There’s no better way to pass the time in line (or online) at SDCC ’20 than reading! We may be busy with the comic con coverage this weekend, but we’re still stealing a few minutes for Weekend Reading 18!
What are you reading for the last weekend in July?
AVERY KAPLAN: With season two of The Umbrella Academy on the way, I’m going to be reading Volume Two: Dallas by Gerard Way, Gabriel Bá, Dave Stewart, and Nate Piekos. Plus, I’m going to finally read a comic that I have been meaning to get around to for absolute ages: Maggie the Mechanic: A Love and Rockets Book by Jamie Hernandez.
TAIMUR DAR: Going through the graphic novels I picked up from the freebie pile at my office awhile back but never got around to reading I found Frank Miller’s 300 prequel Xerxes: The Fall of the House of Darius and the Rise of Alexander. I’ll be the first to admit Miller’s work for the past two decades is an acquired taste, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least take the time to read it and judge for myself.
RUTH JOHNSON: I’m reading Carmen Maria Machado’s short story collection Her Body and Other Parties, currently. Really interesting, compelling stories in this book, a mixture of the literary and genre, which when done properly, is one of my favorites.
JOSH HILGENBERG: After checking out Tom Parkinson-Morgan’s mech TTRPG and falling head over heels for his uniquely grungy art style awhile back, I’ve finally checked out his webcomic, Kill Six Billion Demons, which follows a woman thrown into the ongoing power struggle between angels, demons, and gods in a post-apocalyptic after-life. The world-building gets better with every page, and Parkinson-Morgan’s hyper-detailed spreads are to die for.
SAJIDA AYYUP: Last winter, I treated myself to Thomas Wheeler’s Cursed but never got around to finishing it. Netflix recently released all the episodes of its adaptation, and I can’t believe I’ve binge watched it before reading the graphic novel. What baffles me is that they worked on the story format side by side! You can actually notice many Frank Miller inspired transitions in the show. Drawing parallels from both will probably be my most satisfying activity this lockdown.
ARPAD OKAY: This weekend I am revisiting one of my favorite comics from when I was in grade school, the Roy Thomas and Thomas Yeates graphic novel adaptation of the DragonLance Saga, published by TSR. My memories of them is of fatality I wasn’t used to in comics. Some people came back from the dead but pretty much everybody ate it by the end of the third volume. Anyway, pair DragonLance with Prince Valiant (and why not, considering that Yeates is its current artist), I’m also reading the first volume of the Hal Foster strip from the late 30s. It starts out a little Tarzan but swiftly becomes exceedingly Arthurian, and Foster gets creative with panels and layouts- really utilizing the size of the broadsheet. The book is that big, too, thanks Fantagraphics.
RICARDO SERRANO: I’m going with a TKO book this weekend called Goodnight Paradise, by Joshua Dysart and Alberto Ponticelli. A homeless man finds the body of a homeless girl in a dumpster and decides to solve the mystery behind her death while navigating the most dangerous parts of coastal Los Angeles. The art design here is truly something, with Venice Beach looking like an unkempt and badly sunburnt version of the American Dream. There’s a surprising amount of worldbuilding here with an interest in presenting the homeless as a multidimensional group of people that can create a strong sense of community despite the odds. It’s resulting in one of the strangest and most heartbreaking comics I’ve read.
