Comic Book Haul and Slight Insight

And another heap of purchases...

By now it's probably clear that I get as much joy or even more from purchasing a new book than I get from actually reading one.

Purchasing a new book holds promise, of new lands and secrets, of untold and unthinkable knowledge, of a new author's style and themes, of loss and joy possible to be held off at a comfortable arm's length (the book to be put down whenever it's too much, like the ending to Y the Last Man...). the hope that this book, THIS BOOK!, will be the perfect book for me and that I will have never read a book that will touch me as deeply as this book, a book that'll be ideally for me in this moment, a perfect alignment of circumstance, a book so good it'll inspire me to do god knows what to god knows who and what and how.

It's mostly an idle hope though isn't it?
I don't know about you, but it's a rare book or book series that makes me a fan. and then usually only after some time when I can look back at it.
There are always exceptions though, but only the best break all the rules.

In general though, most times it's more fun to look back on a book than it was to actually read it.

As it happens I'm reading Elric: The Fortress of the Pearl and I've hit quite an interesting part of the story. In it, Elric and Oone are travelling through the dream realms, and they've just arrived in Marador, The land of old desires.
And here this conversation happens:

Better surely to continue looking, even when the reality can only prove inadequate when compared against hope. To do otherwise would be to give up, give in.

Maybe that's what all this manic buying is, a desperate gamble for fulfillment. and if not that, then at least a weekly dose of hope.
We all have ways to cope, this one's one of mine.

Here then we have Fell, volume 1. A comic I'd like to give a post of its own soon because it's really quite good. A plunge into darkness when you need it.

Next up, another horror comic. one that I won't read for quite a while. Though I am slightly and cautiously intrigued. Providence, Act 1.

I used a flash to take this picture. though things are certainly clearer, it does tend to spoil the background effect a bit. I'm not sure about it yet.

Anyway, Providence is a prequel and a sequel to Alan Moore's Neonomicon.

A comic both reviled and adored by horror fans. I'm not sure how I stand on it. You know, even despite being so damn nasty, there is a perverse allure to it. It's got Lovecraft horror and clean line art and there also might be more to it than meets the eye. And anyway. If you've stuck through the horrifying set-up in Neonomicon, why wouldn't you stay for the pay-off in Providence?
Or at least if this will eventually lead to what I think will happen. Either way, Alan Moore continuing with his meticulous take on Lovecraft's universe.

As I'm in the process of reading Elric I thought I'd pick up the comics as well, or at least those in stock anyway. So here we have the start of the Michael Moorcock Library, which will apparently run to 12 or 14 books (6 Elric, 4 Hawkmoon, 2 or 4 Corum, or is it the other way around?)
These will be read in the far future, when I'm done with both Elric, Hawkmoon and Corum at least. For now it's just fun to have them.

And here are is a deliciously grimdark version of Elric, and apparently quite gleefully accepted by Moorcock himself. I've taken a look at the art and some of the story and it is really quite bad-ass.

Up next is a project that I've had my eye one ever since I learned of the comic on the late blog of Graeme Flory some years ago; The Goon.

That man got me into alot of things, if I think about it. Judge Dredd for one, and his recap of the Black Company books was amazingly insightful. I wonder what happened to him?

Anyway,  with library edition volume 5's publication date looming close on the horizon I thought it would be a good time to start collecting. A very fancy edition. Dark Horse do tend to have high quality special editions. I'll continue collecting the rest next month.

And here are two books I bought without checking to see if they'd actually be worth it.
A very lazy thing to do, as Seven to Eternity is still on my shelf, bought specifically to see if Fear Agent would be my thing.
But, in the end I figured, why not just jump into it, it's complete at any rate. 

And lastly, A book I've already read. In its individual issues anyway.

I came to this one because it was written by Xavier Dorison, whose writing and themes I absolutely love, and because it had demons in it.

When Humanoids finally released the series in its own hardcover omnibus I knew I had to have it. I pre-ordered it a while ago and it finally arrived this month. A beautiful book.

The story is reasonably good, especially as in the end it really can only end one way. The art is so and so; what you see is what you get. Adequate smaller pannels and absolutely beastly big panels.

Dorison and Lauffrey, the same team that did the phenomenal Long john Silver comic book. That one still beats out this one in terms of quality, but it still isn't close to being bad.