Dark Night: A True Batman Story - Paul Dini

Dark Night: A True Batman Story - Paul Dini

Dini, a writer for Batman and Animaniacs, is brutally beaten and mugged, and uses his imagination to get through a difficult psychological healing process.  The determination and heroism of Batman in particular convinces him not to sink permanently into despair.  This is an honest, courageous tale, brought to life brilliantly by Eduardo Risso's art.  It's moving and troubling but at times funny and ultimately optimistic.  A real masterpiece.  [4.5]

Boy Wonder - Juni Ba

Boy Wonder - Juni Ba

Writer and artist Ba tells the story of Damian Wayne, the outsider whose brutal outlook seems to prevent him from fully joining the royal Bat-family: the king and his three adopted sons, brave and rageful and clever in turns.   Infusing the story of the Robins with Asian legend vibes, focusing on the confusion and need for acceptance of the skilled but antisocial Damian, and having one oddly unafraid hostage tell it like a fable to a confused robber, Ba has created an intriguing, quirky, and visually dynamic tale that stands out from the glut of Bat-books.  [4]

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]

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

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. 

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]