I recently did a list of my top 10, it was tough cutting out some really good storylines, but this is my list:

1.-Midnight Nation by JMS and Gary Frank.
2.- Death: The High Cost of Living by Neil Gaiman and Chris Bachalo.
3.- The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller.
4.- The Death of Captain America by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting.
5.- Superman: Red Son by Mark Millar and Dave Johnson
6.- Punisher MAX: Slavers by Garth Ennis and Leo Fernandez
7.- Buffy Season 8: No Future for You by Brian K. Vaughan and Georges Jeanty
8.- Kraven's Last Hunt by J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck
9.- Fables: Homelands by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham
10.- V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd

Honorable Mentions:
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Invincible: Perfect Strangers by Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley
Bone (if I had to pick one storyline I'd go with Dragonslayer) by Jeff Smith
Captain America: The Winter Soldier by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting
Sleeper by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Daredevil: Elektra by Frank Miller
Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
Immortal Iron Fist: The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction and David Aja
Astonishing X-Men: Gifted by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday
I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly and J.M Ken Nimura
Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross
Marvels by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross
Simon Dark by Steve Niles and Scott Hampton
Maus by Art Spiegelman
Daredevil: The Devil Inside and Out by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark
Blankets by Craig Thompson

I am happy that the top 10 comprises work from ten different authors and ten different artists. From looking at the honorable mentions I conclude that my favorite writer must be Ed Brubaker.

TV

Babylon 5 I have watched 12 episodes of season 2 lately. The show is fantastic. Episode 9 on the second season "Coming of the Shadows" ranks as one of my favorite episodes of television (easily top 10). Episode 10 was kind of a let down, but the season has been quite strong so far. I am very excited with this series.

COMICS

I have read a lot of single issues not having read that much lately in terms of books or trades because I've spent so much time on math or the internet. However I've read some cool stuff and here it goes:

Amazing Spider-man #50 by Stan Lee and John Romita, a classic from the 60s. This issue is very famous for the cover and also for a particular panel both of which have been homaged and referenced multiple times. The panel in particular was recreated in the second Spider-man movie and I also remember it from a panel in Alan Moore's Top Ten. The issue is about Peter Parker being fed up with how being Spider-man ruins his life, always late to things, not being able to go on dates, not being able to be there in the house with his aunt, not being able to work at the research lab he wants, etc. He decides to stop being Spider-man. The issue is great and it also has very funny moments with J. Jonah Jameson. Great read, great art. Must read for any Spider-man fan.

Marvel Adventures: Spider-man #54 by Paul Tobin. I have never tried out this title as it is supposed to be for kids. But I decided to give it a try at a bookstore while waiting and I loved it. It reminds me of the feel of the TV show Spectacular Spider-man (great show) and it is just a very enjoyable Spider-man comic. It is definitely more optimistic and fun. It is also fun to read stories out of the normal continuity, seeing Gwen Stacy, having Emma Frost in Peter's world, having a new character that likes Peter and has powers. It was just a fun read. It also reminded me a little of Ultimate Spider-man, another comic I enjoyed a lot and which I should probably keep reading (I read the first 50 or so issues and then stopped, but it was great). After reading this issue I was convinced I should subscribe to this series and did so, so now this series will be another monthly excursion into my favorite superhero's life.

Models Inc. by Paul Tobin. Given that the variant cover has Tim Gunn, the awesome man from Project Runway, I had to buy this comic book. The comic itself was not good, mainly showing five models talking to each other and walking around town, however it has an interesting cliffhanger ending which suggests it will get better. It will only be four issues long, so I'll keep at it till it ends. The back had an extra story by Marc Sumerak being a story where Tim Gunn makes an appearance as given a tour of superhero fashion in the museum of fashion in New York. Some terrorists attack trying to get some of the superhero costumes as they have impressive technology such as the Fantastic Four uniform and of course Iron Man's armor. Tim Gunn in all his catchphrase glory "Makes it Work" and by saving the people around permits us to "Carry On" with our lives. The comic was vapid, but it made me smile.

All-Star Superman #11 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. I read the first six issues and I've heard issue 12 is the best ever, so I am very interested in reading the complete series when it comes out at an affordable price. I had the opportunity to read this issue at a bookstore and gave it a go. The issue was very fun and very crazy. Morrison is definitely a writer I should read more, his ideas are very bizarre and interesting. Reading this issue made me want to read issue 12 for sure.

Light of Thy Countenance by Alan Moore. This is actually a short story that Avatar press decided to adapt into a short graphic novel. The story has no dialogue but it was cool to have the beautiful art of Felipe Massafera. The story is great, although it is hard to get into it. It made me think a lot about time spent on TV and my time on the internet. It is about how TV is the new God of mankind and how we worship it 4 hours a day. While I don't watch much TV, I do spend countless hours on the internet in an almost zombie fashion. I must use it less (although I am fine writing on LJ, it kind of doesn't count as internet time as it is more about writing). Interesting read.

Planerary Reader by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday. A small compilation of three issues from the acclaimed series "Planetary". This has issues 13,14 and 15. I liked 13 a lot, but 14 and 15 were very confusing, I assume I need to know more about the story to follow them (13 was self-contained). I loved the art and I enjoyed reading it, although I wouldn't recommend it as I didn't feel like I wanted to know more and I didn't feel like I was understanding what's going on. However issue 13 was fun and interesting.

Buffy Season 8 #28 by Jane Espenson and Georges Jeanty. The story was funny and cool. I don't like the Buffy comics as much as I used to, but it's been fun. The art is not very good however. Another good but not great issue.

Chew #4 by John Layman and Rob Guillory. The art in this comic is amazing, Guillory is just the perfect artist for this weirdly funny comic. I love how things are developing and the grotesque laughs that come out of this comic. I don't like this issue as much as the last one, but it is still very good. The next issue should be very good, wrapping up the current story arc.

Irredeemable #6 by Mark Waid and Peter Krause. This issue was very good. It made me interesting in knowing what will happen next. I like getting to know little by little more about Plutonian and I liked how the story is developing. The last four pages are great, I am really excited for next month's issue.

COMICS

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Book 1 by Eastman and Laird, the first 16 issues of the TNMT. It is incredible to realize that the big TV kid phenomenon had its roots in comics and were almost a fluke. The creators worked on it, got a loan to self publish and then somehow their little project became a hit comic and suddenly they had all sorts of deals. The issues are in black and white (only the covers were in color and only after the fourth issue). The series is a fun read and it is surprising to me to realize how the beginning of the Turtles was kind of a parody of the beginning of Daredevil (in fact the Turtles were hit with the same ooze that gave Daredevil his powers). It was cool to see the Turtles in crazy time traveling or dimension traveling adventures and it was interesting to see how the Shredder is defeated in the first issue. It was a fun read, I am glad I read the original Turtles.

Amazing Spider-man #601 by Mark Waid. The issue was okay. It promised a lot with the return of MJ, but didn't really deliver all that much. The backstory by Bendis and Quesada was good.

Amazing Spider-man #602-603 by Fred Van Lente. #602 was good and #603 was fantastic. #603 might be my favorite issue of Spider-man in over a year. The issue has suspense, humor and a different point of view (as it is told from Chameleon's perspective). Fred van Lente seems to be a perfect writer to bring back lame villains and make them better. He did it with Spot (a great issue for Spider-man, it was #589 or maybe #588) and now with Chameleon. A great read.

Marvels: Eye of the Camera #1-5 by Kurt Busiek and Jay Anacleto. The miniseries is supposed to be 6 issues long, but the sixth one won't come out till November. However, I had the five issues and hadn't read them so I started them. They are great. I love the artwork and I love the stories. Phil Seldon is a nice guy to read about. I like seeing the Marvel universe from an everyman's point of view. It is cool to see how the crazy things that happen in the universe affect the population. Marvel has always tried to make their stories be about how the world would be if superheroes really existed, but Marvels is where it actually analyzes this commitment and gives great stories around the premise. I love the issues, maybe even more than the original Marvels (although this might be because I don't remember how I felt when reading Marvels). Great stuff, looking forward to the final issue.

Thor Vol.1 and Vol.2 by JMS. I had forgotten almost everything about Thor and since I have been loving JMS stuff (Babylon 5, Midnight Nation), I decided to re-read Volume 1. I liked it a lot more this time than last time I read it. It was very funny and it made me care about Thor (a hero I've never cared too much about). The volume also analyzes (a bit) how the world would accept (or reject) a God. Making references to kids much more interested in reading Norse mythology and playing role-playing games with Asgardians in mind.
Volume 2 was also pretty cool, bringing in the main villain of the story and making him (in a woman body) a great villain. It was cool to see how Loki got to be part of Thor's family and how he manipulates people around him. In a way it is very funny that he is able to do this given that he is the God of Mischief and hence nobody should trust him at all. He always finds a way to deceive. Great writing by Straczynski.

Fables Vol. 12 by Bill Willingham. Issue #75 was the climax of a long storyline, so it was strange in a way to have the story continue, I was curious about what would happen (although it's been 8 months since I read issue #75). The book was good but not great. It clearly wasn't as good as the last 5 or six volumes, but it was still good. I will keep reading, the new villain is interesting. There were some important things happening, such as the death of Boy Blue. Fables is a great series and it is a series I would recommend to anyone, however I would recommend up to #75, I would have to wait before I recommend the new storylines.

BOOKS

Death of Achilles by Boris Akunin. Yuliia has been reading a lot of books by this Russian author and this was a book that the Dartmouth library had both in English and in Russian. The book follows Erast Fandorin on a murder case, Fandorin is kind of the Russian Sherlock Holmes, although a detective that is able to fight very well after training in the samurai ways in Japan (he is also fluent in Japanese). I think the book is very good, I specially liked the second half of the book which is written in the point of view of Achimas, a very interesting character. I really liked the second half and because of it, ended up thinking the book was very good. I will probably read another Akunin book this year (he has written about 12 Fandorin novels and four of them have been translated to English).

MOVIES

District 9 I was very excited about this movie and drove to Manchester to watch it (so that I would see it in a worthy cinema). I wasn't disappointed, this movie was terrific. I loved it. The storytelling was original, the story itself was exciting and the movie was overall very well made. It might be a little over the top with the action at some points, but I loved it. Yuliia couldn't stand some scenes and left the theater in the middle (good thing, we plan for this sort of thing by bringing books to the movie so she could read outside). The scenes that made Yuliia left the theater made me realize that she won't like Cronenberg movies, which is a bit of a shame, but I guess Cronenberg movies are not for everyone. Great movie, I recommend it.

Failure to Launch Saw this movie on the bus back from my trip to Morelia (bus from Boston to Lebanon). The movie is okay, not a movie I would recommend or watch unless I was at a bus. I probably wouldn't watch it in an airplane as it would require paying a dollar which is not worth paying for this. The movie had its funny moments and it was fun, but the plot is terrible.

Bridget Jones Diary I watched the second half of this movie with Yuliia, she was watching this through Netflix and she was enjoying it, so I joined in for the second half. I laughed quite a bit. Not bad.

Bruno They showed this at Dartmouth and I had free passes so Yuliia and I went again. Yuliia didn't like it as much upon seconnd viewing, but I liked it a lot. I laughed so much and I even had more value from some scenes that I didn't enjoy that much before. I love this comedy.

Post Grad Watched this last night after a long time looking for airplane tickets for Yullia and me (we have weird restrictions that needed a lot of looking around to find the best price). The movie wasn't good, it had its funny moments, the story wasn't terrible and I like Michael Keaton in this movie, plus I think Alexis Bledel is gorgeous, but the movie is just mediocre. However I would recommend it over "Failure to Launch".

TV

Babylon 5 Season 1 This show is really good. A lot of the episodes have very interesting themes. I love the episode "Deathwalker" about an evil scientist who destroyed many planets in her research and was kind of a Hitler character being a dictator of a species that wanted to destroy the other species. She has been thought dead for decades, yet she is in perfect shape now. It turns out she created a medicine that makes you live forever. Should you put her to death penalty or led her make her medicine available to everyone (she is needed for the development of a medicine that can be distributed to the masses). A very interesting episode.
There are other great episodes in this season and the characters grow each episode while more and more questions keep popping up. I am looking forward to continue watching this series. Great stuff.

Amazing Spider-man #600 A huge anniversary issue, instead of the normal 22 pages (plus 10 of ads), it was 104 pages without ads. It was glorious. It started with a 62 page story by Dan Slott and John Romita Jr. about Aunt May's wedding. I really liked the whole plot by Dr. Octopus, it was a good story. Then there were several short stories, one by Stan Lee called "Identity Crisis" which was drawn by Marcos Martin (he's awesome), this story was funny. There was a cute short story by Waid about Uncle Ben raising Peter, there was a story by Buckingham about Aunt May going to Uncle Ben's grave to ask for permission to marry again. A funny story by Gale about why it is not as fun to be Spider-man, a story by Joe Kelly which I didn't like that much (seems to be setup for future issues, more than an actual story) and then my favorite story by Zeb Wells making fun of the Spider-mobile. I have to admit I always thought the Spider-mobile was just a toy, I didn't know that there were 60 issues in the 70s when Spider-man actually used a Spider-mobile. Great issue.

Amazing Spider-man Extra #2 This issue is about six months old, but since I liked the other two "Extras" I got this one too. Of the three extras, this is the worst. But it was still enjoyable. Paulo Siqueira's art in the second story was fantastic. It was a nice story too (about Wolverine's birthday). The first story was an okay story about Anti-Venom by Dan Slott. Not great. I guess this issue is worth its price mainly because of the second story.

Scourge of the Gods #1-3 by Valerie Mangin. The story is quite unusual and it is not fantastic, but I enjoyed it. It was interesting, it had its suspenseful moments and it had interesting ideas. The whole series is 6 issues (each issue is double size) and I am looking forward to the next three issues as the third one ended in a big cliffhanger.

Chew #3 by Robert Layman. Fantastic. Really amazing. I liked the author from the Stephen Colbert comics (Tek Jansen). The Tek Jansen issues weren't great, but besides the main story they had a side story in the back which was written by Layman and he always would make me laugh. Now he has this series and I have been buying each issue. The first one was great, the second one was good and this issue is just fantastic. The story is wacky and for many it would be gross, but it is funny, creative and interesting. The art is very different from what I've seen before and I love it. I am glad I am reading this series. Highly recommended. I am now reconsidering buying "Maintenance" a comic that Layman wrote a couple of years ago.

Absolution #1 by Christos Gage. I was a bit disappointed by this issue. The end of the issue makes me want to keep reading, but throughout the issue I just felt like I wasn't reading anything terribly interesting. I'll give the book a couple of more issues before I drop it, but I have to say, the worst of the bunch I am reviewing here.

Buffy #27 by Jane Espenson. It was a good issue, Twilight is back into the foreground which I think is very important. We need a big villain this season and Twilight had been off the spotlight for too long. I like how bad a situation the slayers have, it should make for some interesting stories. This issue is slow and doesn't do much, but it shows the potential of the issues to come. The series has been in a sort of slump for a few issues, it seems like it will be out of it soon. Something that bugs me though is that I don't remember at all when Riley made his appearance in this series.

Irredeemable #5 by Mark Waid. I loved the first issue of this series, but since then no issue has been that good, although 4 was fantastic. Issue 5 is also very good (I was about to write how disappointed I was, but I think that is just because compared to Chew it isn't that good, but it is very good). The ending is great leaving a bunch of interesting questions for the future and I love the fact that it only cost $1 (to attract new readers). The art is sometimes great and sometimes mediocre.

I've also been reading a couple of books, one will inspire a post coming up soon.

Movie:
Lars and the Real Girl This movie is great. It is heart warming, funny and very interesting. I highly recommend it.

Sunday I played a lot of poker, making it very far in a tournament but coming out almost empty handed (won just 75 cents).

The weekly classes were fun getting to the main event of the class, the Central Limit Theorem. What a beautiful theorem. I really enjoy the class very much.

Research is becoming more exciting, some cool things need to be proven.

One of the main events this week was getting pulled over by a cop. On Tuesday, I went to renew things for the car and to renew my driver's license. However the DMV was closed for renovations and I didn't want to drive 40 minutes to Claremont for it. Of course, I had to be stopped by a cop on the next day and while she stopped me for something bogus (claiming I crossed a red light when it was yellow), she had the right for asking for my driver's license which was expired. Hence on Thursday I had to go to Claremont to get a driver's license and next week I'll have to go to Concord to show the state court that now I have a driver's license.

Thursday Night Salsa was fun. Lots of dancing. Tuesday night swing was also fun, I think Yuliia and I dance it well.

I have also been into programming lately, working hours on some projects. I mainly got back into programming things because of the probability class, but now I have my hand on trying to program some number theory things. I love it, it is very fun.

With respect to movies, I watched Funny People yesterday, which was pretty good. It is very long for a comedy, clocking in at 2 hours and 20 minutes, but I guess that is not so unusual with Judd Apatow (Knocked up also reached the 2 hour threshold). I liked the movie. While the main jokes are about farts or penises, the story itself is interesting. I wasn't expecting that. Yuliia didn't like it.

With respect to reading, I read a Spider-man issue and just a few pages of a Neal Stephenson book. I also read some math papers. But what consumed most of my reading time was a manga called Liar Game. It is a manga that is driven by fun puzzle like games. It is really good, the story is kind of addicting. I read 80 issues of the manga during the week. Good stuff, I had never read manga before (although I tried a bit with a manga that Geoff lent me a few months ago). Good stuff.

Life is good.

Amazing Spider-Man #599 by Joe Kelly. I was underwhelmed by this issue. It ends the "American Son" arc. It was fun but it wasn't that great. I am glad to see Norman Osborn having a more central piece in the Spider-man universe, but some of the dialogue was too unbelievable. I did enjoy Spidey's lines during the fight, they were hilarious, but most of the Osborn moments were not that good.

Amazing Spider-man Extra #1 Three stories to complement the main title were told here. This is kind of an oldie. It has a cool backstory to Hammerhead, a really cool trial for Spider0man (which we only get a glimpsed of in the Character Assassination storyline) and a nice buddy issue between Spidey and Harry (Harry's birthday). This buddy issue had some very funny moments, specially when Spidey fights a supervillain that makes superglue.

Amazing Spider-man Extra #3 Another three story special Spider-man comic. This one has a background story for Harry (revealing more about his childhood), a cool story involving Kraven's daughter, where she disappears evidence of her mother and at the same time makes Spidey think she died. There's also a story about the consequences of Spider-man existing. How he feels guilty for many of the disasters that happen to his friends. He became Spider-man to help people but are his actions really helping? Quite good issue. Both extras I've read are very good.

Walking Dead Compendium This contains the first 48 issues. It is written by Robert Kirkman, an author I enjoy from his "Invincible" comic. Walking Dead is much more serious. It is fantastic. It is hard to put the book down, it is a real page turner. The best part of the book is that as the story progresses the danger for humans is not so much the zombies, but themselves. Really good story. I must also point out that there is a sequence of ten pages that is out of this world, a really graphic scene of torture, I have never seen something as disturbing in comics. But don't let this push you away from this title, the horror is much more psychological than graphic.

Walking Dead Vol. 9 This contains issues 49-54. The story continues after a pretty tragic end in the 48th issue. This six issues are pretty tame, yet interesting. Setting up the future of the series. I didn't even notice when I hit issue 50, I guess it wasn't super special, it just kept the story going.

I finished reading George R.R. Martin's A Feast for Crows a while ago (beginning of July). The fourth book in the series out of the four books published so far. After finishing I have been reading online forums to look at cool discussions regarding the book from where I discovered things I hadn't noticed on my first read (Loras + Renly, Rhaegar + Lyanna = Jon, among other things). The books are fantastic. The best so far for me is Storm of Words (the third one). The fourth is great even though it restricts to half the world (as the book Martin wrote was so big they had to divide it in two: North and South). It has a multitude of great moments. I loved reading about Pyke, about Oldtown, Bravos and Dorne. It was fun to follow characters like Brienne around and it was interesting to read about Cersei. It is incredible how much worse a person she is than I thought. I always knew she was horrible, but reading in her point of view made me dislike her much more. She is incredibly bad. The ending has quite a bit of cliffhangers, but cliffhangers that made me happy (except for Brienne, although before reading online forums I thought it was no cliffhanger, I figured she was dead). Great book, great series, I want to keep reading.

COMICS:
Amazing Spider-Man #598 Part Four of American Son was a good issue. We find out what happened to Spider-Man and we see the introduction of the American Son. I am hyped about the next issue. It came out yesterday but Marvel hasn't sent it to me yet (argh!).

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #36 A good issue showing a new villain (Raptor?) and showing us a bit of Spider-man's past to understand what was changed with Brand New Day and what wasn't. Not an issue I would recommend. Last year's annual was much more interesting.

Chew #2 The second issue of the series is solid. Not great like the first issue, but I'll definitely give the series a shot for at least five issues. It should be a fun ride. The story is about a dude that when eating something he gets visions of all that has happened to that food before (where it was, how it was killed, or how it was grown, etc.). It is very funny, very strange and quite fun.

Irredeemable #4 The series is getting back on track after a weak third issue. This issue has some cool stuff like seeing how the world leaders cope with this with a scene in the UN, but it also shows us the extent of Plutonian's villainy. He is as cruel as they come.

Buffy #26 The issue was quite cool, I liked the dialogue and it had plenty of funny moments. I am interested in seeing what will happen next, we finally are gearing to more serious storylines that need more than one issue to tell.

Gotham Central The series went for nearly 30 issues and it is finally being published in collections. This collection has the first ten issues. It consists of a two part story by Brubaker + Rucka, a three part story by Brubaker and a five part story by Rucka. I like both authors a lot. The first story was weak but it was good to get us started. It established the feel of the series in terms of artwork (kind of noir from great penciler Michael Lark) and the role of Batman in the story as a background character. The second storyline was a really good detective story, while the third storyline was a really cool story that deals with homosexuality, hispanic hate towards homosexuality (to their own children), a villain framing a cop and other cool things. The third storyline was the best of the three.

Incognegro A really great (albeit short) graphic novel about a black person born with white skin who infiltrates ku kux klan to write stories of the cruelty of it in newspapers. Stories that list people's names etcetera. This has some inspiration in real life events (the idea of incognegro does), however the story is fiction. It follows Incognegro to try to rescue his brother from murder charges (of murdering a white woman). People don't know they are brothers even though they are twins because of one of them has light skin (white) while the other doesn't. Really good book dealing with race, showing a great story about the past in the US, while also being an interesting mystery. The ending was fantastic. Highly recommend it.

Invincible Ultimate Collection #1-#4 and Invincible #48 I recently bought the fourth collection and while reading it, I decided to go back and look at the other three as I didn't remember much besides the main plot of the first collection. I was surprised to see how awesome it was. The comic is fantastic and it gets better with subsequent readings. Anything can happen in this comic and the story takes you to all sorts of wonderful adventures while revealing more and more about Mark Grayson and his friends. I love this comics. I read all of them last weekend and today I read issue #48 after realizing Book 4 ends in issue 47 and Book 5 (comes out in September) starts at issue #49. #48 was cool, but I want to know more as there are so many plot threads. I love how Kirkman (the author) puts in little pieces here and there until a story explodes many issues later and then all of a sudden the other plot develops. It is great how he manages to put in so much in each issue and still manage to make it feel smooth, natural and fun. If you like superheroes at all, you MUST read this book. If you don't like superheroes than it might still be worth the read. They claim to be the Best Super Hero Comic and it might actually be true (at least it is true for me).
I must also comment on the artwork as it is very different from anything I see anywhere. Ryan Ottley does a great job of making beautiful drawings that are very smooth. He manages to make it look great without resorting to too much realism (it is fantasy after all, I don't want it to look real, I want it to look awesome). The drawings are very dynamic and best of all the color palette is just unique. Bill Crabtree might be my favorite colorist, this book looks like no other and at the same time it looks better. Can't praise this book enough.

Urban Myths #1 This series didn't survive after one issue even though the issue was quite fun. The story lives in Greek Mythology world full of minotaurs and other crazy beasts. There are drugs that put you in a coma that permit you to go to Hades. The Sun comes up because Apollo brings it up (I really liked this scene). The main character is the son of Medusa how inherits her powers, so he puts on a mask and works as a detective. Pretty cool issue, I enjoyed it.

Captain America: The Man with no Face I absolutely love Brubaker's Captain America, but this trade is not that good. It is solid, it is a quick, fun read, but it is nowhere near the greatness of the first 42 issues. Hopefully the story will pick up, I guess the main thing I had been liking about Cap was how Brubaker developed this long story that needed 42 issues. Now that it ended I wonder how he will continue. His Daredevil has gone through slumps in my opinion, maybe it is time for Cap to go through slumps too. Maybe I am just getting tired of reading too many superhero comics.

The House of They I bought this not knowing it was a children's book. Nevertheless it was fun, although too quick a read. Essentially it is just 40 paragraphs and it cost $15, so not worth the price, but I guess 10-15 years from now when I have little kids at a reading age, I can show them this to help teach them to not follow authority blindly. The book has a great message and it was entertaining, but I definitely won't recommend it to people that don't have kids.

MOVIES:
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince The movie was great. I liked that the movie didn't try to follow the book piece by piece, adding a scene (for example a Muggle waitress hitting on Harry) and cutting out things (such as too much Ginny-Harry moments or too many Voldemort memories). The movie essentially focused on Harry, Hermione, Ron and Dumbledore. Any other character had almost no screen time. The Ron-Lavender scenes were great, the Slughorn scenes were also cool and Dumbledore just kicked butt. I really enjoyed the movie, I thought they made many good decisions. Books can cover way more characters than movies, and it was a wise decision to keep the narrative to as few characters as possible.

Borat I loved this movie when I first saw it, but it is not as good upon reviewing. I laughed a lot, but nearly as much as last time. Yuliia liked the movie even though she didn't laugh that much. She just found interesting the use of real people for the jokes and what Sacha Baron Cohen was capable of doing.

Bruno I loved this movie. I laughed so hard. Yuliia, who didn't laugh much at Borat, was hysterical in this movie, laughing all the time. The movie had many really funny scenes and it had some kind of narrative (although not a great one) to keep the story going. I've read about people complaining that the movie shows homophobes in a much better light than non-homophobes, but I think it casts a light on hidden hate people have for homosexuals, the wrestling scene being a great example of this. The main reason I liked this movie was that it made me laugh a lot.

Sin Nombre This movie was filmed in Mexico, being the directorial debut of Cary Fukunaga, an American director. The movie was very good. I think the characters were very real and the story was very interesting. It shows the desperation of many people and how a young boy can be bad because he was taught that way. I liked the movie and it was very thought provoking. It was engaging. Great movie.

Ice Age 3 The first half of this movie was not good at all, but it resuscitated in the second half with the introduction of Buck, a really funny dude. The second half was funny and it made it become not a waste of time. My mom and Yuliia liked it more than I did, my mom even liking the first half.

Public Enemies The latest movie by Michael Mann with performances by Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. The movie was quite good. Yuliia absolutely loved it and kept mentioning tidbits about it days later. I am happy that she loved it because this gives me a good excuse to show her Michael Mann movies like Heat and Manhunter. I liked the movie but I didn't love it. I think the story of John Dillinger is movie worthy, but somehow I think the movie could have been better.

COMICS
This time I read a bit more comics since I finished "A Storm of Swords" and hadn't bought "A Feast for Crows" yet:

Amazing Spider-Man #595-597 by Joe Kelly. This arc is called "American Son". It will be a five part miniseries. These three issues are the first three parts. The first issue has a really good ending. The second issue was really good, specially the Fantastic Four inclusion, it was just brilliantly done. The third issue reveals a lot and has a crazy cliffhanger at the end. I really want to read the fourth issue already. In theory it already came out, but I usually get it by mail a little late, which for some time bugged me very much (since I would receive it before the newspaper people before and now I don't), but it is not something worthy of being annoyed. In any case, I am glad Spider-man is an almost weekly comic so I can find out fast.

Punisher MAX Vol.5 This comic consists of two storylins: "Long Cold Dark" which was good but not great. It had an interesting premise and story, but it just had too much over the top action. The Barracuda-Punisher fight lasts about three issues and that is just too much. However the story was solid. The second storyline was "Valley Forge, Valley Forge" which was awesome. Definitely top 5 (which would be top half) of the Punisher stories, without analyzing heavily, I think I would place it in third (the first two are clearly "Slavers" and "Up is Down, Black is White"). It uses images from Vietnam to tell a story, it also uses prose in parts which I don't recall seeing in a Marvel comic. But the idea of having Delta force go after Castle is pretty cool. I liked it a lot. I like finding out about crazy criminals a la "Slavers" but this was a pretty good Punisher story, a story that depends on his character every step of the way, it explains us who he is. Really good.

I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly. This is a comic published by Image Comics (the biggest "Indie" company). The comic has very strange art for American comics, but it was great. The story was just really good. It reminds me of Pan's Labyrinth in how it mixes fantasy and reality. It started slow and almost boring, but by the third issue it grabbed momentum. The whole thing with the monster in the upper floor became interesting by the third issue and the reveal was just very satisfying. Very good comic.

BOOKS:
A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin. This is the third book in the Song of Ice and Fire series. It is the best so far. It is so complex, it is so ambitious. I can believe it. This book is a tour-de-force as people like to say. I can believe how he can juggle so many characters and make everyone so interesting. The growth of Daenerys and Jon has been great. The characters have changed so much, but in such natural ways.
I enjoy Tyrion very much, he's wit is awesome. Martin is fantastic in being able to become each character per chapter.
It was cool to have Jaime in a point of view. It was great to get to see his angle and emphatize with him. He is not the monster he seemed. I also enjoyed getting to know more about Beric Dondarrion, Mance Rayder and other cool characters.
The book made me go from excitement (Arya seeing Harwyn) to despair (Red Wedding). The red Wedding was so sad. I am still in shock. I am two thirds into the fourth book (which is also a thousand page monster) and I still think of the red wedding.
Really good book and one that felt more like it ended. The other two books felt too much like "To be continued" at the end, but this felt like it could actually be an ending (although an ending with many things left open).
Loved it.

Comics:
Amazing Spider-Man #592-593-594 592-593 is a story called 24/7 by Mark Waid. It was enjoyable. It had a good villain and plenty of laughs. It was about Spidey being Spidey for a full week without sleep doing lots of good things to make JJJ mad (JJJ is now Mayor). 594 is the start of "American Son", which will be a five issue mini-series by Joe Kelly. The issue wasquite cool, had a pretty big reveal and it is gearing up to be intense as Spidey seems serious about taking out Norman Osborn.

Irredeemable #2-3 The series by Mark Waid started great. I loved the first two issues, but the third one was kind of lame. It didn't have enough in it, but I forgive it as it I am used to reading trade paperbacks and not single issues. I like what it is happening, but I am a little worried that it is using too much comic book archtypes. It seems like it could get to being generic soon.

Buffy Season 8 #25 Pretty good issue explaining a lot about Dawn going through those transformations. The last five issues haven't been great in terms of arc, but have been pretty good in terms of funny stories. This one was also funny, although the funniest had to be the Vampy Cat, that was hilarious. I am looking forward to more arc driven plots to come our way though.

Chew #1 by John Layman. I decided to try something new and try this new series (since I was happy with my decision of trying Irredeemable, I've been trying a couple of new series). The first issue convinced me to keep buying for a bit. We'll see how far I go, so far I will plan on buying at least two more issues. The main premise seems like it could bring good issues and funny ones too. I liked it.

Unwritten #1 This issue was great. I won't continue buying the series because I prefer reading in trades and with this series I am certain that it will be compiled in trade paperbacks later on (Vertigo almost always does and this series has the look of a winner all over it). Great premise, great storytelling, I want to know what happens.

BOOKS
I haven't read many comics because I have been reading the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin:

A Game of Thrones The first book in the series, it kicks off with a really interesting prologue that doesn't seem to be talked about in the book until much later. The story is just very entertaining and complex, there are just too many characters, but it is told in a superb way. I really like how the book switches in different perspectives every chapter taking you from one character to another to tell the story from a different set of emotions, plus allowing the reader to see what is going on in far away places. I love the structure. This book was full of surprises and the character development is incredible. Loved it.

A Clash of Kings As good as the first book, it almost feels like it is just a continuation, it seems like the series will be one long book. A lot of really cool things happened in this book and I keep being amazed at how the author can juggle so many characters and so many situations. I just have to say, I love Tyrion, he's a really fun character to read about. With some characters I have a love/hate relationship, but I feel close to nearly all of them (Theon would be the exception).

Currently I am a quarter of the way through on Storm of Swords and I am loving it.

It is interesting that I read much more when I'm Yuliia than when I'm without her (as evidenced by the month we were away). My guess is that I spend much less time on the internet, as without her I spend idle times on things such as reading forums. But then again, maybe the spike in reading time has more to do with the quality of the recent comic books and the fact that travelling leads to more reading. Who knows the reason, regardless, it is time to review the latest books I've read:

Amazing Spider-man #591 This I read just before leaving New Hampshire. The issue was quite good. I liked the story a lot and it revealed a little more about how Spider-man's secret became a secret again. But mainly it was good due to the adventure side of it.

Classic Deadpool Vol. 2 Contains issues 2-8, -1 and Daredevil/Deadpool Annual. It is written by the critically acclaimed Joe Kelly. This is where he got his breakthrough and given that the series is famous for its humor I decided to give it a go. It is annoying that it doesn't include issue 1, as issue one is in volume one (which I didn't purchase as it only has one issue by Joe Kelly), however it was a fun read. It is not great and it is not something I would recommend reading, but I enjoyed it. It had some humor (less than I expected) and some good action. It just wasn't thought provoking and it wasn't that interesting. I guess the best part is the Typhoid Mary storyline which is a lot more interesting than the other ones. That storyline was pretty good.

Midnight Nation by JMS. From the title I thought this book was about vampires, I wasn't too thrilled but I bought it anyway because I like the writing of JMS. The book is not about vampires and it is just simply amazing. The fourth issue in this 12 issue story is probably the best issue I have read in comics. Beautiful and powerful. It was very thought provoking. JMS was inspired to write this from his experiences walking at night in San Diego in 1978. He would walk every night for a year, until very late at night. The book is about the dychotomy between the day people (business men, workers, students) and the night people (hookers, junkies, homeless people). How a same street can be so different at day and at night, how one world seems to ignore the other world. It is an amazing story and one that I highly recommend, one of the best comics I have ever read.

Scalped Vol. 1 by Jason Aaron. This story revolves around an Indian reservation. The story is quite interesting and it did leave me wanting for more, so I'll read the nest volume.

Criminal: Coward (Vol. 1) by Ed Brubaker. This is a pretty cool noir story about a pickpocket guy that has never been caught by the police and it is due mainly to him being a coward. The story is very good and I am glad it is all self contained. There are four volumes of Criminal, but it seems each colume must be a different story with different characters. I was expecting a long series and got just a 5 issue story, but it was a great story. Ed Brubaker never disappoints.

War Stories Vol. 1 by Garth Ennis. This is a really good comic book about World War II. It has four stories. The first one is called "Johann's Tiger" and it is about a band of Nazi deserters (at the end of WWII) which try to reach the Americans and their main defense is an impressive German tank. Pretty good story. The second story was my favorite, it is called "D-Day Dodgers" and it basically makes a story around the Ballad of the D-Day Dodgers", the story involves an important campaign in WWII which was disdained because it wasn't fought in France. Very moving story. The third story was "Screaming Eagles" and it is very inspired by Band of Brothers (which I haven't read or seen and now I want to), a good story about soldiers not liking the mini dictators (generals) in the army. The fourth story is called "Nightingale" which is an interesting story about ships protecting envoys in the sea. A really good story based on a captain that saved sailors from fire. Another moving story. This was a very good. I loved it.