Batman Detective Comics: Faces of Death + iZombie Series

This past year, I took place in the Graphic Novel Reading Challenge as I really wanted to read more graphic novels. I signed up for the first level in the beginning (12 books) and then continued on to the Bronze Age, where you had to read/review 24 books during the year. I figured I’d post one post with my final graphic novels of 2014- I finished with 27, so that means I officially made it through the Bronze Age!!

Batman Detective Comics Volume 1- Faces of Death by Tony S. Daniel


Review by Lauren


Source: copy from library; all opinions are my own


Official Summary: Bruce Wayne returns as Batman, and sets his sights on new villain the
Gotham Ripper, who in turn has his sights on Batman. Meanwhile, Bruce
Wayne explores a budding romance with television journalist Charlotte
Rivers, who’s visiting Gotham City to cover the gruesome slayings–while
also trying to uncover Bruce’s own mystery. But time is running out as
both Commissioner Gordon and Batman work to uncover the true identity of
this new serial killer.

Review: By now, most of you have realized my love for Batman and the graphic novel collections of new comics. I love the dark, gritty stories and this one definitely fit the bill. Batman/Bruce Wayne is battling a lot of gruesome killers in this one, from new killer the Dollmaker to old fan favorites the Joker and the Penguin. I’ve noticed that in a lot of these Batman collections there is usually a comic or so that leaves me a bit confused. I assume it’s setting up something for the future, but I don’t know yet. For this volume, there was only one section that had me confused; the rest of the book seemed to follow a linear storyline from beginning to end. Overall, I really liked this one, and I hope I can find the other volumes soon.

iZombie series by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred


Review by Lauren


Source: copies from library; all opinions are my own


Review: I’ve heard of iZombie for awhile now, so I was excited to find all four volumes at my local library. Volume 1: Dead to the World, Volume 2: UVampire, Volume 3: Six Feet Under and Rising, and Volume 4: Repossession. All the comics are collected into these four volumes, and that’s the entire story, so it was kind of cool to read something from beginning to end. At the same time, I would love to see more of these characters.

iZombie is mostly about a zombie named Gwen Dylan and her friends, Ellie (a ghost) and Scott (a were-terrier she refers to as Spot).

At least once a month, Gwen has to eat a brain so she doesn’t turn into a shuffling, mumbling version of a zombie. Of course, when she eats a brain, she gets memories and even the voice of the dead. This often leads her to finishing up their final business. The rest of the time, she works as a grave digger (which is how she ends up getting the brains when she needs them), lives in a crypt, and spends time with her very unique friends.

Things start to get even weirder in the first volume though, when Gwen meets a man named Aman who tells Gwen she needs to do more than just eat a brain once a month to keep from becoming a true zombie. His ideas leave Gwen feeling weird though, as she wants to stay as far away from being an “actual” monster as she can. This storyline progresses throughout all the volumes, leading to what could easily be the end of the world if Gwen doesn’t figure out how to stop it.

Throughout the comics, we learn more about Ellie and her background, Scott and his, and some other side characters that come into their lives to help defeat the end of the world. These were really fun comics, and again, I’d love to read more about the characters. The end was very bittersweet, but at the same time, it made sense. It didn’t turn the whole story into a sudden “happily-ever-after” which would not have been realistic.

All in all, a good series!