book 70

give our regards to the atom-smashers (edited by sean howe)
this essay collection starts out less-than-promisingly, with a piece by jonathan lethem retreading the same old stuff about jack kirby and stan lee. actually, a surprisingly large number of these essays discuss the early marvel years--you'd think the editor could have chosen either more women, or more people from a wider age range. weirdly, two authors also mention rick moody's the ice storm, but geoff dyer's discussion is a lot more relevant than lethem's. still, most of the stories were well worth reading--i chuckled by way through the one about tintin, greatly appreciated the one about renee french, and adored the one on terra from the teen titans. this is definitely a must-read for comic book nerds, but probably not worth buying in hardback, so borrow it from me if you're dying to read it now. :)