THE SOUND OF BROKEN RIBS by Edward Lorn

I just love a simple story told extremely well. The premise here is simple: a terrible car accident causes the lives of two very different women to tragically intersect, and author Edward Lorn has such a confident grasp of character, theme, pace, and the juggling of multiple viewpoints, that it became one of my most enjoyable reads this year. The characters of Lei Duncan and Belinda Walsh instantly grew familiar to me. I was invested in them from the first few pages and they will stay with me for a while even now that I've finished the book. Belinda Walsh in particular is handled very well; I loved the fact that the way I expected her to act after being introduced to her evolved subtly as I learned more about her character. At first I saw her as this clueless pushover, but by the end, I realized that she's much more aware and sharp than I expected in the beginning.

"But that's how insanity works. When you break, you don't hear the snap."

The reason I didn't rate it higher is because I'm not a fan of the kind of ending found here, which I won't go into detail about. It was a near perfect read for me right up to that point. But it's really a personal preference and many others might love it. I've been learning to judge something based on what it is and what it sets out to do rather than what I want or expect. And what Lorn does here, he does it very well. It was one of the smoothest and quickest reads I've experienced this year.

GRADE: B+

ROYAL CITY VOL. 1: NEXT OF KIN by Jeff Lemire

In what seems like a trademark for Lemire, this new series is a pensive, melancholy family drama that examines regret, death, relationships and a reckoning with the past. It follows the Pike family as they deal with the near-death stroke of the family patriarch, while each family member is haunted by the youngest brother Tommy, who drowned in an accident, something the family has never gotten over.

Once again, Lemire is so efficient here in his visual storytelling, that it packs more of a punch in it's 160 pages than many of the prose books I've read this year. It's very cinematic in the way he uses imagery and this juxtaposition of images. The whole graphic novel has a beautiful structure. I love the way each family member interacts with Tommy in a way that they each would prefer to remember him;  in ways that suit their present predicament. In a way, it reminded me a lot of one of my favorite TV shows: the HBO classic Six Feet Under, in it's magical realism and in the way it approached tragedy. So if you enjoyed that show, you will love this one: yet another memorable piece of art by Jeff Lemire, and one of the best graphic novels this year.

GRADE: A

GRAVEYARD LOVE by Scott Adlerberg

"If I wanted to hurt you, I would’ve when you begged me to."

One of the reasons I'm such a fan of noir is that I can't seem to resist reading stories about doomed losers and lowlifes making unfortunate decisions leading them deeper into ruin. This book might be a turnoff to some who prefer their fiction to have characters with mostly likable qualities. It's a creepy, sleazy bit of noir about a loser ex-writer that lives with his overbearing mom and the obsession he has with spying on a mysterious redhead who apparently plays with herself in a dead woman's tomb in the neighboring cemetery.

"I wish there was a curse. I sincerely do. I’d fuck you in a second, this instant, if I thought you were going to die afterwards. It’d be the easiest way to get rid of you."

It's a fascinating and brave psychological thriller that is constantly surprising. It takes the unreliable narrator, Kurt Morgan, from being just a man with a crush, straight in to pure stalker territory, and then to potentially something even darker. It's a sly, slippery little psycho-sexual noir that Hitchcock, Patricia Highsmith, or Brian DePalma would love!

I’m not a violent person. I didn’t get into fights at school and I don’t remember scuffling with anyone as an adult. What transpired with Charlotte began as consensual activity, then degenerated from there. And that activity wasn’t violent in the true sense; it involved the use of paraphernalia. None of which is what killed her; the drugs did that. But our time together did leave me with handcuffs.

GRADE: B+

SONGS OF INNOCENCE by Richard Aleas

If Songs of Innocence was simply another John Blake mystery, a sequel to Aleas's serviceable first novel, Little Girl Lost, it would still be a pretty good read. But it's much more than a simple sequel, outshining the first book in every conceivable way. It begins as just another detective story, with the retired Blake putting his detective hat back on to investigate the death of his classmate and lover, Dorrie Burke.

But things get darker as the book progresses, pushing Blake further and further into the abyss as he begins to discover the kind of collateral damage that his actions, his mistakes, as well as his discoveries ultimately lead to. It really is better than it has any right to be, crushing its mystery genre expectations and ascending into tragic crime opera territory. And like the best mysteries, the conclusion isn't as cut-and-dry as many would expect. 

It's hard to pinpoint exactly how the book achieves the effect that it has, but at some point I became completely engrossed! I've been tired of standard mysteries lately but this is one of the best detective stories I've read in a while, right up there with the best of Lehane, Mosley, or Lawrence Block. If you have any interest in crime or mysteries, put this one on your list.

I hadn't meant to end up this way, counting the dead, apologizing to the ghosts of the dead women I'd loved. 

But here I was, with apologies to make and so little time to make them.

GRADE: A-

INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US - YEAR ONE by Tom Taylor

Remember that shitty Batman vs Superman movie from a couple of years ago? The most interesting part of that movie was also its most random, a dream sequence where Batman is the leader of a resistance in a dystopian America led by a villainous Superman. You see, contrary to popular opinion, I love seeing Superman as a villain, I think he's too powerful of a hero, leading to a lack of a sense of danger in many of his stories. I love the idea that he's an all-too-human god among men that is as susceptible to corruption as the rest of us. I keep telling people that that dream sequence was what Batman vs Superman (or the new Justice League movie) should've really focused on; it would've made a much more interesting story. So this Injustice series of graphic novels is right up my alley!

In one of his most ambitious ploys, The Joker succeeds in creating absolute chaos by manipulating Superman into accidentally killing Lois Lane and their unborn baby, and nuking Metropolis. Superman understandably goes a bit bonkers and decides to enforce peace in the world with an absolute iron fist. Many of the more powerful Justice League members, including Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Green Lantern, and The Flash, stand to support him. But Batman can see how forcing people to be good can lead to disaster and gathers a small group of lesser heroes to stand against him.

I love this idea but I was admittedly hesitant in reading a comic book based on a video game, thinking that it would just be a cash-in adaptation. But this book is way better than it has any right to be, and it's one of the better superhero stories I've read recently. Similar to Marvel's Civil War, you can understand both sides of the debate. The book also did a great job at showing the downfall of the relationship between Batman and Superman, and the increasing contrast in their worldview. And although it still suffers from much of the usual superhero comic bloat (there's yet another Darkseid invasion that lasts about 19 seconds, and a random Lobo issue), it's one of the more exciting graphic novels I've read recently, a very well-paced compelling tale, and everything that Batman vs. Superman should've been.

GRADE: A-

THE FEVER KILL by Tom Piccirilli

He wanted to kill somebody, but everyone who mattered was already dead.

I'm sure everyone is tired of me gushing on and on about how great Tom Piccirilli is. But I've yet to read a bad book from him and the guy's writing really illustrates the complexity of his characters in such an impressively efficient way. The Fever Kill is no different. Here we focus on a narc cop so deep undercover he doesn't know what side he's on anymore, returning to his hometown to confront his family's past.

I love the complicated gray area of morality that the book and it's protagonist Crease lives in, as well as the High Noon-style of the inevitable confrontation between Crease and the violent drug dealer he's involved with. The book was one of the first straight crime novels that Piccirilli wrote, and even though it's a gritty noir that takes place in modern-day Vermont, with it's structure and themes it could've been written as a classic Western. It's an intense tale about a man trying to figure out where he lands on the morality scale.

"Go on and get yourself shot. Do it close to the gutter so no one else has to clean up after you."

GRADE: A-

THE PUNISHER: THE COMPLETE MAX COLLECTION VOLUME 1

I've always been fascinated by the character of The Punisher. Have you ever been frustrated when the more popular heroes keep capturing the bad guys over and over even though they must know they will escape again and hurt more innocent people? Sometimes wonder why they don't stop them in a way that they can't hurt anyone else? Well, the Punisher is the hero for you! An angry Vietnam vet named Frank Castle gets some guns and makes it his mission to permanently do away with the bad guys.

I've been wanting to read good Punisher stories before the Marvel series premieres this month, and this Garth Ennis run with the character is one of the most well-received. First, Ennis opens with Born, the tragic and haunting miniseries that gives us a peek at Frank's final Vietnam days, showing us that there might've been something within Frank already, even before the Mob killed his family; demons in his nature that were simply simply let loose after personal tragedy. It's a near masterpiece. In the next two stories in this first volume, Ennis does a great job here at resetting the Punisher world. He focuses more on the Punisher as a symbol and legend. Frank Castle has been punishing for over 20 years and has built up a bit of a reputation, and whether it's dealing with a CIA conspiracy or Irish gangs in Hell's Kitchen, we see Frank Castle mostly through the supporting characters' eyes.

The books collected here are:

The Punisher: Born - Grade: A
The Punisher: In The Beginning - Grade: B
The Punisher: Kitchen Irish - Grade: C+

GRADE: B

AND HER SMILE WILL UNTETHER THE UNIVERSE by Gwendolyn Kiste

This is one of the most consistently creative story collections I've read this year, second only to The Secret of Ventriloquism by Jon Padgett. Every story is inventive and original, whether conceptually or in the way they're presented. I went into this book expecting a scary story collection to jump into during my Horroroctober reading, but this collection is less horror and more of a compilation of dark fairy tales and magic realism, all written in gorgeous, passionate prose.

While each story stands out on it's own, author Gwendolyn Kiste uses each imaginative premise to tell a tale of unique women, whether it's the woman who gives birth to birds in "Something Borrowed, Something Blue," the encased, persecuted girls in the heart-rending "The Tower Princesses," the scorned woman of the clever "By Now, I'll Probably Be Gone," or the neglected stage actress literally immortalized on screen in the sublime title story. These women are all outcasts or outsiders, the unwanted and forgotten, who ultimately free themselves from the limitations the world has placed on them. Every story here is special and I was especially touched by the final story, "The Lazarus Bride," a sad, but deeply romantic story about holding on to something that you ultimately need to let go of.

I loved this. I was unfamiliar with Gwendolyn Kiste before but she made a real impression on me with this book. She seems to have a few more things coming down the pipeline so I'm excited to read more from her!

GRADE: A

THE TROOP by Nick Cutter

When people talk about the different "types of horror," one of the examples that always comes up is "gross out horror." Nick Cutter's The Troop is solidly in that category and is definitely not for the squeamish. It follows the five boys of Boy Scout Troop 52 and their Scoutleader camping on a small island and the tragic events that occur once a sick stranger joins them.

Normally this type of horror wouldn't really be up my alley as it's the least effective, but there are a few major reasons why it works so well here. First is Cutter's dedication to taking the time to economically flesh out every character just enough that you're fully invested and game for anything as the book went on. It proves that you can do anything you want in a story as long as you can get the reader to buy into the characters. The next thing was the book's structure and the way that Cutter weaved in court documents and newspaper/journal articles in an epistolary format that runs parallel to the main action to give the reader a tiny sense of what was happening before, during, and after the events on Falstaff Island. It actually works even better than I expected, doling out just the right amount of info to make it fascinating but not revealing too much. And another reason why the novel is so effective is Cutter's writing. It's inventive, descriptive, and memorable.

There's some stuff in here that some readers might find hard to take but the reason why it's so terrible is because you've connected with these boys and have to bear witness to what happens to them. In the end, the horror in this book is tragic and pretty damn visceral, something that will stick with you for a while, and the book doesn't apologize for any of it.

GRADE: B+

ASTONISHING X-MEN OMNIBUS by Joss Whedon

I've never been a big Joss Whedon fan-boy. I've never really understood the hype. But after reading this...man, he can write a mean X-men story! It can be tricky writing for the X-Men, especially these days, with tracking so many characters and trying to keep it fresh and interesting, but Whedon does an skillful job here in this 25-issue run that he had with the heroes.

Whedon shows a real love for the characters here, and the book features some of the most creative sequences I've seen in an X-Men tale. Whedon takes these well-known characters, consolidates all of their best attributes, and lets it all fly in this epic story. He not only has a great sensitivity to each X-Man's personality, but he takes their specific powers and explores all of the possible ways to showcase them, leading to massively entertaining sequences. One great example is the way the book shows how powerful skilled psychics can be, especially in the amazing sequence in the third volume, Torn, when the mansion is attacked by the Hellfire Club and telepathically manipulated by Cassandra Nova and Negasonic Teenage Warhead.

You can also tell the love that Whedon (as with many other writers) has for Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat). She has many fans but Whedon really showcases all of the aspects of her powers here and it's all very fascinating. What happens when Kitty has an orgasm? One of the reasons why the X-Men are some of my favorite heroes to read is because of the specificity of their individual powers, so I had a blast with all these little moments. And the book also features one of the coolest character entrances ever with the appearance of Colossus.

And of course the witty dialogue and entertaining  set-pieces that Whedon is known for is on full-display here, showing that he might be one of the best candidates to tell superhero stories, which he's proven here, and with his popularity with the big superhero movie franchises. And with this book run, he set a good standard for X-Men storytelling!

GRADE: B+

BLANKY by Kealan Patrick Burke

Kealan Patrick Burke has rocked it again with his latest novella and lands an effective balance of sadness and terror in this story about a man who loses his infant daughter to crib death and struggles to move on. But things take a darker turn when his daughter's blanky reappears, the blanky that was buried with her.

Burke takes one of the most horrific things that can happen to a parent and punches it up even more with the idea that there might be something much darker behind it all. And like most of the writers I love, his writing is deceptively simple, where you believe for a while that you're reading a simple horror tale because it has all the regular trappings, but then Burke sneaks up and punches you in the nose with genuine emotion and you realize that you're reading something else entirely. It also works in the reverse as well, where you think you're comfortably reading simply a well-written melancholy novella about the loss of a child, but then Burke turns your head and shows you something that creeps the crap out of you.

Can't wait to read even more of his work.

GRADE: B+

THE LAST WHISPER IN THE DARK by Tom Piccirilli

"You're a killer Terrier  I don't know who you've murdered but I can see its taint on you. You're my kind. We know about the disappeared, you and I. We know where the vanished are hidden."

I'm so happy I discovered Tom Piccirilli. It's so awesome when you discover writers who seem to write work specifically for you, books that are exactly what you want to read. 

This novel, which I believe was his final full-length one before his death, takes up several months after the events in The Last Kind Words, and features cat burglar Terrier Rand coming to terms with his actions in that book while still struggling with his place in his criminal family and still pining for the woman he abandoned. 

While the plot here isn't as focused as The Last Kind Words (he cast a wider net in this one, focusing on a number of different plot threads), Tom Pic outdoes himself here in his prose. He's a real writer's writer and has an almost perfectly-honed way with words that's really impressive to me. This is a crime novel more about the characters than about the crimes themselves and the book continues to effectively illustrate Terry, his family, and the rest of the supporting characters in a way that sets it apart from so many novels of its kind.  

In both this book and its predecessor, Terry struggles with avoiding the burden of his family's reputation and legacy but must confront the possibility that he must come to accept it, like it or not. One of the most interesting ideas is that his whole family is fucked up in a variety of ways, but the only one that seemed to be completely at peace was Collie, his late brother from the previous book that gave up the struggle fighting his urges and went on an unapologetic killing spree. Is that the answer...that Terrier just has to give in to his nature to finally be at peace with himself?

The underneath called to me and begged me to fire, to murder, to die. It promised me the end of anguish and a proper understanding of purpose.

It's not a feel-good read at all, so stay away if you're looking for something lighter. But as usual the author really knows how to nail poetic and powerful catharsis and like most of Pic's work it is a melancholy look at loss and a heritage you just can't shake. 

He had organized a hundred escape routes before, but now when he needed only one more, there weren't any left for him.

GRADE: A- 

THE SEVENTH by Richard Stark

*Book 7 of the Parker series*

The Parker books have no business being this good seven books into the series. The stories are so simple that one would expect them to be too formulaic and repetitive. But with plot master Richard Stark at the helm, this is not the case. He's always so effortlessly creative when it comes to weaving a plot and he makes this book the best Parker novel so far in the series.

In this one, rather than detailing the setup of a complicated heist, we begin after the crime, as Parker holes up with the money and a woman he can bone until it's time to split the take. But when he goes out to get some beer and comes back to find her stabbed to death with a sword and the money stolen, he sets out to track the thief down and make sure he gets his cut. One of the things that really makes this one standout (aside from having an even faster pace than the others) is the fact that some of the obstacles that push the story forward is caused by Parker's mistakes. Parker is usually shown as an efficient, emotionless man who's always right and is always the one with the best judgement. But he fucks up a couple times here and it's interesting seeing him dedicated to fixing the situation.

So far, Stark's Parker novels are pretty dependable and enjoyable and The Seventh is the best one so far.

GRADE: A-

THE SNAKE HANDLER by Cody Goodfellow and J. David Osborne

"I could never repent, because that was not my role, any more than it's yours. Heaven needs Hell. And Man needs a scapegoat for all the lies he tells himself."

Although the narrative lacked the momentum I was hoping for, this book is nowhere near safe or formulaic. This story of serpent handling evangelist preacher and small town drug dealer Clyde Hilburn being forced to confront his sins after he's bit by a snake someone put in his mailbox is still pretty memorable and has lots of things to say about sin, God, and morality. The tone of the novel really works to parallel Clyde's slow succumbing to the snake venom that he should be used to by now. I loved the writing and the fact that it's written as a prayer to God. It's an unflinching and savage collaboration between two great authors. And the redneck shootout in Walmart will probably go down as one of my favorite scenes in any book this year.

This is yet another brave and unique piece of work from Broken River Books, one of the best publisher's out there.

GRADE: B+

BEHOLD THE VOID by Philip Fracassi

One of the things that's very apparent in every story in this collection, and with all of Fracassi's work, is the intense focus on developing character. Some might say that it's even too much and not necessary for the short scary stories he writes, but I would respectfully disagree and it's an aspect in his work that I really appreciate. Good horror, to me, is inherently linked to character, and even more so here. Yes, these 9 stories feature occult horror, ghost stories, and cosmic horror, but the thread that really runs strong through most of them is the horror that has its roots buried deep in broken family relationships and parenthood.

Fracassi takes his time with each story, setting up it's world and characters, making the payoff that much more rich by the end. The best examples of this are in the standout stories "Mandala," "Fail-Safe," and "Mother," a story that packs the most stunning prose I've read so far by Fracassi.

And to think, the guy is basically just getting started.

Common sense assures us of the invalidity of demons and sharp-clawed creatures of the night, but we still can't help wonder if there's something there, waiting to drag itself toward us and slide it's cold wet claws around our neck, empowered because we gave it what it needed. We gave it the dark.

GRADE: B+ 

ROUGHNECK by Jeff Lemire

Many of you might snicker at the fact that I've been reading comic books lately. Or at least just straight-up ignore the reviews. But those serious readers of rural grit lit authors like Daniel Woodrell, Benjamin Whitmer, and Ron Rash would definitely do well by checking out this recent graphic novel by the inimitable Jeff Lemire.

This multi-faceted work of art is a focused and personal drama focusing on Derek Ouellette, a disgraced hockey player turned violent, lonely drunk, and his efforts to reconnect with his estranged drug addict sister after she stumbles back into his life.

I'm so damn impressed by how much Lemire can do with so little. One of the things I LOVED LOVED LOVED the most about Roughneck was its lack of any narration, which is a convention used in almost every comic book/graphic novel I've read, and is mostly used too much as a crutch to help convey backstory and inner thought, since prose is usually not an option. But Lemire doesn't take the easy route and gives us just the amount of info we need through dialogue, expressions, and most important: imagery. It was so refreshing. And speaking of the imagery, Lemire really knows how to tell a story in visuals. There are great motifs here and the Canadian landscapes are rendered in cold, gray/blue tones, only broken by elements of memory, the past, by the things that haunt the characters, all depicted in saturated color.

Roughneck is about the choices you make: the choices in the past and the ones in the present, how they're intrinsically related, and how the time will come when you must come to terms with them. Pimitamon, the name of the fictional town where the book takes place, is the Cree word for "crossroad." Jeff Lemire seems to basically is in a class of his own in the comic book world and shows everyone else how to do it.

GRADE: A

BLOOD'S A ROVER by James Ellroy

*Book 3 of the Underworld U.S.A Trilogy*

Ellroy seems like he's running out of steam here. Story-wise and stylistically, this novel fits right in as the final book in the Underworld USA trilogy, where he documents his own version of the history of this country's turbulent '60's, with this book pulling us from the MLK and Bobbie Kennedy assassinations and into the early 70's with the Nixon years and the Black Power movement. But it's a far cry from the quality of his masterpiece American Tabloid, and surprisingly, I even liked it a little less than the disappointing A Cold Six Thousand. While those two previous books had solid structures that moved on a path to their respective inevitable events in history, the historical material here doesn't provide such a trajectory, and much of it started to feel really repetitive. Even though it's an easier read than Cold Six, the main characters here were barely engaging. The book's best character by far, the fascinating FBI/Black Power Movement double agent Marshall Bowen, is relegated to mostly journal entries, where the book would've been so much better if he was a POV character!

I still love Ellroy's work in general but in this one, he  either run out of interesting material to fill an epic novel, or the good stuff that he did have was misused.

GRADE: C-

BLACK HAMMER VOL. 1: SECRET ORIGINS by Jeff Lemire

Wow, I really enjoyed this one. Just when you think you've seen everything in the superhero genre, it's awesome that a writer like Jeff Lemire can come along with an original story that feels fresh.

You know in superhero comic book universes when a big epic crossover crisis happens because the publisher wants to reset continuity and get rid of particular characters that won't fit into the new mold? When a God-like being threatens existence itself and some of our heroes sacrifice themselves to save the universe? Well, this book speculates on what happens to those characters post-event. After sacrificing themselves for Spiral City in a Crisis on Infinite Earths-style event, six Golden Age heroes find themselves on a farm in a quiet rural town, inexplicably unable to leave. Some are content with their new existence, while some are aching to find a way out.

If you're looking for big, epic superpowered action, you won't find it here. This story is a quiet, character-focused tale, as we watch the group try to deal with their new lives, hide their unique superpowers, and search for purpose now that they aren't heroes anymore. I love these characters and each chapter in this volume focuses on each person's history before the crisis and parallels the past with what they have going on in the present on the farm. While Abraham Slam and Barbalien are both trying to find their place in this new life while also finding new love, my favorite character, Golden Gail is having a much harder time. Her powers cause her to turn into a superpowered 9-year old girl, but after the Crisis, she is stuck in her little girl form. Being a 55-year-old woman (with all the accompanying thoughts and desires) stuck in a 9-year-old body can cause anyone to be bitter, so who can blame her for wanting a cigarette or a drink or three in the afternoon?

This book is a fascinating, spirited love letter to classic Golden/Silver/Bronze Age superhero comics (with obvious send-ups to known heroes Captain America, Swamp Thing, Mary Marvel, and Martian Manhunter), featuring detailed world-building and lovingly realized characters. Can't wait to see where this goes.

GRADE: A-

THE BLACK HOOD VOL. 1: THE BULLET'S KISS by Duane Swierczynski

Over the years, there have been a number of iterations of the superhero vigilante The Black Hood, who was introduced during the Golden Age of comics as a corny-costumed crime fighter. But writer Duane Swierczynski and artist Michael Gaydos takes the Hood and grounds him in tough ultra-realism, using the story to touch on violence and crime in his native Philadelphia.

Greg Hettinger is a Philly cop who gets involved in an altercation that not only leaves the original Black Hood vigilante dead but also leaves Greg's face hideously scarred by a shotgun blast. While recuperating and struggling with speech therapy and a painkiller addiction, he finds a purpose when he dons a black hood and stalks the streets at night.

I'm a fan of Swierczynski's novel writing and I think it's pretty cool that he can jump back and forth so successfully between prose fiction and graphic fiction with his popularity on Marvel's Iron Fist and Cable, and DC's Birds of Prey. His sensibilities and talent is on display here to good effect, producing a graphic novel that turns the story of the Black Hood into something absolutely unrecognizable as a superhero story and much more of an urban crime noir about a man with serious issues and weaknesses finding the one way he feels he can redeem himself.

Gaydos's artwork really adds to the tone as well, feeling both painterly and rough around the edges, very similar to Alex Maleev's work, with the simple, unobtrusive panel layout work you can also find in Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips's work.

I wish that the book ended with the great finale of the fifth issue because the last issue was awkward and felt totally out of place. It felt that it should have just been included in Volume 2. But it's still pretty good work overall!

GRADE: B+

CRIMINAL VOL. 6: THE LAST OF THE INNOCENT by Ed Brubaker

Here we go! The final full-length volume of Brubaker and Phillips's Criminal series is the bitter/sweet cherry on top of an awesome anthology that provides some of the best examples of noir writing in the sequential art form. It's pretty difficult to stand next to the other books in this series, which are consistently rad, and this one really holds it's own, taking a step away from Center City as the primary backdrop, which connected all of the stories in the series, and follows Riley Richards, a man who seems to have it all but is deeply unhappy and pines for his hometown, obsessing over the mistakes he made there.

What's really cool about The Last of the Innocent is the innovative artwork that contrasts the present day and the flashbacks by illustrating Riley's present-day world in Sean Phillips's trademark rough edges while presenting the nostalgic past with the softer, simpler art that many would recognize from Archie comics. I love it when artists use the singular strengths of their respective mediums to tell the story and the way Phillips uses the comic medium here lends a great effect!

At first, I thought the similarities to Archie were just a stylistic thing, but then I realized that there's much more to it than that. It's exciting to see that the story is essentially a speculation of what might happen if Archie married Veronica, moved to the big city and then got all fucked up. Dead ringers for all the Riverdale characters are all over this story, with pretty blatant Jughead, Reggie, Moose, and Betty analogue characters. But it's also a great tale on it's own merit, touching on simmering regret and resentment, and the lengths that you might be willing to go if given the opportunity to fix your discontent.

Brubaker and Phillips wrapped up this series of stand-alone noir tales with real pizzazz in this great volume!

GRADE: A-

GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH by Geoff Johns

I really enjoyed Green Lantern: Secret Origin and I think it was a great place for me to start: a simple origin story for Lantern newbies but still introducing cool mysteries and high concept science fiction. But I thought the real test was going to be this book, a tricky rebooting of a high fantasy cosmic saga and the return of the greatest Lantern, years after a number of other humans have taken up the mantle. Was I going to be lost and confused jumping into the middle of years of canon? Would ithe story just seem like a cheap trick to try to bring back a beloved character?

Well I admit that it wasn't as tightly crafted and easy to understand as Secret Origin, but I'm happy to say that it was still exciting. I was a bit lost with the the backstory of what happened to Hal Jordan before this book (there's something about him going bad and then bonding with the spirit of fear and the spirit of vengeance as they war for control of his mind). But I think that Johns did a relatively good job at catching me up and I was surprised by how much I understood and appreciated it all. There are lots of Justice League and Lantern Corps cameos as Jordan's friends band together to try to free him from both spirits. I'm not a big fan of all-powerful heroes, but what I enjoy about the Green Lantern is that although a Lantern's ring is the most powerful weapon in the universe, it's potential is only as strong as the willpower and imagination of the person using it, and in one of the best scenes in this book, I love how you see the struggle that Green Arrow goes through when he tries to use the ring.

There are some really great moments and and well-drawn action, especially in the rousing finale where all the heroes have to fight Parallax, the embodiment of fear. Even Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are out of their league and have to take a step back and let the Lanterns do the damn thing! I actually felt like cheering after the final fight and the triumphant return of Hal Jordan, which is pretty surprising given the fact that I wasn't very familiar with what happened before. There's some great world-building and a surprising amount of thoughtful character work. I especially loved the conflict between Green Lantern, a man with no fear, and Batman, a man who's biggest weapon is intimidation.

GRADE: B-

DOPE by Sara Gran

Sometimes, if you've been unlucky enough to find out the truth, you're better off forgetting it. Especially when there's not much you can do with it.

For a while now, I've been pretty over reading standard detective mysteries. I've begun to find them terribly boring, mostly featuring a slightly flawed investigator running around asking the same questions for most of the book; it gets pretty tedious and repetitive after a while. These days, I'm more interested in dark crime and noir stories that are a little more creative and substantial. So I'm not sure why I expected something different when I cracked this open.

The thing is, author Sara Gran really creeped me out with her previous demonic possession novel, Come Closer, impressing me with her matter-of-fact, conversational prose. So I really wanted to read more of Gran's work. But Dope doesn't offer much more than most of the other usual crime mysteries. It really is mostly just about ex-dopefiend Josephine Flannigan stalking around Manhattan searching for a missing girl. Gran does give us a bit more with her exploration of Josephine's past and her fight to stay on the wagon. Other than that it was all pretty forgettable. There's nothing inherently terrible about Dope, I just found it unremarkable. But hey, it might just be me and the way my taste has been changing.

GRADE: C

HARD SENTENCES: CRIME FICTION INSPIRED BY ALCATRAZ edited by David James Keaton and Joe Clifford

Broken River Books is one of the most exciting publishers out there, with great taste and a knack for finding interesting material. This is one of their latest releases, a collection of short fiction inspired by the country's most infamous penitentiary, from a group of great writers: folks like Jedidiah Ayres, Les Edgerton, Nik Korpon, Johnny Shaw, and Gabino Iglesias, all with different styles, ranging from Iglesias's bizarre shadow terror to the Cronenberg-sequel body horror style of Glenn Gray. 

The anthology does a good job of telling stories from different points of view surrounding Alcatraz. Sometimes they're about people intimately familiar with the place and sometimes the island haunts the stories' events from afar. We get tales from the points of view of prisoners, their relatives, children of prison employees living on the island (what a strange childhood that must have been!), and there are even some ghosts, demons, and historical figures like Capone, The Birdman, and Johnny Cash being awesome as usual. I wish there were more stories from the POV of the guards and other employees though. 

And although not every story is stellar, there are some great pieces here, like Ayres's "Clean Shot," Leah Rhyne's melancholy "The Music Box," Iglesias's hard-hitting "Creep," Rob Hart's punchline, "The Gas Chamber," and Matthew McBride's dynamic "A Broken Window." And all of the stories together serve to weave an inspired tapestry illustrating the undeniable notoriety of The Rock.

GRADE: B

PAPER GIRLS: BOOK ONE by Brian K. Vaughan

After falling in love with his Saga series, I wanted to branch out to other projects written by Brian K. Vaughan, and that led me here! The Paper Girls are Erin, Tiffany, Mackenzie, and KJ, pre-teen kids living in 1988 Cleveland, who meet on their respective newspaper routes early in the morning after Halloween, and find themselves dropped into an epic fantasy adventure.

This adventure of the Stranger Things/Goonies variety happens to be a bit of a mind-wreck filled with parallel timelines, multi-verses, dinosaurs, giant maggots, and futuristic soldiers.

Oh who am I kidding, it might not be about that stuff at all; I would be lying if I said I understood everything that was happening here! The comic lets it's secrets out on its own terms and it can get a little frenetic and confusing but the interesting thing is that I didn't really care. I enjoyed the characters and their budding relationships so much that I could watch them do anything. Plus, I'm a sucker for time travel so I'm down to being patient and seeing where it all goes! The second volume in particular is a rollercoaster of crazy-ass ideas that are sometimes hard to follow, but I'll be holding on for the ride.

The two volume included here in this deluxe edition are also available in cheaper single editions.

GRADE: B

BATMAN: DEATH OF THE FAMILY by Scott Snyder

Scott Snyder jump-started his run on Batman by putting his own stamp on it, Introducing a compelling new antagonist of his own original creation in the Court of Owls, and putting his own spin on Gotham mythology. It was well-received but many were bummed that he didn't include more popular and established Gotham villains in the first year of his run. But, after wrapping up that story, he goes full bore by utilizing the ultimate Batman villain. And man, does he! The product here is one of the most disturbing depictions of the Joker ever.

Snyder's Joker is even more of a complete madman than you would expect, not only allowing his face to be sliced off and put on ice, but then tying that face back onto his head like a mask before he embarks on an elaborate scheme to rid his favorite buddy Batman of his silly distractions, his closest allies!

The Joker's plan is gleefully depraved and the plot development is well thought out by Snyder. I had to keep reading to see how far The Joker would go and how it would all end. I've never been a fan of the whole Bat-family idea though. I feel like the Batman character works best as a solitary hero. I don't mind a small number of dedicated non-vigilante Gotham allies like Alfred or Jim Gordon, or even sometime reluctant partners like Catwoman, but do we really need Robin, Nightwing, Red Robin, Red Hood, and Batgirl? It just seems silly after a while. And The Joker monologues a little too much here, even for him!

But if you want a creepy, nasty story featuring one of the most iconic villains out there, check this one out. It'll probably go down as one of the most insane, dangerous versions of The Joker to date.

GRADE: B

PECKERWOOD by Jedidiah Ayres

Man, I really wish I liked this more than I did. Jedidiah Ayres was one of my favorite author discoveries of last year. So I was excited to read this one: his debut novel and a release from Broken River Books, probably the coolest publisher out there. But although I didn't have a problem finishing the book, I realized that that reason I kept reading was due to Ayers's stylish prose and his true potential rather than much engagement in the characters or what was happening. It read a bit like an early draft, with hints of really great characters and noteworthy moments that never really reach their full potential. It felt like all the elements were turned to 50 when I feel like everything should have been hitting closer to a 100 to be truly memorable to me.

Now, it seems like I might literally be the only person who feels this way, so there's a good chance that others would love it, but I didn't feel like it matched the same quality as his fantastic novella Fierce Bitches, or his tough and creative stories in A Fuckload of Shorts. But I believe Jed Ayres is ultra-talented so I'll jump on his next book.

GRADE: C

SEX CRIMINALS VOL. 2: TWO WORLDS, ONE COP by Matt Fraction

Our favorite couple has narrowly escaped Kegel Face and her Sex Police and now they want to lay low, settle down, and just be a regular couple. But like any new couple, the honeymoon phase fades and the real struggle begins!

The fun is over in Sex Criminals and in some ways, I thought the shift in tone was interesting. But it did mean that I enjoyed this volume a little less. I really wanted more time-stopping sex and CumWorld criminal hijinks but instead I got hefty doses of relationship woes and dealing with depressing mental health issues. Although it wasn't as fun, Fraction does do a great job with pushing the further development of Jon and Susie and the rest of the supporting cast.

It's still lovable and and comical (that porn parody of The Wicked and the Divine...hilarious!), I just wish that the plot momentum was consistent with the last volume.

Good stuff.

GRADE: B+

SEX CRIMINALS VOL. 1: ONE WEIRD TRICK by Matt Fraction

This is the kind of book that's pretty mandatory to read in a physical form, if only to read it in a public place and have the decent people of the world give you weird glances after they look twice at the title.

The book's concept leaves room for so many possibilities and loads of entertainment. Jon and Suzie are a young, everyday couple, but they both share one special gift: they have time-stopping orgasms. No really, they literally stop time during the cum-down after sex. So once they hook up, they do what anyone with that gift would do, they decide to rob some banks! Let the games begin!

There are a couple of things in this series that elevates the concept above being merely juvenile and made it something distinctive. The first are the characters, who are relatable and charming if not fully likable, both endearing and multi-faceted enough to make me want to read much more about them. The second is Chip Zdarsky's artwork, which is colorful and witty, working perfectly in tandem with Matt Fraction's writing and a great fit for this fun romantic comedy. I also really love the light-streak effects that visually cue the time-frozen Cum World/Quiet. The lovely art is sometimes a character in itself, through it's attention to detail and it's subtle in-jokes that make you truly study the art on each page.

The whole thing is a great premise for a romantic comedy and it's a great way of looking at a new couple exploring sex and relationships and all their complexities.

GRADE: B+

SAGA: BOOK TWO

We pick up again with our heroes as they try their hand at living a normal life on the planet Gardenia, with Marco taking up stay-at-home-dad duties while Alana wins the bread as an actor in shitty tv shows on the Open Circuit. Oh and Hazel is a toddler!

The first part here is really great as we really focus on the relationship between Alana and Marco and I thought it was a wonderful look at how doubts, trust and insecurity can strain a marriage even outside of the fact that the two are star-crossed lovers from enemy alien races. But just when the relationship is at it's lowest, the past catches up and the story is off again on an intergalactic adventure that's even more action-packed than before, involving new alliances, space heists, and a dangerous quest for dragon jizz. 

It's once again addictive, imaginative, and exciting, with characters you care about, proving once again why it's considered one of the top comic series being published right now. 

GRADE: A-

THE FORCE by Don Winslow

This is the the type of great book you don't see everyday; that you might go all year without reading. A book where you simultaneous want to see what the hell happens on the next page but also want to slow down your reading because you don't want it to end. A book that on one hand is crazily entertaining but also makes you hit Google and read articles to learn more about its timely issues.

Hell isn't having no choice. It's having to make a choice between horrific things.

At the risk of this sounding like hyperbole, Don Winslow takes a crooked cop story that's a combination of The Shield and The Wire (yes, it's just as amazing as that sounds), and crafts: 

1) One of the best books I've read this year

2) What might have to be considered the Best Cop Novel, perhaps ever.

3) The best Richard Price novel Richard Price never wrote.

This is the third book by Don Winslow that I've given an A grade to. The guy really does have a talent for slinging stories that are both heavily engaging with a lasting effect and also very researched and informative. A great storyteller that should have the same success as the most popular authors. One of the things that really impressed me was how awesome Winslow's attention to detail is and how EVERY SINGLE THING matters by the end. Everything character, every idea, even every setting connects in important ways and it always excites me to see an author so dedicated to making that happen. 

You tell yourself what you gotta tell yourself to do what you gotta do. And sometimes you even fuckin' believe it.

The story of Manhattan Task Force Detective Denny Malone is the epic tragedy of a crooked city cop at the top of his game slowly losing his grip on his kingdom. Throughout the novel, it's mesmerizing to witness him struggle to keep control and to get his head out from under the slowly rising waters of corruption, lies, dirty deeds and violence created by both he and the system he's a part of. 

All cats are gray in the dark.

Trust me, this will be seen as one of THE books of the year.

GRADE: A

BATMAN: THE CITY OF OWLS by Scott Snyder

This second volume of Scott Snyder's Batman run concludes the well-conceived clash between Batman and the Court of Owls, a shadowy cabal who have secretly ruled Gotham for centuries. The story was a bit more disjointed in this one (what was up with the intriguing but totally random Mr. Freeze story in the middle?) but the ideas continue to be great as Snyder goes all out with creating his own Batman mythology, as if it might be his last and only time ever writing a character he's always wanted to tackle. I applaud him for that. But damn, what I don't applaud him for is falling into that superhero comic trap of constant, non-stop dialogue during fight scenes! The opening attack on Wayne Manor was creative, dangerous, and engaging but damn, some of the other scenes (like the fight with the final Talon) were confusing and the chatter went on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on………

GRADE: B-

THE LAST DAYS OF AMERICAN CRIME by Rick Remender

This is the case of an otherwise decent graphic novel being nearly ruined by its artwork. It has a great concept in the premise of the country essentially making street crime obsolete, making paper money worthless and switching to electronic money, and the group of old-school criminals trying to hit the one last score that can set them up for life after the switch-over. The book had a lot of double-crosses and some bits of great dialogue as well but I kept getting taken out of the story my the mushy artwork by Greg Tocchini. I had a difficult time telling the difference between characters because of the lack of recognizable facial detail, and I thought that the action scenes were terribly rendered. I kinda wish that the cover artist Alex Maleev worked on the whole book! I've been curious about Remender's LOW series but I'm having second thoughts because Tocchini draws that one as well.

GRADE: C