Batman: White Knight by Sean Murphy

DC fans, rejoice! A new era of DC comics has finally been released called DC Black Label--a nittier, grittier version of the superhero world we all know and love--with its debut graphic novel Batman: White Knight. And as Nerdist says, it's "unlike anything we've seen before."

We know the classic Batman scene: the dark brooding billionaire who dresses like a bat to fight off the physically and psychologically damaged super villains of Gotham City, mainly the Joker and his sidekick girlfriend Harley Quinn. We'll spin that on its head and you have Batman: White Knight. In a brutal assault that has the police questioning the sanity of Batman, the Joker is beaten to near death and is force fed an experimental drug. In a miraculous rehabilitation period and thanks to the unknown medicine, the Joker reverts to his true self, the upstanding Gothamite Jack Napier. Suddenly, Batman lacks his other half, his nemesis, his foe, and instead finds himself stalking Napier seeking out any aspect of the Joker that may remain. It's a fascinating spin on a classic superhero dynamic that had me finishing it in one sitting.

I LOVED the reveal of Harley Quinn and her response--or responses--to the new face of the man she loves. It is a real twist in the series that explains so many things, but that I never would've seen coming.