Jonas sent me a baton on Sunday, but due to work I’ve just not had the time to finish this off. This baton kind of feeds from the baton of earlier last week. Joen feels that the baton is something used by weblogs to disguise for lack of content. Interesting point. I don’t really need the baton to help me get content (I’ve got like 15 drafts waiting to be tweaked and published), but something like this is remiss without me jumping all over it. The thing is though in many cases these batons are really just great ways to hear about something you’d be completely and utterly oblivious to.

The subject matter of this particular baton is very close and dear to me so it’s going to be a lot more than just a baton, just so you’re warned. As I said in my list of things to do this year, I really need to actually do some more Graphic Novel Reviews.

<li><strong>Number of Comics on the Shelf</strong></li>

At home in Greece, I’ve got over 300 Graphic Novels (that’s comic books with Spines). Over in England never counted but they number well over 200 in the past 3 years. I’ve got over 2000 comic books in Greece.

<li><strong>Last Comic Purchased</strong></li>

I NEVER just buy 1 comic. It’s always a collection. Yesterday I bought the latest 100 Bullets Trade (much more on that later on in the post), all three Quantum & Woody trade paperbacks and Soulfire collected edition (because I’m a mug and I like great colouring).

<li><strong>Comic Reading Right Now</strong></li>

Well since I read comics every single day, it’s usually several. So the ‘Right Now’ and ‘Last 5’ really don’t mean much to me (yes I’m that obsessed). Just finished/finishing:

• Ultimate Spider-man Vol 4

This is another massive chunk of Brian Bendis and Mark Bagley loving. The only reason I read this is because it’s good fun. More importantly I’m reading it for the character interactions, not what Spidey does. In fact those parts of the story are without a doubt the most BORING parts of the book. It’s like yes great he fights he wins, or whatever but lets get to the good bits. I’ve been told that this is how it was during Stan Lee’s run. You didn’t care so much about Spider-man but whether or not he was going to get the girl, pay the rent, etc. Brings a certain humanity to the character. The artwork is consistent, which is great but for me it doesn’t light my fire. This is NO slank on Mark, it’s just that his style doesn’t appeal to me really. I love he’s on the book and wouldn’t trade him for anyone else (since they wouldn’t be able to hack the pace); but you get my meaning.

<li><strong>Deep Sleeper</strong></li>

This was a fantastic little black and white book by Mike Huddleson and Phil Hester. These guys make a great team. So far they’ve got two out of two. The previous collaboration was The Coffin which was a very well written book that had some very memorable scenes and the covers were excellent. Highly recommend both of these books.

• Street Fighter Volume 2

Because I love Street Fighter, and the Udon crowd have hit the artwork on this series. Not so sure about the story yet. Some aspects I’m really enjoying, but a part of me thinks that if I wasn’t as invested in the characters as I am, I’d probably not enjoy the comic. I’d file this under only fans of the property itself.

<li><strong>100 Bullets The Hard Way</strong></li>

This is the smartest comic book series on the market today. It’s soo good that after you read it you have to go back to previous issues to confirm this bit of information or whatever. The pacing is spot on, and the characters are all incredibly well developed. I’m not going to write any more on this series because honestly I fully intend to talk about this series in a lot more depth in the coming months.

<li><strong>1602.</strong></li>

This series is Neil Gaiman’s sole work for Marvel so far. It’s a massive thing, and the artwork is very pretty. I’ve not gotten into it yet, I’ve read a few pages, but what I’ve read I’ve enjoyed. Gaiman is a superb writer of exceptional calibre.

<li>

Comics That Mean a Lot to Me

See this is the hardest question of them all. By the sheer number of books that I buy and read on a regular daily basis, this could take a while. However I’ll try and keep it down to 10 series/runs or graphic novels.

• Blade of the Immortal
• Akira
• Kabuki
• Stormwatch/Authority
• Wildcats
• 100 Bullets
• Preacher
• Fables
• Lone Wolf and Cub
• The Metabarons

For me however ANY book written by Alan Moore is golden literature. I buy stuff written by the man without hesitation, knowing full well he won’t ever let me down. It’s very rare for me to actually say this but the man is a genius. One of the few human beings alive today whom I truely admire the skill in which he performs his work, his art. Just a short cross section of works by the man include:

<li>League of Extraordinary Gentlemen</li>
<li>V for Vendetta</li>
<li>Tom Strong</li>
<li>From Hell</li>
<li>Watchmen</li>
<li>Swamp Thing</li>
<li>Promethea</li>
<li>Top Ten</li></ul>

Forget the movie counter parts of some of these works. They hold absolutely no relation to the graphic novels. So much so that Moore made sure he’s disassociated himself from the movies, and accepts no money from them either. Sad really, but alas I can fully understand his reasoning. It’s not like Miller getting Sin City.