books

Peanuts were written and drawn by one man for 50 years. In those 50 years, politics crept in a subtle manner but left a deep imprint. Charles M. Schulz never wanted Peanuts to be a gag comic strip. Peanuts were cerebral at times. Laughter was never the end goal. Peanuts stood above the heap of comic strips from the beginning. Unlike Pogo where politics was the main raison d’etre. Pogo is a brilliantly drawn strip but has lost its meaning with the advancement of time. Peanuts driving force has always been about simplicity at the core. This is why Peanuts is timeless.

Mutts Go Green is a special kids’ collection of the popular comic strip MUTTS, featuring themes of ecology, environmental friendliness, and animal education.

Creativity comes from many places, isolation has given talented people a place of reflection. Mike Mignola: The Quarantine Sketchbook is the product of coronavirus quarantine. Mignola’s daily sketches are collected in one giant volume.

Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd might be the stars of Back to the Future but we all know who the true star is. The DeLorean Time Machine is the main star of the trilogy. It fascinated all those geeks in the 80s, some went on to purchase an actual DeLorean car. If not for the movie series, the DeLorean car would be just a footnote in automotive history failure.

Jeffrey Brown is at again. He is tackling DC’s biggest franchise. Batman! Brown is known for the popular Jedi Academy books, the Darth Vader and Son series, and his self created Lucy and Andy Neanderthal and new Space-Time! books. The citizens of Gotham are not safe with Brown’s unique subtle sense of humor.

Steve Ditko emulated his creations, he was a man of mystery and that suited him fine. He co-created both Spider-Man and Doctor Strange with Stan Lee. He had a beef with Stan Lee, he always believed he was also the originator of the famous Marvel Method way of storytelling. Stan Lee always said that he was the sole creator of the method.

Gotham unlike Metropolis and other superhero cities has a character of its own. It is not a mere backdrop but an essential component of each character in the Batman universe. Gotham is tied to the origin of each character, it is a raison d’etre for all the characters. Heroes are born to protect Gotham and villains born to extract the riches from Gotham.

Austin Kleon might be the only person a mother would like that would encourage you to steal. He has made a career of being that little devil on your left shoulder egging you to steal like an artist. Nothing wrong with stealing like an artist, all of us do it each day. The trick is not to make it too obvious.

Here is a healthy diet of books that you should have digested by now if you are an adult. B-Side Books: Essays on Forgotten Favorites as edited by John Plotz. The collection of essays consists of books that are less popular but as significant as other major works.

When it comes to consuming literature, I tend to go either e-book or paper. This time I went the audiobook route for Rust in Peace: The Inside Story of the Megadeth Masterpiece. Why? Because the story unfolds by the people involved in the story of Megadeth’s mega album, Rust in Peace.

You don’t have to be a fly on the wall to get the latest of Lewis Trondheim’s The Fly. Rejoice, his comic strip, The Fly is coming to the US as collected by Papercutz. The series did enjoy an animated adaption called Fly Tales in 1999 by TVA Films in Canada with 65 episodes.

A crew of hungry kittens and their captain head to the lake to catch some dinner, but the fish have surprises in store for them. Physics is at work too. What happens when confused kitties paddle every which way? Or when they all lean in the same direction? A pattern is needed to avoid a catastrophe!