Heretic
Robbie Morrison, writer; Charlie Adlard, artist
Image Comics, 2024

Crime novelist Robbie Morrison and artist Charlie Adlard (best known for The Walking Dead) collaborate on an original graphic novel set in Belgium in 1529. The city of Antwerp is being visited by the Inquisition, and the Chief Inquisitor seeks help solving a macabre murder: a priest crucified on a cross in his own church.  He forces knight, doctor, lawyer, and reputed black magician Cornelius Agrippa and his young pupil Johan Weyer to investigate, offering Agrippa redemption in the eyes of the Inquisition. They uncover dark, twisted secrets: first, a Baron who used his Plague Doctor costume to terrorize people; then, the Inquisitor himself. Adlard uses black and white for most of the storytelling, employing his usual combination of dramatic action and vivid characterization. Certain violent scenes are given additional emphasis through the use of red washes and accents. It is an exciting Renaissance mystery, although a bit weighted down by heavy philosophical and theological arguments.

Ice Cream Man Volume Ten: Imperious Wrecks
W. Maxwell Prince, writer; Martín Morazzo, artist; Chris O’Halloran, colorist
Image Comics, 2024

I got a kick out of the opening line in the blurb for this volume: “The strangest comic currently being published continues…to be published!” It has been a while since the series had any kind of ongoing plot, but each installment includes a unique array of surreal stories, a treat for lovers of creative storytelling. “Flight of the Figgly Bumps” stars some cute cartoon creatures struggling for survival. It turns out that the story was a Vietnam parable, the product of a creator who commited suicide. “Escape from Garyland” is set in a walled compound populated by clones, all named Gary. But some of them have started to understand the game. “Decompression in a Wreck” is a two-part story that unpacks a five-second auto crash over the course of two issues. It is a meta-exploration of the concept of decompression in comic book storytelling, telling the tale from the perspectives of all of the characters, and concluding with a prose story from The New Yorker (written by one of the characters) that presents a different possible resolution to the story. The compilation concludes with a gallery of alternate covers, as usual.