3 Highlights from this Week's FOC
WHAT SHOULD YOU NOT MISS THIS WEEK?
Hello, ghosts and ghouls,
This week in FOC: The Less-Dark Knight, Peak Soap Opera X-Men, and the WCS warehouse’s biggest hidden gem.
Upbeat Batman! Bitchy Robin! A villain inspired by Purple Rain-era Prince!
There are lots of reasons to love Grant Morrison’s run on Batman, but the era collected in Batman & Robin by Grant Morrison: Absolute Edition HC is without a doubt one of the most fun.
The madcap energy of the 60s TV show meets dark, trippy modern storytelling.
Bruce Wayne is presumed dead, but Gotham needs a Batman. And, as usual, our guy Dick Grayson steps up, imposter syndrome and all. He’s a reluctant Batman, and a much more human one, too—if you’re used to Bruce Wayne in his mall goth, “Everyone stay away from me, I’m toxic!” mode, it’s incredibly refreshing.
Dick’s Robin is the pouty, shouty Damian Wayne, and chemistry between the two is fantastic. Turning the usual “Batman and Robin” dynamic upside down by giving us a brooding, angsty Robin and a friendly, outgoing Batman is one of those great ideas that seems obvious only in hindsight.
In true Morrison style, Batman & Robin is an absolute live wire. The whole series bursts with energy, barrelling through five whole arcs in just sixteen issues thanks to Morrison’s “hyper compressed” storytelling. Fresh ideas and new characters whiz by in nearly every issue, including the terrifying Professor Pyg and the flamboyant Flamingo, whose Purple Rain-inspired look alone might be worth the price of admission.
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called “a year without Bruce Wayne in the main title.”
Morrison has called the approach to this run “acid bubblegum,” and the bright, kinetic psychedelia absolutely radiates off the page in the hands of Frank Quitely, who might be the author’s ultimate collaborator.
And lucky you, reader: you also get a few issues by the master of unsettlingly hazy, gothic dreamscapes, Frasier Irving.
Can we agree that Frasier Irving rules? Side note: if you’re into spooky and mysterious, go read “The Island of Mister Mayhew” now.
Batman & Robin By Grant Morrison: Absolute Edition HC gives Morrison’s run on the title the deluxe Absolute treatment, including bonus goodies, Batman: The Return #1, and Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1–6.
But honestly, this marvelous extended freak-out is so much fun you might not want OG Batman back as soon as you’d think.
Batman & Robin By Grant Morrison: Absolute Edition HC *PRE-ORDER*
€83,99
€125,00
A new Dark Knight rises—and he’s not alone. Witness the bold reinvention of the Batman legacy in a story of legacy, resurrection, and rebellion.In the wake of Bruce Wayne’s apparent death, Dick Grayson dons the cape and cowl, teaming up… read more
Speaking of legends…
by the time the reader drops in on ace pilot Madelyne Prior and horny, monocular bigamist Scott Summers battling sea monsters, a raging storm, and self-induced sex fatigue, Chris Claremont had been writing Uncanny X-Men for decades.
“Jean, Jean, Jean, blah blah blah.” Madelyne Prior gets what she wants while piloting an aircraft.
Claremont’s deep familiarity with his characters shows in every issue in X-Men Epic Collection Vol. 11: Lifedeath TP, from conversations and gestures fraught with emotions to…punching fraught with emotion.
And what punching it is. John Romita, Jr. and Barry Windsor-Smith are both in their prime in these issues, meaning every panel is filled with weight, humor, and—of course—maximum drama. This is basically the best telenovela you’ve ever seen, with language as florid as anything Oscar Wilde ever wrote and the drama of Rogue’s personality crisis hitting every bit as hard as…well, the Juggernaut.
But even with emotional journeys a-plenty, the crown jewel of this collection is without a doubt issue 186: Lifedeath.
Claremont’s Storm is a complex, multifaceted person as much as she is an indomitable god.
It’s one of the foundational stories of the modern X-Men. As Storm struggles to climb out of a deep depression brought on by the loss of her powers, she’s nursed back to health by Forge, whose soul (and body) are similarly wounded.
It’s a moving story of self-discovery, romance, and two lost people finding each other in a moment of solace and vulnerability. And, if you get bored, there’s also Rogue fighting creepy monsters who suck out people’s flesh through their tentacles.
X-Men Epic Collection Vol. 11: Lifedeath TP *PRE-ORDER*
€39,50
€54,99
Chris Claremont's decades-spanning run on the X-Men continues, now joined by artistic legend John Roimita Jr.!John Romita Jr. joins Chris Claremont as the X-Men’s chart-topping adventures continue! Drama abounds as Cyclops heads off on his honeymoon with Madelyne Pryor, Wolverine’s… read more
Hey gang, remember back in high school, how we used to solve all those crazy mysteries around town? Well, guess what?
The gorgeously designed Hobtown Mystery Stories resemble classic YA titles like the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories. But behind their stories of plucky, mystery-solving teens lurks something far weirder.
Seriously, these things are exquisite. The faux library-copy wear on the spines fools me every time.
In The Case of the Missing Men and The Case of the Cursed Hermit, Hobtown high school’s Teen Detective Club investigated seemingly innocuous mysteries that gradually unraveled to reveal the esoteric, sinister, and even supernatural threads weaving their small Nova Scotia town together.
In Hobtown Mystery Stories TP Vol 03 The Secret Of The Saucer, a mayoral election, the arrival of a UFO, and a leadership crisis within the teen detective club all converge, along with an outbreak of “literal backward thinking,” and paranoia starts creeping in like never before.
With teens exploring the darkness beneath the facade of a small town, the obvious comparison is to Twin Peaks, and fans of that show will definitely dig this series. But Hobtown has a feel all its own—it’s chillier, more remote, and it’s quirk lacks the optimistic, mid-century sheen that permeates Lynch’s.
For my money, the Hobtown Mystery Stories may be the WCS warehouse’s most slept-on hidden gem, and they’re perfectly suited to this time of year when the veil between worlds is at its thinnest. If you roll the dice on an indie title this autumn, this should be the one.
Hobtown Mystery Stories TP Vol 03 The Secret Of The Saucer *PRE-ORDER*
€21,49
€24,99
Return to Hobtown, the charming rural village in Nova Scotia at the heart of surreal and haunting mysteries, and home to the after-school Teen Detective Club dedicated to solving them. The third must-read volume of the page-turning series that The… read more
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See you,
Don
