A book by one of my favorite authors, a fascinating history of Hannibal Lecter, and three—count ‘em, THREE!—DC Finest volumes make up my May reading list.
Ironwood by Michael Connelly • 5 Stars on Goodreads
Despite having a minor stroke last year which temporarily affected his vision, Michael Connelly is on a roll, with 2026 being another year with two new books from the author. 2025 saw his introduction of Detective Stilwell, the lone detective on Catalina Island, in the book Nightshade. He’s back in this new tale, Ironwood, maintaining a kind of floral theme in the titles of his books (ironwood is a type of tree). It’s a book that tells two tales, including the mystery of who murdered one of Stilwell’s deputies during a supposed drug drop-off on the island, and the hunt for a serial killer who’s preying on young female hikers, including a victim on Catalina. The latter brings Stilwell into contact with Renee Ballard of LAPD’s Cold Case Unit, as they discover a suspect and begin to reel him in. Certain other Bosch-verse characters also make some walk-on appearances. I like the Stilwell books a lot (Connelly is currently working on a third for next spring), and this one is better than the first, delving more into the politics and people of Catalina, in addition to the two cases. On a recent pair of podcasts, the author revealed he’s working on standalone novels for each of his characters, with Harry Bosch up first this fall with The Hollow, so we can hope for new Ballard and Lincoln Lawyer novels in the near future, maybe even one later next year. Ballard hasn’t had a solo novel since her debut in The Late Show, so she’s definitely due.
Hannibal Lecter: A Life by Brian Rafferty • 5 Stars on Goodreads
i stumbled across this book in a recent visit to a local Barnes & Noble and at first thought it was some kind of parody/gag book on Lecter’s life. After all, he has been flitting in and out of the news over the past year or so when a certain politician mentioned him in speeches, acting as if he thought he was an actual living being. Instead what I got is a thoughtful, well-researched history of the esteemed Dr. Lecter through his book, movie, and television appearances by author Brian Rafferty, who has not only given us the history of the world’s favorite cannibal, but also a biography of reclusive author Thomas Harris, Lecter’s creator. There’s a lot of good, behind-the-scenes info on the creation of the five movies (in order: Manhunter, The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, Red Dragon, and Hannibal Rising), and the NBC Hannibal TV series (and a one-line mention of Clarice, the CBS series featuring young FBI agent Clarice Starling, which came and went faster than a glass of Chianti in an Italian restaurant). Rafferty points out that Lecter is a character in both books and movies where less is definitely more; he belongs in the margins of the stories, not as a lead character, and while I do have a fond spot for Ridley Scott’s Hannibal movie (except for the horrible ending), I couldn’t stand the pompous Hannibal TV series, and the showrunner admits in this book that he was “making a pretentious art film from the ‘80s.” Kudos to Mads Mikkelsen, but otherwise … no, thanks. If you liked Harris’s novels (you’re forgiven if you hated Hannibal Rising, I couldn’t finish it), you’ll definitely enjoy this history/almost-biography.
DC Finest Team-Ups: Chase to the End of Time by Bob Haney, Martin Pasko, Jim Aparo • 3 Stars on Goodreads
To be honest, this is not my favorite DC Finest book to-date. It’s from the years 1978-79, and the launch of DC Comics Presents, the company’s Superman team-up book (created probably due to the imminent Superman movie), and the title starts with a bang—at least art-wise—with the first four issues drawn by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, but the book itself goes downhill after that. Julius Schwartz was the editor, so all the stories in this title lean very heavily into science fiction. The first 12 issues of DC Comics Presents are featured here alongside the Batman team-up stories from The Brave and the Bold issues 141 through 155, pretty much all written by Bob Haney and drawn by Jim Aparo, who was the main reason I was interested in this volume. Aparo is having a bit of a long overdue moment right now, with an illustrated biography from TwoMorrows Publishing and an Artist’s Edition from Act IIII, but to be honest, Haney’s scripts are a bit disappointing and Aparo’s art seems muddy in some of the reproduction in this book. All the stories are certainly part of the 1970s, though, and the first few issues of both titles take place during the infamous “DC Implosion,” when the books went from 32 pages and 35 cents to 44 pages and 50 cents, and just as quickly back to 32 at 40 cents. It was not a fun time, business-wise, for DC. I love most of Aparo’s B&B covers, though, and some of Haney’s (and editor Paul Levitz’s) team-up combos for the Caped Crusader are fun choices. A second Team-Ups volume comes out in June (on my birthday, even!) and will include more Brave and the Bold stories plus ones from Super-Team Family, a title lost to the ages.
DC Finest Batman: A Death in the Family by Jim Starlin, Jim Aparo, Bernie Wrightson, Mike DeCarlo • 5 Stars on Goodreads
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this DC Finest volume, featuring one of the most controversial story arcs of Batman’s history: The death of Robin (Jason Todd), where infamously you got to call in to a 900-number and vote for the character’s death or survival (and pay 50 cents per call for that honor). The “kill him” side won by just a few votes and Jason Todd’s days as Robin were over, soon to be replaced by the much nicer and more palatable Tim Drake, because someone, somewhere, still—very quaintly—thought Batman needed a tween boy to pal around with and place in life-threatening situations. Jim Starlin is the main writer in this volume, both on the “A Death in the Family” storyline and the four-part prestige mini-series Batman: The Cult, with art by Berni (not Bernie) Wrightson and color by Bill Wray. Starlin’s writing is definitely of its time—this volume spans a short period from August through December 1988, when comics had become horribly dark and gritty after things like Watchmen and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. I believe Starlin left the Batman title shortly after the “Death” story, but man … some of his writing here—including The Cult—bring new meaning to the term dark and gritty. Some of Aparo’s and (inker Mike DeCarlo’s) best work on the Batman main title appear in the “Death” storyline. The Detective Comics stories reprinted herein are drawn by Norm Breyfogle, at the top of his Batman game (and written by Alan Grant and John Wagner, two Bat-writers I never quite warmed up to). This volume includes Batman Annual 12, Batman 423-429, Detective Comics 590-595, and Batman: The Cult 1-4.
DC Finest Joker: The Last Ha Ha by Dennis O’Neil, Bob Haney, and Elliott S! Maggin • 3 Stars on Goodreads
This is one of those DC Finest volumes that I almost regret buying, even though I did enjoy it. The reason is it’ll probably end up being one of the volumes that has stories included in other volumes, especially Batman and Team-ups. The timeline on this book stretches all the way from 1969 through 1981, and it includes Batman 251, 260, 286, 291-294, and 321; The Brave and the Bold 111, 118, 129-130, and 141; Detective Comics 475-476 and 504; The Joker 1-10 (issue 10 was never actually published; the title was cancelled with 9, but it did previously appear in the recent Bronze Age Joker Omnibus); Justice League of America 77; and Huntress back-up stories in Wonder Woman 280-283. But I was seduced by that Neal Adams cover, and hey … it’s also purple, which was always DC editorial director Irwin Donefeld’s favorite cover color; he thought it sold books, so I guess it worked on me! Most of the O’Neil stories are entertaining, but Martin Pasko and Elliott S! Maggin’s Joker series stories are a little too much like the Batman TV shows. The bulk of the book is edited by Julius Schwartz, and the highlight is the Adams stories and the two Joker stories by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers from Detective Comics, all of which will appear in a Batman volume in the near future, since the DC Finest series seems to be very Batman-heavy (five volumes alone this year, not counting this Joker one or the second Team-ups one).
Flash Gordon: The 1995 Special by Mark Schultz and Al Williamson • 5 Stars on Goodreads
This slim TPB from Mad Cave Studios—the current rights-holder for some of the King Features comics strip heroes—reprints a two-volume series from Marvel in 1995, written by Mark Schultz and drawn by the incomparable Al Williamson. I still own both of those comics, but this is such an attractive little volume that I had to pick it up. The new cover isn’t by either Williamson or Schultz (to be honest, I thought it was drawn by the latter when I saw the original solicitation), but by British artist Chris Weston, and it’s great, although what they picked for spot-gloss is a bit of a mystery … Flash’s face and air-helmet plus his gun? (Also the logo and corner box). Kinda strange. Williamson drew all of this, supposedly with as little photo-reference as possible, something he heavily relied on for his syndicated strip, Secret Agent Corrigan. Schultz’s script brings back most of Mongo’s original characters created by Alex Raymond, including Ming the Merciless. I may be mistaken, but this might be Williamson’s final sequential comics art; he had pretty much devoted the final years of his comic art career to inking other artists’ work (he died in 2010). This volume also contains a new forward by Schultz and an interview with him and letterer John Workman, along with a short excerpt from King Comics mid-60s Flash Gordon issue 1, drawn by Williamson … I sure wish they’d reprint all those stories, too, but to be honest, these pages look like they were scanned directly from the printed comics and touched up. (I wonder if King Features has the original negatives of these somewhere? Probably not.) There’s also a reprint of an essay by my friend, the late Batton Lash, on his recollections of Flash Gordon 1 and the other King Comics books. Kudos to Mad Cave Studios for trying to keep Flash Gordon alive; it’s one of the great adventure comic strips, with an artistic lineage dating back to Raymond and including the likes of Austin Briggs, Mac Raboy, and Dan Barry, but Williamson’s version is the one that comes closest to the original.
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