Nick Dragotta

The fractured alternate-future nations of America are being pushed to war by the House Of Mao - the mother of Death's child confronting the Chosen while Death searches for their lost son. Between the politics of millenarian cultists in power and hi-tech warfare and the three horsemen of the apocalypse setting out to kill Babylon and Death and his witch-friends in a bloody confrontation on the spiritual border of magic and reality, this smooth, stylish apocalyptic western moves slyly through show more epic moments on its way to the end of the world. Hickman and Dragotta are a powerful team and this mad sci-fi fantasy end times saga is a real favourite. show less

Death and company search for Death's son, the horsemen prepare for the apocalypse and the Chosen do as they're told, or not, as the case may be. Hickman and Dragotta's weird sci-fi western continues it's epic way to the end of the world with monstrosities and abominations and philosophies of power and politics and snappy, drawling tough-guy dialogue. Truly the comic for the darker side of 2016 - death, decay, corruption and the consolidation of horrible people in positions of power while the show more rest of us keep our heads down to avoid the random whims of the universe, embodied in the figures of unsympathetic if not downright hostile mythical avatars, or not. show less

Scott Snyder is more miss than hit with me, but this is a high-profile book right now, so let's give it a go.

A multiverse/Elseworlds take on Batman rebuilds the character from the ground up, starting with the ur-murder that sets him on his path of vengeance and justice. It's been done a million times already, but this particular spin gets off to a strong start.

This time around, Bruce Wayne doesn't have a family fortune to help him build his bat-arsenal because his family is strictly show more middle-class. And yet, he still has lairs, weapons, and cars out the wazoo. As a wise man once asked, "Where does he get those wonderful toys?" Embezzlement seems the obvious answer with perhaps an ends-justifying-the-means rationale, but the author defers giving an answer this time. Maybe next volume?

It's a Year One take with no extended Bat-family, but Bruce still has a support network of familiar faces . . . in mostly unfamiliar roles. This might be the most intriguing aspect of the book.

It's also a Dark Knight take, with plenty of homage imagery and a large helping of the ol' grim-and-gritty. While I appreciate the many easter eggs for longtime fans and all the Frank Miller worship, this unfortunately tends toward late-career Miller with a plot that gets outrageously ridiculous by the end of the book.

It looks like the story wraps up in the next volume, so I'll be back to check it out to see if Snyder can bring this back around somehow.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: The Zoo, Parts 1-6 / Scott Snyder, writer; Nick Dragotta (#1-3, 5-6) and Gabriel Hernández Walta (#4), illustrators -- Covers/Variant Cover Gallery / Nick Dragotta, Jim Lee and Scott Williams, Daniel Warren Johnson, Becky Cloonan, Yasmine Putri, Joëlle Jones, Frank Quitely, Wes Craig, Mitch Gerads, Ian Bertram, Mike Deodato Jr., Jerome Opeña, Simone Di Meo, Dan Mora, Jeffrey Alan Love, Sanford Greene, Jae Lee, Dan Panosian, Rafael Albuquerque, Dustin Nguyen, Tony S. Daniel and Sandra Hope, Riley Rossmo, Stevan Subic, Gabriele Dell'Otto, James Harren, Jorge Fornés, Francesco Francavilla, Guillem March, Nikolas Draper-Ivey, Clay Mann and Seth Mann, John McCrea, Simon Bisley, and Alex Maleev, illustrators show less

Visionary mythical alt-historical apocalyptic sc-fi western set in 2080, and Death of the Four Horsemen stalks US fractured into seven states since the end of the Civil War, seeking revenge with two shape-shifting Indian witches while the remaining Three Horsemen are reborn for the End Of The World only to find it delayed by their missing sibling. Utterly twisted tale by Hickman and amazing art by Dragotta, there's nothing else out there quite like this.