The inherent zen of a motorcycle shop

I’m back! And so is Matthew B. Crawford, who’s both philosopher and Richmond motorcycle shop owner. He worked at a D.C. think tank for some years before opening up his shop and writing the tome, “Shop Class as Soulcraft,” and he’ll be signing copies of this biography/self-help book about finding more of yourself through manual labor at the Politics and Prose downtown at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The store also hosts Washington Post writers Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson at 7 p.m. Wednesday — they’ll be discussing their coverage and analysis of the Obama/McCain presidential election that went into creating “The Battle for America 2008.”

Being a comic geek, one of the events I’m most looking forward to is on Saturday, when the very talented Ben Templesmith stops by Laughing Ogre Comics in Lansdowne for a signing between 12 and 4 p.m. He’s one of the best horror comics around, co-creating “30 Days of Night” with Reston native Steve Niles and hatching both “Welcome to Hoxford” and “Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse,” which he writes as well. He also co-created and does the art for Warren Ellis’ fantastic “Fell.” His style is unmistakably detailed and colorful, so definitely be sure to check this out since he’ll be signing anything and everything.

And while you’re in the comics mood, be sure to pick up the debut issue of the new “Doom Patrol” series. The “world’s strangest superheroes” have gone through many different incarnations since 1963, but this time could be better than ever since the book’s courtesy of writer Keith Giffen. Also out this week: We fnd out what happened to the Masters of Evil when the Scarlet Witch went bonkers in a “House of M” special; “Luke Cage Noir,” featuring the great period art of Falls Church’s own Shawn Martinbrough; and everybody’s searching for Steve Rogers in the second issue of “Captain America: Reborn,” while Steve is doing his best “Lost” impression and is somewhere else in time.

It’s now August! What’s the one summer read you still need to get to before Labor Day? Let me know in the comments.

Tags: book signing, books, comics