Sometimes it takes a supervillain to defeat a supervillain

The team goes on two missions, while their leader fights to retain control of her project in New Suicide Squad Volume 1: Pure Insanity.

So the Suicide Squad is doing its crazy thing, but apparently someone's decided that it needs a bit more oversight than it has traditionally had. Enter Victor Sage, a by-the-books kind of guy, designated to lead the Suicide Squad alongside Waller, and keep tabs on their actions.

Understandably, this transition doesn't go so well, but the missions go on.

Initially, the Squad heads into Russia. Sage thinks it's an awesome idea to cause rivalry within the team, in an effort to 'spice things up.' Which goes about as well as can be expected. But they do end up finding out what the Russians have been working on...by running headfirst into it. And we are reminded once again exactly how disposable the Squad members are.

Later, what's left of the team picks up a few replacement members and heads off to China. While the brainwashed ninja man-bats distract the guards at a secured facility, and Reverse Flash sets up enough bombs to blow the place sky-high, Black Manta and Harley check out what exactly is going on there.

Looks like China's working on the supervillain threat as well. With similarly astonishing results.

There's a lot going on in this book. With the ever-revolving team members, who by definition don't play well with authority, there's going to be power struggles. Black Manta can only do so much as an on-site team leader, when it's a crapshoot whether he can get anyone to actually listen to him. Waller understands this, but it's hard to make an outsider understand what allowances have to be made for such an...eclectic team.

I also have to make the standard objection to how they've changed Waller's looks. Not every important female has to be slim and pretty. It was nice to see a woman in power who had better things to worry about than her diet, but alas, that's once again gone to the wayside.

In all, New Suicide Squad Volume 1: Pure Insanity is a pretty decent jumping-off point for new fans to the franchise. Fans who have come to it from the Arrow TV show references have enough touchstones with Deadshot and Deathstroke to not be too lost, while still building towards what will probably be future storylines.

Highs: Both the Russian and Chinese approaches to the supervillain threat are fascinating, and I hope future stories go into these further.

Lows: Between pitting the two female Squad members against each other, and Waller's 'makeover,' this isn't exactly the most feminist-friendly book out there.

Verdict: While not a perfect comic by any means, New Suicide Squad Volume 1: Pure Insanity still has lots going for it.

Further Reading: Arkham Manor, Gotham Academy, Ms. Marvel Volume1: No Normal

Why let a little something like death slow you down?

Gwen Dylan isn't your normal gal. She works as a grave-digger at an all-natural cemetery, for one, which automatically brands her as 'one of the guys.' She's recently cut ties with her past, so she only has a few people that she can truly call her friends.

Oh, and she's a zombie.

In iZombie Volume 1: Dead to the World, Gwen isn't exactly your standard shambling undead. As long as she maintains a steady diet of a brain a month, she keeps her focus and her memory. And so, being the moral sort, she's found herself employment that lets her be around plenty of brains that no one is using anymore.

Honestly, her life is actually pretty normal for being a living dead girl. She lives in a crypt in the cemetery she works at, and has a slightly 'airheaded' ghost for a roommate. Her other friend, Scotty, is a 'thrope' of the terrier variety.

But she still has a couple problems. When she eats a brain, which is by far the most disgusting thing she's ever had to choke down, she is flooded with the fragmented memories of that person's life. Sometimes it includes a bit of unfinished business that the decedent has left behind. Often it includes his final moments, and whether he died under...mysterious circumstances.

It turns out, Gwen isn't the only undead in town either. A pack of vampires has taken up residence at a local paintball course, and while their leader is bright enough not to leave a trail of bodies behind, not all of them are.

And there might be another, less ethical zombie in town as well.

Chris Robertson does a good job setting up a world full of creatures of the night, while still giving us some rules to go by. The characters each have their own personality quirks already, with plenty of room to go. Gwen even has a love interest, of a sort.

It's amazing how full a life a gal can have, even when she's dead.

Highs: Gwen's friends are hilarious, and their antics are sometimes even more fun than the main story.

Lows: The artwork isn't quite what I expect from a Vertigo title, and there's a lot of backstory still missing.

Verdict: iZombie Volume 1: Dead to the World is a fun, quick read with lots of potential for future volumes.

Further Reading: iZombie Volume 2: uVampire, V Wars, World War Z, Soulless: The Manga, The Unwritten

What hunts bats?

For generations, the Wayne family has watched over Gotham City. Both figuratively, from the top of the original Wayne Tower, and literally. One would think that Gotham would be grateful of its protector and philanthropist, and most are. But as always, there is always two ways to view history.

In Batman Volume 1: The Court of Owls, we get to learn about the history of the Wayne family in Gotham City. In the 1880s, Alan Wayne built the original Wayne Tower, and designed it in a way that visitors would feel protected by it. Towering over Gotham's Union Station, the gargoyles perched on its upper levels both watch over and welcome the residents of the city.

Bruce's parents were also not the first to die in a tragic way. Alan Wayne's body was found in the sewers after he disappeared. Tragic, but not necessarily unexpected, since he'd been declining mentally for a while. Becoming more and more paranoid about owls, he seemed to be falling farther and farther into his delusions, until one night he fell into a manhole while fleeing from his imaginary tormentors. 

But what if his demons weren't imaginary? What if the owls that he was so sure were stalking him really existed?

What if the owl's nest that a young Bruce Wayne found after the death of his parents wasn't a coincidence?

The speech that Bruce makes near the beginning of the volume encourages Gothamites to look forward; to envision what Gotham City can become, rather than dwell on its past or present. The danger in that, though, is that sometimes the past can come back to haunt you.

Highs: Seeing the entire Batman family come together while Bruce is indisposed shows that Bruce is hardly alone anymore.

Lows: Since I'm not a regular reader of DC superhero comics, it's hard to tell how much of this is new revelations and how much is part of the decades of Batman cannon.

Verdict: A fascinating look into Batman's past, and an ending that demands the next volume be acquired immediately.

Further Reading: Batman Volume 2: The City of Owls, Attack on Titan, The All New Batman: The Brave and the Bold Volume 1

Sometimes the story behind the story is even more interesting

"Just a story? Tell that to the Greeks who fought at Troy...Tell the women burned as witches. The Rosenbergs. Sacco and Vanzetti. Tell the martyrs of all the religions and the millions who fell in all the wars since time began. Stories are the only thing worth dying for."

That speech, made by a man consumed by a story, eloquently sums up the beginning of an amazing new series from Vertigo, The Unwritten Volume 1 by Mike Carey, illustrated by Peter Gross. 

Tom Taylor can't help who his father was. Wilson Taylor created the world-wide phenomenon of the Timmy Taylor book series. He completed 13 books centered around this character before his mysterious disappearance, leaving his own son Tommy behind.

Fast-forward a decade or so, and Tom hasn't done all that much with his life. Really, besides money from his father's estate, he mostly just trolls the convention circuit signing his father's books and doing Q&A sessions for fans who have a dubious grasp of reality.

His whole life begins to unravel at London Tommy Con. As Lizzie Hexan brings light to the inconsistencies in Tommy's childhood, more and more of his life stops making sense. Finally, after he survives a kidnapping by a fan (with a little bit of help from Lizzie) he's hailed as a messiah, begged to lay hands on the sick and heal the crippled. And as he continues to track down figures from his childhood, it looks like there are outside forces determined to keep the past firmly in the past.

With a debut including Sandman and Hellblazer, Vertigo has been known from the beginning for bringing high-quality, innovative series to the comic store. With a current lineup including the hit 'Fables' along with this title, Vertigo is continuing this trend today. While this title could go in many different directions, history has shown that it won't lack for quality storytelling.

Highs:  The 'torture porn' version of Tommy Taylor make me giggle out loud.

Lows:  The the switch to the past in the last chapter was a bit jarring.

Verdict:  An extremely promising opening to the series, with some of the best lines about the importance of stories I've ever read.

Further Reading:  Fables, Y - The Last Man

A collection of Batman's more...varied cases

When you pick up a Batman comic, there is a certain cast of characters you expect to see.  He has is traditional line-up of supervillains, such as Joker, Riddler and Two-Face.  And he has the people he generally calls for help, like Zatarra and Black Canary.

But that doesn't mean no one else ever visits Gotham City, or that Batman never travels himself, either.

Welcome to The All New Batman: The Brave and The Bold Volume 1.  Based on the Cartoon Network cartoon series, The Brave and The Bold has Batman team up with some of the heroes we don't see so often, and fight villains who might not be in the same league as Darkseid.

Collecting issues #1-6 of the comic book series, Batman mainly teams up with other heroes we're quite familiar with, but the stories aren't like ones we would generally see in one of Batman's normal comics.

In 'That Holiday Feeling', it's Christmastime in Gotham.  Billy Batson has taken the bus into town with Mister Tawny, but as they step off the bus they see chaos that isn't the usual last-minute shopping bustle.  Psycho-Pirate is broadcasting on all channels, and he's spreading the less cheer-y emotions like despair and greed.  Will Billy and his friends be able to get Batman out of his sulk and save Christmas?

While brooding might be in Batman's nature, marriage certainly isn't.  That's the side of Batman we see, along with Wonder Woman, in 'The Bride and the Bold'.  Eros is disgusted that Diana, instead of spreading love on Earth, has been fighting.  So he sends a few love arrows down to Earth and now our heroes are planning their wedding.  Will they find out where their new-found love really came from before they reach the altar, and what kind of party crashers might show up on the big day?

The heroes that Batman teams up here are generally better-known Justice League members, but the variety comes out in the choice of supervillains they face.  Rarely do Gentleman Ghost or Mouse Man get much print time, but here they get their time in the spotlight once more.

Highs:  Seeing Batman and Martian Manhunter practice their detective skills together

Lows:  I would have liked to have seen more varied superheroes here

Verdict:  A great companion series, suited for all ages, to the cartoon series

Further Reading:  Teen Titans Go!, Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers