I am afraid the new Internet connection at home (it’s been a month now) is taking its toll on my reading. Reading, as in real, true-to-life, turn-the-page-and-run-eyes-over-the-printed word kind of reading. There’s another kind of reading that’s thriving, I will get to that soon enough.
So, for almost a month now, I haven’t read any book. The Secret History of The Oscars lies on my bed, with a bookmark that moves forward at the rate of, oh, say four pages a week. There’s also Movie-Made America by Robert Sklar, something I began just before Madhav’s quiz, and I haven’t moved ahead of Chapter 3. Oh, and the unread five hundred odd books in the cupboard and the unopened cupboard.
Come to think of it, I also haven’t played any computer games. The virus attack on the second day of the connection caused me to reformat a major section of my hard drive, in particular the E: drive, that had all the games installed on it. My saved-games (the levels to which I had played whatever games I had installed) are all backed up in some cd, and I have to go look for it sometime. But (sigh) who wants to sit through another game installation, when you can …..uh….download comics?
Download, and read comics, of course.
Recent downloads: Complete runs of The Crow (Kitchen Sink Press, Image), Powers (Image), Tom Strong ( America’s Best Comics), Hellboy ( Dark Horse), Bite Club(Vertigo), Vamps (Vertigo), Battle Royale (Tokyopop), The Legend of Kamui (Viz), Nausicaa of the Valley of The Wind (Viz), American Flagg(First), Dicks(Avatar), District X(Marvel Max), Punisher(Marvel Max), Ichi The Killer:The Manga, Daredevil: The Bendis. Of course, loads of other assorted bits and ends.
Ancient Beatzoian history department: The first two manga titles I read in my life were an issue of Mai The Psychic Girl by Ryoichi Ikegami and Xenon: Heavy Metal Warrior by Masaomi Kanzaki. Towards the end of the Xenon comic, there was a beautiful ad of comicbook in which a guy with a sword was upside down in the air, and busy cleaving some unlucky bugger’s head into two pieces. The Legend of Kamui, the book read, by Sanpei Shiroto. I remember writing down the name of the writer in one of those personal diaries I had ( I had quite a few, most of them outdated diaries that were gifted to my father and were later fished out for use by me ). Eight years later, I finally got to read The Legend of Kamui thanks to Bit-torrent.
I read the original Crow series by James O’ Barr with Graeme Revell’s background score from the movie playing in the background.
Bendis and Maleev’s Daredevil, although a little overrated, was a real space-bar hitter ( somehow, “page-turner” doesn’t seem to fit).
Obligatory disclaimer: To those concerned about my ripping off creators of their much-deserved rewards for their work, I can vouch for the fact that I am buying all the stuff that I read in digital format and loved ( and some stuff I didn’t entirely love, but got for cheap). The Authority series is one such example – I read 29 issues in one night, drove vrikodhara up the wall until he read the twelve issues the same night, and the next day, placed my bid on Richard’s lot on eBay. Most of the mainstream comics (Hush, The Ultimates and the rest of the Ultimate line are being reprinted in India anyways, though very slowly ), and I will be buying the other stuff by and by, as and when I have the money or (highly unlikely) find them in Indian stores.
Didn’t I tell you about the other kind of reading? This is it. The CBR format is going to be the savior of the Third World, as far as comics are concerned.
This wednesday, I got a a package from adgy, with the complete run of The Authority I had bought from him on eBay – 29 issues, and 5 issues of the Jenny Sparks miniseries, and the first five issues of The Monarchy. Four cds – a PJ Harvey mix cd to get me hooked onto the lady’s music (mission accomplished, Richard), a cd of Bill Hicks’ live comedy performances, and (hold your breath) two cds by Alan Moore, David J and Tim Perkins – Angel Passage and the grandly named The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theater of Marvels. While I admit this is not as droolworthy as the UN-sanctioned airdrop of comics he promised me sometime back, it still made my week. Thanks, mate. (In case you haven’t realised yet, I am highly underplaying my jubilation, and hence the non-mention of the obligatory War Dance in The Room.)
But now I am back to reading a normal book. Koushun Takami’s Battle Royale. I watched the movie last Sunday, and after I am done with the book, I shall go read the manga.
I’m glad that they arrived safely. Excellent. :)
Once again, arigato! :)
De nada, compadre.
Of the ones you listed reading recently, I’ve only read “Tom Strong” and “Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind”, though both are fantastic… I actually just recently got the movie version of “Nausicaa”… Yay! Haven’t even watched it yet, though… Booo…
I can’t recall if we’ve talked about it, before, but have you read the various works Kevin Smith has done, in comics, in recent years? Daredevil? Green Arrow? Little bit of Spider-Man? His stories and dialogue are fantastic.
I have read Kevin Smith’s Green Arrow resurrection saga – Quiver, in cbr format. It was much, much better than I ever thought it would be, brilliantly interweaves a lot of DC History with the return of Oliver Queen. Strangely, the hardcover is available in one of the bookshops I know, and is very high on my to-buy list.
I am still on the lookout for his Daredevil work.
Wow. Much like what would happen in a real conflict between the two heroes, the Daredevil story drags the Green Arrow one out in the streets and kicks its butt… I mean, the Green Arrow one was great, but the Daredevil one is just amazing.
boys, one suggests you read Smith’s excellent work on Black Cat. The man packs a mean wordy wallop.
Did Kevin Smith write that Black Cat (Gotham) superspecial that was on the stands recently?
ooh, me no seen. :( alas, I’m horribly backdated on Gotham publications, my stands seem to be unstocked. And everytime I gloriously yell about a new purchase to sam, I am assured it is several story-arcs old. *sigh*
GAAAAAAAAAAAH! Mental dislocation. I confused Black Cat with the Black Panther. I hate myself!
to put things into perspective, o restoftheworld, that’s worse than calling bruce banner Iron Man.
happens to the best of us, and your comic-addled eyelids ought be excused.
hey… might i ask a trade scecret? where do you download these comics.. i am itching to get my hands on some alan moore..?
Details here.
appy polly loggies, my friend, am popping up in your replies yet again, but that entry seems ‘protected’. or am i just clicking wrong?
It is protected. We don’t want the ‘orrible RIAA on our backs, do we? ;-)
rajasen (at) gee mail dot com …
heh. or is the creepiest of email services a scary thought as well? *grin*
Hey contented bloke, which p2p software do you use?
Details here.
Seriously, what do you do for a living?
I peddle bootlegs of Japanese movies.
That sounds real good on my resume.
thats tr00 as well. what he does to earn money is an entirely different matter, however.
Okay.. okay.. you need not grin so much!
See? You are so tired with all your studying, that you think everyone’s grinning at you.
(Actually, I am just baring my teeth.)
“Koushun Takami’s Battle Royale. I watched the movie last Sunday”
*drowns in his own drool*
Don’t drown without seeing the movie, kiddo. ;)
^^ so when r u gonna do the honours?
You want me to drown you?
haa haa haa.. ur so funny!
Hey, sort of gloating sort of bloke, you sort of owe me a Bournville sort of a chocolate for some sort of reason. So, it will be sort of nice of you if you sort of take a sort of a break from this sort of downloading and reading and go to some sort of a general store to buy me this sort of a chocolate and make me sort of happy after two weeks long sort of delay.
I am sort of broke. :-(
haha =))