Mark's Box - January 2009

A few months ago I decided to start buying comics again. I am not going to the comic store every week to pick up issues though. I did that for awhile a few years back and didn't like it. I am sticking to buying collections now. They are easier to read, share, and store. I will mostly be buying trade paperbacks, but occasionally I will splurge on a fancy hardcover special edition. My new buying practices have been made incredibly easy and (somewhat) affordable thanks to DCBService. Discount Comic Book Service allows you to pre-order comics a few months ahead and they arrive at your doorstep once a month in a box. You get a nice discount and it is incredibly easy. So, once a month I will be posting the highlights of my box.

This month was a very small box. Only three new books arrived on my doorstep today.

Volume two of Osamu Tezuka's Black Jack series is the highlight of the box. I just finished reading the eight-volume Buddha series by Tezuka the other day and it was excellent. Black Jack has had a great start in volume one and volume two instantly moved to the top of my stack. Black Jack is the greatest surgeon in the world and each story deals with one of his cases. I am not sure if Black Jack is a licensed surgeon, but he jets around dealing with cases that no other doctors can handle. Really good stuff.

The other two books I got are unknown quantities. The blurbs on the website sounded interesting and the prices were right, so I ordered them.

Gettysburg: The Graphic Novel appears to be a well-researched depiction of the Battle of Gettysburg and the events leading up to the Gettysburg Address. I am not a huge American Civil War fan, but I enjoy having some history mixed up in my comics.

The final title this month is Continuity. I ordered this because the cover looked cool and the blurb was interesting. Click through and read the blurb if you are interested. The key sentence for me was "she quickly finds herself orphaned, pregnant and on the run from a pharmaceutical police state."

More next month...