woodwardiocomThe Order of the Stick: Start of Darkness by Rich Burlew
Another prequel volume in the OotS saga, made up of comics never seen online, this book tells us the origins of Lord Xykon, Redcloak, and the Creature in Darkness. And (as they warn on the back cover, and in the introduction), it's mostly about evil (but funny) people doing evil (but funny) things. Burlew is pretty darn good at constructing complex, coherent backstory. Recommended.Defenders: Indefensible by Giffen, DeMatteis, Maguire
The creators that made the Justice League into a (often) hilariously funny series back in the 80s and 90s are unleashed on the Defenders. This book stars the classic Defenders (noted for being largely unable to stand each other): Doctor Strange, the Hulk, the Sub-Mariner, and the Silver Surfer. (Except that the Silver Surfer . . . well, I won't spoil it for you.) Definitely chuckle-worthy, and it has a bit where the Hulk has sex with the demon-goddess Umar that's worth the price of admission by itself. Recommended.Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, edited by Jeff Prucher
Well, we know what a sucker I am for SF reference texts, don't we? While there were few words in here I hadn't encountered before, the chronological lists of citations were often fascinating, especially when they illustrated the tendency of phrases to "close up". (E.g., how "slip in time" becomes "time slip" becomes "time-slip" becomes "timeslip" over the decades.) And it doesn't hurt that a surprising number of the cites are from GURPS books. Highly recommended.