Reviews - The Graphic Library

Wolverine: Snikt by Tsutomu Nihei

8/4/2023

Cover of Wolverine: Snikt. The cover is entirely yellow with a giant SNIKT! written across the top. Wolverine has his claws out and a scream on his face like he's about to pounce on someone and stab them.

In a war-torn desolate future, a small group of humans fights desperately against an endlessly replicating monster that seems to have only one weakness: adamantium. With only a few adamantium bullets left, they decide their last hope is to rip a warrior from his timeline. A young girl reaches back into our time and pulls Wolverine forward, but he struggles against her efforts and lands outside their shelter in the wasteland that used to be a city. They rescue him and he sees first hand the terrible enemy they're up against. Wolverine could demand to be sent home, but that means abandoning them to these creatures. Instead, the hero and what's left of these rag-tag warriors must mount a last-ditch, all-out assault against the source of their enemies, hoping they can stop the plague and rebuild their society.

Teen titans vol 4 by kami garcia

7/27/2023

Cover of Teen Titans volume 4. Damien is holding a silver batarang, ready to throw it. He's wearing a red and black puffy jacket. Behind him is Dick, standing a bit taller than him, wearing a red and grey letterman jacket. He's on the phone. They're standing back to back, not facing each other.

Vol 4: Robin, illustrated by Gabriel Picolo

Picking up right where Beast Boy Loves Raven left off, the teens survive a night in the wilderness hiding from H.I.V.E., but they won’t last long on their own. Max calls her mother, Natalia, and they find a vacation rental in Georgia where they can lay low and avoid Slade. At the house, Natalia helps each teen train their individual powers for better control and to use them to their advantage. Gar decides it’s time to make up with his parents, and he calls them down to the Georgia coast to confront them about what they were doing and what they know about H.I.V.E.. Unknown to them, Damien’s adoptive brother, Dick Grayson, tracks his brother to the beach house and wants to stay and help them out, which enrages Damien. The two decide to settle it over some friendly challenges: hacking, parkour, target practice, and batarang throwing. The group also soon find out that Slade is interested in a girl in L. A., so they pack up and try to get to her before he does.

teen titans vol 3 by kami garcia

7/5/2023

Cover of Teen Titans volume 3. Beast Boy has his arms wrapped around Raven and they're taking a picture into a mirror on a cell phone.

Vol 3: Beast Boy Loves Raven, illustrated by Gabriel Picolo

Raven and Gar are on their way to Nashville, separately, but to see the same person, someone named Slade who can help them with their powers. Unbeknownst to Raven, her adoptive foster sister, Max is also tagging along to make sure she’s safe. Once in Nashville, the two teens find out their contact is going to be two days late. They keep bumping into each other and different restaurants, so Gar finally gets up the courage to talk to Raven. Their first encounter doesn’t go so well, but Gar is persistent and eventually gets Raven to come around. The two end up sharing a cheap motel room after Raven’s wallet is stolen, but she’s visited by nightmare visions of her father, Trigon, who is imprisoned in her necklace. When the date of meeting Slade finally arrives, the two go their separate ways to make their meetings. Thankfully, Damien Wayne is also in town to meet with Slade, and he’s a pretty untrusting person. He arrives in time to see Raven abducted, and mounts a rescue mission with Max to spring Raven and Gar from a secret facility.

Strange vol 2 by jed mackay

6/25/2023

Cover of Strange volume 2. Clea is wrapped in the Cloak of Levitation, which has silhouettes of Wong, Bats the dog, and tentacles. In her outstretched hand is red smoke rising. She is looking over her shoulder with a deadly stare.

Vol 2: The Doctor Strange of Death, illustrated by Lee Garbett and Stefano Landini, pencilled by Marcelo Ferreira, inked by Roberto Poggi, colored by Java Tartaglia, lettered by Cory Petit

Wong has discovered that pieces of his memory have been stolen, so he seeks out some help from the Scarlet Witch in order to recover what he has lost. Some of what is lost could help uncover what the Blasphemy Cartel is and what they've been up to. Clea and The Harvestman must work together to stop the scheme of the Cartel, but Death, who the Harvestman answers to, has a thing or two to say about this team-up.

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.

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!

public domain vol 1 by chip zdarsky

1/18/2023

Cover of Public Domain volume 1. The Bottom half is red and comicbook pages can barely be made out behind it. The top half is black. In between the two halves is a superhero mas with what looks like a tear running down the middle.

Vol 1: Past Mistakes, written and illustrated by Zdarsky.

Miles Dallas can't stand anything to do with The Domain and the whole superhero universe run by Singular, a mega corporation that screwed his dad, Syd, out of all rights to the character he created decades ago. Miles thinks Syd should fight for some more of the profits that are coming out of these mega-movies and all the merchandising. When an older copy of the rights paperwork is found by a Singular worker, they learn that Syd might actually have more of a stake in his creations than he originally thought! Meanwhile, Miles is trying to climb out from under loan sharks and find another writing job since he's been kicked to the curb. Getting what the family is owed is going to take all of them working together - something the Dallases haven't been great at!

Poison Ivy vol 1 by G. Willow Wilson

12/27/2022

Cover of Poison Ivy volume 1. Iviy is cutting into a steak with a knife. She's wearing a black bra. All around her are flowers and plants. Her flaming red hair stands out against the green backdrop.

Vol 1: The Virtuous Cycle, illustrated by Marcio Takara, colored by Arif Prianto, lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Ivy feels betrayed by her partner and long-time friend, Harley Quinn, who recently helped save her life but diminished her powers. She's never been a fan of how humanity has run rampant over the earth, so she's taking matters into her own hands once again. Ivy has decided to take the poisonous spores of Lamia that are growing inside her and distribute them throughout the country as she journeys back to her hometown of Seattle. Ivy stops along the way at a diner and tries to infect as many people as possible, as well as at a packing plant where she can spread the spoors on the packages that are being mailed out across the country. She can feel the level of toxins rising in her, so she must hurry to get to Seattle if she's going to confront the Green Man before the lamia takes over her entirely.

Strange vol 1 by jed mackay

12/20/2022

Cover of Strange volume 1. Clea Strange wears the Cloak of Levitation and it billows around her. She has two magic circles casting from her hands. Her hair is silver fire, and her eyes glow red. She's yelling and has a look of deadly intent. She's wearing a black body suit that fits her tightly. Behind her, there's a silver flame explosion.

Vol 1: I Belong to Death, penciled by Marcelo Ferreira, Inked by Don Ho & Roberto Poggi, colored by Javier Tartaglia & Felipe Sobreiro, lettered by Vc Cory Petit

Stephen Strange has died from the actions of The Death of Doctor Strange, and his wife, Clea, has become the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth. But Clea's lineage has also afforded an already immeasurable power. She’s the niece of Dormamu, a daughter to a Warlord, a Faltine, and the Sorcerer Supreme of the Dark Dimensions. While the two Sorcerer roles wage war inside her, she has made it her mission to resurrect Stephen. For this, she needs to tangle with Death. But before she can do that, she gets mixed up with a local gang that's creating powerful monsters using the collective power of thousands of souls. Clea’s tangle with them brings face-to-face with The Harvestman, a servant of Death, and possibly closer to her goal of waring with Death herself.

Spider-gwen vol 0 by jason latour

12/15/2022

Cover of Spider Gwen volume 0. Gwen is in her spider outfit, crouched down ready to jump. She has a very dark pink body suit. The upper part of her suit is white, and she has pink webbing under her arms and under the hood of her cowl. Her eye slots are outlined in pink. Behind her are multi-color blocks that looks like a city-scape.

Vol 0: Most Wanted? illustrated by Robbi Rodriguez, colored by Rico Renzi

In this alternate universe, Gwen Stacy was bitten by the radioactive spider, not Peter Parker. Presently, she’s dealing with the guilt and aftermath of Peter’s death. Peter tried to emulate Gwen's Spider-Woman, his hero, but was met with a tragic end, for which Gwen feels responsible. Meanwhile, Spider-Woman the prime suspect for Peter's death, and the lead detective is George Stacy, a.k.a. her dad! After Spider-Woman saves Detective Stacy from a would-be assassin, the police force fears collusion and replaces him with Frank Castle (a.k.a. The Punisher!). To top all of this off, Gwen is supposed to be the drummer for a break-out band, The Mary Janes, but her double life keeps her from showing up to gigs on time.