Currently, I would say it is one out of seven people on a typical morning bus commute, here in Seattle, that is operating some sort of entertainment device, of which I include good old fashioned books. I’m not seeing that many iPads yet but there’s smaller gadgets, like an iPod touch, of course, and definitely Kindles and Nooks, delivering digital books, magazines and movies to restless office workers off to work. Yeah, for some, the in-flight movie is totally no big deal but a daily habit. I also see people reading actual print versions of manga and comic books. I have yet to see digital comics on any screens but that will come, I believe. Right now, we’re still in a transition phase. More people are discovering the comics medium and more comics readers are turning their attention to digital comics.
Also, we have the big wave that has been rolling in for quite some time of more mature and sophisticated comics readers. All that said, it gives me a lot of satisfaction to bring aboard a bus a wonderful gem like the recently released, “Rat Catcher,” which I see as a prime example of what has been going on with American comics in the last decade or more. In no small part, you can thank Vertigo comics, the DC Comics imprint, for leading the way on smart and offbeat comics. And, most recently, you can thank Vertigo Crime for its excellent noir comics series, of which “Rat Catcher,” is part of. If you’ve read Andy Diggle’s “The Losers,” then this book, his latest, is most definitely for you. If you have not, then you’ll want to check it out along with Mr. Diggle’s latest balls-to-wall work.
For my review of “Rat Catcher,” go over to GeekWeek. I will say here that I highly recommend this one. It’s also in a very handy size, not much bigger than one of the gadgets people are so fascinated with these days. And, yeah, come to think of it, you could read it on one of those gadgets but the book has a nice lounge lizard quality to it, from the hardcover illustration to the pulpy pages within. I’d buy the book. You’ll get around to the digital version in due time.
