Comic Books Have Come a Long Way

I used to read comic books as a kid, starting as early as when I was 7 or 8 years old.  I was not an avid reader - I occasionally bought an issue, so I missed out on a large portion of the continuity.  Even so, I was still drawn into the partial stories in those small issues.

As an adult, I occasionally read graphic novels - I'm not a fanatic, but I do enjoy them.  Over the years I have amassed a collection of Manga as well.

One of the largest graphic novels
I've read...until now.

Recently I purchased and read The Sculptor, by Scott McCloud.  I enjoyed both Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics (his "comics about comics" book), but had never read any of his fiction before.  The Sculptor is kind of an intimidating tome for a graphic novel at a whopping 487 pages (this seems kind of small compared to some Manga collections that I've seen, but I've read this is normal in Japan).  But, the book is a tad smaller in height than a standard hardcover fiction book.

Over the years, I've read some collections of comics - that is, several issues of a comic book from years past collected into a single volume as a "graphic novel".  These come in a fairly standardized size for the genre - just like most mass market paperbacks have similar dimensions.

I'm addicted to science fiction, and I'm a big fan of the first two movies in the Alien franchise (Alien, Aliens).  I also really enjoyed the first Predator movie (the one with "Governor Arnold" - the Danny Glover one was passable), and I like the concept of the Alien vs. Predator franchise (the movies were so-so, but I've enjoyed a few of the graphic novels).  While Prometheus wasn't the greatest movie in the canon, I did enjoy aspects of it, and I'm looking forward to future movies eventually tying Alien/Prometheus together.

When I saw that there was a crossover story that covered all 4 series (Prometheus, Aliens, Aliens vs. Predator, and Predator), I was very interested, so I ordered it:  Prometheus;  The Complete Fire and Stone.  It arrived this week and was an immense surprise when I opened the box.  Knowing that this was 16 collected issues (4 from each series), I expected it to be larger than normal - but, the picture on Amazon did not do it justice.

THIS BOOK IS HUGE!

A comparison.

Here it is pictured with Howard the Duck (a standard comic collection - 400+ pages), a standard mass market paperback (first in a new Predator series - around 300 pages), and Jim Butcher's new hardcover, The Aeronaut's Windlass (600+ pages - minus the dust jacket).  As you can see, Prometheus towers over the others.  And it isn't just tall - 480 oversize pages!

Here it is side by side with The Aeronaut's Windlass.  It is printed on quality paper, weighs in at 6.6 pounds, and retails for $50 (the price is significantly lower on Amazon).  This is an entirely different world from the days when all 16 issues constituting this story could be had for a whopping $4 or less (when I was 8, I think most comic books were $0.25).  This is easily the largest "comic", and potentially one of the largest books in general that I have ever purchased (that wasn't a hardcover dictionary or Calculus book).

The price for this volume is not all that surprising these days - there are many graphic novels and collections ranging from $35 - $50.  The market has transitioned the same way as the board game market.  When I was a teenager, a $25 game was considered almost ludicrous (and most games over $20 could not turn a profit).  These days, there are games priced between $75 and $100 and they sell well!

The comic book has definitely grown up!  In addition to comics continuing to grow, Hollywood has turned into a superhero movie making machine!

It is interesting to stop every so often and see how all aspects of our lives have changed
 in the last 25 - 30 years (not just technology).  Ferris Bueller would be so proud!

Book Review: Micro by Michael Crichton

I love Michael Crichton's books.  I have read almost everything he's written.  Since his death in 2008, I have kind of hoarded the books that I have not read, saving them or times when I have read a string of below average works and need something really satisfying.

I was excited when Micro was initially published, but when I heard that 35% to 50% of the book was finished by another writer, I was hesitant.  While I did enjoy Pirate Latitudes, I didn't think it was among Crichton's best work, and had the feeling that the last book also would not be as good.  Then I started seeing rather average reviews and lost interest for several years.

Recently, a friend gave the book a good recommendation - not one of Crichton's best books, but definitely a solid story.  I was also encouraged by the fact that the bibliography included three books by Thomas Eisner, who was an authority on insects and their defense mechanisms against predators, particularly those involving chemicals.  He is kind of famous for putting a bombardier beetle in his mouth to see what would happen.  Many years ago I had the chance to meet Dr. Eisner when my wife and I visited him in Ithaca, New York - he was my wife's adviser at Cornell Universy for several years.  My respect for him as a researcher gave me more interest in reading the book.

I have to say, it definitely reminded me of the movie Fantastic Voyage - but instead of being shrunken to the microscopic level and being injected into the circulatory system of a human being, they are shrunk to about an inch in height and then stranded in the Hawaiian rain forest.  The hexagonal design of the "shrinking machine" (which is use as the header for the title pages of the three parts of the story) definitely seems like a nod to Fantastic Voyage, which used a similar design.  There shouldn't really be any spoilers here - the cover of the book does show human footprints being followed by a spider.

The science is interesting - the micro world is very different, surprising, and dangerous.  I did enjoy this book, but I do agree that it is not one of Crichton's best books.  I felt that the story did not grip me as quicky as either Prey or Timeline, and then once it did get really interesting, it kind of slowed down in the middle, and then the ending started to feel a little rushed, which was unexpected for a 500+ page book, and is probably sign of Richard Preston's influence in the book.  While this wasn't a fantastic read, there were some really neat things to learn about the micro world, and what it might be like to live in it.

Now unfortunately, my list of Crichton fiction books to read has dwindled to only three - all of them published before Pirate Latitudes.

Book Review: The Sculptor, by Scott McCloud

Holy crap!  I don't know what hit me!

I couldn't put this graphic novel down.  I've read both Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics (both are non-fiction), and I enjoyed both.  The Sculptor is the first work of fiction I have read by McCloud (I know that he did a comic series called Zot!, but I had never seen it before and will definitely need to check it out now).

I have to admit that the subject matter of this graphic novel was not initially appealing to me, so I passed on getting this book when it first came out.  Later, I saw a 5-star review by Wil Wheaton on Goodreads.  After that, I read the description again on the inside of the dust jacket and decided to buy it - this is easily the largest graphic novel I've purchased, and is the only one I've purchased in hardcover outside of the Akira manga series by Katsuhiro Otomo.  Thank you to Mr. Wheaton for posting that review, since it definitely influenced my decision to read this story.  Granted, the review was only two sentences, but it was effective.

Once I started reading it, I didn't want to stop.  I was drawn into the story, and the interactions of different characters.  This is a an exploration of an all-encompassing desire that is very realistic.  Life is not fair.  Things are not always as they seem.  Things do not go as planned.  People act in irrational ways.  You make more mistakes trying to make things right before things finally improve - if they improve at all.  There are also many "Oh crap!" moments in this story, and it is like watching a train wreck - you just can't stop reading (I almost read this in a single evening).

For me, this story was somewhat reminiscent of the TV show Party of Five (a group of friends used to ask "how many bad things can happen to this poor family?") - you just couldn't NOT watch!   It also reminded me of a story formula that was written by Lester Dent (the original author of Doc Savage Pulp Magazines in the 1930's and 1940's).  In this formula, he described what should be done in each quarter of the story he was writing (and he used this for every pulp story he sold), and one of the items which was used in each quarter was something along the lines of "heap more misfortune on the shoulders of the hero".  This story kind of felt like that.  There were also several scenes in this story made me relive very powerful moments in TV shows I've watched over the years that an emotional effect on me (if you are familiar with Babylon 5 and St Elsewhere, you will know what I'm talking about).

The Sculptor is a major piece of storytelling, and I'm looking forward to Mr. McCloud's future efforts.

Book Review: The Fold, by Peter Clines

This book was great!

Mike Erikson is a wonderful central character.  I loved the mystery through the first half of the book, and his methods of unraveling the mystery were really amazing.  I was reminded of Nicolas Cage's character in the first National Treasure movie, where he made immense leaps in deduction.  However, unlike National Treasure, where the leaps and bounds were made entirely in Cage's head (based on information that the audience is not privy to in advance), in The Fold, it stems from the protagonists unique talent using apparently insignificant knowledge in the story itself - that is, the reader is aware of this information, but will not be able to make the connections. While I won't reveal his talent (so as not to spoil things for potential readers), I will say that the talent is incredibly well described and leveraged throughout the story.  Positives and negatives of his talent are also explored, which represents Erikson as a very believable, vulnerable, human being.

The story starts off as a science fiction mystery, and then has overtones of horror after the mid-point where you start learning what is really going on.  This slowed me down a bit as I wasn't expecting it, but through the whole story I really couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next.  I will say that I had formed my own ideas of what was going on (I have loved science fiction books/movies for decades, so I've seen quite a bit), but when everything was revealed it was a nice surprise to me.

This book also has some good humor, starting from the first page.  That, combined with the limited horror aspect, makes this novel more accessible than Clines' previous novel, 14, which to me was more of a Lovecraftian-based horror mystery (I also enjoyed it immensely and have recommended it to others),  I think it will appeal to a larger audience than 14 .  The twist at the end of The Fold was also very satisfying, and I'm hoping it is something that is explored further in future novels.  I will say it will only be satisfying to readers who are familiar with 14 - that really doesn't give much away for either book.  All of these elements make this a solid story which is very well told.

This is the third book I've read by this author.  I had picked up and read a copy of Ex-Patriots a few years ago, not knowing that it was the second book in his zombie series (it was the only book available at the store, and wasn't described as part of a series).  I found it very satisfying once I started to get into it - about  halfway through, at which point I couldn't put it down.  I do plan on reading the others in the series, and I have heard that they get better the further you go.  The series is also continuing (I believe book 5 is due to be released in early 2016).

I am anxiously awaiting the future efforts from Mr. Clines.

Book Review: Armada, by Ernest Cline

I have to say, when I ordered this book from Amazon, I was concerned with the initial reviews from the first week of release.  They were were all over the place, and kind of reminded me of the publication of the last two books of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin (A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons) - there were almost as many negative reviews as there were positive (and I will admit, I am done with that fantasy series at this point - I was not enjoying these last two books, and will stick with the HBO Game of Thrones series going forward, because it is AWESOME) .

In general, Armada was not as highly rated as Ready Player One.  I also saw many comments that this book was essentially the same story as The Last Starfighter (LS) or Ender's Game (EG).  After reading the book, that seems like comparing Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica (the old or the new - take your pick) and calling them the same story.

While there are some similarities, for me this story was fundamentally different, and expanded on the basic idea from both LS and EG.  I read both books in the 1980's when they were released while I was in high school, and I saw the LS movie shortly after I finished the book, and I love all three of them (I'm currently avoiding the EG movie given the bad reviews).  Of course, there are also elements from many other works of fiction, which is pretty much evident in most movies and books these days.

All of these observations weren't enough to make me not want to read Armada.  After all, if I had assumed that The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant was essentially the same good vs. evil fantasy trilogy as The Lord of the Rings, I would have missed out on a fantastic series, which overall I felt was a superior story, which became even more interesting when the second trilogy came out.

As with Ready Player One, I enjoyed the pop-culture references from my childhood.  There is something very satisfying about having some of your passions from your formative years being a major part of a work of fiction.  Those who grew up in the 1980's who have read either book will know what I am talking about.  Many of them are explicitly referenced, identifying the movie or video game of origin, but there are also some that you are just expected to know, and I have to admit there was at least one that I didn't recognize.  There are also some nice cameo appearances by various non-fictional carbon-based life forms as well.

Overall, I found this to be an engaging story, and I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next.  I enjoyed this just as much as Ready Player One, and it was a fast and interesting read.  While I did speculate about where things were going, I wasn't always sure, and I was frequently wrong.  There were also some surprises.

I'm looking forward to to his next effort.

Bookstore Nostalgia

Ok, giving this blog thing a try.  It has taken me long enough to get here.  These are some random thoughts that have been in my head for quite a while.

I miss small bookstores.

From my teens until my early twenties, I had the following choices in my home town:

• Lauriat's
• B. Dalton (eventually replaced by a Waldenbooks)
• Borders
• Caldor (at least 2 or 3 full book cases of science fiction and fantasy)
• At least 3 used book stores (the only one which wasn't an independent store was Annie's Book Stop, which closed a few years back).

I used to be able to visit all of these in a weekend afternoon and be able to find something unique at each one.  Sure, there were plenty of books in common across all of them, but I could always find a good handful at each store that weren't at any of the others.

What is available today in the same town:

• Barnes & Noble - a very big store, but I find them lacking in some of the basics, especially in the science fiction and fantasy department.
• Target & WalMart (I guess you could call these modern equivalents of Caldor) - they carry some, but not much.

These days, even a giant like Barnes & Noble can't carry everything.  For that, you really need to rely on Amazon.  It is great that they carry so much, and you can glimpse inside the book and read the first few pages.  But, sometimes that isn't enough.

I like looking through the shelves of books.

I like seeing them all next to each other, being able to see all the covers.

I like to be able to pick the books up and flip through them, and read the backs, and compare the stories before making a choice of what I'm going to buy.

You can't really browse like that online - you kind of need to know what you want, or you can trust their recommendations.  But, it's not exactly the same as physically being there.  Bookstores also make it very easy to see new releases in hardcover, trade paperback, and mass market paperback forms.  If it wasn't for book stores, I'm sure I would have missed out on republications of many books that had been out of print for decades.  For example, Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton series of books (Time's Last Gift, Hadon of Ancient Opar, The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, and the Secrets of the Nine trilogy) - I would not have come across these as easily online.

Used book stores are also a diminishing breed, but they are a treasure trove of out of print books!  I frequently find books that have been out of print for decades, and they are dirt cheap (try walking out of Barnes & Noble with 6 novels and paying less than $10 total).  One of my favorite spots is Annie's Book Stop in Laconia, New Hampshire.  For years, I have walked out of there with at least 5 books per-visit that I have been seeking for years, and getting them for $1.50 each.  I will admit, as the years progress it becomes more and more difficult - many of the books they have in stock I have already read or have no interest in - but there is almost always a diamond in the rough.

Of course, I could always use Powell's (www.powells.com) to find these items, and I have in the past for very specific items (for example, to finish off my Doc Savage collection of Bantam reprints, many of which are extremely hard to come by).  But, you have to know exactly what you are looking for.  Plus, Powell's is like Amazon - you can't browse effectively, and you have to pay shipping.  At a physical store, I can see everything and just happen across something interesting that I didn't even remember I was looking for (I came across many old books by Jack Chalker in this way - his books have become extremely rare after his passing).

I kind of have the same feeling about video stores.  It used to be nice to just walk into Blockbuster (or any of several other chain or independent stores too numerous to name) to just see what was available and rent it.  Sure, I've used Netflix, Redbox, and Amazon Instant video, but it just isn't the same.  The selection at Redbox is pretty small.  Netflix has a huge offering, but browsing just isn't the same.  Amazon Instant Video has a large offering as well, but I find the search ability clunky, limited, and very slow.  Also, when you need to rewind, you can't see the picture so you really can't tell how far back you have gone.  I've also had the video just stop occasionally, which kind of detracts from the viewing experience.  Not to mention the cost - older films are expensive just to rent from Amazon (by expensive, I mean it costs more than a DVD from Blockbuster used to be).  But, there is the positive side that you don't have the hassle of leaving your house to pickup or return the movie, especially during a snowstorm or torrential downpour.

I've recently found the local library to be a nice alternative to these other services.  Everything is on DVD, you can rent it for a week, and it only costs a dollar.  Of course, the waiting lists can be kind of long for a certain show with dragons which is known for killing off major characters on a regular basis.  But, you can't have everything.

There are definitely benefits to living in the technological age that we do, but I do fondly remember a simpler time.  I guess, like everything these days, books and movies are both more accessible and less accessible at the same time.  Regardless of the purchasing options, my love for books and movies will continue for the rest of my life.

Update:  May, 2016

I have recently come to miss the large number of book stores even more recently.  Entire shelves or entire bookcases are devoted to a particular author or series (George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones series dominates an entire bookcase on its own, filled with hardcover, trade paperback, and mass market paperback editions; the Tolkien's Lord of the Rings once took up almost as much space, and still takes up about two full shelves to this day, and the last movie came out over 12 years ago, and the last Hobbit movie was two years ago - these volumes don't appear to be selling like hotcakes).  Entire shelves are devoted to some series that I've never heard of, and the number of volumes never seems to diminish, while books by well known authors, that appear to sell out when they are in stock, are becoming harder and harder to find.