2012 - End of Week 18 - Books.

Greetings Friends,

I read two more books and a graphic novel this week. Check them out.

Book #11 (of 12) The Death-Ray by Daniel Clowes.

The Death-Ray is just like many of Dan Clowes books. And I mean that in a good way. This book starts out in the present (2004). We meet Andy a middle age man who tells his story in flash backs from when he was a geeky teen. We also meet his friend Louie and his pretend girlfriend Dusty. During the story Andy gets his death-ray. He also goes on patrol to protect innocents on the street. Does the his death-ray work? Oh yeah. Too well.

This is another terrific book by Dan Clowes. Once again he uses nice page/panel lay out but, not as many art styles used as we're used to. The coloring choices are nice also. If you like his other books: Wilson, Mister Wonderful and the like give it a shot.

Book #12 (of 12) Fear Agent vol.5 I Against I.

Okay, I really liked Fear Agent in the past. But this arc didn't really do it for me. In this arc we find our hero Heath Huston on an alien planet. This leads him to town - an old west town (cowboy town). In town he runs into Charlotte. How could she be here? As the story moves along we realize that there are two Heaths. A good Heath and bad. We also find out that our (good) Heath is the clone. What? That's weird.

The story was just okay. But the art by Tony Moore was really good (as always).

Graphic Novel #13 (of 20) Afrodisiac by Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca.

What is Afrodisiac? He's a man. A man of the streets. He beds women, fights a would be super villain, stands up to an alien invasion, tag team wrestled with Tricky Dick (Nixon) in the past, and even played checkers against God. One of the funniest chapters has Afrodisiac kicking Hercules ass in a bar fight.

With fake covers included, this story is told in many chapters that are (short) comic books. The artwork (at times) has a nice 70's era Marvel Comics feel to it. Much fun to be had. Give it a shot.            

Keep Reading Comics.

D.L.