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Writer: Jeff Lemire / Artist: Dustin Nguyen / DC Comics

It’s easy to skip over a Batman book these days because you may feel like the DC universe is heavily saturated with them, so you assume you couldn’t possibly be missing out on anything. But Robin & Batman #1 is more than entertaining enough to warrant your consideration.

Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen, the visionary minds behind the sci-fi epic Descender, brings us an interesting take on the early days of the “Dynamic Duo.” The story is set not long after Bruce Wayne takes Dick Grayson in and begins teaching him the trade. The relationship is rocky not just because of their approaches to fighting crime….but because of their drastically different ideas on what they’re personal relationship is. Batman doesn’t know when to turn the sensei off and turn the father figure on. And in the middle is Alfred, playing as much of an intermediary between these two as he does a partner/consultant in Batman’s crime fighting enterprise. Meanwhile, as all of this is going on, we get teased with some insight into some undiscovered aspects of a longtime villain’s origins.

Lemire’s script for Robin & Batman #1 tells a Batman story with a lot of heart to it, approaching these two from the perspective of friends and relative strangers trying to be a family, learning to trust each other. It should almost go without saying that the book is beautiful to look at with Dustin Nguyen on the track. The story almost looks like it takes place in a dream or an exaggerated perspective which makes sense considering it’s being narrated mostly by a traumatized child.

Bottom Line: It should be no surprise that a dream team like Lemire and Nguyen would create such an intriguing book exploring maybe the most famous case of trauma bonding in modern fiction: Batman and Robin. So far, it’s definitely shaping up to not be your typical origin reimagining.

9 Adam West “climbing the side of the building” scenes out of 10  

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Writer: Shea Fontana / Artist: Celia Moscote / Boom! Studios

There is something to be said about the needless cruelty of children and something to be said about the kids who attempt to strive above it. The latest endearing series from Boom! Studios starts with a brief introduction to Desideria Olsen. It opens with a magical girl-esque dream sequence that promptly crashes that pristine reality to one where Desideria is bullied by her peers and not helped by the one authority figure in the room. However, Desideria decides not to let this keep her down. She works to rebrand herself as Dizzy and tries to do things like impressive boys with “street art” although fate has something else in mind.

Getting Dizzy‘s true premise is that Dizzy manages to find herself bestowed with literal skates of destiny to fend off the Negatrixes, little impish creatures that seem to cause a bunch of trouble. Given that Dizzy gave up skating a while ago, her first venture is a little rough to say the least, but there is something charming about the approach.

Moscote’s vibrant illustrations alongside Nesterenko’s bright colors lend themselves to a wonderfully playful read. Dizzy’s actions are exceedingly animated, and the color scheme feels very fitting to a story centered around skating. The team makes Dizzy very expressive and the quick pivots from embolden to embarrassed to embolden are fun to watch on the page. There are some fun riffs on magical girl elements and grounded moments of day-to-day friendship, and it all works.

Fontana’s narrative plays out in a predictable manner, using the first issue to quickly dive into the world and establish all of the pieces up front. Dizzy is staged as a very amicable protagonist and one we naturally want to root for and relate to (who didn’t grow up expecting a call to action), and her natural energy pops off the page. The superhero-ish elements do feel a little rushed into, but the messaging and humor keep it grounded.

There are a couple fun facets of Getting Dizzy and I think it’s gonna be a perfect fit for its intended audience. Fontana and Moscote have created a neat sandbox that I’m sure will be a great foundation in the remaining three issues of the mini-series.

7.9 “Roller Skates” out of 10

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Writer: Jeff Lemire / Artist: Andrea Sorrentino / Image

Primordial is the best kind of weird. There is no denying that Lemire’s twisted imagination as rendered by Sorrentino’s absolutely eldritch space horror isn’t one of the most compelling things on the shelves right now. At the halfway point, the dual narratives continue to orbit around each other with an increasing fervor, and it is a visual and narrative pleasure. It’s just an honor to be able to read this wild ride of a comic as it’s coming out.

In Primordial #3, Laika the Russian Space Dog continues to find herself in a weird non-space in outer space, but she has managed to finally meet up and interact with Baker and Able. And back on earth, Penbrook is still reeling in the fact that he has managed to get swept up in something with a much larger scope then he anticipated as Yelena keeps calmly trying to move the reconciliation process along. And as the different characters undergo various types of metamorphosis, I can’t help thinking about what a feet this book is.

All stories are at their finest when they leverage the medium they are in. While adaptations are great and allow for stories to become more accessible, there is something to be said about creators who use the medium to the fullest, and Lemire and Sorrentino do. There are spreads that only work as comic pages, whose details would be lost in pure prose or moving picture. There are framing and an emphasis that only a comic can do. Even the deliberate design of the dialog bubbles make it clear that Primordial was intended to be a comic. It was intended to be a piece of sequential storytelling that let Lemire precisely control the dialog and pacing of the story and give Sorrentino ample opportunity to show how great he is at cosmic horror.

There are still so many questions that the creative has yet to answer, and the progression through the two narratives remains awe-inspiring to behold. This is a book you’re going to want to get and stay current on, because you’re gonna wanna have folks to talk about all of the mind-bending things going on. Primordial already made a very strong case for one of the best mini-series of the year, and Primordial #3 continues to augment it.

9.6 “Big Changes” out of 10

Enjoying Primordial? Check out BNP’s other reviews here.

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Writer: Christopher Cantwell / Artist: Luca Casalunguida / Boom! Studios

Just the idea of a conspiracy theory is a dangerous one. Within the confines of the social contract, there is a certain expectation of trust, a certain understanding that we must be able to trust what we are being told. By that same metric, are we supposed to take our information without question? Given the uncertainty of everything, where people in power have the influence to almost warp perception and by association reality, should we not question things at least a little?

Regarding the Matter of Oswald’s Body attempts to find a story within one of the most iconic web of conspiracies, as a crew of unsuspecting individuals become complicated with replacing Lee Harvey Oswald’s body before it was buried in the aftermath of the JFK assassination. If nothing else, it makes for a very exciting thriller.

Christopher Cantwell, in addition to being a prolific comics writer, is the creator of AMC’s Halt and Catch Fire, one of the finest period pieces and prestige television I’ve had the pleasure of watching. When I saw that he had returned to the court of historical fiction, I couldn’t help but be intrigued. Regarding the Matter of Oswald’s Body #1 opens with an exhumation in 1981 before flashing back to 1963 where we slowly get introduced to various corners of Texas and its inhabitants. Cantwell has a flair for the dramatic and a gift for transcribing accents and capturing the feel and time of the locale. It certainly that Luca Casalunguida manages to effortlessly channel the rogue-ish, ruggish cowboy aesthetic and small towns aesthetic. There are also some noir-adjacent elements that I appreciate, but the genre is definitely 100% within the confines of a political crime thriller, alongside the classic redacted chain of relations that are equally iconic.

Regarding the Matter of Oswald’s Body #1 is your classic assembling of the crew from a shadowy organization, and there are just a lot of intriguing elements in play. Each character only gets a few pages, but Cantwell and Casalunguida manage to be very efficient in establishing their personality and draws the reader in to the latest conspiracy. It makes for an exciting read and tantalizes us with what will happen next.

While conspiracy theories are still a dangerous concept, I think I’m okay with them being retrofitted to tell an interesting piece of fiction. Cantwell and Casalunguida have captured and captivated with a stellar hook and magnificent rendition of said hook that I will gladly follow them down the rabbit hole they have carved out.

8.5 “Laughable Easy Jobs” out of 10

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