Digitally Read

X-MEN BLUE #1 TO # 36

Prisoner X #1 AND #2

Last week received from Amazon: Guerillas by Brahm Revel a 700 page "graphic novel" series of books collected into 1 thick volume. Tells the story of a 7 team group of chimpanzee's who "Adopt" a lone human soldier survivor into their group while fighting in the forests of Vietnam. 10 years in the crafting (Revel's regular job is a story board artist for the animated Venture Bro's cartoon series) of this black and white story which delves into the human condition through killer primate's shooting rifles with their feet and chain smoking cigarettes. These are some bad ass chimps taking on the VC and anybody in their way.

If that premise doesn't have you wanting to read this then nothing will. I stumbled across the pre-order on Amazon back during the holiday's and instantly placed my order. This is an amazing and deep look into all the aspects of war and life and humanity in a way that leaves you speechless in the end. You will find that these 7 killer chimpanzee's are more human than many of us. The chimp's are the product of 2 German Scientist brothers working on their fathers original Nazi concepts of weaponizing Apes as a solution to the idea of the ultimate killing machine. The chimp's are smaller,faster, stronger and have a natural tendency to aggressiveness that is encouraged and stimulated through drugs, training, torture and psychology. The 7 chimpanzee team kills one brother in order to escape and the remaining brother utilizes his trained Baboon named Adolf (of course) along with a human team to hunt the rampaging crew down in the Vietnamese jungles. 

Along the journey, the past and history of the scientific brothers, the lone human with the chimps and the 7 chimpanzee troop is  is explored. This is one crazy concept that goes deep into the human condition and crafts a memorable story worth reading. This is one I can highly recommend! Once I began reading this book I couldn't stop and polished it off over several nights. The art is clean, clear, precise and not overly detailed in telling the story expertly without distraction and fits the tone of the story perfectly. If you like Planet of the Apes, this 700 page beast of a book is along the intellectual vein you find and can enjoy. Lock and Load and smoke em if you got em and come along on the adventure, you won't regret the investment in delving into this worlds military monkey business...

Today Ive binge read all of the entire Darth Vader comic from 2015 or whatever. Up to the final issue # 25. also been binging on Star Wars going through the whole Vader Down story arc

Since 6 p.m earlier tonight ive been binge reading catching up on the newer recent Venom comic that involves Knull and Eddie's kid brother and that odd secret Vietnam symbiote stuff

Re-read/caught up with Fiona Staples and Brian K. Vaughan's Saga this weekend, reading all 9 trades (covering 54 issues). This series started in 2012 just as I was getting back into new comics after a hiatus, and I was buying it as singles for the first 18 issues (3 trades), but ended up selling off the singles at a great price and switching to trades after those first three volumes were out. I had previously read up through Vol. 5, so the reread was those five volumes, and volumes 6-9 were first time reads. I had been missing volume 8, but recently picked it up form Amazon, triggering my desire to catch up on the series (which is currently in a year plus long hiatus itself). It ended with quite a game changer for the story, and racked up a George R.R. Martin-like body count among supporting characters, antagonists, and protagonists. It was an engrossing read, and I was sucked in, reading a couple of volumes in one sitting (which is rare for me), and each time I finished one, I wanted to find out what happened next, so would pick the next up immediately. It's going to be a long wait until the series starts up again and finishes an arc to be collected as volume 10 though.

-M

I recently finished the first TPB of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which I had picked up at the table of series artist Robert Hack at a local convention a couple of weeks ago.

I read this in conjunction with watching the first season of the Netflix show and I really enjoyed both. While the show is set in the present, the comic is set in the 1960s, a change that serves it well. It has a very creepy vibe to it, both in part to the writing and to Hack's pencils, which are unique.

One of the big things I enjoyed was how series writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa incorporated other Archie-verse characters into the comic, but not in ways that would be expected. It created a larger picture of the world that the story inhabited while bringing in some familiar elements.