Mark Sable

The first half of this book is actually not in continuity; it's another origin for the Scarecrow, but Robin's there, and Batman met Scarecrow a few years before Robin. Don't let this fool you, though-- it's very good. Bruce Jones writes a good story, with plenty of creepy turns, and the interplay between Batman and Robin is very fun without being corny. The real star of the story, though, is Mark Sable's angular artwork, which perfectly suits the story, and is well complemented by Lee show more Loughridge's inimitable colors. A really good Batman tale on the whole.

Two-Face: Year One, on the other hand, contorts to fit into continuity, and is the worse for it. Chapter one tries to stay consistent with the events of The Long Halloween (it's like a prologue, about the beginning of Harvey's descent), but misses the point in the characterization. The second chapter is just dumb... Two-Face runs for office, and I don't really get why or how, it's just implausibly goofy. Two-Face is a tricky villain that I've almost never seen done right: given his reasons for turning "bad," why would he just become another gangster? The whole point of him was that he hated and was scarred by organized crime!

Batman "Year One" Stories: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence » show less

Really this review has to happen in two parts because this is a collection of two different stories (one of which happens to involve 'Two-Face' ... and irony isn't lost on me). The first tale, Bruce Jones' attempt at rewriting the origin of the Scarecrow, doesn't really work at all. The story tries to draw parallels between Batman and Scarecrow (they both wear MASKS! for instance. Really, that's all he had...), creates a mystery about Crane's ancestors, and introduces this bizarre child show more abuse for Crane that has pretty much never been introduced before. It stays true to Crane's role as an academic, but ew... I think the whole "He killed his grandmother" part was kind of genuis, but using birds to do it? It was just bizarre. And Mark Sable's art made it more bizarre. It really doesn't fit into regular continuity, just because Crane is more of a villain who attacks out of curiosity than some sort of sadistic need. And he's killing people here. Like a crazy person. I didn't hate it, I just really didn't like it, either.

The Two-Face story? Genuis. Sean Murphy delivers a tale that fits into everything we already know- Dent gets his face scarred by acid, had anger issues before, made enemies as a D.A., but it also completely flips it upside down. It introduces a rival D.A. trying to usurp Dent's position who basically engineers all the stuff behind the scenes. It's also implied that Dent starts killing gangsters (and look for a 'cut in half' theme subtly) BEFORE he gets scarred, which to me helps define his character in an entirely new way. The story also stays true to the tradition of "The Long Halloween" and mentions a few times (not to an annoying level) the 'Holiday' killer, which true Batman fans will get a kick out of. Jesus Saiz's art keeps the story on track and visually interesting. It's worth the buy just for this part of the story, which works well as Part 2. show less

The Dark is a political thriller in comic book format. The plot concerns a worldwide cyberwar the U. S. has with Russia.

The publisher's summary:

A short time after this international internet shutdown event known as "The Dark", we follow Carver, a former special forces super-soldier who after losing his eyes during this event, gets caught up on a mission hunting down Camille, a NSA analyst who has stolen dangerous information. With a potential war with China on the horizon, Carver and show more Camille are thrown together to get the world back on track while a shadowy force that is manipulating events is hot on their heels.

I loved this futuristic story. The plot is based on the use of the Stuxnet computer virus that Israel and the U. S. used against Iran several years ago. However, in this novel Russia has used it against the entire world. No more Internet use or electricity. Bioluminescence is used by the characters to tackle the dark. I am assuming the loss of the Net puts everyone in the Dark. Politics also plays a major part in the story. The U.S. is gearing up for war with China and has bombers on the way there. Texas has split from the U.S. Then we see a soldier with a service animal who's eyes glow. The soldier is hunting a transgender woman who just wants to become physically who she truly is.

You can always tell when the illustrator is a man. The male characters are completely covered with body armor but the female character is always in a bikini. Sometimes she's just wearing underwear. It's unclear why female soldiers don't need to wear body armor. Kristian Donaldson is the artist. The colorist Lee Roughridge used a pallette of blues, teals and purples which I loved. The style of the art has a futuristic feel and I wondered whether it was drawn from a computer. That said, the art matched this futuristic story.

The Dark is light reading despite the political story. show less

Thank you to NetGalley for my Advanced Reader's Copy of this book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes scifi and dystopian genres. The characters were captivating and the artwork was clear and beautiful. One of these days I'd like to read something where A.I. is not the bad guy, but this was an enjoyable and quick read that I will absolutely recommend.