Shameless plug for Comic Buyers Guide #1656

I’ve recently started contributing to this sage organ so if you’ve any spare pennies, buy the thing! This issue has me moaning about or praising Flash Rebirth #1, New Mutants #1, Destroyer #1, Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape#1 and R.E.B.E.L.S. #4. Thank you, and good afternoon.

Booster Gold #21 review

Batman’s dead so Rip Hunter tasks Booster with busting into the Batcave and retrieving the photographs that prove he’s a time fixer. Quite why it would be so bad were any of Batman’s strictly street-level enemies to find them isn’t explained, but it sets up a confrontation between Booster and new Batman Dick Grayson. They […]

JSA vs Kobra #1

Evil cult Kobra embarks on a suicide bombing campaign, apparently aimed at taking down the Justice Society of America, and rival faiths. Mr Terrific, personally targeted by Kobra for his Checkmate connections, narrates part of this issue. Sharing the chore is someone from Kobra – presumably the current leader – and it’s through their words […]

Flash: Rebirth #3 review

Could everyone please dip into their pockets, we’re having a whip round. I’m booking Ethan Van Sciver a place at the Jack Kirby College of Dynamic Foreshortening. Cos that cover image is just wrong. Yes, it’s the latest Flash/Superman race, this time to see who can look most constipated, most quickly. I think Barry has […]

Red Robin #1 review

When the red, red Robin comes bob-bob-bobbin’ along . . . Oh dear, I just can’t see this book without that lovely old song ringing through my head. And that new logo, as chirpy as a cute ickle wed wobbin deserves! Ooh, goodness me though, that’s a very grim fellow underneath it, on Francis Manapul’s […]

Batman #687 review

After last week’s sterling first issue of Batman & Robin, do we really need to backtrack for a Battle for the Cowl epilogue? Maybe not, but this book is a lot better than I expected it to be. So far as I can make it, it’s not actually a BftC coda until the final few […]

Exiles #3 review

That’a a bit of a dull cover from the talented Dave Bullock, showing the Exiles traversing dimensions – it looks like a final issue deal rather than a third issue image. And I know cartooning is all about exaggeration, but Polaris looks less like a person here than a stick of green licorice. The first […]

Captain Britain and MI13 Annual #1 review

I’ve often bemoaned the fact that the X-Men never have any fun these days. They never have time for a trip to the Westchester mall, for example, or a game of baseball. But my nostalgia for those issues in which mutants took to the backfields of Xaviers School for Gifted Youngsters ignores one salient fact […]

Batman and Robin #1 review

The new Batman and Robin have their first night on the town and, suitably enough, meet a new villain. Mr Toad is a self-proclaimed slippery customer but, alas, not exactly formidable and our heroes make quick work of him. They’re aided in this by the latest version of the Batmobile, one harking back to the […]