Spider-Woman - Steve Foxe

Spider-Woman (2024) - Steve Foxe

Gang War - Jessica Drew, just returned from being erased from the web of existence, searches for her lost baby with the help of the new Madame Web, Julia Carpenter.  But Diamondback and Hydra keep taunting her; they know something she doesn't, and it's not good news.  Hoping to clear her head, she goes to San Francisco, where she goes up against Hydra again, although a new group of young super-heroes seem to be defending the legal face of Hydra.  But there's more to these new heroes than meets the eye, and their suspicious past might have something to do with Drew's son.  This is very smart, fast-faced, fun super-hero action.  Foxe hits all the right notes, with humor, action, and even a little romance.  He uses a lot of history in his story, but makes it clear enough for a first-timer.  Brilliant stuff.  [4.5]

The Unwritten - Mike Carey

The Unwritten - Mike Carey

1. Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity - Tom Taylor is a minor and reluctant celebrity because his father wrote a series of wildly popular boy-wizard novels starring Tommy Taylor, a character suspiciously similar to his son. When evidence emerges suggesting Tom's own past may be a fabrication, he finds himself caught up in a conspiracy involving secret organizations, literary history, and the unsettling possibility that stories may have more power than anyone realizes. Before Tom can get to the bottom of any of his questions, he is framed for a massacre at his father's old house in Switzerland and arrested.  As a palate cleanser, this volume ends with a story about Kipling dealing with the powers that be behind stories.  [4]-two
2. Inside Man - In prison in France, Tom finds himself rooming with an embedded reporter.  With the help of Lizzie, the woman who first mentioned his possibly fabricated past, Tom starts to see that he has the power to make stories real.  A sinister power that once worked with Tom's father wants him dead, and in the midst of another massacre the three make their escape to a grim and tragic world, one that never existed.  Carey artfully alternates Tom's prison story with that of the prison governor, who has his own problems with the unexpected power of story.  Meanwhile, a brand new Tommy Taylor book is about to come out, despite the fact that Wilson Taylor has been missing, presumed dead, for years.  In one of the best episodes of the entire run, the interstitial story in this one is about a foul-mouthed rabbit who longs to escape his seemingly idyllic funny-animal world that is sinister underneath the surface.  [4]-two
3. Dead Man's Knock - The new Tommy Taylor novel is finally released, but it turns out to be a counterfeit written by Mr. Callander's cabal in an effort to discredit the story and undermine Tom. The real Wilson Taylor reappears to offer cryptic guidance, but the deadly Pullman, whose touch causes people to disintegrate, is never far behind.  Lizzie Hexam has a crisis of confidence, and in one of the cleverest chapters yet, Carey spins a "choose your own adventure"-style episode hinting at her tragic origins and how she became Wilson's willing tool.  Once again, Carey masterfully blends myth, literary geography, and the fictional Tommy Taylor saga with Tom's increasingly desperate flight for survival, producing a story that is both intellectually playful and genuinely suspenseful.  [4.5]-two
4. Leviathan - Every writer needs to grapple with his own white whale, and as Tom inadvertently becomes a character in Moby-Dick on his own, Carey cleverly merges and layers several whales from literature.  When Tom is inside a whale with Sindbad, Baron Munchausen, Pinocchio, Job, and possibly James Bartley, all figures who found themselves in similar predicaments.  Tom takes control of the story, but meanwhile back in the real world, the puppet master Rausch has captured Lizzie and Savoy, whose illness turns out to be story-related.  And the volume ends with an interstitial scene, in which the talking rabbit who was once the robber Pauly takes command of a troop of talking animals on a quest so blackly comic and childhood-trampling that it should come with a warning for the faint of heart.  [4.5]-two
5. On To Genesis - After putting his imprint on the Great American Novel, Carey turns to that inevitable American art, comic books.  Escaping from the whale, Tom joins his friends in a heist of the late Wilson Taylor's goods, specifically his journal.  It seems that years ago, Wilson Taylor, working for Pullman at the time, was tasked with stopping the nascent Tinker comic book. In true noir fashion, though, he falls for the dame who does the strip, and strings Pullman along.  Tom uncovers this story and discovers more family secrets; meanwhile, the cabal goes scorched earth on anyone in Tom's past.  [4]-two

Walking Dead - Robert Kirkman

Good solid horror storytelling with lots of raw human emotion, but unrelentingly bleak.  Like getting repeatedly hit in the gut.  Makes you feel masochistic for reading.  Begs to be devoured, but the unceasing roller coaster of depression-rage-epiphany-hope-depression gets old after a while.

• Compendium Two - collects issues #49-96.  This tome begins with Rick and Carl alone again, everyone having scattered.  Gradually, they find Michonne, Maggie, Glenn, and Dale.  They meet up with the military man Abraham and the scientist Eugene.  They try to make a life on a farm until it gets overrun.  Carl gets shot, Morgan comes back, and they are recruited into a small town run by a pleasant but ineffective ex-politician leader called Douglas.  Rick becomes constable there, but his paranoia and rage cause a lot of waves.  Then they are approached by a man who leads them to a group of two hundred peaceable citizens, but they're under the thumb of a killer named Negan...
• Compendium Three - collects issues #97-144.   Most of this tome covers the bloody war with Negan and his Saviors.  Rick connects with two other large groups, the Kingdom and the Hilltop, and forms a still-uneasy alliance against Negan.  And although many in his camp are ready to turn on him for his penchant for exercising droit du seigneur and branding people, Negan still has some surprises in store.  I like the way Kirkman makes Negan a fully-fleshed character who has his own moral standards and isn't just a mindless brutal thug.  Once the war is over, the narrative jumps forward in time, and the three communities have built a civilization with boats, barter, stores, and even a fair.  But just when things are going great, they meet the Whisperers...
• Compendium Four - collects issues # #145 through #193.  There's a war with the Whsiperers, with many losses.  But Rick is determined not to lose his precious civilization.  Just when they start rebuilding, they encounter a new, advanced, and suspiciously vibrant community called the Commonwealth.  It seems like paradise, but Rick and Michonne soon see the flaws in the place and wonder if they should take over.  Then, when you least expect it, there's a time jump, and the series ends.

Power Pack: Outlawed - Ryan North

Power Pack: Outlawed (2020) - Ryan North

Five issues.  The Power siblings are told by the police that they, as crime-fighting minors, must have an adult mentor in order to operate (a silly, ineffective, and unenforceable law, but hey, comics), so they sign on with the implausibly good Agent Aether, who urges the kids to use tier powers to provide free electricity to under-served communities... but of course he turns out to have ulterior motives, and isn't who he claims to be.  With a little help from a special guest star (the mandatory one, bub), they try to get some of their own back from this mendacious mentee.  It's a little heavy on the North-brand silliness, but it's got heart and I enjoy when writers wink and hand-wave away some of comics' more over-the-top tropes anyway.  [4]

Monica - Daniel Clowes

Monica - Daniel Clowes

A genre-blurring graphic novel that follows Monica, a woman trying to piece together her fragmented past and the mysterious disappearance of her mother, Penny, a counterculture figure who abandoned her during childhood.  The story unfolds across a series of interconnected chapters, each adopting a different genre—from war comics and horror to science fiction and supernatural noir—mirroring Monica's quest for identity and truth.  Along the way, she confronts conspiracy theories, strange cults, and elusive truths, from bizarre to banal, about family, love, and mortality.  I love the meticulously crafted art, each chapter rendered in a style that both honors and critiques the comic traditions it draws from.  [4]

Squadron Supreme - James Robinson

Squadron Supreme (2015) - James Robinson

1. By Any Means Necessary! - Collects issues #1-4.  A team of Squadron analogues from various Earths, having little in common except that Namor destroyed their worlds during the Secret Wars extinction event that culminated in Battleworld, get together and become purveyors of rough justice.  As in, raising Atlantis and throwing it back into the sea, and decapitating Namor.  I like the variety of characters, but I don't care for Robinson's melodramatic dialogue and endless exposition, and as always, I think deaths of established characters are cheap ploys.  [3.5]
2. Civil War II - Collects issues #6-9.  The group rescues Weirdworld from the clutches of Modred, apparently now a bad guy.  Nighthawk leads the team to a cabal of alien races smuggling weapons on Earth.  Also, Dr. Spectrum comes face to face with Toro and Black Bolt, the man who destroyed her Earth but also saved her life.  Melodramatic and talky, and the alien cabal is a weird story.  [3]
3. Finding Namor - Collects issues #10-15, the end of the series.  Warrior Woman, who turns out to be from the Squadron Sinister Earth, and Modred plan to use Dr. Doom's time machine to bring Namor back to life so they can rule together, for some reason.  The squad breaks up her plans, but with unforeseen results.  Robinson's exposition and psycho-babble is on full display here.  I do like his homage to the Agent Diana Prince era of Wonder Woman, but I hate it when non-powered characters hold their own against powerhouses.  I also like the array of guest stars, including Blue Marvel, the original Torch, etc.  Robinson is good with revitalizing comic book lore, but not exactly a high-caliber writer of dialogue or plot.  [3]
   

Lucifer - Mike Carey

Lucifer - Mike Carey

1. Devil in the Gateway - This volume contains two interconnected stories.  The first is from the original miniseries Sandman Presents Lucifer.  Lucifer, having resigned his position as Lord of Hell and having been deprived of his wings by Dream, now resides as the proprietor of Lux, a piano bar in LA.  He's approached by an emissary of the Name Itself, who wishes Lucifer to find out why fervent desires all over Earth are being granted.  In return, Lucifer asks for a letter of passage.  He finds the source of the disruption — a young man with a neurological disorder — and uses his sister as a guide to the world of the old gods.  In the second story, Lucifer demands the use of an angel's powerful card deck so he can see the crossroads of his life.  The cards get away and start causing chaos, until a young magician absorbs the cards into herself.  As a coda, young Elaine Belloc solves the murder of her friend and meets Lucifer in the killer's head.  Erudite, brutal, insanely imaginative, and capable of finding the human in everything, in the same way Gaiman did in Sandman.  [5]-two
2. Children and Monsters - Lucifer uses the letter of passage to make a gate into non-creation, the void, which enrages the heavenly host.  To prepare, Lucifer retrieves his wings from the Japanese pantheon that acquired them from the Dreaming; unfortunately, in their realm he is powerless, and they want him dead.  In an apparent aside, we see a cursed priestess be granted death at Lucifer's hands, in return for a very special bottle.  We also learn more about Elaine Belloc and her birth, as she gets embroiled in a fallen angels' twisted plan to create more angels from the imprisoned Michael.  The second half is of this volume is particularly strong, deftly weaving together seemingly unrelated plot threads while deepening Elaine's importance to the series. Though Lucifer's vulnerability in the realm of the gods occasionally feels undercut by plot armor, the volume remains suspenseful, inventive, and emotionally resonant.  [4.5]-two
3. A Dalliance With the Damned - Lucifer has created a brand new cosmos, and everyone wants a piece.  But first, he tests it with a new garden of Eden and a new first couple, but of course there are temptations there too.  Meanwhile, in Effrul, the demons mimic a grotesque perversion of 18th century British nobility for their own amusement, where trysts and treachery abound.  A cruel princess has a whim to take one of the damned, Christopher Rudd, to be her plaything, but he proves far more adept at court intrigue than anyone expects.  Lucifer travels to Effrul as well, where Mazikeen, her face restored against her will, vows to get revenge for herself and for her people, the Lilim.  Carey again bests himself with a plot as full of twists as it is sex and violence, and somehow makes the reader root for an protagonist with a heart of ice whose entire philosophy is solipsistic individualism.  [5]-two
4. The Divine Comedy - The new creation is full of refugees courtesy of Lucifer's splintered gate; all are welcome, but his only rule is no worship or religion.  Unfortunately, three malevolent forces are converging on him and his new universe.  Mazikeen gives Lucifer an ultimatum: give the Lilim a homeland in return for their fealty or face war.  Lucifer, always arrogant, dismisses her, saying he needs no one.  The Basanos invade the new creation, using Jill Presto as a host, and sending a Jin En Mok to kill Elaine to prevent her interference. And Susano, the Japanese god, concludes a long-plotted revenge against Lucifer, using feathers implanted in the wings he took back from them.  It's a masterful intertwining of storylines and a building on the established mythology.  As a cleanser, the final story is a funny slapstick in which Gaudium, a fallen cherub, goes on an ill-fated quest to save Elaine.  [5]-two
5. Inferno - Vastly diminished in power after recovering from the two-pronged attack in his own universe, and with Susano still in possession of the cursed wing feathers, Lucifer must nevertheless keep his word and meet Amenadiel in hell for the duel promised a year prior.  In Effrul, Lucifer is hosted by Rudd, now a duke of hell, while angels and devils conspire to weigh the scales against Lucifer.  But there are schemes within schemes in the courts of hell.  Meanwhile, in an attempt to destroy the feathers, Mazikeen tracks Susano to a dread castle where they are both taken prisoner.  A standalone story involving the personification of justice tracking the killer of Elaine has a devilishly satisfying twist.  [5]-two
6. Mansions of Silence - Lucifer assembles a motley crew on the Naglfar: Loki's brother Bergelmir, Gaudium and his sister, Jill Presto, Mazikeen, Elaine's half-brother Cal, and Elaine's father, now a ghost.  Their mission is to go to the mansions of silence and rescue Elaine's spirit, but a vengeful dead god rules this land, and Lucifer can't help them.  He goes on a quest of his own, with his exiled brother Michael, to God's mind.  What He has to say to them enrages Michael and — here I fear I don't quite follow how — allows Lucifer to enter the Mansions of Silence after all.  A coda in which several loose ends are tied and Elaine and Mona get a fitting ending is sweet and even poignant.  Still, I can't quite get over the apparent hand-waving that reduces to nothing all the danger and suspense built up until Lucifer's arrival.  [4.5]
7. Exodus - This is the point where a truly new chapter in the Lucifer saga begins.  Up till now, everything that has come before resulted, directly or indirectly, from the letter of passage.  Loose ends had to be tied, but that is over.  Now, a brand new situation has arisen. God has vacated the silver city, leaving both Michael and Lucifer in charge.  (This explains how the rules of engagement changed in the previous volume.)  Two moronic chaos demons decide to fill the vacuum, and improbably gain Yahweh's power.  Even Michael and Lucifer can't stop them — but a young human may have a key.  Then, Lucifer sends some of his agents out to his worlds, charged with exiling any gods or immortals from them on pain of death.  Elaine Belloc has her own way of doing this, while Mazikeen gets a surprise.  [4.5]-two
8. The Wolf Beneath the Tree - Just when I think Carey might be running out of gas, he revs the old idea engines up and shows us how immortal entities can still face suspense and drama.  After an intriguing look at pre-Fall times, when Lucifer and Gabirel dallied with Lilith and we see the origin of the silver city (and Mazikeen), we get to the main story.  With God gone, all of creation is threatening to crumble.  In a darkly humorous scene, Lucifer and Michael visit Destiny for answers, which are not forthcoming.  Meanwhile, Fenris and two minor deities of destruction head to Yggdrasil to end all things, using an insane murderer as a vehicle and sacrifice.  The story ends on an exciting cliffhanger, with Fenris ascendant and Elaine Belloc in a unique and volatile position.  [5]-two
9. Crux - Here, Lilith re-enters the narrative, having been approached eons ago by a mysterious group of powerful beings to enlist her help in destroying heaven.  She will stop at nothing to accomplish this, even killing her own daughter.  In hell, an unprecedented army of the combined forces of demons and the damned is mobilizing, led by a rather improbably figure.  And where is Lucifer in all this?  He and Elaine are in a third creation, trying to find their way back to the other creation so they can save everything.  This section is light on the drama of the other parts, but high on character development, as we see Elaine struggle with how to keep a world safe while allowing free will.  Meanwhile, Jill Presto, with some advice from the god of Las Vegas (!), goes into the desert where some rough beast, the offspring of the Basanos, can be born.  [5]-two
10. Morningstar - I continue to be in awe at how Carey brings together plot threads and lets the line of the story play out, taking his sweet time and keeping the reader on a hook throughout.  Do we need Solomon, the spirit of Justice, to come in at the end of this arc?  Why not also show him wrapping up the story of Kurt and Jayesh, the Germans from way back in book one?  And remember when I said Elaine got "an ending" back in book six?  It was framed as an ending, all right, so who could have guessed where she'd end up?  Anyway, here Lilith launches the attack on heaven with her army of Lilim and dark angels, joined by a familiar old enemy.  In hell, Christopher Rudd hesitates, wondering whether to strike at heaven or come to its aid.  Why not both?  To add to the chaos, Noema, the other Basanos child, wants to see Lucifer fail.  I love how consistent Lucifer's character has been throughout, a being of pure will, beholden to no one.  Even in the face of total oblivion: "Since this has turned into the final conflict between something and nothing, I'm siding with something.  But only so far as it suits me.  I won't let myself be imprisoned in a situation I didn't choose."  Classic.  [5]-two
11. Evensong - It's all over but the shouting.  Lucifer visits an old enemy, and surprisingly leaves her more like an ally than anything else.  He has a rather strained chat with his father (in one of the greatest, scenes of the entire series, and one that encapsulates Lucifer's essence more than any other.  In a bit of delicious irony, the talk takes place in the lair of some enemies whose defeat hasn't happened yet.  Elaine says goodbye to the usual gang before subsuming herself into all creation.  Lucifer... goes.  "It's hard to tell whether he imposes himself on the emptiness or becomes it."  It's an absolutely pitch-perfect ending.  Also in this volume is the long one-shot story "Nirvana," which is inessential but fine; it would be better served stuck in one of the earlier volumes.  [5]-two