The Public Library Presents -10.31.19

New Items on Loan from the Local Library:
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 9: "Okay"
- Hal Jordan and The Green Lantern Corps, Vol. 4: "Fracture"
New Items on Loan from the Local Library:
This week's pickups:
Originally solicited as a six issue miniseries, The Batman Who Laughs was extended by a seventh issue and spin-off, The Grim Knight. Since The Grim Knight is a direct extension of the primary story, I consider it crucial to include in the review. Spinning out of the events of Dark Nights : Metal, this is the return of perhaps the most dangerous villain that Batman has ever faced, the Batman Who Laughs.
Omni #2 picks up right where the launch issue ended. Issue #1 laid down a lot of groundwork and the setup felt very exciting. This issue’s transition into the main plot felt like a bit of a let down from the promise of the first issue. It moved a bit slowly, and ultimately didn’t feel like a strong enough payoff. We got a lot more exposition about what is going on in this shared Ignition universe, which was a bit handy to know.
This particular volume is a collection of one shots that was put out over time, as explained in the foreword. While the title is coming to a close, with one final volume to be released, this acts as a nice palate cleanser before finishing out the story. In some ways, this volume might act as an introduction to WicDiv that could be given to someone to tempt them into reading the series. All of these stories stand on their own and there really is no need to have much foreknowledge going in.
This week's pickups:
Bruce, having to recover from Azrael’s attack, is forced to reveal his identity to more people in order to get help in getting to the bottom of what the Joker is plotting. We get a break from flashbacks with the Edmond Wayne, a slowdown in the pace of the story, and the unexpected death of a core character. All that said, not a lot happens in this issue that is new. There is a bit of retreading of the first two books, which is done through Batman getting others up to speed on what has happened.
Issue #2 is a nice follow up to Collapser’s debut. Where we last left off, Liam finds out that he has a black hole in the middle of his chest. In this issue, Mikey Way and Shaun Simon spend a few pages exploring his powers and the general state of confusion that Liam is in while going on a journey of discovering what is going on with him. There is a nice touch circling back around to the first issue with Liam having to confront whether or not what happened to him was real or if it’s all in his head.
This has been a Superman story throughout, and I think it will end as a Superman story, even if that story ends in the death of everyone on Earth. Countless heroes and villains have died and whole cities have been vaporized from the events of the last issue. In this penultimate issue of DCeased, Tom Taylor sets up more dread than you can shake a stick at. This issue in particular delivers some major character deaths that are wholly unexpected. Taylor resolves some questions on who would beat whom in the vein of fantasy match-ups.
This week's pickups: