Books: Dan Simmons Month
Ilium
I'm going to steal Larry Correia's description of the series this book launches because I can't improve upon it: "Personally, I like Olympos and Ilium even better. They have the most batshit crazy plot synopsis I’ve ever heard of. It’s the battle of Troy on Mars, with space gods, and post-apocalyptic Earth has dinosaurs and Jews menaced by killer Muslim robot pods and a giant brain thing, and monster characters from Shakespeare run a space station, as narrated by a reborn history teacher, and a robot from Jupiter who really loves to quote Proust… and Dan Simmons MAKES THIS ALL WORK." Yes. Yes, he does. And in the process, he ties in a subterranean rebuke of the idea that men are meant to be safe and comfortable. Go read and see!
Comics
Marvels, Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross
Words cannot express exactly how beautiful this book is -- all thanks to the art of Alex Ross. You can rip out literally any page and hang it on a wall. (Please don't do that, though!) But lest you think this is mere eye candy, the story - which re-imagines the Marvel Universe's early history through the eyes of an ordinary photojournalist - is also well worth reading. I honestly have no clue why they didn't continue pursuing that conceit for ten, twenty, thirty, forty -- hell, a whole ongoing series of issues. I would have found it interesting at the very least!
Weeb Stuff
Cells at Work: Code Black, Vol. 1, Shigemitsu Harada, Issei Hatsuyoshiya
The original Cells at Work (the anime adaptation of which I squee about here) is an insanely cute, kid-friendly romp through the blood vessels (and sometimes bone marrow) of a healthy human body. This, however, is a darker, more adult variation on the theme. The cells here are working for a man who doesn't take care of himself and consequently suffers from autoimmune conditions, erectile dysfunction, arteriosclerosis, and - in one story - a gonorrhea infection. Needless to say, you probably shouldn't give this to younger readers. I have to say, though: there's something curiously moral about the main character's horrified response when he learns all his efforts to keep the penis erect may not have been for the purpose of reproduction. Hmmm.
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