What I'm Reading

Here's a quick look at the books that have consumed my free time of late. I highly suggest that you put your hands on all of these books if you haven't already.





Marvel's Cosmic Line: Annihilation through The Thanos Imperative - Launched by Keith Giffen and featuring the talents of such writers and artists as Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Cristos Gage, Brad Walker, etc., Marvel's cosmic universe has been stellar (pun intended) for years. I'm ashamed to admit that I only recently got into the line, but better late than never, right? With an eye to continuity and a penchant for operatic space storytelling, Giffen & DNA have created one of the richest and most appealing comic storylines I've ever read. Everything you've loved about the stories of such authors as Robert Heinlein and shows such as Joss Whedon's Firefly and SyFy's Battlestar Galactica can be found in these books, all of which have led up to the Thanos Imperative which kicked off over the last couple of weeks. If you've got some folding money just burning a hole down your Levi's, there are far worse ways to spend it than this.





Secret Warriors - Jonathan Hickman (and a little bit of Bendis) tells the tale of super-spy Nick Fury still trying to save a world that has abandoned him after the events of Civil War and Secret Invasion. Equal parts adventure story and nasty black ops spy book, Secret Warriors mines the secret history of the Marvel Universe as only a Hickman book can. A book powered by b-list superheroes and Nick Fury's unstoppable grit, Secret Warriors brings the age-old conflict between S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA to its logical and explosive conclusion. A fantastic book from top to bottom, with great storytelling and breathtaking art. If you're not on it, get there, because this book just keeps getting better.





Fantastic Four - I honestly can't believe I'm writing this. If you'd asked me, even a month ago, what I thought about the Fantastic Four, you would have been met with a detailed rant expressing my general distaste for the group. As a kid, I was an awkward and fatalistic little outcast with little self-esteem and no delusions of grandeur. In the Marvel Universe, I would have had an X sewn firmly into the fabric of my skintight jumpsuit. To that awkward nerd, the X-Men and their ilk always resonated a lot harder than the FF, who seemed to be just too damned perfect for their own good. Despite my interest in all things Kirby, cosmic and crazy, I never could get into the FF. Then Jonathan Hickman threw a monkey wrench right at this ol' head of mine and really shook things up. Hickman's FF aren't a bunch of never-fail do-gooders, they're a real family with real family problems. They seem so much more human, so much more resonant than they ever did to me before. His Reed Richards isn't a perfect, dominant super-genius, but a loving father and conflicted hero, a man who has the power to do anything and is limited only by his desire to remain human. If I didn't like that, then I'd have to stop being a Superman fan as well. Taking what I love about superheroics, Hickman has crafted a Fantastic Four book that recalls friendship, family and the obligation of good people to make hard decisions. In a word, the book is fantastic.

That's what I'm going nuts over lately. How about y'all?