Month: September 2020

Azriel’s Infinite Bookshelf, X-men Gold Volumes 2 to 5

With the recent publication of the X-men : House of X/Power of X compilation volume, well at least in Mexico, it kick started my interest in the children of the Atom.

This 4 volumes are written in the most part by Marc Guggenheim, with the exception of volume 3, this is a crossover with X-men, written by Cullen Bunn.

Some is the highlights are the appearance of super villain Omega Red, the dangerous reality games of deranged producer Mojo, the fight against a sleeping God, but my personal favorite , the appearance of Magick, a character I haven’t read anything since maybe 2010, and graces the cover of volume 5.

Along with Ghost Rider and Doctor Strange, the X-men are some of the few Marvel titles I read on a regular basis.

This title is a great example of why this characters have endure for so long, 57 years actually, for they were published for the first time on September 1963, by the super team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Now off I go to look for my next adventure.

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Numbers: September 12,2020

Confetti and drinks are in order.

I am glad to say that the total projected for this year, 41,665 total pages, has been achieved.

My current total is 42, 975 pages, and with exactly one month left on this year of reading I plan to keep piling on to my total.

The first plan was to try to achieve 50,000 pages, but right now it seems a bit far fetched, so my aim is to leave my next year with under 40,000 pages to read, just 335 pages to go.

If I achieve this numbers, I would have read the 130,500 pages that was my goal for this three years of my project, so this upcoming year is crucial to get back on track, it will not be an easy task, for this year will be a short one, just 236 days, this is to coincide each end of the year of reading with my birthday, which is consequently the end date of my project.

My overall total now sits at 323,173 pages, and I have gained some ground on my quest to achieve the first 500,000 pages and consequently my ultimate goal of 1,000,000 pages.

Now, according to my projections, and if I keep up my pace, the first 500,000 pages will be achieved by March 25, 2020, and 1,000,000 pages by September 10, 2045.

By this date I will be 64 years, 3 months and 5 days old, way more that my initial goal of 50 years old.

The good news is that I slowly have gained ground, last time I checked I was 5231 days behind , now, I am 5211.

Slowly but surely.

For now, I am off to read.

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Azriel’s Infinite Bookshelf Double Feature, Sandman Universe: Lucifer and The Bonehunters

I’ll start off by talking about the epic sixth volume of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, The Bonehunters.

It took me 69 days to read, which is typical for me on this series.

When I say that this series is epic, I mean it, it has the feel of reading the annals of a long gone Empire.

The story picks up two months after events of the fourth volume, The House of Chains, The Malazan Fourteenth Army has come out of the field victorious, but a new menace is brewing in the Imperial Court and with a mysterious plague ravaging the seven cities, the Empire hangs on the balance and puts all off its fate on the new master of Deck of Dragons, Ganoes Paran, to bring balance back.

Mr. Erikson is a master of fantasy, the scope of the world is vast, I highly recommend this series, but a fair warning, this is a really tough read, the whole series is about 11,000 pages and more than 3,000,000 words, this over 10 books of the main series, if you are not that familiar with epic fantasy ,you should really start with a milder series, and work your way up.

For my second feature is the first volume of the Sandman’s Universe Lucifer, written by Dan Watters and beautifully illustrated by Argentinian artists Max and Sebastian Fiumara.

The morningstar is missing, from Hell that is, he embarks on a perilous quest to find the mother of his abandoned son Caliban, while mysterious forces brew against him, looking to imprison him.

Of all the titles of the Sandman’s universe relaunch this is my personal favorite, Mr. Watters captures beautifully the essence of the character created by Mr. Gaiman, and does it justice just as good as Mr. Carey did on the series of 2000.

Now off I go to look for my next adventure.

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Azriel’s Infinite Bookshelf, Aliens: Salvation

What can I say about a graphic novel with this creative team, and tackling the xenomorph, a match made in heaven, or hell for that matter.

At the helm is Dave Gibbons, co-creator of probably the best graphic novel ever created, Watchmen.

In the roll of illustrator is none other that Mr. Mike Mignola, yeah, the f-ing creator of my favorite comic book character, Hellboy.

And to roundup this dream team, legendary inker Kevin Nowlan, who has worked with almost all of my favorite comic book creators or series.

The story follows Selkirk, a highly religious man, and crewmember of the Nova Maru, he becomes marooned in a small planet with his deranged captain.

He quickly realizes that the mission and deadly cargo they are hauling is the same devils that are stalking him, it will seem that there’s a secret purpose for the Nova Maru being in this back water planet.

Beautifully illustrated by Mr. Mignola, as you can see below, this is a must for any fan of the Aliens franchise or this series fantastic creative team.

Some of the artwork by Mike Mignola

Now off I go to look for my next adventure.

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Azriel’s infinite bookshelf, Age of Conan: Bêlit

Welcome to the first post of my new section, Azriel’s infinite bookshelf .

We have for this inaugural post a graphic novel of the return to it’s original publishing house, Marvel Comics, of the famous Cimmerian, Conan.

For this triumphant return there are two series focusing on the heroines that crossed paths with the Cimmerian, Valeria and Bêlit.

Bêlit, the pirate queen of the Black Coast, was first introduced by R.E. Howard in the issue of Weird Tales of May 1934.

This enigmatic character has seen two comic-book adaptations the first, was in charge of the now legendary team of Roy Thomas and John Buscema making its appearance back in 1976 in Marvel Comics.

Image taken from Conan: The Ultimate Guide to the World’s Savage Barbarian by Roy Thomas

The second was back in 2012 in the hands of Brian Wood and artist Becky Cloonan, sorry no picture, for Dark Horse Comics.

For this third appearance, in 2019, it has its own series with the amazing team of writer Tini Howard and artist Kate Niemczyk, with the beautiful covers by Sana Takeda.

The stories follows Bêlit’s rise to fearful pirate queen, this after the death of her father, from mutiny to facing the wrath of the serpent God Set, she becomes the one true captain of the ship Tigress.

In all, this is a really enjoyable story, and for fans of the world of the Savage Barbarian its a must volume to add to the mythology.

Now off I go to look for my next adventure.

azr.

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