{"id":425,"date":"1996-04-01T17:35:46","date_gmt":"1996-04-01T22:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/?p=425"},"modified":"2016-01-30T17:36:01","modified_gmt":"2016-01-30T22:36:01","slug":"keith-giffen-ambushes-us-with-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/keith-giffen-ambushes-us-with-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Keith Giffen ambushes us with books"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Keith Giffen \u2013 I\u2019m not really good at this. No, not reading, I\u2019m fine on that front. I\u2019m talking about these \u201cmy<\/em> preference, what the other guy likes blows\u201d col\u00adumns. Not that that\u2019s what this \u201cRecom\u00admended Reading\u201d column is all about\u2014far from it. Actually, it\u2019s a pretty good idea, letting the fans in on the types of reading material the average comic book creator turns to after anywhere from eight to 12 hours spent dealing with characters whose idea of a fashion statement is wearing their underpants on the outside. Which is why you won\u2019t find many comic books listed below. Not that I don\u2019t like comics, mind you; it\u2019s just that after a day spent cobbling one together, when it comes time to kick back and relax I\u2019m looking for something a bit different. The books listed below are the ones that I turn to most often when in need of a \u201csanity fix\u201d after having spent way<\/em> too much time in \u201cfour-color land.\u201d You might consider giving them a read\u2026<\/p>\n

Catch-22<\/strong>: The single indispensable book in what I laughingly refer to as my library. Joseph Heller\u2019s surrealistic, maddeningly hilarious masterpiece is far and away my all-time favorite read.<\/p>\n

Sha\u00addow\u00ad\u00adland<\/strong>: Peter Straub\u2019s disturbing take on magic and the supernatural. Mood you can cut with a knife. (Whatever that means\u2026)<\/p>\n

The Mongo books<\/strong>: The adventures of George C. Chesbro\u2019s dwarf detective. Not quite science fiction, not quite hard-boiled suspense, not quite like anything else out there.<\/p>\n

Aztec<\/strong>: A fascinating novel about a fascinating people. Gary Jennings\u2019 brilliant take on the historical novel.<\/p>\n

The Bridge<\/strong>: Skipp and Spector\u2019s gleefully nihilistic take on eco-disaster. Who knew the end of the world could be so much fun?<\/p>\n

The Tale of One Bad Rat<\/strong>: Okay, it\u2019s a comic book. But it\u2019s a damned good comic book, and how many of those have you come across lately?<\/p>\n

Looks like that\u2019s all I have space for. Just as well. I\u2019m a two-finger typer and I\u2019m starting to cramp up here. Catch you in the funny\u00adbooks\u2026<\/p>\n

Well, it seems that Mr. Giffen\u2019s not the best judge of space allotment. That\u2019s OK. We\u2019ll fill up the rest by talking bad about him! Keith be\u00adcame, like, super-fam\u00adous (in comic book circles, for what that\u2019s worth) in the early \u201980s with his pencils and plots on <\/em>Legion of Super-Her\u00adoes. He\u2019s also fa\u00admous (some say infamous, the dul\u00adlards) for bringing humor back to super\u00adhero books with the Justice League and Ambush Bug, re\u00advamping the <\/em>Le\u00adgion, and creating Lobo. He is currently writing and drawing <\/em>Punx Redux for Acclaim.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Keith Giffen \u2013 I\u2019m not really good at this. No, not reading, I\u2019m fine on that front. I\u2019m talking about these \u201cmy preference, what the other guy likes blows\u201d col\u00adumns. Not that that\u2019s what this \u201cRecom\u00admended Reading\u201d column is all about\u2014far from it. Actually, it\u2019s a pretty good idea, letting the fans in on the types of reading material the average comic book creator turns to after anywhere from eight to 12 hours spent dealing with characters whose idea of a fashion statement is wearing their underpants on the outside. Which is why you won\u2019t find many comic books listed below. Not that I don\u2019t like comics, mind you; it\u2019s just that after a day spent cobbling one together, when it comes time to kick back and relax I\u2019m looking for something a bit different. The books listed below are the ones that I turn to most often when in need of a \u201csanity fix\u201d after having spent way too much time in \u201cfour-color land.\u201d You might consider giving them a read\u2026 Catch-22: The single indispensable book in what I laughingly refer to as my library. Joseph Heller\u2019s surrealistic, maddeningly hilarious masterpiece is far and away my all-time favorite read. Sha\u00addow\u00ad\u00adland: Peter Straub\u2019s disturbing take on magic and the supernatural. Mood you can cut with a knife. (Whatever that means\u2026) The Mongo books: The adventures of George C. Chesbro\u2019s dwarf detective. Not quite science fiction, not quite hard-boiled suspense, not quite like anything else out there. Aztec: A fascinating novel about a fascinating people. Gary Jennings\u2019 brilliant take on the historical novel. The Bridge: Skipp and Spector\u2019s gleefully nihilistic take on eco-disaster. Who knew the end of the world could be so much fun? The Tale of One Bad Rat: Okay, it\u2019s a comic book. But it\u2019s a damned good comic book, and how many of those have you come across lately? Looks like that\u2019s all I have space for. Just as well. I\u2019m a two-finger typer and I\u2019m starting to cramp up here. Catch you in the funny\u00adbooks\u2026 Well, it seems that Mr. Giffen\u2019s not the best judge of space allotment. That\u2019s OK. We\u2019ll fill up the rest by talking bad about him! Keith be\u00adcame, like, super-fam\u00adous (in comic book circles, for what that\u2019s worth) in the early \u201980s with his pencils and plots on Legion of Super-Her\u00adoes. He\u2019s also fa\u00admous (some say infamous, the dul\u00adlards) for bringing humor back to super\u00adhero books with the Justice League and Ambush Bug, re\u00advamping the Le\u00adgion, and creating Lobo. He is currently writing and drawing Punx Redux for Acclaim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,58,57],"class_list":["post-425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recommended-reading","tag-april-1996","tag-issue-15","tag-keith-giffen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":433,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions\/433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}