The World Builder

A freebie I picked up at last year's Readercon convention in Quincy MA.

Title: The World Builder
Publisher: Brett James
Date: 2015
Writer: Brett James

Not a comic. This is a prose short story in quarter-sized zine format.

World Builder Barun makes deals to build a city of wonders on a desert planet while his mother sends him urgent messages of an impending deadline. This was a well-written science fiction story, with a good details, especially on future architecture and construction. It has something of a twist ending, which didn't come entirely unexpectedly, as there were hints throughout the story that all was not exactly as it appeared. Still, the ending was well-executed, and the author kept up the nice level of detail that made the story engaging.

This worked well as an introduction to the writing of author Brett James.

Rating: 6.5/10

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #14

Another item from the unread comics stack. I seem to recall that I found this on the freebies table at ReaderCon last summer, but I could be mistaken on that.

Title: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
Issue: 14
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: January, 2007
Writer: Peter David
Penciller: Scot Eaton
Inker: John Dell
Colorist: Matt Milla
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Editor: Axel Alonso, Michael O'Connor

This is in the midst of the Unmasked storyline, and the lead-up to Marvel
s original Civil War. Spider-Man's true identity as Peter Parker has become public knowledge, and Peter is dealing with the fallout from that.

This issue specifically focuses on his efforts to safeguard Midtown High School, now that his connections to the school have become known. Peter enlists the help of the Beast, and gains what effectively amounts to a major new power (in one of those annoying bits of plot that will undoubtedly be forgotten in a few months either with or without some token writeoff to reset things).

While that is going on, a classic Spider-Man villain returns to action, setting up a future confrontation. And Peter Parker also experiences some further repercussions in the form of the publication of a tell-all book by an ex-girlfriend.

This was loaded with excellent visuals, and it had a classic Spider-Man vibe to it. It made good use of a lot of moving parts and kept the story rolling smoothly. I wasn't a fan of some of the the out-of-sequence aspects of the storytelling. They weren't terrible; they just didn't feel entirely justified.

Considering I hadn't read much by Marvel from this time period, this felt reasonably comfortable, even with it being a jump into the middle of a major crossover storyline. But it was still something of a transitional issue, with bigger plot developments saved for forthcoming issues.

Rating: 5.5/10

The To-Read Stack

We're back in Vietnam, and settling in. Thanks to Emirates' generous baggage allowance, I was able to bring almost 100 comics here from the US (when added to the few remaining unread comics I left here, the total is exactly 99!). These are mostly from a box of unread comics from our storage unit back home, plus a few new issues that I bought at various comic shops, and a small number purchased at the two conventions I attended during our visit (MASSive Comic Con, and Readercon).

I'm looking forward to reading these over the coming school year, along with a few graphic novels I brought with me, plus some graphic novels and manga available at my school's library. I'll also be attending Manga Festival here in Ho Chi Minh City this weekend, and I'll keep my eye out for any other chances to buy comics during our upcoming travels.

Here are some photos of the to-read pile! First neatly stacked:

And then spread out on the floor!

Looking forward to some good reading!