Some books I've read

Barney Google, by Billy DeBeck, from IDW.

I question the choice of only putting one strip per page. Four strips would have been perfectly readable, and you would have gotten four times as much story. Anyway, this is a hilarious book. Some old comics you read almost out of obligation, just to get to know the history of the medium, but these strips are genuinly funny. They feel very fresh - I laughed out loud several times. And you can see where Crumb got some of his style from. Forget Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton; Barney and Sparkplug is the love story of the previous century.

Hallowilloween, by Calef Brown, from Houghton Mifflin.

This is the sixth book I own by Calef Brown, they're all great. Mostly I buy them for the illustrations, just to have to look at, but the rhymes are also funny. You don't need to be a kid to enjoy them.

Love and Rockets, new stories no. 3, from Fantagraphics

There's already a lot of reviews out about how amazing Jaime's stories are in this issue. I don't really have anything to add. It's all true. It's very touching, truly a masterpiece. But let me also say how much I love the cover illustration. I keep looking at it - the perfect composition, the colours, the weird, blue sun, the small details (like the baby held by the woman in the background), the boy being separated from the others, not looking at the viewer the way the girls do, the adults looking another way. It means even more when you've read the story. Jaime has already created a lot of iconic covers, but this might be the best one.