Reading List: October

For a Few Demons More
The fifth installment in Kim Harrison’s phenomenal series, everything plunges into a downward spiral. I won’t spoil anything, but this book features my favorite scene in the series so far. Rachel Morgan rocks!

Lorna: The Ark
After all that talk about the android Lorna from Alex de la Iglesia’s show Plutón BRB Nero, I decided to get one of the Lorna books by Azpiri and see what they were about. The artwork is great, and even if the story is not exactly amazing, it is entertaining and it made me want to read more books by the Spanish artist.

I is for Innocent
This book marked my return to Sue Grafton’s alphabet mysteries, and it made me realize how much I had been missing Kinsey Millhone, the main character in the series. It was a great read, but not as much as the next installment in the saga.

Hunter- Killer
Mark Waid writes and Marc Silvestri (half) illustrates this trade paperback collecting the complete Top Cow series. There’s action, technology, hotties, and unexpected surprises, but the best part of this book is the artwork. Silvestri only draws the first six issues, with Eric Basaldua illustrating issues seven and eight, and Kenneth Rocafort taking care of the last four issues. Terrific artwork and an interesting thriller/sci-fi story make this book a fun read I recommend everyone!

Superman: Infinite City
I bought this graphic novel because it was illustrated by Argentinean artist Carlos Meglia, who passed away recently. The story by Mike Kennedy is okay, but the artwork really makes it shine, especially if you like Meglia’s cartoony style. If you don’t, you’ll think the book is terrible, so I would only recommend it for fans of the artist rather than the character.

Making Money
The latest installment in Terry Pratchett’s DiscWorld series, Making Money finds postmaster general Moist Von Lipwig having to, well, make money. Pratchett’s “Ankh-Morpork books”, whether they star the Watch or other characters (William de Worde or the aforementioned von Lipwig) have quickly become my favorite books in the series, and I think a lot of that has to do with the Patrician, Lord Vetinari, a truly phenomenal character. If you are not reading the DiscWorld books (and you’re not Nash), you don’t know what you’re missing!

The Walking Dead, vol. 8: Made to Suffer
A year after I read the first seven volumes, I got to read the eighth trade paperback in Robert Kirkman’s zombie series. The artwork is still horrible, and the writing is still great. But this trade is really bloody and gruesome, even by this series’s standards. You have been warned!

J is for Judgment
One of the best Kinsey Millhone books so far, I read it in one day: that’s how gripping the story is. I just couldn’t stop myself from wanting to know what was going to happen next, and how the new people in Kinsey’s life were going to affect her. Do yourselves a favor and start reading this amazing series. Really.

Eric
Another DiscWorld novel, this one stars Rincewind, a wizard most adept at running away from trouble. It is one of the earlier books, so Mustrum Ridcully is not the Archchancellor yet, which feels sort of odd, but I was able to get over that. It is a short book, and while it certainly isn’t the best chapter in the series, it still was thoroughly enjoyable.

Lorna: Leviathan
Out of the four Lorna books I read this month, this is the one I liked the least. There are two reasons for this harsh judgment. One, the story is basically Moby Dick in space, which struck me as rather trite and unimaginative. And two, the awful English translation was obviously done by someone who thinks he knows English, but he really doesn’t. The book is marred by dozens of sentences that either don’t make a lot of sense in English, or feel forced and unnatural. The translator clearly decided to be word-for-word true to the original when he should have been trying to convey in English what the original meant in Spanish, even if that means using different phrases, syntax, and idioms. The artwork was pretty, though, and it’s always nice to see Lorna lose her clothes every other page.

X-Men: Deadly Genesis
Another disappointing read, this one inflicted on us by Ed Brubaker and Trevor Hairsine. This X-Men story is boring, unnecessary, and deeply unmoving. Neither the characters, nor the unfolding story were compelling, and I honestly couldn’t have cared less about what was going on. And don’t even get me started on the generic, lifeless artwork that made my corneas burn. Just don’t read this book.

Lorna: The Eye of Dart-An-Gor
Another fun romp starring Lorna and her inability to keep her clothes on. And there’s lots of monsters too!

Lorna: The Black Castle
This is probably the book with the best artwork out of the four Lorna books I read this month. Azpiri truly goes the extra mile here and, while the story (a continuation of the previous one) is nothing to write home about, it’s still entertaining and a valid excuse to draw monsters, spaceships, and naked ladies. A veritable intellectual treat if I’ve ever seen one!

Secret War
This Mavel heroes book caught me by surprise, and I enjoyed it tremendously. The story by Brian Michael Bendis is everything Deadly Genesis wasn’t: interesting, thrilling, compelling, and featuring lots of amazing, witty dialogue that I thought was great. And the painted artwork by Gabriele Dell’Otto was a consistent masterpiece page after page. If you want to read a story about spies, international policy, terrorism, and abuse of power, don’t hesitate and get a copy of Secret War. You can thank me later.