What I Read This Week

Aliens #3 -- Down in the mysterious crystal city, the colonists find themselves surrounded by the xenomorphs while trying to find their lost compatriot.  But the aliens are not the only threat in the strange metropolis.  Its been a while since #2 came out so I had to think about some of the early pages for a minute or two, but it all came back to me pretty easily.  Reminds of some of the old Dark Horse Aliens books, which is pretty good praise.

Futurama Comics #45 -- You watched it!  You can't unwatch it!  It's the Anthology Of Interest II!  When the Professor breaks out the "new" and "improved" What If Machine (along with the Finglonger), all sorts of hypothetical craziness breaks out!  Fun and funny, with lots of great gags.

glamourpuss #9 -- While Dave Sim expounds upon the sex appeal of Stan Drake's sexy Eve Jones from The Heart of Juliet Jones, glamourpuss gives us some notes from her annual trip to rehab, and confronts her alien opposite, ssupruomalg (pronounced "Supromal-G").  Typically superlative effort from Sim on both the art history and satire, all wrapped up under a very cool Gene Colon cover.  I wish that some folks online would keep an open mind about this book and not just jump on the "Sim sucks" or "he's tracing" bandwagon because of certain high-profile creators who feel the need to bash other's work.

The Phantom: Generations #5 -- The 5th Phantom must head to England to track down the bloodthirsty pirate, and finds himself a jungle in Sherwood Forest... complete with wild animals imported from Africa!  This story is told 3rd person omniscent style instead of 1st person, which is a nice change of pace.  The tale itself is nifty, putting The Phantom out of his normal setting of Africa and making good use of it.  Enrique Alcatena's art has a very line-heavy look which fits the Phantom very well.  I have really enjoyed this series, which would make for one hell of a bound hardcover!  Ideas are brewing...

The Phantom: Ghost Who Walks #5 -- Villagers and tourists all over Bangalla are being kidnapped by mysterious masked men, and being taken to the "Eastern Dark!"  What is the slavers connection to the Phantom and the "Sleeping God" whom he has fought before?  Strong start to "Return Of The Eastern Dark" which does a good job of tying all sorts of stories together: classic Phantom strips, the prose backups from this series, and the previous Moonstone comic.  It's all very pulpish and a ton of fun.  Also features the start of a new prose backup as well.

Wow, all "small press" books this week!

Re-read Pile: The Phantom: Ghost Who Walks

The Pick Of The Pile is Ghost Who Walks, which started a new story on a very high note.

So, what did YOU read this week?