September continues, and it brings Weekend Reading 176. As always, we’ll be inside Stately Beat Manor, lost in a good book.
We hope you’ll let us know what you’re planning on paging through this weekend. Give us a shout-out in the comment section and let us know!
AVERY KAPLAN: This weekend, I’m going to be checking out Holly by Stephen King. This isn’t surprising, as I’ve been a fan of the character since her first appearance in Mr. Mercedes. Then I’ll be checking out Spider-Man: Fake Red by Yusuke Osawa. Flipping it open, I’m glad to see it includes appearances by Silk!
ADAM KARENINA SHERIF: After what I thought was a pretty strong season finale/season opener in this year’s Hellfire Gala and a particularly great first issue for Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant, I’m checking out a bunch of the other new ‘Fall Of X’ series.
Although I have no familiarity with them, I’m excited about Children Of The Vault which is drawn by Luca Maresca and written by Deniz Camp – whose 20th Century Men with S. Morian is one of the best geo-political ‘post-’ books I’ve read in a good while. I’m also looking forward to Uncanny Avengers by Gerry Duggan and Javier Garrón. The new landscape for the mutants means putting characters like Captain America back into overtly anti-fascist pro-solidarity roles, and I’m very here for that.
AJ FROST: I’ve been perusing Tom Scioli’s wonderful new book I AM STAN, a graphic biography of the one n’ only Stan Lee. This book is the perfect companion piece to Scioli’s Jack Kirby graphic bio which came out in 2020. There’s so much to enjoy about this book, and I’m really struck with the delicate balance that Scioli strikes with Lee. Lee is portrayed as the legend he is and the man he was. The showboating, gloating, and effervescent Lee is all here, but so is the human side including the darkness that lingered over his last years. I think this could easily be a candidate for one of the best graphic novels of 2023.
TAIMUR DAR: For the last few days, comic creator Evan Dorkin has been reminiscing online about his Eltingville Club comics. I’m a tremendous fan of Dorkin’s satirical take on toxic fandom. A few years back Dark Horse collected his Eltingville comics in a hardcover, so I definitely have an urge to revisit Eltingville Club. Likewise, I’m continuing my read of the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels as well as continuing to read the original Invincible comics.
CY BELTRAN: I’m working on catching up with my floppies, and I’m starting with w0rldtr33 from James Tynion IV, Fernando Blanco, Jordie Bellaire, and Aditya Bidikar. I enjoyed the first few issues and I’m pumped to wrap up this first arc. I’m also checking out the first two trades of That Texas Blood, by Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips, as I’m dying to look at their western The Enfield Gang Massacre. And as always, I’m on my King-kick, and I’m wrapping up “The Body,” the third novella in Different Seasons, and the inspiration for the film Stand By Me.
You can peruse the 175 previous entries in The Beat’s Weekend Reading archive by clicking here.
