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40. Transmetropolitan vol 2: Lust For Life by Warren Ellis

41, Transmetropolitan vol 6: Gouge Away by Warren Ellis

42. Transmetropolitan vol 7: Spider's Trash by Warren Ellis

43. Transmetropolitan vol 8: Dirge by Warren Ellis

44. Transmetropolitan vol 9: The Cure by Warren Ellis

45. Transmetropolitan vol 10: One More Time by Warren Ellis

46. Astro City: Through Open Doors by Kurt Busiek

47. The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

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6. Grapes of Wrath

7. Restaurant at the End of the Universe

8. So You've Been Publicly Shamed

9. Introverts in the Church

10. Rules of Prey
11. Shadow Prey

12. Eyes of Prey

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48. Justice vol 2 by Jim Krueger

49. Justice vol 3 by Jim Krueger

50. Astro City: Dark Age book 1 by Kurt Busiek

51. Astro City: Dark Age book 2 by Kurt Busiek

52. Green Lama: Mystic Warrior vol 1 by Kevin Noel Olson

53. Flying Sorcerers by various

54. Trace 3: When Elephants Forget by Warren Murphy

55. Peter & Max by Bill Willingham

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3. Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, et al., Fables vol. 22: Farewell. The conclusion to the long running series serves as both trade paperback #22 and as an epic-length issue #150. The long-brewing war between Snow White and Rose Red comes to a head in a manner that's anticlimactic yet befitting previous resolutions-on-a-technicality from past storylines. And we say goodbye to hundreds of characters with the help of one last gang of all-star guest artists like Neal Adams, Bryan Talbot, Michael Allred, Mouse Guard's David Petersen, and more more more.

 

4. Charles Schulz, The Complete Peanuts 1997-1998. The penultimate volume in the 13-year series sees Schulz getting more impish and a bit daring in his old age as Rerun is suspended twice from kindergarten due to trumped-up sexual harassment allegations (I'm not even kidding), and Charlie Brown fends off dueling advances from both Peppermint Patty and Marcie, who don't realize he has eyes only for the little red-haired girl who doesn't know he exists. The final volume is scheduled for October 2016 and I can't believe this is nearly over at last.

 

5. Luther M. Siler, Searching for Malumba. The title sounds like a memoir by a African missionary, but it's a collection of blog essays by a former teacher about his experiences in the public school systems of northern Indiana and south-side Chicago. He and I differ vastly on our opinions of strong language, but his sometimes funny, sometimes harrowing, frequently disturbing experiences with actual, disastrously parented, 21st-century children are undeniable and a little scarring.

 

6. Kieron Gillen, Michael Avon Oeming, Manuel Garcia, Travel Foreman, Dark Avengers: Ares. Two stories starring the Greek god of war living and warring in the Marvel Universe. One story has him pitted against his magically aged adult son with touches of authentic Greek tragedy tempered by being kind of boring; the other sees him taking orders from onetime American overlord Norman Osborn and leading a squad of angry military reprobates against another, angrier god in a bit of storyline left over from Incredible Hercules. Thankfully I was a fan of the latter, so that story worked better for me.

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56. Green Lantern vol 4: Dark Days by Robert Venditti

57. Green Lantern vol 5: Test of Wills by Robert Venditti

58. Green Lantern vol 6: The Life Equation by Robert Venditti

59. Green Lantern New Guardians vol 4: Gods and Monsters by Justin Jordan

60. Green Lantern New Guardians vol 5: God Killers by Justin Jordan

61. Green Lantern New Guardians vol 6: Storming the Gates by Justin Jordan

62. Green Lantern Corps vol 4: Rebuild by Robert Venditti

63. Red Lantern vol 4: Blood Brothers

64. Hellboy Odder Jobs by Christopher Golden

65. Hellboy Companion by Stephen Weiner

66. Saga vol 1 by Brian K Vaughan

67. Saga vol 2 by Brian K Vaughan

68. Saga vol 3 by Brian K Vaughan

69. Saga vol 4 by Brian K Vaughan

70. X-men No More Humans by Mike Carey

71. Justice League vol 6: Injustice League by Geoff Johns

72. Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers Classic by Stan Lee and various

73. Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers by Chris Eliopoulos

74. Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers Unleashed by Chris Eliopoulos

75. Avengers vs Pet Avengers by Chris Eliopoulos

76. Irredeemable Ant-man vol 1: Low-Life by Robert Kirkman

77. Irredeemable Ant-man vol 2: Small-minded by Robert Kirkman

78. Demon Knights vol 2: Avalon Trap

79. SHIELD vol 1: Architects of Forever by Jonathan Hickman

80. The Bromeliad Trilogy by Terry Pratchett

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81. Ex Machina vol 1: The First Hundred Days by Brian K Vaughan

82. Ex Machina vol 2: Tag by Brian K Vaughan

83. Ex Machina vol 3: Fact v Fiction by Brian K Vaughan

84. Ex Machina vol 4 : March to War by Brian K Vaughan

85. Y The Last Man vol 1: Unmanned by Brian K Vaughan

86. Y The Last Man vol 2: Cycles by Brian K Vaughan

87. Y The Last Man vol 3: Small Step by Brian K Vaughan

88. Y The Last Man vol 4: Safeword by Brian K Vaughan

89. Lobster Johnson vol 1: Iron Prometheus by Mike Mignola

90. Lobster Johnson vol 2: The Burning Hand by Mike Mignola

91. Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie

92, Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

93, Destroyer 151: Bully Pulpit by RJ Cater and Warren Murphy

94. The Broken Sword by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy

95. Hellboy: Weird Tales vol 1 by Scott Allie

96. Hellboy Weird Tales vol 2 by Scott Allie

97. Phantom Stranger vol 3: The Crack in Creation by JM DeMatteis

98. Batman Red Hood: The Lost Days by Judd Winick

99. Hellboy: House of the Living Dead by Mike Mignola

100. Hellboy: The Midnight Circus

101. Hellboy and the BPRD vol 1: 1952 by Mike Mignola

102. Justice League of America vol 2: Survivors of Evil by Matt Kindt

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9. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

 

This novel's existence amuses me to no end. The final book of a fictional series written as serious Harry/Malfoy-esque slash fiction. If there's ever been a book written because an author could, it's this one.

 

Oh, and Fangirl is easily Rowell's best book.

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9. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

 

This novel's existence amuses me to no end. The final book of a fictional series written as serious Harry/Malfoy-esque slash fiction. If there's ever been a book written because an author could, it's this one.

 

Oh, and Fangirl is easily Rowell's best book.

 

Fangirl was great, but I loved Carry On so much. Binged it in two days. I hope Rowell writes more speculative fiction.

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7. Michael Chabon, Manhood for Amateurs. Essay collection by the Pulitzer-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, mostly focused on masculinity and parenting, and how much better he is at one than the other. Most of these are keepers, candid and funny and with slightly less SAT vocabulary than usual for Chabon, though I'm particularly fond of one piece in which he talks about what it was like to grow up as a solitary geek who now has four children with shared interests -- all geeks, but not so solitary because they have the gift of each other.

 

8. Martin Pasko, The DC Vault. A history of DC Comics up to 2009 as written by the former comics writer who's best known as the answer to the trivia question, "Who was the regular writer on Saga of Swamp Thing before Alan Moore took over?" From their early beginnings before Superman, through the tough Comics Code years, to Crisis on Infinite Earths and beyond. It's more honest than I expected for a company-approved bio, especially in its frank talks of the sad mistreatment of Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, and Batman co-visionary Bill Finger. This massive coffee-table tome comes with a variety of objects as extras -- reproductions of old comics pages, posters, paper merchandise, and more. Pretty keen, if outdated now and kinda peculiar in how it avoids talking about Alan Moore any more than it has to.

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Fangirl was great, but I loved Carry On so much. Binged it in two days. I hope Rowell writes more speculative fiction.

 

Does Landline count?

 

Carry On was fun and intellectually interesting as a deconstruction of epic fantasies, the whole Chosen One motif, and fan fiction. It's great how the book can simultaneously take itself utterly seriously, yet is always winking at you. Carry On does prove that Rowell has a command of her craft that few authors have. She just went out and wrote and created a Harry Potter universe on a lark skipping the whole needless buildup and going straight to the finale, acknowledging a multi-book backstory we haven't read without confusing the reader but merely adding flavor. It really is an achievement, yet feels so effortless.

 

However, I just adore her little isolated character stories like Fangirl and Attachments and can't wait for her to get back to that. But, perhaps Rowell set up a return to Snow's World that splits the difference. There is an opening for her to write about Agatha Wellbelove's life in college now that she's split from the World of Mages.

 

I thought she was the most interesting character anyway.

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9. Mark Evanier, Kirby: King of Comics. The closest we'll ever get to a definitive biography of legendary comics artist Jack Kirby, co-creator of Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Dr. Strange, the X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, Galactus, Dr. Doom, the Silver Surfer, and Darkseid and his terrible friends over at DC. He rose from early NYC poverty as a scrappy Jewish kid into the non-glamorous world of comics at a time when they were cheap and plentiful and written off as kiddie fare. It was all about cranking out the work just to survive, until a partnership with Stan Lee would change the medium for all time. Too bad he was rarely paid fairly for what he did. Anyway, yeah, fantastic overview with oversize art reproductions for added weight and wonder.

 

10. Dave Gibbons with Chip Kidd and Mike Essl, Watching the Watchmen. The artist/co-creator of the groundbreaking graphic novel tells his side of the creation story and shares a metric ton of concept art, sketches, thumbnails, promotional pieces, rejected notions, and fuzzy memories of what it was like working with Alan Moore before Hollywood started ruining all his works and his mood. He also gives colorist John Higgins a few pages to provide his own reminiscing. Over half the book is just art, but there's just enough text to justify its inclusion here IMHO. Fair warning: anyone looking for controversy will be disappointed -- Gibbons wanted this to be a celebration of the work, not a tell-all. Also, this was published when "Before Watchmen" was still a proposal from DC Marketing that he'd rejected and optimistically presumed would never get off the ground. So in hindsight the ending of this book turned out a lot more ironic than he intended.

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11. Gene Ha, Mae. A Kickstarter'd graphic-novel prologue to an upcoming series about a Purdue student named Mae whose world gets upended when her years-missing older sister reappears one day out of nowhere with a weird outfit, a pair of axes, a forfeited claim to royalty in another dimension, and murderous monsters on her trail. Lovely book in which the women outnumber the men, but it's a pretty fast read.

 

12. Ed Piskor, Hip-Hop Family Tree, Vol. 1: 1970s-1981. A graphic-novel history of rap music's origins in the boroughs of NYC, covering a wide who's-who of names in the game, from early pioneers like Kurtis Blow, Afrika Bambaataa, Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons, and Grandmaster Flash to kids who'd grow up to be somebody, like Chuck D (a former graphic-arts major), Run-DMC before they knew each other, and producer Rick Rubin (purportedly a spoiled rich kid whose parents drove him to CBGB gigs so his own Fiat wouldn't get stolen), plus tangential appearances by Jean-Michael Basquiat, Deborah Harry from Blondie, two members of Talking Heads, future director Ted Demme. and a meanwhile-in-California-when-he-was-young cameo by Dr. Dre. To me it's all fascinating, anyway.

 

13. Keiler Roberts, Miseryland. Collection of single-panel quotes, comic-strip memories, and a few multi-page anecdotes written and illustrated by a mother with sharper storytelling acumen than any five armies of internet mommy-bloggers. Most parents can stretch out "My kid said the cutest thing the other day!" to three or four paragraphs and wait for the validating clicks, but it takes practice and discernment to toss out the filler, cut straight to the jaw-dropping parts, lay bare your own flaws when they're revealed, detour only a few times to touch on your own bipolar issues, then move on to the next bits without waiting frantically for applause or approval.

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