The New DC Explosion …

… let’s hope it’s more successful than the last one. In the Seventies, DC Comics published a slew of new titles, with more pages, over several months in a bid to gain back ground from Marvel. But early sales weren’t great, wobbly executives cancelled many of the new titles and a few old ones, and […]

Xombi #3 review

This comic book is amazing. It has a hero who can’t die. Roman Catholic nuns with super-powers. A schoolgirl whose metahuman abilities are fueled by by faith. A kick-ass rabbi. A philosophical ghost. An immortal villain. Back-seat golems. And more. All in 20 pages. And while the story reads like the X-Files on steroids, it doesn’t feel at […]

Strange Adventures #1

Creating compelling tales of the imagination, it’s not rocket science, is it? DC managed it for a couple of decades, in the middle of the last century. And now, via the Vertigo imprint, they dip another toe into the water, with a collection of stories ‘suggested for mature readers’. That means tits and swearing, kids. […]

FF #4 review

There are few super-teams that can’t be improved by the addition of a traitor. The Avengers had one in Iron Man, thanks to Kang’s time manipulations. The JSA suffered All-American Kid, aka evil Karnevil (should have been a stunt cyclist). Heck, at times it’s seemed like the Legion of Super-Heroes’ entire raison d’être is to be infiltrated. […]

Action Comics #901 review

There was outrage in sections of the US media recently as a story in Action Comics #900 saw Superman renounce US citizenship. Comic readers knew that as a standalone short in an anniversary issue, David Goyer’s tale would likely never be followed up on. And here we are just a month later, with President Obama making a personal […]

Supergirl #64 review

The conclusion to ‘Good-Looking Corpse’ begins with Supergirl in trouble, attacked by a mind-controlled Robin and Blue Beetle, and with an equally out-of-it Miss Martian standing by to empty her Kryptonian head. And while ickle Damian Wayne can’t do much against the Maid of Might, Jaime has some serious firepower in that scarab suit. Doing […]

Alpha Flight 0.1 review

Alpha Flight 0.1 as a jumping-on point? Oh for goodness sake, Marvel, get a grip. Presumably this means we’re getting a zero issue too? At the rate new titles are cancelled these days I’ll be delighted if this relaunch manages to hit issue #1. I dunno … I do know that as pseudo-first issues goes, this […]

Batman: Gates of Gotham #1 review

Someone is blowing up the bridges of Gotham. Three so far, killing and injuring ordinary folk going about their business. A note sent to the press indicates a vendetta: ‘The families will fall by the gates of Gotham.’ The bridges were once referred to as ‘gates’ but who are the families who built them? That’s […]

Booster Gold #44 review

Booster Gold and robotic sidekick Skeets are in Coast City, investigating the enigma-ridden blackboard that appeared in time master Rip Hunter’s secret lab a few issues back. They’re looking for Green Lantern but find themselves attacked by a military machine which mistakes Booster for the enemy – an Atlantean attacker. Atlantis at war with the surface world? […]

Birds of Prey #12 review

There’s a new crime lord in Gotham and he’s hiring. He’s taking on a pair of twisted sisters by the name of Trissa and Somnia. Before they meet the big man, though, they accompany his lieutenant, Mr Tripe, to a meeting with blonde bombshell Miss Hargison, a helpless beauty who wants him to bury her […]