DC Comics has kicked off the Halloween season by opening up its vault (or is it a crypt?) and reissuing Batman #237, which was originally printed in December 1971.  Over half a century later, it's always fun to look back at Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson during their long-hair-and-bell-bottoms era.

This issue opens with Dick and some friends (one of whom appears to be stoned throughout) taking a break from their college studies to attend the Halloween Parade in Rutland, Vermont. The parade is a real event held in this small town every year since 1960. The festivities include a float featuring  citizens dressed as both Marvel and DC superheroes — a tongue-in-cheek gag that is repeated throughout the story as Halloween may be the only time of the year when you can dress in tights and capes and look normal.

However, Dick and company don't get to enjoy the parade for long when they stumble upon a group of men savagely beating Robin, The Teen Wonder. It's not really Robin of course, just a bewildered man in a store bought costume who can't understand why strangers would choose to attack him. 

Concerned, Dick changes into his Robin garb and takes off after the assailants, only to find another town resident (dressed as Batman) impaled to a tree with a large wooden stake. There's an obvious pattern here, but before Dick can investigate further he's attacked by scythe-wielding Grim Reaper. Batman rescues his injured partner and takes him to the home of Tom Fagan. (Fagan, who passed away in 2008, was a comic book enthusiast who was instrumental in developing the Rutland Halloween Parade.) At Fagan's house, Dick's injuries are treated by Dr. Benjamin Gruener, a Jewish German survivor of the Nazi holocaust.

Batman informs Dick that he's come to Rutland in search of an escaped Nazi war criminal named Colonel Kurt Schloss, whom Dr. Gruener has been tracking for years. Batman is convinced that Nazis are responsible for the attacks against both the Batman and Robin lookalikes, and are somehow using Fagan's costume party to locate a cache of gold stolen by Schloss. 

But the question remains — who or what is the Grim Reaper?

​I won't ruin the fun by giving away the ending. Suffice to say that this throwback is a lot of fun, if only to giggle at the ridiculous dialogue...

Dick's friend: "Why'd those cats jump you, fella?"

Dick: "You guys go ahead to the party! I'll search for our zonky pal!"

Dr. Gruener (with German accent): "Zur clerk in zur shop tells me he rented him pirate suit!"

...and a plot that starts out like a Scooby-Doo mystery but ends up being pretty grim. 

The reissue also includes an earlier story from 1940 entitled "Down Memory Lane with Batman" which is not Halloween themed. This edition is currently available in local comic book stores. 

RELATED: Batman Collection  |  Nightwing Collection

SYNOPSIS: Nightwing is back — and his drive to keep Blüdhaven safe has never been stronger! But his adoptive city has elected a new mayor with the last name Zucco. When Nightwing enlists Batgirl's help in investigating the politician bearing the same name as the man who murdered his parents, she unearths details that will shock and fundamentally change the hero.

​Dick Grayson's big heart has protected those persecuted by bullies in his youth, combated evil alongside Batman as Robin, and pledged his newly inherited wealth to enriching Blüdhaven as Nightwing. His kindness and generosity have always guided his life. But now a new villain stalks the back alleys, removing the hearts of the city's most vulnerable. Who is this terrifying new menace named Heartless, and will he be able to resist plucking out the biggest heart in all of Blüdhaven?

This volume collects Nightwing #78-83, which ran from March to August 2021. Written by Tom Taylor and drawn by Bruno Redondo, this run garnered many accolades, including Eisner Awards for Best Continuing Series and Best Cover Artist (Redondo), and an Eisner nomination for Best Penciller/Inker (also Redondo). Since it's safe to say you have to judge a comic book as much by its artwork as its story, Redondo has distinguished himself as probably one of the best artists to give life to Dick Grayson. Combining a stark graphic style with great emotional expression, his NIghtwing covers are downright iconic (see below). I can also say he's the first modern artist I can think of who made the use of old timey dot patterns seem cool as fuck. You can see some additional examples of Redondo's work in my post Nightwing Uncovered is a Must-See. 

Stories about Dick Grayson are at their best when they tie together his tragic past (his parents killed in front of him), and how he chose to channel his rage and pain in entirely different ways than his adoptive father, Bruce Wayne, whose parents were killed in a very similar way. In this storyline, Dick is forced to confront some old ghosts when Blüdhaven's new mayor, Melinda Zucco, turns out to have a lot more connections to Dick's parents than her last name.  While Dick has often considered his biological parents to be less flawed than Bruce, certain revelations reveal them as being very imperfect human beings. 

While Dick is figuring out his past and current relationships, he's also determined to become Blüdhaven's savior — by taking down a mobster called Blockbuster and using the vast fortune left to him by Alfred Pennyworth on a variety of public works to help the city's poor and disenfranchised.  Alfred's legacy and how Dick chose to use it also sets up a direct comparison to Bruce Wayne. While Bruce shied away from public displays of altruism, Dick is front and center with it. But his generosity also puts a target on his back from a serial killer called Heartless — whose calling card is to rip the beating hearts out of the chests of his victims. 

​Tom Taylor's story provides plenty of humor and more quiet character-driven moments — those moments that make these heroes more relatable and have ultimately made the "Bat Family" so popular. There are also some nice team-ups between Dick, his adoptive brother Tim Drake (a.k.a. the third Robin), and his girlfriend Barbara Gordon, (a.k.a. Batgirl). The story also introduces us to DC's most famous dog since Krypto, The Super Dog, in the form of a three-legged orphan puppy Nightwing saves from a group of cruel college boys. He and Barbara adopt the puppy, whom Tim names "Bitewing" — but whom Dick insists is named "Haley" in honor of the circus he grew up in. See more about "Bitewing" in Bitedentity Crisis is the One-Shot You Didn't Know You Needed. 

RELATED: Nightwing Uncovered is a Must-See  |  Nightwing Collection  |  Nightwing, Batman and Adoption Problems  |  Batman Collection

Join THE MIDNIGHT, one of the world’s top synthwave bands, comprised of Tyler Lyle and Tim McEwan, on an electrifying and original sci-fi adventure inspired by the poetic storytelling and the neon-soaked aesthetics of their music.

​Jason has spent his life running from his problems, but now he and his childhood sweetheart are on the precipice of parenthood, and he’s struggling with the loss of his adolescence. Then he re-discovers his favorite old video game, THE MIDNIGHT, a nostalgic 1980s fantasy adventure about a helmeted hero who travels to a cyberpunk world to save the people from eternal darkness. Seeking to repair his broken game, Jason ends up at a mysterious arcade in an abandoned 1980s mall, where he plays the old arcade game of The Midnight and suddenly he’s transported to… 

…a post-apocalyptic Neverland in the year 2085. A world of perpetual night where time stands still. A final bastion of humanity in a glistening futuristic city. And a shocking reveal – they know him as the hero who once vanquished the shadow monsters, and they believe he’s returned to his true reality to do it again. More surprising, his wife is here, but only with a memory of Jason as this world’s hero. As this lost boy tries to embrace his new hero powers, with the help of his true love and her cyberpunk warriors, he must face the responsibility of protecting an entire world from danger and discover which world he truly belongs to.

For The Midnight fans and newcomers, created by rising comics writer, Zack Kaplan (Break Out, Mindset), artist Stephen Thompson (Star Trek: Year Five-Book 1, Star Trek: Year Five-Book 2), artist Jahnoy Lindsay (Superboy: Man of Tomorrow) and The Midnight, follow your dreams to a visually stunning cyberpunk metropolis, find love in the darkness, defeat shadow monsters and explore what happens when we hide in our fantasies. Are we escaping life’s monsters or simply escaping ourselves? The answers lie in the Midnight Graphic Novel.

ORDER NOW FOR AN OCTOBER 1, 2024, SHIP DATE >>
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RELATED: Comics Collections  |  Science Fiction YA

The next to last issue of Death in the Family: Robin Lives, has Bruce Wayne standing on the edge of a moral precipice. In the previous edition of this creative reimagining of the Jason Todd story — had he not been killed off by the Joker in 1988 (see Jason Todd's Empty Grave) — Bruce is still reeling from Dick Grayson (the original Robin and later Nightwing) having admitted that he sometimes wishes he'd never been inducted into Batman's world. Like Bruce, Dick saw his parents die violently in front of him. Was becoming a vigilante the best way of dealing with that? (See Nightwing, Batman and Adoption Problems for more about this question.)

When questioned about it, even Alfred Pennyworth admits that he's frequently had qualms about what they did to the two boys.

"There were days I was sure it was [the right thing to do]," says Alfred. "When I saw those young men growing into their full potential, but I must admit — there were nights I thought you were a reckless fool — and I was just as reckless for going along with you..."

Were they helping the boys by giving them a way to face tragedy through strength? Or was Bruce trying to re-create the family he lost — by making it a family of vigilantes?

The question becomes even more troubling when Batman is faces off against Mother Grimm, a psychopath so desperate to nurture children that she kidnaps and brainwashes them into loving her. When Bruce rescues Mother Grimm's current brood from her mind control devices, he's startled to find that they love her anyway — and he realizes that children can bond even with the adults who abuse them.

Bruce wonders... is he one of those adults?

Dick Grayson is front and center in a stunning collection of some of the most compelling cover art to grace his solo title over the years! Art by Dexter Soy, Jim Lee, Dan Mora, Jamal Campbell, Travis Moore and others.

This title is currently in comic book stores. 

RELATED: Nightwing Collection  |  Batman Collection  |  Nightwing, Batman and Adoption Problems  | Nightwing 117: How Dick Got His Groove Back  |  DC's Bitedentity Crisis is the One-Shot You Didn't Know You Needed  |  Dick Grayson / Nightwing Fans ​

The terrifying tale of six internet celebrities who accompany a superstar survivalist on a one-week trip deep into the remote Canadian wilderness...

After their plane crashes, the influencers and their guide are stalked by a mountain man of local legend — Skinner. When the celebrities mount a desperate counterattack, they discover that there is much more to the skinner myth than any of them could have imagined. Will the celebrities survive, or be permanently canceled?

Be honest, if you've ever wished (even privately) for a gruesome end to annoying Instagram influencers or those "reality TV survivalists" who really aren't in any danger whatsoever, then Skinner maybe a blood-soaked dream come true.

The book blends elements of the "survival horror" genre popularized in video games like Resident Evil, with real life serials killers like Robert Hansen (a.k.a. "Butcher Baker" — who hunted his victims in the Alaskan wilderness), to the perils of internet influencers always looking for the next dangerous and shocking thing to put on their feeds. 

​This graphic novel from Dark Horse Comics was released in May and is written by horror aficionados Micky Neilson (World of Warcraft, Diablo lll: Morbed) and Samwise Didier (The Last Winter, Blizzard Entertainment). The intricate and atmospheric pen and ink illustrations are by Polish comic book artist Piotr Kowalski whose other titles include Bloodborne, Where Monsters Lie, and The Witcher.

PURCHASE >>

RELATED: Supernatural YA  |  Mystery YA  |  The Horror of Being Gay in Rural Texas  |  ​Swoony Vampires and Gay Love in the Greek Islands

THERE BE SPOILERS HERE.

The first thing we learn about Cade Muñoz is that he loves horror movies. His family thinks it's a weird obsession, but Cade sees his life as a kind of horror movie — especially when he finds himself working on a horse ranch in the middle of rural Texas. Welcome to Northranger, an LGBTQAI+ graphic novel written by Rey Terciero and illustrated by Bre Indigo.

Although Cade, a city boy with no farm experience whatsoever, initially has a miserable time on the Tyler Ranch, one thing gives him hope — the owner's youngest son and fellow horror aficionado, Henry Tyler. Cade's more than a little attracted to Henry, but has difficulty figuring out if Henry feels similarly.  Certainly the rural community in which Henry was raised doesn't seem particularly welcoming to queer people — or people of color! When some men in a convenience store hurl racist epithets at Cade, Henry launches into a rage.

"I hate small-minded folks," he tells Cade. "Can't believe there are still bigots in this day and age. Hating people 'cause of what? The color of their skin, what God they worship, who they love..."

​​Okay, so Henry's gay-friendly — but is he gay? The longer Cade knows Henry, the more obvious it becomes that the older boy is hiding some secrets beyond his sexuality. The skeletons in the Tyler family closet really begin to rattle when Cade's invited to the clan's lakeshore home known as Northranger. Rumors about a series of mysterious deaths — including Henry's mom — help amp up a boy who already sees the world through a horror movie lens. How and why did all these people die? Why is one wing of Northranger off limits? Why is Henry so angry all the time — to the point where he beats the shit out of his older brother in a parking lot?

As the book progresses, so do Cade's feelings for Henry and his resulting paranoia over what Henry's not telling him. But is it all real... or just Cade's fantasy life running wild?

Northranger is a thoughtful, well produced story. It doesn't necessarily say anything new or different about homophobia, but seen through Cade's eyes the book provides some interesting parallels between the horror movie genre and how many LGBTQAI+ people must view their lives. The ending is also a clever twist on how horror movie plots are often filled with misdirection and red herrings. This one's definitely worth a read!

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​RELATED: LGBTQ YA  | Pride on the Big Screen  |  Quinton's Curious Mind Book Series  |  ​Swoony Vampires and Gay Love in the Greek Islands

The movie was a dud... but that doesn't mean they isn't some life still left in the Borderlands... at least in graphic novel form.

If you've played Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, or Borderlands 3, you're probably familiar with Tiny Tina, the emotionally unstable and morally ambiguous fourteen-year-old who loves to make things go BOOM! When not blowing shit up, Tina also enjoys a lively game of Bunkers and Badasses, Pandora's equivalent to Dungeons & Dragons.

I got my first taste of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman in the late 1970s when Sandy Frank Entertainment imported the Japanese anime to the U.S. in a version known as Battle of the Planets (BOTP). The show, along with Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, was a staple of my childhood science fiction diet.

While Sandy Frank sapped the original 1972 anime of its edge, BOTP worked well for American audiences and was a huge overnight success. As an eleven-year old, I was fascinated by the show even though the storylines seemed choppy, confusing or contradictory. What I didn't know at the time was that the eighty-five BOTP episodes were cobbled together from 105 Gatchaman episodes... and nothing ran in the order in which it was created.

Since Gatchaman was a serial, with interlocking storylines and recurring characters, there were tremendous gaps in continuity when it became BOTP. To gloss over these plot holes, Sandy Frank inserted some crudely animated segments with a robotic character called 7-Zark-7, who looked a little like R2-D2's inbred cousin. 7-Zark-7 provided both connecting exposition and comedic relief as the original anime was very serious and sometimes downright grim. To be fair, I don't know that the original show would've have been shown in the U.S. in the late 70s without these alterations.

For example, the second episode of Gatchaman, entitled "Demonic Aircraft Carrier," was retooled into a BOTP episode called "Rescue the Astronauts." The story starts with an Apollo-era space module splashing down in the ocean. It is quickly captured by Galactor (in BOTP, these are the evil minions of the truly evil Zoltar from the planet Spectra) and taken to an underwater base. The Galactor commander is after the "Earth Compact System," which contains the locations of valuable natural resources including uranium. 

Uranium and nuclear power are a recurring theme in Gatchaman as they are in lots of Japanese science fiction. No one suffered more than the Japanese at the dawn of the nuclear age, and the atom is dually-represented as a source of unlimited energy and horrible destruction. This also underscores Gatchaman's emphasis on serious world issues such as dwindling natural resources, protecting the environment, loss, war, violence, and tyranny. In BOTP, almost all of these themes are either gone or heavily diluted.

For this particular episode, Sandy Frank's people altered the plot into a simple rescue mission where the astronauts have been abducted because they have telemetry about Zoltar's hidden bases. But there's a problem with the Gatchaman source material... The astronauts don't survive. In fact, their bodies are displayed before Ken (renamed Mark in BOTP), who thinks they are still alive and surrenders in order to secure their release. Once Ken is in custody, the Galactor thugs let the bodies fall to the floor.

"Even corpses are useful sometimes," the Galactor Commander chuckles.

Ken recoils and mutters, "How awful..."

You said it, Ken. But then again, later in this same episode, you savagely beat the Commander until his tells you the location of Earth Compact System... So, you know, don't be a total hypocrite. 

Can you imagine any of that running on a children's show in America in 1978?

Because BOTP had to be kid-friendly, the astronauts also had to survive. The dialogue is reworked. We never see any dead bodies. We never see an actual rescue but Mark later informs the team that the astronauts are recovering in sick bay.

Now the Science Ninja Team is back in comic book form from Mad Cave Studios. Gatchaman was reintroduced to American audiences during Free Comic Book Day this past May with an ongoing core series, a series of one-shots focusing on solo missions, and a miniseries focusing on villains.

Learn more about this series here.

OTHER GATCHAMAN GOODS:
Funko Pops: Ken Washio  |  Joe Asakura  |  Jun

SYNOPSIS: While Dick connects with the ghost of his past, Nightwing takes to the streets to defend his honor. But how can he be in two places at once? And what shocking revelation does Dick learn when confronted with the truth behind his parents' deaths? The Heartless saga continues in the penultimate chapter of this celebrated run!

If you've been following along with the adventures of Dick Grayson, you know he's been having some issues. He was framed by Heartless so the people of Bludhaven think Dick himself was the serial killer. Even worse, the superhero without any superpowers has lost his most valuable asset — his fearlessness when it comes to heights. Desperate to reclaim this gift, and avoid a meaningless prosecution, he heads off to Tibet to get his groove back with the help of the very amusing Deadman.

While some of Dick's fear is chemical — Heartless poisoned him with a fear toxin — so much more of it is psychological. After all, Dick has always had a little more than his fair share of survivor's guilt after watching his parents plummet to their death and then discovering they were murdered. As he, with Deadman's help, slowly identifies the roots of his paralyzing fear, Dick is also about to make an unbelievable discovery about what actually happened at Haly's Circus the night his parents died. Don't worry, I'm not going to tell you what it was. 

This has been a slow burn storyline for the past two years and we're finally getting to the final chapters. I can't wait to see how it all goes down and how Nightwing — along with Oracle, Batman, the Bat Fam, and the Titans — finally unmask Heartless.

A great book with the stylish and starkly beautiful artwork of Bruno Redondo.  

RELATED: Comics Collections  |  Nightwing Collection  |  Batman Collection  |  Nightwing, Batman and Adoption Problems  | Nightwing Annual 2024 Revisits an Old Love