"Lunchbox: Inside and Out; From Comic Books to Cult TV and Beyond"

WORTH CONSUMING!

Remember the lunch box you had as a kid? You probably had atleast 3 or 4 during your childhood. If you did and you do remember, Chances are one of them is in this book.

The book covers lunchboxes from The Washington Redskins to Bonaza, from Barbie to Sesame Street. From Fat Albert to Star Wars. Many genres are examined.

I never knew how much detail and choice goes into a box. It truly is a forgotten art form. My only problem is that in the introduction, the authors state that the will focus mostly on metal boxes, but they tend to focus on vinyl lunchboxes too often.

Still it is worth reading…just be careful or you might want to start a lunch box collection. If you do, don’t come running to me for a loan.

"The Penultimate Peril (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 12)"

— 2006
WORTH CONSUMING!

So far my ranking is (read so far…) goes like this:

Book Eight, Book Two, Book Twelve, Book Five, Book Seven, Book Ten Book Six, Book Nine, Book Four, Book One, Book Three, Book Eleven.

Much, Much, Much better than book eleven. I can’t wait for the final volume: Book The Thirteen – The End to come out.

The final Baudelaire book is due on Friday the 13th, October 2006.

 

 

"Fantastic Four: 1234 (Marvel Knights)"

 

NOT WORTH CONSUMING

This started off Fantastic and then turned into the Drastic Four. The book’s back cover called this a “heartfelt tribute” to the world’s greatest team of superheroes. And I feel for it hook, line, and sinker. If this was a tribute, I would hate to see what a parody would be or a roast. It’s like the KKK throwing an event celebrating the life of Dr. King or Hitler giving the eulegy at Anne Frank’s funeral.

Avoid this book or prepare to meet thy DOOM!

The Kingdom

WORTH CONSUMING!

A very technical sequel to Kingdom Come. You must read KC before this book or you will be lost. Plus, Kingdom is a great supplement to fill in some of the plot holes in KC. Especially as why Ibn, grandson to Rhas Al Ghul is not made to wear a restriction collar after the Luthor gang (of which he was a part) is captured.

The time travel part of the book is way out there. In fact the last 12 pages read as a physics book. A tad hard to follow, but it is a great homage to the Pre-Crisis era of DC and in my opinion a basis to the Crisis occurring in the DC world right now.

"Captain America by Jack Kirby, Vol. 2: Bicentennial Battles"

NOT WORTH CONSUMING

You know you’re reading a Jack Kirby comic when action scenes take up 2 whole pages and in the lower left corner is half a guy’s face in some sort of grimace looking right at the reader.

This volume is a collection of Jack Kirby’s first 6 issues of Captain America since he returned to Marvel from DC Comics. Those of you who remember Kirby’s New Gods Series from the 70’s, you know it was not a great time for him at DC and that his creative spark was fading out.

His return to Marvel is almost as disappointing. His dialogue was way out of touch with his readers. The kids talked like adults and the adults talked a sort of Jive-Turkey gobbledy-gook. To seeing Captain America to use the words dude and what up in the same sentence is way out of touch with what an authority figure would say in the 1970’s circa 1976. And the way his black superhero The Falcon talked to his girl-friend are almost verbatim what pimps would say to their Ho’s is any of the movies from the Shaft Trilogy.

Perhaps Kirby’s best story is a two-part story in which an energy being from the future inhabits a corpse and rampages New York. The villain looked ultra-creepy and the early examination of Capt’s involvement with a Nick Fury-less SHIELD is refreshing.

Bottom-line check it out at your public library, not really worth the money, unless you are a Kirby collector and want an extensive collection of his works.

"Y: The Last Man, Vol. 4: Safeword"

NOT WORTH CONSUMING

The series is still great, but this volume was way too dark for my tastes. Interesting twists and some new background on Yorick…

It should be consumed to keep up with the story, but too disturbing for my liking….Good luck.

"Brownsville"

WORTH CONSUMING!

 

The book is a great rainbow book, as the beginning is great, and the ending is just wonderful.
The middle starts listing off quite a few names without any introduction and is hard to follow for a bit.
But this book is worth consuming overall.

"It's Superman!" by Tom DeHaven

NOT WORTH CONSUMING

Heck, it’s probably not the Superman you grew up with. Remember watching Batman with Michael Keaton and being shocked that he would sleep with Vicki Vale, and not be either in a long term commitment or married to her? Well, read this book and prepared to feel like I did when I saw Batman for the first time. Lois is a slut, Clark has hardly any morals... and who the heck is Willi Berg?
The only character who is truly the essence of who he’s always been is Lex Luthor. This book is supposed to be the first of many to retell the origins of DC’s Big 5, as the company begins to recreate its universe…again.
While I did enjoy this book, I cannot recommend it for consuming…maybe I am a comic’s purist… maybe I am a prude, but I just can’t do it. So read this book if you dare!

Oh, yes- one more thing. The cover of this book is beautiful and should be considered one of the 10 best covers of all-time.