Violet

Ugh it had been too long since the last time I read a good Spider-Man comic! This was a real nice treat after trying and failing the Slott run many times. It's from around the end of his time on the book but it's instead helmed by the great Chip Zdarsky. Really simple classic Spider-Man stories with heart. This volume is also completely stand-alone (aside from the few references to other Marvel books of the time) so it's easy to jump right in without even reading the previous volumes.

Definitely recommend, the artwork alone is worth the price of admission. The Chris Bachalo story is just visual perfection. Top notch.

Well this was better than I expected!

An “anthology” series with one hell of a wraparound. A college student finds herself trapped in her very own dream house, her House of Mystery. Inside she finds a small bundle of others also trapped, along with many guests visiting the house's bar. Through these guests we are told stories from different worlds, times, and perspectives. In any other series this would probably be the main focus with the House itself taking a backseat. Not here though, the serialized story usually takes up the majority of each issue.

To speak on those, as any anthology goes it's a mixed bag. I found the stories to mostly be short and sweet with none overstaying their welcome. The art was consistent from issue to issue with each anthology segment having it's own artist. Issue #4 had both mediocre art and a story with less substance than any other cheapie pulp trash I've read (and I tend to like said pulp trash).

The main attraction in my opinion is the serialized story though. With an interesting cast of characters I hope to see developed over House of Mysteryies 42 issue run. The character I found myself most intrigued by was the House itself. I'm such a sucker for eldritch locations of endless halls and strange plagued landscapes. Such poignant images are here of giant skeletons dotting vast fields, century old corpses and ancient artifacts just poking out from underneath the grounds.

The eponymous House of Mystery is the same one owned by Cain in the DC universe but he is not present in this volume except for the opening (although I expect his arrival soon). I rather liked the way this series has planted itself in the world of The Sandman while also leaving it so quickly. I'll leave this review with the hook in the very beginning of Issue #1, after killing Abel and enjoying some tea, Cain leaves his brothers home to find is own plot empty. Someone has stolen the House of Mystery.

I so want to give this a 5/5 but given it's only part of a mystery I'll give it a 4 for now. No idea why this took me so long to finally read, I pretty much loved everything about it. Some of the most provocative and original science fiction I've read in a long time, really does something new and exciting with tired Sci-Fi tropes. The mystery is deep and layered (fascinating to try and piece together albeit on the confusing side), I really hope it sticks the landing in the end.

Of course it goes without saying that Cliff Chiang's artwork is gorgeous and his panel to panel storytelling is pitch perfect. There is some all-timer design work in here for Creatures, Weird Tech, and costume design. Don't know how much of that is Vaughan's writing or Chiang's sketching but either way it does wonders for the world of the book.

...I really wish this had been a truly trans story as I know reading something like this when I had been in middle school would've have been so so impactful. As it stands it is ever so slightly gender queer but at it's core it really does seem to be another story about a boy and a girl falling in love.

I adored the art throughout and there were certainly plenty of cute moments, I just think I wanted more than the story was willing to give.

Only read this for the Mignola story If a Man Be Clay which is a near panel-to-panel remake of an original Detective Comics issue. The dialogue is cheesy, the scenarios are strange, and it's all perfectly told through Mignola's art. I liked the fact that this was a self proclaimed pre-crisis story, something I don't think we get enough of.

The expressionist flair of the art really gave a new tone to this story, especially reading it back to back the original issue. I know he really doesn't like Batman that much but I could easily read a whole book of Mignola retelling Golden Age Detective Comics.

In a weird turn of events I did not enjoy the main story here at all. I'm a huge fan and defender of Scott Snyder but this one didn't grip me. I'm also admittedly not a fan of Two-Face at all so that has something to do with it.

Now I will say, I actually really recommend this for the Backup stories collected here. They center around Duke Thomas who is a character I'm liking more and more with each appearance. The artwork was SO much better than JRJR's work on the main arc. The dialogue especially was just so much more human and gripping.

The I Am Suicide story was very poetic and mysterious for a Batman story but I think it worked very well. Not perfect by any means but certainly deeper and far more interesting than your average Bat story. ★★★★

Rooftops only 2 issues but it is the star of the show. Beautiful and heartbreaking. ★★★★★

If I had been reviewing Issue 51 of Batman (2011) it would've been ★★★★★.

Given DC is money hungry though, I'm having to type this review out differently. Issue #51 is Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's final issue together. It should have been included in volume 9 but...here we are. The issue itself is beautiful in both it's writing and artwork. A final goodbye tour of Snyder and Capullo's world. The short visit to the Court of Owl's made me really emotional, that story arc means a lot to me.

The rest of the issues contained here are vaguely related. In truth they're all just loose-ends DC didn't know where to reprint. One of which, “Madhouse” by James Tynion IV, really upset me. Completely ruins the small-scale personal story of Bruce Wayne in Superheavy and Bloom. I'm just going to pretend this issue never happened because hell is it bad.

Really underrated Legends of the Dark Knight arc. A bit like Batman: White Knight (although admittedly not as good). The art reminded me a lot of Kelley Jones, whom I love. Gotham is dark but playful, almost feeling like a twisted Disneyland.

3.5

Mignola's art was great as always but the story wasn't all there for me. Still worth a read.

4 stars for everything besides the Richard Corben story House of the Living Dead which gets an exemplary 5 stars. Honestly the best pastiche of the great Universal Monster sequels I've ever seen, nails every classic trope while still being madly original.

A one-shot Civil War Tie-In done in an anthology format. I enjoyed 3 of 6 anthology stories here so one star for each one I liked.

Switching Sides by Marc Guggenheim and Leinil Yu - A fun little Venom story with great visuals.

The Immortal Iron Fist by Brubaker and Fraction and David Aja - A really great “Daredevil” story with done by the same artist as Fraction's Hawkeye. Cannot stress enough how good the visual storytelling here is.

and finally,

Howard the Duck in Non-Human-Americans by Ty Templeton and Roger Langridge - One of the funniest comic stories I've read and a seriously great use of Howard the Duck.

This is a STRONG Four because I hear it gets better from here on. If this was standalone it'd easily be a Five.

I know the series probably gets better from here but I can't help but give this first volume a 5. Heartbreaking, depressing, hopeful, beautiful, dreamy. Absolute perfection of the medium, I'm in love already.

This felt not too dissimilar to a six-issue arc on Detective Comics. It's essentially a small scale murder mystery set in the midst of Batman Eternal. At this point in the story Wayne Manor is temporarily seized and used as the new Arkham Asylum. Author Gerry Duggan avoids the typical Rouges Gallery formula and instead writes a tight and interesting mystery bringing Batman deeper inside the Manor than ever before.

Worth a read even without pre-existing knowledge of the Batman Eternal storyline.

Batman Eternal - ★★★½

This was a pretty strong 4 for me, especially for an anthology. I loved Issues #1, #2, and #5 (Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Gwen, and SP//DR respectively) the most. I agree with most in that these stories should have been longer, I would've loved to see some of these developed further. I could've read a whole 6 issues of Gerard Way's anime love-letter SP//DR. The stylized cyberpunk world was really enjoyable, despite the cheesy cameos.

Surprisingly long collection of issues from Zenescope's Grimm Tales of Terror series. This is my first time reading anything from them and it's clear what their MO is. I don't have an issue with fun raunchy horror but I can see this not working as well for others. It's definitely in the same vein as an EC or Warren comic but almost never hits the same level of quality in any of it's arenas. The writing, stories, and art is all very similar across the board, nothing groundbreaking at all.

Would still recommend this to those who enjoy anthology horror but there are plenty of better options out there. Won't stop me from reading the next 2 volumes though.

The first half of this is mostly Backups from the Zero Year story arc. These are okay. Nothing to write home about.

The second half on the other hand takes a sudden turn into really top tier Detective stories. There's a fantastic Clayface story called “Nowhere Man” done by Snyder and Capullo. Then a story called “Ghost Lights by James Tynion IV. This one features Superman and has a Lovecraftian premise. Loved this one as well. The final standout was “The Meek” plotted by Snyder and written by Gerry Duggan. This one was a straight-forward Detective story with a new killer. His motive was refreshingly tame but still downright evil. Beautiful artwork and story.

Only other thing I want to mention is the reveal of Bluebird in the final story “Gotham Eternal”, a tie-in to the Batman Eternal comic series. Bluebird has been teased by Snyder since the beginning of his run and it's great to see her finally come into play. Love her design, excited to see more of her character alongside the rest of the Bat-Family.

Total - 4.5 / 5

Blades - 3.5 / 5

Legend of the Dark Mite - 4 / 5

Hothouse - 5 / 5

#39-40 - Mask - ★★★★ (Fun nightmarish horror story. Really Nightmare on Elm Street-esque visuals.)

#50 - Images - ★★ (Bland Joker Story.)

#52-53 - Tao - ★★★ (Decent Spiritual story with Kung-Fu action. Great art.)

#54 -Sanctum - ★★★★★ (Mike Mignola issue, one of my favorite Batman stories of all time.)

Not giving this 2 stars because it's bad, I'm giving it 2 stars because it's not a whole story. I DO NOT understand this modern publishing model of Trade Paperbacks collecting pieces of a story arc, just wait until the rest of the issues are out! It's a disservice to the story, pacing, and the readers.

I do genuinely like the set-up here but that's all it is, the set-up to a story! I will be very interested to see how this goes about tackling its gay characters, two of which being suspected murderers, whether or not it ends up having something to say about why gay men turn to violence or (the much preferred) how gay men are framed as deviants and put away for crimes they didn't commit.

Like I said though, not even a complete story arc, just a fragment of a longer narrative. Will be waiting for the eventual Library Edition that actually collects the entire story.

I could read another 100 pages of them just crawling through that weird mansion labyrinth. The detail is just immense, every inch of the page is covered with strange mechanisms and objects. The idea that all that being hidden underneath a sleepy New England town just pushes all the right buttons for me.

If the story was exclusively about that mystery and all the organic(?) instruments & machinery than I'd give it a ★★★★★ easily. Shame about the weird sex stuff though, super uncomfortable and didn't really need to be there.

And I'm in love.

I'm 100% in for the long haul here, Mignola is such a talented writer and a visionary artist. I'm diving head first into not just Hellboy but all of his work.

I didn't think anyone could write an anthology such as solid as this volume, every story is so strong in it's own way. A must-read for any horror fan.

EDIT: what was i smoking when i wrote this. this book is a 4 at best.

Man I'm not sure exactly why people hate this so much? Comics are so fluid, things can change do dramatically and so quickly. Especially in a cosmic multiverse where time works far different than real life.

This storyline featured gorgeous art the whole way through and a thought-provoking dream-like story. Yes it has arguably one of the biggest comic retcons in history, but does that have to be a bad thing? These characters will never die unless their companies die. Likely, they will outlive all of us. Why do their lives have to stay the same, stuck in an endless ageless loop.

I for one feel the heartbreak of this change, this cosmic shift. I feel it and I welcome it.

Enjoyed this a hell of a lot more than I expected to. I figured this was going to feel a bit like a Michael Bay movie but instead it delivered some pretty bleak science-fiction. It's not the deepest comic but it certainly has more to say than some other events I've read. The last half goes off the rails in the best comic-y way possible so it's definitely worth a read just for that bit.