It’s another new weekend, and you’ve got a new reason to stay inside: Mu is WHO’s new “variant of interest”! I miss when the variant of interest was Alligator Loki. Whether it’s one variant or another, it’s already time for Weekend Reading 76Δ!
For the seventy-sixth consecutive week, we’re spending the weekend inside Stately Beat Manor, lost in a good book! As always, we hope you’ll let us know what you’ll be reading, either here in the comment section or over on social media @comicsbeat!
AVERY KAPLAN: This weekend I am going to reading the first book in the very nice Fantagraphics “The Disney Afternoon Adventures,” Darkwing Duck: Just Us Justice Ducks and Other Stories by many creators, featuring stories first published from 1989 through 1996. Flipping through the book, I can see that on top of the comics, there’s even a feature by David Cody Weiss explaining how one of the stories (“The Legend of the Chaos God”) came to be… and how the 2017 DuckTales reboot paid homage to the crossover comic. Woo-hoo!
TAIMUR DAR: I’ve been collecting art books for the various Marvel Studios films for years. Admittedly, I haven’t had time to really dive into all of them as much as I would like to over the years. After the latest What If…? episode featuring the Sorcerer Supreme and my rewatch of the 2016 Doctor Strange film in preparation, I forgot just how beautiful and visually breathtaking the film was. So I’m taking a deep dive into The Art of Doctor Strange during this Labor Day weekend.
ARPAD OKAY: Well, speaking of art books, I just got my copy of the new Loïc Locatelli-Kournwsky collection from Peow in the mail- Witchcraft and Melancholia. Lightly psychedelic character designs largely of the high fantasy and horror variety. Loïc, now we need another one that’s just your backgrounds and cityscapes! I have the Sibylline Meynet collection Osmose somewhere in my art book section, maybe I will pull that out to give Witchcraft some company. Meynet’s figure studies are just as magic and visually explosive, but Meynet is all stars and blossoms, Locatelli-Kournwsky is a head with a dozen eyes a body with a dozen arms and the explosion is guts ripped out.
DEAN SIMONS: Last night I finished Marlon James’ A Brief History of Seven Killings and am still blown away. Highly ambitious. Largely successful in what it set out to do. Cracking writing. One of the best books I have read in a while. Anywho, struggling to figure out what work of fiction to pick up next, I started reading some history: Æthelstan: The Making of England, by Tom Holland (not that one), part of the Penguin Monarchs series of short insights into various British kings and queens. I spotted the series recently while browsing an actual real life bookshop (I made it outdoors!) and was intrigued. Æthelstan was an Anglo-Saxon king, ruler of Wessex, who managed to unite the other kingdoms located in the south east of the British isles into what would become England.
GREGORY PAUL SILBER: RIP Book Revue, the beloved used book store across the street from my day job in Huntington, Long Island. I bought Archie Volume Two at their going-out-of-business sale, written by Mark Waid, with art by Veronica Fish, finishes by Thomas Pitilli, breakdowns by Ryan Jampole, coloring by Andre Szymanowicz (with assists from Jen Vaughn), and lettering by Jack Morelli. I enjoyed the first volume when Archie rebooted the Riverdale comics universe in 2016, especially with that amazing Fiona Staples art for the first three issues (not that Fish is a slouch herself!) so I’m excited to revisit. For a writer who was pushing 60 at the time, Waid has a great handle on the timeless charm of the Archie gang, and knows how to reach back into his memories to remember what makes teenagers tick.
