So Much Reading!

For Christmas I got what I asked for: Comic books. Collected in either paperback volumes, hardcovers, or a giant coffee table book that has an entire series put together. I don't have enough shelf space in my room to justify collecting issues. If I read a book, I read everything. Not one or two highlights or volumes. I want the whole hog.

When do I find time to read? The old fashioned way, which means at work. During breaks, lunch, between meetings, waiting for someone, when my eyes hurt from looking at my computer too long, and other situations you probably are familiar with. Sometimes if my 2 year old niece is in the mood I will read a chapter from one of my comic books or novels as a bedtime story. She isn't quite old enough to understand how Batman stalks criminals in shadows, or that Neil Gaiman is really talking about an old fable. But she's old enough to understand story time is sleep time. It also helps I can get some reading in as well.

I have a sizable stack of comic book reading to do. So far I finished:

Ex Machina Volume 1 - What if a superhero retired and decided to go into politics? I love how Brian Vaughan writes his characters the way normal people in real life write. Even his authority figures sound like people you'd work with or hang out with.

Green Lantern Rebirth - It's like a culmination of the Green Lantern mythos and then hitting the 'restart' button. A story about intergalactic space police with a villain of truly epic proportions.

Absolute DC: New Frontier - Darwyn Cooke was the artist behind Batman: The Animated Series, one of my favorite cartoons growing up. I love how he used that retro, art deco style in this book. It totally works for the late 1950s/early 1960s backdrop. The story easy for comic book beginners to understand and has nods for the hardcore fans as well.

There's still a ways to go from my Christmas haul. At least I can say I always have something to read until summer.