Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here, and today, our writers share what they’ve been reading over the past month. Feel free to share what you’ve been reading, because we’re all part of the Geekly Gang. I’ll kick off this post by sharing what I’ve been reading over the past month.
Kyra’s Fiction
First off, I like how Marvel Comics has adopted DC Comics’ Compact Graphic Novel format. Yay! These volumes fit much nicer on the shelf, they pack a lot of story in smaller space, and they’re cheaper than full-size graphic novels. Compact graphic novels cost almost half that of full-size graphic novels, so I can pick up multiple volumes at a time. Hint: You’ll be seeing a lot of compact graphic novels on my list in the near future. My unsponsored plug for compact graphic novels has concluded, let’s get to Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
I can see why the MCU used the Spider-Man: Brand New Day title and none of the story. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed reading Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but the story was all over the place. The Spider-Man: Brand New Day comic book story arc plays out like a short story collection. The first story has little to nothing to do with the Mr. Negative storyline. Hammerhead’s tale builds up Mr. Negative as a shadowy figure working behind the scenes. Then, we get a yarn about a Bookie. While fun, the Bookie story doesn’t build off of Hammerhead’s. And then The Shocker shows up, and of course, he’s working with Mr. Negative. After that, we get an Anti-Venom comic, showing us who is Mr. Negative.
As you can tell, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is all over the place. Why does Anti-Venom reveal Mr. Negative’s identity? That reveal doesn’t carry much weight, because Spider-Man: Brand New Day sparingly shows Mr. Negative’s alter-ego and why Peter Parker would care. The original Sony Spider-Man Video Game does a much better job of telling Mr. Negative’s backstory. Heck, I only cared about the character because I played the video game first. You almost need to play the video game before reading the graphic novel for context. Spider-Man: Brand New Day defined Spidey for a generation. It may be rough around the edges, but it’s a good read.
I had to read at least one DC compact graphic novel this month. Gotham Central beat out a couple of others in my TBR pile. I’m glad I chose this one. I can see why Gotham Central earned several accolades (including multiple Eisner Awards). These stories show the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) working in a city that includes Batman. Some treat The Dark Knight as an extension of the GCPD. Others resent Batman. All of them navigate a criminal underground that includes heavy hitters like Poison Ivy and Mister Freeze. What can an ordinary cop do against someone like Mister Freeze? Gotham Central answers these questions.
Gotham Central also shows the inner workings of a city on fire. Crime is rampant. Death is everywhere. The GCPD officers we follow do their best. Renee Montoya (pictured above on the far right) is a standout, but Gotham Central fleshes out existing GCPD characters and introduces many others that remain staples in the Batman Mythos. You don’t see a lot of Batman in Gotham Central, but that’s the point. The Gotham television show made a half-hearted attempt at adapting Gotham Central. One of the show’s biggest issues may have been to age down Commissioner Gordon. Gotham Central ages up Gordon and showed the power vacuum left behind in Gordon’s absence. That would make for a good show.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day was the first of Marvel Comics’ Compact Graphic Novels. The series would become the Marvel Premier Collection, and the covers look similar to the one pictured above. Since I discovered Marvel’s compact graphic novel line, I read two of them this past month. I enjoyed The Visions more than I thought I would. I shouldn’t doubt Tom King (Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow). You can see some of The Visions’ influence on the MCU’s WandaVision, but I’d like to VisionQuest take different elements from this storyline. I don’t want to spoil too much in this write up; you should read The Visions when you get the chance.
After gaining a new title (Avengers’ Ambassador to the Pentagon), The Vision moves to Washington DC with his family. The Visions explores what happens when a synthezoid constructs a family of his own. What could go wrong? Turns out, everything. The Visions does a great job placing us where The Vision is as a character. I am grateful for that. The Vision has one of the messier comic book origins you’ll find, but The Visions walks the reader through decades of confusing continuity. You don’t need a heap of comic book lore to know what makes him tic. Kudos to Tom King for making The Visions accessible.
The Visions is a page-turner. Each issue presents a new twist. Each issue ends on a moment you can’t wait to see what happens next. The Visions may have been my fastest read from this past month. It may have little to do with the greater Marvel Universe, but that makes The Visions endearing. It dives into who The Vision is and what kind of synthezoid family he’d create. The Visions explores what is to be human. Funny how a story about a synthetic person lends itself to examining humanity.
Kyra’s Nonfiction
It’s the summer, so I reread Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. I don’t do this every year, but I do it most years. I’ve mentioned The Elements of Style last year, I believe. I love my illustrated copy. The pictures aren’t neccessary. You can buy a cheaper copy of The Elements of Style for less than five dollars, but if you want to splurge, the illustrations (by Kalman) add whimsy. Reading books like The Elements of Style may be more vital this year than in past years.
AI writing is everywhere. One of the ways you can spot AI writing is its overuse and misuse of em dashes (–). Em dashes are valid forms of punctuation. But you shouldn’t use em dashes in place of a semi-colon, colon, parentheses, or commas. Right now, large language models (LLMs or AI) abuse em dashes. Programmers can change which forms of punctuation their LLMs will overuse and misuse. You’ll need to read style books like The Elements of Style to make sure you don’t sound like a toaster or the slur The Visions introduced, a Socket Lover.
Those are all the books I’ve read or finished this month. I started a couple of others but didn’t want to include them until I was closer to finished. Looks like I’m on my own this month. Hopefully, Season and Skye will join us for next month. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
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