The Watchmen

Film #18 for me in '09 was Watchmen.

My NetFlix rating: 3.75 stars
Jamie says: I waited far too long and was far too excited that this was coming out to be a fair judge. I do think that the movie did a reasonable job of adapting the book, but the book is still way better :-)
RIYL: Comics, The Dark Knight

Official site
Rotten Tomatoes reviews
Wikipedia

El Borbah

Book #2 on my reading list this year was Charles Burns' El Borbah.

El Borbah is a cross between a luchador and a private eye. Honestly does it get any better than that?

Why Did I Read This One?
Did I already mention that El Borbah is a cross between a luchador and a private eye? Aside from that I picked this one up because it's Charles Burns whose Black Hole is a classic.

The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics

Kicking off year five of my attempts at the 50 book challenge was The Mammoth Book of Crime Comics.

This one gets a hearty meh from me. Pros: lots of historical comics, good way to sample a wide variety of artists' works. Cons: some real clunkers mixed in, no color.

Why I Read This
Picked this one up primarily because I wanted to read some of Will Eisner's 'The Spirit' and this was all the library had. Also was intrigued by the inclusion of Charles Burns, Alan Moore, and Neil Gaiman.

Official site

An Anthology of Graphic Fiction Vol. 2

Book #52 on my reading list was An Anthology of Graphic Fiction Vol. 2 a comic collection edited by Ivan Brunetti.

I finished Vol. 1 of this series in October just in time to pick up this one. Vol. 2 builds on the momentum from the first book, bringing together some of the finest works from all kinds of comic genres spanning the 1900's. If you were going to teach a Comics 101 class these two books would make a great start for required reading.

Y: The Last Man, Vol. 10: Whys and Wherefores

Book #48 on my list this year was Y: The Last Man, Volume 10: Whys and Wherefores, which is unfortunately the last of what was a quite entertaining The Last Man series. Wikipedia has a good overview here and a there's a nice long piece on IGN here (both are full of spoilers).

Why I Read This Series
I think my interest in this series originated from a review I read in Entertainment Weekly. That lead me to looking up more online where I was impressed by the rabid fans and the consistently glowing reviews from other sources I respect (Jonathan Lethem, NPR, Time, Salon, etc). Once I read Vol. 1 I was hooked.

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7
Volume 8
Volume 9

An Anthology of Graphic Fiction...

Book #43 on my list this year was An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories.


Compiled by Ivan Brunetti and published by Yale Press, this anthology provides a great crash course in modern comics ranging from popular graphic novels such as Maus to more subversive underground strips. Of the comic anthologies I've read only McSweeney's #13 comes close to this one in terms of successly spanning the genre. Now I'm looking forward to checking out Volume 2 which just came out earlier this year.

Powell's review

Persepolis

Film #44 of '08 was Persepolis.

My NetFlix rating: 3.5 stars
Jamie says: Funny, sad, sad, funny. This movie's got it all.
RIYL: Ghost World, Rushmore, Joe Sacco/Maus, Heavy Metal Baghdad

Official Site
Rotten Tomatoes reviews
Wikipedia

Y: The Last Man, Volume 9: Motherland

Book #39 on my list this year was Y: The Last Man, Volume 9: Motherland.

Only one more and then I'm all done :-(

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7
Volume 8

Y: The Last Man, Volume 8: Kimono Dragons

Book #38 on my list this year was Y: The Last Man, Volume 8: Kimono Dragons.

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7

Y: The Last Man, Volume 7: Paper Dolls

Book #37 on my list this year was Y: The Last Man, Volume 7: Paper Dolls.

Volumes 8 and 9 are here now, so I should be done with them soon.

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6

A People's History of American Empire

Book #36 on my reading list this year was A People's History of American Empire.

A graphic novel/reworking (sorta sequel) of Howard Zinn's modern classic, this one didn't really do it for me. It's neither a great history nor a great graphic novel. I'd recommend skipping it and reading the real thing.

Watch it on YouTube

Y: The Last Man, Volume 6: Girl on Girl

Book #33 on my list this year was Y: The Last Man, Volume 6: Girl on Girl.

Six books in to the ten book series I am firmly hooked. Volume 7 coming soon...

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5

Batman Begins

Film #41 of '08 was Batman Begins.

My NetFlix rating: 3.25 stars
Jamie says: Probably should've seen this one before The Dark Knight as this one paled in comparison. Could've used more incompetent attempts at being Batman scenes and less learning kung fu scenes.
RIYL: VH1: Before They Were Superheroes, less scary Batman villians

Official Site
Rotten Tomatoes reviews
Wikipedia

The Dark Knight

Film #40 of '08 was The Dark Knight.

My NetFlix rating: 4 stars
Jamie says: High expectations that didn't disappoint. Now that's a true rarity for a summer flick. And Ledger's Joker is indeed an amazing feat.
RIYL: Not being the only person in the world who hasn't seen it .

Official Site
Rotten Tomatoes reviews
Wikipedia

The Sandman: Doll's House

Book #31 for me this year was The Sandman: Doll's House.

This is the second book of the ten part Sandman series. Not sure yet if I'm going to continue on or move on to something else...perhaps the Sandman will pay me a visit and show me the way.

Book One

Y: The Last Man, Volume 5: Ring of Truth

Book #30 was Y: The Last Man, Volume 5: Ring of Truth.

Half way done with the series and it keeps getting better. I'm firmly hooked now.

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4

The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes.

Book #28 of my reading list was Neil Gaiman's The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes.

Part 1 of 10: I've got a long way to go on this series. To find out more about the Sandman series Wikipedia is a good place to start. I gathered this little nugget from there: 'the only comic book to ever be on the New York Times Bestseller List.' Also quality is some of the info on the attempts to make it into a movie including this gem: "Gaiman called the last screenplay that Warner Brothers would send him '...not only the worst Sandman script I've ever seen, but quite easily the worst script I've ever read '".

Sandman summary on Gaiman's website
The Annotated Sandman

Hellboy

Film #39 of '08 was Hellboy.

My NetFlix rating: 3 stars
Jamie says: Pretty ho-hum overall but Hellboy is one cool looking cat
RIYL: Tom Waits...don't know why but that's who Hellboy reminds me of, Guillermo del Toro

Official Site
Rotten Tomatoes reviews
Wikipedia

Y: The Last Man, Volume 4: Safeword

Book #25 was Y: The Last Man, Volume 4: Safeword.

4 down, 6 to go. Getting these through the library is turning out to be a slow process...

Volume 1

Volume 2
Volume 3

Iron Man

Film #19 was Iron Man.

My NetFlix rating: 3.5 stars
Jamie says: Cool, a big budget summer movie that actually doesn't suck!
RIYL: Comics, Robert Downey Jr., Robocop, Running + Biking + Swimming

Official site
Rotten Tomatoes reviews
Wikipedia
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