Retro Review: Action Comics #415 (August 1972)

One day in Metropolis, TV newsman Clark Kent gets an unexpected visitor. Behold the crack reporter, nothing gets past Clark. The strange visitor lunges at the mild-mannered newsman and rips open his shirt, revealing the famed chest-symbol of Superman. Luckily, Clark is alone in his office, meaning his secret is safe… and he can fight […]

The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom #5 review

A freak connection to Captain Atom has made condemned man Max Thrane a quantum killer. He’s beaten Cap – Nathaniel Adam – and gone on the run, but is our hero’s boss, General Eiling, worried about what he may do next? Nope, the man is addicted to lying, alway finding some excuse to disseminate that ol’ […]

Retro Review – Action Comics #409 (February 1972)

Awhile back I bought some random Superman issues on eBay dating from the early Seventies – a couple I already own but haven’t read for years, and fancied having easily accessible, and some I’d seen referred to in lettercols but hadn’t read for myself. One such issue is Action Comics #409 and if I’d seen […]

The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom #2 review

Captain Atom has been cast back to 1996 by his quantum powers. Without any way back to the future, he makes the best of it, and the best proves to be not half-bad. He parlays his scant knowledge of sports results into a modest income, buys fake credentials and gets a job helping people. He […]

Retro Review: Superman #284 (February 1975)

I was 10 when this issue appeared in late 1974 and while I was buying every DC superhero comic I could find – they were so cheap back then, 9p for a regular issue – the Super-Spectaculars didn’t always show up in UK shops. So it’s only now, thanks to eBay, that I get to […]

DC Retroactive 1970s Justice League of America #1 review

Longtime DC comics editor Julie Schwartz was known for a number of things – reviving the Golden Age characters, pioneering parallel worlds, stories packed with scientific facts, tales based on unlikely cover images … but who know he was a keen housebreaker (click on images to enlarge)? That’s what happens when heroes come to visit […]

DC Retroactive 1970s Superman #1 review

Superman’s having a bad week in this DC Comics Retroactive special. Criminals are popping up when they shouldn’t, doing things that are beyond them – Metallo’s flying, Bizarro am speaking perfect English, that sort of thing. Lois Lane is annoyed at Superman paying attention to Lana Lang, Supergirl and Van-Zee think their Kryptonian cousin is super-cranky, Clark Kent’s colleagues […]

Superman: The Last Family of Krypton #3 review

The alternative history of the Superman Family concludes here with resolutions to the core conflicts: Jor-El’s science vs Lara’s spirituality; the gap in understanding between Kal-El and Jor-El; the struggles of semi-super siblings Bru-El and Valora to make their way in the world; the fates of Lex Luthor and artificial intelligence B. And if I’m […]

Cosmic Size Fantastic 4 1 review

Reed and Ben bring something nasty back from a pocket dimension, necessitating a two-day quarantine for the FF and kids Franklin and Valeria, who soon notice that their elders are acting jolly oddly. That’s your basic story from Cary Bates and Bing Cansino and it’s absorbing enough. What really had my attention more, though, was […]