Welcome to the world of tomorrow! The new year may be upon us, but that can only mean one thing here at Stately Beat Manor: it’s time for Weekend Reading 92.
Sure, the “space plague” we’re dealing with may be mutating into some All-New, All-Different variant, but hey. At least there are plenty of comics heading our way to keep us occupied in the new year… because we sure aren’t going back outside.
As ever, we’re hoping that you’ll take the time to share your weekend reading plans with us, as well! Give us a shout-out, either here in the comment section or over on social media @comicsbeat, and let us know what you’ll be reading for the first weekend of 2022!
AVERY KAPLAN: This weekend, I’ll be welcoming the new year by finally catching up on the titles I haven’t had the chance to check out yet: Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin, Jamal Campbell, and Deron Bennett. Then, to start my 2022 prose reading off right, I’ll be visiting a book I’ve never read before by one of my very favorite authors: Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson. I fell in love with Jackson’s writing thanks to We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and I can’t think of a better way to start my reading in the new year!
TAIMUR DAR: I share an appreciation and love with Avery for the superb DuckTales reboot which recently concluded its third and final season a few months ago. Surprisingly, I’ve never actually read any of the acclaimed original Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck comics by Carl Barks and later Don Rosa that clearly informed much of the new cartoon. So with the first weekend of the new year, I intend to remedy that by diving into Walt Disney Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck: “The Son of the Sun”: The Don Rosa Library Vol. 1. Woo-oo!
JOHANNA DRAPER CARLSON: Two of my favorite series had recent releases. Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper is up to volume 4. This story of British schoolboys falling in love and figuring out what that means is heart-warming and adorable and funny and touching. The sketch-styled art gives the feel of a diary, which well suits the material. There’s also Shirley and Jamila’s Big Fall by Gillian Goerz, which is the best Sherlock Holmes comic that isn’t. Shirley’s a super-observant detective; Jamila is her devoted friend, protector, and narrator; and in this second book in the series, they work to take down blackmailer Chuck Milton. I can’t wait to see how they do it!
DEAN SIMONS: I begin 2022 how I ended 2021 – recovering from a covid booster and reading the month’s issue of Neil Clarke’s Forever Magazine, a science fiction prose reprint anthology that features a novella and two short stories from yesteryear – plus a stunning cover by artist/graphic designer Ron Guyatt – once a month. I am most of the way through the December 2021 issue and the January 2022 issue just landed. A good weekend to be had there. I am also reading the second IDW Collection of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles revamp.
