This year, primarily due to the joys of high speed internet, a swanky new Landmark near the office, and KD coming home to India for a holiday – i was able to indulge in a rather expensive hobby. The first lets me download and sift, the second I buy in rupees undiscounted material, and the third enabled me to buy on line at different points in time – sales – and allowed KD to bring back a treasure trove. Essentially this was the year that I indulged my hobby of collecting tag]Graphic Novels[tag] & TPB’s. My top buys and reads this year: [tag]Watchmen[/tag] – a long time favourite. I read it an awfully long time ago and at an age when Indiana Jones, Batman, James Bond & Han Solo were more attractive than an unpleasent vigilante called [tag]Rorschach[/tag]. A few months ago I saw it at Landmark and purchased it. Its the kind of graphic novel that you read once in a few years, get depressed at the sheer prescience of the narrative. A fabulous story of heroes in the real world and the moral and ethical compromises that they make. This is not about [tag]Superman[/tag] or [tag]Batman[/tag] and their unerring ability to do the ‘right’ or heroic thing. It is about a flawed humanity and its flawed choices. A fabulous story, a great narrative style , a scary creation of an alternative (yet plausible) reality and a kick in the guts ending. Definitely worth a look. [tag]Pride of Baghdad[/tag] – Can freedom be granted through invasion or is there more to it? This is the essential theme of the Pride of Baghdad that looks at a pride of lions ‘liberated’ during the American bombing of [tag]Baghdad[/tag], and their different perspectives about allies, liberators, freedom and captivity. Based on a true story of escaped lions shot dead by invading American Troops, the Pride of Baghdad is an allegory on many levels. Brian Vaughn the author of the amazingly witty, wry, and fantastic "Y – the Last Man" gives us another great story. Not so much [tag]Animal Farm[/tag], as Chandini (the little story about the goat, that was a part of 4th standard English, written by former president Zakir Hussain). The artwork by Nico Henrichon is worth killing for – great earths and ochres create the impression of a city under seige. Again worth buying. [tag]Infinite Crisis[/tag] – DC’s magnum opus that sought to reset the continuity of the last 2 decades. A great concept – when continuity gets unwieldy reset the universe. An epic tale of honour, loyalty, bravery, sacrifice and the unerring ability to do the right thing. This is a tale about heroes at their heroic best. Superman, Batman, Wonderwoman and possibly the entire DC cast join hands to battle evil and save the universe. A rip roaring read – the graphic novel equivalent of an old fashioned Eroll Flynn Film. [tag]Batman – Hush[/tag] – . Write Jeph Loeb ( Long Haloween & Dark Victory ) teams up with Artist Jim Lee to create a visual extravaganza. Batman has never looked better. Catwoman looks like she has been poured into her costume, and you have probably never seen better looking art (as opposed to better art) in a Batman book. And like all other Loeb books, every major villain in the book turns up, and there is a new one. The plot has holes that you can drive a truck through – but it is a jolly good romp. The Dhoom of comic books. Looks good, great pace, and you will probably come back to it at some time for a quick, non brain straining read. [tag]Captain America[/tag] the new series by Ed Brubaker (writer of the Sleeper, sometime writer of Batman, and currently on Daredevil). A super soldier in a time he doesn’t understand, working within a legal and moral framework that he can’t comprehend, and with a tormentor who knows just a bit too much about him. Out of synch, out of phase out of time, and yet very human. For the first time it seems that Captain America is more than a symbol – it is a person, a hero – flawed, yet a hero. Somehow this entire run works very well as a lead up to the current Marvel magnum opus [tag]Civil War[/tag] Next year, the plan is to get the entire [tag]Preacher[/tag] series, and the Y – the last man series – but, that depends on picking up a lot of new work. btw – wordpress tells me that this is post number 666 ! Graphic Novels