The villains that live in other heads

"I'm well-acquainted will villains that live in my head/ They beg me to write them so they'll never die when I'm dead..." - Halsey

I like villains. As a child, I rooted for the Butler in The Aristocats (my reasoning was that cat's don't use currency). Then I found ways for action figure Skeletor to become allies with action figure He-Man. Jareth was my favorite Labyrinth character (I would have let him keep the baby). My favorite Shakespeare characters are all villains or engaged in villainous acts (Richard III, Macbeth, Hamlet). In the narrative of the The Protomen albums, I root for Protoman instead of Megaman (though not Wiley over Light). Satan is, for my money, the only reason to read Paradise Lost. So it should be no surprise, really, that when it comes to the world of superheroes, I'm only really present for the villains. I know that the Marvel fandom is beside itself wondering if Captain America will die in Infinity War (as he does in the book) -- but I don't care. I just don't want Loki to die! So the books in today's collections celebrate the bad guys... and the heroes whom they act as foils to (and foil).

 This was a solid Joker comic with very strong art and I felt very allied with the narrator, drawn into Joker's world and realizing panel by panel how very dangerous it is!

A classic Batman story that has echoes in Death of the Family, this is a title not to be missed. I especially like how the cover art manages to be so sinister and yet so cartoony at once - pointing the way to the success of Batman: the animated series. 

 It's not terribly often that I get to describe something as simultaneously trippy (see the colors of the cover art) and creepy, but Translucid managed both very well. My sympathies kept bouncing back toward the evil Horse, who just wants the hero to become himself again. Drawing the hero back into the game is a trope in superhero fan fiction (maybe in comics, too?) and it's especially well done here.

I'm still on the fence with this title. I think it wanted to make it easier to sympathize with Loki, but there was a disconnect between the words and the images that kept defeating the mission... The best part is really, regretfully, the cover art!