Try reading the recent novel Greg Rucka did based on the characters in the comic. His other novels about executive protector Atticus Kodiak are also worth reading.

When I was little, my cousins & I would sit at my grandparents', reading the old comic books that had been our fathers' when they were our age. There were so many that Grandma would rotate them every few months. I read everything from Li'l Abner and Archie to the Batman & Superman stuff (some of which could be pretty dark).

I don't read comics any more. However, an ex once told me that a coworker of his, seeing my photo on his desk, said I looked just like Abbey Chase, aka 'Danger Girl.' Somehow I ended up with the 'graphic novel' in book form. Interesting stuff. lol But what you are reading really *does* sound fascinating!

Since you have been lurking around Shindlers, do you happen to know if you have seen any copies of the graphic novel "Ministry of Space". Its an alternate history supposing that the Brits got to Pennemunde first.

How does nearly every movie begin its life? Script and story board. Graphic novels are kind of like making a movie without doing the expensive parts.

Hmmm...looks a touch too Clancyish for my taste but I'll give it a shot sometime.

I was briefly into comics back in the 80's and have picked up again a bit now that two of my favorite authors (Wheden from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Strazinowski from Babylon 5; I mean really what kind of prospective writer would get a job in a bookstore *just* so he could browse the Greek and Roman classics and ancient history and philosophy sections?).

My dirty little secret is I'm a big X-Men Evolution fan; I stumbled across it shortly after 9-11 and I guesss I needed something that wasn't all grim newsy or totally black and white. The writers did an excellent job on the characterizations (I feel like I went to High School with half the main cast) and I really appreciated that the "villains" weren't all cardboard cutouts but were actually sympathetically portrayed as real people you could like even if you didn't agree with them. Anyways, that led me back to the comics and some RPG writing boards.

As for comics...well, it depends on what the writer brings to it I guess. In the right hands they're modern fables and fairy tales with rich historical and socio-political echoes. For example even though Marvel routinely hashes it to pieces the X-Men franchise is in reality a construct for the Jewish-American historical experience in the 20th century, and the themes are not simply good guy/bad guy but have relious and philosophical grounding in both Jewish and American history and culture. When you find a comic like that buy 20 of them so you can sell them on eBay, they're that rare, though.

Welcome to the Dark Side Mitch! ;)

My personal guilty pleasure is “Knights of the Dinner Table” which sort of a “Day by Day meets Dungeons & Dragons” about a group of five friends who are playing a game called “Hackmaster” and deals with the squabbling and arguments that gamesters always seem to get into.

I’ve read the first two graphic novels from Queen and Country and they’re quite good. If I could make two recommendations, “GI Joe Special Missions” was put out by Marvel in the 1980’s-90’s and they have a similar style to Q&C. Basically it’s a serious of standalone stories in which the Joe team is put into more “real world” type situations (read: fighting terrorists other than Cobra, missions behind the Iron Curtain, etc.).

My other recommendation, particularly for any new readers/collectors – don’t bother with Shinders. If you want to browse and get a deal, I would try a place like Half-priced Books, Midway Bookstore (corner of Snelling and University), or Dreamhaven in Uptown where you can find back issues in good condition (some fairly recent) for $0.25, $0.33, or $0.50. I found twenty-four back issues of the Dreamwave Joe series for $0.25 on Saturday when I was shopping for a Supreme Court biography. There’s still a nifty “GI Joe versus Transformers” from Dreamwave in the basement which is set in World War II. Trust me, it’s not as dorky as it sounds. ;)