a new being that's trying to ultimately defeat this woman. I'm not sure why that story itself is so much more convoluted than it needs to be. Overall this is OK, but it's long at 400 pages.
Chad wrote: "... The famine's got to so so bad that people resorted to communism in places ..."I think you intended a different word there. ;)
Ed wrote: "Chad wrote: "... The famine's got to so so bad that people resorted to communism in places ..."I think you intended a different word there. ;)"
That's what I get for being in a hurry and not proofreading.
This weekend's trip to the comic book store.Fantastic Four x Gargoyles #1
Absolute Batman #13
Amazing X-Men #1
Aquaman #10
Avengers #31
Captain Planet and the Planeteers #6
The World to Come #3
Transformers #25
Ultimate Black Panther #21
Thundercats / Powerpuff Girls #4
Something Is Killing the Children: A Monster Walks into a Bar #1
Absolute Flash #8
World's Finest #44
Fire and Ice #4 <--- Only 2+ years late
Flash Gordon #12
GI Joe #12
Gatchaman #13
Herculoids #9
Racer X #2
Thundercats #19
Unbreakable X-Men #1
Captain America #4
Godzilla Destroys the Marvel Universe #4
Incredible Hulk #30
One World Under Doom #8
Rogue Storm #1
Blue Falcon and Dynomutt #2
Mod
That sounds amazing! Did you check out any comic shops while you were there?
Erin wrote: That sounds amazing! Did you check out any comic shops while you were there?"I did. I went to one in Belgium and one in the Netherlands. They were both virtually the same. It was just stacks of long boxes full of graphic novels everywhere. So much white. No new releases or weekly comics. Very little memorabilia other than Smurf dolls. (This is where the Smurfs come from.) I was surprised about how most of the Franco-Belgian comics had already been translated into English and I'd already read them. Things like Lucky Luke, TinTin, XIII, etc. They had a section of English comics and English comics translated into French so if you wanted a French trade of Batman or Justice League you were good. I was disappointed that I couldn't find anything to buy. I also went to this cathedral that had been converted into a church. I had much more luck there (not with comics but with a couple of CDs and a new book nook.) That place was amazing just to walk around in. My wife couldn't get me to leave.
David wrote: "just finished Blood Hunt. It was great."That's the beauty of comics. We don't have to all like the same ones. I had high hopes for Blood Hunt because of Jed MacKay and thought it was a disappointment.
Today's trip to the comic book store.Space Ghost #4
Speed Racer: Tales from the Road #1 <--- A new quarterly Speed Racer book.
TMNT #12
Thundercats: Lost #7
Ultimate Spider-Man #22
Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #5
Ultimates #17
X-Men: Book of Revelation #1
Sisterhood #4
Predator Kills the Marvel Universe #3
Justice League Unlimited #12
Hornsby and Halo #11
Detective Comics #1102
Absolute Wonder Woman #13
Nocturnals: The Sinister Path #2
Last week's adventures in comics.Tall Water ★★★
So much tragedy in this. It's about a girl whose mother is Sri Lankan. She was raised in South Dakota by her father but her mother was denied entry into the U.S. When she turns 17, they head to Sri Lanka to find her in the midst of a civil war. Meanwhile it's also 2004 when the massive tsunami in the Indian Ocean occurred. It's pretty damn good. Just expect a lot of sadness and tragedy along the way.
Hobtown Mystery Stories Vol. 3: The Secret of the Saucer ★★
The story wasn't bad and I liked the weirdness of this smalltown where the detective club in town investigates these oddball cases. Being told Memento style really made it difficult to keep track of the plot though. Each chapter went a little further back in time and it was really hard to keep abreast of what was happening. I grew to hate it with each new chapter.
Chibi Usagi: Attack of the Heebie Chibis ★★★★
Stan Sakai and his wife, Julie, created chibi versions of Stan's Usagi Yojimbo characters. It all skews a little younger but it's still fun for fans of the Sakais. They even got their daughter to color it, keeping it a family affair.
Eight Billion Genies ★★★
It's a good idea for a comic. Genies appear and grant everyone one wish. Of course, most of them are selfish and people start dying by the bucket load. About half way through, this started to get real tedious and I just wanted it to be over.
Cornelius: The Merry Life of a Wretched Dog ★★
The artwork is extremely inventive, constantly changing styles, sometimes even on the same page. The story though meanders a lot, especially since this is almost 400 pages. I love the whole concept that Cornelius is an extremely popular cartoon dog on the level of Mickey Mouse and been around for generations. There's even 20 pages of fake articles speaking to his popularity and history.
Ash's Cabin ★★★
A young trans girl feels very alone and decides to run away and live off the grid, hoping to find her grandfather's hidden cabin on public land in California. The art is very good. The story is fine. The end glosses over a lot of what happens with her family when she returns. It doesn't go into how irresponsible she was being, especially as a pet owner who put her dog in repeated danger, but that's the liberty of a fictional story.
The Last Book You'll Ever Read ★
This was crap. It starts out well enough. It's about an author who has written a divisive book and hires a bodyguard to protect her on her book tour. People are randomly going berserk and attacking her. Then it just devolves into naked people attacking or protecting her and some gobbledygook about The Wilding. It's all half baked and unexplained. Even the art goes downhill in the latter issues as some pages look like sketches more than finished art.
Vattu Book 1: The Name & the Mark ★★★★
Part one of a 12 year long webcomic. It's a fantasy story about a nomadic tribe that come across a Roman type empire. The title character Vattu is given as tribute and taken to be a slave. I found it pretty enthralling even though it's slower paced, sometimes wordless for several pages. I enjoyed the art quite a bit and look forward to reading future volumes.
Arsène Schrauwen ★★
This was supposed to be a story about Schrauwen's grandfather building a Belgian colony in Africa, but it's like a strange fever dream and clearly fake. Others talk about its swipes at colonialism and the like, but I didn't get that take at all from this. It's just a crummy story with not great art.
Arkham Horror: The Terror at the End of Time ★★★
Cullen Bunn and Andrea Mutti step into the RPG world of Arkham Horror to tell the story of a woman looking for her sister. The story is pretty good until we get into the Cthulluness of it. Then it's kind of just random horror images and the story lost me. Mutti's art is better than it often has been the last few years when it looked very slapdash. It helps that he didn't do his own color work which often looks like he dropped his art in a puddle.
Metal Society ★★★
This was actually pretty good. It's about a society where robots have lived alone for centuries. They decide to resurrect humans to do menial jobs like picking up garbage. It becomes human rights versus robot rights as humans struggle to be seen. It all revolves around an upcoming fight between a robot and an enhanced human.
Out of Left Field ★★★
A coming of age story about a boy coming to terms with his sexuality as he joins the baseball team and learns to be comfortable with himself. The kids on the baseball team are stereotypical jerks but the premise is also based on Newman's own high school experience so they probably were huge assholes. As high school goes on, Jonah figures out he's gay and comes to accept it even as he's not out publicly. The story is pretty good and I like the art.
The Fairy Tale Fixers: Cinderella ★★★★
A fun and irreverent graphic novel for kids that turns Cinderella's story on its ear. Prince Charming never shuts up and all Cinderella wants to do is open a diner. There's enough here for everyone to like.
The Deep Dark ★★★★
An LGBTQ love story with a monster bent to it. Mags is a butch lesbian living with her abuela. She also has some kind of secret in the basement. Nessa is a childhood friend who moved away and is recently returned, running away from an intense relationship. Don't expect a lot of answers with the monster angle of this story. You're going to just need to go with it. If that's OK with you, you'll enjoy this story. If you need everything answered, you may have some issues with this.
Today's trip to my LCS.Cheetara: Worldbreaker #1
Expatriate X-Men #1
Feral #17
Imperial #4
Rocketfellers #10
The Sixth Gun: Battle for the Gun #3
The Mortal Thor #3
Thundercats #20
TMNT Annual 2025
Absolute Batman Annual 2025
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