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Post by Trevor on May 2, 2020 19:32:35 GMT -5
With Hoopla upping their monthly offerings from 10 to 30, in my library at least, I’m finding it easy to read a lot, but hard to catch up on my unread piles.
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2020 20:26:41 GMT -5
With Hoopla upping their monthly offerings from 10 to 30, in my library at least, I’m finding it easy to read a lot, but hard to catch up on my unread piles. It's a library by library thing-it depends on how much your library system pays them. They upped ours last month from 10, but only to 15. -M
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Post by electricmastro on May 12, 2020 22:28:35 GMT -5
Read 108 books in April. It was a lot of "binge reading", where I'd get through 6-10 issues in a day, then not read anything for three days following that. Reached 400 issues read for the year at the end of the month, which puts me slightly ahead of my goal of 1,000 stories. Currently at 92.3% classic books read, but that is to be expected, as there is nothing new coming out. Best Thing I Read in AprilI read my way through Planetary from start to finish, and it never disappoints. Once I got to the Denny O'Neill issues of Iron Man, starting at issue #161, the series starts to pick back up again after a mediocre half-year's worth of issues. I really enjoyed the Obadiah Stane takeover of Stark International and the subsequent "Rhodey as Iron Man" stretch while Tony drank himself into the gutter. Worst Thing I Read in AprilThere were some pretty dire issues of Iron Man out of the 55 or so I read this month. The worst run was from 155 to 159, where the title was in transition. It seemed as though every issue was a fill-in script, although all of the issues were written by Dave Michelinie, so maybe he was just burning through throw-away stories until Denny O'Neill took over with issue #161, which was May Look-AheadWill probably continue putting a lot of time into the Iron Man read-through. It was one of the series that I identified in my 2020 goals to read from start to finish, so I want to keep making progress. As well, I think I am going to re-read Ruse, which I saw in the short box behind Planetary this month. Not a long series, but it's been a few years since I gave it a full read-through, so it will be a nice change of pace from Iron Man when I need to read something else. There were quite a number of strong runs at Marvel in the 80s, and while O’Neil’s Iron Man run probably isn’t as strong as something like Miller or Claremont, I that he still provided some of Iron Man’s strongest material in awhile.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 31, 2020 10:09:06 GMT -5
It's fairly unlikely I'll read any more comics today, so we will call May at 44 issues (or the equivalent). Overall a solid month that started out really slow (I've been having reader's block with both comics and prose).
The biggest segments were the Spectre run from Adventure for my "Gone too Soon" thread; Family Man, which I'd had hanging around a LONG time; and Skull the Slayer (wonder where that might show up).
Big step-up from April and my third highest month of the year.
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2020 16:57:52 GMT -5
May was a busy reading month until I returned to work, but I have been reading a lot of prose too, so not all of it was comics.
A lot of stuff I read were 100+ pages issues (DC Giants, issues of Epic Illustrated and Eerie, etc.) so were counted as multiple issues, leaving my monthly tally at the equivalent of 168 issues, making it 638 for the year so far.
The good-the start of Planetary, the first half of Metamorphosis Odyssey in Epic, the finish of James Tynion's The Woods, Brubaker's Daredevil and Criminal, and Mark Russell's Red Sonja, House of Whispers & Dreaming, the original material in the DC Giants, and Crimebusters.
The decent but not spectacular-Eerie, Aaron's Conan the Barbarian, most of the reprint material in the DC Giants, and Batman Eternal
The more interesting than good-The Golden Age DC material
The disappointments-The supplementary Marvel Conan stuff (Age of Valeria, Serpent War, etc.), the Red Sonja Birth of a She-Devil mini, the later arcs in the new Savage Sword, and the continuation of Section Zero (issues 4-6).
-M
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Post by berkley on Jun 1, 2020 17:15:36 GMT -5
I've really been slacking off with the comics reading lately, especially May month. Hope to get back on track by starting something new tonight. In part I've been hindered by the prose reading - too many different things on the go at once, which I usually try to avoid, for this very reason. I'm in the middle of two big books that I started in May, one fiction and one non-fiction, and I've interrupted them more than once by reading other things in between. But I'm back on them now and hope to finish them both in the first half of June.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 1, 2020 18:12:58 GMT -5
May started off strong for me, as I was averaging 3 comics read per day through the 21st, but then I went nine days without reading a single book before finishing with 14 read on the 31st, ending up the month with 78 total books read.
Best Thing I Read in May This was my third read through Ruse, and it never disappoints. Enjoyed the Iron Man issues I read, and the John Carter Omnibus has been a dense, slow read, but it is very satisfying.
Worst Thing I Read in May Nothing. No duds this month at all.
June Look-Ahead Going to try to finish up John Carter, Warlord of Mars, as I'm about half-way through right now. Will continue to work on Iron Man, as I am just about to start Armor Wars.
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,379
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Post by shaxper on Jun 3, 2020 9:46:32 GMT -5
This was my first "normal" month of reading after devoting the first four months of the year almost entirely to my Films of Bela Lugosi review thread. Plowed through a bunch of odds and ends I'd been meaning to get to, read some great Life with Archie (my new collecting obsession), and resumed my New Teen Titans and Beyond review thread with EIGHT new reviews this month. It's nice to be back (not that I minded four months of Bela Lugosi!), and now, with the school year ending, I'm going to have time to read and review even more.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2020 17:25:38 GMT -5
I ready 49 comics in May, which was down from the 50 that I read in April.
Still haven't come close to the 83 from March, but at least it was consistent the past two months.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 30, 2020 16:20:05 GMT -5
I'm putting a pin in June right now, as I will not likely be reading anything else tonight. My wife and younger daughter are going out this evening to a church youth event this evening (limited people, outdoors, masks mandatory, social distancing enforced), so my older daughter and I are going to watch The Empire Strikes Back.
Made it to 103 books this month, with the vast majority of them (around 75 or so) being Iron Man. Puts me into the 575 range for books read for the year, which is within striking distance of my stretch goal of 1,200 (I always put down 1,000 as my goal, as it is something I am almost assuredly able to meet).
Best Thing I Read in June Most of what I read was pretty solid, although nothing stood out as exemplary. Got through the second half of John Carter, Warlord of Mars, and I made it up to issue #300 of the original Iron Man series.
Worst Thing I Read in June Nothing terrible, although some of the early 90's Iron Man issues were plagued by the usual early 90's comics problems of exaggerated artwork, crossover crap (the book got derailed by Operation: Galactic Storm and Infinity Crusade in this period, although the second was less-obtrusive than the first), and trying to be "cutting edge" with lots of techno-babble (even worse than "transistors can do anything" from the 60's).
July Look-Ahead Would like to wrap up the original Iron Man run, then maybe dive into the Heroes Return series. As a change of pace, I might read some Amazing Spider-Man from the beginning, and there is a niggling urge in the back of my brain to pick up my Captain America review thread again, meaning I will need to reread those books in order to write them. We shall see.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 30, 2020 17:22:22 GMT -5
I suspect I'm done as well. I'll be spending tonight getting jerky prepped to go into the smoker tomorrow evening.
35.5 books makes for my second lowest count of the year. I've been suffering reader's block on my prose reading as well, so it's not super surprising. I also wrote a few reviews this month which is almost always time that I'd be reading comics.
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,379
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Post by shaxper on Jun 30, 2020 20:20:38 GMT -5
I also wrote a few reviews this month which is almost always time that I'd be reading comics. The very reason I started tracking reviews written in my monthly totals was to alleviate any semblance of defeat I might feel at having lower reading numbers as a result. Writing even one review is a major accomplishment, and I'm so glad to see you back in the writing chair.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2020 22:41:47 GMT -5
I suspect I'm done as well. I'll be spending tonight getting jerky prepped to go into the smoker tomorrow evening. 35.5 books makes for my second lowest count of the year. I've been suffering reader's block on my prose reading as well, so it's not super surprising. I also wrote a few reviews this month which is almost always time that I'd be reading comics. I didn't read many comics this month either, only 45, but it was mostly because I was reading much more prose and engaged in a few epic fantasy books that consumed most of my reading time. This leaves me at the equivalent of 683 comics for the year so far, a little short of the 750 I hope to be at by the midpoint of the year to be on track for 1500. Had I had a typical comic reading month, I would have been closer. The best of the month-Planetary and the Parable of the Sower GN adaptation. The worst Black Moon Chronicles and the post-Grell Green Arrow I read. The Kevin Dooley issues are terrible, the Alan Grant issues not much better, and it was the first time I have read a Jim Aparo comic and not liked the art. I am not sure if it was the inker or Aparo doing a rush job as he was also working in the Bat-office at the time ('93-94) I believe. If it weren't Aparo's name in the credits, I would never have guessed it was his work. -M
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Post by Icctrombone on Jul 1, 2020 5:35:05 GMT -5
I ended up with a total of 50 books read this month. It seems Between a grandson, dogs and repairs to the house, I just don't have that time to just sit down to read in peace anymore. By the time 930 rolls around , I am dozing off trying to get through a book. If I had to pick a highlight of the mont, it would be Animal Man 1-9 ( the Morrison run) and Avengers Annual # 9. The Annual was surprisingly good which featured the Avengers getting hunted by a creature called Arsenal. Nice Don Newton artwork.
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Post by brutalis on Jul 1, 2020 7:47:37 GMT -5
See folks, your posts about limited or lack of reading is why this year I chose to NOT COUNT what I read each month. There is just so much a person can do with their time and I don't want the "joy/fun" of reading my comic books to become a "chore" or a "need to do" list. Each day I go about my day and if there is time for enjoying a comic reading then I do, if there is no time then no big deal. To feel like I "MUST" read a comic book today isn't what comics are about. Take the pressure off yourselves everyone and simply enjoy each and every moment of whatever you have time for...whether it is a comic book, listening to music, watching a movie or television show or spending time with friends or loved ones (looking at you bottle of single malt!) and do what you do.
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