By Grant Morrison and Dave McKean 15th Anniversary Edition published in 2004 by DC Comics This won’t be a traditional Library of Doom review because I imagine at this point in human history, 20 years after its initial publication, there are probably few people interested in a traditional review of Arkham Asylum. Prior to last…
In my secret, not very interesting real life, I’m a web “professional,” which is to say I spend eight hours a day fixing HTML code. My sweet, sweet refuge is XKCD, updated every Monday – Wednesday – Friday….
I know other Doomkopfers have already praised Criminal up and down in the 2008 year-in review (2007, too), but I’m new here, and feel like I ought to send another good word to the creative team. It’s the kind of book that was written just for me. My first experience with writer Ed Brubaker was on his continuing run on Captain America, the first post-2000 take on the character that was actually any good. When I found out he was starting some creator-owned series I was interested, and when I found out it was called “Criminal”, I was a guaranteed buyer. I love the cop & criminal genres: detective stories, film noir, heists. They’re 20th century westerns. A battle between the black hats and the white hats, only their roles are so often interchanged.
Anyway, Brubaker is built for stories like these.
By Brad Meltzer (W) Published by Grand Central Publishing, 2008; 336 pages; $25.99 Comparisons between The Book of Lies and The DaVinci Code are probably unavoidable; they’re mystery / murder / thrillers in which the protagonists seek to solve an ancient mystery. In some ways, this is like The DaVinci Code for comics fans, because…
By Jean Van Hamme (W) and Ted Benoit (A) Published by Cinebook, 2008; 68 pages; $15.95 The Adventures of Blake & Mortimer is a reprint series of comics starring characters created by Belgian writer / artist Edgar P. Jacobs in the 1940s. The first three volumes issued by Cinebook were works created by Jacobs. After…
By Blake Bell Published by Fantagraphics Books, 2008; 220 pages; $39.99 “Strange and Stranger” by Blake Bell is an intriguing biography in the life, career and politics of Steve Ditko, best well-known in the pop-culture world as the co-creator of Spider-Man, but also creator of several other characters like Dr. Strange, The Question, Captain Atom…
By A.B. Sina (W) and LeUyen Pham & Alex Puvilland (A) Created by Jordan Mechner Published by First Second, 2008; 190 pages; $16.95 Prince of Persia is a graphic novel inspired by the era, setting and general mythology of the video game series of the same name, though not directly starring or attempting to personify…
By Fabien Vehlmann (W) and Denis Bodart (A) Published by Cinebook, 2008; 56 pages; $13.95 I won’t risk losing any readers by saving the verdict for the end — I loved this book and cannot heap enough praise on it. A puzzling scenario opens the collection, as a psychiatrist arrives at a mental institution to…
By Stephen Desberg (W) and Bernard Vrancken (A) Published by Cinebook, 2008; 96 pages; $19.95 When I saw a book called “IR$” about an IRS secret agent, I gave a mental groan. I actually put this book on the top of my review stack — I thought it would be super lame so I wanted…
By Adam Slutsky and Joseph Phillip Illidge (W)and Shawn Martinbrough (A) Published by BDG Entertainment, 2008; 96 pages; $19.95 There’s an issue of the Grant Morrison / J.G. Jones “Marvel Boy” miniseries in which Marvel Boy battles with Hexus, a living corporation. It establishes Brand Hex — a company that dabbles in a little bit…