Friday, May 3, 2019

What I'm Reading: Roundup

Let's do some of the books I've been reading lately, hitting the comics this time.

Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid The latest in the long Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney, about a middle-schooler named Greg who keeps a journal. My kids love this series--if we don't have all of them, we're pretty close. And I've been known to pick up copies left around the house and giggle my way through big chunks of them. Greg is always getting himself into ridiculous situations, usually because he tries to find the easy way out of a chore or homework assignment or a quick way to make money, only to find his shortcut has backfired on him.

This is the latest one, and is a little different than the others in that it's supposed to be written by Greg's best friend, Rowley. Rowley's a smart student in school, but not so much when it comes to reading other people--he always believes they have the best of intentions, and others, especially Greg, are always getting the better of him. I don't think this book worked quite as well as the books from Greg's point of view. In those books, we know what Greg's thinking, and he comes across as sympathetic. Here, he mainly comes across as manipulative, always trying to take advantage of his friendship with Rowley to get Rowley to do his homework or take the fall in their latest misadventure. Still, there were several funny scenes. If I were to recommend a book in this series, though, I think it would be The Long Haul, when Greg's family goes on vacation. Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid would probably be near the bottom of the list.

Batman in the Forties A collection of Batman stories from the 1940s (duh). Part of a series of Batman decades--the seventies one is probably the one I'll get next, if I do get another. It's amazing to me how much more readable stories from Batman's first decade are than various Batman stories I've read from the 1950s. The Comics Code, imposed in 1954, really did a number on the comics industry--just ripping the heart out of depictions of evil, and thus, adulterating the heroism of the protagonists as well. Here, even though these stories are aimed at kids or early teens, there's no shortage of gruesome murders and ruthless gangsters, plus those great macabre Batman villains. The introduction of Robin (from Batman #38) is surprisingly violent. It's easy to see why kids loved this!

The early Catwoman story titled Your Face Is Your Fortune (because Catwoman has disguised herself as a beautician to rob high society women) is probably the best one here, with Alfred, Armchair Detective, a close second. Lots of other good stuff too, though.

Detective Comics #1000 The anniversary issue, just out last month! Not a book in format, as it's the regular "floppy" comic style, but thick enough to be a book with 96 pages. Also, I feel compelled to point out, it's not really a Batman anniversary, as he didn't appear in this title until issue #27. No matter, it's the title he's been associated with since 1939.

I also picked up Action Comics #1000 a few months ago and found a few good stories, but a lot of filler, too. Not 'Tec #1000. Nearly every story in here is solid, with some great creative teams at work. I'm not normally a fan of writer Brian Michael Bendis, but I think his contribution was the best, with an elderly Penguin, who we learn has known Batman's secret identity for decades, using this knowledge for a final act of revenge against the frail, wheel-chair bound Bruce Wayne. However, Bruce Wayne still has a final counter-stratagem of his own....

Another good one was Batman's Longest Case, by Scott Snyder, about a case Batman has been following for years. Whenever he gets some free time, he'll work on the latest clue, which inevitably leads him to some exotic new location--an archeological dig in Egypt, a plane wreck in the Amazon--until finally leading him back to an abandoned tenement house in Gotham, where he discovers the source of the clues is....but that would be spoiling it.

A highly satisfying anniversary issue, entirely worthy of the Dark Knight.