The penultimate weekend of 2023 is here, and it brought Weekend Reading 190! As usual, we’ll be holing up in Stately Beat Manor and getting lost in a good book.
What will you be paging through this weekend? Be sure and let The Beat know in the comment section!
AVERY KAPLAN: This weekend, I’m going to revisit a classic: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. It’s been a while since I’ve read the novella, and everyone seems to be talking about it this year. Then as far as comics go, this time of year also puts me in the mood for some Crisis Zone by Simon Hanselman.
MERVE GİRAY: My plan for the remainder of December is to complete some of the series I’ve started reading. Depending on the tolerance I have for Midori’s infuriating husband, I’m hoping to complete Battan’s Run Away With Me, Girl out from Kodansha this weekend. It’s a bittersweet GL about Maki and Midori’s reunion as adults, who have dated in highschool but separated after graduation.
CY BELTRAN: Outside of the traditional viewing of Muppets Christmas Carol, I figure I’ll tune in to Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor Who Christmas Special. I’ve completely caught up on the show and I’m so into the direction they’re headed in (I think). I’ll also be checking out Judge Dredd Essentials: Dredd vs. Death from John Wagner, Brian Bolland, and co., as it’s been sitting on my shelf for too long now. And ofc, I’ll be reading through Stephen King’s It, cause what goes better with Christmas than an interdimensional clown?
TAIMUR DAR: I’ve really been enjoying the Fortune and Glory: The Musical comic about his time on the infamous Spider-Man musical that Brian Michael Bendis has been publishing through his Substack. So I suddenly have the urge to revisit his original Fortune and Glory: A True Hollywood Comic Story over the weekend.
D. Morris: Like Cy Beltran, I also eagerly await the new Doctor Who Christmas special. It never quite feels like Christmas without one. During my local comic shop’s book club discussion this week, someone brought up The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood as a book to also check out. Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, tells the tale of The Odyssey from her perspective after she’s gone to the underworld. It’s a dry, funny take on the Greek epic and perfectly up my alley. Also with the announcement of Mickey Mouse entering the public domain on January 1st, I picked up Michael Mouse by Mitch Lohmeier. I’m eager to read this satirical take on familiar characters.
REBECCA OLIVER KAPLAN: This weekend, I am finally checking out the nonfiction book that took the comic book and entertainment industry by storm in 2023: MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards. So far, in a book full of one of a kind interviews, there are some serious holes. Where are the comments from Victoria Alonso? Now, maybe she declined to comment or maybe her interview isn’t cited in the back, and I still need to get to it, but any book on the MCU without comment from the most significant queer woman on the studio’s roster is missing a huge piece of Marvel’s history. Plus, I’m not impressed with the lack of women journalists and scholars (and there are plenty of them they could have chosen from) who were used as citations. Look at any book index: sexism abounds!
DEAN SIMONS: I was sick recently and whenever that happens I deviate into something I haven’t touched in a long while. This time: the Valiant universe. During the pandemic lockdowns I restarted reading the Valiant Entertainment revival of the line. I finished Robert Venditti’s fifty-plus issue X-O Manowar run recently so I am dipping into later issues of Unity (Matt Kindt & CAFU), as well as trying out Divinity (Matt Kindt & Trevor Hairsine) and Ivar, Timewalker (Fred Van Lente & Clayton Henry). I believe the majority of these were released way back in 2015 which is almost a decade ago(!)
You can peruse the 189 previous entries in The Beat’s Weekend Reading archive by clicking here.
