reviews

Talking Animals, Rollicking Adventure, and Ancient India Author: Rudyard Kipling Back on the classics kick, my trusty randomized list selected The Jungle Books for my next endeavor. I happened to have a leather-bound Easton Press edition which combined both The Jungle Book (written in 1894) and The Second Jungle Book (written in 1895). And so, tucked into my DC condo with stacks of undone work towering around me and a steaming cup of coffee tempting me to laziness, I decided to take a break and just sample the first story.  From here on, I was hooked. It wasn’t long before the cityscape around me dimmed, fading [...]

Ruminations on things future... Author:  Chuck Klosterman Chuck Klosterman’s brain is one-of-a-kind.  It’s some sort of (presumably) biologically-based logic-driven mental-machination contraption.  You simply enter an idea – the more implausible and convoluted the better – and watch the gears, gyroscopes and nuclear-powered turbines start turning.  For the Klosterman-naïve, this can be quite an unsettling experience.  But if you’re ever read any of his prior work, like I Wear the Black Hat or Eating the Dinosaur – and you’ve got least one copy of the nerd gene on chromosome 13 – you know that his unique brand of mental gymnastics can [...]

Bad Relationships, Betrayals, and Corrupt Heros Author: Mark Millar Illustrator: Bryan Hitch Following the first collection the widespread fame of the world’s most powerful superheroes, the Avengers, is beginning to descend into infamy as friction arises between ethical code and governmental (read political) uses of superhumans. Nick Fury is in the back pocket of the USA and soon the Ultimates begin to figure in oversees wars, turning the tide of battle and, in some cases, making some determined enemies. The public outcry is large, the disillusionment great as the protectors of the innocent become puppets for politics. Meanwhile, the Ultimates themselves are [...]