Reviews - The Graphic Library

Earthdivers vol 1 by stephen graham jones

6/16/2023

Cover of Earthdivers volume 1. Tad's face is half in the sky, half under water. The portion under water looks like a skull. Sailing right in the middle of his face and the sea are Columbus' three ships. They're all black and have red crosses on their sails.

Vol 1: Kill Columbus, illustrated by Davide Gianfelice, colored by Joana LaFuente

In the year 2112, the Earth has been destroyed by wars, pollution, and more. Portions of the population have already taken to the skies in search of a new planet. But in the desert of Arizona, a group of Native Americans find a cave that sends them back in time. They hatch a plan to save the world and protect their ancestors, but it involves killing Christopher Columbus before he discovers America. The group chooses Tad, who is a linguist and could potentially pass as sailor, to jump back and try to find a way onto Columbus' ship, but this means leaving behind his family in the future and relying on his knowledge of history to help him navigate through the voyage of Columbus.

Know your station by Sarah Gailey

5/29/2023

Cover of Know your Station. A skeleton stands atop a pile of gold coins. It's holding a martini glass in one hand, the other hand is perched on its hip bone. There is a space helmet around its skull.

Elise is, for all intents and purposes, the "law" on the most elite space station full of Earth's 1% who have escaped a dying planet below. There's hardly any crime aboard, so she feels ill-equipped when there are multiple murders to investigate! Someone is going after the station's Board of Directors, and they're not just dying quietly. Each body is made into a spectacle that would disgust even the most heartless of the working-class citizens. While she's trying to solve the murders, Elise is also trying to kick her habit of taking the highly addicting, hallucinogenic substance known as "Blue". Her paranoia is heightened when it seems like she might have had a hand in one of the murders in an intoxicated stupor, but she's determined to figure out what is really happening on her station.

Dune: tales from arrakeen by Brian Herbert & Kevin j anderson

5/25/2023

Cover of Dune: Tales from Arrakeen. A man stands in front of a pile of sticks that seems to be on fire. Inside its smoke, we can see a sliver of Caladan.

This volume collects two short stories: Blood of the Sardaukar and Whispers of a Caladan Sea.

In the first sorry, we follow along with a commander of the Sardaukar forces the night they were deployed against House Atreides. We discover that he originally had a deep hatred for Duke Paulus, who spoke up and eventually went to battle agains the commander’s father, who was the noble of the planet of Borhees. The House Atreides seized the planet, while the children of the noble family were conscripted into becoming deadly Sardaukar.

In the second story, we come upon a group of Atreides soldiers who were ordered into the caves to protect the stores of supplies hidden inside. They become trapped during the battle of Arrakeen and know there is no survival. The men ask Vitt to tell them a tale and distract them from their impending doom. Vitt is of an ancient line of Jungleurs, storytellers with powers like the Bene Gesserit, power to make their words come alive and entrance their listeners. Vitt bids the group to remember the sea on Caladan, and all the treasures it held, as their oxygen slowly runs out.

Moon knight vols 1-2 by Max bemis

5/23/2023

Vol 1: Crazy Runs in the Family and Vol 2: Phases, illustrated by Jacen Burrows, Paul Davidson, Ty Templeton, Jeff Lemire, Bill Sienkiewicz, inked by Guillermo Ortego colored by Matt Milla, Mat Lopes, Keiren Smith, lettered by Cory Petit

We open yet again in a mental institution, this time in the company of a different patient than our familiar hero with dissociative identity disorder. Dr. Emmet tries to work out the key to her next patient, hoping that her previous patient might be used as a road map, but instead unleashes the villain, Sun King, champion of Ra and enemy of Khonshu. Sun King discovers something Marc has even hidden from himself - that he has a daughter and the potential for a normal life - but never count out Marc, Jake, and Steven when they’re backed into a corner! Marc also relives some of his childhood trauma and the reason he created Jake in the first place. A figure close with his family turns out to be a sadistic serial killer, and he's back in Marc's adult life hoping to recruit Moon Knight into his ranks of sadomasochistic supervillains. The cult goes after Moon Knight and his friends hoping to break his spirit, but Marc is already fractured enough!

Cover of Moon Knight Vol 1 by Max Bemis. Moon Knight is scaling a water tank while looking at the side of a building. It's burning in the shape of Ra's eye.

Cover of Moon Knight vol 2 by Ma Bemis. Moon knight's glowing white eyes are slits underneath his white cowl. He's holding one of his moon boomerangs. Behind him is what looks to be a maze.

The Least we can do vol 1 by iolanda zanfardino

4/26/2023

Cover of The Least We Can Do volume 1. Uriel is holding out her hands and her Justice Stone is floating above them bathing everything in a gold light. Her curly blonde hair frames her face. Behind her is a menacing person with red eyes glaring at us.

Illustrated by Elisa Romboli

In a United Kingdom that has already been ravaged by war, soldiers have magical Medium Stones that augment their deadly fighting skills. Uriel is dissatisfied with the powerful Eden Army, which uses their Medium to oppress and exploit others. She steals a Justice Light, a powerful type of medium, and absconds to join the Eclipse Rebels in the fight to bring Eden down. Uriel also has a mind for inventions and hopes her inside knowledge and creativity can bring more solutions to the Eclipse as they face a foe much larger and much more powerful than they. Along the way, Uriel has to prove herself to the rebels by not only providing them with valuable information but attuning with a stone that already has a master.

Friday vol 2 by Ed Brubaker

4/12/2023

Cover of Friday volume 2. Friday sits in the snow with orange flame-like brushstrokes illuminating around her. She's stretching her hand out to something on the ground in front of her, but it's obscured from us.

Vol 2: On a Cold Winter's Night, illustrated by Marcos Martín & Muntsa Vicente

Friday is on her own to solve the biggest case of her life, but she'll have to get over crippling depression and through tons of cryptic clues in order to do it. As she starts to piece together the last few cases Lancelot tried to solve, she realizes there's a much bigger picture that she'll need to look at to connect all the dots. Some of her sleuthing introduces some magical objects and mystical beings, so Lance's hunches for the supernatural being involved prove correct!

The house of el vol 3 by claudia gray

4/7/2023

Cover of House of El volume 3. Sera and Zahn hold hands and stare off into a pile of rubble that was a city on Krypton.

Vol 3: The Treacherous Hope, illustrated by Eric Zawadzki

The culminating fight between Midnight and the military is here, and Sera knows there's something fishy going on. There's also world-shattering quakes happening, and thanks to the data solid, Sera and Zahn know this is spelling the end of their world. Regardless, Sera desperately tries to stop Midnight from attacking the city's structures. She is determined to make the last days of Krypton peaceful and happy, rather than filled with violence and bloodshed. Zod has other thoughts, as he leads the military against the very rebel organization he built up. He's convinced that Krypton needs new leaders, ones who might save the planet, and he has no idea how close their demise is. Meanwhile, Lara and Jor-El welcome their baby boy into the dying world and see him away on his spacecraft.

adventureman vol 2 by Matt Fraction

3/31/2023

Cover of Adventureman Volume 2. Claire and Chris are standing next to each other in action poses. Claire looks ready to fight, Chris has his gun drawn. Behind them is a ghost cowboy on a horse, and the Adventureman tower.

Vol 2: A Fairy Tale of New York, illustrated by Terry and Rachel Dodson

Claire and her family adjust to her life as the modern-day Adventureman incarnation, and that means getting sucked into dastardly plots. Claire meets a Chris, Central Park buggy driver who a descendant of the Crossdraw Kid. The Kid is a title passed down from generation to generation, and Chris' grandpa was one of Adventureman's former allies. The two try to figure out why the ghosts of New York Past have been way more active and violent. Just as these ghosts kick up their ghastly ways, Claire is running out of the serum that gives her the Adventureman powers, so it's up to her family to discover the formula while still making it in time for son Tommy's opening night of A Christmas Carol.

nightwing vol 1 by Tom Taylor

3/24/2023

Cover of Nightwing volume 1. Nightwing stands facing us with a smirk on his face. The blue nightwing emblem and the bottom part of his suit are also shaped to look like the city skyline of Blüdhaven.

Vol 1: Leaping into the Light, illustrated by Bruno Redondo, Rick Leonardi, Neil Edwards, Adriano Lucas, Scott Hanna, Andy Lanning, lettered by Wes Abbott

Dick Grayson returns to his beloved city of Blüdhaven to find that the city has elected a Zucco as mayor. He is instantly on edge because a Zucco murdered his parents years ago. At the same time, Grayson has inherited quite a bit of money, so after some introspection, he decides to use it for the homeless in the city, starting with inviting lots of hungry folks to grab slices of pizza. During the celebratory mood, Dick's wallet gets swiped. He enlists Barbara Gordon, aka Oracle aka Batgirl, with her enormous repertour of tech gadgets and knowhow, to help him track down the wallet-snatcher AND figure out why a Zucco is mayor. Along with all of this is the introduction a new villain, so Nightwing and Batgirl have their hands full in this adventure!

Demon dayS by peach momoko

3/22/2023

Cover of Demon Days. A swirl of reds, whites, and blacks makes up the cover where Mariko and her nemesis share a face - half for each girl - and an oni with a red mask sits below them.

In a little village on the Kirisaki mountains, an oni searches for food and raids the villagers' crops out of necessity. Meanwhile, a serpent yokai they call Venom has taken up residence in the village shrine, and they must make peace with the hungry and angry Hulk Oni to help vanquish the snake devil. We move forward in time to modern day Japan where a teen girl named Mariko has just learned that her family history was hidden from her, and that a powerful oni is after her for her blood. Mariko sets off on a journey to rediscover her past and save the only family she has left.