Intriguing, thought provoking and uneven comics produced before, during and after the release of the first movie. There are a couple of real duds here but setting is well suited to this sort of exploration, and fans who were disappointed with the very plot-driven movie sequels will find a lot to rekindle their interest. Neil Gaiman’s prose story “Goliath” is probably the highlight.

(Once upon a time you could just read most of these on the sprawling Matrix web site but I’m not sure that monument to the web’s potential even exists any more.)