One of the major reasons I stayed away from superhero comics for a while is that they all seemed to start taking on the same appearance and tone. So many writers had adapted the Bendis School of wisecracking hero talking to other wisecrackers (Don’t shoot. I love the dude. DD #50 rules) that the voices all bled together.

It’s unfortunate that when creators pull off a story that it sometimes takes a while to appreciate just how truly kickass the work is. After my first reading of Copperhead #3, I thought ‘Well that was fun,’ and closed the file on my digital reader.

I’m having a bit of a rough time remembering when this comic used to be about a young illusionist that’s wrangled into the eponymous secret organization. In its latter half, Cloaks more resemble a crime procedural in the TNT vein with a wunderkind detective who may or may not be way over his head in giving the save-the-world thing a try.

It’s amazing how a second reading can change your opinion on a text. I recall reading Tom Sawyer in high school, and intensely despising it before coming back years later and realizing how genius and hilarious it was. Similarly, and Twain might spin in his white suit for this, the first time around The Humans read like nothing more than an escapist fantasy of misplaced nostalgia for a time and place that were not all that great, and to boot it just felt like sexist drivel thanks to one page early on.

Funny how a comparison between two texts can be enough to compel you to read something. Such was the case with Penny Dora, which I had read somewhere that it’d appeal to fans of Coraline. While this first issue lacks the same level darkness that tinges all of Gaiman’s stories, it does merit the comparison thanks to its focus on telling a story about a kid that appeals to both kids and adults.