TRUST NO ONE by Gregg Hurwitz

Do NOT start Gregg Hurwitz’s new novel Trust No One at the end of a long day when you have to get back up early the next morning. This is the only warning you get.

Hurwitz is a good writer, dependable for action and intrigue. I’ve read his novels and his comic book and I always find myself flipping through the pages till I reach the end of whatever story he’s spieling. I loved last year’s offering, The Crime Writer, which, like Trust No One, is a stand-alone novel. His Tim Rackley books are great, but I really enjoy the way Hurwitz can twist characters and plots till you’re not sure who’s doing what to whom. Or sometime what’s really at stake.

In this book, there are a lot of things at stake. The main character gets woken up in the middle of the night by a Secret Service team that yanks him away and doesn’t give him a choice. He doesn’t know what’s going on, and the event immediately reminds him of the last time he crossed paths with the Secret Service.

Nineteen years ago, at the tender age of seventeen, Nick Horrigan was forced to leave town or be arrested for the murder of his stepfather, a decorated Secret Service agent. Nick’s own father was irresponsible and left the family, but Nick idolized him anyway. In a few short chapters, though, Hurwitz makes us care a lot about his stepfather.

Past and present converge in an explosive encounter that leaves one man dead, and with Nick delivering the murder weapon. The action picks up even from this breathtaking beginning and hammered me to the pages. The first night I admit that I started the book late. I should have known better. I read until I went blind that night, simply couldn’t make out any of the words on the page anymore.

I got up the next morning and marched through the rest of the book without breaking stride. Hurwitz has created a thoroughly enjoyable potboiler involving powerful politics played out against a lethal background of secrets. There are a lot of twists and turns in the book, and every time I seemed to figure an event out, or get to where I could predict how a character would act, Hurwitz threw another curveball into the mix. I enjoyed the relationship Nick has with his mother, her new husband, and her stepdaughter. I especially liked the scene with Induma, his ex-girlfriend.

Hurwitz writes really tight, driving dialogue and I found myself blistering through the scenes at a frantic pace. With the first-person narrative, he’s able to delve deeply into the characters and make me feel like I was carrying Nick Horrigan’s burden part of the way with him, and I rooted for the character from page one.

So, do pick this book up for sheer entertainment, but do block out the time to read it. Hurwitz grabs you by the throat with this one, and he doesn’t let go till he’s finished with you.

KILLER SUMMER by Ridley Pearson

This is my first encounter with Ridley Pearson’s Sheriff Walt Fleming, and Killer Summer was a good blend of mystery/thriller. Now I gotta go back and pick up the other two. I really enjoy the character and all the things he has to face in his life. Despite the fact that the plot lends itself to all the drama in Walt’s life, I know from raising five kids of my own that these things will come at you in the worst of times.

Pearson’s writing is lean and taut. He also introduced enough factoids about wine-making and glider flying and some of the other medical and law enforcement stuff that I enjoyed getting something of an education along the way as well. But those things mixed right into the story line and characters, and proved essential as well.

However, the pacing sacrifices a little of the character development of the ancillary players I wanted to see more of. Janet Finch, the specialist in wine history and wine bottles, seemed to drop right out of sight after her bit in the mystery was done, and I wasn’t really ready to let go of her or the wine expertise she brought to the story.

To be fair, by the time some of the characters that revolve around the wine plot disappeared at the same time the suspense plot kicked into high gear and Walt’s emotionally battered nephew Kevin was in danger.

The first half of the book took a little effort to get into, but Christopher Cantrell’s hijacking of a car in the middle of traffic was cool enough to suck me in almost immediately. Unfortunately, the plot followed side roads for a time, including a jaunt down Walt’s personal life that stuck out, before swinging back into the groove. Then the last half of the book seemed to rush right through things, and a lot of the action shifted off Walt’s efforts to save Kevin while focusing on Kevin’s efforts to save himself.

Still, this is one of those perfect beach reads. Killer Summer has short, compact chapters and an elaborate plot that spins naturally out of the action and the characterization. The book’s engagement and pacing is good for a lazy summer or a few hours in the sun or on a trip.

I enjoyed the feel of organic growth of the books. The references to past cases (two previous books) let me know I’d missed a lot worth reading, but it didn’t throw me off so much that I couldn’t enjoy this book. Now I want to see how all this started, and I want to read the next Walt Fleming novel to find out what happens in this likeable sheriff’s life. One thing is for certain: whatever comes through next isn’t going to be easy, but it will be interesting.

WOLVERINE: PRODIGAL SON by Anthony Johnson & Wilson Tortosa

Wolverine fans that like their hero pure and unadulterated should probably stay away from this “mangafied” version of the character. However, people interested in seeing how Wolverine might have fared had he been brought up steeped in Japanese culture could have a new venue for watching their hero in action as a rebellious (can you believe it?) teen.

I originally bought this book for my 11 year old because he’s interested in anime and manga. Through him, I’ve deepened my curiosity into a love of the art form, especially with The Last Avatar. Since he wasn’t reading Wolverine: Prodigal Son, I picked it up just to spend a few minutes with in between projects. Then I finished it off the next day.

Anthony Johnson wrote the graphic novel, paring the words down on the page to only what was necessary to keep the story moving along. In fact, there’s a chapter in the book that doesn’t have a single word on the page and the story moves along like a jet. His “repurposed” Wolverine as a young man is a bit more sympathetic at the outset, but his origin story is no less dark. By the end of the novel, Wolverine’s innate rebel nature gives way to a full-throttle need for retribution, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Wilson Tortosa is a new artist to me, but a quick search revealed that he comes from manga roots. He’s been the artist on several of the Battle of the Planets comics and graphic novels. I really enjoyed his black and white artwork. The images and the action are both fluid, easy for the eye to pick up and follow along. He also keeps the dialogue-heavy scenes interesting, drawing from different angles or showing different things than I expected. In several action panels, the background all but disappears, but in the more static ones, the background takes on layers.

I enjoyed the story a lot, but it’s not the Wolverine I grew up with. This one has some of the same characteristics, and he throws in the occasional “bub,” but it’s not the same. So far, he has a mysterious past that I can’t see leading to the Weapon X project that later laced his bones with adamantium, but who knows what’s in store next?

Since this is manga and set apart from Wolverine’s life in the Marvel Comics Universe, I suppose the heroes are going to be missing as well. Including the X-Men. But I really do like the support characters he has now. The father figure and the younger sister/rival/potential love interest fit the bill quite nicely at the moment, though I’m sure with some of the baddies we already see lurking around in the background that those numbers will multiply.

Wolverine: Prodigal Son is a great, tight little read that will definitely pass time for anyone used to the character that doesn’t take offense at the new take. As an adult, I enjoyed the story a lot and the size makes it convenient to throw in a coat pocket or computer messenger bag for reading during down time. For the younger set, this is a story that can be easily understood and enjoyed. I’d really recommend this one for struggling or reluctant readers.

SOLOMON KANE: THE CASTLE OF THE DEVIL by Scott Allie, Mike Mignola, and Dave Stewart

When I think of hard-to-like heroes that I still root for, the first one that comes to my mind is Robert E. Howard’s adventuring Puritan, Solomon Kane. The man dresses in black and can be an absolute downer with his puritanical ways, but when it comes to fighting men and the supernatural, few stand taller, swing a sword with more authority, or shoot straighter than Solomon Kane.

Because he died at such a young age, Howard didn’t get to leave as sizeable a legacy of Solomon Kane stories as fans might have wanted. In the last nearly 80 years since his debut, other authors have penned more Solomon Kane tales than Howard. Nearly all of them have been in comic form.

That venue continues in the latest graphic novel release from Dark Horse Comics: Solomon Kane: The Castle of the Devil. Hellboy-creator Mike Mignola drew the awesome cover which immediately drew my eye, and interior artist Mario Guevara kept up the tone throughout the story written by Scott Allie.

The graphic novel collects the first five issues of the new Dark Horse comics series, and I’m glad I read them in the collected edition. I couldn’t imagine having to get and read this story piecemeal month by month. In fact, the book would be better read late at night when the house is quiet, or on a camping trip after everyone else has gone to bed. The atmosphere then would be a perfect reading experience.

The book opens with an excellent action sequence that shows off Solomon Kane’s deadly skills to their fullest, as well as the supernatural that flavors most of the stories. Guevara’s art is fantastic, and Allie shows good sense in staying off the page and letting his artist carry the weight at this point. Then Allie comes back with brilliant dialogue that transports readers back hundreds of years. You just can’t lose with a narrative hook that involves two wanderers on the trail to danger and adventure.

At the castle, the mystery really deepens, and this is when the author’s storytelling skill really shines. As I turned the pages, I could see the movie take shape in my head, guided by the gentle nudge of the panels showing the action and the characters. By that time, I knew I was hooked, and that if I’d been having to wait those months in between I would have been greatly frustrated.

This graphic novel reads like a novel as the characters and events progress. Truths and dangers emerge, constantly twisting and changing. It’s really good and I don’t think many will sit down without reading it all in one go. But the story and characters are dense enough that you need to allow some time for the experience. As I stated, this reads like a novel, not a flipbook to adventure.

The action and adventure really hits its stride in the final pages of the book. By midway I knew I wasn’t going to put it down, but then when all the pieces fell into place and I knew who and what Solomon Kane was battling, I was hooked.

Solomon Kane: The Castle of the Devil is a wonderful reading experience for those fantasy lovers who want a trip on the dark side, and for those comics readers that want more meat and potatoes with their stories. Solomon Kane is a great hero that you’ll probably always hold at arms length, but he’s wonderful to watch in action.

THE LAST THING I REMEMBER by Andrew Klavan

Award-winning writer Andrew Klavan has penned a humdinger of a suspense thriller for the young adult market. And he’s not holding back the trademark action, pacing, and psychological tension that mark his other books. Not only that, he channels a riff from The Bourne Identity in the creation of his hero, Charlie West.

The book seized my attention immediately by opening with Charlie tied to a chair by unknown assailants next to a table filled with blood-curdling torture tools. It’s really like a 007 opener in one of the movies. Then it shifts to what Charlie last remembers, going back to when he was a tongue-tied seventeen year old karate black belt who was still afraid of asking out a pretty girl.

This back-and-forth between present and past put me off a little at first because it felt like stalling, then when I realized that the past actually held clues to what Charlie was doing there, I read both with equal interest. Honestly, I might not have been nailed to the book if I’d just gotten introduced to Charlie while he was in school struggling through young love and working out at the dojo. And I couldn’t have handled the sustained tension of the escape without knowing more about the character.

Klavan pulls both off, then makes a hat trick of it by hiding how long it’s been between those two points in Charlie’s life and what has happened in between. The Last Thing I Remember is a great mixture of thriller and psychological puzzle. Even as Charlie makes his first escape, the author drops in hints and pieces of the puzzle and lets the reader know they’re not getting to see everything he’s got up his sleeve.

I sat with this book from beginning to end, pulled in two directions. I wanted to know more about what Charlie was going to do, and I wanted to know more about what had been done to him. And I couldn’t decide which I wanted worst.

When it comes to writing nerve-wracking suspense or bone-crunching fight scenes, Klavan is a champ. He doesn’t waste or mince words, driving straight to the tension or the action. The pages on this book turn way too easily and will keep unwary readers glued to the story until they finish it. The subject matter is a little heavy-handed in regards to nationalism versus story. I appreciate the author beating the drum upon occasion, and the story plot is definitely tied to these views, but every now and again it did detract me from the story.

The Last Thing I Remember is a great book for reluctant readers, especially male readers, because it focuses a lot on the young male mindset. Charlie may be a little too “good” and “straight-laced” for some kids, but others are going to definitely see him as hero material.

Since this book is obviously marked as Book 1 of The Homelanders Series, expect the deliberate cliffhanger ending. The next installment comes out the first of 2010 and readers are going to be anxiously awaiting it. However, there is a teaser chapter at the end of this book that will even further whet appetites, so at least readers will know a little of what is coming.

VANILLA RIDE by Joe R. Lansdale

Reading one of Joe R. Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard East Texas crime novels always brings tears to my eyes. I’m not crying. I’m laughing so hard that I’m near busting a gut. He’s just that funny, that rednecked, and that insanely offensive in everything he puts on the page.

Vanilla Ride is the first Hap and Leonard novel that’s come down the pipe in a while, and I have to admit that I was somewhat antsy we might not see any more books about the two near-do-wells that have so captured my imagination. Joe’s a busy guy and likes to have a lot of irons in the fire, from screenplays to comics to short stories to novels about crime and novels about horror. In the meantime, he runs his own martial arts dojo where he’s invented his own style that’s been recognized in the martial arts community.

Joe’s a friend, and I like him and his way of thinking a lot, so you’ll have to forgive me. We grew up around (and probably were) the same kind of miscreants, troublemakers, and rabble-rousers that he writes about. We both know small town minds and ways, and both of us can pass for socialized individuals for hours at a time. But we ain’t never truly moved away from those small towns.

At any rate, that’s the background that Joe always brings to his book. The way he writes it? That’s the way it is. Oh, the running gun battles, bar brawls, and body count is probably exaggerated a little, but that’s to be expected of a first-rate small town storyteller if he’s to keep the attention of his audience.

Vanilla Ride starts off as a favor for Marvin Hanson, another series regular. Hanson’s granddaughter has holed up with a drug dealer and Marvin already threw the guy a beating that didn’t take. Since the guy has surrounded himself with thugs, Marvin knows he’s going to subcontract the next butt-kicking to a couple of guys that kind of enjoy the work and don’t flinch at the prospect.

Hap and Leonard, with all the customary name-calling, philosophizing, and backbiting that has become their trademark, get the job done. But things just get worse from there. Before long, they’re up to their eyebrows in alligators (literally at one point) and the Dixie Mafia. Things get so bad they even have to call in another couple of hard guys to help tote the load.

The plot is pretty straightforward and builds naturally to a roaring bonfire and even an Old West High Noon shootout, but it’s Joe’s way of telling the story that really shines. His prose is lurid, descriptive, and a lot of readers are going to have to resist the impulse to read passages or one-liners out loud because it just won’t set well in public. And sometimes you have to really be there in the moment to get what’s going on.

His dialogue is dead on. But it’s his focus on the friendship between his two heroes that really shines, as it does in every book. Leonard Pine is black and homosexual, and always in the middle of trouble that’s caught up to him or he’s instigated. Hap Collins is white and not overly upwardly mobile or even ambitious. But the two are as true to each other and what they believe in, even when they’re stepping on each other’s toes, as magnetic north.

On the surface, Vanilla Ride is a lightweight action read with a lot of humorous overtones and larger-than-life characters. But Lansdale always piles in a lot of commentary about life and the human race that climbs in under the carpet when nobody’s looking. I just wish I’d gotten to meet the enigmatic Vanilla Ride longer. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that I’ll be getting reacquainted with her soon. I just have to hope she doesn’t blow holes in Hap and Leonard.

TONIGHT I SAID GOODBYE by Michael Koryta

I check out the new mystery/detective books on a regular basis, so I don’t know how Micheal Koryta’s debut novel, Tonight I Said Goodbye, slipped under my radar. But it did. Even more surprising, the author was only 21 when he wrote the book, and he demonstrates the air of a prose as he strings his story along across the pages of the novel.

Koryta also works as a private investigator and journalist himself, so his knowledge of those fields definitely helped him bring his story together. His love of old hardboiled detective novels and films shows throughout the story as well. He understands what motivates those characters, and he uses those motivations to underscore his own take on the genre.

The plot gets kind of busy at first. Wayne Weston is a local private investigator that ends up getting killed. His wife and young daughter are missing. His father John, a World War II vet, hires our heroes Lincoln Perry and Joe Pritchard to find out who killed his son and where his daughter-in-law and granddaughter are. Of course, you have to swallow immediately the fact that a two-man detective agency can do a better investigation than the Cleveland Police Department. But Koryta actually makes a case for that two. That’s just one of the twists readers can expect.

The characters are realistic enough but they feel a little thin. Since this is the first book of at least four, I suspect that situation has remedied itself as the novels have progressed. Lincoln Perry is the youngest of the two, closing in on thirty and already a jaded ex-cop. Joe Pritchard is in his fifties, but is a straight arrow and tough as nails.

I liked the dialogue that gets exchanged between the two, and the friendship that is apparent. Koryta advances his mystery well, too. This isn’t the tough guy private eye that Robert B. Parker writes about (and I absolutely love those books). Perry and Pritchard are more a nuts and bolts kind of team, playing everything by the numbers and realistically. There aren’t a lot of frantic car chases or gunfights, but somehow the story moves along well enough with twists and turns and discoveries that I didn’t miss those things much.

I enjoyed playing wingman to Lincoln Perry as he narrates the story, and I paid attention to the details and clues. Koryta writes fairly and doesn’t hide things. I had most of it figured out by the end, though there was one reversal that I didn’t see come. But I have to admit, I didn’t like the guy anyway so it was no really big surprise. Before the story is over, though, Perry and Pritchard end up face-to-face with one of the most cold-blooded Russian Mafia guys in Cleveland. And readers know those paths will have to cross again.

Thankfully, I picked up the next two paperback editions in the series. These are perfect beach reads and I’m looking forward to getting to know more about these two private eyes and their world.

ALIBI JUNIOR HIGH by Greg Logsted

I just finished reading Greg Logsted’s Alibi Junior High in a single sitting. Thankfully the family had other things to do for a while because the author nailed me to the pages with his premise and with the fantastic pacing of this young adult novel. I wasn’t tempted even once to get up and go do something else. Logsted starts his spell on page one, and readers will have to stay with him to see what ultimately happens to Cody Saron, the thirteen year old professional spy.

Admittedly, I had to check my willing suspension of disbelief at the door. But I do the same thing for any fantasy novel I read. Thirteen year old spies? Then I thought about Uganda and other places around the globe where children are given assault rifles and get drafted into military maneuvers.

I love the Alex Rider series as well, but those books seem like a fantasy story compared to Logsted’s sharp-edged view of the espionage world. Cody’s story could actually happen the way the author describes it, and I felt a little uncomfortable with that as much as it excited me.

For all of Cody’s life, he’s faced constant danger and the threat of death. He’s comfortable with those things. It’s the idea of junior high and all the new social pecking order stuff he has to learn that really throws him off his stride. I enjoyed the confrontations he has with his teachers and the principal a lot, and ended up laughing out loud at his one-liners and sarcastic wit. This is a hero that smart, aggressive pre-teens can root for. Better than that, they can totally understand Cody’s dislike of the public school system.

I do, however, wish Cody would have found that one teacher that truly “got” him. Most junior high kids do.

However, Cody’s next door neighbor, a returning Iraq war vet who lost an arm, does get Cody. One of the best parts in the book that links them is when a string of firecrackers goes off and Cody and Andy hit the ground together. They knew each other at once.

I liked all the thinking that Logsted puts into the conflict he creates for his character, and I enjoyed tremendously the creative ways that Cody decides to overcome those conflicts. A lot of the action and characterization gets carried out in the dialogue.

The book is easy to read, and paced so well. Every time you think Cody has one problem solved, another crops up. The various mysteries that Logsted sets up get solved pretty well, and with twists that I didn’t see coming.

I don’t know if this is the only book that’s going to be written about Cody Saron, but I’d definitely like another. Either in junior high or in international danger would be just fine with me.

This is a great book for reluctant readers and boys who’d rather spend their time playing video games. Cody Saron is cut from the same heroic cloth as the characters in those video games.

THE WARLORD #1 by Mike Grell, Joe Prado, and Walden Wong

I first entered the lost world of the Warlord with Mike Grell (writing and drawing then) back in the 1970s. After growing up on Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jules Verne, and Ray Bradbury, plunging into the inner earth world of Skartaris was a natural fit for me. Evidently it was for a lot of people back then, because The Warlord soon became DC Comics’ hottest selling title, pushing out ahead of even the superhero titles of Superman and Batman.

There’s something about lost worlds that ignite the dreamer in me, and journeying around with ex-USAF pilot Travis Morgan, the Warlord, satisfied that hunger for adventure for a lot of years. Then college and Real Life called and I drifted out of that world. A lot of other people did too.

A couple of years ago, DC Comics tried to bring the title back. The results were less than stellar (less than adequate, truth be known) and that quickly went away.

Three months ago, Mike Grell’s new run on the series started. In the back of my mind, I decided I wanted to take a look at the book, but didn’t get around to it. My son dragged me to the comic shop today, one of his favorite places to go these days. I picked up the first three issues instead of waiting for the graphic novel as I’d promised myself I’d do.

As it turns out, I was thrilled to pick them up. But now I’m left hanging till next month, which was something I didn’t want to step into. Trying to follow monthly titles wears me out. I much prefer the graphic novels and the whole story.

Even more exhilarating, Mike Grell has brought the Warlord title back in style. It feels like he hasn’t been away from Morgan, Tara, Tinder, Machiste, Shakira, and the others for more than five minutes. But he does allow time to pass. It’s just that in Skartaris, time pretty much stands still – unless you die, then it stops.

I was a little miffed by the 13-page opener that didn’t include Travis Morgan. But Grell handles the story eloquently, and the reader can see that the discoveries made by the scientific team are going to lead them to Skartaris. The build-up is fantastic, and the action kept me glued to the pages.

Then, during the last nine pages of the comic, Travis Morgan steps right onto center stage in a whirlwind of action and intrigue. This, folks, is the comeback all true Warlord fans have been waiting for. People have come to Morgan for his protection because invaders with powerful weapons (a bullet hole through armor!) have arrived in the inner world. I’m betting one of Morgan’s major enemies this time around will be a Chinese soldier that pursued the scientific team into the mountain tunnel and found the portal.

The first 13 pages unleashes outsiders into the inner world, and we don’t know what parts they’re going to play yet. Some of them will ally themselves with Morgan and some with his enemies. I know that’s coming, but Grell is going to take his time, the way he always does on this series, and make the characters real and interesting.

Grell painted the cover himself and it is beautiful, capturing Morgan in all the primal savagery that he’s capable of. Joe Prado handles the pencil work, and Walden Wong inks it wonderfully. As an artist himself, Grell knows how to tell a story, then step off the page to let an illustrator unleash his magic. The two-page spread that recaps Travis Morgan’s initial arrival in Skartaris is fantastic, but the two-page spread of Morgan and Shakira battling a gigantic roc (I assume) is electric and intense.

The stage is set for the next set of adventures, and I can’t wait.

Even better, if you are new to the brutal and astonishing world of the Warlord, this series gently moves you into the tapestry of the characters and the previous stories. Within just a few pages, you’re going to know everything you need to know to kick back and enter the lost world!

DETECTIVE COMICS #854 by Greg Rucka, J. H. Williams III, Dave Stewart, Cully Hamner, and Laura Martin

Detective Comics #854 shifts its focus from Batman to two different crime-busting ladies that favor masks and martial arts. This world without Bruce Wayne as Batman promises more and more interesting things as it spins along. Greg Rucka, who has written a lot of great comic books as well as several bestselling novels, handles the writing chores on both strips.

First up is the new Batwoman. I fell in love with her red and black costume the first time I saw it. Artist J. H. Williams III really knows how to work the colors as well as the action. Batwoman explodes off the pages when she’s fighting, and the red hair marks her instantly on every page. The two-page spreads with her careening through battles were fantastic and really catch the eye. This is one of those books that I immediately sat down and read again when I’d finished – just because I wanted to look at the artwork without being caught up in the unfolding events. Dave Stewart’s colors absolutely shine and scream for attention.

I really like the look of the new Batwoman, and I like her edginess, but I feel like I’m missing too much of her backstory in this issue. I want to know why her skin is so pasty white compared to everyone else (although it does look striking against the black and red) and I want to know why her father is driving her to be a superhero. The relationship between them looks interesting, and I should want to know more, especially since this is just getting started.

The confrontation between Batman and Batwoman is totally cool. I like the fact that she sort of one-ups him on the information about the covens. It’s good that she can pull her own, and maybe it’s there to remind us Bruce Wayne is no longer wearing the cowl and Dick Grayson isn’t as infallible.

I also really like Alice, the villainess Batwoman is up against in this arc. Since she’s dressed all in white and is so darkly evil (obviously as twisted as the Joker and some of the other weird Gotham villains), she stands out dramatically against the Batwoman and the overall tone of the book. Can’t wait to see what happens next.

The backup feature centers on the Question. Renee Montoya is the new no-faced crime-buster, and I like her a lot. Hated to lose the previous Question (Vic Sage), but this one has some new chops while maintaining the old schtick.

Cully Hamner’s art, like Williams’s Batwoman strip, is dark and colorist Laura Martin weaves a lot of reds into the scenes while working the blue of the Question’s costume and the dark night. The breakdowns of the scenes were different and give this strip a different feel, but Greg Rucka is still running his groove with action and investigation.

I’m glad that Tot (Aristotle) is back in this strip. I liked quite a bit of the old run of the Question under Denny O’Neill, and I’m happy to see that not all of Denny’s world has faded away.

The set up with Montoya and Hector Souz at the burrito stand is fantastic. Feels very much like a detective story, and the yellow tone on all the panels against the palm trees and city are good. The dialogue is spot-on and a lot of fun.

The page showing the Question breaking into the suspect house under the light of a full moon is pure cinema. I loved watching the smoky chemical go into action and Montoya go into full Question disguise. The confrontation with the guard dog in pure action without narrative or dialogue was also well done. I enjoyed the perspective shifts delineating the action. The Question strip has always been action oriented and I’m glad to see that hasn’t changed. And, of course, there’s a cliffhanger that guarantees readers will be back for the next issue. Always lots of questions with this hero.

All in all, even though Detective Comics #854 doesn’t arrive on the stands with a new #1, it does herald a new era in the Batbooks. The women are on the scene, and they’re not taking any prisoners either.