Alias: Red Band #1 starts with a great cover by David Mack. The complexity of the character is established with two striking views of Jessica Jones encapsulated by layers of symbols, shapes, and text.

Scene of the Crime #1, originally published by Vertigo, cover dated May 1999. I didn’t know a whole lot about the series, and I didn’t yet know much about the creators, writer Ed Brubaker, pencil artist Michael Lark, and inker Sean Phillips. Like a lot of comic fans, over the next few years I would get to know plenty about them, but at this point, I knew what I read in PREVIEWS and what my friends at DC Comics told me. That’s it.

Edward and Angie’s game with the Masterminds has gotten seriously out of hand. A man has been killed, Edward and Angie almost drowned, and now Edward is injured and about to pass out as another round of the game starts.

Under the care of writer Josh Trujillo and artist Andrea Di Vito, two very different worlds have collided in the poorly titled but very nicely executed (thus far) Planet of the Apes versus Fantastic Four.

In 2021-2023, Cullen Bunn wrote a few dark series that I really enjoyed, including Basilisk at BOOM! and Book of Shadows at Valiant. His characters are tough, and his stories are both direct and complex, which is something he repeats in Red Zone. From the first issue, a lot was going on. The book has threats on multiple sides, and it leaves the reader knowing that things are going to get messier, but Crane is poised to handle it with cleverness and precision action.  

Disney Villains: Gaston is written by Greg Pack and Fred Van Lente, the duo behind Incredible Hercules, who have captured both the comical and vile aspects of Gaston.

While the title of this issue is a bit misleading – it is distinctly not a true facsimile edition – it’s nonetheless fantastic to see this wonderful story back in print. The volume of Marvel Team-Up began in 2005 had a number of really inviting issues, Marvel Team-Up #14 was and remains the cream of the crop for that 25-issue run.

Unlike the standard comic book size hardcover Nexus Archives or the 9” x 6” softcover Nexus Omnibus collections from Dark Horse, this new 888-page omnibus is presented in the oversized, 11” x 8” hardcover format familiar to fans of Marvel’s and DC’s omnibus editions.

In Batman: The Killing Joke (1988), Alan Moore and Brian Bolland explored Joker’s origin, suggesting that he was a failed comedian who became Red Hood. Having escaped from Arkham, he shows up at Commissioner Gordon’s home and when Barbara, his daughter, answers the door Joker shoots her. What follows is sadistic madness that illustrates the depths of Joker’s depravity and twisted sense of humor.

Unlike their science fiction- and horror-themed anthologies, Alien Worlds and Twisted Tales, which were produced by Bruce Jones, Vanguard Illustrated was produced in-house at Pacific Comics. Edited by David Scroggy, who would later become very well known at Dark Horse Comics, this anthology was about upcoming creators, and often mixing that new talent with established professionals.

This one, subtitled Secret Origins: Super-Villains, is a treasure trove of vintage origin stories and key appearances of such villains as Lex Luthor, the Joker, Captain Cold, and Dr. Sivana, among others. For longtime DC fans, this is a welcome trip down memory lane. For those of us who in our youth skewed more toward Marvel, it’s a change to the characters in their best Golden Age and Silver Age incarnations.

Often adapted, Beowulf is probably the best-known epic Old English poem. The subject of multiple translations and frequent scholarly discussion, its true origins are unknown, although there is a manuscript which dates to between the years 975 and 1025.