Firestar rocks NJ

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane 18- redhead Firestar takes him home- to New Jersey!

More Spidey-- THANK you to Matt Fraction for Sensational Spider-Man Annual 1, for a mature and thoughtful Mary Jane and Spidey story. This is why they are married, and from the doubts of the start of their relationship, until now, this is the MJ that should remain married to Spidey.

Get well wishes to comic blogger doc Scott at Polite Dissent!

Hope everyone is checking out Dave's Free Comic Book Month matches at YACB!

Getting caught up-- got last weeks comics, and only 5 in the pile. Y the Last Man, DMZ, Two Gun 2 (trying more Boom! Studio stuff), Jack of Fables 10 and Rex Libris 8 (natch).

And with that library reference, Check out The Rock and Roll Librarian, for another blog from a cool Jersey librarian. Music, zombie movies, librarianship!

I recently learned that books that used to be called "horror" in the bookstore or library, are now labeled "dark fantasy" because of the glut of King wannabees in the 80s. Speaking of King, just finished son Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box. An aging metal god buys a ghost on the internet...horror, or dark fantasy, ensues. Judas, the lead character, also finds more of himself and how he treated his young, goth girlfriends (boys, take note)

Except that he hadn’t kept her safe, he knew that now. …what he thought of as a personal strength- he was happy to know about her only what she wanted him to know- was something more like selfishness. A childish willingness to remain in the dark, to avoid distressing conversations, upsetting truths. He had feared her secrets- or more specifically, the emotional entanglements that might come from knowing them.

Next: sweet and simple reviews of some comics from the last month.

Z for zombie

The librarian's fiction suggestion[we call this readers advisory in the biz]: World War Z . by Max Brooks
It's the aftermath of the Zombie war, and this book reads like a documentary. There are clips from all over the world, with characters relaying their story of how they and their countries fared. It took me a good bit longer to read than I expected, and it wasn't just horror fluff. A commentary of social classes and military complexes. Zombies are a bit overdone at this point, but this is the author of the Zombie Survival Guide that I also own. I just found out he is Mel Brooks' son!

Now I'm reading Lisey's Story by Stephen King. Another famous son of a writer is Joe Hill (King). Just learned he wrote Fanboyz, a story in Spiderman Unlimited in 2005. I've never read his work, but am waiting for his book Heart-shaped Box (like the Nirvana song) at the library soon.