X-Factor 41 review

For the past couple of months writer Peter David has been trying to up X-Factor sales with shocking surprises. Well, this month he pulls off the biggest trick of all – he makes me like Longshot. Yes, the mullet-cursed Eighties holdout gets some great dialogue and charms me with a gag. Then David, on a […]

Amazing Spider-Man 588 review

This is part 4 of 4 of the Character Assassination storyline, but it’s more than that; it’s the wrapping up of the first batch of plotlines since Brand New Day began bringing us an almost weekly Spidey book. That’s over 40 issues and editor Steve Wacker and his assistants deserve a big spider-tracer on the […]

Outsiders 16 review

There aren’t many times when it pays off for a comics fan to be a big old musicals nerd as well. But Outsiders 16 could be one of those. For as our new team attends a German mining disaster, field leader Geo Force asks Halo to go to the surface and speak to survivors. Katana […]

Captain Britain and MI13 #11 review

I am the Lord of tinpot reviewers, you will buy this comic . . . No? Better convince you the old-fashioned way, then. This truly is a first-class superhero title. While firmly set in the Marvel Universe, it ploughs its own furrow so that when existing characters are used – such as Clive Reston from […]

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #1 review

While I’m not down with the basic premise that Gotham must have a Batman – see the beautifully coded http://dangermart.blogspot.com/2009/02/battle-for-cowl-why.html – I gave this book a shot. And it has some good points. Writer/penciller Tony Daniel, a surprise choice for a high-profile three-issue mini, quickly sets up the situation of a Batman-less Gotham having descended […]

Age of the Sentry #6 review

I’m no fan of the Golden Guardian of Good in modern-day Marvel – too often he’s the weeping fall guy – but the first five issues of this six-issue mini were a delight. Writers Jeff Parker and Paul Tobin, and an artistic team led by Nick Dragotta and Ramón Rosanas, produced issue after issue of […]

Agents of Atlas 2 review

Well here’s a comic not suffering from ‘that difficult second issue syndrome’. Agents of Atlas 2 is at least as good as the debut book, as writer Jeff Parker shows more of the Atlas Foundation’s war on Norman Osborn’s rotten regime. Better yet, we have a second tale woven in, flashing back to 1958. Both […]

Secret Six 7 review

A pal tells me that at Wondercon recently, a DC Comics editor took umbrage at his very suggestion that most stories these days were written for the trade, hence the predominance of long ‘arcs’. Well, if all lengthy arcs were as good as Unhinged, which has filled the first seven issues of Secret Six, readers […]

Blue Beetle 36 review

Blue Beetle buzzes off with this issue after a respectable three-year run. That’s respectable so far as the amount of issues published is concerned. In terms of quality, the book’s been far beyond respectable – it’s been consistently excellent (hey, editor Rachel Gluckstern, take a bow!). And writer Matthew Sturgess and the rest of the […]

Wonder Woman 29 review

Despite the cover, Genocide doesn’t appear in this issue. No complaints from me, as she’s had plenty of panel time of late, beating Diana twice, so far. I don’t doubt Diana will overcome her in the end; meanwhile, it’s good to catch up with other aspects of this storyline. Namely, Jason and the Zombienauts vs […]