The Pile: Day 12

I read a million books yesterday, here are some:

Short Version:

Long Version:

The Pile: Day 2

Happy comic book day! Wooo!

Okay only half of these books are actually from the pile, but still.

Here’s the short version:

Here’s the long version:

The New 52 as Read by Non-Dorks (Part 5)

As the cycle of #2 issues of the New 52 comes to an end, it is becoming pretty clear which of these books I’m going to stick with, and it’s waaay less than I estimated after reading the #1′s.  Stuff that seemed intriguing the first time around got super boring super quickly which is a shame, but allows for a much more manageable comic-reading schedule.

But while I’m looking forward to a significantly smaller percentage of the #3′s, my superteam of comix n00bz is still plowing through the #1 issues, and reporting back to you, the Sense of Right Alliance reader.  Be sure to check out prior installments (Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4) as well.

Comics You Should Be Reading in 2011

Since I got back into comics, a few people have asked me for suggestions on what they should be checking out.  Obviously, I usually try to tailor my answer to that person’s specific tastes, but now I will present a list of books I am excited about as we enter a new year, and that I think other people (especially other people like me, who are new at this comics thing) might enjoy.  Bear in mind that I’m no expert, and this is far from a definitive list.  For example, you will see that there are zero Marvel books on the list, because I don’t personally give much of a shit about Marvel and don’t read any of it.  This is the stuff I am jazzed for, and that I think you might be too. 

Fan Fiction

If you look at online reviews and commentary about The Widening Gyre, you will often see it referred to, derisively, as “fan fiction.”  What this means, of course, is that it is the work of an amateur, an outsider, a member of the fandom who only wishes he could be a “real” comic book writer.  While I would argue that this label could be applied to any Batman story not written by the decaying corpse of Bob Kane, I understand what people mean.  The Widening Gyre clearly is the work of an enthusiastic fan, who is chomping at the bit to oversaturate the book with oh-so-clever little nods to the DCU, often at the detriment of the story he’s trying to tell.  But that’s mostly because Kevin Smith is insane.  Today I am going to tell you about another celebrity-penned “fan fiction” vanity project, that happens to actually be really awesome.