Trevor

Oops, sorry about the late thread start.

So just what the heck is 'reality'?

Basically, any comic book that could be a real story. So no superheroes, probably a bunch of fantasy should be out, and a good chunk of science fiction wouldn't be all that appropriate.

I'll post more later.

Challenge started at dusk on May 31st 2015 and ends at dawn on July 1st 2015. Cross Challenge content gets the bonus of counting for the entire 24 hours of the 31st and/or 1st.

majorjoe23

June 18-27
American Elf April1 2010-Dec 31 2011

Total books read: 38

Trevor

My list. Hoping to get to March and From Hell.

Strangers in Paradise
The Quitter
A Contract with God
Sad Sack and the Sarge #71
3 - Silver Age Sci-Fi Companion - Cross Challenge double credit book from TwoMorrows.

davidh777

I'll try to catch up with Archie: The Married Life.

1. Archie Dan DeCarlo Treasury Edition*

6/6
2. The Adventures of Jo, Zette, and Jocko: The Secret Ray

6/23 Archie: The Married Life book 5*

6/24
Archie: The Married Life book 6*

6/25
Blake and Mortimer: Secret of the Swordfish part 1*

6/30
Tor 1-3

shadokitty

I don't have any real comic books, so I guess I'm out. For next month though, have a comic in tpb format called UFO Encounters.

Edit: Actually, since they are true stories, would it count this month?

Undeadcow

Total List

M3 #1-11
Fatherhood [1 shot]
Strangers in Paradise v1 1-3
Strangers in Paradise v2 1-13

Trevor

Hmm, does 'real life' = 'true'? That's too deep for me.





But seriously, yes, of course it would count. And you may have more real life comics than you think. Several free ones on Comixology and Dark Horse I'd imagine.



But also seriously, there are no UFOs.

majorjoe23

I was a little sad I didn't finish my Samurai Executioner run, but since they could be "real" despite not being "true," I guess I can try to get the rest of that read as well.

I'll also throw the second Southern Bastards trade on my pile.

Trevor

Finally giving Parker a try. Wow. Quite dark and gritty, but very well done.

malazar

Reserved for my list.

Not sure what to focus on this month yet, but I have lots of stuff that fits the bill.

Total Issues Read: 12

PhantomStranger

From Hell might be the most realistic comic book I own. I am not sure that would count.

majorjoe23

Someone (Trevor?) mentioned trying to finish it for this challenge. It counts. There's only one section that takes it out of a true crime area, and that can easily be explained

Trevor

From Hell is pretty much the optimal choice for this Challenge. Perhaps I've done a horrible job defining it.

Trevor

The current Comixology Submit sale has a lot of quality qualifying titles.
https://www.comixology.com/Submit-Crime-Sale/page/6918

Trevor

So I probably own at least 2000 physical and 2000 digital comics that qualify, but what do I do but go and visit the library to find books.

And not only that, but I think 3 of the 4 books I borrowed I owned already.

But in my defense I guess, we were going to the library anyway, and sometimes I like the nice big collected versions versus the floppies that I have at home.

Picked up:

From Hell - Read most of it as it was released, looking forward to soaking it all in.

Parker: The Hunter - The first volume I'm pretty sure. Excellent book, but so dark and gritty. Not sure how much more I will enjoy if the main character continues to be such an asshole.

The Quitter - My first Pekar. Better than I expected. Real life can be quite interesting.

one more book that I can't recall at the moment

Undeadcow

I've been reading M3, from Comixology Submit, and it's a good hitman thriller.

Trevor

I had read a small bit of Strangers in Paradise awhile ago, enough to know that it was an exceptional book.

Just now re-read those first three issues, and then the next two that were new-to-me and, wow, powerful stuff. If it keeps this up it'll be one of my favorite series.

Trevor

Have also been reading Will Eisner's A Contract With God trilogy. Not sure if comics can get any better than these.

Undeadcow

I just made a late update to my list; read M3 and Strangers in Paradise.

M3 was general spy thriller stuff; towards the end it started to feel rushed and never quite established the necessary gravity.I also enjoyed Strangers in Paradise much more than I expected; really melodramatic with mystery undertones.

Trevor

Finished up with what I'll count as a cross-Challenge double, one of those TwoMorrows books on Silver Age Sci-Fi Comics. Loved those Adam Strange stories as a kid, but they were dying out (and maybe only in reprints) when I was finding them and the genre soon disappeared.

davidh777

I achieved my main goal of the challenge, which was to read the last two volumes of Archie: The Married Life. I knew the ending because I had bought the floppie with the pop-culture-buzz ending, but I thought the series maintained its quality throughout the six-TPB run. I don't read much current Archie (like grocery-store digests), but this and Afterlife are very good. What threw me off was how much reading each TPB was--I figured they'd be quick vacation knockoffs but they weren't, and I ended up carrying too much reading material (I know, digital would solve these problems).

Finished up with a Belgian Tintin-wannabe, Blake and Mortimer (brought two volumes only to learn that there's a third that I don't own ) and Joe Kubert's Tor, which I think I read in the '70s, or maybe I just recognize the cover. It's basically a Tarzan character (I'm a big fan of Kubert's Tarzan) in a slightly more fantastic setting. Great art, of course.

davidh777

Another thing about Tor: I've been meaning to pick up a volume for a while, then this showed up on a clearance shelf and I got it, but I was wondering why it was volume 3. Turns out the character first popped up in the '50s, and this reprints the '70s miniseries, which is good because that's what I was looking for. It makes the similarities with Kubert's '70s Tarzan even more apparent (again, not a bad thing). Last year I bought an even more recent iteration of Tor, though I haven't read it yet.