Mr. Chair's comic book/download advice of the financial quarter

Ugh. Poor posting habits from the posting police himself. Regardless, here's a couple of books I read recently that I'd recommend to folks in the Lounge.

Warren Ellis' Desolation Jones is one of the better things he's done recently, which is saying a lot for the chronically exhausted Brit. Jones was underordered, as is common for stores to do since Ellis does most of his marketing through his Internet empire of subculture. But there has been rampant buzz and steady sales, so expect it to become a presence on Wednesday shelves. It's a British noir detective book set in LA, but really about someone isolated from his home and all that he finds familiar. It's about a hopeless person basically. Buy it for J.H. Williams' (Promethea fame) art at least. Don't know what Ellis has planned, but this could fill the gap on the shelf that he left with Transmetropolitan.

Morrison's Seven Soldiers series continues to impress. I'm particularly fond of Shining Knight, but each book maintains a distinct style and look.

In Batlin's continuing attempt to prove to me that superhero books are where it's at, he's warmed me up to Bryan K. Vaughan's Ex Machina. Tony Harris of Starman draws this book about a NYC mayor who also happens to be a superhero responsible for saving one of the Twin Towers in a parallel universe. It's about a third political drama, a third comic book action, and another third fascinating historical trivia about the history of New York City. What a blast to read. Always read Vaughan's Y: The Last Man, by the way.

In the non-picture book category, Jonathan Lethem is quickly becoming one of my favorite contemporary authors. Critical hit Motherless Brooklyn was great, but his short stories, which border on sci-fi, mystery and horror, prove that genre fiction can be character based layered in ways that "serious" stories can't often manage. Check out the quick read, Wall of the Sky, Wall of the Eye for some of his short work.

Back to the Ellis front, he puts out an occasional podcast called Superburst Mixtape. For those not down with the Pod, you can easily download all 15 of them at his website. I did it in two coffee shop visits and they're mostly great stuff. I think it's safe to say that I had never heard of any of the musicians on the mixes, despite the fact that I'd buy almost all of their CDs having listened. Many of the bands are unknowns who gave their music directly to Ellis or were discovered through Myspace accounts.

It's over!