Lives change when five suburban kids discover a dead superhero in the woods outside of their neighborhood. Plutona is a five-issue limited series by Jeff Lemire and newcomer Emi Lenox, who is also the artist. It starts off earnestly: Best friends Mie Diane are often annoyed by Mie’s younger brother Mike. There’s also Ray, the resident badass who grew up with a tough home life. They all come crashing together one afternoon when they come across Teddy as he peers through binoculars ‘capespotting.’
Category Archives: Lit
Favorites of 2016 (so far): literature
Literature in 2016 has been so high caliber that it was hard to narrow this list down to just five. However, there have been some that I have have been constantly suggesting to friends more than others, and once I realized that creating this list was easier said than done. The novels range from transcendent debuts to gut wrenching looks into the human psyche. They all have one thing in common: poignant prose, intriguing structure, and supreme characters that you won’t soon forget.
Check out the list below:
Five books to read in June
It’s no secret that I love women writers. I’m so happy this list includes five books were written by all females (well, one was co-written by a gay man). This list includes a “young adult” novel – gasp – a beachy-read, and a few high literary hitters every book lover needs add to their list.
‘Paper Girls’ is the best new comic to read right now
My love affair with comics comes and goes. Part of it probably has to do with my lack of ability to commit to anything. But that’s for a different post and a few more hundreds of dollars worth of therapy.
I digress.
The point is that I randomly picked up Brian K. Vaughan’s (aka: the genius who brought the world Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, The Runaways, of course, Saga, and so much more) Paper Girls in a Barnes and Noble in Tucson, Arizona of all places. The vibrant pink and blue illustration on the trade collection (done by Cliff Chiang) caught my eye.
Five books to read in May 2016
May has a mammoth slate of releases. Narrowing it down to five was quite difficult, but I somehow managed to do it. Maybe you don’t know exactly how terrific this month is for books, though. Here’s a hint: I left off Julian Barnes’ follow-up to his Man Booker-winning The Sense of an Ending. Here are the five that made the cut, though.
Five books to read in April 2016
I was surprised while making this list how excited I was about a book written by the dude from The X-Files. This month is filled with books from unknowns, authors trying to avoid the sophomore slump and political non-fiction. Check out some of these books this spring.
2016 stand outs: first quarter
The first quarter of 2016 had a lot of standout moments in pop culture. Here are a few of the shows, books, films, music, and moment
Here are the standouts of pop culture from January 1 through March 31, 2016.
Five books to read in March 2016
There are a lot of quality reads that you should seek out this month. There are some diverse and interesting options heading into spring. Check them out below.
What I read: February 2016
I read 55 books last year. I made some guidelines for 2015: a new author every week, stick to recent releases, something literary, and only read books I never read before. Sounds boring, but it was important to me. This year, however, I’m doing whatever the hell I want. I’m not worried about a number like I was last year or those stupid rules. I still have a reading goal (4/month), but I can read things I’ve already read and am trying some more “fun” titles.
My dad was in town for a bit, so I didn’t do much reading in the first half of the month, but I finished three in the past week. I even had the chance to interview two of them. Check them out below. (PS: Sorry that they’re all by white men.)
A conversation with Travis Mulhauser
Travis Mulhauser’s debut novel may be set in a fictional county in northern Michigan, but Sweetgirl reads very much like an Appalachian or Southern Gothic novel akin to Winter’s Bone. His eloquent prose describes the beauty in the harshness of Cutler County and softens the roughness of his characters.
The novel follows Percy, an intelligent, 16-year-old high school drop out on the search for her meth addicted mother. During the search, she finds an abandoned baby in the care of two passed out drug addicts, which sends the rest of her journey into a melancholy adventure.
What is most striking about Mulhauser is how he became a writer. His style is obviously strongly influenced by his time growing up in Michigan, but unsurprisingly has strong ties to the south due to his time at the University of North Carolina – Greensboro’s MFA program.
I spoke with him about his influences and the fortitude it took to quit the comforts of a forty hour a week job to become a full-time writer.
ADAM VITCAVAGE 