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Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta's The Vision features a lot of quotation and repetition. Dialogue and scenes are reprised a few pages or issues later; objects that make a quick appearance in issue #1 play a vital role in the climax; dialogue is lifted directly from comics published nearly 50 years ago, and from plays published more than four centuries ago. These aren’t unusual techniques. They’re just examples of structurally sound storytelling, of how to make a book feel like an extension of the histories, real and fictional, of the world that it exists within.

The Batman books tend to be at their best when they're working with self-contained storylines that focus on a different aspect of the character. That's been especially true with the Rebirth era, where Batman was relaunched with grand, over-the-top superhero action and Detective Comics put the spotlight on the Batman Family operating as a team under Batwoman, and where Nightwing was specifically about distancing Dick Grayson from his mentor --- at least for a while. With that in mind, it was pretty easy to worry that "Night of the Monster Men," a six-part crossover that ran through all three books, would derail that focus. Instead, it shored everything up, tying those ideas together in a way that strengthened all of it, and managed to pull off one of the best revitalizations for a villain that I've seen in a long time.

Every month, comic publishers release their solicitation announcements to provide information to readers and retailers on comics that are coming out in three months’ time, but there’s so much information dropped at once that a lot can slip through the cracks. This month in DC's January solicitations, we've got some surprising guest stars, some surprising guest artists, and the debut of one of the most ambitious books DC has published in a decade.

Gabriel Hernandez Walta might be the most understated artist working on a big-two book. With each issue of The Vision, written by Tom King and with colors by Jordie Bellaire, Walta gave readers a masterclass in visual storytelling. One of the elements that makes this book so strong is how Walta decides to use the locations and backgrounds to frame characters, which then informs so much of the story happening on the page. There’s an example in the fourth issue that really encapsulates the clever work going into the book.

A while back DC announced plans to revive Jack Kirby's Kamandi: The Last Boy On Earth in January in a form that, to say the least, is a little unique. It's called The Kamandi Challenge, and the idea --- loosely inspired by 1985's DC Challenge and its game of storytelling hot potato --- is that the twelve-issue series will feature a new creative team, randomly paired together from a list of twelve writers and twelve artists for each issue, each picking up the story where the previous team leaves off. It's an interesting way to mark the 100th anniversary of Kirby's birth in 2017. In advance of New York Comic-Con, DC has revealed a first look at some of the artwork from the series, plus new details of how the creative teams will approach the story.

2015's The Omega Men tells the story of a group of freedom fighters (or terrorists, depending on who you’re talking to) in a section of deep space called the Vega System who have taken White Lantern Kyle Rayner as prisoner. This is all part of their big plan to once and for all tear down the oppressive government that controls their star system. Over the course of 12 issues, the book by writer Tom King, artist Barnaby Bagenda, and colorist Romulo Fajardo Jr, brings hard looks on corruption, how the very things that should be enriching or protecting people can rot from the inside, and the assumption that anyone fighting against an evil is then inherently good themselves. Now out in trade paperback, the collection also happens to be one of the more fascinating sci-fi graphic novels of the 2010s.

Marvel's The Vision, by Tom King, Gabriel Hernandez Walta and Jordie Bellaire, has been one of the biggest highlights in superhero comics this year, and this week's The Vision #11 is one of the most emotionally affecting and heart-wrenching issues in the serie. It features not one, but two character deaths that may bum you out all week long.

When Batman #9 hits shelves in October, we're getting one of the biggest returns of the series so far from Tom King and Mikel Janin. Bane is back, and in case you were concerned that he wouldn't be all that threatening, he's reintroduced literally seated upon a throne of skulls. Check out a preview.

When Tom King and Mitch Gerads launched Sheriff of Babylon, one of the most striking things about it --- aside from the fact that it's one of the only DC Comics that has to be run by the CIA before publication --- was its use of sound effects. In an interview right here at ComicsAlliance, King mentioned that he lifted the idea from the first issue of Y The Last Man, but still, those three big gunshots that united that first issue's three disparate stories were enough to make a pretty big impression. So with that in mind, it's nice to see that they're still around as the series heads into its tenth issue. Check out an exclusive preview.

Tom King and David Finch's relaunch of Batman might be the most interesting and unexpected comic book of DC's Rebirth. Released biweekly, the opening arc told the story of a pair of new heroes, Gotham and Gotham Girl, who arrived in Batman's hometown with powers far beyond those of mortal men, and with hopes of permanently changing things for the better. And as you already know if you've read those first five issues, it did not go so well. Now, with an epilogue to "I Am Gotham" set to hit shelves next week, ComicsAlliance spoke to Tom King about the villains he's bringing back to the spotlight, the reasons behind the final fate of Gotham and Gotham Girl, and why Colonel Blimp was there all along --- and we just didn't see him.