Grab Bag of books since Kansas City

Hello Chums,

Since the Kansas City Comicon I have been reading quite a few books, I thought I'd let you in on a few of my favorites.

First up is The Art Of Walter Simonson (DC art, no Marvel). This book features stories about Batman, Doctor Fate, Hercules and the Metal Men. Going into this book and not knowing much about the Metal Men, I thought their stories might be the weakest in this volume. However, I was pleasantly surprised, I really enjoyed the five Metal Men stories included in this book. Give it a shot. If it's still in print that is. My copy is dated 1989. Stories by various writers. Art Rating: B+

Year's Best Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga (03-04). Why read this? Well it has samplings of great sequential art that is still available today. This book contains exerts from Blankets, Blacksad, Owly, The Originals and La Perdida to name a very few. What better way to try something new?

The Building by Will Eisner is another great look at life in a big city. In this book Eisner tells a story about four very different people and the building that they share. When their old building is demolished and a sparkling clean new one is erected on the old site, what does this mean for the people or their ghosts? Rating : Story and Art A

Last on this list is Alias vol. 1-4 written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Michael Gaydos. Alias tells the story of Jessica Jones. Through fashbacks we learn that in high school she had a thing for Peter Parker. But he had his "accident" and she had hers. After her accident, Jessica becomes a want-to-be super hero for a time. But that didn't work. Now she is a private investigator working in the Marvel universe. During her story, she dates Antman and has a fling with Luke Cage. And oh yeah, confront her worse fear. Going up against her old nemesis The Purple Man. Rating: Story A- Art A

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D.L.