Februrary 9th: Food for Thought

The next meeting of the Comic Book Reading Group will be at Cafe 1842, on February 9th, 6:15 pm (AKA the Usual Time & Place). The theme for this group of readings is "Food For Thought," as each of the selections involve looking at the means and methods by which fuel our bodies in a different light. The books are:
Short Life And Happy Times Of The Shmoo by Al Capp. This book consists of two stories taken from the long-running strip Li'l Abner, both of which feature the Shmoo, happy bloblike creatures that provide companionship, do chores, and can supply food products such as milk, cheese, and yogurt instantly. In fact, if you so much as glance at a Shmoo in a hungry manner, it will blissfully drop dead to provide you with a delicious meal. Needless to say, Abner's discovery of the critters heralds the collapse of human civilization. On Sadie Hawkin's Day, of course.


Elmer: a comic book by Gerry Alanguilan.
From the product description: Elmer is a window into a world where chickens have suddenly acquired the intelligence and consciousness of humans, where they can now consider themselves a race no different than browns, black, or whites. Recognizing themselves to be sentient, the inexplicably evolved chickens push to attain rights for themselves as the newest members of the human race.


Chew vol.1: Taster's Choice by John Layman and Rob Guillory. This is the introductory volume of an ongoing series that follows Tony Chu, a cibopathic detective who receives psychic memories from whatever he eats--a useful, if cannibalistic, trait for a police officer. The art style veers a little towards the cartoonish, which helps the more otherworldly elements fit into the police procedural genre.

That's it; send word if you're having trouble finding the books, making the meetings, or just have something to say.

--MH

***QUICK UPDATE***

All right, I'm going to come clean with you guys--by which I mean obfuscate in a cryptic manner. Could anyone intending to, um, attend today's (Nov 24th) meeting please contact me immediately (comicskw@gmail.com)? There's been a potential slight change in plans, but one that needs to be relayed ASAP.
--MH

November 24th: Darker AND More Satirical Heroes

Here's what we'll be looking at for our next meeting:
------------

November 24th-- heroic parody
Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. Ultimate Collection by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen
Strange Tales by Pete Bagge, Nicholas Bertozzi, Molly Crabapple, Nicholas Gurewitch, James Kochalka, Michael Kupperman, John Leavitt, Junko Mizuno, Paul Pope, Johnny Ryan, John Arne Saeteroy, Dash Shaw
Amazing Screw-on Head by Mike Mignola

*AND*
The Umbrella Academy Volume 1 by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba
Doom Patrol, The: Crawling Wreckage - VOL 01 by Grant Morrison
Mike Mignola's B.P.R.D.: Hollow Earth and Other Stories by Mike Mignola

Since the October session was cancelled (and a special apology for anyone who didn't get the cancellation notice), we're still going to take a quick look at the material for that month at the November meeting. Note that some of the books--the Nextwave comics and Strange Comics in particular--might be a little hard to get a hold of, so if anyone interested in those titles is having difficulties, be sure to contact me.

And to any potential newcomers: don't be overwhelmed by the huge number of books here. We don't usually read this many titles, and it's perfectly okay to just read the one or ones that appeal to you. We just want you to come out and share your thoughts.

And if you've got any comments about the material that just can't wait, post below.

--MH

October 27th: Darker Heroes

Here's what we'll be looking at for our next meeting:
------------
The Umbrella Academy Volume 1 by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba
Doom Patrol, The: Crawling Wreckage - VOL 01 by Grant Morrison
Mike Mignola's B.P.R.D.: Hollow Earth and Other Stories by Mike Mignola

If you've got any comments about the material that just can't wait, post below.

--MH

24 Hour Comics

It looks as though the undergrad comics club at UW is putting something together for the 24 hour comics day. Details here if anyone is interested: ttp://uwcomicsclub.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/last-call-to-register/

Web Comics - Tuesday, September 28

For our next meeting we'll be looking at the wide world of Web comics.

Let's start from the most current of each and read back 20 strips:

Questionable Content

Married to the Sea

Kate Beaton

Dinosaur Comics

Scott McCloud - The Morning Improv

Nedroid

Perry Bible Fellowship

Space Avalanche

CRG Previous Readings List

2010

September 8 - Crime & Violence
Abandon the Old in Tokyo: Stories by Yoshihiro Tatsumi (ed. Adrian Tomine)
Hardboiled by Frank Miller

Transmetropolitan Vol. 1 by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertso

August 18

Walt and Skeezix: Book One (Gassoline Alley) by Frank King

Adventures of Tintin: Volume 1 by Hergé

July 28 - Mainstream Essentials
Swamp Thing: Book One by Alan Moore
JLA Earth 2 by Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely

June 16

The EC Archives: Vault of Horror Volume 1 - Wally Wood, Johnny Craig, Graham Ingels, and Jack Kamen

May 26 - Intersections Between Comics & Academia

Action Philosophers!: The Lives and Thoughts of History's A-List Brain Trust: The More-Than- Complete Edition by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey

Sandman, The: Dream Country - Book III by Neil Gaiman

May 5 - DIY

GangLion issue sampling (http://ganglioncomics.blogspot.com/)

Mcsweeney's Issue 33: the San Francisco Panorama by Dave Eggers (Comics section pullout)

Just the Facts by David Collier

April 9 - Kirb Your Enthusiasm

Kirby Five-Oh!: Celebrating 50 Years Of The "King" Of Comics

Essential Fantastic Four Volume 3 TPB (New Printing) by Jack Kirby

March 17 - The Salinger of Cartooning: Watterson's Holden Caufield?

The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book by Bill Watterson

Book Of Leviathan by Peter Blegvad

Feb 24 - Beyond Gutters

Sempe: Nothing is Simple - by Jean-Jacques Sempé

Poem Strip - by Dino Buzzati

Driven By Lemons by Joshua Cotter

City of Glass: The Graphic Novel by Paul Auster (Mazzucchelli)

Feb 3

Anthology X-Section An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories by Mr. Ivan Brunetti

January 20 - Uber for an Uber

You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation ! by Fletcher Hanks

Superman: Birthright - The Origin of the Man of Steel by Mark Waid

2009

Dec 9 - Religulous

Book of Genesis by Robert Crumb

November 24 - Surreal

Frank-Book by Jim Woodring

The Maxx – Sam Kieth

November 3 - Canadiana

George Sprott: (1894-1975) by Seth Collected Doug Wright, Volume One: Canada's Master Cartoonist by Doug Wright and Lynn Johnston

October 13 - Assorted

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli

Super Spy by Matt Kindt Sublife #1 by John Pham

September 22 - Noir, grit, emotion, done medium rare

Parker: The Hunter by Darwyn Cooke
Daredevil - Born Again by Frank Miller
Fell by Warren Ellis

September 1 - Batmania

Batman and Son by Grant Morrison

Batman: Mad Love – Timm & Dini

Batman: Long Halloween – Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale

Batman: Death Mask by Yoshinori Natsume

August 4 - Godfather of Manga: Osamu Tezuka

Dororo Volume 1-3 by Osamu Tezuka

July 7 - Manga

A Drifting Life by Yoshihiro Tatsumi

June 23 - Surreal & Experimental

Une Semaine De Bonte: A Surrealistic Novel in Collage by Max Ernst The Amazing Remarkable Monsieur Leotard by Eddie Campbell et al

June 2 – Moore-isson

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 3: Century #1 by Kevin O'Neill and Alan Moore

All Star Superman VOL 01 by Grant Morrison

Mister Wonderful - Daniel Clowes

May 12
Winsor McCay Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend by Winsor McCay

Dream Of The Rarebit Fiend: The Saturdays by Winsor McCay