Read Comics

It’s my turn to pick a book for the book club, and since we’re into this modern fantasy genre with the Unwritten (we still need to record a follow-up podcast talking about the last 6 issues or so), I choose The Books of Magic. It’s often cited as Harry Potter contemporary, and I’ve had a signed copy sitting on my shelf for at least a year now waiting for me to read it. (As of this writing, I’m actually about 3/4ths of the way through it.)

Since most of our regulars have probably already read this, I’ll encourage everyone to read as much as possible of the series, so we can discuss more than just the first TPB, but we’ll probably focus on that as a starting point.

I propose we meet near the end of this month–Sunday, March 28th at 2PM. We have plenty of time to reschedule before then.

This episode of the ReadComics Podcast is Florence, Jason, Mike, Marty and Susie discussing The Unwritten issues #1-5 (the first arc). We go off on tangents about meta-fiction (including Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series, Fables, and The Magicians by Lev Grossman), and talk about The Unwritten’s obvious comparisons to Harry Potter and Books of Magic. We do spoil these early issues, so you’ll want to stay away if you mind that. They’re well worth reading, so go pick up the TPB if you haven’t already!

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #041 (37 MB, 120 minutes)

No introduction can describe what will follow in this podcast. Mike says: “Listen, and godspeed.” Jason says: “Listen and god help you.”

This is actually only fifteen minutes of podcast #40, and the rest is podcast #41, since we lost everything of the first podcast after a hard-drive write-error. Mike, Jason, Susie, Florence and Marty all read and discussed the recent Marvel adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written by Eric Shanower and drawn by Skottie Young.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #040 (35 MB, 77 minutes)

We’ll be reading The Wonderful Wizard of OZ, the recent Marvel adaption by Eric Shanower and Skottie Young, issues 1-8. Tentatively scheduled for Saturday, 7 November.

Yet another fascinating and tantalizing podcastical tribute to comics! This book club issueissode focused on the awesome Echo, by veteran comic creator Terry Moore.

Marty, Florence, Mike, Jason and Susie wax your ears off with unquestionable eloquence, only straying satirically from the subject for brief but satisfying interludes. (We’re segue savants, so of course you probably won’t even notice.) This episode is best enjoyed in the company of a well trained room full of monkeys with typewriters.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #039 (27 MB, 58 minutes)

My next comic book club selection is Terry Moore’s Echo, issues #1-13. The first 10 are collected in two trade paperbacks already.

Echo is his latest creation, but I have been a fan of Terry Moore’s earlier series, Strangers in Paradise, since college.  I am looking forward to hearing everyone else’s opinion about how this new story plays out from the beginning.

We’ll meet on Sunday, September 20th* at 3PM at Florence & Marty’s apartment.

*We are postponing from the 13th to the 20th to protect visitors from our flu.

This book club episode of the podcast was composed of the melodic and intellectual voices of Marty, Florence, Mike, Jason, and of course the disembodied Susie, whose choice it was to read American Born Chinese & The Eternal Smile, by Gene Luen Yang (with Derek Kirk Kim on The Eternal Smile). Both books are well worth a read, and we go into great detail about their plots and allegories and meanings contained therein. As with all our bookclub episodes, it’ll be a more entertaining listen if you’ve already read the books in question. Feel free to leave your own commentary and opinions in the comments.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #038 (24 MB, 52 minutes)

Today we sat around and shared our impressions of the Annihilation series. This was Chad’s pick for the book club, and he, Florence, Marty, Mike, Jason, Susie (and Tony, who joins us after a while) all give their impressions of the series, or what they read of it.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #036 (36.1 MB, 78 minutes)

The next ReadComics book club is planned for Saturday, July 11th, or two weeks from this coming Saturday. We hope to have all the regulars, and some supporting cast for this book club, when we’ll talk about Annihilation, books One, Two, and Three.

Annihilation Books 1, 2, 3
Saturday, July 11th 1PM
Florence & Marty’s apartment

This comic book book club had us all reading Green Lantern. This book was selected by Jason J, who forced Chad to join our regular cast, Marty, Florence, Mike, Jason T. and Susie. We shared our opinions about the comic, and the many decades of backstory leading up to this run. We also allowed Chad to choose next month’s book club pick: Annihilation. Finally, special thanks to Ookla the Mok, whose song Theme from Super Skrull we use to close out the episode.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #034 (42 MB, 91 minutes)

The next ReadComics book club is planned for Saturday, May 16th, or two weeks from this coming Saturday. We hope to have all the regulars, and some supporting cast for this book club, when we’ll talk about Green Lantern, The Sinestro Corps War, volumes 1, 2, and if you can get your hands on it, Tales of the Sinestro Corps, which collects the final (auxiliary?) bits.

Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War (Vol. 1, 2, etc.)
Saturday, May 16th 3PM
Florence & Marty’s apartment

Forgive me ReadComics, for I have sinned. It has been AGES since my last post.

I’ve read tons of stuff lately. Two TPBs by Grant Morrison, in particular. First was Batman R.I.P., (pictured) which was basically about convincing us that Batman might die, or at least go insane, no maybe even die, no, just loose his mind, no, just die. I think in that order, although it hardly matters. It was only slightly more coherent than Kid Eternity, which was essentially about some folks in hell trying to get mankind to grow up and figure out this whole living on earth thing sucks. At least, I think that’s what the story was about… in the end. Both stories had lots of WTF moments, and neither really ties everything up to any satisfying degree. Both had incredible art, however, that, at least in the case of Kid Eternity, really went a long way toward making the trade worth consuming.

There have also been numerous single issues in the last few weeks. Florence and I have kept up on our pull, and last week in particular there were at least four new comics to read, including Sword, Echo, Doctor Sleepless and a new one by Warren Ellis called Ignition City. I’ll admit that I devoured Sword, (which had a satisfactory, if not overwhelming amount of content again this month) and Echo (which unfortunately didn’t) right away, but have yet to get to the Warren Ellis stuff. I’m behind on Freak Angels too, and in general have a lot of webcomics to catch up on when I get around to it.

I also want to announce that we know what comics we’re going to be reading for our next book club, even if we don’t know when it’s going to take place yet. Jason J has announced that we’ll be reading the Sinestro Corps War stuff. He hasn’t let me know exactly which comics yet, but wikipedia says it’s an “11-part saga was originally published between June and December 2007“. It goes on to say that “in addition to the main storyline, four supplemental “Tales of the Sinestro Corps” one-shot specials and a Blue Beetle tie-in issue were concurrently released.” So there are potentially sixteen comics for us to read. It looks like there are at least two trade paperbacks, and possibly a third with the supplemental stuff. Anyway, we should know soon enough when the Book Club will be, and there’ll probably be another post about what books to read then.

This bookclub podcast was all about Thor, issues #1-600 (all 13 issues). BRAKKA-DOOOOOOM! We have Florence, Marty, Jason, Mike, Susie (actually present!), and Jason Johnston with us for this lively discussion of Straczynski’s run of Thor.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #030 (26 MB, 57 minutes)

We’re having our next book club this Saturday, March 14th, at 3PM at Florence & Marty’s apartment with our special guest, Susie!

This month we’ll be reading’s Mike’s selection: Thor #1-600 (it actually covers only 13 issues because of their crazy numbering logic).

Thor #1-600, J. Michael Straczynski
Saturday, March 14th 3PM
Florence & Marty’s apartment

This podcast/book club features Florence, Jason, Mike, Susie and Marty, and is all about PS238: Volume 1, With Liberty And Recess for All, written and drawn by Aaron Williams. We stay mostly focused for the first 45 minutes or so, then veer off on a Dr. Who tangent in anticipation of Jason’s upcoming convention trip.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #028 (30 MB, 65 minutes)

Our next Comic Book Club podcast will focus on PS238 Volume 1: With Liberty and Recess for All, by Aaron Williams.  This book is about a school for superpowered kids, and we’re looking forward to hearing everyone’s opinions about it.

We’ll start with Volume 1, but since some of us have already read ahead several trades, so we’ll be happy to talk about the entire run so far.

PS238 Volume 1:
With Liberty and Recess for All
Monday, February 9th 7PM
Florence&Marty’s place

Tonight Jason, Mike, Susie, Florence and Marty talk about Scott Pilgrim, our comic book Book Club selection of the month(s). We briefly touch on MANY other topics, from libraries to a pregnant Mystique.

Apologies in advance about the volume. I realized about 2/3rds of the way through that the input was turned way down, so you may have to turn your volume up to hear us. Sorry about that!

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #025 (25.5 MB, 55 minutes)

For our next book club, we’ll be discussing Scott Pilgrim, a comic by Bryan Lee O’Malley. There are four trade paperbacks out, and some of us will have definitely read all of them (you’ve been warned).

Comic Book Book Club
Scott Pilgrim, by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Tuesday, December 30th 7 PM
Marty and Florence’s apartment

Our book club met tonight to discuss Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight. We had Marty, Florence, Jason, Mike and Susie via Skype. This may be our longest podcast yet, weighing in at more than an hour and a half. As Mike put it at some point, “We have the weight of 7 seasons of episodes on our shoulders.”

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #023 (45 MB, 98 minutes)

We’re finally getting around to posting a date for this Buffy Book Club. As usual we’ll be meeting at Marty & Florence’s place, this time on Saturday November 22nd, again around 7pm. Again, this is the latest series of Buffy comics, Season 8, issues #1 through #18. It looks like issue #19, the conclusion of the latest arc should actually come out the following Wednesday, November 26, so we’ll be doing a bunch of speculation about that issue.

BOOK CLUB
–THIS Saturday–
Marty & Florence’s Place
7 PM

Tonight we had Jason, Mike, Florence, Marty, and a couple of new voices: Stephanie and Konrad. We talked at unusual length about The Walking Dead. Our focus was the first TPB, (Issues #1-6), but we definitely get into details from the second TPB, and even delve a bit into what’s happening in the series now (Issues #49-53). We highly recommend reading this book before you listen to this podcast unless you don’t mind spoilers.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #021 (47 MB, 102 minutes)

On Tuesday, October 21st, at 7PM CST at Florence & Marty’s apartment, we are holding our next ReadComics book club.  This month we will be discussing the first trade paperback of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, “Days Gone Bye”, which collects issues #1-6.

Warning: This is a scary and explicit zombie story, and this volume is just the beginning of a very long story, so you shouldn’t expect a tidy ending. It has gotten great reviews for writing, and has already sucked me in thoroughly.  I’m looking forward to a lively discussion with our crew of Kirkman fans and anti-zombie spokespeople.

In a slight change of plans, we’re putting off our Buffy Season 8 #12-19 ReadComics book club selection until November, in hopes that we can include Susie’s expertise and that Joss actually puts out issue #19 someday.

UPDATE: Florence is sickly, so we’re going to try and postpone this just one week to the 28th. Hope everyone can still make it!

This podcast, featuring Florence, Marty, Jason and Mike, was recorded for our third ReadComics Book Club. We talked (for about the first two thirds) about Phantom Jack: The Collected Edition. Just in case you care, there are spoilers.

We also talked about our future picks for Comic Book Book Club (the next book club will discuss the most recent two arcs of Buffy, issues 12-19), House of M: Avengers, DC and Marvel action figures including this Marvel Legends Spiral build-a-figure (via Captain Toy), and the Wizard People voice over thing for the first Harry Potter movie.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #018 (30.1 MB, 65 minutes)

Just a reminder that we are having this month’s Comic Book Club tonight at Florence & Marty’s apartment at 7PM.

If anyone is tempted to come to a Comic Book Club but doesn’t know us personally, let us know and we can choose a neutral location next time.

Mike has selected the book for the next ReadComics.org Comic Book Book Club! We’re going to read Phantom Jack: The Collected Edition. This can be found on Amazon for cheap, and you can read a bit about the series on the Phantom Jack page at wikipedia. There is more art on the mini-series homepage.

We plan to meet at Marty & Florence’s place, around 7pm on Tuesday, September 23rd 30th. That only gives you two three weeks to read the entire TPB!

UPDATE: The date didn’t work for Florence, so we’re pushing back a week to the last day of September, Tuesday the 30th.

This podcast “issue” was recorded at our second ever ReadComics Book Club, where we talked extensively about Omega the Unknown, both the recently finished series, and also the “Classic” series from 1976. There are tons of spoilers, as we discuss plot points and compare and contrast the two series. Our regular podcasters Florence, Martin, Jason and Mike were all present, along with two new voices, Derik and Dave.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #013 (28.4 MB, 62 minutes)

The next ReadComics.org Comic Book Book Club will be held Thursday, August 14th, at 7:30 pm. We’ll be discussing Omega the Unknown, the entire new series written by Sci-fi author Jonathan Lethem (Issues 1-10). You get extra credit for reading the original series from 1976, written by Steve Gerber. (Also 10 issues, but it’s been reprinted in a recent TPB.)

Right now we’re thinking we’ll probably just meet at Florence and Marty’s apartment, so please leave a comment if you’re a lurker planning on attending, and we might move to a more neutral location. Of course, the Book Club will be podcasted for posterity.

We sat down at one of our favorite local comic book shops, The Source Comics and Games to record this, the ninth ReadComics.org Podcast. Unfortunately, the many D&D players around us create quite the background din, but hopefully you can more or less understand us as we wax lethargic about the first six issues of Northlanders, written by Brian Wood.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #009 (19.8 MB, 43 minutes)

Don’t forget, the Read Comics Book Club will be meeting this coming Wednesday, 11 June 2008, at 7:30pm. We’ll have a table in the back of the Source, near the soda machine, and we’ll be discussing Brian Wood’s Northlanders #1-6. We’ll also decide on the next discussion topic that day as well.

The Source Comics & Games
1601 West Larpenteur Ave
Falcon Heights, MN 55113
651-645-0386

We have no idea how many people to expect, so if you think you’re going to make it, please leave a comment below!

Back when we first started up ReadComics.org, we had multiple plans for what we wanted to do with it. One of our ideas was for some of us to get together and do a book club, but with comics, trades, etc. and maybe record it for a podcast. Now that we have readers and listeners, maybe we should revisit the idea. Much like the podcast, maybe one of us just needs to pick a book, set a date and location, and go for it. So I’ll do it.

First pick will be Northlanders #1-6, by Brian Wood, a Vertigo comic, with issue 6 coming out next Wednesday. The first five are still available at various comic shops around town. We’ll meet Wednesday, June 11, at 7:30pm, location to be announced.