We’re back with another round of graphic novels to discuss for The Pullbox Podcast! You can choose to read any or all of these books to be a part of this podcast. Just head to your local library, book store, comic shop, Comixology, or find a friend with a copy that you can borrow, and start reading! Once you’ve finished reading, send us an email with your thoughts! Did you like the book? Why? What are your thoughts on the writing? The art? The characters? The premise? We’ll read one or two emails for each book on the Podcast; one of those emails could be yours! We will always lean toward the more thought-provoking emails that will allow us to carry on the conversation. The episode will be released on July 1.
Mike’s Pull: EX MACHINA, VOLUME ONE: THE FIRST HUNDRED DAYS
By Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris. Available in hardcover (ISBN: 978-1401218140) and paperback (ISBN: 1-4012-0612-3) from Wildstorm and digitally through Amazon Kindle and Comixology. Also available as single issues Ex Machina #1-5. Set in our modern-day world, EX MACHINA tells the story of civil engineer Mitchell Hundred, who becomes America’s first living, breathing super-hero after a strange accident gives him the power to communicate with machines. Eventually Mitchell tires of risking his life merely to maintain the status quo, retires from masked crime fighting and runs for mayor of New York City, winning by a landslide after the events of 9/11.
Kurtis’s Pull: BATTLING BOY
By Paul Pope. Available in hardcover (ISBN: 978-1596438057) and paperback (ISBN: 978-1596431454) from First Second Books and digitally through Amazon Kindle. Monsters roam through Arcopolis, swallowing children into the horrors of their shadowy underworld. Only one man is a match for them – the genius vigilante Haggard West. Unfortunately, Haggard West is dead. Arcopolis is desperate, but when its salvation comes in the form of a twelve-year-old demigod, nobody is more surprised than Battling Boy himself.
Reader Pull: ASTRO CITY: LIFE IN THE BIG CITY
By Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson. Available in hardcover (ISBN: 978-1401232610) and paperback (ISBN: 978-1401232627) from DC/Vertigo and digitally through Amazon Kindle and Comixology. Also available as single issues Astro City, Vol. 1 #1-6. Reader Pull suggested by Craig Elliot. Welcome to Astro City, a shining city on a hill where super heroes patrol the skies. Each chapter in this collection is a standalone story, highlighting different aspects or characters in the Astro City world. The city’s leading super hero tries to be everywhere at once, and berates himself for every wasted second as he longs for just a moment of his own. A smalltime hood learns a hero’s secret identity, and tries to figure out how to profit from the knowledge. A beat reporter gets some advice from his editor on his first day on the job. A young woman tries to balance the demands of her family with her own hopes and desires. Despite the fantastic settings, the characters in these slice-of-life stories feel like real people, and that gives the stories real power.