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September has arrived, and with summer coming to an end, there’s no better way to prepare for winter than with a small library of new graphic novels. As usual, there are a ton of trade paperbacks and compendiums out this month from a wide variety of publishers, and we’ve gathered up some of the more noteworthy releases below.
For the highlights, here’s a quick look at what the Big Two have to offer. DC Comics always has a few Batman trade paperbacks ready to roll out, and in September, one of the new ones to check out is Batman: City of Madness. Illustrated and written by Christian Ward, this is Batman facing cosmic horror as he explores a Gotham that exists beneath the current city. A living nightmare populated by twisted mirrors of the inhabitants above it, the Dark Knight soon comes face to face with his own twisted reflection, who has a sinister agenda that he plans to carry out.
Moving over to Metropolis, Superman: The Triangle Collection is another massive collection of comic books. What makes this one interesting is that it gathers up Superman adventures from when the character was undergoing a creative renaissance in the ’90s. Several superstar creative teams came together at the time, telling their own stories while also crafting a tight continuity that kept all four main Superman titles connected. Superman, Adventures of Superman, Action Comics, and Superman: The Man of Steel all featured numbered triangle icons on their covers, and this fan-favorite period would come to be known as the “triangle era” of Superman comic books.
Superman: The Triangle Era Omnibus Volume 1 collects the first year of these comics, which works out to over 1,200 pages in size. You might want to soak up some yellow solar radiation before you try lifting this tome. A new edition of WE-3, a mini-series about weaponized house pets, is also out this month, but don’t read this unless you’re ready to have your heart broken. While Frank Quitely’s art is worth the price of admission, this series is a hard-hitting look at animal experimentation gone way too far.
Swinging over to mighty Marvel, you can get your hands on not one but two Ultimate Spider-Man graphic novels. The fourth omnibus of the original Ultimate Spider-Man has plenty of drama, goblins, and symbiotes to make life tough for Peter Parker, and collects a ton of issues, one-shots, and annuals from the series.
The other Ultimate Spider-Man graphic novel is smaller, although considering the series only recently started, it is possible. The new incarnation of Spider-Man is wildly different, as this Peter Parker received his powers decades after he was originally supposed to.
Older and blessed with a family, Parker has to navigate new challenges while learning to become Spider-Man for the first time.
On the weirder side of Batman, Grant Morrison’s, Andy Kubert’s, and Tony Daniel’s legendary run is being collected in several volumes. The first one features some terrific stories, including the first appearance of Damien Wayne, who would go on to become the current Robin. For something more light-hearted, there’s also the groovy adventures of Batman ’66, as this gigantic 928-page bat-compendium collects the entirety of Batman and Robin’s adventures. There’s some great talent in this collection, including Jeff Parker, Michael Allred, Laura Allred, Jonathan Case and more putting their bat-stamp on the Gotham Guardian.
Other Marvel graphic novels we’d recommend include the coolest Ghost Rider–Danny Ketch–tearing down the street with a tank full of ’90s fuel, and the original run of X-Factor comic books have been collected.
Shifting focus away from Marvel and DC, you can look forward to an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road. We say “look forward to” in an ironic sense, because the original book is a bleak look at life in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and the comic book adaptation looks set to do it justice. Illustrated by internationally renowned cartoonist Manu Larcenet, it’s a soul-stirring tale of human perseverance and familial love.
Another potential book that’ll stir some emotions is Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story by Mutts cartoonist and writer Patrick McDonnell. This is a collection of stories about Guard Dog, a character who was abandoned by his owner and left to die on his own. The cast of Mutts would rescue Guard Dog, who would go on to become one of the most-popular characters in the cartoon strip, and any series that tackles the sensitive topic of animal cruelty and neglect is one that deserves to be told and shared.
For a quick peek at everything else, you can read through the list below.
“}]] From a cosmic-horror Batman adventure to bleak post-apocalyptic tales, here’s a closer look at all the graphic novels releasing this month. Read More