Bit of a slow reading month for me … I think I’m in a bit of a slump, but May brings a new Susan Ryeland mystery by Anthony Horowitz (Marble Hall Murders), a new LASD detective character by Michael Connelly (Nightshade), and a new Holly Gibney tale by Stephen King (Never Flinch), not to mention two new DC Finest volumes featuring Superboy and Batman (in addition to the Superman Family one I’m currently reading). But let’s look at what I’ve read (past tense) in the past month, not at what I’ll be reading for the foreseeable future …
Hidden in Smoke by Lee Goldberg • 4 Stars on Goodreads
This is the third Walker and Sharpe novel by Lee Goldberg, which features two arson investigators for the LAFD. This one is better than the second novel (Ashes Never Lie), but not as good as the first (Malibu Burning), which introduced the duo, and was—forgive the pun—a real barn-burner of a story. This series resides in Goldberg’s Eve Ronin universe and in fact Ronin makes another appearance in this novel (in addition to a sixth book—Fallen Star—coming out this fall). Goldberg also brings back another group of characters from Malibu Burning in this one, and their appearance almost feels like it should be a separate book. Walker and Sharpe are thrown into the investigation of a burning underpass on Interstate 10 in Los Angeles, a real-life event that happened in November 2023. Unfortunately, it appears there is no lack of LA fires for Goldberg to write about these days. I love the humor in these books, especially the banter between Walker and Sharpe and Walker and Ronin; it grounds the characters and makes them seem more real. I look forward to all of Goldberg’s new books these days, especially if they’re set in the “Ronin universe.”
Alias Emma by Ava Glass • 4 Stars on Goodreads
I enjoyed this first book in a new series (well, new to me), which chronicles a hard day’s night for British secret service agent Emma Makepeace (not her real name), on her first big solo mission as she tries to transport a young doctor hunted by Russian spies across London to safety, avoiding the thousands of CCTV cameras that fill the city, since said Russian spies have hacked into the system and are tracking her and the person she’s sworn to protect. I love London (and James Bond) so this was right up my alley. If I understand the “acknowledgements” page at the end of the book, this has already been optioned for something—streaming series or movie—and it would make an excellent one, whichever that may be. There are two other Emma Makepeace books by author Glass in this series already, The Traitor and The Trap. I’ll be giving both a go, as the Brits say.
David Wright’s Carol Day: Jack Slingsby • 5 Stars on Goodreads
This is actually the print version of this book, not the Kindle version; I picked it up from the publisher in the Small Press Section at Comic-Con 2024, and I’m glad I did. It’s a small collection of one complete story reprinted from the Carol Day comic strip, which appeared in the Daily Mail, a British newspaper, in 1964. It’s basically a soap opera/romance strip about the adventures of an attractive young woman, Carol Day, who happens to be a model. She runs into an old school friend, who introduces her to her talented artist but ne’er-do-well boyfriend, Jack Slingsby. Carol agrees to model for him for a commercial job involving lingerie, since he can’t make any money with his paintings. Of course being in such sexy proximity, they fall for each other, and worry about what they’re going to do with their present mates, Carol’s boyfriend, Joe, and Jack’s wife, Iris. The writing is good and kind of reminds me of U.S. strips like Mary Perkins: On Stage and The Heart of Juliet Jones. But what really sets off this story is the art by David Wright, which is so lush and beautifully drawn, it’s almost criminal. The strips in this edition are reproduced from the original art, so it’s a shame that the book is so small (a square format measuring 8” x 8”). You almost need a magnifying glass to properly enjoy each panel (the strips are printed three per page) and to see the incredible detail Wright poured into each and every strip. I can’t imagine what this looked like on crummy newsprint in the mid-60s, but it looks wonderful on good paper. I’ve recently ordered another Carol Day collection, which is in a much better 9” x 12” size format, with two strips per page, but doesn’t produce a complete story, concentrating instead on some of the artist’s best work, again reproduced from his original art.
Wonder Woman: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1 by Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru, and Mike Esposito • 5 Stars on Goodreads
Wonder Woman in the 1960s might be DC Comics’ wonkiest book. Robert Kanigher (who had been doing the book as both writer and editor since issue 30 in 1947 when creator William Moulton Marston died) created an entire world wrapped around the amazing Amazon, including her own little “Wonder Woman Family,” which is slowly introduced in this volume. Wonder Woman 98 is viewed as the start of the Silver Age for the title. It’s the first issue that Ross Andru and Mike Esposito took over the interior art. This volume reprints Wonder Woman issues 98 through 123, roughly from 1958 into mid-1961. It features the introduction of Wonder Girl, “The Amazon Teen-ager!” and Wonder Tot, Wonder Woman as a little girl, who won’t become a more featured player until the Silver Age Omnibus Volume 2. Queen Hippolyta, the royal mum of the Wonder Woman Family, also plays an increasing role, often referred to as Wonder Queen. Kanigher’s writing is delightfully wonky and his apparent love of dinosaurs (he did, after all, create the classic “War That Time Forgot” series that pitted U.S. soldiers against dinosaurs on a forgotten Pacific Island, which ran for over four years in Star-Spangled War Stories), is on display here. There are lots of dinosaurs. I was not a huge fan of Wonder Woman as a kid; we bought the book pretty much each month, but I didn’t like Andru and Esposito’s art. Wonderfully (pun intended), that attitude has changed as I’ve grown older, and I thoroughly enjoyed these wonky stories.
Wonder Woman: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 2 by Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru, and Mike Esposito • 5 Stars on Goodreads
This second volume collecting the Silver Age stories of Wonder Woman features issues 124 through 149, which includes the “official” introduction of the Wonder Woman Family—Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, Wonder Tot, and Wonder Queen (the Queen Mum of the group)—and writer-editor Robert Kanigher’s “Impossible Tales” concept, which allows all of them to coexist together in the same time and place, even though three of them—Woman, Girl, and Tot—are the same person. Don’t ask me to explain it, just have fun—like I did—reading the stories. Wonder Tot is certainly the most charming of the DC “baby” characters of this era and Andru and Esposito’s art really adds to that charm. The stories are … well, DC in the 1960s is a bit wonky across the board, and these are among their wonkiest stories, but they’re soooo different than anything you might read in today’s comics, so they’re refreshingly wonky!
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