Real Men Read Comics!

Since this is a reading-focused blog (at least, I'm trying to make it one), I should also mention the less high-falutin' things I read as well.

And, since I made a comics run today (to Midtown Comics in Times Square, a nice large and clean emporium that also happens to be on my way home), let me run down today's haul.

Somehow, by accident, I got The Authority: Revolution #12 (maybe because it's cover was very similar to Astro City: The Dark Ages #4, a comic that was on my pull list). I've paid for it, so I skimmed it. I'm not impressed: it seems to be a generic super-hero comic with the numbers filed off, only slightly more violent.

The stuff I wanted was:

• Solo #7: Michael Allred. I haven't been getting his books for a while, but I used to like Madman, years back, and this looks silly.
  
• Flaming Carrot Comics #4. There never has been, and never will be, anyone else like Bob Burden. And this issue has even better news: Bob and Rick Geary are working on a Gumby project together!
  
• Dork Tower #32. I'm not even a gamer, so I probably shouldn't find this comic as funny as I do. (Actually, this issue seemed to be a bland one, but I hope that's an aberration.)
  
• Keif Llama, Xenotech #1. Matt Howarth is another one of my personal comics heroes, and it's good to see one of his less nihilistic series come back.
  
• Astro City: The Dark Age #4. It sometimes gets too superhero-messagey for my tastes, but this is the closest to a "mainstream" comic that I can stand these days.
  
• Keif Llama: Particle Dreams. A trade paperback of the old series, which I probably have in a box somewhere. How do these comics companies get me to spend money on things I already have?
  
• Smax. Another trade paperback, this one a Top 10 spin-off. I wish Zander Cannon was doing The Replacement God instead of this, but I guess a man's gotta eat. It's written by Alan Moore, so I'm pretty sure it won't get as twee-fantasy as it looks.
  
• Mad Night by Richard Sala. I've been getting into his books lately; he does a fun creepy Charles Addams meets Rick Geary kind of thing. Haven't read any of this yet.
  
• Short Strokes by Richard Moore. Um. Can I say I like his Boneyard series and quickly move past this particular book?
  
• And, of course, a Previews, so I can order stuff for January. It wouldn't be the comics world if you didn't know all of the plot twists two months in advance.