Walking on the Moon

• Will Eisner’s The Spirit #4 and #6
  • Still good to the last drop.  And it is Eisner’s Spirit, not really Cook, Bone, and Stewart’s.  They’re doing a remarkable job channeling Eisner and delivering all the ingredients in a singular genre – Spirit stories.  Even the visual tropes are Eisner, updated for the 21st century – #4 is really sharp in this regard, both the Spirit and Ebony and the Spirit and Dolan have a scenes where the dialog works because of the visual.  A great book; if you found the Spirit reprints off-putting because of the 40’s trappings and stereotypes, give this a try.
  • Sig Fodder: “I mean we have to draw the line.  No dairy, peanut free, donuts make you fat … fine.  But the coffee – all I’m asking is that my coffee taste like coffee, not some new age banana split for fitness freaks.” — Dolan with his finger on the pulse of the key to police work, #6
• Captain America #26
  • Brubaker seems to be trying to hold his story together with the storm of Civil War boiling all around him.  It’s heavy going at places, but though the deck’s pitching some, it remains enjoyable.  Bucky’s resolve at the end of the issue is the first wrong note for that character, and that worries me.  I’ll stick around a while yet.
  • Sig Fodder: “… some of his science is not science if you get my meaning” — Arnim Zola on Victor Von Doom (the attribution alone makes me a little tingly.)
• Batman and the Mad Monk
  • This is the second of Matt Wagner’s excellent retellings of Golden Age Batman storylines in the framework of Miller’s Batman: Year One.  If you’re a comics fan from the 80’s (like me) that’s an irresistable package.  Even if you’re not, this is great stuff.  Wagner’s plotting is clear and strong, and he’s got a really good feel for Batman.  He communicates Batman’s obsession without making him inhuman and builds up a vary plausible world about him.  It’s an joy for long underwear fans everywhere.

A few words about The Johnstown Flood are up on Bell, Book, and Candle.

I just finished The Penelopiad over in Bell, Book and Candle.

My reviews of At Canaan’s Edge and If the River Was Whiskey are up on Bell, Book and Candle.

My review of The Best American Science Writing 2006 is up in Bell, Book and Candle.

I’ve put my review of The Weather Makers up on Bell, Book, and Candle.

I’ve reviewed Rory Stewart’s excellent The Places In Between and started The Weather Makers in Bell, Book, and Candle.

I finished Sharpe’s Rifles, and there’s a review up in Bell Book and Candle.

My review of The Polysyllabic Spree is up on Bell, Book, and Candle.

My review of Team of Rivals is up on BBC.