I feel good! I feel bad! I feel strange every day! SUMMER READING

People have been asking me, "hey, Emmet, whatcha reading this summer?"
Okay, nobody's really asked me that, but, guess what? I'm gonna tell you anyway.


Adverbs, by Daniel Handler

No kidding, this is the same dude who writes those Lemony Snickett books for kids. This is a book for not-kids, howev, and it's sorta heartbreaking and wonderful. Great, terrific writing that's enjoyable for its own sake, but also fantastic stories that all sort of weave together in a pretty non-linear fashion.


Essential Avengers, Vol. 1, by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby (and others)

While it's not as wild and woolly and Stan & Jack's Fantastic Four or as pathos-ridden as theirIncredible Hulk, both of the same era, this is pretty fun 60s superhero team-up action. Some curiously meta stuff, like when the Wasp comments that Thor sounds like "a burlesque of a comic book superhero in Mad Magazine" (or words to that effect). And, of course, dynamite early 60s Kirby art.


The Lincoln Lawyer, by Michael Connelly

Wait a minute? Does Michael Connelly, he of the excellent, but stoic, Harry Bosch detective novels, have a sense of humour? This isn't exactly a "burlesque", as Janet Van Dyne might say, and it's certainly harrowing and two-fisted and all that you'd expect from a Connelly book, but it's also kinda funny.


Showcase Presents: Superman, Vol. 2, by Jerry Siegel, Otto Binder, Wayne Boring, Al Plastino etc.

Not nearly as brilliantly thrill-powered as the first volume, or as off-the-wall as Showcase Presents: Superman Family, Vol. 1, which features the late-50s/early-60s adventures of Jimmy Olsen, but I've fallen back in love with Superman lately, and this is still prime stuff. See Superman's soul-crushing return to Krypton! Krypto the Superdog's attempt to get Superman to propose to Lois Lane! THE OLD MAN OF METROPOLIS! Fun, fun, fun. P.S. There's a really good overview of the entire Showcase Presents series at FreakyTrigger.