There’s not much better to do when you’re in bed sick all day than read comic books.  There are lots of great ways to read them, including one I’ve mentioned before: Thrillbent (www.Thrillbent.com).  This digital comic service offers a platform for writers and artists to publish digital comics that take full advantage of the medium for storytelling.  There are some wonderful comics here, some free and many more for a paltry $3.99 per month.  There are stories from famous writers like Mark Waid (whose two volumes of Empire are fabulous) and James Tynion IV (who writes some awesome horror comics) and stories from people you might not have heard of whose art and stories you will be delighted to discover.

For my ninth book of 2016 I read volume one of The Damnation of Charlie Wormwood.  The story is by Christina Blanch and Chris Carr and the art – which I really liked – is from Chee.  The story concerns a Breaking Bad-type story of a man whose sick son needs medical attention he cannot afford, slowly pushing him to cross ethical lines to get the money he needs to care for his family.  There are a number of of interesting characters in the prison where Charlie works and the black and white art style works well to capture the moral gray tones of the story.  The writing is unfortunately a bit uneven, particularly as it involves the relationship between Charlie and his wife Michelle; in an attempt to convey the mounting strains on their marriage from both health and financial stresses they come across inconsistent in tone at points.  However the rest of the story moves along well and I plan to continue into the second volume.  I’ll also keep checking out the other stories from multiple genres on Thrillbent – and I encourage you to so the same.