Blackest Night: Starman #81 review

One comic. One single, slim book. That’s all it takes to make the Blackest Night crossover worthwhile, and have me grinning from ear to ear. Starman was one of the greatest comic runs of the Nineties, a story in which the human dramas were as grand and memorable as the cosmic and supernatural struggles. And […]

The Brave and the Bold #31 review

‘Lost stories of yesterday, today and tomorrow’ is the tagline for J Michael Straczynski’s current run on The Brave and the Bold. You could put it another way: ‘Fun without baggage’ That’s what we get this month, behind a superb Jesus Saiz cover, as Ray Palmer does the Fantastic Voyage thing to save the Joker’s […]

Blackest Night: Phantom Stranger #42 review

Last week, in The Power of Shazam, we saw that minor super-person Osiris was able to overcome the Black Lantern influence due to the magic within him. This week, in The Phantom Stranger #42 (not really), we see that the most powerful magical presence in the DC Universe, the Spectre, can’t say the same thing. […]

Outsiders #26 review

Today the Scottish Parliament published the End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill, which would make it legal for doctors to help the terminally ill die at a time of their choosing. Today this blog publishes the End of Useless Comic (Outsiders) Review, which implores that this terminally tragic book be put out of its misery. […]

R.E.B.E.L.S. 12 review

Starro the Conqueror. Kanjar Ro. Despero. This comic has become something of a home for Silver Age Justice League villains. But it’s no rest home, as all three are at the forefront of a galaxy-spanning storyline, alongside Vril Dox and members of his former L.E.G.I.O.N. law enforcement agency, the Omega Men and Adam Strange. The […]

Adventure Comics #6 review

Superboy calls Lex Luthor’s bluff. Sick of hearing him harp on that if it weren’t for Superman he could cure cancer/feed the world/win Dancing With The Stars, Superboy tells him to prove it. Cure his crippled sister, Lena, mother of Superboy’s juvie classmate Lori. And Lex agrees, if Superboy will go on a scavenger hunt […]

Titans #21 review

Well this is annoying. After a run that never really found its feet – to be polite – Titans gets good just as the book is effectively being cancelled. With Starfire, Wonder Girl, Batman and Cyborg heading for the JLA, Raven and Beast Boy back with the Teen Titans and Flash sidelining himself after the […]

Blackest Night: The Power of Shazam #48 review

With one magic word . . . meh. Billy Batson, sister Mary and pal Freddy Freeman shared The Power of Shazam! for almost 50 issues in the 1990s in a thoroughly entertaining, thoughtful superhero comic book. The writer and cover artist was Jerry Ordway, currently back doing some great work for DC, so the prospect […]

Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2 review

Having come back from the dead, Wonder Woman is susceptible to the will of demon guy Nekron, so at the close of Blackest Night #5 she became a Black Lantern. This issue takes place immediately after that, with possessed Diana engaged in a vicious, bloody fight with Atlantean queen Mera. Along the way she kills […]

Doom Patrol #6 review

After two issues of Blackest Night, in which a dark figure wears the flesh of the dead, here’s an issue about a dark figure who wears the flesh of the dead . . . Negative Man. But that’s where the similarities between the founding Doom Patrol member and zombies-come-lately the Black Lanterns end. For Larry […]