About Us

This is the official blog for the comic book club held in the book lounge of Waterstone's Liverpool One.

The group meet at 6pm on the third Monday of the month to discuss their thoughts and opinions on the comics selected.

It's a fun and friendly atmosphere and all are welcome: from those who have never read comic books, manga, or graphic novels before (call them what you like), to those who never read anything else.

The group, and this blog, are administered by Glyn Morgan, the Bookseller responsible for the Graphic Novels and Manga sections of the store and a big comic book fan who is currently studying for his PhD at the University of Liverpool.

If you would like to comment on any of the comics we've read, this month or in the distant past, please feel free to contribute to the comments section of the relevant posts.

Visit this club's big sister: The Science Fiction/ Fantasy Book Club

A Note on the Blog

Although this blog may appear slow paced and close to death in fact the group is very much alive and now entering its second year. Most of the group discussion (not done in person in Waterstone's of Wagamama's) takes place in the Facebook group - feel free to join. In the meantime I will try to keep a copy of the reading list here for general consumption. - G

Monday 17 January 2011

Tank Girl by Jamie Hewlett/Alan Martin and The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way/Gabriel Ba

Tank Girl

From the depths of the outback comes a wildly anarchic, in-your-face heroine for a new age of madness...Tank Girl! Join everybody's favourite beer-swilling, chain-smoking, kangaroo-worrying lunatic as she blasts her way through a dazzling array of bizarre adventures, including bounty hunting, delivering colostomy bags to the Australian president, appearing on Dame Edna, a short-lived career in the bloody and vicious world of kangaroo boxing...and many more outrageous and mind-warping thrills!

 

The Umbrella Academy, volume 1

Gerard Way, of "My Chemical Romance", makes his comics writing debut in this outrageous superhero epic that Grant Morrison called "An ultraviolet psychedelic sherbet bomb of wit and ideas. The superheroes of the 21st century are here at last..." In an inexplicable, worldwide event, forty-seven extraordinary children were spontaneously born by women who'd previously shown no signs of pregnancy. Millionaire inventor Reginald Hargreeves adopted seven of the children; when asked why, his only explanation was, "To save the world." These seven children form The Umbrella Academy, a dysfunctional family of superheroes with bizarre powers. Their first adventure at the age of ten pits them against an erratic and deadly Eiffel Tower, piloted by the fearsome zombie-robot Gustave Eiffel. Nearly a decade later, the team disbands, but when Hargreeves unexpectedly dies, these disgruntled siblings reunite just in time to save the world once again.

What did we think?
Discussion coming soon [really, really ;-)   ]

Tuesday 4 January 2011

The Ballad of Halo Jones and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Century: 1910 by Alan Moore


 The Ballad of Halo Jones
Meet Halo Jones. Not brave, nor clever, nor strong, she was just somebody who had to get out. Escaping the Hoop, Manhattan Island's land of mindless leisure, is the first step in a cosmic adventure that will take Halo to the ends of the galaxy, through war and peace, trial, despair and triumph.




 
 

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Century: 1910

The fourth volume detailing the exploits of Miss Wilhelmina Murray and her extraordinary colleagues, Century is an epic spanning almost 100 years. Chapter one is set against the backdrop of London in 1910, 12 years after the failed Martian invasion and nine years since England put a man on the moon. With Halley's Comet passing overhead, the nation prepares for the coronation of King George V, while far away on his South Atlantic island, the science-pirate Captain Nemo is dying.



What Did We Think?


(Discussion coming [really] soon)

Maus by Art Spiegelman and We3 by Grant Morrison

Maus

The story of Vladek Spiegelman and his wife, living and surviving in Hitler's Europe. By addressing the horror of the Holocaust through cartoons, the author captures the everyday reality of fear and is able to explore the guilt, relief and extraordinary sensation of survival - and how the children of survivors are in their own way affected by the trials of their parents. A contemporary classic of immeasurable significance.






  
We3

From acclaimed writer Grant Morrison (Seaguy, JLA) and fan-favourite artist Frank Quitely (JLA: Earth 2, The Authority) comes an incredible new story of cruelty, courage and humanity...When three experimental "animal weapons" escape from their government facility, the full might of the military is mobilised to bring them down. But labrador "1", cat "2" and rabbit "3" have a different agenda - finding "home"...at any cost. However, when the even more horrific Weapon 4 is unleashed, will any of them survive? This astonishing story mixes humour, violence, pathos and insight, for a truly unique look at the animals around us!

What Did We Think?

(Discussion Notes to Follow)