Red Book I #2

by James Tynion IV, Michael Avon Oeming (Cover Art), Tom Napolitano (Letterer)

China, 1994. Meng Zhaoguo, a logger with the Red Flag Logging Commune, witnesses a glowing white object crash into the Phoenix Mountain near the Russian border. The mysterious events and natural phenomenon surrounding the sighting have confounded for decades, defying scientific logic.

The New York Times bestselling and Eisner Award-winning co-creators of Something is Killing the Children, The Nice House on the Lake, The Department of Truth, and Powers follow up their acclaimed work on Blue Book with an all-new volume of “true” tales capturing the strange world of alien encounters—this time focusing on the uncanny extraterrestrial stories of Russia and China.

Also features a brand-new True Weird backup story.

• Four-issue series.

32 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 19, 2025

About the author

Prior to his first professional work, Tynion was a student of Scott Snyder's at Sarah Lawrence College. A few years later, he worked as for Vertigo as Fables editor Shelly Bond's intern. In late 2011, with DC deciding to give Batman (written by Snyder) a back up feature, Tynion was brought in by request of Snyder to script the back ups he had plotted. Tynion would later do the same with the Batman Annual #1, which was also co-plotted by Snyder. Beginning in September 2012, with DC's 0 issue month for the New 52, Tynion will be writing Talon, with art by Guillem March. In early 2013 it was announced that he'd take over writing duties for Red Hood and the Outlaws in April.

Tynion is also currently one of the writers in a rotating team in the weekly Batman Eternal series.

Reviews

[The Void Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Red Book I #2 by James Tynion IV, Michael Avon Oeming, & Tom Napolitano

Outstanding. This second installment shifts its lens to China, and the creative team delivers one of their most unsettling, atmospheric entries yet. Tynion’s fascination with “true” UFO lore finds a perfect match in the 1994 Meng Zhaoguo case—a story already steeped in mystery, political tension, and decades of unanswered questions.

What makes this issue sing is the way it blends grounded reportage with the uncanny. Oeming’s stark, expressionistic art turns Phoenix Mountain into a place where reality feels thin, and Napolitano’s lettering gives the narrative that documentary pulse the Blue Book universe thrives on. The result is a story that feels both intimate and mythic, a strange encounter refracted through culture, geography, and the unknowable.

The creators’ track record—Something Is Killing the Children, The Nice House on the Lake, The Department of Truth, Powers—is all about interrogating belief, fear, and the stories we tell ourselves. Red Book I #2 continues that tradition with precision. The shift to Russia and China broadens the series’ scope in a way that feels fresh and overdue, reminding us that the phenomenon is global, and the weird is everywhere.

The bonus True Weird backup is the perfect final jolt—short, sharp, and delightfully eerie.

A fantastic entry in a series that keeps evolving. If this is where the book is headed, I’m absolutely eager for more.

Happy reading from The Void 🛸👽📚

[Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at UFO sightings in China and how the Communist State goes hand in hand with this information suppression.