Graphic novel reviews H

Ham Helsing - Rich Moyer 

Han Solo - Marjorie Liu
Solo is tasked by the alliance to run in the galaxy's most dangerous race while also attempting to flesh out a mole.  Decent story with a few surprises.  I think I'd have preferred street-level Solo action.  [3]

HAPPY STORIES ABOUT WELL-ADJUSTED PEOPLE - Joe Ollman [Conundrum]
Black and white sketches in a cramped style.  The lettering is nearly illegible in places.  The stories, slices of life of small-town failures, self-loathers, and go-nowheres, are truly heartbreaking.  Extremely well written but tough to read, they're so grim.  [4]

Hawkeye - Kelly Thompson

• Vol. 1: Anchor Points.  Owing a great deal to Fraction's run in art and writing style, this showcases Kate Bishop, the other Hawkeye, as she closes in on an incel-type bro who feeds off of hate to become a sort of hulk-type bad guy.  Starts off strong with some real-world dangers, but the super-powered stuff here doesn't suit the material.  It would have been cool to see some social justice.  Also bringing in Jessica Jones seems less like a team-up and more like, Kate Bishop needs help.  [3.5]

Hawkeye - Matt Fraction
Fun, tongue-in-cheek, everyday street-level superheroics.  Bro!  You gotta read this.  Romance, sex, adventure, a dim-witted yet lovable hero.

• 1. Little Hits - Clint lets a beautiful redhead with a suspicious story talk him into helping her against the bros, much to the disgust of the women in his life.  [5]
• 2. L.A. Woman - Kate ditches Clint and sets up as a detective for hire in Los Angeles, where she is found by Madame Masque.  Fun, full of winks and jokes, but also hard-boiled noir.  [5]
• 3. Rio Bravo - an attack leaves Clint deaf, just as his trouble-making brother comes back in his life to help him out / cause trouble.  But with the help of his tenants, and a newly returned Kate, Clint might just end the scourge of the bros once and for all.  Brilliant. [5]

HAWKEYE VS. DEADPOOL - Duggan
A clever story of Hawkeye and Deadpool teaming up, reluctantly, to stop Black Cat from obtaining a list of secret SHIELD agents.  Over the top and funny, but with a genuine threat and a real sense of what drives the two anti-heroes.  Although I love  Fraction's work on Hawkguy, Duggan mocking the pacing and detailed pictorial maps of Fraction's book is pretty funny.  Library.  [4]

Hellblazer - various

• HARD TIME [146-150] - Brian Azzarello - Well, this is a bit different, innit?  Constantine in an American prison.  Richard Corben art completes the alien feeling.  I'm not sure Azzarello's ghetto noir is a fit here, but it's interesting to se how he has JC deal.  [3.5]
• GOOD INTENTIONS [151-156] - Brian Azzarello - Constantine continues his trek of America, trying to track down why some two-bit grifter framed JC for his murder.  He meets some hillbillies who get up to some rather distasteful things on the "World Wide Cum Web."  JC is far from appealing here, as he directly deals out some nastiness to people who don't really deserve it.  A bizarre Shirley Jackson ending leaves a bad taste.  [2.5]
• FREEZES OVER [157-163] - Brian Azzarello - Constantine finds himself stuck in a small cafe during a blizzard with some townspeople and a trio of killers.  And perhaps a serial killer as well.  There's also a flashback scene in which a young JC cheats a naive young rich man who wants an occult object.  Creepy and well-done.  [4.5]
• HIGHWATER [164-174] - Brian Azzarello - JC tangles with a bunch of small-town skinheads led by a supremacist separatists, in a fine vignette,  He then finally catches up with the rich American who's been pulling all the strings back to when he was framed for murder, and... uh.  He seduces the guy in a bizarre omnisexual game of perverse wills, fakes his own death, and drives the man mad.  Um.  It may well be a fine crime piece, Mister Azzarello, but we must not call it Hellblazer.  [3]

Hello Neighbor: The Secret of Bosco Bay - Zac Gorman

I got this because it looked interesting.  It has a good premise: Jen's older brother vanished at Bosco Bay, a theme park, and it's going to be demolished.  When Jen's cousin Allie comes to live with her, they both go try to uncover the secrets that the park and its designer may hold.  It's a plot very similar to the vastly superior Trespassers, but it's thinner in both length and characterization.  It turns out it's based on a "hit stealth horror video game," so that's the problem right there, I guess.  [3]

Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite - Barry Deutch [Amulet]
In a sequel to a story that I haven't read, Mirka, a young Jewish girl warns a witch about a meteorite, which them gets transformed into her double.  Mirka tries to continue with her life, but finds it hard to have a faster, stronger, willful alien double of her around, so challenges the doppleganger to a test to see which one will stay.  Detailed cartoony color drawings with lots of sly subtle humor; a cracked fairy tale leavened with the values of Jewish love and family.  Not flawless, but well done.  [4]

History Comics

HOPELESS SAVAGES: GREATEST HITS 2000-2010 - Jen Van Meter  [Oni]
A compendium of stories about an extended family of retired punk stars given to getting entangled in spy dramas, punch-ups, and bad relationship drama.  The black and white art, from a very long list of contributors, is often shoddy, and even when the lines are crisp and clean, it's very difficult to tell the father from the son, or a daughter from a girlfriend (no one is old, even though the children are grown).  This combined with Van Meter's trying way too hard to make these characters tough, cool, insouciant, self-aware, and satisfied (only the youngest daughter is in any way fragile), made me fairly uninterested in what ought to have been my cup of tea.  Library.  [2.5] 

Hutch Owen - Tom Hart

• Collected Hutch Owen: Volume 1 - Hutch Owen, an hunchbacked old hobo rabble-rouser kicking against capitalist cronies and everything superficial, is an irascible, demented gnome who lives in a shack, angering the local magnates who want to monetize everything from skateboards to Malcolm X.  The original story, in which Hutch and the CEO are revealed to have history together and then shows that Hutch himself is monetized and made into a brand, is really very well done.  After that I expected it to sort of tread the same ground without that wonderful final scene, but the story in which Hutch meets an old friend who is now in publishing shows that not everything is so one-sided.  Very crude black and white drawings definitely fit the theme. [4]
  

Graphic novel reviews I

Iceman - Sina Grace

• 1. Thawing Out - Bobby Drake discovers he's gay and fights off anti-mutant bigots, all while trying to have a sane relationship with his judgemental parents.  Appeals to the emo teen crowd. [3]
• 2. Absolute Zero - Bobby gets the old team back together (not that old team, the Champions) to "pour one out" for their dead companion Black Widow.  A nice moment, but marred by the fact that comic book death is meaningless.  Also he meets gay people and thinks about moving to LA.  Heavy on the personal life quest and coming to terms with being yourself.  [3]

The Immortal Hulk - Al Ewing

1. Or Is He Both? - Intelligent, sadistic Hulk looking for wrongs to brutally right, finding out that Banner can die but he never can.  But an even more malevolent force is tracking him, and using Sasquatch as bait.  Creepy and fun. [4]
2. The Green Door - The Hulk is captured by the Avengers only after using a last-ditch Armageddon weapon; he is cut into pieces and studied, but escapes.  Hulk hunters use a powered-up Crusher Creel to attack Hulk, but in doing so open up a doorway to a Gamma-radiated hell.  Really well done horror stuff, creepy and suspenseful and pulse-pounding.  [4]
   
3. Hulk In Hell - With the Green Door opened, Puck and the rest of his Gamma Flight hulk hunters, plus Betsy Ross, try to reunited Hulk with his Banner half and face down the evil ghost of his father.  Plus: the return of Doc Samson!  [4]
   

Immortal Iron Fists - Kaare Andrews

Danny Rand has taken Pei, a tween monk from K'un-Lun, under his wing (but mostly leaves her in the care of  a mysterious older lady?).  He's meant to teach her everything she needs to know about harnessing her chi and being a hero, but he keeps getting distracted by monsters that keep trying to destroy New York, and he's clueless about how she should fit in at a New York City public school?  It's a great idea to have Rand pass on the Iron Fist legacy, but a bit lacking in education.  I did not like the manga-style cartoony art at all, which depicts the kids as way younger than they're said to be.  And as a Iron Fist trufan, I hated the depiction of a clueless, idiotic Danny Rand.  Still, a lot of it was light-hearted fun.  [3.5]

Invincible - Robert Kirkman

1. Family Matters
2. Eight Is Enough
3. Perfect Strangers
4. Head of the Class - I went into this from the TV version.  The show is brilliant, nuanced, diverse, funny, and gory.  This series is... well, it's pathetic in comparison.  One of the most juvenile and poorly-executed comics I've read in a long time.  The idea is great, but... everyone is white, the best friend isn't gay, there are tedious asides about mundane silliness like William wanting his name to be "William" and not "Bill" (??!), absolutely no moral ambiguity or shades of humanity in the villain, shallow pastiche parodies as characters, bizarre character behavior like worrying about school after discovering everything you've known is a lie, girls throwing themselves at Mark for no reason... Just boring, poorly thought out, adolescent fantasy stuff. No nuance.  And so weirdly, weirdly fixated on teen sex and abstinence.  It's very disappointing.  However, after a while it gets better.  [2]
5. The Facts Of Life - In this volume, another killer undead cyborg threatens Marks' campus; Mark tells his girlfriend Amber his secret; Even goes off to help solve world hunger; Robot tries to help Monster Girl with her de-aging problem while guarding some secrets of his own; and Allen the Alien reports to a space council about Mark and how he might help in the fights against the Viltrumites.  Kirkman certainly knows how to keep the pages turning, although some parts are astoundingly riddled with grammatical errors and the bizarre fixation on celibacy and "purity" is quite off-putting.  [3.5]
6. A Different World - With this volume, I began to feel Kirkman got into the groove of things.  I still think there are streaks of immature writing (and come on, "Black Samson"?), but it's vastly improved.  Mark is contacted by some insectoid aliens who take him to their leader, who happens to be... his dad!  It seems that, Kirk-like, Nolan has taken a bug with boobs as his queen.  Together, they try to stop a squad of Viltrums from destroying the planet and taking Nolan away.  Meanwhile, Robot continues his machinations, while the Mauler twins help create a dimension-spanning supervillain.  [4]
7. Three's Company - Mark finds himself torn between his girlfriend Amber and his fellow superhero Atom Eve, who, he finds out from her future self, loves him.  Also, he is sent dimension-hopping by the insane new villain Angstrom Levy, who seems unstoppable.  Robot reveals himself as a clone of Rex.  Now the story is really rolling, and Kirkman keeps all the balls in the air more or less (though the idea that his college friend could be missing for months with Mark doing or caring nothing about it seems a little off-character). [4]  
8. My Favorite Martian - Mark and a team of heroes, including the newcomer Shapeshifter, head to Mars to mop up the sequid take over from several issues ago,  Also, he finally gets around to noticing that his classmate has been transformed into a mindless cyborg slave, and picks one of the two women in his life.  [4]
9. Out of This World - More development on Allen the Alien and a new Viltrumite named Anissa comes with a new ultimatum for Mark.  His brother decides he wants to be a superhero also.    [4]
10. Who's the Boss? - Mark makes some fumbling attempts at romance with Atom Eve, which, while sweet, lands with a thump because while this is superheroic science fiction, it beggars belief that these superpowered beautiful people who face every day would be acting like Archie in 1950 and not crawling all over each other.  Kirkman just has this weird idea about chastity that he keeps horning into the story.  Mark also butts heads with his mother over her new romance, which also strikes me as a little odd for a worldly teen with the burdens he has.  More dramatically, Mark makes a final break with Cecil and his government contract after discovering that Cecil has been lying to him about certain assets he's developing.  [4]
    

Irredeemable - Mark Waid

Ivar, Timewalker - Fred Van Lente

 

Ivy - Sarah Olesky
An artistic high school girl from a working-class single parent family tries to make it through high school.  But her friends start to drift away, and after a fight with her mother, she runs away to live as a nomad and squatter with an unbalanced boy.  Pretty grim stuff at times; painstakingly detailed, if cartoony, black and white art.  [3.5]

Iznogoud - Goscinny

• The Wicked Wiles of Iznogoud - A series of not-at-all in continuity, and very much tongue-in-cheek, comedy shorts about the adviser, Iznogoud, who wants to be Caliph instead of the Caliph.  But all his plans, which usually involve some magic trick, come to nothing, and it all backfires, as when he has been turned into a frog, or been captured as a slave.  And then the scheming all starts over again.  I love Goscinny, but this is not exceedingly funny or charming.  It's fun enough, but like a newspaper comic.  Acknowledge the silliness, and move on.  [3.5]
  

Graphic novels reviews J

JLA: RULES OF ENGAGEMENT - Joe Kelly, Rick Veitch
Fast-paced, frenetic, very Morrison-style JLA.  The Authority in DC costumes.  Fun for superhero stuff.  Library.  [3]

Jack Of Fables - Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges

James Bond: The Complete Omnibus - Warren Ellis

A pitch-perfect take on Bond.  He's cold, he's cruel, he's a little bit witty and a little sad, he kicks ass.  This omnibus (issues #1-12) contains two arcs: Vargr, in which Bond goes to Berlin to track down a possibly infected drug and meets up with some seriously flawed killers, and Eidolon, which finds Bond in sunny LA with several intelligence services, including the CIA, apparently out to kill him.  I'm not really a fan of the whole Bond mythos, and there are a few scenes where he's more or less superhuman, but Ellis is a good enough writer that I enjoyed it.  [4]

Jerusalem: A FAMILY PORTRAIT - Boaz Yakin [First Second]
A family in Jerusalem split apart over money issues fights the British occupiers, the Arab enemies within and without, and themselves.  A grim look at the cost of warfare in a very troubled region.  It's an sharp story with some twists and turns, but where the book loses some power, for me, is in its refusal to acknowledge the fault of religion in all this senseless death and suffering.  But Yakin makes it clear how easy it is to lose your empathy and humanity in such a place, and maybe that's indictment enough.  [4]

Jessica Jones - Bendis

1. Uncaged - Out of prison, JJ is hired by a mysterious lady with a grudge to dig up some dirt on Carol Danvers.  [4]
   
2. The Secrets of Maria Hill - JJ is hired by ex-SHIELD agent Maria Hill to find out who put out a hit on her.  [4]
   

Jughead's Time Police - Sina Grace
Banned for life from pie contests, Jughead meddles with timelines to correct his mistake, inadvertently ending up a fugitive from the time police and an evil version of himself.  Fun Archie mythology sandbox playing, but while the writing is somewhat witty and winking, the ending is straight out of the corny 1940s era.  [3]

Justice League Dark -James Tynion IV

Jukebox - Nidhi Chanani

Graphic novel reviews K

Katie the Catsitter - Colleen AF Venable

 

Kerry and the Knight of the Forest - Andi Watson

Kill Or Be Killed - Brubaker

A teen fails in a suicide attempt and enters a pact with a demon that he gets his life back but must kill to continue it.  So he starts killing criminals.  Or is he just plain nuts?  This is a chilling and compelling horror noir.  Wonderful.  [5]

The Complete Killer - Matz 

Collects thirteen original albums or Volumes 1-5 of the collected additions.  The unnamed hit man ruminates on man and god and law and justice while trying to find a secure place in a corrupt world of hypocrites he despises.  Teaming up with a drug runner and an ex-CIA man, he tries to go semi-legit in the oil business, but his past never lets him stay put.  The art is photo-realistic, gorgeous and impeccable; the story grim but not gory.  The title character philosophizes more than you might expect a hit man to do, but what can you expect?  He's French.  Thrilling and very well done noir.  [4.5]

The Killer Inside Me

A pretty straightforward retelling of the smoldering noir novel by Jim Thompson.  [3.5]

 

The King of Kazoo - Norm Feuti

The egotistical but clueless king of Kazoo, Cornelius, and his daughter, Bing, set out to solve the mystery of a mysterious explosion.  Traveling in the car invented by his mute engineer Torq, they face all sorts of dangers that Bing talks their way out of before Cornelius can make things worse with his pride.  Good silly fun with some inventive concepts but no surprises as they march toward Cornelius' redemptive arc.  Art- and atmosphere-wise, it owes a debt to Bone.  [3.5] 

Knights of the Lunch Table - Frank Cammuso

Graphic novel reviews L

Letter 44 - Charles Soule

Locke and Key - Joe Hill

1. Welcome to Lovecraft - After their father is brutally murdered by two local youths, the Locke family move to Lovecraft, MA to take possession of the Keyhouse. However, the house comes with a set of magic keys and has at least one trapped spirit who wants revenge, and is using the father's killer as a tool to get it.  Gory horror told in a non-linear fashion to very creepy effect, with blocky, thick-lined art that suits the atmosphere.  Although horror isn't my thing, there's enough mystery and unanswered questions in this book to keep me reading.  [4]
   

Louisiana Purchase - John Chase

Lucifer (11 volumes) - Mike Carey
Fantasy, morality, theology, world-building, story-telling.  Better than Sandman.  Endlessly re-readable.  [5]  Keep.

Lucky Luke - Goscinny and Morris

• Jesse James - Luke takes on the Cole and Younger gang.  [4]
  
• 38. Ma Dalton [1971] - Mrs. Dalton, who looks just like Joe, isn't such a nice little old lady; she leads a crime spree with her sons, and Luke tries to track them down.  [5]
• The Wagon Train - Luke protects a wagon train.  [3]
• 9. Rails on the Prairie [1957] - #32 in Cinebook.  Luke escorts and protects the building of the first transcontinental railroad, while a shady character who own stagecoach stock tries to stop that.  A bit more cartoonish and silly than some of the other entries, but a lot of fun.  [4]
  
• 11. Lucky Luke Versus Joss Jamon [1958] - #27 in Cinebook.  The title bad guy and his five desperado friends take over a town; Luke tries to clear them out.  Sketchy art, the "Dalton cousins," and an unfamiliar Jesse James, Billy the Kid, and Calamity Jane making cameos all mark this as an early work.  It's got a rich plot with plenty of zigs and zags, more like an old western movie than the archetypal Lucky Luke.   The welcome signs on the various towns are a great running joke.  [4]
• 12. The Dalton Cousins [1958] - #28 in Cinebook.  The origins of the Daltons!  Apparently they're the cousins of five other identical deceased brothers, vowing to get revenge on Lucky Luke.  A lot of harmless back and forth follows, with lots of bottle throwing and fisticuffs.  It's interesting to see the evolution of Joe and Averell's adversarial relationship, although they're already pretty fully formed.  [4] 
• 13. The Judge [1959] - a slightly fictionalized Judge Roy Bean seizes Luke and charges him with cattle rustling; when a rival judge comes to Langtry, Luke sets them against each other.  The art in this one is much rougher than usual; it's from 1959, predating the Cinebook #1 of the series, Billy the Kid.  It's not as funny and over the top as the finest of the series.  [3.5]
  
• 14. The Oklahoma Land Rush [1960] - #20 in Cinebook.  Luke keeps the peace among the settlers vying for land in Oklahoma.  [4]
• 15. The Daltons' Escape [1960] - #30 in Cinebook. The Daltons escape again and frame Lucky Luke as a feared bandit, causing him to flee the town and become their servant.  This is actually the fifteenth book chronologically.  The Daltons are some of the best characters in bandes-dessinées, and they're in fine form here.  [4.5]
  
• 18. In the Shadow of the Derricks [1962] - Luke comes to the aid of an oil town besieged by Barry Blunt, a man who drives others out by force to take their claims.  [4] 
• 19. The Rivals of Painful Gulch [1962] - #12 in Cinebook. In the town of Painful Gulch, the families O'Timmins (big red nose) and O'Hara (big ears) have been fighting for decades, and do not even know why. Lucky Luke is named mayor of the city to try to solve this problem. He's not very effective! [3.5]
  
• 20. Billy the Kid [1962] - #1 in Cinebook.  Luke brings the small, violent Billy the Kid to justice.  [4]
• 25. Ghost Town [1965] - #2 in Cinebook.  Luke tries to keep an ornery old miner's claim safe from some con men who want to buy and then oversell him claim. [4] 
• 29. Barbed Wire on the Prairie [1967] - Luke teams up with a farmer who's at war with a cattle baron.  [4]
• 30. Calamity Jane [1967] - Luke meets and befriends Calamity Jane.  [4]
• 31. Tortillas for the Daltons [1967] - the Daltons join bandits in Mexico, who don't want them.  [3.5]
• 32. The Stagecoach [1968] - Luke provides an escort for a Well Fargo stagecoach that is carrying a box of gold, and advertises it for all to see to prove how secure the line is.  One of the classics, with a cast of goofy characters and the usual heroism.  I really appreciate how the new translations are trying to give dignity to the stereotyped Indians of the original, though there's nothing they can do about the pictures of totem poles on the prairie.  [5]
  
• 34. Dalton City [1969] - #3 in Cinebook. After Lucky Luke closes down a corrupt settlement of Fenton Town, the Daltons are released accidentally (because of a Morse code mix-up) and they take over the town as their own.  One of the best in the series.  [5]
  
• 36. Western Circus - [1970] - Luke guards a circus featuring a wino ringmaster, a toothless lion, and an irritable elephant from a rodeo kingpin who doesn't like competition.  One of the best. [5]
• 37. Apache Canyon [1971] - Luke tries to make peace between Apaches and a cavalry commander whose son was kidnapped years ago by them.  Guess who that masked Apache is?  Luke doesn't do very much in this one; he just keeps getting captured by both sides.  He doesn't even figure out the ending.  [3.5] 
• 40. The Grand Duke - [1973] - #29 in Cinebook.  Luke escorts a larger than life Grand Duke from Russia who wants to see the "real wild west" before he'll sign a treaty.  While the Duke longs for danger and bandits, Luke does the opposite, arranging for fake fights and ghost towns.  Great humor and fun characters all around.  [4]
  
• The Tenderfoot - Luke guards an English newcomer with a stuff upper lip who tries to defend his land against a rival landowner who wants to force him out.  The butler, a fine character, is vaguely Wodehousian.  Another excellent entry in the series.  [5]
• The Dashing White Cowboy - Luke tries to find out how a traveling troupe of actors are committing robberies in the towns they visit. [4]
• The Daltons in the Blizzard - the Daltons flee to Canada under assumed names (Averell is Imbecile); Luke teams up with a mountie to retrieve them.  Lots of jokes abut Canadian names and the willingness of Canadians to obey authority.  The rivalry between Joe and Averell is intense here, with Averell refusing to cede to Joe in their fixed boxing match, one of the funniest scenes in the whole series. [4.5]
• The Black Hills - Luke escorts a quartet of scientists through the Black Hills to survey a plot for a new town; a man who trades with the Indians there doesn't want them.  I appreciate how the modern addendums try to mitigate some of the stereotypes about Indians from the original.  [4]
• The Escort - Luke takes Billy the Kid (still serving his two thousand year sentence from book one) out of Texas to Missouri, where he awaits trial for different crimes.  [4]
• On the Daltons' Trail - Luke and Rin Tin Can have misadventures aplenty trying to track down the Daltons.  [4]
• The 20th Cavalry - Luke is sent to fix the broken peace between the Cheyenne and the cavalry, but finds the commander there to be an unyielding stuffed shirt.  [4]
• Emperor Smith - loosely based on the real Emperor Norton, a deluded man believes himself to be the emperor of the United States, but is a harmless wealthy eccentric until an outlaw persuades him to put down a rebellion (and in the process seize the wealth of the town).  This is a weird one; Smith's aides seem as deluded as he is, and it ends abruptly, with no real closure.  The art is unusually detailed.  [3.5]
• A Cure for the Daltons - a German psychiatrist attempts to cure the Daltons of their criminal mindset, only to be ucked into the criminal life himself.  This one has some good Rin Tin Can moments.  [4]
• The Bounty Hunter - a Lee van Cleef lookalike is after a $100,000 bounty for a horse thief; the problem is, Luke Luke (who turns in criminals free of charge) thinks the accused Indian is innocent.  This entry stands out, with great art, some plot twists, and several unusual characters.  The bounty hunter is, despite his greed and shiftiness, not unsympathetic, constantly trying to bribe his way out of trouble or into partnerships with insultingly low offers.  [5]
• 48. The One-Armed Bandit [1981] - #33 in Cinebook. Luke escorts two inventors who have created the first one-armed bandit.  A few funny jokes, some rather broad.  [3.5]
  

Lucky Luke - Achdé et al 

• 77. Lucky Luke Versus the Pinkertons [2010] - #31 in Cinebook.  This takes place in 1861; Allan Pinkerton creates an intricate web of spies and informers, with files on everyone, so he can consolidate his power.  Lucky Luke is mocked and dismissed as a relic, even though Abe Lincoln vouches for him.  But then the Daltons get involved.  The new post-Morris art is very good, with different lines and new angles, but the writing is missing some of that old silly magic.  Chronologically, 1861 is a very early year for Luke to be considered a dated relic with years of adventures under his belt (Billy the Kid, for example, was two years old).  This reminds me of the later Asterix series, when continuity and previously established character went out the window.  [3]

Lumberjanes - Noelle Stevenson & Grace Ellis

1. Beware the Kitten Holy - Five super rad young girls at a camp fight some ghost foxes who, before they disappear, them them to "beware the kitten holy."  It goes on from there, with the same super rad weird energy.  It's a mix of Kate Beaton and Louise Belcher, but without the charm or wit.  It tries a little too hard to be weird and cool.  At one point one of the little girls defeats a giant stone statue in arm wrestling.  How and why?  Girl power, I guess?  It's not very interesting.  The characters often cite real historical women in their exclamations, so that's worth something, I guess.  [2.5]
   

 

Graphic novel reviews M

Maestro: Symphony in a Gamma Key - Peter David

Manga Man - Barry Lyga [Houton Mifflin]
Ryoko, a character from Japanese anime, comes through a strange rift to the "real" world, where he tries to fit in at school, where he is bullied but also meets a girl.  Will he win her heart before he is forced back through the rift, and will the kaiju (monsters) get through as well?  Illustrated with fun black and white art that takes full advantage of the story's interesting conceit (for example, when he is surprised, Ryoko emanates lines which then fall to the floor and must be cleaned up), as well as a clever twist in the plot.  Fun. Library.  [4]

The Manhattan Projects - Jonathan Hickman

1. Vol. One - Dr. Oppenheimer is recruited by the US military to work in a secret department involving all sorts of high-tech marvels.  He works with Fermi, an alien; Dr. Daghlian, a walking radioactive skeleton; Einstein, who has secrets of his own; the cyborg Von Braun; and others.  Oh, and Oppenheimer isn't who they think he is.  Together they try to stop alien invasions, maintain American supremacy, and explore new universes.  It is as insane and over-the-top as it sounds, and quite enthralling.  The excellent art evokes Frank Quitely.  [4.5]
2. Vol. Two - The mad scientists go behind their governments' backs to join forces against aliens and to push the boundaries of science.  Naturally, the more-or-less Illuminati that really run things — the orgy-going Truman, a magic Egyptian entity, a banking cartel luchador, the religious plutocrat — try to stop this, with spectacularly gory results.  And then there's more of Oppenheimer's mindscape, which is even weirder.  [4]
3. Vol. Three - In this volume, the tables turn, as General Westmoreland takes down the scientists and arrests them.  Oppenheimer, however, is still free to work on his insane projects; meanwhile Laika the dog travels through space and encounters a very alien looking ship.  The last section of the book is more about the war inside Oppenheimer's mind, and it's gory and not really very interesting.  I'm much more interested in what happens to the group of scientists.  [3.5]
   

March - John Lewis [Top Shelf]

1. The true story of John Lewis, former freedom marcher, head of SNCC, and Congressman.   Switching back and forth between past and present, it tells the civil rights story with calm wisdom, letting the facts speak for themselves create the drama.  Black and white, sketchy illustrations fit the tone.  [4.5]

Marvel Zombies
This shit is hilarious.  [4.5]

Marvel Zombies: Supreme - Frank Marraffino
A mad scientist uses Jack of Hearts' "zero energy" to animate dead clones of the Squadron Supreme, with disastrous results.  Tongue in cheek and gory.  [3.5]

Marvels
A wonderful tribute to the old-school Marvel heroes, with a modern sensibility and gorgeous painting by Alex Ross.  [5]

Middle School Misadventures - Jason Platt

 

The Mighty Crusaders - Ian Flynn

A new new team of Crusaders is assembled after the first team's children finally defeated the Brain Emperor, at some cost.  This one is led by the new Shield, a young woman brought up in colonial times.  On one of their first outings, they are set upon by some old enemies, the Eliminators.  And then, a sort of Thor pastiche.  As before, the more cartoony art belies the seriousness of the fighting.  The heroes age, get sick, and can be killed.  It's great stuff for someone who wants to see some consequences in their heroics.  This volume serves as introduction, but besides some battle scenes there's not very much development or a sense of real accomplishment; it left me looking for the second volume.  [4]

Miles Morales - Saladin Ahmed

1. Straight Of Out Brooklyn - High schooler Miles Morales balances a vice-principal out of Ferris Bueller, Tombstone's gang wars, his parents and his retired supervillain uncle, and girls (both civilian and costumed).  Pitch-perfect street Spider-Man in the old Marvel style of "heroes with problems," and the name being a nod to the old Peter Parker title which focused on the man's daily life as much as the spandex stuff.  [4]
2. Bring On the Bad Guys - Miles faces more girl problems (the costumed Starling, his school girlfriend, and his old colleague Bombshell) but also a grim story arc in which he is abducted and tortured for evil science reasons.  A mutated Green Goblin and a size-changing bad guy working for Kingpin have secrets of their own.  This volume has the same terrific dialogue and a good balance of work and life in Miles' world.  [4]
   

Miracleman - Alan Moore (credited as The Original Writer)

Moomin: The Complete Tove JANSSON COMIC STRIP VOL. 2 - Tove Jansson [Drawn & Quarterly]

• Large hardcover volume containing four story arcs of the whimsical, silly comic strip about the easy-going Moomin family and the odd characters who disrupt their lives.  Lacking the word play and detailed art of Pogo, and the humor of Popeye.  Gentle kid stuff.  [3]  Library.
  

Moon Knight - Jeff Lemire

1. Lunatic - Marc Spector wakes up in an archaic mental hospital with cruel orderlies and ECT therapy, told that he has never been Moon Knight and that he's imagined it all.  But it seems to be a trick by Seth, as Marc spots many people from his past in the asylum.  He engineers an escape, but outside the walls of the asylum is more madness and more questions.  It's a fun ride, building on the established mental problems of Spector to point to a new direction for the character.  But it's hard to judge as a stand-alone because it suddenly ends with more questions and nothing resolved.  [3.5]

Moon Knight - Warren Ellis

1. From the Dead - Ellis recasts Moon Knight as more of a Batman figure, with an AI-driven white limo and a white crescent-shaped drone.  The madness, the personalities, and the Konshu are still there, but more in the background.  This Moon Knight just goes out and wrecks bad guys.  This collection is made up of (mostly) stand-alone stories: Marc goes through a series of levels full of armed men to rescue a girl; Marc takes down a crazy SHIELD agent gone rogue; Marc solves the problem of a dream experiment gone wrong.  The one-shot adventures go down easy, and the art is simply gorgeous.  [4]
   

The Multiversity - Grant Morrison

The usual Morrison cosmic-scale insanity, combined with the usual Morrison meta-commentary on the reality of fiction.  Mysterious evil gods threaten the multiverse, and various heroes are gathered to fight the menace.  Pastiches of the Marvel universe included.  The Captain Carrot fight scenes are excellent (although having Morrison mumbo-jumbo comping out of Captain Carrot's mouth, as well as Savage Dragon stand-in Din-cop, is a bit much), and the Marvel family fighting multiple Sivanas is really excellent.  I also liked the mopey #EarthMe Super Sons bit, where crime is eradicated and super heroes are bored.  Still, it all gets to be a bit too much lunacy, and he really lays on the "I'm an ink hero, and on a page, but real, because I'm talking to you" bit thick. Finally, it all seems to end on a cliffhanger.  Nothing is resolved, except I guess there's a big group of reality-spanning heroes now.  [3.5]

My New York Marathon - Sebastien Samson
A French artist and teacher decides on a whim to join his wife and her runner friends in the New York Marathon.  Despite some seriously half-hearted training, he runs the entire distance.   With sketch-like B&W illustrations, this memoir is a love letter to both stubborn self-reliance and everything that America used to stand for.  [4]

Graphic novel reviews N

New Crusaders - Ian Flynn

1. Rise of the Heroes - In the peaceful town of Red Circle, the retired Crusaders gather to celebrate, when the Brian Emperor returns from the dead and kills them.  Everyone except the Shield is gone; he leads the kids to safety and implements a long-planned procedure of giving them powers and training them as the New Crusaders.  But the Brain Emperor is doing some recruiting of his own.  Don't be fooled by the cartoony Archie-like art; this is cold-blooded and fairly realistic in the casual body count these powered beings would rack up.  The kids are unready and their actions have consequences. I want volume two!  [4]

New Crusaders Legacy - various writers

A mix of "classic" and new stories (the new material is by Ian Flynn).  Set immediately after the first volume, the conceit of this book is that the Shield is showing the New Crusaders the darker side of their parents' legacies, as shown though the older stories.  Kudos to the company for focusing on a wide range of topics such as excessive force, but they're handled in an extremely unsophisticated way (Shield is on trial for murder something like one day after he apparently kills a suspect; he's exonerated through some extremely questionable methods, including the most deus ex machina surprise witness I have ever seen).  [3]

New Kid - Jerry Craft [HarperCollins]

Jordan Banks, a black seventh grader, starts seventh grade at a prestigious private school.  With only a couple of other black kids in his grade, he doesn't feel like he fits in, especially when the teachers mix up their names and even well-meaning kids make stereotypical assumptions.  When he returns to his old neighborhood, he questions how well he fits in there also.  With new sports, weird girls, and jackass entitled kids to deal with, Jordan doesn't know if he'll ever make it.  This graphic novel won the 2020 Newbery Award  and the Coretta Scott King award.  The characters are fleshed out, the issues it deals with are real, and there are several genuinely hilarious moments in the book.  I was not a huge fan of the art style, which was a little too cartoony and whimsical, I thought.  Actually I preferred the sketchbook art that Jordan does.  [4.5]

Nextwave - Warren Ellis

Vol. 1-2 - This is what they want.  Everything else is total ******.  [5]

Nola's Worlds #1: Changing Moon - Mathieu Mariolle [Graphic Universe]

• Translated from the French.  A girl with a distant mother befriends two strange kids who are more than they seem, having strange powers and being hunted by strange creatures.  Bright, cheery, colorful illustrations with some anime and American cartoon influences.  The story is not presented well, with the character's relationships and actions changing abruptly and seemingly without reason.  Has some charm in the art, but no wit or suspense. Library. [2]
  

Northlanders - Brian Wood

1. ?
2. The Cross and the Hammer - In 11the century Ireland, one lone rebel goes on a killing spree against the invading Vikings, accompanied by his young daughter.  Proto-detective Ragnar is sent by the king to flush him out.  But not everything is as it appears to be.  This is an interesting story with a bit of twists.  Blood and gore aplenty, without any time for nuance of character.  [3.5]
   

Nova - Duggan
Vols. 1-6.  Standard teen superhero action.  Teen finds himself with powers, father maybe a hero but missing, in over his head, etc.  A lot of posturing and punching, not as much thinking.  Pretty standard stuff.  [2.5]

Nova - Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning

Graphic novel reviews O

Oddly Normal - Otis Frampton

Vol.1 - The titular girl, daughter of a witch and a normal man, is mocked at school, but when she is transported to Fignation (great name), where all manner of imaginary beings live, she finds school is just as awful, and a lot more dangerous.  Very well done, with cute drawings, a great ear for narration, and real suspense.  Aggravatingly, this volume ends in the middle of the action, just when things were getting started.  [3.5]

 

Oh My Gods! - Cooke & Fitzpatrick

 

The Okay Witch - Emma Steinkellner

 

One Year at Ellsmere - Faith Erin Hicks

Original Sin - Jason Aaron

With a couple of issues by Mark Waid and Ed Brubaker.  Someone has shot the Watcher and taken his eyes, and a disparate group of heroes and anti-heroes are recruited to find out who, how, and why.  A very powerful villain named Dr. Midas, his daughter Oubliette, and the Orb are mixed in somehow, but only the Orb seems to know what's really going on.  Containing a few twists and surprises, this is pretty good murder mystery with powers.  Aaron's dialogue isn't his strong suit, and sometimes things get a bit muddled, but he's definitely got a way with the gritty noir feel.  Some major changes happen to the MU as a result of this volume, but as always, comic book changes have to be taken with a grain of salt.  [3.5]

The Owl - J.T. Krul [Dynamite]

Graphic novel reviews P

Peanut - Ayun Halliday [Schwartz & Wade]
A teenage girl in a new school decides to reinvent and distinguish herself by claiming a severe allergy to peanuts.  With mostly black and white, sketchy art (Sadie's shirt is colored throughout).  Has a good grasp on teen speech and social interaction; utterly clueless about how teachers think and talk.  Thoughtful and surprisingly potent emotionally.  [4]

Pedro And Me - Judd Winick  [Henry Holt]
The MTV reality television star turned cartoonist tells of how he met his future wife and best friend Pedro on the show.  Pedro became an AIDS activist and later died of the disease.  An honest, warm, harrowing, humorous, bittersweet tale.  Read several times, and it makes me cry like a baby every time.  [5]

Pests and Pets - Andy Warner

The Plain Janes - Cecil Castellucci  [Oni]
New girl at a suburban school mists some similarly-named misfits and they start a guerrilla art club.  More than the typical nerd-girl-wants-cute-boy tale there seem to be so many of these days; this story has several layers and contains a few unexpected turns. Clean black and white art.  Read twice. [4]

Planetary Brigade - Giffen & DeMatteis [Boom]

Poe Dameron - Charles Soule

• 1. Black Squadron
• 2. THE GATHERING STORM
• 3. Legend Lost - A Star Wars story.  The Alliance pilot and his squad try to find an old Jedi master.  Along the way they are constantly thwarted by Terex, an ex-Stormtrooper and now leader of the First Order.  Soule does a great job explaining the villain's backstory and motivation, and in fact it's nearly as much Terex's story as it is Poe's.  A bit rushed and out-there cosmic at first, but fun and well written when it hits its stride.  [3.5]

Pride of Baghdad - 

A lion escapes his zoo during a bombing of Baghdad.  Beautiful pictures.  [4]

Primates - Jim Ottaviani
A look at the adventures in science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birute Galdikas (who studied orangutangs).  Well researched and entertaining, with engaging cartoony color art.  [4] 

The Professor's Daughter - Joann Sfar  [First Second]
Translated from the French.  Surreal tale, at turns whimsical and nightmarish, about a walking mummy in Victorian England who falls in love with the titular professor's daughter.  When the pharaoh's father (also bandaged like a mummy) shows up, he brings trouble with him.  Dream-like and bizarre, but charming as well.  Detailed art in sketchbook style.  Read twice.  [4]

Project Superpowers Omnibus - Jim Kreuger &Alex Ross

A paean to the public domain heroes of the 1940s; collects two TPBs, issues #0-7 of chapter one, issue 1/2, and issues #0-7 of chapter two.

>After WWII, the Fighting Yank, acting on some apparent misinformation by his ancestor's ghost, traps all the heroes in a magical urn.  A new entity called the American Spirit tells the Yank, now old, to free the heroes.  But standing against him is the android Dynamic Man and his similarly inhuman family, and the shadowy organization above that.   In all, this story is an exercise in nostalgia, which is very cool, but it's not first-class writing, plot-wise.  [3.5]

>The second chapter takes place after the events shown in character-specific limited series, once the heroes have taken over the White House and started their quest to make America free.  The Supremacy will stop at nothing to damage the heroes' reputation and wipe them out, and their former sidekicsk, now freed, are against them as well.  In this section, Kreuger and Ross go beyond taking liberties with the characters and transform them, as well as giving a new and satisfying explanation for all that has come before.  This volume has more character development and a more exciting villain.  [3.5]

 

Project Superpowers: Blackcross - Warren Ellis

In a small Oregon town, a handful of disparate people find themselves haunted by voices telling them to do strange things.  These voices turn out to be the spirits of the old heroes — the Lady in Red, Black Terror, Pyroman, and some others — trying to escape from their captivity by merging with the bodies of those in the other universe.  Meanwhile, a very violent spirit, seen by the police as a serial killer, is set on imprisoning them.  It's a different take, all eerie and horror-noir; interesting, but with a rather abrupt ending.  [3.5]

Punisher - Matthew Rosenberg

1. War Machine Vol. 1 - Nick Fury tasks Frank with clearing out a dictator in a Slavic country, and helps him boost an old War Machine armor.  Frank does some ethnic cleansing.  Pretty brutal, with some wit.  [3.5] 
2. World War Frank - Out of the War Machine armor and back in New York, Frank is hunted by a few Defenders as well as Baron Zemo's men, not to mention the new Mandarin.  While I love to see Frank in this world, I'm not sure his holding his own against such enemies is easy to swallow.  Frank lands a blow on Iron Fist?  Seems iffy.  [3.5]
3. Street By Street, Block By Block - Frank teams up, reluctantly, with Sgt. Alves, Night Thrasher, Black Widow, Moon Knight, and Ghost Rider to take on Baron Zemo's collection of bad guys.  It sounds like it should be utterly wonderful madness, but somehow it's really just a confused mess.  There's very little in the way of explaining how Frank fits in among such powerhouses.  And frankly, writing Kingpin and Zemo as a pair of foul-mouthed squabblers is as silly as having Zemo's men wear Hydra suits under their UN disguises.  [3]
   

Punisher - Nathan Edmondson and Kevin Maurer

1. Black and White - Frank goes after a cartel boss that wants to destroy Los Angeles with a chemical weapon, but Electro stands in his way.  And if that wasn't enough, the modern day Howlin' Commandos have orders to take him down.  This is a terrific Punisher, sticking him smack dab in the Marvel universe and showing just how out of his element he can be.  He's tough against all human opponents, but the presence of the supers throws him a lot of curve balls.  Page-turning suspense.  [4.5] 
2. Border Crossing - Frank gets some information from a Central American prison, rescues an American special ops POW, and tangles with Crossbones.  Meanwhile the Howlin' Commandos are still on his tail, and they decide to go after his extended family!  This title continues to have the best Punisher in the Marvel Universe — as realistic as can be expected, gritty urban noir going on under the capes' radar.  [4.5]

PUNISHER MAX (10 volumes) - Garth Ennis
PUNISHER MAX: BORN
PUNISHER MAX: FROM FIRST TO LAST
PUNISHER MAX PRESENTS: BARRACUDA
The perfect Punisher, free of gadgetry and silliness; a grim unstoppable killing machine going up against real-world evils like women trafficking and the drug trade.  Entire run read twice. [5]  Keep.

Punisher War Journal
VOL 2: GOIN' OUT WEST - Matt Fraction
Handles Marvel Universe history capably, offers lots of tough guy ass-kicking action, makes time for occasional Big Talk about right and wrong and obsession and courage.  The second-best Punisher there is.  [4]

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea - Guy Delisle
Translated from the French.  A Canadian animator's account of his supervision of Korean animators in Pyongyang.  Not exactly a startling expose, since Delisle was always with a minder or in the foreign-only compound, but a depressingly thorough look at what is visible: silent drone-like workers, translators who drank the Dear Leader punch, rusting monuments, empty theaters, propaganda, martial training on dummies made to look like American soldiers.  [3.5]

Graphic Novel reviews R

RAPUNZEL'S REVENGE - Shannon & Dean Hale [Bloomsbury]
A blend of fractured fairy tales and Old Wild West Action, with a modern take on the damsel who can take care of herself.  Rapunzel rescues herself and teams up with Jack (of giant-slaying, golden goose fame) to rid the land of its evil ruler, her adopted mother.  Colorful art, crazy situations, witty fantasy, and a social conscience all blended together.  Very well done and fun. [4]

Rat Catcher - Andy Diggle
A FBI agent is left for dead in a safe house where the rat and his guards are killed.  It's the infamous Rat Catcher, a snitch assassin, at work.  The agent is out for revenge, but finds no one's loyalty is unquestioned, even on his own side.  Solid noir work, but nothing extraordinary.  Library.  [3.5]

Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather

Some people found this to be an offensive portrayal of gay people.  I can see that, because the Kid's excessive camping and swishing around is over the top, but I thought it was all in good fun and in service of the humor.  Besides, the Kid kicks ass!  [4]

Reckless - Ed Brubaker

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen - Lucy Knisley  [First Second]
A memoir of an eating life, by the cartoonist daughter of divorced foodies.  A lifetime of eating: street food in Mexico as a kid with her pornography-loving boy chum; baked goods in Italy that result in an obsession to recreate the perfect croissant; mushrooms fried crisp in olive oil with butter; the perfect chocolate chip cookies.  It's a loving, beautifully told story, with recipes.  [4.5]
  
Resistance (3 volumes) - Carla Jablonski  [First Second]
A family from a village in Free France, 1942, gets involved in the Resistance.  Tensions run high and no one is sure who to trust and some of them do things they don't want to.  The first volume is a bit trite.  They are ecumenically blind to anti-Semitism and even the little girl's ideas are given weight, which seems unlikely.  The art is rather crude.  Well-intentioned but bland.  The second volume adds a bit more spice, and the third has real emotional feeling.  Library. [3.5]

Roller Girl - Victoria Jamieson  [Penguin]
A young girl is mesmerized by the roller girls and joins a junior league.  But she really isn't very good at it, and her lifelong best friend has other interests, including boys.  As she struggles with finding an identity and making friends, she risks losing her mother's support.  At turns cheerful, silly, and poignant, this is a commendably subtle coming of age story and tale of determination in the face of adversity.  Some of the drawing is amateurish but the writing is very sharp.  [4.5]

Graphic novel reviews S

Sandman - Neil Gaiman
Of course I've read these cover to cover, many times.  [5]

Santa Vs. Dracula - Ed Power

 

Savage Avengers - Gerry Duggan

1. City of Sickles - Punisher, Elektra, Dr. Voodoo, Wolverine, and... Conan? are brought together, some unwillingly, to stop Kulan Gath.  It's a nice take on fan service, but no Nextwave.  The high point is Conan trying to exhort a knocked-out Wolverine to fight by saying, "For Pabst!" and then using Logan's body, with claws extended, as a sword to kill zombies.  Lots of gore, a solid take on the various characters' personalities, and true drama.  It's very well done.  [4]-two

Scene of the Crime - Ed Brubaker

Science Comics - various

 

Secret Avengers - Rick Remender

1. A brash and too-cocky Hawkeye is picked to lead a team of mostly loner C-listers (Captain Britain, Toro, Flash Thompson-as-Venom, Valkyrie, Ant Man) to investigate the kidnapping of a Punjabi woman with supernatural abilities and her boy, and discover a city of super-Adaptoids.  Written with wit and an assured hand at the continuity wheel, this is an enjoyable piece of superhero drama slightly classed up by a nod to character development.  [3.5]

Secret Wars - Jonathan Hickman (2016)
Marvel as written by Grant Morrison.  After the events of some other book (Avengers?) in which the end of the multiverse is brought about and in which a cabal of villains goes around destroying alternate earths before their earth can go first, Doom has absorbed the Molecule Man's powers and made the world again.  Although a benevolent dictator, his world isn't real, and the Mr. Fantastic of two different worlds, along with Black Panther and few others, try to stop him.  Amazing thrill ride comic book weirdness, like Galactus' body lit up by Franklin Richards fighting a gigantic Thing, an army of Hulks vs. a world of Thors and an army of cloned Mr. Sinisters, an army of undead, and a lot more craziness.  Great fun.  Read twice. [5]

The Secret of the Stone Frog - David Nytra [Toon Books]
Two children wake up in a lush dreamworld of talking stone frogs, Victorian dandy bears and lions, and large-headed, angry people who command bees or ride rhinos.  Detailed black and white pictures owe a lot to Little Nemo in Slumberland and John Tenniel (as does the story, come to think of it).  Lightweight and simplistic but the silly surrealism is probably fun for kids.  [3]

Set to Sea - Drew Weing  [Fantagraphics]
With one detailed, finely cross-hatched, ink drawing per page, this small and charming book tells of a large, impoverished poet who is press-ganged to sea and becomes an old sea salt despite himself, but never loses his poetic spirit.  With very little speech to mar the elegant Segar-like drawings, this bittersweet musing on life's adventure is a true graphic treasure.  [4]

The Shadow - Garth Ennis

The Shadow, with his retinue and a nosy American intelligence agent, spans the globe in 1938 going after Japanese war criminals and showing the clueless American what the real world is like.  Ennis is in his element here, playing in his military history sandbox, but despite this being two things I really love, Shadow and Ennis, there's no drama to the story.  The Shadow is just an invulnerable, ineluctable spirit of vengeance and death, and there's never any feeling that things might go wrong, and they don't.  I wanted to like this, but didn't.  [3]   

Shark Summer - Ira Marcks

Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil - Jeff Smith
A beautiful homage to the original Captain Marvel mythology, complete with Talky Tawny and some man-eating crocodiles.  But Smith makes everything his own even as he crams in the Easter Eggs to old school Shazam trufans.  Suspenseful and fun for kids and adults (there's just one sly adult-only moment, when a reporter remarks that she can see why he's called Captain Marvel).  Makes you want to share it with others, which is really the point of these colorful myths, isn't it?  [5]

She-Hulk - Dan Slott

1. Vols. 1-5, Dan Slott - Great concept - diffident lawyer has outgoing superhero personality, and both work in the field of superhuman law -handled tongue-in-cheek, almost like an MU "Aly McBeal."  Slott's love for the outlandish in comics and continuity comes through even as he pokes fun at those very things.  He handles disparate personalities with great humor (his Heracles and Spider-Man are great), though his Wolverine is unnecessarily misogynistic.  Hilarious yet sweet.  [4.5]  Keep.

She Hulk - Soule

1. LAW AND DISORDER
2. DISORDERLY CONDUCT - Great lawyer-based weirdness from Soule.  He should have been given a longer run.  [4]

The Shiniest Jewel - Marian Henley [Springboard]
Autobiographical tale of Henley's quest to adopt a little boy in Russia, just as her elderly father starts to deteriorate after an operation.  Black and white drawings with thin lines and minimal shading, but the story fleshes the characters out.  A sweet, well-written tearjerker.  [4.5]

Shirley & Jamila - Gillian Goerz

Silly Daddy - Joe Chiappetta  [Reed]
A semi-autobiographical account of being a single father, with some extended fantastical sequences.  Terrible black and white art, not very intelligent ruminations filled with typos, and a totally unsympathetic narrator.  The fantasy sequences were utterly unreadable.  Bought and immediately given away.  [1]

Silver Surfer: Requiem - J. Michael Straczynski
An absolutely beautiful, poetic send-off to a fictional character.  The Surfer is dying, his protective coating now falling away and killing him.  He takes a last tour of Earth and then heads off to die on his home planet.  It's really wonderfully written, slightly marred by the fact that death means nothing in comics.  Call it an Elseworlds tale.  [4]

Sisters - Raina Telgemeier

Perfect teen drama.  [5]

 

The Sixth Gun (4 volumes) - Cullen Bunn
Supernatural horror western with a female lead, a woman paired with a rather bad man she doesn't particularly want to run with.  Spooky art, spooky characters, slightly out-of-control story.  Fun, and keeps getting better with each volume.  [4]

Sleeper - Ed Brubaker

Smile - Raina Telgemeier  [Graphix]
Eisner-winning tale of a sixth-grade girl who, after a fall, has a long and painful tooth reconstruction involving headgear, braces, and a retainer.  There is also girl drama: boys, friends acting like enemies, and the usual embarrassment at everything.  Cute, cartoony art and a sweet story.  No magical resolution, just a realistic, affecting teen-years slice of life.  [4]  Library.

Sole Survivor - Thomas Martinetti & Christophe Martinolli
Vols. 1-3 (complete) - The sole survivor of a bus crash is obsessed with finding the drunken truck driver who caused it - and finds he's piloting the plane he and his friends are on!  With each new disaster, a new sole survivor emerges who is unkillable until the death count gets higher.  A strikingly original premise with a dark, suspenseful tone.  [4]

Spider-Man/Deadpool - Joe Kelly

Spiderverse - Slott, Gage, David, et al
Three of my favorite writers, telling a multiverse-spanning tale?  I'm in!  A family of immortal energy vampires tear through the infinite universes, finding "spider totems" and killing them in order to live on their energy.  The Superior Spider-Man organizes a band of dozens of Spider-themed heroes, including Spider-Man India, Scarlet Spider, the steampunk Lady Spider, Noir, Spider-Ham, and many more.  The threat is cosmic-level and very deadly; the thrills are real, but lots of light hearted and subtly satirical moments are there as well.  Just a magnificent tale of super heroics, woven by three of the great craftsmen.  [4.5]

The Spirit vol. 1 - Darwyn Cooke
Excellent collection of Spirit stories written in the same snappy, smart tone as the Eisner ones.  Not too gritty, not too silly, but strikes a balance of just the right amount of respect for a masked crime-fighter in a blue suit.  Some gentle tweaking to update the less well-aged bits such as Ebony's role.  Also includes The Spirit and Batman, co-written with Jeff Loeb.  A perfect homage.  [4.5]

Stargazing - Jen Wang

Christine, a Chinese-American girl with a very strict father, meets Moon when Chistine's family takes her and her mother in.  Moon is confident, impulsive, artistic, and dances.  She has visions and says she is from space, watches K-Pop videos, and even paints her toenails!  Moon's visions have an all-too-earthly root, however, and soon Christine's best friend is in the hospital, fighting for her life. Can Christine be the friend Moon needs, when they're actually so different?  This is a beautiful story with impeccable cartoon pictures.  Moon is a very lovable character.  [4.5]

Star Wars - Jason Aaron

• 1. Skywalker Strikes - Set right after the destruction of the Death Star, this story follows Leia, Han, and Luke as they figure out who they are and how they can defeat the Empire.  Aaron's writing is razor sharp here — no wordplay, no winking at the audience, just pure Star Wars drama.  The most perfect sequel to A New Hope out there, really.  Jabba the Hutt, Boba Fett, and a truly bad-ass Darth Vader.  I'm not ever a Star Wars superfan and I was swept away by the grand mythology of the story and the human struggles within it.  [5]
• 2. Showdown on the Smuggler's Moon - Luke is prisoner of a Hutt and fighting in an arena as "the last Jedi"!  Han and Leia meet... Mrs. Solo?  Aaron again delivers a perfect Star Wars adventure, with the comedy team of C3PO and Chewie as rescue mission backup.  [4.5]
• 3. Rebel Jail - While the boys try to make money for the alliance, Leia tries to save her prisoners from being massacred by a rogue ally.  While these are terrific stories, I don't feel the same sense of grandeur as in the earlier volumes.  As with every ongoing, there's a sense of just going through desultory adventures, not moving through a narrative.  [4]
• 4. Last Flight of the Harbinger - The alliance has a plan so crazy it just might work: steal a star destroyer without the Empire ever knowing it's gone!  Unfortunately a SCAR trooper unit is out to bring Luke to Vader.  This is a great story, with a sense of purpose on the rebel side and an empathetic look at the empire from the bad guys' side.  [4.5]

Stepping Stones - Lucy Knisley

Stickman Odyssey (book two) - Christopher Ford  [Philomel]
In black and white stick figure toons that do not show the charm and skill of Rich Burlew, Ford tells a story based on Greek myths, but using original names and characters, and the non-original characters (such as the gods) are given modern, sarcastic personalities.  His main character, Zozimos, is unpleasant to the point where I almost stopped reading; he's wrathful but also moronic, self-centered, and clueless.  Gradually he gets easier to take, and the end isn't bad at all.  [3]

Stuck Rubber Baby - Howard Cruse [Paradox Press]
The tale of growing up a closeted queer in the 1960s American South.  As the times change and Toland gets to know unabashedly gay, progressive, and black friends who face violence and murder for being who they are, he realizes that he must be true to his ideals as well as to himself.  With intricate black and white illustrations, this is a vivid and moving portrayal of the evil that wraps itself up in patriotism and self-righteousness. Read twice.  [4.5] 

Suicide Squad - Adam Glass

1. Kicked In the Teeth -Deadshot, King Shark, Harley Quinn and some other supervillain lifers are used as top-secret black ops wetwork by (the newly retconned and svelte) Amanda Waller.  Their first mission is to take out an entire stadium and cyber-infected zombies, and it goes on from there.  When Harley learns that Joker is dead, she goes rogue to get his preserved face.  It's all very gory.  There's some gratuitous T&A and fan-wankery when it comes to Harley, who somehow is skilled and crafty enough to run circles around Waller, the police, and the Squad all at once.  This is not very good, but a fun guilty pleasure, the McDonald's of comic books.  [3.5]
2. Basilisk Rising - The team faces off against someone who looks straight out of the Rob Liefield X-treme '90s marvel era, Regulus.  And, the team has a traitor in their midst.  Could it be Deadshot, the main character whom the reader has been sympathizing with since issue one?  Harley, who is the epitome of fanservice?  Or could it be the ninja turned villain killer of the team?  It's not hard to guess.  Gore and corny exposition (gotta mention those nano-bombs every issue!) abounds.  And Deadshot seems die at the end, but come on.  This is the Filet-O-Fish of the McDonald's of comics.  [3]
3. Death Is For Suckers - Joker shows up and fan wankery ensues. Deadshot is alive!  And so is Voltaic, who was shot in the head on-panel a while back.  So maybe the deaths aren't as dramatic as they might be?  Anyway, they go after Regulus and try to recover some guy who takes away superhuman powers.  Yo-Yo makes his return (from an apparent death) and they go after his sister Red Orchid, who has cool wood-generating powers.  And... Deadshot dies at the end, again.  Despite all the melodramatic silliness, this book is the first time I got more than mildly interested; Yo-Yo is actually a pretty fun character.  [4]

Suicide Squad - Ales Kot, Matt Kindt  

• 4. Discipline And Punish - Waller having now teamed up with Jim Gordon Jr, a serial killer (?!), the Squad is sent to stop a rogue agent from getting an African warlord his own super-team.  This collection also includes one-shots about Harley and Deadshot. The former is nothing new; the latter is a bit better.  [3]
  

Sunny Side Up - Jennifer & Matthew Holm

Superior Spider-Man - Dan Slott

1. My Own Worst Enemy - Otto Octavius, having taken control of Parker's body, vows to become the superior hero by doing things better than Parker could.  And... he does!  Creating patrolling spider-bots, allying with the police and the mayor, and even forging a satisfying social life, Otto seems to be handling it with aplomb.  But will he go mad with power?  Dramatics and a heavy dose of humor make this terrific reading and proves yet again that Slott is one of the bets writers of super-heroics around.  [4.5]
2. A Troubled Mind - Otto-Spidey continues to expand his control of the city, fooling the Avengers and apparently ridding himself of the last vestiges of Parker's personality and memories.  However, his cleaning up of the city is creating a power vacuum that a (new?) Green Goblin aims to fill!  As usual, a wonderful blend of comedy and action, with Slott masterfully switching between Peter and Otto's speech patterns.  [4.5]
3. No Escape - Otto-Spidey oversees the Spider-Slayer's execution, gets into more trouble with the Avengers, and continues his control of the city, leveling Kingpin's compound and outing the second Hobgoblin by taking over the airwaves.  Meanwhile, the Goblin "king" keeps expanding his reach.  [4.5]
4. Necessary Evil - While Parker's colleagues try to help save Horizon labs by going back in time, Spider-Man 2099 comes through the portal they build to save the very person Otto-Spidey wants to destroy. (It's a bit complicated.)  Meanwhile, Otto finishes his thesis, wraps up some loose ends, and makes a whole lot of enemies (including the Black Cat).  Carrie the detective who senses something wrong, finally gets some evidence of Otto's involvement, only to full prey to the Goblins.  Dan Slott continues to knock it out of the park with this imaginative story arc.  [4]
5. Superior Venom - Slott & Christos Gage - Otto's hubris begins to catch up to him as he seeks to impose his genius on everyone in both facets of his life. When he's taken over by Flash Thomson's symbiote, he becomes the "Superior Venom," but quickly loses control.  Post-rescue, the symbiote provides a convenient excuse for his past behavior, and he becomes more vicious than ever in secret.  But is Parker's consciousness back?  Meanwhile the Goblins go to war -- with each other.  [4.5]
6. Goblin Nation - Slott & Gage - While Otto grew complacent and arrogant, the Green Goblin took over the entire city, and now knows Otto's secret and all the people in his life!  But Parker's consciousness is growing stronger.  Can he and Spider-Man 2099 put the city back to right?  This is a wonderful conclusion to one of the best Spidey storylines ever.  [4.5]
   

Supermen! The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes 1936 -1941 - Greg Sadowski, ed.

Collects several appearances of about a dozen Golden Age heroes, from the Clock to Blue Bolt.  Some of the reprints are somewhat disappointing, as they end on cliffhangers or are not the best introduction to the character -- but perhaps that's the best appearance they could find.  Toward the end of the book, as the comic medium improves in writing and art, the excerpts are more fun to read.  I particularly enjoyed the sophisticated humor of Silver Streak, the plot and clean lines of Skyman, Basil Wolverton's insane Spacehawk and the short 'n' sweet Face story.  [3.5]

Sweet Tooth - Jeff Lemire
Post-apocalyptic fantasy. Intriguing mystery-style presentation (what happened to the world?) combines with highly suspenseful action (what's going to happen to Gus?).  Not high in re-readability but compellingly page-turning.  [4]

Graphic novel reviews T

Team-Ups of the Brave and the Bold - J. Michael Straczynski
Collecting #27-33 of The Brave and the Bold.  Terrific super-heroics, well written, aimed exactly at the nostalgia gland of old nerds like me.  Digging through the vault to feature lesser knowns like Dial H for Hero and Brother Power the Geek, JMS uses DC's heroes to tell very human stories of hope and joy and despair and love.  That's really the key to how powerful and well-done this is: the human qualities he explores, in the principals and in the normals that are touched tangentially by the heroes and villains.  The last story, featuring Zatarra, Wonder Woman, and Batgirl, is an honest-to-God tearjerker.  [4]

THOR SON OF ASGARD #1: THE WARRIORS TEEN - Akira Yoshida
The somehow teenaged Thor, Sif, and Balder have adventures, bicker, and reconcile.  Teen Loki is unequivocally bad-natured, which is boring.  Lots of punching and smashing; very little cleverness.  Characters are fairly one-dimensional: Thor is hot-headed and brash; Sif is constantly trying to prove her worth as a female warrior, etc.  Juvenile and mostly uninteresting.  [2]

The Three Thieves - Scott Chantler [Kids Can Press]

1. Tower of Treasure - The adventures of a young girl acrobat, a goblin-type juggler, and a giant strongman on the run, trying to find out more about Dessa's past and her murdered family.  Exciting, vibrant, detailed color art that brings to mind Bone and Tintin; a stirring, suspenseful plot with many twists and turns.  Truly excellent.  In this volume Topper the juggler has his sights on the queen's treasure, locked in a tower set with traps.   [4.5]
2. #2 THE SIGN OF THE BLACK ROCK - The three thieves take shelter from a storm in an inn where the queen's dragoons have also come.  Hiding from them proves difficult, as the innkeeper, a smuggler, tries to use them to his own advantage, while his scarred wife holds some secret that links to Dessa's past.  [4.5]
3. #3 THE CAPTIVE PRINCE - The three thieves rescue a kidnapped prince; Dessa falls in love with him, but the king scorns her common heritage, and they must run again when their past is made known.  [4]

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents - Phil Hester

1. Vol. 1 - Agents NoMan, an android with multiple bodies, and Lightning, a super-speedster who ages quickly, have been captured by the mysterious armored Iron maiden.  A new recruit, Dynamo, is chosen to put on the gravity belt that grants strength and durability, but causes pain.   Things are complicated by a race of underground dwellers who want to resurrect their ancient god to judge humanity.  This is standard superhero stuff with nothing new to add to the genre, but it does the superhero stuff quite well, and is refreshingly positive in outlook; I enjoyed it.  [4]
   

This Was Our Pact - Ryan Andrews

Trashed - Derf Backderf
The fictional memoir of a young garbageman in a small town.  Absolutely hilarious, quite gross, and also quite informative, with B&W pictures extremely reminiscent of Joe Sacco and R. Crumb, and I guess shades of Peter Bagge. "There's no one left in this town I don't loathe." Also, "Think of the economy as a giant digestive tract.  And we're here at the rectum of the free market to clean it all up." Just perfect. [5]

Tresspassers - Breena Bard
Gabby Woods and her family are going to their lake house, possibly for the last time, since her father seems to be having job woes.  While her siblings love all the things that come with the lake, Gabby would rather bury herself in a mystery novel than make new friends. When she meets Paige, a snarky kid from Chicago, and they get caught up in a local mystery: the sudden disappearance of a glamorous couple and the extravagant lake house they left behind. To gather clues about the missing couple, Paige and Gabby break into the house, while Gabby writes an imaginative story about what may have happened.  But was there really a murder?  Is the murderer still around? And is Paige a jerk, or a friend?  Really well-done teen drama.  [4.5]

Trio - John Byrne [IDW]

Tune (1 volume) - Derek Kirk Kim [First Second]
Very well told tale of a young art-school dropout recruited to be an exhibit in a zoo in another dimension.  The first volume, which is quite funny, shows his boring and stressful life until he is offered the "job."  Cute pictures.  [4]

Turtle in Paradise - Jennifer Holm

The Twelve (2 volumes) - J Michael Straczynski 
An homage to several pre-Marvel WWII heroes, now largely forgotten, brought back to glorious life with a sympathetic eye.  Part Watchmen-like murder mystery, part rumination on how the past shapes our present, and how some react to being taken out of their element, and a glorious reimagining and integrating of public domain characters.  Also a tribute to war heroes and the war comics.  One of JMS' best works.  [4.5]-two

Graphic Novel reviews U

Uncanny Avengers - Rick Remender

• 1. The Red Shadow - Captain America taps Havoc to lead a group of X-Men and Avengers as a show of racial unity after Professor X's death.  Fast-paced, with intriguing new characters (villains).  Remender does a good job juggling all of the characters' motives and actions so everyone gets a time to shine.  Unfortunately the book is marred by some over-the top exposition and narration, bringing to mind Stan Lee at his most hyperbolic. [3]
• #2 THE APOCALYPSE TWINS - even faster paced, with a story arc that sweeps across timelines and alternate realities.  The narration is dampened down, thank goodness.  In its place is some fairly strong dialogue about how each character sees the human-mutant issue.  The scope and frenetic pace of the story, gods trying to avert the end of everything, is Gaiman-esque.  [4]
• #3 RAGNAROK NOW - the team is still trying to stop Archangel's twin sons, raised by Kang to hate humans, and things do not go well.  I was riveted, unable to guess what would happen next, and wanted to see how the heroes could possibly recover from a great deal of character death.  [4]

The Unwritten (4 volumes) - Mike Carey
A love letter to the power of literature, wrapped in a mystery story with horror elements.  A bit abstruse at times; needs to be read in one sitting, and I need to get further in to suss it all out.  I'll give Carey the benefit of the doubt that this will be brilliant, however.   [4] 

Usagi Yojimbo - Stan Sakai

• Book One: Ronin - A collection of mostly stand-alone stories about the wandering samurai rabbit (although some of them set up long-term plots to come).  Yojimbo works with a rhino bounty hunter, an affable scoundrel; revisits his old village and his old love to fight a band of mole ninjas; encounters a blind swords-pig; and gets embroiled in some court intrigue.  Exquisitely drawn, well researched and witty.  [5]
  

Graphic novel reviews V

 Velvet - Ed Brubaker

1. Vol 1: Before the Living End 
2. The Secret Lives of Dead Men 

Superb captivating spy story, about a secretary who was once a superb field agent.  When one of her former lovers dies in the field, she investigates, only to find a very complicated web of betrayals and former Cold War movers and shakers... not to mention the unwelcome memory of her ex-husband, whom she terminated for being a double agent. [5]

 

Vice Squad - Zidrou [Dargaud] 

1. Up Against the Wall 
2. Nine-Month Protector

Aimé, a cop on the vice squad, is sitting around with a German and some townsfolk as Allied bombs explode around them.  He remembers how he started on the Vice Squad as a newbie.  His father was a defrocked priest who went insane; his apartment's concierge has a crush on him, but he frequents prostitutes and obsesses over an exotic sex worker who has animal shows.  Later, the Germans start rounding up Jews, but Aimé does nothing.  In the present, the girl he's been talking to gives him some empty words of comfort.  It's beautiful and quite philosophic, but rather grim.  [3.5]

 

Vision - Tom King

1. Little Worse Than a Man - Vision moves into a house in suburban Virginia with his android wife and two android children, Viv and Vin, which he made.  It is just as creepy as it sounds; Vision's cold logic and apparent disdain for humanity is at odds with the image of him wearing a tie, kissing his housewife goodbye, and sending "kids" off to school.  When the Grim Reaper appears, calling them imposters and copies, the fiction of the Visions' home life starts to unravel.  What won't Vision do to maintain the facade?  Extremely intelligent writing creates a grim dystopian scenario leavened with some black humor.  [4.5]

Vision and the Scarlet Witch - under Avengers: Vision and the Scarlet Witch

Graphic novel reviews W

The Walking Dead (15+ volumes) - 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 not much  re-readability.  I stopped around vol. 17 or so.  Too much of the same.  [4]

War Of the Realms - Jason Aaron

The dark elf Malekith has teamed up with the Enchantress, Dario Agger, the frost giants, and a few other major bad guys to bring vicious and bloody war to all ten realms.  Midgard, home to the heroes, fights back.  Over six issues, this is a little thin to convey the true epic weight of such a global-scale invasion by several enchanted armies, but perhaps the event was fleshed out by other title's tie-ins.  Here, with just a few sparks of black humor, Aaron presents some strange and interesting team-ups: Punisher and machine gun-wielding light elves; Wolverine and the Warriors Three; Balder driving Ghost Rider's hell car; Iron Man and the War Machine dwarves; etc.  Despite the limitations of its length, it's very well done super-mythic adventure.  [4]

War Stories, Vols. 1-4 - Garth Ennis [Avatar Press]
Military historical fiction.  Tales of WWII, the Spanish Civil War, and other modern battles.  An homage to the heroism on the grand scale, as well as the sad sacks, schemers, angels, and idiots who went out and put their lives on the line in the face of unimaginable horror.  [4]

Watchmen - Alan Moore
Superheroes are outlawed, and someone's killing them off.  Who knew too much, and what did they know?  This is what started the grim-n-gritty fad, and it has much to answer for in that respect, but is impeccable as a work of art.  [5]

The Way of the Hive - Jay Hosler

Whatever Happened To the World Of Tomorrow? - Brian Fies

When Stars Are Scattered - Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed

Whiteout: Melt - Greg Rucka  [Oni]
Carrie Stetko, badass, is called back to the Antarctic to chase down some Russians who have stolen nuclear warheads.  A tense potboiler, with the usual Rucka trademarks: tough woman agent toes the line between daring and unrestrained, who cares more than she lets on.  He really makes the dangers of the setting seem close and terrifying.  Read twice.  [4]

William and the Lost Spirit - Bonneval & Bonhomme  [Graphic Universe]
Apparently called "William, the lost spirit" in French, so already I wonder about the quality of the translation.  A boy in a medieval setting tries to track down his sister, who has gone after their apparently dead father.  He meets bandits and is protected by a strange knight.  They find a goat which William forms a strange bond with.  Then he wakens in the land of Prester John and meets all manner of odd beings: talking fish, dog-men, and Blemmyes.  Unusual and interesting, but not very weighty or affecting.  [3.5]

Winter Soldier - Brubaker
Typically gritty spy superhero drama from Brubaker.  The first half is somewhat thin, with a vague resolution.  The combination of Bucky and Dr. Doom is enticing but maybe it just doesn't work; Bucky telling Doom to "shut your metal face" doesn't ring true, somehow.  In the second half of the series, Brubaker takes the Soldier to his roots, bringing back sleeper soldiers, KGB agents, Cold War weapons caches, brainwashing, and the Black Widow.  Excellent super-spy drama.  [4]

Wolverine - Greg Rucka

The best Wolverine.  [4.5]

Wolverine: Enemy Of the State - Mark Millar

With the help of god-tier mutant ninja Gorgon, Hydra captures Wolverine and brainwashes him into attacking and kidnapping superhumans.  With some implanted abilities such as teleportation, he is virtually unstoppable.  Once they have some plans for Reed Richards inventions, they are intent on terraforming and reshaping Earth.  This is a grim and very bloody story, and while it's very well told, it just doesn't sit right with me.  Over the course of this story, Wolverine and Elektra kill literally hundreds of SHIELD agents, as well as one or two well-known superheroes, but not once does anyone voice anything but the briefest thought that either should feel remorse or pay for their crimes, brainwashed or not.  If someone kills their coworker because of a brain tumor, we still take steps to remove them from society.  This kind of desultory body count just doesn't fit the 616 Marvel world.  [3.5]

Wolverine and the Black Cat: Claws - Palmiotti & Gray
The two heroes get kidnapped by Kraven, who has sold the rights to hunt them down and kill them to a bunch of clueless mercenaries.  Or is it Kraven?!  Silly fun, mostly.  A terrible portrayal of Spider-Man as a fool mars the first few pages.  Lush art.  Decent superhero stuff.  [3]

Wolverine Weapon X (3 volumes) - Jason Aaron
Superhero drama, with black humor and a bit of human pathos.  Nowhere near as good as Aaron's epic Scalped, but he tries to carve a flesh-and-blood, sympathetic Wolverine out of the disparate elements of the Marvel U.  For example, Aaron has the character's over-saturation in books present itself as Logan driving himself to exhaustion in order to forget his brutal past.  He also gives Logan a girlfriend.  In the end it's still a superhero book with its usual limitations and superhero logic, but damn if it isn't the best Wolverine this side of Rucka.  [4]

Wonder Woman - Brian Azzarello

• 1. Blood - A woman named Zola carrying Zeus' child is hunted by Hera, while Hermes, WW, and a stone man named Lennox try to save her.  With Zeus missing, Hades and Poseidon (in decidedly non-traditional forms) vie for the throne, with other gods interfering as they do.  It's at times a bit confusing because of the way Azzarello tweaks the mythology, and his trademark street-level banter is off-putting in this format ("I could care less" coming from Hera?  No, not acceptable).  Gorgeous art by Cliff Chiang and a pretty decent story.  [4]
• 2. Guts - The contest for Zeus' throne continues, and Hades tries to win WW for his queen.  This is suspenseful and darkly comic stuff, but Azzarello is really very much a one-note writer, and I don't think he's helping build up the WW legacy and mythos so much as retconning and rebooting it.  This is "100 Bracelets" maybe.  Still, fun!  [4]
• 3. Iron - WW tracks down more of Zeus' children in her quest to recover Zola's baby.  Meanwhile, a mysterious giant with a mission is brought to life by some researchers in Antarctica.  Gangsta Greek!  [4]