What, Pray Tell, Am I Reading?

They say you can learn a lot about a person from the comics that they read. I don't know who the heck 'they' are, but I think that it's certainly true, to some extent.

With that being said, I thought I'd open up my world to folks a little bit and give you an idea of what sorts of Four Color Fiction is sitting on my nightstand these days. They aren't in any particular order. Enjoy!

Usagi Yojimbo: Constantly my favorite book month after month, and has been for years. A lot of people put this in the Manga category, but it's atypical, if Manga at all. Stan Sakai does his homework, and it's created a rich universe that I never get tired of.

Y: The Last Man: Another staple of mine--a story that has kept my interest since the beginnings. It's a shame to see it ending this year, but I admire the fact that the story has a planned, definitive end.

The Spirit: Only two issues have been printed so far, but I'm hooked. I love Darwyn Cook's work, and he's perfect for this book--he has just enough Eisner style for it to work. As an aside, if you haven't read DC: The New Frontier, you're an idiot! :)

PVP: Definitely one of the books that inspired SubCulture. It's constantly funny, and Scott Kurtz is a genuinely nice guy.

Knights of the Dinner Table: Same idea as PVP. I spent years in the trenches as a gamer, and this book is spot on in capturing the genre. We all know a few Bobs, Daves, Sarahs, and Brians. I'm a B.A., if you must know.

B.P.R.D.: I love this book. Guy Davis is such an underrated artist, but he creates a perfect mood for the stories they are trying to tell. It's no step back at all from Hellboy. I'm glad that new mini-series come out on a regular basis.

Fables: Still a good book, although I think it's slipped just a bit in recent months. I think a lot of it might have to do with Willingham spreading himself a bit too thin by doing Shadowpact and Jack of Fables at the same time. I might go strictly to trades, but it hasn't dipped to the point that I am rethinking picking up the book.

All-Star Superman: I wish this book came out more often, but it's a fun read--definitely goes against the grain of a lot of typical superhero stuff out there. In fact, this and Astonishing X-Men are really the only two superhero books I read any more. Part of it, I'm sure, is that you don't have to keep up with an entire universe to stay on track.

Astonishing X-Men: I think the third storyline in issues 7-12 fell just a tad, but his Whedon's third story arc really got my juices flowing again. I wish all superhero books where this good. Cassaday's art is perfect for this book as well.

Conan: This book is just plain fun. It's got a very old school feel to it, and it's as pretty a book as you're going to find anywhere. I'm restricting myself to just buying the collected hardcovers, so waiting between issues is tough. But this book deserves to be read in a long setting, so I don't mind waiting.

That's probably my top ten right now. Sure, I pick up lots of other things here and there, and am reading a lot of trades and OGNs right now also (some of my favorites that I'll share in my next post).

I'm definitely open for suggestions too, so if there's something out there that is too good for me NOT to read, by all means pass it on!

The Life of a Managing Editor

I thought I'd fill folks in a little on what my routine is as the Managing Editor at Ape Entertainment.

I have a real-life job, as I jokingly refer to it, which means that I can't dedicate all of my time to Ape stuff. But over the last couple of weeks, here are a few of the things I have done:

• Edited the five-page Goblin Chronicles story for our Free Comic Book Day issue, coming out in May.
• Edited the scripts for issues 2 and 3 of the same Goblin Chronicles.
• Worked with Stan in creating a FCBD ad for SubCulture
• Reviewed about a dozen or so submissions and pitches, for pencilers, inkers, colorists, and whole stories (I do this every Thursday). Most of the submissions that cross my desk 'aren't quite there yet,' but on occasion there are some that catch my eye, which I in turn send to David and Brent for their comments
• Sent out a few issues of SubCulture #1 to solicit for pinups for future issues
• Keep up with the public and private Ape message boards

So it's a pretty busy routine for me. But I do enjoy it. It's nice to see how things work from this perspective.

Does Everyone Need a Blog?

Okay. I've caved into peer pressure and gotten a bloody blog. A word of warning however--I'm not terribly good about updating these sorts of things on a regular basis. Chances are, the rate in which I update this will be in direct proportion to how many people actually read this thing on a regular basis.

With that said, what the heck am I going to write about? Comics. At least my take on it.

Okay, I'll be a little more specific. There are three primary things I'll address in these hallowed pixels.

First, I'll keep you updated on my current comic project, SubCulture. For the uninitiated, it's a four issue miniseries from Ape Entertainment due in stores in mid-May of this year. It's a slice-of-life book centered around a comic store and three of its patrons--a closet geek, a proud fanboy, and a passive aggressive femme fatale. Here's the cover for the first issue, done by fan favorite Jim Mahfood!

I'll talk about where Stan and I are on the project, dates, and hopefully give a little inside information about how the process works in genera.

Second, I'll give you my take on things going on in the industry. News, gossip, rumors, how I feel about current comic trends, and similar stuff can and will be covered as needed. It might be in the form of a convention report, a big news event or release, and so on. It might be just a bar story about me and some other creater. Who the heck knows? ;)

Third, I might, just might, give reviews on books. I don't read a whole lot of stuff, and I tend to like the stuff that I read, so my reviews could be a bit biased. But that's okay. I do read a lot of smaller press stuff, so I might turn you on to something you may not have heard of.

We'll see how this goes. Wish me luck.