The Kite Runner

Second time reading this Graphic Novel version of the powerful Khaled Hosseini novel, with amazing art by Fabio Celoni and Mirka Andolfo.

Hard Boiled Defective Stories

Aw Man, Charles Burns' awesome stories of El Borbah, the Wrestling Detective were some of my favorite things about Heavy metal magazine back in the 80's, and when i found out they'd put 'em all together in one cool collection, I knew i just had to have it! Besides the four stories featured in the pages of Heavy Metal, (Robot Love, Dead meat, Living In The Ice Age andBone Voyage) they even featured one I don't remember seeing before, "Love In Vein"!

This is one collection I read and re-read again constantly!!!

Neil Young's Greendale

Second time reading this Graphic Novel take on Neil Young's Greendale album, by Joshua Dysart and Cliff Chiang and it's even better the second time around! My copy is signed by Josh Dysart and therein lies an interesting tale...
When I first met my friend Gerg, he offhandedly mentioned that he didn't like Neil Young and I snorted and said "Then you can go to Hell!" He was stunned by such a passionate retort from me, but as a huge Neil Young fan I'd been hearing from people who groused that they hated his voice, "He Can't Sing!", etc. all my life, and had just been reading earlier that day about Def Leppard's Joe Elliot putting Neil down too, so my gumption was up!
We laughed about it, and as we became close friends, we would occasionally remember that time, and jokingly say "Never diss Neil Young in front of Z!!"HAHAHA!
 Anyway, one day back in late 2010 or so ,Gerg was visiting his local comic book shop, and that day they had an in-store signing with writer Joshua Dysart, promoting Greendale! Seeing the title, on the cover, Gerg remembered how much I liked Neil Young and decided to not only get me a copy of the book, but have Dysart autograph it as well!
When Gerg went up to Dysart, he explained about me, who really liked Neil Young and how I got mad at him cause he said he didn't. "So you don't like Neil Young?" Dysart asked Gerg, who admitted he didn't. Dysart laughed, and signed the book to me:"Z, your friend here sucks!" LOLOL!

Fatale, Vol.1-5 (Complete Series)

Encouraged by how many good stories I've been discovering from Image Comics, I decided to give this film noir/horror series FATALE a whirl, and sure enough, this "Mike Hammer meets the Exorcist" tale was just another incredible title!

Stephen King's The Stand, Vol.1-6 (Complete Series)

Stephen King's The Stand is one of my all-time favorite novels, and when Marvel Comic began their comics book take on it, I bought the first few issues before deciding to wait til they were collected into TPBs. I then bought both Book One: Captain Trips and Book Two: America Nightmares when they respectively came out, but I didn't get around to picking up any of the later books until the very last book came out a few months ago! I went ahead and bought all the remaining books I'd missed right there in one crack!
For the first time I sat down and read the entire thing from beginning to end, and It's pretty darn great- not as good as the book, of course, what is, but a fine graphic novel take on a story that friends who may not like to read can enjoy!

Love And Rockets, Vol.5

Ahhh, time once again for the annual offering from Los Bros Hernandez, still keeping us up to date with Maggie and Hopey and the folks from the village of Los Palomar, and introducing us to new characters as well!

Saga #1-5

My friend Gerg who keeps abreast of all the newer comics and graphic novels out there came to town for a visit, and after shooting the breeze over lunch, we made our way to check out our old haunts, including a couple of comic stores that still were around back when he lived here.
 So we’re in there and he begins pulling the latest issue of a comic called SAGA, which was at the time on issue 4. I ask him about it, and he says it’s a comic that he’s really getting into lately, and thinks even my overly-discriminating eye would like it. I laugh and tell him I’ll think about it, but then I see him mosey over to the clerk and ask her if she has the first three back-issues available. She concurs, and directs him to the shelf where issues 1, 2, and 3 are hidden behind some older releases. I eye the stack in his hand suspiciously, saying, “Hey, if you already have these issues, why are you buying them again? He doesn’t answer, but then OF COURSE, once we get back to my house, he hands them to me!!!
 I’m like, “DUDE! You don’t have to BUY me these- I told you that if I wanted to read ‘em, I’d get ‘em myself!”  “Yeah,” he replied, “But If I waited for YOU to buy these, the series might end before you felt like it!” “Besides”, he waved off my exasperation, “this series is written by Brian K. Vaughan, and I KNOW you like his writing.” I stopped for a minute. “Oh, wait, really? The guy who wrote Y THE LAST MAN??? Ummmm…Then…..OKAY, I’ll check it out, LOL!”
By the time I actually got around to reading it, Gerg had already flown back to LA, but read it I did, and I was floored at how good it was! Like Y The Last Man, the stories were just FULL of these intriguing characters, and before you knew it, I was totally immersed in this story (and equally blown-away by Fiona Staples' amazing artwork!!)...The tale begins with the star-crossed relationship between a guy and girl from opposite sides of a war (two alien  races, one horned and one winged), who are trying to escape with their newly-born child while bounty hunters and government agents alike follow in hot pursuit! As the story progresses and you get to know all of them, hero and villain alike, you get the feeling you are getting prepped for a tale of immense proportions!!!!
I became an immediate fan and jsut this week, I ran down to my lcola comic store to l=pick up the latest issue which jsut came out (issue #5) and am sure i'm going to continue collecting it for good!!!