According to our records here at Stately Beat Manor, it’s time for Weekend Reading 69!
But numerical shennanigans aside, this weekend is just another opportunity to get lost in a good book. And as is the case in all sixty-nine entries, we hope that you’ll be willing to share your reading plans for this weekend, as well! Let The Beat know what you’re planning on paging through, either here in the comment section or over on social media @comicsbeat!
AVERY KAPLAN: I’m extremely excited about the panel I’m appearing on at SDCC 2021 at Home, moderated by The Beat’s own Greg Silber, so to celebrate, I’ll be reading The Seeds by my fellow panelist, the legendary Ann Nocenti (with David Aja). Then, I’m going to be diving into Maison Ikkoku Volume One by Rumiko Takahashi. After reading Adam Karenina Sherif’s description of this comic last week, I’m powerless to resist and have to check it out for myself!
TAIMUR DAR: I’m SUPER jazzed for James Gunn’s upcoming The Suicide Squad film. Admittedly, I’ve only read a handful of Suicide Squad related comics but this film looks like it will do the team and concept justice. I know the original John Ostrander run was a huge influence on the film and since I’ve never actually read any of the Ostrander Suicide Squad comics, it seems like a good time to read his run.
GREGORY PAUL SILBER: As Avery mentioned, I hosted my first Comic Con panel, called “Ducks All the Way Down: Metafiction in Comics,” which you can stream Friday, July 23rd at 10am PST. Alongside Avery and Ann, the other panelists include PanelXPanel founder Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou and TV producer Marc Guggenheim, the latter of whom wrote my pick for this week: Blade. I love those Wesley Snipes movies, especially 2002’s Blade 2 directed by Guillermo Del Toro, but Blade in his native medium is a blind spot for me. I’m changing that with this 2006-2007 run, featuring art by Howard Chaykin, colors by Edgar Delgado, and letters by Rus Wooton. I love me some vampire hunting, so I should have done this long ago, but to paraphrase Blade, I’m one motherfucker who’s always trying to ice skate uphill.
DEAN SIMONS: It’s Pokémon Go Fest weekend so much of my daytime will be spent glued to my screen. After giving myself eyestrain with that, I will be resting my eyes….by reading a book on my Kindle – still making my way through Marlon James’ A Brief History of Seven Killings.
