©Mike Baron & Steve Rude.

Of all the hardcover collections of comics from the modern era, say since 1970, these NEXUS volumes are my favorites. If you’ve read this blog for a while you’ll know Steve Rude is a favorite artist, and NEXUS a favorite comic of mine. I’m really happy that Dark Horse decided to collect them in this attractive, durable format. Rereading issues 33-39, collected here, was a pleasure. Mike Baron’s writing was never better: thoughtful, discerning, funny, dramatic (not melodramatic), and with an undefinable something I can only describe as “cool.” Rude’s art is very much the same. Not only does he step up to the big moments, but he’s brilliant at the small ones.

Here’s a detail from one panel showing one of General Loomis’s daughters after coming home from a difficult meeting. Can’t you just feel that in the body language, and the tossed-off shoes? And if no one is making rocking chairs like that, they should be! This kind of attention to detail is what really makes rereading these books worthwhile, even if you remember the general direction of the story.

Highest recommendation!