I Got Back Into Reading Comics

(and I got that deadly virus that's been going around)


Our local mall has stood the test of time and is still fairly busy on the weekends, so my partner and I decided to drop by two Fridays ago and take a trip down memory lane. We even stopped by the food court for dinner. Shortly after, my partner started feeling cruddy. I figured it was a stomach thing caused by crappy mall food, but he said it was more of an all-over fatigue. We headed home and he was out like a light.

The next morning, he tested positive for covid. Funnily enough, he got covid around this time last year, too. We figured we'd run the same strategy as last year: sleep in separate rooms, mask up when we have to be near each other, wipe down doorknobs, toilet levers, fridge handles, etc. But unfortunately four days later, I tested positive for covid as well.

Bummer!

I'm annoyed I caught it, but I'm thankful I was able to hold out all the way to 2023. Also, I guess this is the part where I should mention that yes of course I'm completely up to date on my shots and boosters, and still wear a mask when I go out in public. Because I'm not an asshole.

Anyway, the first two days were absolutely rough. I ran a fever all day and had little to no energy. The fever broke after that, but I was still groggy, full of snot, and too feeble to do basically anything.

Anything... except lie in bed and read comics on my iPad. So that's what I did! Here's a quick rundown of what I've been reading this week:

  • Marvels (four issues, 1994): Jeez louise I love Marvels. This isn't my first time reading this miniseries, but it is the first time in a while I've sat down and read the whole thing. Just assume I'm making a chef's kiss motion right now. Mmmmmmwah! That is my review of Marvels. Phenomenal. Also, I genuinely cannot believe this has yet to make the jump to a live action adaptation. I'm not exactly a fan of the MCU (that's another ramble for a different time), but I could probably get behind a Marvels miniseries in a big way.

  • The Flintstones (12 issues, 2016): I caught the first couple issues of The Flintstones when it first came out, but never really kept it in my rotation for whatever reason. Anyway, The Flintstones is a hoot. It's better than anything called The Flintstones has any right to be. There's a few little bits that have aged kind of weirdly (reading a "basket of deplorables" joke psychically aged me 60 years. I am dead now.) but otherwise a really fun series.

  • Roi Ours/Bear King (single volume, 2015): A scanlation of a French comic. Pretty neat story of an indigenous woman who is sentenced to be sacrificed to the Caiman goddess, but is instead rescued by the god of all bears, the Bear King. I liked it, even though parts seemed kind of clunky. I'm not sure if that's the fault of the original writer or the fan translating it.

  • 20th Century Men (one issue, 2022): 20th Century Men, it's not you, it's me. As in, I tried to read this at the height of my covid fever, all the while nodding in an out of consciousness. I had an incredibly hard time keeping track of what was going on and gave up after one issue. Again, I don't think this is a bad comic. I picked it up because I wanted to read something recent and saw this series was highly regarded. 20th Century Men, I'm gonna give you another chance later.

  • Yakari and Great Eagle (one volume, 1973): That Franco-Belgian watercolors/brushstroke style is just catnip to me, but I kind of found this comic a little dull. To be fair, I'm fairly certain this is intended for kids about 30 years my junior. I'm not the target audience, and that's okay. Still, a nice book to look at. Also, I just noticed the two Euro comics I read featured indigenous main characters. Interesting.

I should also mention that this week was a great chance for me to try out Kavita, which is a home sever for comics, books, and manga. Basically, Kavita is Plex for books, which is something I've wanted for YEARS! I've tried Ubooquity and Komga in the past, and neither really impressed me. While I was taking care of my partner (before I started feeling the effects of covid) I just happened to see someone on Reddit mention using something called Kavita to host their manga. I got everything up and running basically the night before I started feeling crummy. Now that I'm feeling better, I'm using ComicTagger to spruce up all the metadata for my X-men comics and make everything look all purdy in Kavita. I'm also setting up reading lists for big multi-book events like Annihilation. Fun stuff!




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