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I'm only into the four issues of Tom King's MISTER MIRACLE (2017) and...

The writer for this series isn't Paul Dini nor Bruce Timm, but the first 3 issues were cute nonetheless. They didn't have the same noir vibe as the cartoon, though. Maybe it's because it's too brightly colored? The content itself isn't anything scintillating either but fun.

This has the slowest rising action out of all the three books so far. I.think it's at this hundred-paged point that the pace should pick up.

After breezing through my rereads of the first two books within a week and a half, I'm glad to pick up this third one especially since I had the books since 2014 and never picked them up until now that I'm less inclined to see this as a guilty pleasure. Yeah, it's a teen romance book with angst and teens being insufferable, but now that I'm in my 30s, I had become more sympathetic about young people in fiction.

From the shorts for issue 1, my faves were the first story and the one by Bruce Timm (of BTAS) because he has yet to disappoint me. For 8 pages, this short already took me for an understated noir love story! The art itself is familiarly superb. The concept enhances the thematic vibe of Batman as a mythos beyond simply being a superhero. 3rd choice was the Civic Virtue serial killer but didn't like the ending.

This is still a very compelling book. The sequence of events from the show is different here, so I'm not sure how far along I am in the story. I feel like there are other things that will occur here that aren't in the show. I'm excited.

After thinking about it for a full minute, I am giving it 3 stars overall, mainly because I had seen Tomasi write better. The artist he's been paired up with captures the vibe of what Batman should be about, but there isn't any kind of distinguishable texture about his style.

The final twist has been revealed and...

I can't even decide whether I'm impressed or appalled.

Hmmm, it's a little more heavy-handed than what I've came to expect from Tomasi. There are some gems here where exposition and dialogue are concerned, but for the most part, it feels clunky. Or maybe I'm just getting tired reading about a deconstruction of Batman's trauma. But isn't that why he's been my fave superhero since a kid? Cos I relate to that trauma more than anything?

Someone...something has been trying to kill everyone who's been a teacher, guide, or mentor to me...anyone who has a role--or was a building block when I was trying to build a better Batman."

..."THE COWL EATS ITS OWN"...

With a title like MYTHOLOGY, I guess the events here make sense. Does it have the signature Tomasi writing I had learned to enjoy about him? Not necessarily. The new artist he's paired with really knows how to deliver the action in the panels. But I miss Patrick Gleason.

Am I really just reading Batman surrounded by piranhas feasting on sharks and he uses a chunk of the shark meat to slide down the chain fasten around his ankle so that the carnivorous fish can chew around the leather strap? Why, yes, indeed, I am.

I really should start READING MY OWN BATMAN REVIEWS as I embark on getting back to the swing of things, particularly for my coverage of Tomasi's New 52 work. I'm on a page where there's a note specifying BAD BLOOD arc, and I know for sure I read and reviewed that and I'm like:

As someone who had just lost my dad two years ago, the pain and grief are just as fresh as the day I lost him. I used to only imagine what it must have felt like for Bruce when he witnessed the murder of his parents. Now I don't have to because I also found my own father dead in the morning in the most unexpected way. This issue is going good so far. Nobody fucks with Alfred. Not even 'Zorro'.

It's been AGES since I read anything Batman after my stint with New 52 from 2014-2017. I will soon pick up Tom King's REBIRTH run again but for now I wanna sample Tomasi's DETECTIVE COMICS since I've been a fan of his work after his interpretation of Damian Wayne. First issue was exciting but also sad because of Leslie Thompkins.

I may know how all of this ends, but the journey doesn't get any less chilling.

The recent chapter had criminal profiling based on the psychology of the criminal behavior. Much like in the show, we get Sara and Dr. Kreizler having that argument about mothers. I mean, we all know by now that mommy issues is where serial killers are at. Kreizler being so blinded by his prejudice concerning maternal figures will come back to haunt him; Sara was right that this was more about a mother than a father.

Moore talks to the boy whore Joseph about his friend Fatima. The chapter also mentioned that children were not recognized as minors to be protected by law which is explains the rampant prostitution. Back then children were treated as adults who are responsible for their choices. That explains the blatant disregard when immigrant you boys go into prostitution and are now getting killed. This book is really disturbing.

Tʜᴇ ᴘʀᴏғᴏᴜɴᴅ ɪʀᴏɴʏ ᴡᴀs ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴏᴜʀ ᴋɪʟʟᴇʀ ʙᴇʟɪᴇᴠᴇᴅ ʜᴇ ᴡᴀs ᴘʀᴏᴠɪᴅɪɴɢ ʜɪᴍsᴇʟғ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴊᴜsᴛ ᴛʜᴏsᴇ ᴛʜɪɴɢs: ᴠᴇɴɢᴇᴀɴᴄᴇ ғᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʜɪʟᴅ ʜᴇ ʜᴀᴅ ʙᴇᴇɴ, ᴘʀᴏᴛᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴏʀᴛᴜʀᴇᴅ sᴏᴜʟ ʜᴇ ʜᴀᴅ ʙᴇᴄᴏᴍᴇ.

Second body was just found. Sara's reaction mirrors the same way the show portrayed it plus her insight that the brutal killings were indeed a man's work. The chapter ends with a mob coming to the crime scene cos the papers sensationalized the news about this.

...our killer's path from birth to savagery had not been the random results of physical processes that we would have been powerless to chart but rather the product of conceivable events. What most men consider rational choices are idiosyncratic responses (established during childhood) that grew strong enough, through repeated use, to overpower other urges and reactions and won the mental battle for survival.

Our man is not murdering children out of any perverse desire to attend to their spiritual well-being. The furious mutilation after their deaths made that plain. It was apparent from his handiwork, as Laszlo explained, an implicit entreaty for apprehension; that the killings did disturb some part of him. There were evidence in the bodies not of the murderer's derangement but of his sanity.

The details of the Harriet disappearance case got a little repetitive by now and the prose feels meandering. Pace for the novel so far is very glacial compared to the screenplay of the 2011 film.

Lisbeth and Mikael are still both doing their thing, with the latter now coming face-to-face with an unsolved case about the mysterious murder of Harriet Vanger from 40 years ago which her adopted father wants answers for.

The visit to the Santorellis played differently in the book. Sara was a former nurse and was able to help Giorgio's father heal from his injuries. And she had a fucking Colt from the very start! I guess the writers tamed her a little in the show which is puzzling to me.

Giorgio Santorelli's childhood was even more grim in the book. He was sexually abused at seven in school by older boys. His dad beat him regularly when the parents found out and later on he became a streetwalker. Probably he's only 12-13 when he got brutalized and killed :(

The passages about Lisbeth Salander as told in the POV of her boss Armansky were so captivating. I may not remember the film plot-wise, but she stands out. She's really the most memorable thing, and why I want to keep reading the MILLENIUM series.

I watched the movie first, and it's been 10 years since. I'd forgotten so much of it now, but I'm sure as I read on, I'll remember more key details. I'm excited to embark on the MILLENIUM series. I only have the first 2 books. Also read the prologue about the pressed flowers.

Finally finished the fictional biography part, narrating Spencer's descent to madness. He's like an Edgar Allan Poe tragic character breathed alive here in the pages. I feel sorry and repulsed about him at the same time. His preoccupation with death led to his downfall.

Black introduced his theory of self-resurrection--the idea that he could unlock the body's natural memory of its ancestral past by giving it real physical reminders. Armed with these prompts, the body could rebuild on its ancient knowledge and then "self-resurrect."