The Artist, Green Jack, Gentle Killer, Hand-in-Glove, Satan’s Eye — all nicknames for Billy Dent, the killer who murdered 123 people before being incarcerated. For 17-year-old Jazz, the memories of his father’s butcherous routine may be four years old, but they’re all too fresh: his small-town community continues to treat him with suspicion at every turn. Then the murders begin again […] and the town sheriff has no choice but to bring in Jazz to help find the new killer. Lyga has fashioned the kind of gripping, gory psycho-thriller usually relegated to adult fiction, one that fears neither viscera nor deviant sexual behavior nor the darkest of human impulses. It is rare when a YA novel dares to dwell upon the moral ambivalence of its protagonist, but Jazz is just that — a hero who constantly yearns to succumb to his killer instincts. Before the teasing finale, Lyga gifts readers with a Hannibal Lecter­like prison showdown between Jazz and Billy. Safe bet that the sequel will offer more of these satisfying tête-à-têtes.

And given that I've already written the sequel, I can safely say, "Oh, you have no idea..."

Many thanks, Booklist!

But it's not me saying it. Not really. It's YALSA, the organization for youth librarians, who put Mangaman on its list of Great Graphic Novels for Teens.

See? Check it out here: Great Graphic Novels 2012

Thanks, YALSA!

Archvillain is a fun superhero read that will challenge boys to look differently at the battle of good versus evil. How can you decide which is which, when both sides are trying to do the right thing?

The second, from thiskidreviewsbooks.com, takes a look at the sequel, The Mad Mask:

I liked this book. In fact I liked it more than the first book in the series....Mr. Lyga described the action scenes so well that I really saw what was happening in my mind.

Thanks to both sites for a great, heroic one-two punch of reviews!

What may be best about this is that Flash is so astonished that he seems to have forgotten that he can outrun a bunch of dinosaurs, no matter how smart they are. Kid Flash seems to have forgotten, too.

(From Flash #269, January 1979. Cover by Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano.)