Comic (and Manga) Zone

The Long Halloween

• Jeph Loeb
• Tim Sale
• @DC Comics

I was lucky to find this in my local hobby shop in the Compact Comic format.

I never really liked Batman as a character all that much until Absolute Batman, so reading this became an introduction the character and the stories that could be told.

The mystery is engaging, with several characters having different ideas on who the killer is. It puts Batmans detective skills in the spotlight, but also leaves room for Batman action sequences.

A lot of Batmans rogues appear in this, The Joker, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, and Solomon Grundy all make an appearance.

Overall, as an introduction to Batman as a comic book character, this served really well. I would highly reading this if you are interested in starting out comic books.

Absolute Batman

• Scott Snyder
• Nick Dragotta
• @DC Comics

Absolute Batman features a version of Batman where Bruce Wayne is a working-class citizen and not a billionare. In this world, villains are engraved into society, the world is literally built on evil, and all heroes are underdogs.

I think with everything going on in the world right now, Absolute Batman is exactly what we need, when the world feels like it is being pit against you, we need a hero that looks like us and fights the good fight.

Nick Dragotta takes on almost a manga-like style, which recently has taken over the comics industry. The series also features a lot of fluid action scenes, much like a manga would.

Kagurabachi

• Takeru Hokazono
• @Shonen Jump

Kagurabachi is about Chihiro Rokuhira, the son of the famous swordsmith Kunishige Rokuhira who ended the war by creating powerful enchanted blades, on a quest to avenge his fathers murder as well as fix the impact the enchanted blades created on the world.

This series has a lot of action, Hokazono is really great at using perspective to create dramatic and fluid action scenes.