SHUT IN THEATER: Weekend Reading 186

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It’s Saturday once again, and that means Weekend Reading 186! As you can probably predict, The Beat Elite will be spending the last weekend in November holed up in Stately Beat Manor, getting lost in a good book.

As usual, we hope you’ll share you weekend reading plans with us, too. Give us a shout-out in the comment section and let us know what you’re plannign on paging through.

AVERY KAPLAN: This weekend, I’m reading AKIRA Volume 1 by Katsuhiro Otomo. This book has been sitting on our shelf for quite a while now, so I’m looking forward to finally reading it myself.

D. MORRIS: First off, I’m reading Basketful of Heads by Joe Hill, Leomacs, and Reika Murakami. This is the pick for the monthly graphic novel club my LCS (shout out to Blackbird Comics and Coffee in Maitland, FL!). So I need to read that this weekend. After that, I’m doing some catch up this weekend and reading Rick Vietch’s Maximortal and Boy Maximortal. Vietch remains one of the unsung masters of deconstructed superhero comics. I’ve read Brat Pack and now it’s time to dig into these two books.

CY BELTRAN: After working on the Ultimate Gift Guide, I figured I’d make the jump myself, and I’ve started to check out the beginning of both Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, as well as Ultimate X-Men by Mark Millar and Adam Kubert. I’m a few issues into both and wow did I forget how, uh, crass, the era was….

BEAU Q.: I could lie and say I’m reading something new this weekend, but to be honest, I’m only halfway through Christopher Sebela and Ibrahim Moustafa’s High Crimes! Maybe the manner in which I’m reading it– nestled under two blankets [one weighted], socks on, with a scarf, and a beanie– maybe that’s why I keep drifting off to sleep. Maybe why I keep rereading the same page to remember where I was, too. But honestly, when a work is dense and has layout innovations that are subtle, simple, and effective– I like to take my sweet ass time.

TAIMUR DAR: I’m on the last dozen or so issues of Invincible. It looks like I’ll definitely be able to finish my goal of reading the original run of Invincible by the end of the year, if not sooner. In addition to that, I also plan to read The Filth by writer Grant Morrison and artist Chris Weston. It’s a Morrison comic that has been on my list to read for years but it always fell by the wayside. Happened upon an anniversary edition so it was too good not to finally dive into this acclaimed comic.

DEAN SIMONS: In preparation for the Angoulême exhibition taking place in January, I am revisiting Riad Sattouf’s autobio opus The Arab of the Future, expertly translated by Sam Taylor. Frustratingly only four of the six volumes were published by Two Roads between 2016 and 2019. Hopefully they will complete the series soon – Sattouf has a knack for accessible storytelling and comedy.

REBECCA OLIVER KAPLAN: Last weekend was the quarterly sidewalk sale at the Poway Library, which is one of my favorite times of the year. As an avid reader, library sales used to be great because you could get a ton of good graphic novels for 25 to 50 cents a pop. When I went last time, I learned that the library realized they could make more money selling the comics to a local comic shop, which kinda sucked but I got many books anyway. I’m starting with A History of Erotic Literature by Patrick J. Kearney. In terms of comics, like Avery Kaplan, I’m checking out some manga that have been sitting on our shelf for a while: Forbidden Dance by Hinako Ashihara and Clay Lord: Mast of Golems by Jun Suzumoto.