Podcast Plugtime – A World on Fire talks All-Star Squadron #50

Back in the mid-1980s Roy Thomas saw his passion project, All-Star Squadron, rudely interrupted by blockbuster DC maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths. The tagline read: ‘Worlds will live. Worlds will die. And the DC Universe will never be the same!’ We Earth 2 fans didn’t know the half of it – basically, a series that […]

Action Comics #1042 review

In his quieter moments away from the Warworld arena, Superman has been keeping a journal. Back on Earth, Lois Lane is also writing. As it turns out, Thao-La, a Phaelosian escapee from Warworld injured in battle after a Fortress rampage, is having fits and power surges as she slowly recovers. Lois intuits that a piece […]

Justice League #75 review

Here’s a comic that ‘does what it says on the tin’. The Justice League get killed. Blasted to smithereens. Apparently. Because we all know they’re coming back… this issue is full of characters who have been killed and reborn. Heck, Wonder Woman has only been back from her death in the previous ‘Crisis to end […]

Blue & Gold #8 review

Ryan Sook’s movie poster cover is the perfect opening to the final issue of a spectacularly good-natured mini-series. Two shining heroes getting great reviews for their endless good deeds. And that’s pretty much how things stand as ‘Unmasked at Last’ opens. Michael and Ted’s Blue & Gold Restoration venture has been doing good all over […]

The Flash #781 review

For a comic titled ‘All pedal, no brakes’, it’s ironic that it takes so long for things to get going. Four of the first five pages are current Kid Flash Wallace being distracted by cousin Wally’s entreaties to skip class at the current ragtag version of Titans Academy. That’s a lot of space in a […]

Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #2 review

After a violent encounter with Metallo’s red kryptonite cocktail, Superman is left with a life-threatening morphing condition. Happily, Negative Man of the Doom Patrol is able to use his alien energy to dampen down the Man of Steel long enough for a specialist to step in. Dr Niles Caulder, creator of the Patrol, doesn’t find […]

Flashpoint Beyond #0 review

This is the comic I definitely wasn’t going to buy. The Flashpoint event of a decade or so ago wasn’t my favourite, being an extended imaginary story with shades of Nineties EXTREEEEEME! The idea of Thomas Wayne – the Bat-Dad who survived the event only to be killed in the recent Justice League Incarnate series […]

Superman: Son of Kal-El #10 review

While new Superman Jon Kent saves lives in Ireland… …Lex Luthor holds a press conference… …and Lois Lane throws down a golden gauntlet. Later, Jon has news for his Mom… … and a family friend drops by the suburban Kent home. From the fantastic cover by illustrator Travis Moore and colour artist Tamra Bonvillain to […]

Podcast Plugtime – A World on Fire talks All-Star Squadron #48-49

One of the best series of the Eighties was All-Star Squadron. Roy and Dann Thomas’s love letter to DC’s Golden Age, it followed the Mystery Men and Women of the Forties from Pearl Harbor onwards as they fought Hitler and co on the Home Front – well, mainly. One excursion from the United States sees […]

Marauders #1 review

Kate Pryde is assembling a new team to rescue mutants and give them sanctuary on Krakoa. So far she has Bishop, Tempo, Somnus, Aurora, Psylocke, and Daken, now she needs a telepath. Her choice is a surprise. Cassandra Nova, kindasorta twin of Charles Xavier, murderer of millions and Norman Bates tribute act. Elsewhere, Daken, Aurora […]