The Wrong Dead Guy

The Wrong Dead Guy by Richard Kadrey, 420 pages

In this follow-up to last year's hilarious fantasy heist novel The Everything Box, magic-proof burglar Coop is back at it, this time working for The Man as a part-time agent of the Department of Peculiar Science. He's initially tasked with stealing a mummy, but when that goes sideways (the mummy wakes up, placing a curse on Coop and wreaking havoc across L.A.), Coop is suddenly on the hunt for all kinds of mystical objects that may or may not help solve the problem. Throw in a stoned fortune teller, a gun-toting used car salesman, a group of self-righteous bunny-hugging rich kids, and an undead former DOPS agent with a vendetta against Coop (oh, and an elephant), and you have a rollicking tale reminiscent of Dave Barry's riotously funny novel Big Trouble, but with, you know, magic and stuff. That said, it's a bit of a sophomore slump after The Everything Box, which had better heists and a somewhat more coherent plot. Here's hoping that if Kadrey continues the series, he steps it back up in the next book.

Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec 2 / Jacques Tardi

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec. 2, The mad scientist ; Mummies on parade by Jacques Tardi. 96 p.

You should definitely read Volume 1 of this series before this volume, because many of the characters are from the previous stories. I still love Tardi's art style here, but...wow, the humor and story beats were very unexpected, particularly in the second story. Sometimes that's good--I was pleasantly surprised that The Arctic Marauder storyline tied in--but sometimes it was inexplicable to me. The ending in particular seemed very WTF, and I wonder whether it's a case of cultural expectations not meshing or whether Tardi's French readers also felt that way.

Also, one of the characters has a mania for shooting cats. He starts with...his own pet cat. Uh, why does he have a pet cat if he has a mania for killing them?

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