August 2019 Journal (Patreon)

Lazarus Vols. 2-4 (Greg Rucka & Michael Lark) - One of the best comics being printed today. Greg Rucka's adeptness at writing high-concept, character-driven political thrillers is at full throttle in this series. Can't wait to read more.

Fell Vol. 1: Feral City (Warren Ellis & Ben Templesmith) - Image really needs to reprint this book with the Vol 1: Feral City subtitle taken off and issue #9 included. Ellis and Templesmith are obviously never going to finish this comic, and Image needs to face up to this. Still, I enjoyed this one. It's grotesque, funny, and a neat exercise in "Ellis finds a new disgusting way to kill someone every issue." Templesmith's art has a controlled sketchiness to it whose nearest analogue in my mind is Eddie Campbell. Good enough that you'll spend an afternoon researching  3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate and wine enemas. 

A Morbid Taste for Bones (Ellis Peters) - Never saw Cadfael, so this was my introduction to the character, and hoo boy was I let down. This is a mind-wrenchingly boring book, pasting a bog-standard mystery into a medieval setting while not taking advantage of any of the promising ideas this combination offers. Add to that a lot of turgidly archaic prose and you'll guarantee I'm never going to read another Peters book.

Batwoman: Elegy (Greg Rucka & J. H. Williams III) - Fuck. One of the biggest problem with the obscene glut of superhero movies is that they aren't anything like this book. Elegy is gorgeous, conceptually bold, and moves like clockwork. Even the militarism of the story doesn't bother me that much - at least Rucka is honest about the ethos of superheroes. Sublime.

Transmetropolitan Vols. 4-6 (Warren Ellis & Darick Robertson) - Still the best comic ever, even if Vol. 5: Lonely City is the weakest of the bunch, getting way too bogged down in its misanthropy to be anything other than unpleasant. However, The New Scum has more of Year of the Bastard's delightful political fury and Gouge Away makes itself a contender for the best Transmet book in its formalist concession that maybe investigative journalism isn't enough to save us. It looks like it won't be now, but god, what a comic.

Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right (Jane Mayer) - Been on an investigative journalism kick, so why not. This is an expansive work of top notch reporting, phenomenally researched and cutting to the heart of how the Koch Brothers are one of the most toxic forces in the United States. Mayer's liberalism is definitely a presence - her standpoint is more that the Kochs are bad because they're a threat to liberal democracy than to the fact they've cost thousands of American lives - but ideological shortcomings don't demote the book from its perch as a seminal work of political reporting. Excellent.