Recommendations based on "Big Damn Hard Boiled"

Product description FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Collects the comic depicting the Joker's rise to power at Arkham Asylum and the ultimatum he issues to Batman, along with supplementary material and a fully annoted script for the original graphic novel. Review "Morrison's first big commercial hit--and his first shot writing Batman, a character he would spend a great deal of time with over the course of his career--was this ground-breaking graphic novel featuring the grim, twisted artwork of painter Dave McKean. In this darkly poetic, psychologically rich tale, Batman faces off against the Joker, Two-Face, the Scarecrow and other villains inside Gotham City's house for the criminally insane."--ROLLING STONE "Grant Morrison and Dave McKean explore that connection in Arkham Asylum, one of the finest superhero books to ever grace a bookshelf."--IGN "Between Morrison's esoteric writing and Dave McKean's gorgeous painting, this may very well be my nominee for the definitive Batman story. Yes, even more so than" The Dark Knight Returns, Year One," or "The Killing Joke." Exploring both Batman and his rogues equally through significantly different characterizations than typically seen in the main DCU, Morrison boils these characters down to their essence while providing a chilling mystery story set within the confines of Gotham's home for the criminally insane."--CRAVE ONLINE About the Author Grant Morrison has been working with DC Comics for more than twenty years, beginning with his legendary runs on the revolutionary titles ANIMAL MAN and DOOM PATROL. Since then he has written numerous best-sellers -- including JLA, BATMAN and "New X-Men "-- as well as the critically acclaimed creator-owned series THE INVISIBLES, SEAGUY, THE FILTH, WE3 and JOE THE BARBARIAN. Morrison has also expanded the borders of the DC Universe in the award-winning pages of SEVEN SOLDIERS, ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, FINAL CRISIS and BATMAN, INC., and he is reinvented the Man of Steel in the all-new ACTION COMICS. In his secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. He is also the author of the "New York Times" best-seller "Supergods," a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. He divides his time between his homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.

After the Civil War ends, the Winter Soldier finally chooses a side--his own--but the Red Skull and his minions are up to something behind the scenes.

A fire burns deep within Matt Murdock. He was raised by a single father, an over-the-hill prizefighter with one last chance to make it good - a chance that cost him his life. Taunted and tormented by children while growing up, Matt's life was irrevocably altered after he was blinded by radioactive materials while saving the life of an old man. The payoff? An unbreakable will and a keen intelligence, helping focus the super-senses he was blessed with during the accident. His story is one of love, pain, disappointment, and strength. Witness the tour-de-force origin of the Man Without Fear by industry legends Frank Miller and John Romita Jr. Collects Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #1-5

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERNovelist Daniel Abraham and illustrator Tommy Patterson are not merely turning George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy A Game of Thrones into a graphic novel: They are meticulously translating one art form into another, and capturing the intricate nuances of Martin’s novels just as HBO is doing with the blockbuster series. The Abraham/Patterson collaboration is more than just a faithful adaptation. It is a labor of love—and a thrilling masterwork in its own right.Now, in the second volume, the sweeping action moves from the icy north, where the bastard Jon Snow seeks to carve out a place for himself among bitter outcasts and hardened criminals sworn to service upon the Wall . . . to the decadent south and the capital city of King’s Landing, where Jon’s father, Lord Eddard Stark, serves as the Hand of King Robert Baratheon amid a nest of courtly vipers . . . to the barbarian lands across the Narrow Sea, where the young princess Daenerys Targaryen has found the unexpected in her forced marriage to the Dothraki warlord Khal Drogo: love—and with it, for the first time in her life, power.Meanwhile, the dwarf Tyrion Lannister, accused by Lady Catelyn Stark of the attempted murder of her now-crippled youngest son, must call upon all his cunning and wit to survive when he is captured and imprisoned in the lofty dungeons of the Eyrie, where Lady Stark’s sister—a woman obsessed with vengeance against all Lannisters—rules. But Catelyn’s impulsive arrest of the Imp will set in motion a series of violent events whose outcome is fated to shake the world at the worst possible moment. For now is not the time for private feuds and bloodthirsty ambitions.Winter is coming . . . and with it, terrors beyond imagining.

Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, faces a new set of challenges, including the revenge-bent son of Obadadiah Stane.

"First: a low-yield nuclear bomb rips through a crowded market in Africa, incinerating everyone in its radius, the tech residue left behind determined to have Stark written all over it. It's the awakening of Tony Stark's worst nightmares: a leaner, meaner, younger and more advanced version of his genius, tinged in pure evil. As Iron Man faces Ezekiel Stane-- the genocidal son of one of his oldest enemies-- events conspire that will change the life of loyal friend Pepper Potts forever! Then: Tony Stark has locked the registration database of super-hero secret identities in the one place nobody would think to look for it: his brain. Nobody, that is, except Norman Osborn, who as newly installed vanguard of national security sends a message to all points: 'Bring me the head of Tony Stark!' The manhunt is on for the formerly invincible Iron Man, resulting in a shock ending that could mean the downfall of Osborn's Dark Reign-- or just the beginning! Guest-starring black Widow, War Machine, Sub-Mariner and Madam Masque, it's a tale for the armored ages" -- dust jacket flap.

Lee. Kirby. Gruenwald. Byrne. Four of Marvel's unchallenged masters send us back beyond the Big Bang to see a past universe die, only to birth one of the greatest threats to the current one: Galactus! See his first victory over his first victims and join the world in awe at his arrival upon Earth, heralded by the Silver Surfer to face the Fantastic Four! But the Surfer has his own story to tell, and it may end in Earth's future, where Galactus stands poised to be humanity's destroyer, its god...or both. Includes art by award-winning French illustrator Moebius! Collects Super-Villain Classics #1, Fantastic Four #48-50, Silver Surfer #1 and Silver Surfer: Parable.

Eddie Dean, the troubled young man gifted with the ability to open doors to other worlds, has smuggled narcotics from Nassau to New York City, but now has to escape a packed airplane guarded by armed Custom Agents! How will Eddie avoid prison and yet also fulfill his contract with the dangerous mobster Balazar? The answer lies in Mid-World, and with a dying gunslinger named Roland! The chilling chapter by writers Peter David (Spider-Man 2099) & Robin Furth (The Dark Tower: A Complete Concordance), and artist Piotr Kowalski (Marvel Knights: Hulk)! COLLECTING: Dark Tower : The Drawing of the Three - House of Cards 1-5

It's the story that turned Spider-Man's world upsidedown, as a dying Doctor Octopus hatches his master plan for vengeance against Spider-Man: he will become him! As Peter Parker suddenly awakens to find himself trapped in the failing body of his greatest foe, Otto Octavius rejoices in the power and youth of his new spidery form. Can Peter switch their minds back before his time runs out? Yes...and no! As Peter's story comes to a dramatic close, Otto vows to become better than his old foe in every possible way. Smarter, stronger...he will be the Superior Spider-Man! But even with his newfound sense of heroism and responsibility, can Otto survive his heroic baptism of fire against the new Sinister Six? A new era of web-slinging excitement starts NOW! COLLECTING: Amazing Spider -Man 698-700, Superior Spider -Man 1-5

Dead if he loses - damned if he wins. The time has finally come for Darren to face his archenemy, Steve Leopard. One of them will die. The other will become the Lord of the Shadows - and destroy the world.