February 19, 2011: Reading Comic Books

Anyone reading this knows that I play games and spend too much time with toys. But what you may not know, unless you've met me or follow along as I rattle online, is that I also read comics. Not on a daily or even weekly basis; no, I prefer collections rather than individual issues. Why? Well . . .

• Trade paperbacks and hardcovers are a lot easier to shelve.
• I like to read an entire story in a single sitting.
• Collections tend to (at least for me) get reread more often than individual issues.

Recently at battlegrip.com I took some time to post my thoughts on Dark Horse Comics' two Solomon Kane trades, Castle of the Devil and Death's Black Riders. Both were fun reads, but I've gotta say that I found Castle of the Devil to be a far superior package; Death's Black Riders, while mostly excellent, had enough minor problems that I definitely have to rank it as second best of the two books. If you would like to read my thoughts on both volumes you can check out my post on Castle of the Devil right here and Death's Black Riders here.

Of course, you can always skip my own ramblings about these books and just grab them the next time you are in your local comic store or online at Amazon (Castle of the Devil, Death's Black Riders). This is definitely your best course of action if you're a comic fan and you're looking for a couple of fun stories that involve monsters and adventure. (And both volumes make excellent reading if you're planning to play The Savage World of Solomon Kane RPG.)

-- Phil Reed