ComicBook Clique Comic Reviews

If you’ve ever felt like you had to hide your baggage just to be allowed to exist in a space, this book is talking to you. It is a heartbreaking, essential, and masterfully told piece of fiction that feels more "real" than not. It has never been more important that we stop making people feel like their existence is a burden.

Batman #1-3 were fine introductions to Matt Fraction’s take on the character, but Batman #4 masterfully expands the scope of the entire series. Fraction and Jimenez move beyond the single political plot to reveal a deep, multilayered web of organized crime, corporate conspiracy, and scientific exploitation. The revelations involving Minotaur, Old Wayne Manor, and Dr. Zeller establish that the stakes are higher than ever. Batman is no longer fighting street thugs or a corrupt cop; he's fighting a terrifying systemic algorithm that has corrupted his family's legacy and is poised to exploit the minds of Gotham's most vulnerable.

If you like an old-fashioned organized crime story, or if you’re a fan of either of the two leads (or better yet, both of them), give this one a shot. I think you’ll enjoy it. I know I did.

Exquisite Corpses #7 is a tightly wound, explosive chapter that ramps up the danger, complicates the characters, and deepens the political rot behind the series’ central spectacle. With dynamic action, emotional conflict, and a finale teetering on the edge of upheaval, this issue proves that the creative team is steering the story toward a powerful and unpredictable final act.

I’ll admit that at first, I wasn’t impressed with the cliche nature of the storytelling until I realized that was the point. Now I am ready to see what insane scenarios Kirkhamhas up his sleeves for us readers and more importantly Tommy himself.

The End 2099 doesn’t break new ground and recycles some familiar genre tropes, but it looks great doing so and gives us some abysmal and infernal villains to root against in the meantime.