Sunday, January 20, 2013

An All Female X-Men Series by Brian Wood? Sign Me Up!



I am the first one to admit that I am not well versed in the world of X-Men, but when I heard about the upcoming X-Men series which focuses solely on the X-Women, my ears immediately perked up and the excitement level set in.  Most of the reason I became so intrigued by the new series is because it is being penned by Brian Wood.  If there’s one thing I love about Wood, it’s his incredible ability to write captivatingly and accurately about female characters.  His most recent example of this is in the new Star Wars monthly comic that launched a few weeks ago, which is highly Leia-centric.  I also have adored his New York Four and New York Five series that Wood had written for Vertigo.  With the exception of Whedon’s run on Astonishing X-Men, X-Men Season One, and several other collected trades, I haven’t ever delved too far into the world of Mutants.  My initial inclinations were affirmed when I read an interview that USA Today did with Wood in which he was quoted as saying “I feel like as far as the X-Men go, the women are the X-Men. Cyclops and Wolverine are big names, but taken as a whole, the women kind of rule the franchise. If you look at the entire world as a whole, it’s the females that really dominate and are the most interesting and cool to look at.”  He also stated that he’s drawing inspiration for his series from Chris Claremont’s 70’s and 80’s Uncanny X-Men (which I’ve heard nothing but brilliant things about), and Grant Morrison’s 2001 New X-Men

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Books I Read in 2012


Every year I make a list of the books I have read throughout the year by month as a way to keep track of what I've read.  I had been really worried about not having read enough books and graphic novels in 2012 because I had felt so pressed for time between all of my responsibilities, but once I tallied my list I  was thrilled to discover that I enjoyed a total of 102 books.  2012's reading list was very graphic novel heavy as compared with previous years, so another of my 2013 goals is to make sure I have a more well rounded list.  2010 was my best reading year to date.  I had been commuting and for 3 hours per day, and since I didn't have any close friends at my previous job I also had an extra 80 minutes of reading per day in break times.  That's a total of 4.5 hours of total literary bliss 5 days a week.  I was much more conscious of switching up my reading as well.  I would alternate between modern fiction, classics, non-fiction (mostly based on physics or nutrition), sci-fi/fantasy novels and graphic novels.  I want to get back into that habit for 2013.  So without further adieu, here is my 2012 reading list! (Some titles are repeated if I had read them multiple times.)

January
1. The Walking Dead Book 7 by Robert Kirkman
2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
3. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
4. Morning Glories Volume 2 by Nick Spencer
5. Locke & Key: Crown of Shadows by Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez
6. Kingdom Come by Mark Waid & Alex Ross
7. Batman: Through the Looking Glass by Bruce Jones & Sam Kieth
8. Spider-Island by Dan Slott
9. Green Arrow: Year One by Andy Diggle & Jock