My literary radar...

House of M: Spider-Man really impressed me the first time. I'm enjoying the House of M collections that I've had a chance to read so far.

This one does a really nice job of showing all of a hero's dream come true in a very nice way under the auspices of a fantasy world. We get to see all of Peter's dreams come true - Uncle Ben his good friend, Gwen Stacey his wife and genius business partner, JJJ as his lackey and whipping boy. But something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and Peter's perfect world falls apart.

It's a nice, touching story of a man living a lie and having to fess up. It's not esential to the House of M storyline, and some of the reviews have pointed out a number of inconsistencies, but I enjoyed the artwork and the storyline. It's not perfect, but it's a good read.

Next up was the Ultimate Fantastic Four: Crossover TPB. Initially, I wasn't all that entertained by the Ultimate version of the FF. They were weak at first, but they've grown into one of my favorite Ultimate lines. Of course, I'll be honest that I'm really digging entirety of the Ultimate Marvel line.

The Ultimate FF goes through two storylines in this collection - one with Prince Namor and one that sees Reed crossing over into the Marvel Zombie world.

The artwork is stunning, and the plotlines are entertaining. This is definitiely one of the better ongoing major label series out there. If I were actually buying comics instead of reading whatever shows up on my library and local bookstore shelves, this is one I'd put in my buy pile.

Also read Saga of the Swamp Thing by Alan Moore. It's a landmark run for Moore, so I did my due diligence. Very nicely told, great interplay between artwork and story. Good stuff.

In a semi-related find, there's a Live Journal community where they scan in entire comic issues. Quality sutff abounds...