Batman: Black Mirror [Hardcover]

This hardcover collects seven months of batman stories published in DC Comics. The collection is organized into sets of smaller stories, with an overarching plot from one story arc to the next. The artist change from one story arc to the next, but the art does not suffer with this. The more self-contained parts of the story are quite interesting and present newer additions to the Batman mythos. The overarching story is one of the best Batman yarns I have read in the last couple of years. An old enemy who was not an enemy returns and creates problems not only for Batman, but also for Oracle and for Commissioner Gordon. The ending is chilling. Overall, very enjoyable.
Story:4.5
Art:4
Overall:4.25

Al Nordeste de Arzew

This is a graphic that, as far as I know, is being published originally in Spain first. The art team is Spanish, while the writer is French. It is an interesting effort that tells the story of a group of families whose immediate ancestors immigrated to Argelie, which has now been their home for 1.5 generations. The time is the late fifties-early sixties, when Argelie became independent from France. The story focuses on a few kids and on how they live the transition from being in their home to being invaders and having to go back to France, where they are also looked at as invaders. It is an end-of-innocence tale that is beautifully told, without sentimentalism or easy tears. The story is well written and the drawings and colors are impressive and evocative. Read it if you can.
Story: 4.5
Art: 4.7
Overall: 4.6

Le Bel Age

This is the first of a series of french graphic novels about the (origin of) friendship between three girls that will come to share a life. It all starts when one of them gets into trouble because she decides to share her flatmate's boyfriend. Another of the three is a Ph. D. student who his fighting to complete her thesis and the third is a young women who decides to return to college. This first volumes ends when the later two come to visit the former's apartment in order to become her flatmate(s). It is difficult to tell whether this is worth it or not. I very much enjoyed Merwan's Pour l'empire. That is why I gave this book a try. The drawing is excellent. I will have to wait for the second volume before deciding whether to see this series to completion or not.
Story:2.5
Art: 4
Overall:3.25

Moriarty: The Dark Chamber

This is the story of what happens to Prof. Moriarty after surviving his final showdown with Sherlock Holmes. In a not so surprising turn of events he becomes much more like his opponent than he might have expected and starts to lead a (sort of) honorable life. Then, things change and while fighting for his life he learns that maybe, just maybe, his nemesis in this fight may not be who Moriarty thinks. It is a good Sherlock Holmes story, that reads quite well. However, the drawing are too crude for my tastes and even though they help the story flow, it took me more than 70% of the book to not notice them and just enjoy the story.
Story: 4
Art: 1
Overall: 2.5

A Red Mass For Mars [Paperback]

A Red Mass for Mars collects the comic book miniseries with the same name, from Image Comics. It is a story about how the world ended, then got better and is now about to end again. It ended as we might expect it to end tomorrow if we look at world politics today, although there is a twist to it. It got better thanks to "a few good and powerful men", some of which turned out either to be too powerful or not to be so good. These men split and went into different states of isolation. The second ending is now coming and those who are left need to band together again to avoid the end and/or rebuild. I liked the story quite a lot. Lots of shades of grey and preciously few black and whites. Johnathan Hickman does another superb job writing and Ryan Bodenheim drawing are perfect for the tale. Go read it.
Story: 4.5
Art: 4.5
Overall: 4.5

Sherlock Holmes: Year One TP

Sherlock Holmes Year One is the collected edition of the six first issues of the comic book series with the same name. It basically deals with the life and times of Sherlock Holmes right before and up to his first meeting with Dr. Watson. There are mysteries, crimes, smugness, bedrooms that look like pig-houses, and all we came to expect of Sherlock. It is an entertaining read, although I don't think it brings anything new to the myth. Sherlock solves a couple of crimes, and the series ends with the beginning of "A Study in Scarlet". You could do worst with your time than read this.
Story: 3
Art: 4
Overall: 3.5

Who is Jake Ellis?

Who is Jake Ellis is the collected paperback for a five issue miniseries from Image Comics. It is the story of a spy who becomes a criminal and is kept one step ahead of trouble by an imaginary friend that somehow always tells him what he should do to escape the situations he gets involved in. As the book progresses, they approach the crux of how they come to be and we get to find out whether the imaginary friends is real or not. It is a classical spy yarn why some brush strokes of sci-fi. It reads well and the drawing is quite good. If you like spy thrillers give it a shot.
Story: 4
Art: 4.5
Overall: 4.25