This was a really cool concept that didn't quite nail the execution. Some of the poignancy and drama of the original are missing, though it does have a bit happier ending.

In homage to the fact that Dumas was Black, The Last Count of Monte Cristo is an Afro-Futurist retelling of the famous tale of revenge.

Donny Cates' Thor run seamlessly picks up where Jason Aaron's left off: after winning the War of the Realms and ascending to Asgard's throne, Thor must now form an uneasy alliance with Galactus to stop the star plague from wiping out the universe. Nic Klein's art perfectly splits the difference between Esad Ribic's and Russell Dauterman's.

On a Sunbeam is a sci-fi, coming-of-age, queer love story about found family told in two different timelines. Tillie Walden drew and wrote the whole graphic novel in a smaller panel manga format. Muted colors accentuate the minimalist illustrations. My only issue is the slight lack of character development for the secondary characters.

When I first saw Return of the Jedi, I wondered what many kids wondered, "How did Luke make his green lightsaber?" Charles Soule is finally telling that story, and while we don't really need to know, it's pretty fun to find out.

Is this story predictable? Yes. Is it incredibly enjoyable to spend more time with some of the most fun characters ever? Also, yes. I love setting this story in the early days of Zuko's reign as Fire Lord. It won't knock you off your feet, but it's terrific comfort food.

This first arc of Wilson's popular Poison Ivy run ended kind of where I wish it had started: with Ivy planning to fight the fossil fuel industry for harming the planet. These early issues felt like an unnecessary prologue in which Ivy realizes that going on a suicide mission to kill all humanity might not be the best plan. I love the idea of Ivy as an eco-terrorist and will definitely check out the next volume.

Stunning cover art by Dan Mora

Squire is a really fun and thoughtful historical fiction adventure inspired by the Ottoman Empire's conquest of Jordan, even if the ending is a bit too pat. The art is great, and I'd gladly read another installment.

The characters are a bit underdeveloped, but the scale is absolutely massive. I hope De Connick gets the chance to complete her saga, as this volume includes only three of the proposed nine chapters in the story.

Diana's mother, Hippolyta, gets an all-new, fierce origin story in Wonder Woman: Historia.

Wonder Woman: Historia is a feminist Greek epic about the origin of the Amazons. The story is incredibly ambitious, and the art is gorgeous.

Nocterra is the last title in Scott Snyder's cosmic phase going back to his Justice League run. Despite being a separate, creator-owned project, Nocterra shares a lot of themes with Snyder's DC work, especially the conflict between light and dark. This third volume is the final arc of the first big chunk of the story. There's plenty of good action, but Emory is just not as strong a character as Val.

It may have taken me forty issues of Monstress to finally understand the vast lore that Liu has constructed, but the character work has always been exceptional. Takeda's art is legendary by this point, but I'll add my voice to the chorus.

Jodi Nishijima's art rules and Ronda Pattison's colors are perfect. Sophie Campbell's story is the most serious investigation of local government, mutual aid, and social infrastructure I've ever seen in a comic, while simultaneously nailing each turtle's character arc.

Soule is so good at blending new and old Star Wars canon, such as bringing a young Holdo into a mission with Luke, Leia, and Lando (she keeps her plans under wraps even back then). More importantly, his stories are just plain fun. Genolet's art is simple without being simplistic.

Killer variant cover by Taurin Clarke

Continuing my wrestling kick

Poignant. Exhilarating. The emotions are as real as the premise is fantastical.

If you liked The Iron Claw, check out Do a Powerbomb.

I love Gillen's run on Immortal X-Men. Making Mr. Sinister the villain is the perfect culmination of the foundation laid at the start of the Krakoan era. The origin story issue for Sinister is one of the best single issues I've read in a while. Werneck's art and Curiel's colors are excellent. It ends on a chilling cliffhanger.

Although the premise is somewhat convoluted, the themes and character work is spot on. Werneck's art is fabulous. Gillen is one of my favorite writers, so I had high expectations. The tie-in issues were surprisingly good.

Christmas comics 😁

Got the gorgeous complete set of Penguin Classics Marvel Collection for Christmas.

Kieron Gillen brings the X-Men, Avengers, and Eternals together in a cataclysmic event rife with biblical imagery.

Re-reading one of my favorite--and most recommended--novels before teaching it next semester.

Really pleased to see such great print quality for the brand new English edition of my favorite Webtoon--Omniscient Reader. This is an adaptation of the original Korean web novel. The story is just getting started in this first volume, but Dokja is an unforgettable protagonist.

Kirkman is a genius at plotting but less so at dialogue. After a while, Mark gets a bit trapped in a cycle of misery whenever he's not fighting aliens. Ottley's art is functional.

Get my book 50% off with code LUPWINTER through 12/17
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With the second season of Invicible out, I went back to read the original comic from the beginning. The plot is really good and the characters are inventive, but the show vastly improves the pretty terrible dialogue.

I started reading Sandman for the first time in the new collected editions. Some of the weirdest and most off-putting issues come early on, so if you get past those you'll get invested in Dream's story. Gaiman plays with a bewildering range of tones, genres, and subject matter--from cats to Shakespeare to serial killers--as the story is largely episodic. The art is purposely kind of rough, which isn't my style but you get used to it.

Gaiman's homage to G.K. Chesterton in Sandman.

We Only Find Them When They're Dead is strikingly innovative, combining hard sci-fi with spy fiction. The story moves back and forth through time, always keeping you on your toes. Nobody draws lips like Simone di Meo. Miotti's colors are wild: everything looks like it's glowing.

What if Superman had a sidekick? I love everything Dan Mora draws and will never shut up about it. Mark Waid expertly blends incredibly wholesome versions of the characters with classic harrowing comic book action.

Immortal Hulk was a massive hit, but I didn't love it. You need a high tolerance for body horror, but more than that, I found it convoluted. Hulk's personality verges on evil, which I found strange, though I did appreciate how Ewing brings in big themes of science and religion. A lot of the art is also surprisingly bad.

Star Wars comics has been on an incredibly good run for almost a decade. Aphra is one of the best original characters, and Si Spurrier does a tremendous job taking over for Kieron Gillen. This arc features what has to be the first all-female love triangle in Star Wars comics. Spurrier digs into how Aphra's choices hurt others--and herself--while throwing in some great twists.

We're living in halcyon days for Catwoman stories. Cliff Chiang's Catwoman: Lonely City is an impressive feat of cartooning (Chiang wrote, drew, colored, and lettered it all himself). The story follows an aged Selina reckoning with her past, while Gotham is moving into a future beyond Batman.

Haunting, poignant, melancholy--Ishiguro is the master of understatement. Muted language both conveys and conceals depth of feeling.

Si Spurrier has such a distinctive angle on the X-Men. Parts of this book are super weird, but it culminates in a soaring crescendo. I love that Nightcrawler is at the center of the story, and Legion is a great second lead.

Tom Taylor's mission is to make Nightwing the most beloved character in the DC universe, and Bruno Redundo's goal is to depict Dick Grayson at his most acrobatic. The story is fairly light but has been incredibly popular.

Gary Gulman is hilarious live, and now his book is out! He reads the audiobook himself if you prefer that delivery mechanism.

I've never read Never Let Me Go, but I'm a big fan of Ishiguro's entrancing, elegiac, minimalist prose.

Hickman at his most commercial, but still full of mind-bendy time travel stuff. The artists prior to Nick Dragotta are pretty meh.

Lady Spider's steam punk rogues gallery from 1895.

The inspiration for the hit animated movies but with a very different story. Vampiric, cosmic aristocrats are hunting all the spider-people across the multiverse. Some of the tie-ins are just okay, but the main story is killer.

Zdarsky's story is solid, but Jimenez's art is world-class. Lots of great guest appearances from members of the Bat Family and Justice League.

Die uses the imagery and language of RPGs to explore mental health issues. The story was pretty gripping, but the ultimate payoff was a bit of a letdown.

Really proud of this article about race and theology in Watchmen and its spinoffs. Check it out:
https://academic.oup.com/litthe/advance-article/doi/10.1093/litthe/frad025/72616...

I really like how Gillen weaves real writers' ideas--Tolkien, Charlotte Bronte, H.G. Wells--into the story. The characters make some incredibly foolish decisions during this arc, but issue 15 is truly heart pounding.

UGA's special collections library has a 1st edition of Moby-Dick from 1851.