WOW! Ten books this month … must be a record. One of the highlights of San Diego Comic-Con for me this year was picking up all five volumes (so far) of Image/Skybound’s Universal Monsters series. I love the old monster movies and these have been on my radar for a couple of years now, but I was holding out for paperback versions (easier to move). Well, that doesn’t seem to be happening anytime soon, so I bit for the hardback editions at a booth selling graphic novels at 25% off, thus getting them all for around $19.95 each. Here they are in the order I read them (keeping, as per my usual OCD-afflicted self, in the order Universal released the original movies), plus the five other books I read in the hot, hot month of August.
Universal Monsters: Dracula by James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds • 4 Stars on Goodreads
Glancing through all five available volumes of the Universal Monsters series, I at first felt this was the weakest, art-wise, but Martin Simmonds’ painted art style, gritty and blood-flecked, won me over quite quickly. Tynion’s—modern-day comics version of Stephen King—story seems a little disjointed at times. There’s a one-panel “flashback” to a scene that doesn’t occur in any of the four issues collected in this book (the famous mirror scene between Van Helsing and Dracula in the 1931 movie). The book is pretty much centered on Renfield and Mina Harker and as such, is—I guess—a loose adaptation of the movie. Dracula almost never speaks, and Simmonds portrayal of him is reinforced by great splash and two-page spreads. I liked it, but Dracula as a character was never my favorite Universal Monster … however, the completist in me made me buy this first volume in Skybound’s series. I’m also not sure I like how Skybound is reprinting these issues (all were four-issue mini-series) in these collections, eliminating any title pages (if there were any) and putting all the covers at the end of the book. I normally prefer the covers as chapter headings and a break between issues. But the books themselves are beautifully designed and printed.
Universal Monsters: Frankenstein by Michael Walsh and Toni-Marie Griffin • 5 Stars on Goodreads
I like this second volume (that I read so far) of Skybound’s Universal Monsters series, partly because the original Frankenstein movies were always my favorite, but also because of Michael Walsh’s story and art. He adds a couple small details to the movie story: First, the introduction of Paul, a young boy whose dead father’s hands makes up part of the monster Dr. Frankenstein pieces together, and the not-so-good Doctor’s fiancé’s friend, Robert, whose brain now lies in the monster’s head. Both of these tiny embellishments add emotional depth to the story, which is otherwise a fairly faithful adaptation of the 1931 James Whale-directed movie. I liked Walsh’s very stylized and graphic art a lot, more so than Martin Simmonds’ painterly take on Dracula, and his characters are very reminiscent of the actors who were in the movie. And Toni-Marie Griffin’s color palette is perfect for both Walsh’s art and the story he’s telling.
Universal Monsters: The Mummy by Faith Erin Hicks and Lee Loughridge • 3 Stars on Goodreads
I will confess to never really liking—or “getting”—Universal’s shambling Mummy character. The original 1932 movie was atmospheric, but take away Karloff (seen only briefly all wrapped up), and it was a bit of a snoozer. Faith Erin Hicks’ four-part mini-series of the same name is beautifully drawn by her (and colored by Lee Loughridge), but I couldn’t really get into the story, which focuses on the many lives of the Helen Grosvenor character, aka the reincarnated Ankh-Es-En-Amun, the object of Ardeth Bey’s affection (he was the Karloff character in the movie), as his obsession pursues her to the 20th Century. Hicks’ art is a little too cartoony at times, but still enjoyable and the focus on Helen adds a new dimension to the story, but not my favorite in this series so far.
Universal Monsters: The Invisible Man by James Tynion IV and Dani • 5 Stars on Goodreads
While none of the Universal Monsters books from Skybound are straight movie adaptations, each contain some nods and out-and-out scenes taken from the movies. The Invisible Man is the one that strays the most from that, offering instead a pretty much all-new backstory as to how Jack Griffin became … well, invisible. It utilizes the characters from the movie adaptation of H.G. Welles original novel, including Flora, the love interest, and Kemp, the fellow scientist, but it adds a whole new character in Tommy, a young boy that Griffin experiments on as he moves from small animals to large animals to human animals in his quest to find out if he can turn a fully-grown man invisible. Tynion’s story is great, and Dani’s minimalist artwork, at times reminiscent of Frank Miller, Eduardo Risso, and Tim Sale, is graphic and compelling. I enjoyed this one as much as the Frankenstein book by Michael Walsh, and plan to get the complete series as they come out in collected editions.
Universal Monsters: Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives! by Dan Watters & Ram V, Matthew Roberts, Dave Stewart, Trish Mulvihill • 3 Stars on Goodreads
This is my least favorite of the five Universal Monsters books I’ve read so far from Skybound, possibly because the Creature from the Black Lagoon always seemed to me to be an also-ran in the Universal Monster pantheon, probably because he (she?) was a product of the 1950s and not my beloved ‘30s-‘40s movie era. This one is a brand new standalone story, about a reporter’s hunt for a serial killer that leads her to the Amazon jungle and encounters with the Creature. Matthew Roberts’ art is good, as is the always dependable and enjoyable Dave Stewart and Trish Mulvihill on colors. I liked Dan Watters’ work on Batman: Dark Patterns (the real star there, though, is Hayden Sherman’s art), but I’ve never been a fan of Ram V’s art; I thought he did an absolute horrible job on his Detective Comics run, trying to make Batman into some kind of supernatural/horror character with religious overtones. This Creature book is another handsome addition to the Universal Monsters line, just not my cup of tea.
DC Finest Batman: Blind Justice by Sam Hamm, Denys Cowan, Alan Grant, Norm Breyfogle • 5 Stars on Goodreads
This DC Finest Batman volume is all about extended story arcs and it has a very shortened timeline, just January 1989 through August of that year, featuring Batman 430-435 and Annual 13, Detective Comics 596-603 and Annual 2, and Bat-related stories from Secret Origins 36 and 39 (featuring Poison Ivy and Man-Bat). This was the year Detective Comics reached issue 600 and that four-issue run is the title of the book, the “Blind Justice” storyline by writer Sam Hamm and artist Denys Cowan. Both annual stories are also extended ones, and the book wraps up with two 3-part stories, “The Many Deaths of the Batman,” one of the very few (maybe only?) Batman stories written by John Byrne (the first part of this story—from Batman 433—is entirely word- and caption-less and features stunning art by Jim Aparo and Mike DeCarlo), and “Tulpa” from Detective Comics 601 through 503 by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle. I think DC was still reacting to the success of Batman: Year One and it’s mini-series within a regular series format. The “Many Deaths” story features cover trade dress similar to the “Ten Nights of the Beast” story arc from 1988. I enjoyed all of these stories, although the art is a bit rough in some of them. This was a great time for Batman; the writers and artists—for the most part—were clicking along and the character was enjoying heightened awareness due to the Tim Burton movie which came out in June 1989. DC Finest does numerous Batman volumes each year (there’s two more coming out by year’s end) and it’s easy to see why: The era it’s primarily focused on right now is a great one.
Batman: Under the Red Hood by Judd Winick, Doug Mahnke, Shane Davis • 4 Stars on Goodreads
For many years, there were a trio of comic book deaths that were irreversible: Captain America’s sidekick Bucky Barnes, Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben, and Batman’s second Robin, Jason Todd. Well, two of those came back from the dead after numerous years, and both—at first—as villains (Uncle Ben remains thankfully deceased). Or maybe the jury is still out on the Red Hood, aka Jason Todd. This DC Compact Comics edition chronicles the return of the dead second Robin, written by Judd Winick and primarily drawn by Doug Mahnke. This version includes Batman 635-641 and 645-650, plus Batman Annual 25, and a nod to the Jeph Loeb/Jim Lee Hush storyline with Batman 618, which first floated the idea of Jason Todd coming back. I enjoyed re-reading this (it’s been well over 20 years since I first did), but I took away one star because of the Red Hood’s wonky origin, tied into one of the worst Crisis storylines, that one with Superboy Prime. Judd Winick was another of editor Bob Schreck’s indy comics “transplants” (as was Ed Brubaker), who wrote Batman for a time, and I find his take on the character, alongside Doug Mahnke’s stunning art, very refreshing. As usual, I have some quibbles with the Compact Comics paper stock and printing. The coloring on this—by Alex Sinclair—is a bit too dense for the paper and it especially shows in the captions for the Batman Hush story at the back of the book … those gradated blue-to-white boxes render the text within them very hard to read for these old eyes. Otherwise, I’m gradually warming up to the Compact Comics line, but will probably limit my purchases to just Bat-books.
Superman: Secret Origin by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank • 4 Stars on Goodreads
I realized while reading the most recent Geiger TPB collection by writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank, that I was missing Superman: Secret Origin from my collection, so I picked it up at cover price (20 bucks) at Comic-Con. I enjoyed re-reading it, even if the whole Christopher Reeve resemblance thing is a bit off-putting for me personally (nothing against the late actor; I think his portrayal of the Man of Steel was wonderful, but 20 years after the fact to find his face staring at me on the comics page seemed a little worshipful … more so of of Johns’ mentor director Richard Donner than of the actor). Johns adds some real emotional heft to Superman’s coming-of-age story, and I’ve always liked Gary Frank’s art (especially on Geiger). Johns had done similar retelling/reimagining “Secret Origin” tales for both the Barry Allen Flash and Hal Jordan Green Lantern characters, and I liked both of those, too. I particularly liked his take on Superman for the short period he did it, including his Legion of Super-Heroes and Brainiac storylines. This is an enjoyable read (maybe more like 3.5 stars than 4, to be honest) and definitely something worth revisiting if you haven’t read it in a while.
Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen • 4 Stars on Goodreads
This slow-moving but beautifully written suspense novel wraps around the lives of a few young women living and working in the decaying city by the sea known as Atlantic City. I had originally started to read Mullen’s latest novel, Heather, when I read some of the front-of-the-book reviews on her first novel, Please See Us (it won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 2021) and it’s locale drew me to it immediately. I grew up going to Atlantic City each summer during my childhood for our family vacations, and even though “my” city is long gone, I’m still endlessly fascinated with tales set in it. Mullen’s AC of today is a dying one, and into that milieu comes a serial killer who preys on prostitutes and other women he views as inferior, due to drug use or other questionable moral decisions. The lead characters are 16-year-old Ava, AKA Clara Voyant, a teenaged Tarot Card reader on the Boardwalk, who has visions of women in distress, and Lily, a twenty-something woman who has moved back home after a traumatic experience working win a New York City art gallery. To be honest, the scenes between Lily and her ex-boyfriend, Matthew, almost seem like filler material to me, superfluous to the story. This was a very slow read for me, only picking up in the final 100 pages or so as it rushes towards its not entirely satisfying conclusion. Still, as I said in the beginning, Mullen’s writing is beautiful and evocative and I’m looking forward to reading Heather, which sounds like it may have a recurring character and also takes place in New Jersey.
The Burning Tide by William Shaw • 5 Stars on Goodreads
William Shaw is one of my favorite mystery writers and definitely in the top two when it comes to the UK division (the other one being Lisa Jewell, who—admittedly—is writing in a different end of the mystery/thriller spectrum from Shaw). While I’m always hoping for another DS Alexandria Cupidi book, Shaw’s newest creation, former London Met detective Eden Driscoll, recently moved to British seaside town Teignmouth, is really starting to grow on me in this second book in the series (Shaw recently announced a third, due next year). Driscoll became the guardian to his young nephew, Finn, when the boy’s mother was killed in the first book, The Red Shore. This second volume involves a very complicated story with ecological and financial overtones (and difficult to explain in a few sentences), but also very nicely fleshes out the budding fatherhood Driscoll feels for Finn and how he begins to adapt to the far-removed from London world of Teignmouth. A lot of the action in this book—like the first—takes place on the water, and Shaw’s simple but descriptive writing style at times reminds me of Michael Connelly: Every word counts, or no word counts, as Harry Bosch might say. I was very sorry to see this book end and look forward to Shaw’s next, but please, oh please, bring back DS Cupidi. Also, I believe the Eden Driscoll books have been optioned for TV adaptation … how about Theo James as Eden?
Leave a Reply