Playing Comic Book Catch Up

So, as a result of the holiday season and subsequent return-to-work haze, I missed a few monthly titles I now need to spend some time this week tracking down. After doing a quick inventory in my apartment, I discovered the following titles from last month are missing: Teen Titans #4, Wolverine and the X-Men #3, and X-Factor #229.

Very surprised I managed to miss an issue of X-Factor. The cover looks familiar, but probably because Peter David blogged about it being a clever cover when it hit the internet a few months ago. Also, if you aren't reading Wolverine and the X-Men, start. It's a slam dunk every issue, and #4 out this month with a teenage Apocalypse is pretty rad.



I won't apologize for liking the new Teen Titans book. I just won't.

Out of Print Graphic Novels

Here's a bunch of out-of-print graphic novels currently sitting in my office.

Many of these might be given out this year for Free Comic Book Day

Raised by the Church: Growing Up in New York City’s Catholic Orphanages / Edward Rohs

A frank and informative look at one man’s experience growing up in parochial orphanages in and around New York during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Edward Rohs doesn’t remember his parents. They gave him up when before he could form any familiar recollection of them. Instead, his childhood was spent under the care of both the Sisters of Mercy and the Marianist Brothers, moving from one institution to the next as he aged out of each one. Along with fellow author Judith Estrine, Rohs gives a brief overview of the history of orphans in and around New York City before recounting his own experiences as one. He also provides backgrounds on the religious orders that helped raise him, including the rather fascinating tale of how the Sisters of Mercy came to New York from Ireland and ended up in Brooklyn. Rohs’ story is both thoughtful and shocking as he recounts everything from a stressful incident of racism at an institutional football game to his molestation by a religious man from a visiting order. His matter-of-fact style and glass half-is-full approach to writing makes it hard for readers not to empathize with his situation. The titles does falter, however, as he begins to list all his jobs accomplishments as an adult. This doesn’t seem to keep in line with his earlier purpose; recounting his experiences both prior to and post his institutional life.

An interesting and thought-provoking book that is sure to to grab the attention of anyone interested in orphans and early New York City life.

Raised by the Church by Edward Rohs with Judith Estrine. ISBN: 978-0823240227

Resolutions & Stuff

It's a new year! And it has been for six days! So I'm not going to do that whole thing where I wish you you a Happy You-Know-What, then you roll your eyes because... well, I'm way too late for the whole thing to matter. You can also tell it's a new year, since Facebook is planning on changing their interface again with a new 'Timeline' that is sure to give us all a heachache we won't soon forget.

I have two different books to read in the next two weeks, so I'll be busy with my face buried in those respective paperbacks. It's also kind of worth noting that the mid-season TV lineup has started again, at least with Pretty Little Liars and The Vampire Diaries. With the former, Rose Y. and I have resumed our podcast, so you can literally download us on iTunes (if you want). That is going to blow my mind. Every. Single. Time.

In serendipitous news, I did discover an ultimately unpublished review I thought that was lost forever for the Edward Rohs' book Raised by the Church. I'm hoping to post that in the next few days as a seperate review entry since otherwise, it never actually would see the light of day. I gave the book to my friend Alex who had a very emotional reaction to it. The book is good; it's a kind of sad tale, but touching nonetheless. And it really did give me a sense of how New York City was (especially Brooklyn) in a time long before I moved here. It's completely worth reading, and is written in a really accessible way.

School Library Journal is supposed to update their website today with new reviews. I have a sneaking suspicion that one of two pending reviews I have are up there, but we will have to wait until the end of the day to see. If you want the most up-to-date information on this development, be sure to hit up my Twitter feed @rybrarian.