The Atom Special #1 review

Ray Palmer’s Ivy Town lab is broken into while he’s tackling a hostage situation in the local library. He reminisces with his old mentor, Professor Hyatt, about his origins – family and superheroic – before a final page shock. Well, it’s a shock if you’ve not read enough recent DC comics to realise that the […]

Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #1 review

It’s been too long. Too long since Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung brought us a tale of the Young Avengers. The best thing to come out of the Avengers Disassembled debacle, the teens starred in a series which proved short-lived more due to Heinberg’s other commitments than sales and reader interest. Over the last few […]

Wonder Woman: Amazon. Hero. Icon review

So Wonder Woman has a new costume. Been there, done that, as this latest coffee table book dedicated to the Amazing Amazon proves. Robert Greenberger’s Wonder Woman: Amazon. Hero. Icon, among other things, shows how the costume has changed since its 1941 debut. Sometimes it’s even been tossed out altogether, during the Mod period, for […]

The Flash #3 review

I’m not at all keen on Francis Manapul’s cover image, which is irrelevant to the issue, murkily executed and saddled with rubbish copy. Inside, things are somewhat happier, as the Reverse-Rogues from the future return to arrest Barry Allen for a crime he hasn’t yet committed and Captain Boomerang finds that his bounce back from […]

Action Comics #890 review

Another year without Superman in Action Comics. Weep. Another Blackest Night tie-in. Wail. What, more Lex Luthor? Gnashing of teeth. Those would be the reservations. The five-star casino hotel would be the way Paul Cornell and Pete Woods execute the beginning of their Lex Luthor series. Having tasted Green Lantern-style power during recent cosmic shenanigans, […]

Wonder Woman #600 review

Wonder Woman gets a #600th issue and George Perez marks the big number rather cleverly on his marvellously cheery cover. It’s appropriate the book’s former writer artist has the cover assignment here, as this issue marks the end of the era he kicked off in 1987 and the beginning of a new one. Well, so […]

Thunderbolts #145 review

I never saw the end of last issue coming, as Baron Zemo returned to claim the new Thunderbolts. I never saw the beginning of this issue approaching either, but I liked it every bit as much. I won’t spoil this surprising turn – yup, I’m trying to push the undecided into buying, here – but […]

Legion of Super-Heroes #2 review

Titan has blown up and the Legion are reacting on two fronts. There’s a sub-team in space looking after search and rescue and another on Earth trying to keep peace at the camp set up for Titan refugees. Saturn Girl is in the timestream searching for her missing kids. Lightning Lad and Lass are leaving […]

Power Girl #13 review

The opening panel of this debut issue by new creative team Judd Winick and Sami Basri has Karen referring to her complicated past – survivor of a parallel Krypton, and all that. My initial reaction is, give it a rest. That storyline’s been done to death, Can’t we just ignore the convolutions of Power Girl’s […]

Supergirl #53 review

After a long run of Supergirl covers by Josh Middleton, we’re about to begin a series by Amy Reeder. In between, though, here’s an illustration by series artist Jamal Igle. And isn’t it vibrant? Perfectly composed, beautifully executed, it’s a lovely take on a motif perfected by cousin Kal. Is there something I’m not getting? […]