GenX Comics

Kafka

This brief but inclusive biography of Franz Kafka and summary of many of his works, all illustrated by Crumb, helps us understand the essence of Kafka and provide insight beyond the cliche “Kafkaesque.” “What do I have in common with the Jews? I don’t even have anything in common with myself.” Nothing could better express the essence of Franz Kafka, a man described by his friends as living behind a “glass wall.” Kafka wrote in the tradition of the great Yiddish storytellers, whose stock-in-trade was bizarre fantasy tainted with hilarity and self-abasement. What he added to this tradition was an almost unbearably expanded consciousness. Alienated from his roots, his family, his surroundings, and primarily from his own body, Kafka created a unique literary language in which to hide away, transforming himself into a cockroach, an ape, a dog, a mole or a circus artiste who starves himself to death in front of admiring crowds. David Zane Mairowitz’s brilliant text and the illustrations and comic panels of the world’s greatest cartoonist, Robert Crumb (himself no stranger to self-loathing and alienation), help us to understand the essence of Kafka and provide insight beyond the cliche “Kafkaesque,” peering through Kafka’s glass wall like no other book before it. The book is a wonderful educational tool for those unfamiliar with Kafka, including a brief but inclusive biography as well as the plots of many of his works, all illustrated by Crumb, making this newly designed edition a must-have for admirers of both Kafka and Crumb. Black-and-white comics throughout

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Crumb meets Kafka…meets Crumb
Kafka was a complex man whose genius is inseparable from his huge neuroses. So is Robert Crumb. Put the two together, as this book does, and the upshot is a book in which the distinction between author Crumb and subject Kafka tends to dissolve. The book is just as much about the one as the other. It’s no mistake that Crumb is drawn (sorry for the bad pun) to Kafka.

At one level, the book is a primer on the life and work of Franz Kafka, with Crumb lavishly illustrating David Zane Mairowitz’s text (warning: the text is strangely loaded with typos). The highlights of Kafka’s life, including his stormy relationship with his father, his alienation from Prague, the city in which he spent most of his life, his difficulties with sexual intimacy, his self-loathing, his work at an insurance agency, and his struggle with tuberculosis, are all chronicled. Moreover, synapses of some of his best work–”The Judgment,” “The Metamorphosis,” “The Burrow,” “In the Penal Colony,” “A Hunger Artist,” “Letter to His Father,” The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika–are provided. Someone who knows nothing or little about Kafka will get a good orientation from reading this book.

But it’s Crumb’s pen-and-ink illustrations that make the book. They’re eerie, dark, and at times actually frightening: perfect glimpses of Kafka’s demons as well as Crumb’s. In fact, Crumb and Kafka share many of the same demons: an intense need for comfort by women, but a deep-seated hostility to them; an equally intense need for public approval, coupled with an intense contempt for the crowd; a fascination with the usually unnoticed weirdness of the ordinary; a competing attraction and repulsion to the artistic, bohemian crowd; seething but repressed sexuality; a periodic yearning to disappear, to be punished, to be redeemed and reborn through suffering; an alternately bewildered and enraged dislike of Nietzschean proportions of the way in which popular culture cheapens existence (Crumb & Mairowitz’s take on touristy Prague, pp. 174-75, is priceless); and a need to confess some of their darkest secrets, through their art, to the very public they disdain. In many ways, both Crumb and Kafka are hunger artists: they refuse to partake of the status quo not necessarily because they’re ascetics, but simply because they don’t find anything in it that whets their appetites. In gazing at Crumb’s brilliant illustrations of Kafka, one can’t help but think that this work, like so much of what Crumb does, is autobiographical.

Is it intentionally so? Does Crumb understand the deep connection between himself and Kafka? Is the book intended, at least on one level, as a gag: a book about Crumbka? I dunno, although I suspect that Crumb knows exactly what he’s doing. But what I do know is that Kafka is about more than just Kafka. And that’s what makes doubly intriguing.

4 Stars An Interesting Biography with nice comic book interpretation of Kafka’s works.
This book is a biography of Franz Kafka. Throughout the book we get summaries of Kafka’s important works and we get to see Crumb’s visual interpretation of these stories. That is the best part of the book for me. The biographical side is also very good, explaining a bit of why Kafka wrote like that.

While reading the book, I felt like it is hard to call most of it a comic book, because it has a lot of prose. The parts of the book where we get to see Crumb interpret Kafka’s stories definitely feel like a comic book, but the biography section doesn’t. However, I thinks this works very well in the book, it makes the stories more alive when the images tell more than just being a drawing.

I enjoyed the book, it is worth reading.

5 Stars Crumb Fan Must Have
If you are A Crumb Fan or Collect Crumb this is a must have. I bought it used from an approved Amazon seller and received it quickly and in very good condition! I had no idea who KAFKA was but once I picked it up I could not put it down.

5 Stars Crumb’s art MAKES this book
I only got this because of Crumb and I got an unexpected and enlightening education. Kafka could be a difficult and obtuse subject, but the insightful writing and Crumb’s amazing art work make it understandable and fascinating. Only R Crumb could pull this off so well.

5 Stars If you need Kafka in a hurry…
This is an amazing book about Kafka. I have read some Kafka, but never in a million years would I have bought a biography of Kafka–unless I had been intrigued by the idea of it being in “graphic novel” format. David Mairowitz does a superb job of simply and clearly illustrating Kafka as a human being and dissecting Kafka’s writing with great reverence for the work. As for Robert Crumb, it would be hard to imagine a better artist to illustrate a book about Kafka. Perhaps it is due to Crumb’s very public neuroticism and career built on drawing the nebbish that you feel an instant sense of the “rightness” of the artistic depictions in this book.

It is a delightful, often humorous, and informative read. You would be hard pressed to find a less painful way to become more familiar with the world and work of Franz Kafka. I would highly recommend this book for any student assigned to read Kafka, or for anyone who has read something of Kafka and would like a better sense of his origins and influences. It is somehow scholarly and delightful all at the same time.

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Criminal Vol. 5: The Sinners

Criminal’s most popular character, Tracy Lawless, returns in The Sinners! It’s been a year since Tracy was forced into working for the bad guys, and now made men are turning up dead all over the city, in what appears to be mob-style hits. But since criminals don’t go to the cops for justice… only Tracy can solve this crime. Collects Criminal: The Sinners #1-6

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Crime At Its Finest
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips smash another homerun with Criminal: The Sinners. The writer and artist turn their attention back to Tracy Lawless, arguably their fans’ favorite character in the series, and definitely my personal favorite.

I love Tracy. He’s a damaged soul, a war hero turned vigilante after tracking down the murderers of his brother. This graphic novel opens up a year after Tracy has finished avenging his brother and has taken on his brother’s debt to Sebastian Hyde, one of the bloodiest criminals in the city.

With his background as a military soldier in special ops, becoming a hit man for Hyde seemed like a natural thing and a good fit for Tracy. It wasn’t, and that is where the problems start to occur. I liked the friction between Tracy and Hyde because it feels so right. Hyde would want to use Tracy for everything he could, but Tracy is a guy used to fighting for some kind of idea, and not waging war on innocents.

As always, Brubaker and Phillips throw in plenty of violence and dark streets. Throughout the history of the series so far, the city has started growing and taking in a character of its own. I like the neighborhoods the usual group of suspects that hang around in the shadows.

I enjoyed the twist where Tracy gets a lateral promotion from hitman to gumshoe in Hyde’s organization. Hyde’s paranoia that someone else is edging into the city causes a lot of tension that rolls down onto Tracy.

Adding to the mix is Sabrina, Sebastian Hyde’s wayward daughter. Her entrance onstage sets up a lot of problems to come. The fact that Tracy is also sleeping with his employer’s wife adds more danger.

The set up for the string of murders is well done, and I couldn’t guess what was going on for certain until Brubaker lifts the curtain in the graphic novel and reveals the killers. Even then I wasn’t quite certain about what was going on.

Brubaker is also fond of throwing in an oddball character and subplot, and that’s exactly what he does with Army CID investigator Yocum, who’s searching for Tracy after he deserted the military. I’m wondering if Yocum is going to figure into any more Brubaker stories because I really liked the character.

The story Brubaker spins out about Evan is wonderfully heartbreaking. The kid steps onto stage and brings a lot of emotion to the mix.

Story and character, plot and counterplot, all whiz through in a dizzying mix of violence and death. Brubaker’s eye for the corruption of man cuts as deeply as swallowing a mouthful of broken razor blades. Nobody does crime fiction like this in comics.

5 Stars If you like Sin City Your Going To Love This
At the risk of angering a lot of people I’m going to stick my neck out and say I Hate Sin City! I think it’s misogynist crap peopled with two dimensional characters and bad hokey dialog. It’s Micky Spillane in comic book form. Graphically intense, with an undeniable beauty to its rendering of violence, but that’s its only redeeming value. Pretty pictures are not enough for me if to enjoy the reading experience.

This is what Sin City should be; hard boiled characters (some good, some not) with complex motivations, whose lives spin out of control when exposed to the violence and indifference of the mean streets of the big city.

If Frank Miller has become the Micky Spillane of comics, then Ed Brubaker is the heir apparent of Dashiell Hammett. Dashiell Hammett Complete Novels: Red Harvest, The Dain Curse, The Maltese Falcon, The Glass Key, and The Thin Man (Library of America #110)

Superficially, the Criminal series bear some similarities to Sin City, in that a tapestry is being woven which is inter connecting all of the graphic novels. Each one is its own individual story, but if you read them all, you’ll find a supporting character in one story may take a more active role in another. Some times characters will bump in to each other on the way to the center stage of their own dramas. This device isn’t utilized to the extant that Miller does, but it happens.

The Sinners stars Tracy Lawless who previously starred in the graphic novel Criminal Vol. 2: Lawless. In that story he went a.w.o.l. in order to find the killer of his little brother. Raised in a broken home by a criminal father, his little brother tried to follow his dad’s footsteps in a misguided attempt to earn his love and approval, while Tracy went his own way enlisting in the military.

But violence begets violence, and here we find him still a.w.o.l. working off some imaginary dept to a dead brother, until his sense of honor is satisfied. And so the son becomes the father, as his moral compass gets more and more compromised, and his surety and sense of purpose increasingly muddled.

He’s become “the worst hitman in the world”. The kind that will only pull the trigger if he feels the person truly deserves it, and his employer is losing patience. But he’s given one last chance to work off his debt, and is charged with finding out who’s killing “made men” around town. But he’s no gumshoe, and is in over his head, and the choices he’s made over the past year will as likely get him killed from his prey as from his employer. But none of that matters, if in his mind, he can get square.

Tracy is a character more comfortable in a field of battle than in the morally ambiguous streets of the big city, where decisions and choices have far wider implications, and consequences may not be felt ’till much further down the road.

Which is why it’s good to read both graphic novels. Yes, they each stand alone, but as a pair you get to chart the character’s arc, and make no mistake, all of the graphic novels form a piece of a whole. What Ed Brubaker is doing here is writing one grand novel with an ensemble cast where the city is as much a character as the people in it.

The art by Sean Phillips is wonderful. There is a gritty, textured quality to his art somewhat reminiscent of Dave Mazzucchelli’s in Batman: Year One and Daredevil: Born Again (the last good thing Frank Miller ever wrote along with Ronin and Darknight Returns).

The colors by Val Staples, in which he’ll wash entire pages in reds, blues, violets, etc. burnish the page with an emotional texture that enhances both story and art.

If this were a movie, it would have been directed by Roman Polanski, written by Robert Towne, starred Robert Mitchum, and the cinematography would have been by Sven Nykvist. (check this little gem out for a 1970’s noir entry worthy of appreciation The Yakuza)

If you like crime comics, if you like hard boiled fiction, if you like film noir, give this a chance. You won’t be disappointed!

5 Stars Best comic book series out there
If you’ve read and loved the previous Criminal volumes than you’ll love this as well, it’s still great, and adds to the intertwining continuity of the series. If you didn’t care for it, you’re not going to suddenly love this one. And if you’re a new reader wanting to try this crime comic out, don’t despair, this is totally new reader friendly, you don’t have to go into this reading the previous four volumes. The knowledge of Tracy’s previous story is helpful but not required.

This story is about Tracy Lawless being a hitman for Sebastian Hyde (the mob boss of the city). He’s having moral issues with killing people; he doesn’t want to kill someone unless they deserve it, he does research to make sure they are reprehensible people first, similar to Wesley from the Wanted movie. The problem with this is that it slows down his job as being a hitman, and he’s even walked away from a few jobs, earning the scorn of Sebastian. And suddenly there’s been someone showing up and killing important criminal figures in the city, and Sebastian decides to give Tracy one last chance and get to the bottom of it. That basically sets up the story, you find out who is behind the killings very early on, and it’s fun to see Tracy struggle with bogus leads and have no idea who is behind the killings. To make matters worse, someone from his military past shows up and is looking for him.

For the long-term readers, we see the Undertow and Gnarly again, and we are introduced to Sebastian’s wife and daughter.

Philip’s art is masterful as always.

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The Sandman Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Here’s the latest in Vertigo’s award-winning series. The Lord of Dreams has killed his own son and now must face the consequences as his fate becomes entwined with the Kindly Ones, primal powers who revenge blood debts. Full-color illustrations. Graphic

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Graphic SF Reader
Lyta Hall’s son Daniel is taken from her. She shows that, when a superhero, she wasn’t called Fury for nothing.

Finding her mythological namesakes, she decides to put an end to Morpheus, the Lord of Dream. Morpheus is not without his own plans and defenses, however, but a promise made to a former servant costs him dearly.

5 Stars Everything ends
The thickest and in some ways most challenging Sandman collection, The Kindly Ones represents nothing less than Gaiman’s efforts to wrap up every single storyline from the entire Sandman saga. Here’s the incredible thing: he succeeds, all while creating one of the most poignant and quietly devastating arcs of the series. Anyone who’s read the series to this point has to suspect what’s coming, but even those who don’t have to be aware of the elegiac, mournful tone to the whole collection. As Morpheus makes the rounds, greeting characters so familiar by now that we almost view them as friends, we can’t help but know that we are coming to the end of things. Even so, as that end starts to come, and it turns out far more destructively than we might have imagined, we can’t help but feel each death and assault stack up, all leading up to one final decision that leaves the reader a little stunned. I’ve been taking my time through this volume, parsing it more than normal; given how intricately Gaiman has structured it, how many allusions and references there are to Greek tragedy here, I’m almost wanting to go through it again. It would definitely merit it, but then again, so would every volume of this incredible series.

5 Stars If it wasn’t for Gaiman’s amazing writing, the poor artwork would destroy this volume
Once again Gaiman is on his mark, as the writing and overall story is amazing. The artwork? Not so much. This is easily the poorest illustrated volume in the Sandman series. But the story is strong enough to not only make the reader feel depressed, but also feel hopeful with the next volume.

Three minor, supporting characters really shine in this volume - Matthew, The (new) Corinthian and Lucifer. These three characters alone have enough emotion to interest many people, and combined with the overarching story they really shine.

Again, the writing is top-notch Gaiman, and the storyline is fantastic. The artwork is at the very bottom of the series - but the writing alone makes up for the poor artwork. This is a volume that will change things for many people and should not be read unless many of the earlier volumes have been read.

5 Stars Review of Gaiman’s Sandman, Volume IX
This is an excellent rebound, after what I considered a dip in quality from Book VIII. There is something ‘classic’ about this work. It returns to all the foundational themes are stories present in the earlier Sandman novels, and uses them to great effect. This is the longest, and one of the best, volumes of Sandman.

5 Stars Change Must Have Ramifications
The Kindly Ones encompasses the direct consequences of the earlier volume, Brief Lives. In Brief Lives, Lord Morpheus (Dream) changes, for better or for worse. The actions that lead to such change must have ramifications, and The Kindly Ones details such repercussions.

In The Kindly Ones, Lyta Hall, a character who has made sporadic appearances throughout The Sandman series, is convinced that Dream has stolen her baby, Daniel. She goes to the women known as the Kindly Ones for vengeance, and even she couldn’t predict the outcome.

Making use of virtually every character in The Sandman mythos, The Kindly Ones is a truly epic tale that brings us to a point in Dream’s existence that would seem, based upon Brief Lives, inevitable. At times The Kindly Ones gets a bit muddled and verbose, but in the end, it was all worth it.

I’ve had the privilege of reading The Sandman series in completion and for the first time in the last few months, and The Kindly Ones is testament to the genius of Neil Gaiman. I don’t know if it was on purpose or a happy accident, but The Kindly Ones makes use of virtually every storyline preceding it and concludes such a mammoth story … it’s nearly unimaginable someone could dream up such a story.

My only suggestion: Skip the introduction and read it after you finish The Kindly Ones. It does reveal a fairly major plot point, which, upon retrospect seems obvious, but even so, I would have liked to have avoided the introduction’s cataclysmic revelation.

~Scott William Foley, author of Souls Triumphant

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Mercy Thompson: Homecoming

Mercy Thompson is a walker, a magical being with the power to transform into a coyote. She lives on the fine line dividing the everyday world from a darker dimension, observing the supernatural community while standing apart.

When Mercy travels to the Tri-Cities of Washington for a job interview, she quickly finds herself smack-dab in the middle of a gang war between rival packs of werewolves. And as if fangs and fur weren’t bad enough, Mercy must deal with the scariest creature of all: her mother, who is convinced that Mercy is making a mess of her life and determined to set her daughter on the right course.

The thrilling adventures of Mercy Thompson–Moon Called, Blood Bound, and Iron Kissed–have topped the New York Times bestseller list. Now Mercy makes her comics debut in an exclusive new story created by Patricia Briggs. Mercy Thompson: Homecoming is sure to please longtime fans and capture new ones with its mix of unforgettable characters and thrilling supernatural intrigue.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Storyline Inconsistent With The Series
I knew this was a graphic novel. I was looking forward to this graphic novel. I wanted to like this graphic novel. But I was upset by a storyline that doesn’t even match what has already been written. Honestly, I’m surprised this issue hasn’t been addressed in any of the other reviews.

I have been a HUGE Mercy Thompson fan. I loved all five books so far. I had just finished reading Silver Borne (Mercy Thompson, Book 5) and wanted some more Mercy, so I finally took the plunge and purchased ‘Homecoming.’ I like graphic novels–I love the artwork and how it creates part of the story. The artwork is pretty good–some pieces are better than others, but that’s always how it is with this medium.

I was most disappointed with all the inconsistencies in the storyline presented in ‘Homecoming.’ For example (and these are only what I can think of right off the top of my head without rereading books 1-5)….

1. In the books it is said that Mercy bought her home first and LATER Adam knowingly purchased the lot next to hers and built that monstrosity of his home. In Homecoming, Adam’s house is already there.

2. In the books it is said that (over the course of weeks) Mercy was hired 3 times by Tad and fired by each time before Zee finally came around to the idea of having a female mechanic. In Homecoming, it was only once.

3. In the books it is said that Mercy worked out a deal with Stephan AFTER she took over the garage which is a surprise to Zee. In Homecoming, Mercy works it out with him in the first few days she’s there (and she doesn’t even own the garage yet!)

4. In the books it is said that Adam was married when Mercy first met him, that he didn’t think of her other than an assignment until AFTER his divorce. In Homecoming, it is ‘implied’ that Adam is attracted to her at the end.

5. In the books it is said that Mercy’s cat, Medea, was a stray that showed up at her trailer. In Homecoming, Adam gifts the cat to Mercy.

What? Hmmmm…..

I wasn’t expecting to be blown out of the water with this installment of Mercy Thompson. I was expecting great artwork (check); watching Mercy meet Zee, Tag, Stephen, and mostly Adam (check); seeing what Mercy did when she first showed up in the Tri-Cities (check). I was also wanting it to fit the world that Ms. Briggs already created (no check). I felt like I was reading a storyline written by a sort-of-fan who hasn’t even read all of the books all the way through. Would you enjoy a prequel to Harry Potter where James and Lilly fell in love at 10 years old, where Sirius had a fear of motorcycles, and where Harry found Hedwig in a tree when he was 3? It wouldn’t make any sense! And unfortunately, so did ‘Homecoming.’

Recommendation: Enjoy it for what it is, but just stick with the books.

Moon Called (Mercy Thompson)

Blood Bound (Mercy Thompson, Book 2)

Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, Book 3)

Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson)

Silver Borne (Mercy Thompson, Book 5)

3 Stars Have Mercy?
Hmm…how to start? The first graphic novel featuring Mercy Thompson is a mixed bag; the story as a whole is perfectly fine, it may not be great but it’s serviceable. The illustrations are very good and attractive, however Mercy herself is not. Well, okay, the girl(s) is actually drawn well, but she’s not Mercy. My first thought was, “When did Mercy go from being Native American/white to Hispanic?” Even though there are different artists and styles of Mercy used in this book, like many graphic novels employ, none of them come close to matching her description. Save the cover illustration which is done by the same artist who does the full-length novel covers, Dan Dos Santos. Since she is the main character, I really think that is vital and hope the artists work on that for the next book. As for the dialogue, it’s rather mediocre, sometimes choppy, and a few times didn’t follow a logical sequence. I’d be reading along, then a sentence or statement would pop up that made me think I missed something somehow, so I’d proceed to go back, then find out I didn’t miss anything after-all, and it just didn’t make sense with everything around it. My last complaint has to do with how the book reads and the panel progression. The way the panels and speech balloons were set led to much confusion, I’d read one panel, move on to the next just to find out I should have read that one first. I have read graphic novels before and never had as many problems with them as I did with this one. I felt that more panels would have helped tell the story and there wouldn’t be so much confusion as to what had actually happened. Still, the book isn’t totally bad, it’s a good starting place, but hopefully everyone involved will learn from this first graphic novel so the next will be better executed. I’d say that if you’re not into graphic novels, that you should give it a pass unless you absolutely must read everything Mercy Thompson related.

5 Stars A great intro to Mercy
There have been some disparaging reviews about this book. Make sure you buy it with your eyes wide open. This is a graphic novel introduction to Mercy Thompson. I’ve read all the books and think the series is fantastic. Sure you won’t get the prose you get in a novel. Sure it’s a quick read. Sure it’s expensive for the amount of pages, if that’s how you value the work.

Bottom line, this is a beautiful graphic novel. If you enjoy, at all, the comic genre, this is worth picking up. You get a little more back story on how Mercy came to the Tri-Cities, but the real treat is the artwork.

Know what you’re buying and enjoy this addition to the Mercy series.

1 Stars Please have mercy
Not being aware of any Mercy Thompson series, I borrowed this nice looking comic from the library.

So you get a girl who changes into a coyote and battles it out with guys who change into wolves. The girl has to be naked first before she changes into a coyote. Yeah, this will appeal to the pre-pubescent crowd.

2 Stars Mercy Thompson : Homecoming
Not fond of graphic novels. I’ve read all current available versions of Mercy Thompson and have enjoyed all of them except this one. I feel ‘cheated’ no receiving a full novel

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Batman: Under the Hood, Vol. 1

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars A ghost from the past
It’s a shame that some people cannot allow themselves to view this story with an open mind, primarily because of the return of Jason Todd, and for some, a strong disliking for writer Judd Winick. Since I had no previous exposure to the character or to Winick, and thus had no bias pro or con towards them, I was able to judge this story strictly on its’ own merits, and they are many. Among them are witty dialogue, action packed scenes which are exciting and not just included to fill a quota or pad pages, and numerous quality guest stars, hero and villain alike, who actually enhance the story and not appear to fill a different quota. In Todd, you have the prototype antihero who is willing to cross the line that Batman won’t. In Black Mask, you have a great villain who is both a total bad guy but humorous also, somewhat like the Joker is supposed to be but rarely is. And with Batman, we see a man experiencing pain and anguish that has haunted him for years, and his current confusion and loss over what to do about the apparent resurrection of a ghost. If used properly, Todd could fill a void in the DCU for his type of character, even as the person you love to hate, and be an interesting foil for Batman to confront in the years to come. Hopefully DC will find a niche for him within the Bat family and take advantage of future story possibilities that his inclusion would provide.

5 Stars Amazing Read, Highly Underrated
This book was great, and I think underrated. To make this short and sweet, all Batman fans should buy this.

5 Stars Excellent
Under the Hood really surprised me. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the story was really well done. The story tells of the return of the Red Hood who basically starts a war against the new mob boss of Gotham City, the Black Mask. The story includes appearances by Nightwing, Superman, and Green Arrow.

In this, you really see Batman doubting himself and becoming obsesive. Its really good. HOWEVER i would recomend buying both volumes because once you finish Volume 1, you will want to read on.

4 Stars Beware the Red Hood
I don’t need every comics storyline these days be a never-before-seen take on our favorite characters or an earth-shattering re-examination placing things we thought we knew in an entirely new light. Those approaches can be great, but sometimes it’s fun to simply enjoy a solid story built on the elements we’ve come to know and love about a character and his or her world. And that’s what you get with this first volume presenting the recent “Under the Hood” storyline from Batman’s regular comic book title.

“Batman: Under the Hood, Volume 1″ collects six issues of mystery and adventure, as a strange new figure, the Red Hood, begins to disrupt Gotham City’s underworld, using tactics much more savage and brutal than Batman’s own none-to-gentle techniques. Reacting most dramatically to the Red Hood’s new war on crime is the creepy, deadly crime boss known as the Black Mask, and the Batman himself. The former justs wants the Red Hood out of the way, and the latter doesn’t like the merciless approach of the Red Hood, especially when clues point to the Red Hood possibly being someone who was close to Batman in the not-too-distant past.

As said, this isn’t a storyline like “Identity Crisis”, which combined unconventional story-telling with unprecedented revelations, or “The Dark Knight”, which presented an out-of-continuity original take on a superhero character (the Batman himself, in that case). No, the “Under the Hood” storyline simply delivers a solid story (by Judd Winick) and terrific art (by Doug Mahnke and Tom Nguyen) that throws lots of fun and drama our way, the kind of stuff that’s familiar but never dull when it’s done right. You get crime bosses, superhero guest appearances, a handful of super-villains, dark alleys, moves and counter moves, some big revelations, and lots of action. It’s all great. An added nice touch is the inclusion of Matt Wagner’s stylish and moody covers from the original issues, interspersed throughout this collection.

For the money, you can’t beat this collection, which will provide several hours of immersive entertainment. Just be warned: the story continues in “Batman: Under the Hood, Volume 2″, which I just purchased. By the way, I’m diving into these “Under the Hood” collections because DC is adapting this storyline into an upcoming direct-to-DVD animated film, to be entitled “Batman: Under the Red Hood”, and I wanted to experience the original storyline first. I’m betting the movie will be decent, as it will have a lot of good stuff to draw from, but I’m glad that I’m experiencing the original epic first, before it’s inevitably pared down to fit into a 75-minute movie.

Anyway, if you still have a soft spot for good, old-fashioned superhero action and melodrama, you can’t go wrong with this.

5 Stars The red hood
this book tells the missing lick of the death of jason and the red hood. every page fills you with a ooh, and ah,

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