Chad’s Comments (group member since Mar 22, 2018)

Chad’s comments from the I Read Comic Books group.

Last week's adventures in comics. I do love how Hoopla gives us access to all these European comics I've never seen before.

Usagi Yojimbo Saga, Vol. 2 ★★★★★
This is actually a very good starting point for Usagi Yojimbo that showcases the different kinds of stories Sakai is known for.

Avatar: The Last Airbender: Suki, Alone ★★
A shorter Avatar story about Suki's time in prison that doesn't bring anything new to the canon.

Nightmare in Savannah ★★
The Craft with fairies. Bad art. Ham-fisted writing.

Witch For Hire ★★★
Faye Faulkner is a teenage witch who hangs out at the loser table. When an internet spirit targets the students at the school, Faye gets involved.

Needle and Thread ★★
The story of a middle class boy who wants to be a costume designer and a rich girl who wants to be an actress. Neither of their parents will listen and leave their career choices up to them. So they band together to do cosplay.

The Down River People ★★
Starts off as a slice of life story that veers into supernatural cult territory halfway through. It feels like someone took two different books, cut them in half and then glued them together into one story.

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz ★★★★
Dorothy returns to Oz but not before getting sucked underground during an earthquake inspired by the San Francisco disaster in 1906. There she meets up with the Wizard of OZ and they explore underground worlds of vegetable people, invisible bears, wooden gargoyles and baby dragons.

Road to Oz ★★★★
As Shanower states in his forward, this is the weakest of Baum's Oz novels. There's not much to it other than Dorothy and Toto along with 2 new friends go on a walking road trip to Oz.

The Emerald City of Oz ★★★★★
Eric Shanower's and Skottie Young's 6th and final adaptation of L. Frank Baum's Oz novels. (Yes, I know there are fourteen. This is the last one with Dorothy in it and where they decided to stop.)

The Jekyll Island Chronicles (Book Three): A Last Call ★★★★
I like how the creative team weaves the machinations of Zeno into the real life events of post World War I, like supporting the rise of Hitler and being involved in the death of President William G. Harding.

The Mongoose (XIII Mystery #1) ★★★★
An interesting origin story for the infamous hitman of XIII.

Irina (XIII Mystery #2) ★★★★
Irina the assassin's origin story. A well done noir tale of the seductive Russian female spy.

Little Jones (XIII Mystery #3) ★
This was awful. Jones is barely in this. Instead, it's about a black soldier that befriends her when she's 10.

Colonel Amos (XIII Mystery #4) ★★★★
Excellent backstory for Colonel Amos. He tries to uncover a Mossad spy operating in the U.S.

Steve Rowland (XIII Mystery #5) ★★★
The origin of the real Steve Rowland, the man who XIII impersonates.

Betty Barnowsky (XIII Mystery, #7) ★★★
Betty and Carrington head back to South America to clean up the SPADS when things go awry.

Martha Shoebridge (XIII Mystery #8) ★★
I'm not really sure why this even exists. Martha Shoebridge is such a minor character in XIII that I didn't even remember who she was.

The Suicide Squad Case Files 2 ★★★
An introduction of sorts to the other half of the cast James Gunn plans on killing off in The Suicide Squad. (I did watch the movie last week. It's great. And no , I'm not going to tell you who lives and who dies.)

I.R.$., Volume 2: Blue Ice ★★★★
A financial wizard is buying the various Mexican drug cartels to corner the market on cocaine while pursued by an IRS agent.

I.R.$., Volume 5: Silicia, Inc. ★★★
This is an interesting European comic. It's about a small group of IRS agents that are more along the lines of spies. It's like James Bond if he was an accountant.

Douglas wrote: "Adventures of Superman 491, Action 678, Man of Steel 13, and Superman 70- I'm almost to Death of !"

Nice.

Today's trip to the LCS.

Eat the Rich #1
X-Men: The Trial of Magneto #1
Superman: Read and Blue #6
Superman and the Authority #2
Marauders #23
Serial #6
Spider-Woman #14
Way of X #5
X-Corp #4
XO Manowar #5
Bat and the Cat #6
Nightwing #83

Last week's adventures in comics.

Hellboy Universe Essentials: Hellboy ★★★★★
If you've even been curious about Hellboy but didn't know where to start, this is a great introduction.

The Saga of Evil Monkey Man Season One ★★
A story that gets crazier and crazier as it goes along, making less and less sense.

Factory Summers ★★
An artist revisits his summer job working at a paper mill without much of substance to say.

An Unkindness of Ravens ★★
The Craft meets Mean Girls. The storytelling was pretty bad in this.

Dune: House Atreides Vol. 1 ★★★
A solid prequel to Dune but not a great jumping on point.

Raptor: A Sokol Graphic Novel ★★★
As with most of Dave McKean's comics, it's all about the art. The story itself never really comes together.

Bandette Volume 4: The Six Finger Secret ★★★★
Bandette is a delight. She is an irreverent French thief seemingly more obsessed with sweets and drawing pictures of animals than thieving. Yet, she's a renown thief who things always seem to work out for.

Cyberpunk 2077: Your Voice ★★
There was probably a pretty cool story here. Unfortunately, I couldn't follow it due to the art and coloring.

Monster & Madman ★★
Steve Niles gives us exactly the story you'd expect from Jack the Ripper meeting Frankenstein's Monster. There's barely enough story here for a one-shot though, let alone three issues.

Batman/The Maxx: Arkham Dreams ★★
As one would expect from a Sam Keith series, the story is largely incoherent. While each page looks fantastic, the characters drone on and on without saying anything of value.

Marvel Zombies: Resurrection ★★★
This is not the Marvel Zombies of old. This is a new universe where everything is fine until the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Avengers investigate why Galactus is floating aimlessly in space.

Before Watchmen Omnibus ★★★★
Yes, we could get into a debate on whether these should exist or not and that it goes against the creators' wishes, but the fact of the matter is they do exist and they are actually pretty good.

Finders Keepers! ★★★★
A Bone picture book for very young readers. Each panel is a page. It's a simple story but a good way to introduce your children to the great storytelling of Jeff Smith.

Smiley's Dream Book ★★★
Jeff Smith gives Smiley Bone his own counting picture book for preschoolers.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1 ★★★★★
The first 7 issues of the original comic. I loved the annotations for each issue by Eastman and Laird. It's something of a lesson in self-publishing and how much work it was.

Fantastic Four by Dan Slott, Vol. 6: Empyre ★★★★
Franklin and Val are left to hold down the fort on Earth while the Fantastic Four galivant through the events of Empyre.

A Devil's Reach (The Jekyll Island Chronicles, #2) ★★★
Still, it is a great concept putting all of these famous figures and industrialists from the 1920's together, giving the book a bit of a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen feel only with real people instead of fictional characters.

I'll nominate Kelly Thompson and Elena Casagrande's Black Widow.

Yesterday's trip to the LCS.

The Unbelievable Unteens #1
Campisi: The Dragon Incident #1
Justice League: Last Ride #4
Rorschoach #11
Children of the Atom #6
Hellboy: The Secret of Chesbro House #2
Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow #5
X-Force #22
X-Men Legends #6

Finished my Bone re-read last week, this time in color.

Skulldigger and Skeleton Boy ★★★★★
The latest Black Hammer spinoff puts a new spin on the Batman / Robin / Joker dynamic by giving Batman a Punisher take.

Bone, Vol. 5: Rock Jaw Master of the Eastern Border ★★★★★
Fone and Smiley Bone take Barteby to the mountains to return him to his own kind, the rat creatures.

Bone, Vol. 6: Old Man's Cave ★★★★★
The rat creatures have invaded the valley and destroyed the town with everyone holed up in Old Man's Cave as a last redoubt.

Bone, Vol. 7: Ghost Circles ★★★★
Most of the story is the Bones, Thorn, and Rose navigating the Ghost Circles as they head south to Atreia.

Bone, Vol. 8: Treasure Hunters ★★★★★
A much better balance of humor and action than in Ghost Circles.

Bone, Vol. 9: Crown of Horns ★★★★★
And so ends Bone. It's been quite the wild ride, packed with humor, adventure, and danger.

BONE: Full Color One Volume Edition ★★★★★
One of the greatest self-published comics of all time. The perfect balance of humor and action in this fantasy adventure.

Bone: Coda ★★★
I suggest borrowing this one from the library for the Bone story and skim through the rest.

The Green Lantern: Season Two, Vol. 2: Ultrawar ★
God, I just wanted this to end. I typically really enjoy Grant Morrison's writing. Morrison drones on and on with all kinds of science fiction gobbledygook without saying anything. It's Morison at his most Morrison.

Future State: Wonder Woman ★★★
The new Wonder Woman, Yara Flor, is the most interesting character to come out of Future State. Her two stories were great. The other two not so much.

Once & Future, Vol. 3: The Parliament of Magpies ★★★★
We return to the Arthurian legends in this arc, with two more rearing their heads.

Superman: Man of Tomorrow Vol. 1: Hero of Metropolis ★★★
A bunch of evergreen Superman stories featuring Superman as the Boy Scout.

Hellblazer: Rise and Fall ★★★★
A worthy successor to the original Vertigo run. Taylor's Constantine is smarmy and smart even when talking to the Devil.

The Suicide Squad Case Files 1 ★★★
Introductions to half of the soon to be killed off members of The Suicide Squad.

Unreported Murders (Trese, #2) ★★★★
I'm glad to see Ablaze reprint these Filipino horror comics. Trese is a John Constantine type, helping the police with supernatural cases.

This week's trip to the LCS.

Skybound X #5
Deadpool: Black, White and Blood #1
Geiger #5
The Nice House on the Lake #3
American Vampire: 1976 #10
Justice League #66
Suicide Squad #6
Swamp thing #6
Fire Power #14
Hellions #14
Seven Secrets #11
X-Men #2
Superman: Red and Blue #5

Last week's adventures in comics. Started a re-read of Bone, this time in color for the first time.

Two Moons, Vol. 1: The Iron Noose ★★★
A Civil War soldier sees soldiers turn into monsters and fights them.

Deep Beyond, Vol. 1 ★★
There's about a half dozen dystopian future ideas thrown out here, none of which mesh together or make any kind of sense.

Quincredible Vol. 2: The Hero Within ★★★
Gives off strong Ms. Marvel vibes but peters out in the 2nd half.

Stray Dogs ★★★★
If Don Bluth ever made a horror movie, this would be it. Absolutely loved it.

Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons ★★★
Reading this made me yearn for Stranger Things to return. Houser and Zub captured the relationship between the kids very well.

X of Swords ★★★
A bloated but serviceable 22-part crossover across all 9 X-books.

Dungeons & Dragons: Fell's Five ★★★
Some solid fantasy adventure as this party sets off for treasure. I don't know that they ever find much of it but they do get themselves into a lot of fine messes that build off one another.

Future State: Suicide Squad ★★★
Ram V.'s Swamp Thing was the best story in this.

Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 3 ★★★★
Just when you think things can't get worse, The Order of St. George arrives in Arrow Peak.

Injustice: Year Zero ★★★★
DC's keeps Tom Taylor busy pumping out these Elseworlds books. It's a good thing Taylor is very good at it.

Bone, Vol, 1: Out from Boneville ★★★★★
Bone follows the three Bone cousins as they are kicked out of Boneville and quickly lost in a wasteland before discovering the valley where the rest of the story takes place.

Bone, Vol. 2: The Great Cow Race ★★★★★
Jeff Smith's animation influenced style really works for me.

Bone, Vol. 3: Eyes of the Storm ★★★★★
Some of the humor of the first two gives way as Smith begins to build up the larger story to come.

Bone, Vol. 4: The Dragonslayer ★★★★★
The series continues to be a great source of humor, drama, and adventure. If you've never read Bone, you should really check it out.

Nancy wrote: "I loved Harrow County! Now I want to read In."

In was such a pleasant surprise. I thought it was going to be a fluffy memoir about living in New York but it was so much more. Plus fantastic artwork that enhanced the story.

This week's trip to the LCS.

The Other History of the DC Universe #5
Superman: Son of Kal-El #1
Wonder Woman: Black and Gold #2
Black Widow #9
Cable #12
Eternals #6
Grendel: Devil's Odyssey #8
Shadow Service #10
Something Is Killing the Children #18
Strange Adventures #11
SWORD #7
Wolverine #14
Skybound X #4

Last week's comic book light reading.

Penultiman ★★★
A Superman from the future comes to 2019. In the far future he's considered a neanderthal and was exiled here. Now he's a neurotic trainwreck.

The World of Black Hammer: Library Edition, Volume 3 ★★★★★
Two very good origins stories for members of Black Hammer.

Grandville Integral ★★★★★
Grandville is an anthropomorphic, steampunk world where Napoleon conquered most of Europe 200 years ago and England has just recently regained its independence. Detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard is a cross between Sherlock Holmes and James Bond. Talbot has created an inventive original setting for his stories of mystery and adventure.

Harrow County: Omnibus Volume 2 ★★★★★
Two creators at the top of their game combine for this rural horror story of a reborn witch who wants to help everyone, including the haints created by her predecessor.

Poison Ivy: Thorns ★★★
A very YA Gothic romance. The characters are very one dimensional in this f/f romance.

The Princess Who Saved Herself ★★★★★
Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa write and illustrate this picture book based on Jonathan Coulton's song.

Van Helsing vs The League of Monsters ★★★
A newly returned Dracula and his daughter gather the traditional monsters (albeit updated versions) of the Wolfman, the Mummy, and Ms. Hyde to take on Van Helsing's daughter and Robyn Hood while they try to resurrect Dracula's wife.

Wynd Book One: Flight of the Prince ★★★★★
This was great. It's about a teenager growing up in a city where magic is outlawed because it's contagious and can cause many adverse affects to humans. I also like how Wynd is gay but no one cares. Even though there are still discriminatory undertones, it's because of magic not sexual orientation.

In: A Graphic Novel ★★★★★
My book of the year so far.

Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts ★★★★
Wake is a graphic memoir about Rebecca Hall's research into slave revolts led by women.

The Flash by Mark Waid: Book Eight ★★★★
DC finishes out the Mark Waid era of Flash by collecting the The Dark Flash Saga for the first time.

Batman: Earth One, Volume 3 ★★★
Well, after waiting 6 years since the excellent Batman: Earth One, Vol 2 I felt a bit let down by this. I think everyone who reads this will instantly know where it's headed.

The Spider, Volume 3 ★★
The Spider loses his fortune and has to learn to fight without his network of operatives.

Superman, Volume 4: Mythological ★★
These issues of Superman just fell really flat. It's all big bombastic battles with voiceovers from Lois or Lana Lang as they try to get to Superman's truth when he can't really be bothered after revealing to the world that Clark Kent is Superman. I honestly felt cheated, that Bendis dropped that bombshell and then just kind of ignored it in typical Bendis fashion.

Tom Strong's Terrific Tales, Book 1 ★★★★
A fun anthology of pulpy sci-fi tales featuring Tom Strong with a 1950's science fiction vibe.

Tom Strong, Book 3 ★★★★
I love when Alan Moore does science heroes.

Future State: Dark Detective ★★★
I can easily say these are better than the stories in Future State: The Next Batman which were pretty awful. These at least have beginning, middle, and an end to them.

Erin wrote: "I can't believe you managed to read that much XIII! We read it awhile ago on the Discord Book Club and it wasn't my vibe - if I recall the art was pretty though! :)"

It's all these extra borrows now we're getting through Hoopla since the pandemic began. Between mine and my wife's account, that's 30 borrows a month. I'm running out of content on there.

Today's trip to the LCS. New comics and a discussion about how Loki wasn't very good.

Bermuda #1
Black Hammer: Reborn #2
Blue and Gold #1 <-- about 30 years too late but finally a Booster Gold and Blue Beetle miniseries
Superman and the Authority #1 <-- Grant Morrison and Mikel Janin's new miniseries
Skybound X #3
Justice League #65
Nightwing #82
Alien #5
Marauders #22
New Mutants #20
X-Men Legends #5

Now that Goodreads seems to be working properly again, here's what I read last week.

Scales & Scoundrels Definitive Edition Book 1: Where Dragons Wander ★★★★
A sword and sorcery book topped with a twist of Studio Ghibli.

Magical History Tour #3: Hidden Oil ★★★
A kids' primer on the history of oil.

Hellboy Universe: The Secret Histories ★★★
These spinoffs from Hellboy answer some small questions that were left open in the main story.

My Begging Chart ★★
A very droll and deadpan slice of life graphic memoir from Keiler Roberts.

XIII Vol 21 - Return to Green Falls ★★★
Finally, we find out what is the Mayflower Project's deal. It's not very interesting though and involves even more of XIII's family history going back to the Mayflower.

XIII Vol 22 - The Martyr's Message ★★★
XIII heads to the Netherlands to find the original contract from the Mayflower.

XIII Vol 23 - Jason McLane's Inheritance ★★★
This is probably the most ridiculously complicated comic I've ever read.

XIII Vol 24 - 2331 Yards ★★★★
I went through 24 volumes of this comic and of course the last volume (25) hasn't been translated into English yet!

Batman by John Ridley: The Deluxe Edition ★★★
90% of this is in Future State: The Next Batman. I would just read one or the other.

Red Sonja: Worlds Away, Vol 3: Hell or Hykania ★★★
A solid Red Sonja comic as Sonja ends her time on modern day Earth.

Red Sonja: Worlds Away, Vol. 4: World's End ★★
OK, now Dynamite is just milking this out to 25 issues as Red Sonja seeks out the previous owner of her sword.

Red Sonja: Worlds Away, Vol. 5: End of the Road ★★★
Sonja fights a shark in a moat while finishing the Skath storyline from the previous volume. Then some stand alone stories to pad this out to 25.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters ★★★
The Turtles get transported to the Ghostbusters world. I did like that IDW incorporated this into both of the comics regular continuity.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Volume 11: Attack on Technodrome ★★★★★
The battle for the Technodrome is on.

Suicide Squad: Casualties of War ★★
After Our Worlds at War Sgt Rock has taken over running the Suicide Squad now that Amanda Waller is a cabinet member of President Luther's.

M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand: Riding V.E.N.O.M.'s Trail ★★
Man this could have been so much better than it was.

The Spider, Volume 2 ★★★
Some modern day noir vigilante goodness, ala The Shadow.

Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms Classics Omnibus, Volume 2 ★★★
Some decent stories of a D&D party adventuring through the Forgotten Realms.

Dick Tracy Forever ★★★
Dick Tracy vignettes from different time periods that Michael Avon Oeming tries to connect at the end.

Red Sonja & Vampirella Meet Betty & Veronica ★★★
Red Sonja and Vampirella come to Riverdale to investigate some vampire related murders. They meet up with Betty and Veronica, them go undercover at Riverdale High to catch the culprits as it's faculty and students that are being killed. It's ridiculous but fun.

Last week's adventures in comics

The Flutist of Arnhem ★★★
The fictional story of the lone British spy who has remained uncaptured in the Netherlands. He has all of the German troop positions but is trapped behind enemy lines.

Djeliya ★★
Juni Ba brings us a modern fantasy story based on West African folklore. The art is heavily inspired by 90's Cartoon Network.

Batman: Gotham Knights: Contested ★★★
For the most part, this is a series of one and done stories. A lot of them feature Nightwing and Devin Grayson does a wonderful job of exploring Dick and Bruce's relationship.

Black Terror: Dark Years ★
I don't really understand the point of this as a whole. Each issue is a vignette of a possible future of Black Terror, I guess. None of it is tied together. Like a lot of Max Bemis's writing, it's very obtuse.

Future State: The Next Batman ★★
Every one of these stories is the same. A private contractor has taken over policing in Gotham and The Magistrate is out to kill all "masks".

Future State: Justice League ★★★
Better than Future State: The Next Batman. At least some of these stories have a beginning, middle and end. Too many of these Future State seem to just be the middle of the story leaving you feeling lost. There's no explanations why things are happening or even an ending. I loved the Aquaman / Aqualass story. The rest were hit and miss.

Planet of the Apes: After the Fall Omnibus ★★★
Some solid stories set between each of the new trilogy of movies.

The Flash: The Death of Iris West ★★★
This is one of those famous pre-Crisis stories I've always wanted to read but could never find it. Now that I've read it, It's OK.

M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand, Volume 1: Mobilize ★★
The author should have read some of the MASK comics that came with the toys or watched the cartoon.

Superman: The City of Tomorrow Vol. 2 ★★★
This run is more lackluster than I remembered. The main thrusts of these stories are that Lois and Clark are having marital problems and Superman gets sick and Steel, Supergirl, and Superboy have to save him Fantastic Voyage style.

Fantastic Four by Dan Slott, Vol. 5: Point of Origin ★★★★
The best volume of Slott's FF run I've read to date. Slott comes up with an original look at the F's origins. I'm surprised no one has come up with this before.

Green Arrow 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular ★★★★
Mike Grell, Phil Hester, Benjamin Percy & Otto Schmidt, and Jeff Lemire & Andrea Sorrentino all return for new stories set during their runs on the book. My favorite story though was by Tom Taylor and Nicola Scott where we find out the origin of the boxing glove arrow.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Annual 2014 ★★★
Kevin Eastman returns to draw the Turtles in gladiatorial combat when they get transported to the future. It's funny to see how many people complained about Eastman's art when he created the Turtles in the first place.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Volume 8: Northampton ★★★★★
In almost every iteration of TMNT, the Turtles have retreated to Northampton after a major defeat.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Utrom Empire ★★★
Krang's backstory is kind of cool, but this Dimension X stuff is the least interesting part of the TMNT universe to me.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time ★★★★
Renet, the time traveler from the 2014 annual, returns to hurdle the Turtles throughout time again. There's nothing more you need to know than that.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Volume 9: Monsters, Misfits, and Madmen ★★★★
This transitional volume as the boys head back to NYC is really good.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Volume 10: New Mutant Order ★★★★★
Loved the meeting of Krang and Shredder. Then we get a slobberknocker between all the Mutanimals and Bebop and Rocksteady.

A big trip to the LCS this week.

Clans of Belari #1
Skybound X #1 <--- New Walking Dead, Manifest Destiny, and Ultramega stories.
Wonder Girl #2
Hellboy and the BPRD: The Secret of Chesbro House #1
Geiger #4
Fight Girls #1
Justice League #64
Suicide Squad #5
The Swamp Thing #5
Children of the Atom #5
Fire Power #13
Hellions #13
Serial #5
X-Force #21
X-Men #1
The Next Batman: Second Son #4

Last week's adventures in comics.

Rain Like Hammers ★★
I've just decided I'm not a fan of Brandon Graham storytelling abilities (or lack thereof).

Invisible Kingdom, Vol. 3: In Other Worlds ★★★
An OK ending to a beautiful looking sci-fi opera.

Old Head ★
Everything about this was terrible. Poor story, poor art, even poor math. It's about a retired basketball enforcer fighting Dracula's head.

Punderworld, Volume 1 ★★★★★
I really enjoyed this. It's the tale of Hades and Persephone reimagined as a sweet romance. The book feels like a Disney cartoon for adults.

Superman: Action Comics, Vol. 5: The House of Kent ★★★
Superman, Conner Kent, Jon Kent, Supergirl and Brainiac 5 take on the Invisible Mafia. Eh, like most of Bendis's run, this was just OK.

Spider-Man Noir: Twilight In Babylon ★★★
This is more Spider-Man Movie Serial than Spider-Man Noir but that's OK. The Indiana Jones type adventure worked well and Juan Ferreyra's art is superb as always.

Aquaman: Deep Dives ★★★
Some decent stand alone Aquaman stories.

Canto II: The Hollow Men ★★★★★
Elements of Labyrinth and Middle Earth in the storytelling while this could be set in an undiscovered corner of Oz.

Usagi Yojimbo, Vol. 1: The Ronin ★★★
The art's a bit rougher and the storytelling isn't completely there in these short stories from the 80's. I don't think this is the best place to start if you haven't read Usagi Yojimbo before. I'd suggest starting with Usagi Yojimbo Saga Vol. 1 instead.

Miskatonic ★★★
This should have been fantastic. A murder mystery set in Lovecraft's fictional Miskatonic Valley.

Batman, Vol. 3: Ghost Stories ★★★
Batman is in transition. He's lost most of his fortune. He can no longer afford to 3D print new Batmobiles each week. At the same time, along comes Ghost-Maker, a Batman without emotions.

DCeased: Hope At World’s End ★★★
Tom Taylor seems to have turned DCeased into a cottage industry with his 4th miniseries. This one takes place between issues #4 and #5 of the original series, fleshing out some moments that were glossed over initially.

Kaiju Score ★★★
Setting up a heist in the middle of a kaiju landfall is pretty ingenious. However the story is just OK. Rem Broo's art is too unfocused and cartoonish for the subject matter.

This is what comics should be, fun. Joe Quinones does a lot of heavy lifting in this book. Every time a new hero appears, he changes his art style to mimic the type of hero he is. Manga, Vertigo, Sin City, Moebius, Quinones does a phenomenal jab of mimicking different genres and artists.

I do think the creative team missed an opportunity with the book though. When this book was published in the 80's the heroes and villains were created by fans who sent in their designs, even getting a credit. I thought that was the coolest thing as a kid. With the ease of using the internet for submissions, they could have done something similar with this book.

My Review

OK to air

This week's trip to the LCS.

Crossover #7
Black Widow #8
Cable #11
Eternals #5
We Only Find Them When They're Dead #7
X-Factor #10
Autumnal #8
Young Hellboy #4
Green Arrow 80th Anniversary