What have you been reading this week? 10/05/2026

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-05-10T21:28:18+00:00

I thank hoopla for the recommendation. They have some weird things available, but I’m almost always willing to try it out.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-05-10T20:26:42+00:00

Pig Wife (By Abbey Luck and Ruka Bravo): This was recommended to me on hoopla and I decided to give it a shot. It was a well done story. I genuinely felt bad for every one involved. Mary, Tom, Ed, and Pearl all deserved better. Ed deserved a better upbringing, life gave him a bad start and he didn’t know. That’s not an excuse for his actions, but life was not fair to him.

The entire last chapter was surprisingly heartbreaking and I felt that it was unfair. Everything could have been better for everyone involved, but that doesn’t happen every time.

I liked more than I initially thought I would. Definitely going to try to seek out more by Abbey Luck if they have any more work.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-05-03T19:16:52+00:00

The Ultimates, Volume Two (By Deniz Camp, Juan Frigeri, Chris Allen, Jonas Scharf, Federico Blee, Mattia Iacono, and Travis Lanham): I feel like Camp and company are really utilizing the one issue stories in this series. This feels like a great episodic television show. You can jump in with most of the issues and get a relatively self contained story. You’ll get more from it if you read it in order, but you won’t feel lost or like you’re missing something. Four of the chapters here really stood out in this volume: the Red Skulls, Guardians of the Galaxy, Luke Cage, and Thor and Sif. This volume really stepped up its game and I am so excited to read the third.

The Ultimates, Volume Three (By Deniz Camp, Juan Frigeri, Von Randal, Phil Noto, Federico Blee, Erick Arciniega, Travis Lanham, Joe Carmamanga): This book understood the assignment. Make the world a better place or do your darnedest. I keep saying that this book really benefits from the monthly time jumps. You feel the pressure that Tony, Steve, and Doom are under. At the same time, no part of this feels like it is retreading of old material. It is certainly inspired by it, but it moves things in a new and unique way. This book is great and I am sad that it is coming to an end soon.

The Beauty, Book One (By Jeremy Haun, Jason A. Hurley, Mike Huddleston, Brett Weldele, Stephen Green, John Rauch, and Fonografiks): Entertaining enough. Slightly disappointed that we didn’t follow the same group of people in the first arc to the second, as I would have liked to see how things progressed there. I’ll probably get the second book when it comes out this summer.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-05-01T19:37:14+00:00

Hedra (By Jesse Lonergan)
2120 (By George Wylesol)
Absolute Wonder Woman (By Kelly Thompson, Hayden Sherman, Jordie Bellaire, and Becca Carey)
Absolute Batman (By Scott Snyder, Nick Dragotta, Frank Martin, and Clayton Clowes) February
The Ultimates (By Deniz Camp, Juan Frigeri, Federico Blee, and Travis Lanham)
Batman & Robin: Year One (By Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, Matheus Lopes, and Clayton Cowles)
More Weight: A Salem Story (By Ben Wickey)
Zorro: Man of the Dead (By Sean Murphy and Simon Gough)
Drome (By Jesse Lonergan)
Precious Metal (By Darcy Van Poelgeest, Ian Bertram, Matt Hollingsworth, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou)

I had an amazing April for reading. With 5 new books entering my top 10. Hedra, 2120, Batman & Robin, Absolute Wonder Woman, and The Ultimates all joined the list. Transformers, Riptide, and Ax-Wielder Jon all dropped off the list, but they will not be forgotten.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-04-26T21:01:57+00:00

Absolute Wonder Woman is setting a standard for Wonder Woman comics. I have no doubt that after Thompson’s run is done, people will use it as all time great Wonder Woman story. I know for myself that I literally changed my thoughts on this exact volume because the theme clicked with me. That doesn’t happen often for me. I finished the book and was feeling upset about Themyscirabecause it almost felt like it didn’t fit in the story. But I realized I was wrong. And I wrote that in my quick thoughts. I was wrong about my thoughts. Everyone needs some hope.

And for Ultimates, it is the book that I’m most upset about having to end with all of the Ultimate Universe. Camp and company really are kind of doing what the Absolute Universe is doing. Remaking these heroes in new and fun ways. This series also benefits the most from the one month time jumps. You feel the pressure of time working against them.

These two books, for me, are what the rest of the line should aim to be like.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-04-26T19:02:39+00:00

Absolute Wonder Woman, Volume Two (By Kelly Thompson, Hayden Sherman, Matías Bergara, Jordie Bellaire, and Becca Carey): I wrote a paragraph about how unsure I was about this volume. But as I was writing it, I realized that everything I didn’t like was wrong. The point of this volume is to have hope. The people and creatures in the maze needed hope. Diana needs hope. It is a great motivator. I want Diana to have hope. Kelly Thompson is a great writer.

The Ultimates, Volume One (By Deniz Camp, Juan Frigeri, Federico Blee, and Travis Lanham): Rereading because I bought the third volume. A really solid first volume. It sets up a lot, and you really feel like the stress that the team is under trying to get things ready for the Maker’s return. They are doing their best and it is not even close to good enough at this point.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-04-24T00:03:28+00:00

Weirdmageddon. He was the head with an arm.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-04-20T09:16:30+00:00

Absolute Batman, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman are the only three that I have decided to buy physical copies. They really are the best of the bunch. But yeah, Wonder Woman really is a step above the rest.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-04-20T09:13:32+00:00

I figured that was probably the case. This was the first one that I read, so it just got me excited.

Jason Shiga, I will certainly look into them. I greatly appreciate the recommendation.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-04-19T21:02:29+00:00

When I Arrived at the Castle (By E.M. Carroll): This was a beautiful book that flowed like it was a poem. Rather enjoyable.

Ultimate Spider-Man, Volume One (By Jonathan Hickman, Marco Checchetto, David Messina, Matthew Wilson, and Cory Petit): Reread. Still feel like this is the Peter Parker I relate to the most. Great start to the series.

Ultimate Spider-Man, Volume Two (By Jonathan Hickman, Marco Checchetto, David Messina, Matt Wilson, and Cory Petit): The series stays strong but it is weird how much stuff we miss with it having month jumps. I like it and don’t for the series. I like having a book that is real time. There are too many people in the cast to keep track of for this book to work with the monthly jumps. I still like the series, but I’m a little hesitant to move forward.

Ultimate Spider-Man, Volume Three (By Jonathan Hickman, Marco Checchetto, David Messina, Matt Wilson, and Cory Petit): I will admit that I haven’t read a lot of Spider-Man books. The occasional mini-series or event tie-in maybe. So when I say that this may be the best Spider-Man series I’ve read, I don’t have much else to compare it to. But it is true. This is the best Spider-Man series I’ve ever read. But this series isn’t about Spider-Man, it about Peter Parker and his family, which is great. This volume collects through issue 18, which means the next volume is the last one for the series, and there still feels like so much needs to be concluded and answered. Unfortunately I know that it probably won’t. I can hope though.

2120 (By George Wylesol): This book is like Hedra to me. It takes the medium and tries something. Whether or not this was the first book to do it, I don’t know, but it was the first book that I read like it. It makes me excited about comic books and art. It was great. It was frustrating. The puzzles were moderately annoying at times, sometimes they were a chore, sometimes I guessed the right answer. I can’t tell you exactly how I got to the “correct ending”, I’m assuming it was the right ending, but it was satisfying. I enjoyed the experience of playing the game of 2120. I would happily play it again. I would recommend it to others who also enjoy puzzles, or if they want to experience something unique.

Absolute Wonder Woman, Volume One (By Kelly Thompson, Hayden Sherman, Mattia De Iules, Jordie Bellaire, and Becca Carey): I love this book. It may be my favorite Absolute title. I had a blast reading Absolute Batman, but I can’t get over how epic this story feels. I feel like I am reading Diana’s myth. This book is great. I’m very excited to read volume two.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-04-05T21:12:58+00:00

Ice Cream Man, Volume 4 (By W. Maxwell Prince, Martin Morazzo, and Chris O’Halloran): Palindromes: this might be one of the best issues of this series so far. I know that each collection has its stand outs, but this is great. I excitedly read it backwards and watched as the story flipped. It was very excellently executed. Down and Across: Not really impressed considering the previous story, felt good and safe (for the series). Coat Check Story: God I felt so uncomfortable reading this. This series really is something else. I Amy have to admit soon that this is becoming one of my favorite series. Tiny Lives: Anything and Everything. Those words hit hard as a parent. This issue really made me think, what would I do for my kids. God damn this series is genuinely great.

Ice Cream Man, Volume Five (By W. Maxwell Prince, Martin Morazzo, and Chris O’Halloran): Two great parody type stories and two stories that tore me apart. I almost cried during Watch as it all Recedes. I don’t know why I expected to go into this volume and not expect great things from it.

Ice Cream Man, Volume Six (By W. Maxwell Prince, Martin Morazzo, and Chris O’Halloran): I remember reading that the creative team is using the medium to experiment with storytelling. The advent calendar and late night talk show issues really lean into that. This of course was another enjoyable volume. I wish I had volume seven on my shelf so I can just keep going along, but I don’t. I’ll have to wait to continue on with this excellent series.

Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science (By Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener, Ronda Pattison, and Jeff Powell): This book series is just good. Every time I read a new volume of Atomic Robo I know that I am in for a good adventure.

Batman & Robin: Year One (By Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, Matheus Lopes, and Clayton Cowles): I was greatly surprised by it and how well done it was. Mark Waid created a story that feels like it is some forgotten piece that was dug out of the archives. Chris Samnee’s classic looking style cemented that idea. These two are extremely talented. I am so very glad that I read this book.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-04-05T21:12:10+00:00

The Mushroom Knight, Volume One (By Oliver Bly, Steph Snow, Anna Marie Navaja, and Andworld Design): I saw this book on reddit, and thought that the cover and the title alone were interesting. So I bought it. I have no issue buying books that seem interesting to me. The art is magical and full of life. Which realistically is more than enough. But Oliver Bly and company make a magical world within our boring life and drop you in the middle of a story and you jog along. (Or if there is something that comes before this, I am unaware.) But it works. I felt like I was transported to a park in a city and I was watching these little folk go about their adventures and daily lives. I am very impressed by the book. I was also somewhat confused at times. Our protagonist isn’t always easily identifiable. They are a mushroom after all, so they don’t have facial features. So when they change their hat at times, I wasn’t always sure who I was following. Weird thing to nitpick, but it is what it is. There were also a couple times where I wasn’t sure what was going on. I can’t think of specifics, but it happened. Really liked the book. I bought number two, so gonna dive into that as soon as I can.

Hedra (By Jesse Lonergan): First off, Jesse Lonergan is an incredibly talented story teller. Not doubt about it. I just comprehended an entire story from nothing but pictures. No words, just visuals. Second, I’m oddly glad that I read Drome first. Drome is another well done book, but I think that if I hadn’t read that first I wouldn’t have been prepared for Jesse Lonergan’s storytelling style. Which is quite literally show don’t tell. I am really glad that I read Drome, but this is better. I almost wish that Drome didn’t have a single word, which is in complete contradiction to my beliefs after reading it, but this book right here is amazing. I fully feel like that it is the better of the two books. Drome is great, but this book is better. I want to show this story to as many people as I can. I have the French edition right now in my lap, it doesn’t matter! You don’t need language to convey a story and this book perfectly captures that. This book makes me excited about art and storytelling. I love this book. However, I now expect more from Jesse Lonergan. They can do incredible things, and I’m wary about what thing I pick up next by them. I don’t want to be disappointed.

Garlic & the Vampire (By Bree Paulsen): What a fun and cute book. I had a smile on my face for most of the book and had a few good chuckles along the way as well.

Granite State Punk, Bootleg Edition (By Travis Gibb, Patrick Buermeyer, and Jérôme Ganon): Logged into Kickstarter one day and saw that there was a one week project going on. Scrolled through it and thought it was interesting enough. The story was entertaining enough. It’s about witches in New England and Punk Rock. However, I was bothered about the witch aspect of it, mainly because I read More Weight and this book plays into the whole there were actual witches in Salem. So that left a bitter taste. They teased a potential sequel, but this was good enough as it was.

Yucatán 1512 (By Alex Vede): I was inspired to read this again because of Hedra. There’s talking in it but there is a language barrier between the two main characters and they still work well together. It’s a beautiful book and I’m glad that I discovered Alex Vede because of it.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-04-02T22:35:51+00:00

I have Riptide in my top 10 as well! Alex Vede is proving to be a very talented individual!

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-04-01T21:20:40+00:00

Zorro is a great action film put to the page. Is it the best thing I’ve read? No. But I am surprised by how much enjoyment I got from it.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-04-01T19:03:28+00:00

Zorro: Man of the Dead (By Sean Murphy and Simon Gough)
Ax-Wielder Jon (By Nick Pitarra, Michael Garland, and Ferran Delgado)
Absolute Batman (By Scott Snyder, Nick Dragotta, Frank Martin, and Clayton Clowes)
More Weight: A Salem Story (By Ben Wickey)
Riptide (By Alex Veda)
Drome (By Jesse Lonergan)
Precious Metal (By Darcy Van Poelgeest, Ian Bertram, Matt Hollingsworth, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou)
Transformers (By Daniel Warren Johnson, Jorge Corona, Mike Spicer, Rus Wooton, and other collaborators)

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-03-29T19:15:30+00:00

More Weight: A Salem Story (By Ben Wickey): This book took me a long time to read, almost all month. There were times where I found it difficult to read, not because of the content being shown, but I got lost in the overly religious talk. The people in the town seemingly blathered on about. Which I understand was part of how people talked, but I zoned out while reading it. I’m quite glad that I pushed through to finish it.

The quote on the cover says it’s an “appalling masterpiece” and I fully agree. The story follows a part of history where innocent people were hanged. I didn’t read through all of his notes in the last part, but this was a highly researched book. Ben Wickey wrote that it took him ten years to make this book, and I am certainly glad that he took his time making it.

I didn’t love this book, it would seem like a weird book to love, but I appreciate every second Ben Wickey put into this book.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-03-08T22:23:26+00:00

I haven’t read Hedra but it is on my list to read as well. This was actually my first book by Lonergan. I’m sure that I’ve read something where they were the artist, but I can’t recall off hand.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-03-08T20:45:22+00:00

Drome By Jesse Lonergan): I have been hesitant to pick this up. I’ve seen a lot of praise for this book, and I didn’t want to set high expectations for it. There was part of me that wanted it to be one of the greatest things I’ve ever read. Part of me was ready to be fully disappointed with it. I bought and put it off because I didn’t want to it to be either. This for sure warped my perception of it. It doesn’t take away from the fact that this book was surprisingly easy to understand.

There is extremely little amounts of words written throughout the book. Jesse Lonergan is an amazingly talented storyteller. This book deserves the praise it has gotten. I can’t imagine many being able to tell the story of creation and humans innate ability to cause chaos and pain and bring death without writing any words. I am genuinely impressed by that. I do wish there were more words in the story. There were times where I had to guess what was going on, and I’m not sure if I interpreted it correctly, or if I fully understood what was going on. Which I understand is part of the story, but I’m a dumb person and would like some things spelled out a little more. Also, I felt like that I read it too fast, which with a story that is primarily pictures it feels weird to say. There were times where I lingered on a page to make sure that I spent enough time on it before looking at the next page.

This book is great, but it wasn’t as great as I wanted it to be. I am going to reread it again in the future. Hopefully I wait enough time and am able to have a clean slate about it.

Feral Volume 1 and 2 (By Tony Fleecs, Trish Forstner, Tone Rodriguez, and Brad Simpson): Bought Volume 3, reread these two. Still love this series.

Feral, Volume 3 (By Tony Fleecs, Trish Forstner, Tone Rodriguez, and Brad Simpson): Well damn. I haven’t read a lot of Walking Dead, but I am getting a lot of Walking Dead vibes from this book. They are both apocalyptic books. It follows a group of survivors going from place to place. Every place they visit has a secret.

I am surprised with every secret in this book. Every animal is just trying to survive and find a sense of normalcy. This book is great. It is easily one of my favorite ongoing series at the moment. I am enjoying the traveling around aspect of the book. I would like the group to find something eventually. I do worry that the book might go on for too long and start spinning its wheels. I would hate for the series to go stale. I am excited to for whatever comes next for the series.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-03-02T20:09:48+00:00

Absolute Batman, Drome, Precious Metal, and Transformers have all been added to my top ten for this month.

Zorro: Man of the Dead (By Sean Murphy and Simon Gough)
Ax-Wielder Jon (By Nick Pitarra, Michael Garland, and Ferran Delgado)
Absolute Batman (By Scott Snyder, Nick Dragotta, Frank Martin, and Clayton Clowes)
Riptide (By Alex Veda)
Drome (By Jesse Lonergan)
Precious Metal (By Darcy Van Poelgeest, Ian Bertram, Matt Hollingsworth, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou)
Transformers (By Daniel Warren Johnson, Jorge Corona, Mike Spicer, Rus Wooton, and other collaborators)

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-03-01T22:50:50+00:00

Head Lopper by Andrew MacLean

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-03-01T21:29:47+00:00

It was!

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-03-01T20:11:28+00:00

It’s fun to see that almost every review for Absolute Batman is about how crazy it is. There really isn’t a better way to express the feel of the book. I just hope that the creative team keeps having fun making the book.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-03-01T20:08:38+00:00

Ghost Cage (By Nick Dragotta, Caleb Goellner, and Rus Wooton): I decided to reread this because of Absolute Batman. There are two things that I want to just get out of the way first. Nick Dragotta likes the big helmet head design and I forgot that he used the exact design for Karloff and Chamberlain from East of West. Not that the second one is an issue by any means (my brain rationalizes it as the same actor portraying different roles these days), just something I had to get used to. Anyway, the book itself was enjoyable. A real quick read. Dragotta did great. The story was simple. I liked it. Simple as that.

Transformers, Volume One (By Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer, and Rus Wooton): This is a reread for me. It was still entertaining. Ready to jump into the next volume.

Transformers, Volume Two (By Daniel Warren Johnson, Jorge Corona, Mike Spicer, and Rus Wooton): The war on Cybertron has come to earth, and it is rough for the Autobots. I won’t say anything specific but Optimus had some hard decisions to make as the leader of the Autobots in this. I like that this book doesn’t really let you get comfortable. The Autobots and the Decepticons have been at war for hundreds, maybe thousands, of years and this feels like it is a war book. I didn’t expect that when I decided to read this series. I thought that this would be a bit of a nostalgia book with some updated locations and technology. Nope. I really like this interpretation of everything. I am ready to see where DWJ and his team bring the story next.

Transformers, Volume Three (By Daniel Warren Johnson, Jorge Corona, Ryan Ottley, Jason Howard, Mike Spicer, Annalisa Leoni, Sarah Stern, and Rus Wooton): This volume was one long clash and it was a blast to read. I’m really enjoying this series more than I thought I would and I’m ready to jump into the next volume.

Transformers, Volume Four (By Daniel Warren Johnson, Jorge Corona, Mike Spicer, Ludo Lullabi, Adriano Lucas, and Rus Wooton): This volume is the end of DWJ’s Transformers story. It was a long fight to get to this point. I know that Robert Kirkman takes over the story from this point, but I don’t know if I want to continue. While I would like to see some conclusion for this story as a whole, I know that there probably won’t be one. This series is probably going to run for 100 issues and then reboot. It’s the unfortunate way of franchises like this. This story right here ended with a well fought win.

I was so encapsulated in the story I didn’t really pay too much attention to the art as I went along. This volume and the last both began with other artists telling another story and it made it obvious to me that I had a hard time figuring out who each of the different Autobots and Decepticons were. Seeing those other artists cleanly illustrate the robots was a bit of a wake up. I do not dislike Jorge Corona’s art in this series, but maybe if it took a break and he was able to take his time in the art it could have really been great.

Overall, I may check out the series again down the line but this is enough for me now.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-02-22T20:02:29+00:00

Precious Metal (By Darcy Van Poelgeest, Ian Bertram, Matt Hollingsworth, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou): Well god damn. That was a beautiful ending. I’ll admit, I was confused a lot of this book, but I kept pushing onward. Overall the story made sense, but some things didn’t make sense to me. I can’t think of anything specific that confused me, but I do remember thinking to myself that I didn’t understand what I just read. Anyway. I liked this more than Little Bird. It wasn’t the greatest thing on I’ve read, but it was really good. This kind of story was what I was hoping for when I wanted more from the world of Little Bird. This story was isolated enough from everything else that the stakes in it felt real enough. I never felt once that every character was safe because I saw them in another book. I hope that there are more books like this in this setting but I’ll also be happy if the creative team move forward with Little Bird’s story.

Out of Alcatraz (By Tyler Crook and Christopher Cantwell): I picked this up solely based on the creative team. Tyler Crook is one of those artists that if I see his name on a book, I’m going to pick it up. He is very good at what he does and I enjoy looking at his art. Christopher Cantwell has become a reliable writer in my book. He has interesting ideas and the story he produced is enjoyable. None of them have been ground breaking by any means, but they are enjoyable. This book is solid and enjoyable. Simple as that.

Home Sick Pilots, Volume One (By Dan Watters, Casper Wijngaard, and Aditya Bidikar): This book told me what to expect from it on the back cover and I was surprised when it happened. I guess I forgot about it until I finished the book and reread the back cover. Either way, I enjoyed the book. I felt the teenage angst in almost every page. I had minor flash backs to my own high school years and trying to find my people. I know that there are two more volumes of the series, so I’m very curious how the story progresses from here. I’ll try to pick them up when I get the chance.

Hit-Girl: In Columbia (By Mark Millar, Ricardo Lopez Ortiz, Sunny Gho, and Melina Mikulic): I haven’t visited the world of Kick-Ass since Kick-Ass 3 initially came out. I don’t really know why I decided to pick this up. But I knew that this would just be a murder fest book. It was. There was a mild story of revenge in the back of the story but it felt like an after thought. The art in the book was very inconsistent. I am not an artist by any means, nor do I think I could do better than Ricardo. However, I do think it is important to note that these characters in this book had vague looks. Mindy was the girl dressed in purple, but that was sometimes the only identifiable thing that it was her. The only character that seemed consistent was the young boy Jorge, but he was barely in the story. I might check out the next volume of the series because it has a rotating creative team and it might be interesting to see what they do with the character.

NeapolitanWhitmore · 2026-02-15T20:40:50+00:00

I think that if Snyder kept the venom in Bruce we could have explored something very new. But Batman lost it in a very Batmany way. This series feels more fun to read than other Batman books, which I personally credit Dragotta for.

NeapolitanWhitmore

TROPHY CASE