Sunday!

We picked up a copy of the Infinity Gauntlet graphic novel for the nephew’s birthday and, while I was there, I saw a copy of Walter Simonson’s The Judas Coin graphic novel. Well, since I was there anyway (and it was on sale)…

It’s a collection of six short stories set in six different eras with a lovely little conceit tying all of them together: The 30 pieces of silver that Judas Iscariot received as his payment a couple of millennia ago became, themselves, mystical artifacts of a sort. They became coins that always managed to find their way into the hands of betrayers. The Judas Coin is a collection of stories about some of the betrayals that happened at the agency of those into whose hands these coins (temporarily) ended up.

In the story set in the modern day, one of the coins ends up in Gotham. You just *KNOW* who is going to take an interest in it: Two-Face. But there’s a story that takes place in 73AD and centers on the Emperor Vespasian. There’s a story set in the year 1000 involving Vikings who run across one of the coins. There’s a story in 1720 involving pirates. There’s a story set in 1881 in the Old West. Even an epilogue set in 2087. Each story deals with people who stab somebody else in the back and the betrayers’ own grisly ends.

If you see the cover and you’re hoping for a big Batman vs. Two-Face story, you’re going to be a little bit disappointed. It’s not really a Batman story as much as a story that has Batman in it for a few moments. If, however, you want a collection of short stories about betrayal and, seriously, how betrayers will get their comeuppance? You will find some stuff in here that you’ll enjoy. (I thought that the Vespasian story, the Pirate story, and the Two-Face story were worth the price of the book… which is good because the other ones aren’t quite as strong). But if you want a starting point to talk about the virtue of continence, check out the used prices on that Amazon link.

So… what are you reading and/or watching?