BATMAN - ONE BAD DAY: CATWOMAN (graphic novel) by G. Willow Wilson

Written by G. Willow Wilson

Art by Jamie McKelvie

Synopsis

The One Bad Day series is a look at some of the biggest Batman villains in a book just dedicated to that villain. A lot of them, but certainly not all of them, take a sympathetic look at that villain.

Batman - One Bad Day: Catwoman is one of the more sympathetic takes. 

Catwoman is looking through an auction catalog for high end jewelry when she finds an unusual listing for a piece of post-World War II French jewelry that commemorates the end of Nazi occupation. It is a rare piece with a message of a return to freedom for France's artists its reserve price is $30,000.

It is also a piece her mother sold to a pawn shop for only $200 when Catwoman was a child in order to attempt to make her rent money that month.

Catwoman decides to take back the jewelry and right a wrong...

My Review

This one was interesting because the stakes, in reality, are really pretty low - a piece of jewelry that is worth thousands instead of millions and a long-forgotten bit of family pride. 

But, because it's so personal, the stakes are actually very high for Catwoman.

The heist story was good. For once, this did not involve the worn-out plot device of Catwoman cutting glass with her claws and slinking around laser security systems in order to steal a priceless diamond from a museum. 

The art was clear and easy to follow and there was no need to be aware of some obscure plot point from a comic published decades ago. All that is required is a basic knowledge of Catwoman and her relationship with Batman. 

I rate this graphic novel 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Batman - One Bad Day: Catwoman.

STAR WARS: LANDO (graphic novel) by Charles Soule

Published in 2016 by Marvel Enterprises.

Written by Charles Soule.

Art by Alex Maleev and Paul Mounts.

Synopsis

Lando Calrissian is in financial trouble - he has debts and he is working them off by pulling off "jobs" for the people he owes money to. He makes a deal to pull off one big heist for Papa Toren in exchange for all of his debt being cleared and the possibility of making of making a lot of profit for himself.

Lando and his sidekick Lobot (see picture below) build a team and pull off the heist - stealing a space yacht from an imperial shipyard. Everything looks great until they find a Sith artifact onboard and realize that they've just stolen the Emperor's yacht!

My review

This is the fifth Star Wars graphic novel that I've read written by Charles Soule, and it was the weakest of the bunch. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't great like the others. The plot had a lot of zip at first but moved from a heist story to a horror story and it slowed down so much to build a sense of dread that it just failed to work for me any longer.

I rate this graphic novel 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Star Wars: Lando.

BALD-FACED LIAR (kindle) by Victoria Helen Stone

Published in 2025 by Lake Union Publishing.

Synopsis

Elizabeth May has lived a life based on lies ever since she went off to college. As a small child she was caught up in one of those Satanic child abuse day care cases that swept the nation in the 1980s. If you are not aware of this, the cases were almost always built upon an accusation by an angry child followed by leading questions from a series of adults that convinced younger children that they should go along with the accusations. After a while, the smaller children just believed the made up version.

Elizabeth May has ran away from her past - no one in her hometown showed any understanding of how she was also a victim, including her own family. May hides by being a travel nurse - she can move every year or even every few months. She avoids long-term romantic entanglements, she uses every possible variation of her name - Liz, Betty, Beth, etc. 

Elizabeth May has lived in Santa Cruz for about a year. She's got a great job, a cozy condo with a special deal because she keeps on eye the nextdoor vacation rental condos, and she has a network of acquaintances that stand in for actual friends.

Suddenly, her carefully constructed life gets interrupted with a series of online and in real life incidents and Elizabeth May is scrambling to figure out who is a real friend and who is an imposter from the past looking for revenge...

My review: 

The problem with this book is not the tension created from the situation, it's the character of Elizabeth May. She is basically unlikeable. She listens in to her neighbors' arguments and gets joy a thrill out of it. She uses the security cameras to spy on their romantic moments. 

In a book like this, this reader has to root for the target. Elizabeth May is hard to root for, except that you just don't like anybody that's not clearly evil to have their identity stolen and be stalked. 

This book was just off from the beginning and ended up staying off the entire time. I rate this book 2 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Bald-Faced Liar by Victoria Helen Stone.

SUPERMAN '78: THE METAL CURTAIN (graphic novel) Robert Venditti

Published by DC Comics in 2024.
Written by Robert Venditti.
Art by Gavin Guidry and Jordan Bellaire.

Synopsis

These are the further adventures of the Christopher Reeve Superman from the movie series that ran from the late 1970s into the 1980s. It has the feel of those movies in the simple and clear art style and the look of many of those characters. Interestingly, Superman looks nothing like Reeves and Clark Kent only looks like him from time to time.

The plot of Superman '78: The Metal Curtain is pretty simple. The Soviet Union has created a super soldier suit powered by a giant hunk if Kryptonite. The suit is pretty much an Iron Man suit (I know, wrong publisher) with the added benefit that it's fuel weakens the Man of Steel.

The Soviet Union is fearful of Superman. They perceive him as a weapon of the United States (because the events of Superman IV haven't happened yet) and plan to use the suit to defeat Superman and America...

My Review

I really liked the clean art style of this graphic novel. The plot is simple, direct, and the circumstances are dire. The only thing I did not like was the way Superman ended up winning - it was too simplistic and too short. It felt like a cheesy movie plot ending, which is exactly the vibe that they were going for. I guess that makes it a success.

I rate this graphic novel 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Superman '78: The Metal Curtain.

BATMAN - ONE BAD DAY: PENGUIN (One Bad Day series) (graphic novel) by John Ridley

Published by DC Comics in 2023.

Story by John Ridley.

Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith, and Arif Prianto.

Synopsis

Batman - One Bad Day: Penguin finds the hero (!) of the story, Batman's infamous foe Penguin, completely down and out. He has $20 and is sitting on a park bench in the rain. He is taped and bandaged up from a beating. He is unshaven and disheveled. He is waiting for a is waiting to meet a young person to sell him a gun.

He has been pushed out of his role of crime boss of Gotham by a former subordinate. He plans to go into the city and take back his organization - but all he has is one little snub-nosed pistol, one bullet, and no friends.

Turns out he didn't really need to pistol or the bullet - it's your friends that count.

My Review

I truly liked this comic. The way the story went surprised me and I really enjoyed it. Penguin can be a surprisingly sympathetic figure for a super-villain. His origin story isn't the roughest, but just about everyone has experienced a little bit of what made Oswald Cobblepot into the Penguin.

The tense confrontation/conversation that Penguin and Batman have in the middle was an interesting take on this version of Penguin. If this Penguin were in a Dungeons and Dragon campaign, he would be Lawful Evil, and that really shows throughout. No one likes a crime boss, but when the alternative is a chaos agent that actively enjoys the city being burned to the ground, you just end of rooting for the guy.

I rate this graphic novel 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: BATMAN - ONE BAD DAY: PENGUIN by John Ridley.

THE ASCENT: A NOVEL (Kurt Argento #1) (audiobook) by Adam Plantinga

Published in 2024 by Grand Central Publishing

Read by Charles Halford and Christine Lakin.

Duration: 10 hours, 44 minutes.

Unabridged.

Synopsis

The Ascent features Kurt Argento, a former Detroit police officer. His wife died from cancer and he is not dealing with it well. During a small riot, he defied orders to protect a civilian and hospitalized several members of a gang with his night stick - he literally worked out some of his grief on their not very sympathetic bodies. It was heroic act, but because he disobeyed orders he was forced to resign.

Argento takes his dog and heads out towards California. For some reason, he has it in his head that seeing the Pacific Ocean would be a good thing for his peace of mind. While traveling through Missouri he ends up in a scuffle with a corrupt local sheriff. The sheriff claims that his jail cells are too full so he can store Argento in a nearby for-profit state prison in hopes of Argento getting caught up in some sort of prison fight and perhaps getting shanked.

Before Argento can even get logged in to the prison it erupts in a completely out of control riot. To make matters worse, the governor's daughter is also in the prison as part of a visit for a college class and the only way to safety requires them to travel through every floor of the prison to get to the roof...

My Review

If you like the Jack Reacher novels, this book will feel very familiar. The book's plot is obvious when you read the summary, but almost all of it is a good read with unlikely, but not impossible, complications. There are two parts that are extremely (and unnecessarily) graphic. 

This book would make a pretty good plot for a videogame.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Ascent by Adam Plantinga. 

THE MONKEY'S RAINCOAT (Elvis Cole #1) (audiobook) by Robert Crais

Winner of the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original.

Winner of the McAvity Award for Best First Novel.

Originally published in 1987.
Published in 2008 by Brilliance Audio.
Read by Patrick Lawlor.
Duration: 8 hours, 9 minutes.
Unabridged.

I have been reading Robert Crais' Elvis Cole novels for 15 years and I just assumed that I had already read all of the early ones years ago. But, when I checked my blog I found that I had not read 7 of them - that is more than a third of the series! 

The Monkey's Raincoat is the first in this 20 book series. 

Synopsis

Two women come to meet Elvis Cole in his office. Cole is a decorated Vietnam veteran turned private detective. The women want Cole to find the Mort, the husband of one of the women and their son. Mort picked the boy up from school, but they never came home.

Elvis starts to dig around and quickly discovers that Mort's talent agency is in trouble. The more he uncovers, the more it becomes obvious that Mort has been hiding massive losses from his family. Elvis knows that there is deep trouble when contacts with the police let him know that Mort has been found dead in his car - but there was no sign of his son. 

He goes to meet with his client to discuss the situation only to find that she has gone missing as well...

My Review

In book one of a 28 year old detective series all of the pieces are laid out in a great example of efficient world-building. Elvis is a wise-cracking tough guy with a sense of humor and a soft side. He decorates his office with Disney memorabilia. He drives a yellow 1960s Corvette Stingray. His partner, Joe Pike, is never in the office, owns a gun store, and always answers the phone by saying, "Gun shop" in a flat tone. Elvis collects contacts all over town just like he collects Disney gear. Joe Pike collects guns and never smiles.

Some authors feel the need to take the reader all over the new world of their character to meet everyone and see everything that might ever be in a book, but Crais gets it all done in a quick and efficient manner - it's all there in the first 50 pages of the first book and and it has basically stayed the same for nearly 30 years.

Interestingly, the author has chosen to stop aging Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. What has changed is the technology. Elvis looks for pay phones several times and they all have cell phones and GPS in the newer books. Elvis and Joe are like James Bond - same age, new toys.

The mystery itself was good. Elvis got to do some detecting, he called on a lot of contacts and he met new people and charmed him into giving him the information he needed. He also punched people, got shot at, shot at people, and brought in Joe Pike to help when it got too tough for one guy. 

Basically, every Elvis Cole novel follows the plan of the previous paragraph and it has worked for nearly 30 years. 

You may wonder where the weird title comes from. It's from a Japanese poem by Matsuo Bashō which is quoted at the start of the novel: "Winter downpour; Even the monkey needs a raincoat."

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Monkey's Raincoat by Robert Crais.