I’m off to take a well-deserved two week vacation; one week in Belgium and the other in Germany, (visiting an old favorite of mine just in time for my fortieth birthday) Cochem. And by well-deserved I mean necessary, essential, vital, and, in all probability, life-preserving. Because I’ve been working my literal ass off. So here’s a nice image of the stack of books I am planning on completing by my return.

Let’s break this down in no particular order, just to mix things up.

Swamp Thing by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson

I think everyone pretty much knows the life changing and comic defining Saga of Swamp Thing by Alan Moore. But if you go before that, you’ll find our friends Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson (may the both rest in peace), who launched a DC horror comic, when these things were popular during that time period.

I think I might have read an issue here or there or perhaps a backstory or two. So this one for me was essential to pick up when it became available. And it’s a big, beautiful book that I can also use a shield in case those Germans start any shit again.

Tiamat’s Wrath, James S.A. Corey

I watched The Expanse when it came to Netflix from ScyFy and fell in love with it. I’m not sure why but I became really engaged with the characters and the story, and probably became enthralled with a realistic depiction of this being the near future. So of course I found out it was a series of books, and after it moved to Amazon Prime I decided to read them.

James S.A. Corey is actually a pen name of two individuals, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, whom I believe were George R. R. Martin’s assistants (The Game of Thrones guy). The series is incredible, fun, and a great read. Tiamat’s Wrath is the eight of the nine book series so I’m almost done. Then I will be sad. But then I just remembered there’s a series of short stories out there as well as comic book adaptations so now I’m happy again.

Doctor Who Tenth Doctor, the Complete Year One

Titan books have been producing Doctor Who in comic book form for a while now, capitalizing on the relaunch that happened way back in 2010 or so. I’m usually not a fan of comic books continuing t.v. shows or movies, but they do a really good job here. I finished the complete run of the Ninth Doctor and found that they produced these massive Year One editions of the other doctors. So out went my money.

Fascisme, Robin te Slaa

This one’s actually a Dutch book. Impressive no? I read a review of this in the Volkskrant and it intrigued me. And I will make a shocking confession here on this blog. I know of fascism and studied it in college, but I’m still not sure what it actually is. So what better way to learn about fascism than from an author from the continent that gave it to the world? There isn’t one.

Saga, Book 2

If you didn’t read my previous post about why I love Saga, then you can do so here. Because I love it. And I am really looking forward to this one. Though I do have to slow my roll because Book 3 is the last one until they release Book 4, which will happen around next year. Let’s not think about that now.

Conan the Complete Chronicles, Robert H. Howard

If we’re friends on Goodreads you’d know that I’ve been plugging away at this for a while now. It’s the complete works by Robert E. Howard who created the character, in chronological order of publication. And it’s incredible. It astounds me to think he lived such a short life but managed to produce such a rich world. it’s a massive of a book but it’s worth it. A lot of individuals will point to Mr. J.R.R. Tolkien as birthing the Fantasy genre. But I give to Mr. Howard who blazed a trail for a lot of the little devices used in the genre today.

Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 10

I have a little tradition that whenever I have to travel somewhere, I’m bringing a Judge Dredd Complete Case File with me. This one actually was out of print for a while. But when I went to London for the London Series a few weeks ago, they had this puppy on discount at the Forbidden Planet. Hi-Ex!!

The Complete Case Files collect all the Judge Dredd stories from 2000AD in chronological order of publication, not including the Annuals and Specials, which are collected in the Restricted Files line. These are basic black and white books but they sure are beautiful. It’s been really fun watching these non-American creators develop and how impactful they have been in comics as a whole. If you want to start with a Judge Dredd Case File, I can probably recommend to start with The Complete Case Files 05, which collects a lot of the vital storylines such as the Apocalypse War.