I could keep going on about what I liked in each of these stories and why - Nick Robles stunning artwork in the Jon Kent story, the super fun Harley and Ivy story from Dani Fernandez and Zoe Thorogood, the sweetness of the Jackson Hyde fish-out-of-water (literally) story from Alyssa Wong and W.
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It’s got villainous threats, nice moments between characters, and material drawn from long-time continuity - all things that make superhero comics shine. Thematically, it deals with being your true self, but atop that the team just does an excellent job of telling a superhero story that feels punchy and suspenseful. It has Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl as well as Alysia Yeoh, a landmark character from the Batgirl run penned by Gail Simone. Axelrod is a rising star writer, and this story makes it easy to see why. One of the standouts in this regard is “Up At Bat”, which is written by Jadzia Axelrod (the writer of Galaxy), illustrated by Lynne Yoshii, colored by Tamra Bonvillain, and lettered by Ariana Maher. There are also stories in this anthology that are just well done and exciting, great examples of A Tier superhero storytelling. And there are many stories in this anthology like that. The story is layered with empathy and honesty as well, and I felt like I came away from it with a much better understanding of asexuality than I had going in.
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The story is a great Green Arrow comic, replete with villains and problems solved via bow and arrow. I’m a huge fan of all things Green Arrow, and Connor Hawke gets a spotlight in “Think of Me” by Ro Stein and Ted Brandt (with letters by Frank Cvetkovic), which is the art team that illustrated the hit indie series, Crowded. I found myself thinking about many of these stories long after I’d finished reading this collection.