Festive favourites – cracking Christmas comics

It’s Christmas, time for the publishing companies to deck the comic shop shelves with seasonal baubles to get the cash registers jingling. Actually, not so much these days, but back when there was room for one-off stories, DC and Marvel would give us a few such offerings every year. They never went so far as […]

RETRO REVIEW – Action Comics #406

Given I’m not enjoying much of DC’s current Superman output, why not look to the past?Specifically, pretty much the first Superman comic I ever bought, Action Comics #406, November 1971. Given how long it took comics to get to the UK in those days (they generally came as ballast on ships), that was likely when […]

DC Comics – The Now 52!

We knew DC were bringing back the 3D covers this September, but I have to say, now that more details of the annual gimmick ‘celebrating’ 2011’s arrival of the New 52 have landed, I’m left scratching my head. It’s The Now 52. Every series is going to leap ahead to its 52nd issue, showing us […]

Earth 2 #17 review

Last month it was revealed that Steppenwolf’s murderous henchman Brutaal was in fact Earth 2’s Superman, not dead after all, but transformed into a killing machine by Darkseid. This issue he cuts a swathe through the World Army, forcing the superheroes to retreat to its Arkham base. There, General Sam Lane awakens a new hero, […]

Earth 2 #3 review

From the ashes of a train smash in China, Alan Scott rises to become the Green Lantern. Rescued by a sentient flame, he’s given a mission; to be the Earth’s greatest defender when a great evil assails the planet. In Poland, meanwhile, a woman who calls herself Hawkgirl reveals to the newly super-fast Jay Garrick […]

Justice League #10 review

David Graves, who has been kidnapping enemies of the Justice League and torturing them for information, strikes. He invades the team’s satellite and assaults the members with memories of loss that leave them gnarled husks. Along the way we learn how Graves was granted power by minor gods and perhaps acts as a conduit to […]

Justice League #3 review

Wonder Woman joins Superman, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern as winged beasts wreak havoc in Metropolis, destroying property and kidnapping citizens. Meanwhile in Detroit, another attack by the aliens sees STAR Labs scientist Professor Ivo carried away as colleague Silas Stone bids to save son Victor from succumbing to burns received as the monsters arrived […]

Flashpoint #3 review

Flash-fried after trying to recreate the accident that gave him super-speed, Barry Allen’s in a bad way. If Batman Thomas Wayne weren’t a doctor, he’d likely be dead. As it is, the pain of third degree burns doesn’t stop him getting back into the Wayne Manor electric chair for another attempt. And for whatever reason […]

The New DC Explosion – The Great Ten?

So DC has announced the first ten of its 52 planned new #1s. I’ve little doubt most of you will have seen the list, noted the creative teams and eyeballed the images, so how about some drive-by gut reactions, based on precious little? I’ll start, please join in. Wonder Woman #1 by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang […]

Flash #12 review

It’s the final instalment of the Road to Flashpoint storyline, and the last issue of this run. And while it’s a safe bet there’ll be a new volume along in a few months, for once a book that’s ending feels like a conclusion. That’s because writer Geoff Johns closes the book on the subplots that […]