Spreading the good feeling around

When I was about 12, away at the St Vincent De Paul Boys’ Camp on Lindisfarne off the north east coast of England, I won the Camper of the Week award. It was a booby prize for a kid who didn’t win races but was cheery and helpful – hey, I’ll take what I can […]

SPECIAL GUEST REVIEW Marvel Her-Oes #2

Secrets are revealed throughout the sophomore issue of Her-Oes – the Marvel mini reimagining its heroines as high schoolers – as Janet Van Dyne mulls over the revelation that Namora, whose assault last issue she barely escaped by shrinking and flying away, also has powers. We discover that Janet’s father was responsible for her abilities […]

DCU: Legacies #1 review

It’s 1938 and on the streets uof America, the mystery men begin to emerge, changing the course of one young boy’s life. The kid is Paulie Lincoln, who narrates the first story in DC’s anthology series looking at how its universe has developed over seven decades. Young Paulie is in a kid gang, but not […]

Zatanna #1 review

The bad: Zee’s too busty. The good: Everything else. This is a stylish little comic, as the first-ever Zatanna ongoing debuts. The backwards-talking magician shows a terrifically conceived mystical mob boss and his band of demons what’s what after they begin to strike at the mortal world. And apart from the introduction of presumably supporting […]

Avengers #1 review

Wow. This comic really does lack the ‘wow!’ factor. It’s positioned as the beginning of a bold new age for the Marvel Universe, the Heroic Age, but it feels like just another Brian Bendis Avengers book. Admitedly, the stakes are higher than has often been the case, as Kang the Conqueror warns of a threat […]

Legion of Super-Heroes #1 review

The Legion of Super-Heroes is back in their own comic. And it’s the Legion I grew up with (as opposed to the Legions I grew old with), the team inspired by Superboy, the force as at home battling Darkseid as babysitting the Super-Pets. Sure, there are discrepancies from the comics history which ended in the […]

Booster Gold #32 review

It’s the debut of a new creative crew on Booster Gold and it’s not what I expected. Think the writing team of Keith Giffen and JM DeMatteis and you think funny comics. Justice League, bwaa-ha-ha and Blue Beetle. And that’s what the splash page here leads you to expect, with its jokey credits. There are […]

R.E.B.E.L.S. #16 review

Is this book in trouble or is the excitable cover blurb ‘INTRODUCING TWO NEW GREEN LANTERNS!’ down to someone being genuinely excited? I’m not, the ringslingers already have two books, with a third on the way, and their imagery is dominating the cover of the new Legion of Super-Heroes book next week. Go on, git! […]

Birds of Prey #1 review

You can go home again. The Birds are back from their Bat-event-imposed cancellation, back together and back in Gotham City. Oracle, Black Canary, Lady Blackhawk and Huntress are all great separately, but together they’re legendary. This issue isn’t the beginning of a six-part storyline, showing the team gathering, one by one. Nope, Oracle simply calls […]

Justice League: Generation Lost #1 review

Brightest Day brought Max Lord back from the dead, giving DC an easy way to reboot him as the good guy he once was, rather than the megalomaniac murderer seen in the Infinite Crisis crossover. Sadly, DC has gone for box number 2, as I increasingly suspect the term ‘Brightest Day’ is being used ironically. […]