Showcase: Astonishing X-Men, Batman: Lovers and Madmen, and Anita Blake

[Stephanie]

Welcome to another graphic novel Showcase! Summer has reached its peak, so why not make the most of it with some awesome comics? Grab a cool glass of lemonade and sit back with Astonishing X-Men: Gifted, Batman: Lovers and Madmen, and Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures.

Astonishing X-Men: Gifted

Only master of fiction and character-developing Joss Whedon would have the insight to turn the Danger Room into a Hawaii-themed peace zone that isn’t fit to scale. With John Cassaday filling in the pages with the colorful mutant characters at the X-Men’s mansion, it’s no wonder Astonishing X-Men took off like Warren Worthington on a sunny, clear day.

Whedon’s “Gifted” throws Shadowcat, Wolverine, Cyclops, Beast, “former villain” Emma Frost, and a school full of new mutant students into the heat of a controversial mutant cure. But before you groan and look away from the screen, rest assured this is no rerun of X-Men 3. The writer expertly balances wonderful character moments with solid, even-paced storytelling. Every panel and page is handled well and with vibrant artwork. By the time you reach the end of the first arc, you’ll be hooked. From the smartly inserted humor to the gripping character scenes and conflicts, Whedon weaves an utterly engaging tale that’s just getting warmed up with its first trade.

Batman: Lovers and Madmen

The best Batman and Joker stories have always been the ones that focus on the depths of madness and how the two arch-nemeses are reflected in each other. From The Killing Joke to Joker and The Dark Knight, once and awhile a truly chilling and engrossing tale of the fascinating characters comes along and reminds us who they really are.

Batman: Lovers and Madmen (by writer Michael Green and penciller Denys Cowan) puts a new spin on Batman’s beginning in Gotham and the man who came to be the twisted villain known as the Joker. Unlike some versions, this look at “Jack”—the uncertain name of the Joker before he took a dip in an acid bath—shows us someone far from a petty thug who got in too deep with the underground. In fact, Jack’s obsession with Batman makes his insanity take flight; his sociopathic tendencies and love for chaos were budding inside of him long before the Caped Crusader arrived and opened his eyes to a brand new world filled with costumes and dramatic presentations.

Bruce, too, evolves in this retelling. The introduction of Jack turns his world upside-down as well, causing him to reevaluate his values, mission, and even the vow he made to his parents at their gravesite. The book takes us on a wild ride complete with goosebump-inducing mentions to the future of Gotham crime—balanced on the dynamic of Batman and the Joker—we often take for granted as something that always was. Lovers and Madmen will drag you down into love and madness until you start seeing a bunny in the moon, too.

Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures

Meet Anita Blake, employee of Animators, Inc. by day and Executioner by night. If you thought vampires were bad, try dealing with them in a city that legally acknowledges their existence as rightful citizens. You’ll have to check your crosses at the door, but avoid soul-possessing eye contact and keep a gun handy, because St. Louis is a dangerous city—especially for their best zombie-raising, vampire-hunting resident.

Anita knows how to handle herself around vampires; strangely enough, she even wields a sort of mysterious immunity to their mind tricks and lethal schemes. Still, she can’t help but fear them, and even with her competence Anita avoids them whenever possible. That motto becomes a lot harder to live by, however, once she’s led into a trap set by vampires who are dead-set on recruiting her help in solving a series of vampire murders; they’ve covered their bases as far as leverage goes. Yet Anita is dangerous herself, and they’re going to need true fear to control her. From vampire junkies to centuries-old vampires, ghouls, and lycanthropes, Anita’s world is about to sink shoulder-deep in blood—but just whose will it be?

Writer Laurell K. Hamilton definitely knows how to keep your heart pounding from page to page, crafting an adrenaline rush of a story that feeds on vampire clichés and makes something new out of them. Stepping into the realm of Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter is enough to give you nightmares for weeks.

You can find all of these trades over at the Impulse Creations shop. Know a book that deserves a place in the Showcase spotlight? Send an email to wita.gen@gmail.com with the subject line, “Showcase Suggestions.”