_The Massive_ by Brian Wood

Just a short note to express my pleasure at being able to read volume 3 of Brian Wood's sci fi story _The Massive_.

This series is set in a near future where the ice caps have melted, leading to a worldwide crisis called The Crash. It focuses on a group of Greenpeace-like protestors led by Callum Israel, a former mercenary, who live on their anti-whaling ship _Kapital_ and try to survive in the changed world.

The stories start with a bang, putting characters under stress. And each volume offers tantalizing hints of the past.

The title refers to a sister ship that was lost mysteriously, and which the crew of the Kapital hunts for, sometimes catching her on radar.

That and other surreal elements, the certainly-not-natural character Mary, hint that there is more than just science in the story.

I started reading this series just about a year ago. I eagerly await the next volume.

_The Rinse_ by Gary Phillips

This graphic novel rather reminds me of Brubaker's _Criminal_ series, which is one of my favorites. The story here deals with a money launderer, on a caper that tests his ability to be an honest man in a dishonest world. That's his charm, and Phillips manages to sell the idea of his money launderer with a heart of gold, mostly by making many of the other characters into scary scumbags. I enjoyed every minute of reading this book, and when I finished it, I picked it up and read it a second time. Highly recommended.

_Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong_ by Faith Erin Hicks

I've enjoyed a couple of graphic novels by Hicks, but this one -- with a sort of jocks versus geeks conflict in high school that results in a fun team-up -- kinda knocks it out of the park. I read the whole thing in a delirious 45 minutes. I love that it features a robotics team, and am jealous of how well the main character's home conflicts are portrayed.

I'll be looking for more by Hicks.

Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong

_Brain Camp_ by Susan Kim, Laurence Klavan, Faith Erin Hicks

This graphic novel has the same artist as previously-mentioned Friends with Boys, but where that one is also written by the artist, this one has Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan as writers.

It's got a great, weird premise: the main characters are underachieving kids whisked off to a camp that's going to make geniuses out of them. But it's clear early that weird things are going on at the camp ... our viewpoint characters are there to replace kids who had something bad happen to them.

I liked how this one ended a lot ... it ends with our main characters not having fully resolved the threat, but prepared to meet it head on in the future. Neat stuff.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Brain-Camp-Susan-Kim/dp/1596433663

_Superman: Earth One_ by J. Michael Straczynski

Superman: Earth One by J. Michael Straczynski, 2010.

This is good. I didn't even realize it was a Straczynski when I grabbed it ... I just figured it was yet-another-retelling-of-Superman's-origin-from-scratch, and ever since Superman: Red Son, I've been really liking those.

I complain about people restarting the superhero story from the origin all the time when it happens in movies -- it seems egregious that we have another Spider Man movie coming out that is a restart. But I'll take these retellings of Superman, as many as you want. Perhaps it's because the story is so well known that the retellings always seem to have nice new spins on them.

Also, they provide a single storyline in one volume -- I don't even want to get started trying to collect the main DC Superman continuity.

I liked:

• Scenes of Clark Kent trying out for pro football (every position)
• Scenes of Clark Kent wowing a tech company with his brain
• Flashbacks to Ma and Pa Kent that were not at all sappy
• Changes to why Krypton went bang
• Some of the same edge we saw in Supreme Power

_Friends with Boys_, graphic novel by Faith Erin Hicks

I was really impressed with this one -- fun art and an engaging storyline. I'm always on the lookout for good non-superhero graphic novels and this one's homeschooled-kid-thrown-into-regular-high-school storyline grabbed me fast.

Here's a link to the Amazon page for the book.