The best book on antiracism and social justice I‘ve read in ages. There is a lot that upends modern social justice doctrine in here, but I think it is approachable, smart, and well-written, easy to follow for newbies but with a lot of depth.

Come on, ANOTHER time travel romantic epistolary sci-fi novel? Kidding, obviously - you won‘t read a lot of books like this one. Inventive and oddly sweet, with some of Max Gladstone‘s signature workdbuolding, this was a much more engaging read than the Empress of Forever, with Amal El-Mohtar tempering Gladstone into something more humanistic. A quick, intriguing read, with more playfulness than I‘m used to from Gladstone‘s work.

Not as strong as Gladstone‘s brilliant Craft Sequence, but absolutely engaging regardless. There are more bits here I skimmed than Gladstone‘s more character-driven Craft books, big space battles that didn‘t grip me as I hoped, but the world building is, as always, absolutely top shelf, and Viv is one of Gladstone‘s great leads : Driven, damaged, brilliant, but with a core of vulnerability that helps her stand out.

Gorgeous portraits of influential black thinkers, artists, and activists with brief quotes and a slim background section for context. I would have preferred more robust background, but the art is gorgeous and the representation of over a century of black art, politics, and power is still worth checking out.

Probably my least favorite of the series to date, though still, I think, worth reading. The Elias stuff just relentlessly bored me; Helene and Laia remain as compelling as ever. Still, when fully a third of a book isn‘t landing for you....

It is a great setting and I‘m jazzed for the final book in the series, but I really hope they find a more compelling third POV character.

Still fond of this series, though this volume is even more dependent than the first on familiarity with the game to understand some of the foreshadowing. But Kot understands the tragic nature of the setting, the corruption of relationships, trust, power. Very worth reading for fans of the game, but less so, I think, for newcomers.

Not entirely sure what Cates was going for in this more grounded arc, which seems to depend more on having a fondness for pulling in some deep cuts of Venom continuity. They were easy to follow, but I didn‘t really feel the twists. Some interesting stuff to do with Eddie and the Symbiote‘s relationship, tackling the abuse and codependency in a genuine way, but I a lot of the stuff around that didn‘t work as well.

One of the finest works of comics criticism ever made, and an excellent adventure story to boot. SEVEN SOLDIERS doubles as a critique of a trying time at DC Comics and a story about seven heroes who never meet inadvertently working together to combat an invasion of fairies intent on harvesting the planet. Gorgeous art, wildly stylistic storytelling, and a genuinely mythic feel help make this dense, difficult book a joy to me.

A sequel to the memorable late-2000s YA thriller LITTLE BROTHER, 2013‘s HOMELAND remains just as prescient as its predecessor - but lacking in every other way. Doctorow‘s naive techno-Utopianism is full flag here, and while there is a lot of value in popular literature showing activism in a positive light and cops & corporations in an appropriately suspect one, this just doesn‘t work as a novel, right down to its completely flaccid ending.

A very good take on Hawkeye. Great art - sunny but noir-influenced and pulling from the physicality of David Aja‘s iconic Hawkeye run - combined with a pulpy hook playing up Kate as a PI. There are some growing pains in the plotting, but this is a very strong first volume.

A mostly excellent thriller - the opening Wil segments are pretty disappointing and repetitive, but the Emily chapters make up for it. As Wil gets up to speed and we learn more about his companion, Eliot, those chapters get more bearable. Max Barry has a fascinating talent to consistently and engagingly pull the rug out from under his readers with paradigm-shattering plot twists executed so deftly they never feel like a cheat. A ton of fun.

A very good read about the mindset of neoliberalism that has come to dominate both parties, and how narrow our view of doing good in the world has become. Witty, readable, and laser focused on people who believe that the rich can - or should - save us.

Excellent, weird body horror. Every time I thought Ito had dropped the ball and explained too much or shown too much, he knew how to take it 10 steps further into a weird, disgusting journey. The story could have used more interesting protagonists, but ultimately, I think this is a worthy read for any body horror fans looking to try manga.

Immensely readable, but... music is hard to write about, and rap - so dependent on flow, on beat, on charisma - is tough to read on the page. And I felt like there was too much happening - Pooh, Supreme, Long & Tate, Jay, Curtis, Miles, these are all legit interesting plots and subplots, but jammed together like this, none of them really get explored in the depth they deserve. Angie Thomas‘ prose sings, but it can‘t live up to The Hate U Give.

Engrossing — if you found yourself hypnotized by the train wreck of the Fyre Fest documentaries, this is essential reading. It‘s barely controversial at this point to say that capitalism in America is badly broken, and this is exhibit A for the prosecution, a hypnotizing, expansive story about the dark side of Silicon Valley.

Reasonably solid, but held back by an inconsistent art team that doesn‘t always fit the tone, so-so action, and a truncated story that is never allowed to finish. It‘s fine, but MOTHER PANIC doesn‘t really ever come into its own until its final volume, which is just too bad.

Really liked this! James Bond is among the most purely physical action heroes we have, and Ales Kot is a sharp writer who understands the nuance of spy stories. THE BODY is a series of six interconnected short stories about Bond, each a different kind of test, all hauntingly illustrated by a rotating series of artists. This is a great read for anyone looking for something a little different from their Bond stories.

While Circe herself is often a frustratingly passive protagonist, I still found this absolutely engaging, a canny retelling of mythology that humanizes its monsters and makes monsters of its heroes. This is a sharp book, beautifully characterized and with lovely, readable prose.

Coates is such a brilliant, evocative writer, and that helps this come alive. But the emotion behind it is so raw, so powerful, so familiar that I think even without Coates‘ gifts, it would still be a potent read. Absolutely vital.

Like SHADE THE CHANGING GIRL, this Young Animal book is an evocative and artistically thrilling use of the tropes of superhero comic to tell a story about mental health. Magdalene Visaggio has crafted a story about self-loathing, depression, and suicide, and paired it with Sonny Liew at his trippiest to take a wild ride through cosmic comics. This will viscerally turn some people off, but if it lands for you, it LANDS.

A big, bold blast of epic action. Less madcap invention than, say, Cosmic Ghost Rider, but Cates clearly gets the appeal of characters like this, enough to draw in even people who never particularly cared for them before, like me. Space dragons, evil gods, and solid fantasy action art overcome some slight characterization on Eddie, the main character, and set up an interesting new status quo.

Weird and powerful. Ottessa Moshfegh retains an almost unparalleled talent for morose self-loathing, but unlike EILEEN, this one gripped me from the start. A character study of prickly, hostile grief, and - to me - a condemnation of Gen X that feels sharp and insightful.

A quick read in a fun world with a great cast of characters. I will say, the book has a... sometimes uncomfortable woman problem in its first half, but as the cast gets rounded out, it seems to right its course. Emotional, entertaining, often funny, but sadly very slight and transparent. Great hook, but it could have used a bit more focus and invention.

Largely banal, but Miranda is sharp enough to hit on something profound every so often. Still, this... I don‘t know who it is for. Its concerns are so specifically adult, but it‘s language and form is so childlike and innocent. Occasionally charming, but nothing special by any stretch.

Charming, though deeply lightweight, fantasy adventure. Conan and Wonder Woman are not what most folks would call a natural crossover, but Gail Simone‘s love of pulp fantasy history makes this one work better than it should. If you have a thing for Conan comics, you‘ll dig this.

Certainly one of the most insightful books about where we were politically in 2012 and where we were going. Hayes nails the problem, the cause, and the effect, but has little to offer by way of a solution. He missed the collapse of Occupy and the complete racist cooption of the Tea Party, his two primary examples of movements that could pull down elite powers, which leaves this feeling like a fairly hopeless read. Still, deeply insightful.

An unquestionably essential read, if one that starts off unforgivably slow. The first half of the book, which personalizes the collapse of American diplomacy around two polarizing figures is interesting; the back half, examining the real, brutal costs of military-led foreign policy, is heartbreaking and should be taught in every American history course. It is hard not to despair at the slow demolition of the US‘ peaceful foreign policy options.

Interesting, though not fully formed. Both of these WW: Earth One volumes have felt oddly paced, and this one has a fair bit of middle chapter syndrome, and yet as an update to the Wonder Woman myth, it works. From her culturally adaptive costume to dealing with pick-up-artists, nationalism, and trans rights, this feels like a truly 21st century take on the character. Sloppy, but definitely engaging.

While it cannot match the unholy tension of the game, Kot and Kowalski have made an eerie, memorable adaptation/prequel that mines its (fabulous) setting for tension without explaining too much or trying to make the series‘ cosmic horror any more approachable. This is weird, violent, and grotesque — in other words, a surprisingly strong adaptation to one of the all-time great video games.

Angry, provocative, creepy - Amber Tamblyn‘s debut novel combines poetry, social media, prose and more to tell a bleak, staggering story about society‘s collective shrug towards sexual assault, focusing entirely on male victims. There is a distance here, but I still found it quite powerful overall, like a more formally audacious but less character-driven (and therefore less interesting, to me) Rene Denfeld.

A kaleidoscopic masterpiece of color and feeling. The action is so-so, much of the plotting is rushed — and it doesn‘t matter. This is good, powerful comics storytelling. Saladin Ahmed‘s two volumes here are some of Marvel‘s best stuff in ages.

Like the previous volume - a lot of interesting ideas, executed haphazardly and never particularly resolved. This feels like a 40 issue run condensed into 10 issues. There is a lot to like here, but it doesn‘t quite hold together like I wish it would.

An interesting hook - Batman, utterly exhausted, makes a mistake that gets two civilians killed and puts the Justice League in a political pickle, but it is unwound a bit by an undercooked stalking subplot that just isn‘t that interesting yet. A good hook can‘t overcome some mediocre-to-bad art and some uninteresting twists.

Beautifully written, but mismarketed. This is not a thriller; almost nothing happens for 90% of the book. This is, more than anything, a character study of vehement self-loathing. As that, it works very well, despite being a bit too slim.

A solid fantasy spy-thriller set in a world where Great Britain has colonized and monetized the afterlife, but it was a bit too blunt and emotionally disconnected. For me, the choice to reveal the mole to the audience early on really negated a lot of the tension, and so much of the book had to be carried with solid characters and inventive worldbuilding. Flawed, but intriguing.

I will never understand DC‘s fetishization of the popular disdain for Aquaman. It seems like every modern story has to be about how cool and misunderstood he is, porting over our real world attitude towards the character in a way that makes no sense in universe, where he is a beautiful blonde royal with an epic love story who chills with Superman. It is nonsense.

Also, I really didn‘t like the art in this one.

Didn‘t care for this one. The art felt stiffer, the action didn‘t move well, the plot felt a bit racist, and things pushed too quickly. These books are a bit of a delicate balance, and I don‘t know if Percy and Lobosco have that balance figured out.

A great idea that gets weighed down by a bog-standard gritty vigilante story and a bad fill-in artist. The parts about the vapid 21st century cruelty of Gotham‘s hipster class is often brilliant; the rest could use some work. And the backups are particularly rough, to me.

Still, there are definitely small flashes of worldbuilding brilliance here. Wish it got to do more of that.

Gorgeous art and unusually sensitive writing combine in this lovely YA Supergirl origin story. It falls apart a lot in its final chapter - it needed probably one more chapter to spread things out and feel more natural - but this is a book people will fall in love with regardless.

Finally, Morrison‘s ACTION COMICS comes together with an absolute banger of a conclusion. Big, weird, epic science fantasy that plays with time and perspective in fun and weird ways. A hell of a conclusion, both trippy and engagingly direct. Worth slogging through some of the earlier stuff to reach it.

The main story doesn‘t totally work in this follow up to “Superman and the Men of Steel,” but the shorts - about Calvin Ellis, Steel, and especially “The Boy Who Stole Superman‘s Cape” - are solid gold. Again, this is a bit too uneven, but the fact that Morales is only on a few issues helps it, as does the focus on shorter stories.

Really not digging Rags Morales‘ art, which doesn‘t have the energy a Morrison story demands. This is also more disjointed than most Morrison, which doesn‘t help. The first issue or two is brilliant, but I do think it peters off a bit and gets lost in continuity porn. Not bad, but it can‘t live up to the impossibly high expectations of Morrison on Superman. Still, I LOVE Morrison‘s young, passionate, activist take on the character.

I liked the look and feel, I‘m intrigued by the setting, I‘m definitely in for book 2 - but this first volume left me kind of cold. There isn‘t really much of a story, either issue to issue or in the volume as a whole, or at least not much that gets meaningfully resolved. One major plot thread just kind of stops in the weirdest way, which starts another that comes from nowhere. Weird structure here. Promising, but not fully formed yet.

Powerful, moving, and wonderfully written. Exactly what I love about YA literature.

I don‘t love Brenden Fletcher‘s writing, going back to his Batgirl run - it is too frenetic and restless for me, typically. But, as ever, he is saved by artist Babs Tarr, who has a killer alt-design sense and an energy to her art that keeps Fletcher‘s sometimes iffy scripts moving. This is the Babs Tarr show, through and through.

Probably the most coherent and interesting of Aaron‘s THOR books, though it is hard to shake the feeling that it exists basically to tie the franchise closer to the films. It focuses way too much on Gorr and Original Sin, two of Aaron‘s weakest stories ever, but as a fantasy beat-‘em-up, the mostly gorgeous art from Coipel makes some of the action striking, if not terribly fluid or easy to follow.

There are definitely aspects of USER that feel painfully dated, but at its core, this is a remarkably relevant book about gender, the internet, and escapism. Anyone who has lost themselves online rather than deal with a harsh reality that seems intractable will, I think, be able to relate to what Grayson is saying here, and she does a great job at showing how queer online gaming was from minute one.

Finished this at lunch and loved it. A great Bond story, clever and thrilling. The best of the Bond comics I‘ve read to date.

This book changed the way I think about job dissatisfaction. I don‘t agree with every point and even find his argument flat-out wrong at times, but I still found the book funny, tragic, insightful, and thought-provoking. Graeber argues very persuasively that our modern economic system is hopelessly broken, less free market capitalism than a new form of feudalism. One of the rare economics reads that will stick with me.

Every few months, a read another Craft Sequence book, and am delighted anew by the clever world building, great characters, casual diversity, and excellent fantasy storytelling. Full Fathom Five is no exception, bringing back some old favorites but building out the setting in cool new directions. Honestly, this one might be my favorite of the series to date.