Batman/Superman: World's Finest, Vol. 1: The Devil Nezha

Read this at the Clapp Memorial Library in Belchertown MA USA. Nice selection of graphic novels there, considering it's a small library.

Title: Batman/Superman: World's Finest: The Devil Nezha
Issue: Volume 1
Date: January, 2024
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Dan Mora
Colorist: Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Editor: Paul Kaminski

Reprinting the first four issues of the latest World's Finest reboot. Poison Ivy attacks the Daily Planet, and finds herself up against the Batman, Robin, and Superman. But before the heroes can defeat her, Metallo shows up, adding a whole new level of threat when he injects Superman with red kryptonite.

As it turns out, this is just the beginning, as an ancient demonic figure named Nezha takes control of villains, and then heroes to set them against Superman and the Batman.

This turned complicated quickly, with a time-travel subplot, and continuously-escalating threats as Nexha takes control of more and more powerful metahumans to try to wipe out all potential resistance to his conquest of Earth and beyond.

The character work and action in this story are solid, especially the little insights into the relationship between Clark and Bruce and how they look out for each other.

The weak point is the villain, who's a mess of inconsistent powers, unclear motivation, and bland generic-villain personality.

There was enough of interest here that I'd be willing to check out more of the series once it moves past Nezha.

Rating: 5/10

The Treasure of the Black Swan

Borrowed from the Wilbraham Public Library, Wilbraham MA.

Title: The Treasure of the Black Swan
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Date: 2022
Writer: Guillermo Corral Van Damme, Paco Roca
Artist: Paco Roca
Editor: Conrad Groth

Based on true events, this is a realistic story of the hunt for sunken treasure, and more importantly, the legal battles that occur when a treasure is found. Alex Ventura is a young diplomat, just starting a job with the Spanish government's Ministry of Culture. A late-night call from the Spanish Embassy in the United States puts him on the case of an historic find: a fully-loaded treasure ship has been located by an American salvage company, with a reputation as dirty players in the treasure-hunting business. The Spanish government needs to prove that the treasure is Spanish property against a ruthless and well-funded American conglomerate

This is a great political thriller with elements of history and a sprinkling of romance, all done up in an art style that gives homage to Hergé's classic Tintin stories. I found this enthralling from start to finish, with a great mix of intrigue, drama, some action, and a bittersweet ending with a few nice surprises.

Rating: 9/10

Cardcaptor Sakura Volume 3

Read my friend's copy of this while visiting.

Title: Cardcaptor Sakura
Issue: Volume 3
Date: 2003
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Clamp
Artist: Clamp
Editor: Jake Forbes

Sakura deals with a Clow Card doppelgänger that has led her brother into danger. She also helps her friend deal with a box that refuses to be opened, revealing another Clow Card. This volume ends with the arrival of a mysterious new teacher at Sakura’s school.

I jumped into this series with this issue, and in spite of the big cast, I never felt lost. The book does a nice job of reinforcing the worldbuilding as it expands on the rules and ideas behind the magical Clow Cards. The story is sprinkled with lots of humor, and Clamp always delivers spectacularly on the artwork.

Rating: 7/10

Stravaig #1

Bought at the Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke MA USA.

Title: Stravaig
Issue: 14
Publisher: Emma Percy
Date: January 2020
Writer: Emma Percy
Artist: Emma Percy

These got out of order in my TBR stack. I reviewed #14 of this series here. This first issue starts out as a very personal journal chronicling the author's move to a different state for the first time in her life. It's a good account of expanding horizons and settling in to a new place.

Along the way, we get a winter soup recipe, a bit of tarot, and a protective spell, along with some discussion of Catholic, Pagan, and Unitarian ritual and tradition, which was of some interest to me, as someone who has had experiences with the Catholic and Unitarian churches, as well as a bit of Pagan tradition. This first issue also explains the meaning of the zine's title.

Rating: 8/10

Attack on Titan Volume 6

Bought at Barnes & Noble, Enfield CT USA.

Title: Attack on Titan
Issue: Volume 6
Date: 2013
Publisher: Kodansha
Creator: Hajime Isayama
Letterer: Steve Wands
Editor: Ben Applegate

This was action from start to finish when an abnormal female titan, possibly a human in titan form wreaks havoc on the Survey Corps expedition. The result is a frantic battle/chase sequence that keeps the tension high for the entire issue. Eren has to decide whether to trust his teammates or go against orders. The one break from the action we get is a flashback sequence that gives a bit more insight into how Eren's transformation power works.

The character development in this issue is subtle because it happens in the midst of all of the action, but it's effective. The artwork on the chase and fighting in a forest setting is great, although the scene transitions can be a bit abrupt.

Rating: 7/10

Stravaig #14

Bought at the Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke MA USA.

Title: Stravaig
Issue: 14
Publisher: Emma Percy
Date: March 2021
Writer: Emma Percy
Artist: Emma Percy

Nature/gardening oriented personal zine, opening with an essay on the beginning of Spring and mental health. There's a practical bit on preventing and treating tick bites, and a brief profile of the Catholic martyr Thomas Percy.

A second short essay on gender fluidity and some cute sketches from a nature walk finish up the issue. This was a nicely put-together traditional zine with collage-style layout and a succinct writing style that evokes the images of the season.

Rating: 8/10

Superman #223

Bought at Has Been Collectible Toys and Comics, Wilbraham MA USA.

Title: Superman
Issue: 223
Date: January, 1970
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Cary Bates, Henry Boltinoff
Artist: Curt Swan, Henry Boltinoff
Editor: Mort Weisinger

Clark Kent encounters three women who know that he's Superman. They soon reveal themselves to be part of an extraterrestrial team of superheroes who are considering recruiting him for their team. But a test of his powers goes badly wrong, Superman soon finds himself facing a new threat to Earth.

So, this is one of those stories where everything would have been solved much more easily if people had just talked to each other. It's got a bunch of plot twists, a surprise guest appearance, and the general silly vibe typical of Silver Age DC.

The story is a fairly entertaining ride, but the grim situations that come up don't mesh with the overall goofy flavor of the story. The superheroine team, the Galactons, turn out to be not what they seemed, which is too bad, because their introduction was pretty intriguing, and they might have made interesting longer-term characters.

Rating: 5.5/10

Assassin's Creed: The Fall (Deluxe Edition)

 

Bought at Goodwill, Davis Square, Somerville MA USA.

Title: Assassin's Creed: The Fall (Delux Edition)
Date: 2011
Publisher: Ubisoft
Writer: Karl Kerschl, Cameron Stewart
Artist: Karl Kerschl, Cameron Stewart
Colorist: Nadine Thomas
Letterer: Studio Lounak's Serge LaPointe

Around the end of the 20th Century, a man suffers from hallucinations of the fall of the last Czar of Russia and the battles between the Assassins and Templars in the years leading to the Russian Revolution. When the modern-day Assassins make contact with him, Daniel Cross gains their trust and embarks on a pilgrimage to seek out the elusive leader of the Order of Assassins, the Mentor. As he does, Cross sets off a chain of events leading to a modern purge of the Assassins by their ancient enemies, the Templars.

I bought this with the upcoming Assassin's Creed/Magic: The Gathering crossover in mind, having never played any of the Assassin's Creed games. For a newcomer to the lore, this did a pretty good job of getting me up to speed. I enjoyed the integration of history into the storyline, including the connections to the Tunguska Event and Nikola Tesla.

The story itself does a reasonable job of building suspense at the beginning, although it telegraphs its plot twist a bit, and the Order of Assassins come of as complete chumps by the time all is said and done, which is possibly not the desired impression to make on someone new to the franchise.

Still, it provides a decent setup for Assassin's Creed: The Chain, which will continue the story.

This was the Deluxe Edition, so it contains an extra ten-page epilogue, which really felt like an important part of the story, so it was good to have it here. There is also some "making-of" material, some notes on the relevant historical details, and a selection from the Assassin's Creed Encyclopedia. This last bit had some good background, but also spent a lot of time summarizing the story I had just read.

Rating: 6/10

Attack on Titan Volume 5

Bought at Barnes & Noble, Enfield CT USA.

Title: Attack on Titan
Issue: Volume 5
Date: 2013
Publisher: Kodansha
Creator: Hajime Isayama
Letterer: Steve Wands

In spite of having won the day in humanity's first major victory against the titans, Eren finds himself imprisoned and put on trial for his life. There are many among the powers that be who feel that Eren would be most useful to humanity if her were killed and dissected. Fortunately, Erwin Smith, Commander of the Survey Corps has a different idea.

Eren finds himself on a major expedition outside the walls in the hope of recovering vital information about the Titans, information that my be found in the ruins of Eren's own home.

In addition to some key plot developments for Eren, we also get to see Eren's training comrades make their final choice of whether to join the Survey Corps or the Military Police. This issue also deepened the mystery of the Titans, kicking things off with an encounter with a titan who could speak, and ending in a battle with a dangerously intelligent abnormal titan. In between, the character of Squad Leader Hange, who is driven to learn all she can about the titans, to the point of conducting gruesome experiments on captured titans.

Although Mikasa and Armin continued to be mostly in the background, this volume did a great job of adding complexity to the titan concept, and ended with some excellent action sequences.

Rating: 7.5/10

Magic Item Mini #1

Bought at the Flywheel Zine Fest a few weeks ago in Holyoke MA USA.

Title: Magic Item Mini
Issue: 1
Publisher: Alec Adams Art
Writer: Alec Adams
Artist: Alec Adams

Micro-mini zine collecting six magic items for use with fantasy roleplaying games. These aren't given specific stat blocks, but there's enough information with each one, along with the very nice illustrations, for a gm to adapt these items to their game without much difficulty. They range from the combat-practical Owl's Shield and Weaver's Bow to the useful warding item, the Ghost Bane Lantern. On the more ridiculous side is the Staff if Immediate Livestock, and yes, it does pretty much exactly what it sounds like it does.

As with several of the other small gaming zines I picked up recently, this gives a good amount of value for its size/cost, and I expect I'll use an item or two from this in a game at some point.

Rating: 7/10