THOR #5 hits your local comic book store on December 17th, but thanks to Marvel Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive four-page preview for you!
About the issue: ENTER THE SERPENT!
The Sons of the Serpent want the man called Thor dead. And they have a name: Sigurd Jarlson. But the man called Thor has a name too…the name of their leader. And that name…is Blake. Somewhere in the city, a man with a hammer faces his enemy…
The issue is by writer Al Ewing and artist Pasqual Ferry, with colors by Matt Hollingsworth, and letters by Joe Sabino. The main cover is by Alex Ross.
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AVENGERS #33 hits your local comic book store on December 17th, but thanks to Marvel Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive four-page preview for you!
About the issue: DAWN OF THE TWILIGHT COURT!
As KANG and MYRDDIN battle with the Avengers across space and time, the TWILIGHT COURT fight for the survival of ALL! Learn the origin of the Impossible City as the ASHEN COMBINE return! Next month, a CELEBRATION: AVENGERS #800!
The issue is by writer Jed MacKay and artist Javier Pina, with colors by Federico Blee, and letters by Cory Petit. The main cover is by CAFU and David Curiel.
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Eric Powell’s THE GOON: BUNCH OF OLD CRAP OMNIBUS Volume 6 will hit stores Summer 2026, courtesy of Dark Horse Comics, under Powell’s own Albatross Funnybooks imprint.
Volume 6 of the omnibus series will collect three Goon tales for the first time: A Ragged Return to Lonely Street, written and illustrated by award-winning cartoonist Eric Powell; The Deceit of a Cro-Magnon Dandy, written by Powell and Tom Sniegoski, and illustrated by Brett Parson; Fishy Men, Witchy Women & Bitter Beer, written by Roger Langridge, illustrated by Mike Norton, and colored by Marissa Louise; and more.
THE GOON: BUNCH OF OLD CRAP OMNIBUS Volume 6 will be available in bookstores on August 11, 2026 and in comics shops on August 12, 2026.
About the collection: Nameless Town is a tough place. So tough that the only one thing standing between you and that thing that crawled out of the sewer and ate your old neighbor lady before trying to shake you down for the cash in your pockets is a mob boss known as the Goon and his psychotic counter part that goes by Franky.
After strange journeys abroad, the Goon and Franky return to Nameless Town to find that a horde of unsavory characters has filled the void left in their absence. Our reluctant hero has his work cut out for him as he faces off against the likes of Seti the Southside Mummy, Vinny Nosferatu, and a Cro-Magnon mobster in a pinstriped suit who wants his blood.
And if you want more Goon coverage, check out the conversation we had here at MFR when The Goon: Them That Don’t Stay Dead #1 dropped last year!
Are you picking up THE GOON: OMNIBUS OF OLD CRAP Omnibus 6? What is your favorite Goon storyline? Sound off in the comments!
Acclaimed concept artist and visionary world-builder Ben Mauro is celebrating the global release of HUXLEY: The Oracle, the prequel to the post-apocalyptic graphic novel hit HUXLEY, now available worldwide, including the US and Canada. Published by Read-Only Memory, an imprint of Thames & Hudson, this richly illustrated art book offers fans an origin story steeped in war, rebellion, and the early seeds of empire-wide upheaval.
Following the best-selling graphic novel, which has already sold out its first print run in the UK, The Oracle is on the way to do the same. This 160-page hardcover volume features detailed artwork throughout, alongside black-and-white development sketches and a cover gallery.
With more than 100 full-color illustrations by an all-star lineup, Steve Chinhsuan Wang (Gears of War 5), Nikolas Gekko (Destiny 2, Halo Infinite), and Mauro himself, alongside exclusive storyboards by Syama Pedersen (Astartes), The Oracle delivers a powerful fusion of storytelling and visual design.
HUXLEY: The Oracle is available for purchase in-store and online in two formats: a Standard Edition (MSRP: $50) and a Deluxe Slipcased Edition (MSRP: $105), with fewer than 60 copies currently left for sale, including a signed print and premium foil-stamped packaging.
“Return to FURY-7, a scorched planet ruled by machine emperors known as Oracles, in this new entry in the HUXLEY saga. These AIs control the world’s resources and command cloned human enforcers called Ronins. Among them, Max – seen earlier in the original series – uncovers a conspiracy that could shake the empire. Featuring both returning and new characters, the story expands HUXLEY’s intricate lore with hundreds of pages of Ben Mauro’s detailed artwork, offering a new chapter of sci-fi adventure, conflict, and richly imagined worldbuilding.”
Ben Mauro is a luminary in the world of concept art and visual design whose exceptional talent and visionary work have left an indelible mark on the entertainment industry. He has contributed to a myriad of high-profile projects across film, video games, and beyond, with his portfolio boasting involvement in blockbuster hits such as Elysium, Chappie, Valerian, Lucy, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and the iconic The Hobbit Trilogy. His innovative designs and imaginative concepts have brought to life worlds that captivate and enchant audiences globally for over 16 years, working with directors Peter Jackson, Guillermo Del Toro, Luc Besson, and Neill Blomkamp to help bring their visionary films to life. Beyond the silver screen, Mauro’s creative talents have been instrumental in shaping the visual and thematic foundations of critically acclaimed video games in the billion-dollar Call of Duty and Halo franchises. His ability to weave narrative and design together has resulted in immersive experiences that push the boundaries of digital storytelling. His personal IP, HUXLEY®, showcases his prowess as a storyteller and creator, blending captivating visuals with compelling narratives.
From Gou Tanabe, the mangaka behind adaptations of At the Mountains of Madness and The Shadow Over Innsmouth comes his latest adaptation of a seminal cosmic horror classic with H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Out of Time. With his latest work, Tanabe continues to give a lesson in both adapting classics to comic form, as well as showing what makes cosmic horror tick. With a thoughtful reimagining of Lovecraft’s original writing and absolutely stellar visual work, this is yet another must read in Tanabe’s library of Lovecraft adaptations.
“Professor Peaslee of Miskatonic University has been acting very strange—could he be out of his mind? No…his mind is out of him!”
Writing & Plot
Cosmic horror is no stranger to the comics universe, but notable adaptations of Lovecraft’s work are few and far between. Gou Tanabe’s skill in adapting The Shadow Out of Time lies not just in his artistic skill, but in how he selects what parts of Lovecraft’s prose to write and which parts only to show in pencil. Despite this adaptation being a one-to-one comics recreation of a prose story, there are plenty of wordless sequences where we only see ancient precipices and moments of wonder or terror across characters’ faces. Tanabe manages to make Lovecraft’s own words fit perfectly within the pages, creating an experience that feels just as much like a timeless piece of horror literature as it does a modern day comic book. For those unfamiliar, The Shadow Out of Time is story of a University professor passing out one day in class and waking up with no memory or care for his current life, and instead focuses entirely on learning new subjects and exploring the world. After five years, the professor’s old personality returns with no recollection of the last five years, and then goes on a journey to find out hat happened to him – and what the source of his nightmarish visions may be. Lovecraft’s protagonists are rarely directly in the sights of the cosmic entities they encounter. More often, they’re just hapless bystanders in the wake of events and creatures vastly beyond human imagination or existence. Tanabe’s Shadow Out of Time maintains this concept by keeping Professor Peaslee focused on the mystery he is a victim of and mostly out of harms way, with the big reveals coming off more as twisted visions of wonder rather than being the prey of monsters. Shadow Out of Time is one of Lovecraft’s best stories that doesn’t usually get as much love as some of his other, more popular works. Tanabe does an incredible job of pacing out this almost 100 year old horror story into a visual format.
Art Direction
Tanabe’s great feat in adapting The Shadow Out of Time of course lies in his visual style and his sense of sequential direction. His imaginative, heavily detailed pencils manage to craft stories that bring the unimaginable cosmic horrors of Lovecraft’s mind to life in ways that still feel in line with the story’s original intent. Tanabe draws the ancient ruins and extradimensional entities of Lovecraft’s mind using the original author’s own words as a blueprint, while still maintaining a singular and unmistakable visual style. The sense of terror and foreboding Tanabe builds with his careful direction makes for a comic experience that stands not only as a great adaptation, but as a genuinely fantastic horror read. There are sequences in Shadow Out of Time where Tanabe uses long passages of Lovecraft’s original prose, but splits them up along the panels. He hides paragraphs of description in the environment so they both stay thematic and become a part of the visual experience itself. Tanabe will layer Lovecraft’s prose over trees or on top of shadows, making for a singular experience of reading this horror story in a visual format. Normally a huge detractor for cosmic horror, and one of the reasons why this genre is difficult to pull off outside of prose writing, is because it’s s genre entirely about the unknowable or unimaginable. Once you can *see* the objects or beings of terror, it takes the tension away. Tanabe manages to keep this feeling at bay not just by modeling his visions after Lovecraft’s exact wording, but by maintaining the mystery of the story throughout the entire manga. Tanabe’s focus on Peaslee’s investigations and the stunningly detailed drawings of ancient texts and ruins keeps this story feeling like a supernatural mystery rather than outright horror. His interpretations of Lovecraft’s entities are just as strange and monstrous as you could guess, with a sense of classical sci-fi mixed with modern artistic approaches making up their design. Overall, Tanabe’s vision of this Lovecraft story is right on par with the rest of his adaptations, with this being one of the best visualizations of the cosmic horror icon’s work ever put to page.
Verdict
Gou Tanabe’s adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Out of Time is a stunning work of cosmic horror in the comics medium. Tanabe succeeds in crafting this story – and other pieces in Lovecraft’s library – as a comic due to his understanding of how cosmic horror should tick and applying all of the mystery and foreboding these stories require on the page. His choices in where to apply Lovecraft’s words and where to turn them purely into images, and the overall quality of his visual work, makes this adaptation and all of his others some of the best horror stories in the comics medium. Be sure to grab this volume when it hits shelves on December 23rd!
Mary Shelley: The Eternal Dream
Credit: Mad Cave Publishers
“I thought of you a lot, while I was writing. All your ideas about… humanity, they have all been there to draw upon. If I ever doubted how much I’ve learned from you, I do not doubt it now.” From Mary Shelly by Helen Edmundson 2012 (pg 11)
I think it’s safe to say that there aren’t very many intellectual properties that are over 200 years old. People talk about the popularity of Star Wars, which first came out in 1977, but that’s a babe compared to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Even Dracula is Frankenstein‘s annoying younger brother. You might even feel like bringing up Shakespeare, but I would argue that Frankenstein is more culturally significant to general modern audiences than the bard’s great works. Every decade or so, Frankenstein is reborn for a new generation, and there are a flurry of adaptations or works inspired by the 1818 classic.
We are currently in one of these periods. Guillermo Del Toro has recently released his version on Netflix, taking inspiration from the James Whale 1931 movie and mixing it with stylistic concepts from a broad range of Frankenstein offshoots, creating a Frankenstein’s monster of a movie, pierced together from Del Toro’s own experiences with the franchise’s legacy. Next year sees the release of The Bride, a more abstract examination of the text from the superb Maggie Gyllenhaal. There have recently been several theatrical performances* and a handful of comics, such as 2021’s The Modern Frankenstein by Paul Cornell and Emma Vieceli, and last year’s Universal Monsters Frankenstein by Michael Walsh.
Mary Shelley: The Eternal Dream Credit: Mad Cave Publishers
It’s difficult to escape the influence of Shelley’s novel and the early Universal films, as each have seeped into the modern popular zeitgeist and left trails throughout everything they have touched. But what is fascinating about the Frankenstein obsession is how often the original creator herself is featured in the retelling, adaptations, or in works inspired by her life. In The Bride of Frankenstein from 1935, Elsa Lanchester plays Mary Shelley recounting the next chapter in her infamous story, the part that had not been published. Doctor Who visits Mary Shelley at Lake Geneva where an encounter with the Cybermen becomes the inspiration for the Creature. There is a list as long as my arm of such instances, which brings us to the upcoming Mary Shelley: The Eternal Dream published by Mad Cave studios, written by Alessandro Di Virgilio and illustrated by Manuela Santoni.
The book was originally published by BeccoGiallo in 2019 and translated for Comixology Originals by Lucy Lenzi in 2023. So it is possible you may have come across this comic already, however, Mad Cave is releasing the first print edition of it in early January 2026 to a much wider audience.
The comic chronicles the early life of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, and touches on some of her heritage as she is drawn towards her destiny at the Villa Diodati and the creation of her famous creature. There is an interesting narrative voice throughout the comic, and it’s owner only becomes apparent at the end, although it is fairly easy to guess once you realise that the nature of the comic is a fictional retelling of historical events. The comic embraces a motif that has become popular with adaptations of older properties: It merges history with fiction. The novels of the past are embellished retellings of actual events and not simply flights of fancy, or the authors and creators are themselves fictions to be used to tell further tales. This allows for a more poetic retelling of Mary’s early life, giving Alessandro Di Virgilio the opportunity to fill the pages with recitals of famous poems and philosophical discussion.
Mary Shelley: The Eternal Dream Credit: Mad Cave Publishers
The cover of the book has Mary positioned like a sculpted bust with wild hair in the vein of the Bride of Frankenstein from the 1930s movies. Hanging over her is just visible the lower portion of the creature’s face. It is like the Sword of Damocles, ever present above the heroine. An inescapable fate, but it creates a contradiction. For Mary, the creature and the novel it inhabited was to prove to be her lasting legacy, whereas the creature in fictionalised form was a source of destruction and unhappiness. The cover of the book illustrates the significance of the creature but its intentions are unclear and this is not something that is satisfactorily resolved.
There is a duality to the creature that is represented through Mary’s life. It is like a winding path that is full of loss and pain, but also love and affection, and it is suggested that the creature is born from this. When the creature speaks of “our” world, he says it is “devoid of any rules,” “A world which […] seems to be made exclusively of pain, blood, suffering.” From the outset, the creature, as narrator, acknowledges the difficult life that Mary had and how this could lead her to create a story of such despair and destruction like Frankenstein. The opening scene is of her birth, and the heavy, black line drawings in the panels have a splattering of red, like a flick of paint, that visually represents the words of the narrator.
Mary Shelley: The Eternal Dream Credit: Mad Cave Publishers
Manuela Santoni’s artwork is fascinating. It is not the clean cut, realistic renderings of most North American superhero comics. Instead, it favours an emotional expression of line and shade. The characters are created from shapes that fit the mood of each panel and scene, and are surrounded by hastily shaded backgrounds or deliberate lined shadows. Gaps in the inking creates clouds in the sky or shadows on characters’ clothes. Faces are quick line drawings with subtle inflections creating the emotional content. Sometimes this is lost within the heavy lines of a panel and can be easily overlooked if read too fast. But this comic is meant to be savoured, like a poem. The slow beats of the stanzas are dictated by the narrator’s words and splash pages herald a new verse. The classic poems recited by several characters within the comic are reflections of the artwork and storytelling style of this comic.
The Eternal Dream received some criticism when it was released by Comixology for lacking the complexity of Mary’s life, for not having a strong emotional connection to the central character. One review suggested that Mary was like a guest in her own story. I can see this, and understand it. However, I don’t entirely agree with it. The comic is not just about Mary Shelley; it is a history of the birth of the Frankenstein creature, and just as the creature is pierced together from various body parts, enlarged to make the surgery easier, so too the creature’s story is an embellishment of moments, exaggerated to fit its monstrous narrative. The Eternal Dream focuses on the early life of Mary and, in doing so, becomes an amalgamation of her ancestry and the influential, whether positive or not, people around her. The creators are presenting a life made up by the world around it, just as the creature is made up of different body parts. To see the young Mary, is to understand the anatomy of this world around her.
Mary Shelley: The Eternal Dream Credit: Mad Cave Publishers
The artwork is rough and ready. In places it appears barely formed, but in others, there is a majestic pattern to the design. The panel layouts are straightforward with only a few rows at most to each page but, again, this simplicity creates the poetry. Each page is a steady, deliberate pace that allows the reader time to digest the words and the images equally. It has the feel of a biographical comic, along the same lines as Maus or Persepolis, with the personal touch of the artist ever present on the page. The repeated intrusion of the red splashes and dashes signifies both extreme emotion and the approaching birth of the creature. The handcrafted nature of the artwork is an important part of the visual presentation; this is not a reflection of the real world but an interpretation of a world by the narrator, in this case a fictional creature. And the artwork allows the reader to see how the creature sees—and arguably how history sees—a creator like Mary Shelley. We want to romanticise her life because of the romanticism inherent in her work, but also we expect a buried darkness for the same reasons.
There are more in-depth examinations of Mary Shelley’s life, whether they are academic books such as In Search of Mary Shelley by Fiona Sampson, or elaborated histories like Mary: Or the Birth of Frankenstein by Anne Eekhout**. And in comparison, The Eternal Dream is more whimsical, as suggested by the title. However, there is still an engaging narrative with a consuming darkness buried beneath the surface, one that feeds the creature at the heart of this wonderfully enticing comic.
Mary Shelley: The Eternal Dream, published by Mad Cave Studios is due out in January 2026.
*In the UK at least. I know because I saw one and couldn’t get tickets for another.
**Both books that I would highly recommend.
Writer Matt Fraction, artist Jorge Jiménez, colorist Tomeu Morey, and letterer Clayton Cowles take a step back from smaller, emotional stories in this week’s Batman #4 to introduce us to a larger criminal syndicate taking over Gotham’s underworld. We’re introduced to the Minotaur: a new villain who seems to have taken complete control of Gotham’s criminals. He’s sure to play a large part in the next few issues, and this team provides a very strong story to set him up.
This issue starts with the Minotaur watching a crime go south at Gotham’s docks. He calls for a meeting of Gotham’s crime bosses, planning to punish them. We cut to Bruce Wayne at the Wayne Experimental Sciences building where he surprises Dr. Zeller while she’s on the treadmill, working. He tells her to meet him for dinner, and she’s confused by the whole interaction but agrees in the end. We then see the reporter and child from the last issue going to the Gotham Eve, a newspaper building. The reporter takes him there so he can report what he saw the night Batman was framed.
An ambush at Gotham Harbor.
WRITING
Fraction gives us a slower issue this time around, but a necessary one. He takes a break from the craziness of the last few issues to give us a pretty refreshing change of pace with a business casual Bruce Wayne rather than a costumed one. While Fraction has so far explored Batman’s relationships with the members of his family, we’ve yet to really see Fraction’s Bruce Wayne in the real world. This issue changes that, and Fraction really nails it. His Bruce is charming and clever, but constantly working to push forward his work as Batman. When he meets with Zeller, he acts as though he’s into her, when in reality he likely just wants to get to the bottom of last issue’s revelation. It’s a clever use of the dual identity.
Fraction sets up his big bad in this issue: the Minotaur. Right off the bat, he puts the character in a position of immense power. He sort of carefully weaves this character into the story. He’s introduced in a way where you’d probably believe that this wasn’t his first appearance just based on how deep his claws already are into Gotham. Fraction instantly makes him compelling, and he shows us later in the issue that the character means business by immediately having him intimidate all of Gotham’s most powerful. It’s a really smart issue on both sides of the coin.
The Minotaur watches the crime gone wrong.
ART
Jiménez gives every character a lot of personality through body language in this issue. When Bruce confronts Zeller, every panel displays a different emotion with her. Through the art, you can clock almost immediately that she is a very vocal and easily flustered individual who doesn’t really have the time to mess around. Before Bruce sees her, she’s in full work mode. She’s multitasking, and you can tell from her demeanor how she does each task carefully. The second Bruce is known to her though, she’s much more animated and jumpy. It’s a tough switch, but one that Jiménez makes almost seamlessly.
Jiménez has also completely mastered his paneling in this issue. There’s this one scene near the end where the Minotaur has all the mob bosses terrified, and he clenches his fist high above his head. Surrounding the panel of him doing this are six rectangular, smaller panels that give us a small look at each of the bosses faces. It’s such a fun way to show how deeply this new character has shaken each of them, wincing at even the slightest movement of his fist. Jiménez really gives you plenty to admire here.
The minotaur calls for a meeting of the bosses.
COLORS
This issue has got some really vibrant colors, once again giving this team’s Gotham more room to shine. The city itself isn’t colorful, but the lighting and the people constantly are. It’s rare that you see Gotham in the daytime, and so when you do, you have to sort of make it stand out with other things. Morey does that pretty successfully. Dr. Zeller’s holographic work is a bright pink color that reflects onto her, giving her a pink glow when Bruce walks into the room. What’s smart about this is how, in this scene, she’s also wearing a pink shirt and headband. She’s illuminated by the same color she’s wearing, and so it’s muted when she speaks to Bruce, but still pink and harmless.
The issue takes a pretty big shift in color when we move to see what the Minotaur has going on. The room he gathers everyone in is covered in a lot of yellow and orange lights. It’s a smart choice from Morey. Not only does it place some pressure on everyone in that room, but it also makes it seem like the room is on fire, engulfing all of them, while the Minotaur is completely safe from it. It’s a very powerful way of cementing this new character as a large threat.
The issue’s credits.
LETTERS
This issue has some pretty fun lettering choices from Cowles. He really shines with his little time and location boxes that occasionally appear in the corners of certain panels. The best example of one of these is when the reporter takes the child from the last issue to the Gotham Eve building. Once inside, the reporter talks to who we can assume is the editor in chief of the paper. Six minutes pass while the kid sits in the chair, and there’s this really nice and stylish box telling us that right in the corner of the page. It gives Gotham a sort of New York feel, and boxes mirroring subway signs. Cowles really does his best to further display the city and setting’s personality, and he succeeds.
CONCLUSION
Batman #4 sort of tones down the action, but it’s a much needed one that really shows us what goes on in Gotham when we’re not just following around Batman. Fraction, Jiménez, Morey, and Cowles all do their best in giving Gotham and its people a strong personality, and they really do a good job in familiarizing you with a city that’s been around for decades. They make you feel like you’re here, you’re comfortable, and you’re in this fight with Batman until the very end.
SPIDER-MAN & WOLVERINE #8 hits your local comic book store on December 10th, but thanks to Marvel Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive four-page preview for you!
About the issue: SPIDER-MAN AND WOLVERINE ARE DEAD?! PETER and LOGAN have met their demise. Blame…REED RICHARDS?! And…An ALL-NEW VILLAIN?! R.I.P. THWIKT.
The issue is by writer Marc Guggenheim and artist Kaare Andrews, with colors by Brian Reber, and letters by Travis Lanham. The main cover is by Andrews.
Check out our SPIDER-MAN & WOLVERINE #8 preview below:
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NOVA: CENTURION #2 hits your local comic book store on December 10th, but thanks to Marvel Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive four-page preview for you!
About the issue: RAVENOUS!
Taking a job for the gangsters of the Kree/Skrull War, Nova hunts a mysterium thief. But business becomes personal when the trail leads to an old nemesis, and the opportunity to settle old scores going back to the Annihilation War becomes worth more than any reward. Enter the murderer of untold Nova Corpsmen: Ravenous!
The issue is by writer Jed MacKay and artists Álvaro López & Matteo Della Fonte, with colors by Mattia Iacono, and letters by Cory Petit. The main cover is by Alessandro Cappuccio & Rachelle Rosenberg.
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Absolute Batman #14 is a full speed rollercoaster. From the first panel of the book to the last, it just doesn’t let up. Writer Scott Snyder, artist Nick Dragotta, colorist Frank Martin, and letterer Clayton Cowles come together again to give us yet another advance forward from the Caped Crusader. This issue is one of the best of the series so far, and an incredible conclusion to Batman’s long war against Bane.
The issue begins with Bruce and company readying themselves for a fight against Bane. They use the venom Bane injected into Bruce to make a plan to fight against him. The mayor of Gotham holds a press conference saying that Batman’s declaration of war from the previous issues was false, and that no fight will take place. He knows there will be one, but he’s in Bane’s pocket. The two sides prepare for battle. Batman’s allies root for him, while Bane’s help him get ready elsewhere. Bane enters a large stadium for their final fight, and from there it’s all-out war.
Batman’s team makes a plan.
*MILD SPOILERS AHEAD*
WRITING
Snyder is having the time of his life with this book, and it’s incredible to see. He meant it when he said everything would be bigger in this universe—not just Batman and Bane, but the story as well. Every issue written by him makes it feel like the fate of Gotham hangs in the balance of each character’s actions, and this one is no different. The stakes are at a constant high, and in this issue we finally get a satisfying conclusion and payoff from that through Batman’s brutal fight against Bane.
Even this Batman’s plans are bigger. Where any sane hero would develop a plan to incapacitate Bane, our Batman takes a slightly different approach by dropping a building on Bane’s head. Which he then follows up with driving a car into him and tethering to him to the ground with hooks from it. All the while, Bane is healing a growing in size. It’s a never-ending fight, and Snyder shows us that constantly. The story keeps pushing forward until that very last panel, new exciting things to keep us invested at every turn. It’s an amazing conclusion to the “Abomination” arc, but has just as much setup for the future of the series. It’s one of the best crafted issues of the whole thing.
Batman on Venom.
ART
Every time you think Dragotta has pushed himself to his limits as an artist, he surprises you again. This issue features some of his best work on the series so far. He goes all out with the body horror in this, with Bane constantly growing and regrowing different body parts as Batman gracefully slashes them off of him. He’s a horrifying mountain of a man, but Dragotta does something pretty smart in this where, at times when Batman has the one-up on Bane, he puts Bane in panels with wider shots that make him look small compared to the scale of what Batman’s putting him through.
Dragotta creates some incredible action here. There’s this one page specifically where Bane is holding off Killer Croc, and while he does that, Batman drops from above him with his axe. This panel is in the top middle of the page, but there are smaller skinny panels on either side of it both showing the same thing: venom dripping into the red of Bane’s blood. It’s a beautiful, symmetrical page showing his Bruce is always there for his friends in the face of disaster. Dragotta nails it.
The mayor issues a statement on Batman.
COLORS
The set up for this issue’s big fight was tough one. It’s in a large stadium with lights shining from the stands, illuminating Bane and Bruce like it’s a cage match. Martin really delivers on making it feel like one. There’s this great section of the issue where Killer Croc jumps out to fight Bane, and when doing that, the lights shine on Croc while Bane is completely covered in shadow, because the focus of the spotlight on the other end of the stadium. It looks awesome.
In that symmetrical page mentioned earlier, Martin really adds the finishing touches on it to make it perfect. The background is red with Bane holding open Croc’s mouth, and Batman descends onto him. It’s an interesting image because while Batman’s black and gray suit cuts through the red to hit Bane, the panels of venom on either side start as completely red with a green shot of venom rising to combat it. It’s interesting because it could be taken two ways. It’s either Bane’s weaker venom rising up to combat Batman, or it’s Batman’s descent mimicking the extra shots of venom being pumped into Bane’s blood that he’ll need after the attack, overwhelming him. There’s so many sections like this, with Martin doing work so well that whatever interpretation you form from it works.
LETTERS
Cowles does some really impressive work with this issue. He’s got a lot to juggle. He does Alfred’s incredible journal entry boxes, and places them beautifully around the lettered sounds of Bruce’s attack on Bane. Not only that, but he also excels when showing how tired Bruce is near the end of the fight, making his bubbles sort of wobbly as he struggles to get words out. Earlier in the issue as well, Bruce screams for his friend with these sharp red letters that really cut through Bane, showing us the urgency.
In the back half of the issue, Bane is so consumed by venom that his words in his bubbles shift from these normal letters and words to these large, green, blocky sentences that get shorter and shorter. Not only is Bane losing himself, but he’s completely overwhelmed by the venom in his system, taking him over, and Cowles shows how that affects his speech.
CONCLUSION
Absolute Batman #14 is one of DC’s best issues this year. It maintains high stakes throughout, and it’s thrilling right until the very end. Snyder, Dragotta, Martin, and Cowles should be proud of the work they’ve done on this book, every page somehow surpassing the last. The issue’s core theme of friendship and comradery is strong throughout, and this team tells us that no matter the size of the problem we face, we can get each other through it. Every issue is a long advance forward, for us and for them.
