Name Forthcoming: September Book Haul

Late, as usual, but take a look anyway at what arrived last month.

Jon Sullivan art in the background isn't new, but I'll take any chance I get to show it off.

You'll notice that most of these are comic books. This is a side-product of me still not having finished the Grendel post. You see, I made a commitment that I wouldn't start reading a new novel before I had shared my thoughts on Grendel. And so, instead of doing what I'm supposed to do I am actually spending my time devouring the comics I had left on my shelves, buying a heap of new ones (and just you wait till next month's book haul!), and making way too long posts on a comic that's pretty good, but maybe not worth the massive amount of time that I spent on it. But the time of prevaricating has passed, damnit! This month is the Horror month, and I need to read horror books! So I better get Grendel done pronto.

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We kick off with volumes 1 to 4 of the Sixth Gun oversized Deluxe editions which are crazy expensive, and which for that reason I had always held off on buying. They're written by Cullen Bunn, whose stories I really like, and who wove a saga around westerns and the apocalypse...

Guns, religion and mythology and one of my favourite writers of horror comics. Yeah. I can tell you, you've no idea how frustrating it was to have to pass up on these again and again just because I couldn't afford them.

But then to make it worse (or now: better), the art in the 6 volumes of the Sixth Gun series, about 50 issues worth + spin-offs, was all done by one artist, Brian Hurtt. That's a pretty rare thing and immensely appealing to my european comic sensibilities. To top it all off, the packaging of these things! Sixth Gun Deluxe is absolutely oversize and the whole thing'll look very striking on any book shelf, provided those shelves are big enough.

So now, with the release of the 6th and final oversize Deluxe volume in sight I was trying to make myself purchase these things already in preparation to finally also begin reading the series, but the pricing was just plain out of my budget.

So I went on Ebay, had a short browse and found the first four volumes for a very low price, which amounted, together with shipping, to less than half of what you'd have to pay for these books if you're going through the Book Depository. Hurrah!

But unless I manage to get myself a discount or something I would have to pay just as much again for the last two volumes... Hmmm, I'll think of something.

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Yes indeed, can you believe it? The Book Depository, which previously stated that I would have to wait for my Pre-ordered Beehive Books for still more than 6 months, only went and sent me the last of the three books over to me last week.

This one'll get its own post, as it once again really is a beautiful edition.

But I guess there's no harm in already revealing that there are 9 short stories in here, with some very nice illustrations.

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You know how it is, a long drought of buying nothing 2000 ad related and then 6 show up at once. Judge Dredd Volumes 21, 22, 23 and 27. I waited until they were cheaper than normal, though number 23 was still pretty almost full price.

I've already read 21 and 22 and, which, together, deliver the conclusion to the Chief Judge Mcgruder long-running, low-key story line, which also resolves the Mechanismo storyline. Though it goes very, very sci-fi (like, a new planet in our solar system), it's a very good and engaging story. Mcgruder had been growing stranger and stranger as some writers just didn't seem to get what she was about.

There's a few between-issue inconsistencies: for instance, Mcgruder being in a coma since the events of Case Files 19's Inferno, while an issue or 2 before she can be seen to be healthy and well. But on the whole, I do believe that this is the most satisfying arc since Necropolis.

What also happens is that in these volumes there's an almost exponential increase, or rather; reveal of how many Mega-cities there still are in the world. The most arresting of these is Vatican City, which has iconography immensely appealing to my tastes and the most bad-ass looking judges since Oz's the Judda, it's the judge on the cover of Case Files 22 if you're wondering. Shame that the story they're introduced in happens to be so Sub-Par. Great art, just boring and jumpy storytelling.

Anderson 3 and 4, even though I haven't read or even have, period, Anderson volume 2.

Anderson Psi Files 2 is consistently out of stock, and the second hand prices on Ebay and other sites are regularly obscene, going as high as 500 pounds. Ridiculous.

The pages themselves must be made out of cocaine or something. It's a conspiracy.

It's a bit of a shame, because as long as I don't have Psi Files 2 I can't continue Anderson's story, which looked promising in volume 1, and managed to stand head and shoulders above the bulk of Dredd stories in sheer emotional storytelling. I'm thinking of Leviathan's Farewell in particular, which sees a friend of Anderson come into contact with the earth's last living humpback whale as it dies. It's a powerful little story with a heartbreaking ending.

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Here's one I shouldn't have bought, probably.

I'm reading Deadman right now, as he's such a prominent side-character in Swamp Thing, and I like him as a character, even though he looked ridiculous in Swamp Thing, but the story so far is just... uninspired. It should tell you enough when the artist gets first credit on the book cover.

And Kelley Jones' art is pretty cool though, it must be said. He moved away from the superhero aesthetic that Deadman had in Swamp Thing, and made him all creepy, elongated and very defined. What I mean with that is that with every muscle standing out, and the elongation, Deadman really looks like a ghost or something. It's pretty cool.

Reading Deadman made me realize that I now can not say I haven't read any superhero comics, so I guess that opens up the playing field a little. We'll see what happens, and with next month my birthday coming up too.

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Next up is IDW's ridiculously glossy edtion of Steve Niles' October Faction.

I don't like IDW editions much because all their comic books are so damn reflective, making it annoying to read them when you like reading your stuff under a fixed lamp.

Either way, I'm a huge fan of Niles' 30 days of Night and I'm a fan of horror investigative teams in general and so I had been keeping an eye out for when October Faction would be collected in one volume. As there are at least 28 issues at the moment and Open Season collects only the first 12 of those it's safe to say there'll at least be one other collection yet to come. Hmm, Odd. I just noticed that the cover doesn't actually have the sub-title "Open Season" on it, even though the spine and back do mention it. What the cover does manage to mention is that this one is getting a Netflix adaptation, so keep your eyes peeled for that. It's not available right now, but given its title it'll probably be here before the end of the month.

Strangely enough when I bought this one I thought the art duty was by Ben Templesmith, who collaborated with Niles on 30 Days of Night, but apperently the art is done by someone called Damien Worm. Their styles are very similar, though Worm seems less geared to make his characters outrageous, making them more grounded in reality than Templesmith.

Either way, it's probably going to be good as Niles' stories tend to be quite fun to read, frequently also packing some good emotional payoff at the end. I've read the complete 30 Days of night, his Aleister Arcane, and a bunch of short stuff by him, so I know what I'm talking about.

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Next up is Berserk Deluxe Volume 2 which I had to purchase yet again from a different site other than The Book Depository as their pricing was simply too damn high. That being said, Dark Horse is firing on all cylinders with this one as it looks absolutely awesome to have on the shelf.

You can see how big these Deluxe editions are below, where I've put them with the rest of my manga. As you can see I only have the Junji Ito stuff and Berserk, and I'm getting some more Ito next month.

Berserk deluxe volume 2 collects volumes 4 to 6 of the ongoing Berserk saga. I've already read it, pretty much as soon as it came in, and though I was less than impressed with the Golden Age Arc, the Nosferatu Zodd arc then definitely made up for that. The assassin arc was another winner, although I would have thought there to be a lot more fallout and consequences from the actions Guts takes.

Anyway, so far Berserk is turning out to be quite a well-planned saga, with seeds of the things to come planted liberally in its opening chapters, and enough time spent to flesh out its principal characters to be some pretty absorbing reading. The pages fly by though, which is down to the manga format itself I think. It's showing itself to be a medium where whole pages can pass without anyone saying a damn thing and with the art just focusing on combat or characters faces to tell the story. It's odd but I don't think this makes it lesser than other types of media. It's just very different.

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And lastly we have a book that when I saw it online I just couldn't resist immediately snatching up.

I had been eyeing several different editions of the Melmoth the Wanderer hardbacks over the years but I never was completely satisfied with what I was seeing.

And when I saw the 1993 Folio edition I was sold in a second.

Very surprisingly the price was more than fair.

Melmoth the Wanderer is one of the quintessential 'man sells his soul to the devil' tales, and it casts a very long shadow. I've been wanting to read it mainly because Karl Edward Wagner cited it as one of the big inspirations for his Kane saga.

The edition comes with a few pieces of interior art, and while I was browsing through them and came upon the last one, I realized that it gave away the ending. *sigh*. Was this really my fault though, I ask you? Isn't it natural to want to talk a look at the extras your edition have brought you?