laceblade

The other day I ran into heyfoureyes and we were talking about how doing this reading meme has made us realize how much we actually read week-to-week.
Sometimes when I'm focusing on single-issue comics or fanfiction, it doesn't seem like much has happened (at least not according to my Goodreads profile), so I'm just...really liking this meme.
I love seeing what other people are up to, too!

• What are you currently reading?
Young Avengers Presents - Thanks to everyone who commented telling me the order of the YA comics, I've been able to continue, still getting everything from the library thus far! (Yay, my city's library!) I really appreciated having this volume of character development one-shots, because it's helping me be able to tell everyone apart! Previously, I knew Cassie and Kate, & Patriot, but everyone else's real identities/Avengers identity kind of blurred together, so I'm glad I did track this down to read it.
Hulkling's civilian name of Teddy Altman throws me every time, because there was a doctor on Grey's Anatomy for a few seasons with the same name.
Hulkling's interaction with Captain Marvel is the first time I've ever read/seen the male (aka: original) Captain Marvel in comics form. Carol Danvers seems way cooler.
I really dislike the way the women are drawn in this series, sometimes. In certain panels, the detail around Kate Bishop's nipples (when she is fully clothed) makes me feel like I'm looking at pornography.

• What did you recently finish reading?
Captain Marvel, #8 & #9: I'd been really bored by the most recent storyline & was actually ready to drop this title, but I'd already bought #9 and I read it AND IT WAS SO GOOD. The art style changed again in this issue, but it grew on me. This issue is about Carol Danvers's personal life, but then she also fights some dinosaurs in the middle of the issue.
I <3 her relationships with everyone. I really hope that Wendy Kawasaki sticks around.
I had bought the first issue of Captain Marvel hanging out with the cast of the Avengers movie in "Avengers Assemble #9," but it didn't do much for me because SHE didn't do much. It also read like fanfic?! idk. I don't care A LOT about Iron Man/Thor/Hulk/Captain America/etc.
Anyway, her interactions with Tony Stark in this issue were fine to me, because it was ABOUT HER.
I'm also really interested to see how [spoiler from the end of the issue] plays out.
So. Well played, writers. I was about to drop this title, but based on issue #9, I'll be sticking with it. Maybe this is how mass superhero titles always are? They kind of groove all over the place to hang on to all kinds of readers? idk.

I am used to manga & indie US comics. I'm still waffling on whether superhero comics are for me, as-they-are-released.


Saga #9: Lying Cat is the best character, y/y? And seriously, BKV answering letters at the end of each issue is basically the best thing ever. I love the lack of advertisements. Still love the storytelling & the art.
Randoms aside, this was another solid issue & I don't have much else to say about it.


Here We Cross, a collection of queer & gender fluid poetry.
The collection was put out by Stone Telling, "a speculative poetry quarterly dedicated to showcasing multi-perspective work of literary quality."
They put their stuff online for free - here's a link to their most current issue, from August.

My book club beer_marmalade decided to read this for January because most of us had never read sf/f poetry before. I have a tendency to dislike most poetry. This volume didn't really do much for me. The few standouts were The Changeling's Lament by Shira Lipkin, Hair by Hel Gurney, & The Gabriel Hound by Samantha Henderson.
From our discussion, I have a few poets written down, as recommended by jesse_the_k & Sofia. Although poetry isn't generally my thing, Sofia and I mostly liked the same poems from this volume, so maybe her recs will do me good!


• What do you think you’ll read next?
Anna Karenina - I didn't get a hold of it until yesterday due to various library mishaps, but I need to try & get through part I by Sunday for this impromptu book club I'm joining!
I'm sure I'll be looking at some other stuff too, but this will be my primary focus for most of the week.

Once I finish YA Presents, I hope to read more of it. The new Young Avengers #1 drops today too, so I'll be swinging by the comic bookstore after work to pick it up.

I've gotten a lot of stuff at the library - Moto Hagio's The Heart of Thomas, a bunch of acid reflux cookbooks, and that stack of books I'd already accrued in the last month or so.