The Pub Discussion Board

Curiosity needs to keep its eyes on its own paper, or we'll both get in trouble.

I read this book which has gotten no acknowledgement here, and that's a bummer. Go bug your local library to get this for you.

I've also been reading comics. Comics aren't cheap, but neither are unlimited smartphone plans, cable or satellite TV, video games, TGI Chilibees, or hookers, and you pay for all of those every month, don't you? Priorities, man. Skip one hooker, it buys a shitload of comics. Okay, I fib; I didn't give up a hooker, I quit video games because I suck at them.

Speaking of things I suck at, I've been writing lately. Actually that means I've been sucking less than usual. It takes a lot of time. Mostly time being distracted from the act of putting sentences together, partly time spent being angry because a sentence stinks, occasionally time spent in delusion that a sentence is pretty cool.

But obviously if I'm writing this I'm not writing what I should be, so let me go do that.

Power Girl. She was given her own series in 2009; it was cancelled, and she was benched, as part of DC's "New 52." Damn shame, because it was what more books need to be, bright with a great attitude, witty but not snarky, with nary a hint of antihero or woe-is-me darkness or angst. Just a well-written female superhero. Twenty-seven issues, compiled in four books, three already out, the fourth due in February.

The Unwritten. Imagine you are the real-life son of a famous author of a beloved series of novels... and your dad patterned his young wizard protagonist after you. Then he had the temerity to just disappear, leaving you to a life of odd D-list celebrity in which fans pay for your autograph at conventions and treat you as if you were the character out of the novels. Then strange things begin to happen that go beyond fans taking things too seriously, and the line between fiction and fact starts to get wiggly. The Unwritten is up to #30; it's covered a lot of ground, and it's still going strong. Creative, meta, and a real treat for people who love the art of storytelling.