What are reading in July 2014?

It is summer (depending on your hemisphere), so what are you reading?

Sorry for the typo on the thread title :) You know, robot fingers!

Horror short stories (the prose variety), mostly. I've been reading the Miracleman floppies as they've come out, but that's about it for comics as far as real recent reading goes. Oh - I have the first issue of Warren Ellis and Jason Howard's Trees on order at my local comic shop - should have it in this Wednesday.

Just finished Rat Queens . It collects the first 5 issues of the series. Issue 6 is out and issue 7 comes out next week so it was a good time to get caught up. I really like the style and the characters. It's kinda kick-ass. I'll definitely be following it.

I finally decided to delve into the Before Watchmen series with Nite Owl and Dr. Manhattan. I found the Nite Owl story disappointing but was pleasantly surprised with the Dr. Manhattan one. There was also the unexpected added bonus of a Moloch origins story.

Solanin was a good 'un, 400+ pages that flew by. Japanese manga coming of age story; not for everyone, but high quality.

I just finished Your Vigor for Life Appalls Me: Robert Crumb Letters 1958-1977. Most were written during his teens. It was fascinating to see his roots as a wise ass comic fan/trader/collector (his favorites were Kurtzman, Barks, and especially Walt Kelly), his early attraction to old records, and his development into an introspective, philosophical young artist.

>8 edgewood:

One of my all-time favorite book titles; quintessential Crumb. :)

Southern Bastards by Jason Latour in the Charlotte Heroes Convention special edition, signed by the Author with a silver ink pen on the cover. It is a noir style story which shows a profound love/hate relation with the Southern United States. Excellent story and colouring.

The Filth and WE3 by Grant Morrison.
The Planetary (omnibus) by Warren Ellis.

Also read the first 5 comics of The Rat Queens... awesome fantasy stuff!

I'm reading Bryan O'Malley's Seconds, which is pretty good so far, but not up to the level of Scott Pilgrim for me.

Reading All-New X-Men Volume 2: Here to Stay. More character development, but the story starts to warm up with Jean Grey's dreams and creepy behaviour. Mystique appearance inserts a subplot in the story(Claremont alert buzzing!!).

As I dropped the X-books long ago, some recent stuff in the Mutant Canon are alien for me (Angel has metal wings again? How long he has healing powers? Krakoa is the soil in which School is built over? Mastermind has a daughter? How has Kitty Pryde been saved from the Joss Whedon situation (sorry, no spoilers here!)? Is Ororo punk again?). The funny thing is that Bendis can work all these things in way that they are also strange for the time displaced kids and do not affect the book.

David Marquez' art is high level!

I'm not reading any actual comics right now but I am reading a literary criticism of a comic. The book is simply titled Watchmen as Literature and is written by a graduate student who became invested in studying comic books. It's interesting so far, despite being largely redundant with my own research on comics/graphic novels back when I was in grad school. For instance, the first chapter delves into the ongoing debate of what constitutes a "graphic novel" versus a "comic book" and discusses how many outside of the industry continue to view comics as something read only by children or the truly immature, despite the complexity of narrative structure, theme exploration, etc. available in the genre.

I just finished the enjoyable Sailor Twain, a historical fantasy about a steamship on the Hudson River in New York. I particularly liked a lot of the art all in shades of grey (charcoals?) which help set a moody atmosphere. The ending may have been a little rushed but I still found it satisfying.

I've have watched Dear Mr. Watterson which is at the same time a documentary about Calvin & Hobbes' story and impact on the media and a open love letter to Bill Watterson.

It was interesting for me seeing that the surroundings and landscapes of the strip actually exist. There are comments from other artists, but Watterson doesn't appear on the film.

Thumbs up.

>17 apokoliptian: He's a bit reclusive, so that's not surprising.

>17 apokoliptian: I'll have to look for Dear Mr. Watterson. Love Calvin & Hobbes.

Seconds was pretty good, but not as good as I hoped. I'm now enjoying Shaun Tan's The Bird King.

19>
This film is available on Netflix in Brazil. Maybe is also in USA.

>20 apokoliptian: Thanks - I see Amazon instant video has it here.