Titles Nine - #8 -- comics edition

In honor of the Watchmen movie opening today, I thought I'd give you my comics/graphic novel collection as the theme for Titles Nine. Only problem is that I've only got eight in my bookshelves. So the ninth is the comics series that is next on my list to read, and possibly collect, in my continuing quest to consume all things Gaiman.

• Watchmen - Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. This book is just amazing, not only as a comic but also as an actual book. I'm only a slight fan, having read it through in its entirety twice and currently working my way back through for a third time.


• Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Season 8 - Joss Whedon et al. What would have happened next.


• Fray - Joss Whedon. As you might imagine, the future-Slayer kicks all kinds of ass.


• Y: the Last Man - Brian K. Vaughan. What happens to the world when all the males of all the species die - except one man and his capuchin monkey? A damn good story, that's what happens.


• Fables - Bill Willingham. My kind of comic: the main characters are taken from fairy tales and folklore, but reinterpreted to make sense in a modern world. Or, as much sense as fairy tale folks can make. Great stories and pretty pictures.


• Mouse Guard Fall 1152 - David Petersen. I own the hardbound book (previously mentioned here) and am looking forward to the next one. Mice with swords!


• 300 - Frank Miller. Saw the movie first and was then compelled to buy the book.


• Maus: A Survivor's Tale - Art Spiegelman. A memoir of Spiegelman's father's struggles as a Polish Jew during the Holocaust. Jews are anthropomorphized mice, Germans are cats, etc. This was the first graphic novel I ever bought, years and years ago.


• The Sandman - Neil Gaiman. Haven't read it yet, but I'm sure gonna.
  

Y: The Last Man, Fables and Torchwood

Just to prove that I am still watching and reading things that score high on the cult-meter, here are some short thoughts about:

Torchwood - Season 1 is now showing on BBC America and two episodes into it, I'm already developing a crush. Think X-Files meets Angel but with Welsh accents and the delightful tendency of British television not to get hung up on girls snogging girls and boys snogging boys. Fantastic. Apparently this is a Dr. Who spin-off but so far you don't need to know the parent show - which is great because I've not seen a Dr. Who episode since the days of Tom Baker. My only quibble is with the male lead, John Barrowman: he is an American-raised Scot - which explains how good his accent is - but he plays Captain Jack a little too Tom Cruise for me. Hopefully he'll move away from that a bit as the series goes on.

Fables: Storybook Love - I didn't love this one quite as much as the previous two Fables trade paperbacks. I guess I just wasn't as interested in the quickie stories bookending the main story arc. SPOILER Pluswhich I think they killed off Bluebeard way too early END SPOILER. I did like seeing Bigby in his Big Bad Wolf body tho'.

Y: The Last Man - Unmanned - There's a quote on the cover of this book from RevolutionSF.com: "This is why God created comic books." Now, I'm no expert but they may be right. This book is incredible. A plague has killed off every single male - man and animal - on the planet, except one guy, Yorick, and his pet spider monkey. One plot thread follows these two on their quest to reunite with Yorick's girlfriend (oh, yes, and also to figure out why they were spared). But as important are Yorick's mother, a U.S. Representative, struggling to rebuild her nation's government; the mysterious Agent 355 who is keeping an eye on Yorick (but to what purpose is not clear); and Alter, a single- and bloody-minded Israeli colonel. Again, I'm late to the show with this series but I am absolutely hooked. In fact, it's been a couple of weeks since I stopped by my comic shop ... perhaps I'll swing by tomorrow for Vol 2., Cycles.

Fables: Animal Farm

This book holds the second story arc in Bill Willingham's Fables series: the Farm Fables, who cannot pass for human, are mad as hell at being stuck out in the middle of nowhere and are not going to take it anymore. Led by Goldilocks (who can actually pass for human but chooses to stay nearby her Three Bears ... and who may be sleeping with Baby Bear, I'm not sure) and two of the Three Little Pigs, these Fables are planning a rebellion to retake their Homelands, and perhaps knock off a few of the leading Fable politicos in the process. It's up to Snow White, Deputy Mayor of Fabletown, her sister Rose Red, and the sassy fox, Reynard, to put things right.

Whatever I said here about the illustrations, etc., ditto. Plus, the sheer numbers of recognizable characters this time is amazing: Puss-in-Boots; the Walrus (but not the Carpenter) and the Playing Card Soldiers from the Red Queen's Court; Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit; Chicken Little; the Tortoise and the Hare; Shere Khan, Bagheera, Kaa and King Louie; the Three Blind Mice (who pop up in nearly every panel); the Old Woman in the Shoe and all her attendant Children; Cock Robin; Tom Thumb and Thumbelina; Badger, Toad and Mole (from Wind in the Willows); and the Billy Goats Gruff ... those are just the ones I could identify. There's dozens more. So cool.

Willingham and his team are either huge faerie tale fans or really, really thorough in their research. I am just in awe of these books. The only problem I have with them is that I only bought the two and it's going to be a while before I can go get more.

P.S. I'm not sure how much I'm going to be able to post in the next week or so due to over scheduling of my precious free time, but I'll do my best.