Batman #21: Zero Year review

One of the biggest problems with DC’s New 52 revamp is the insistence that pretty much all our heroes’ exploits fit into a five-year period. When it’s a character whose story has basically begun again, such as Wonder Woman or the Flash, there’s no problem – stuff happened, but we have little idea what said […]

Superman Unchained #1 review

There are no chains from which Superman breaks free in this issue. A better title would be Superman Unfolded, by virtue of the worst gimmick any DC comic has ever offered the world. Worse than stick-on Lobo. Worse than cardboard Bat heads. Worse, even, than plastic ‘diamonds’ that wreck every other comic around them. It’s […]

Adventures of Superman #5 review

Breezy, that’s the word for this fifth instalment of DC Digital’s Superman title. Writer Joshua Hale Fialkov and artist Joëlle Jones present a day in the life tale which sees Lois and Clark battling for the Daily Planet front page, even though the most exciting thing in the diary is the Metropolis Dog Show. With […]

Action Comics #21 review

Superman fights the Hybrid creature created by a Lex Luthor virus, bidding to dismantle it into its constituent parts – ordinary citizens of Metropolis – and he’s doing well until the bigger threat of Doomsday comes along. Doomsday Oh, hang on, that’s not Doomsday, it’s Lex Luthor in a hulking great power-suit. It certainly had […]

Trinity of Sin: Phantom Stranger #9 review

Did you spot that we have a new title this time? A longer title, announcing that we’re entering Crossover Land? Our guide is the Phantom Stranger, currently positioned by DC as one of the Trinity of Sin, the other points being Pandora and the Question. One of them, the Question, cameos this issue, but really, […]

Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual #1

Once upon a time Roy Harper was Green Arrow’s tech guy. Today he’s the anti-hero known as Arsenal and Green Arrow is the last person he wants to see. Ollie Queen, though, turns up on the hidden island HQ of Roy, Jason Todd and Princess Koriand’r of Tamaran – aka Red Hood and Starfire – […]

Earth 2 Annual #1 review

The big selling point for this issue is the debut of an all-new Batman, the original Earth 2 fellow having died at the start of the regular series. As a JSA traditionalist, I don’t really think the team needs a Superman, Batman or Wonder Woman, but it seems DC begs to differ. And given that […]

X-Men #1 review

As Gypsy Rose Lee learned, you gotta have a gimmick. And when Marvel Comics is relaunching an X-Men book it helps to have something to distinguish the title from the rest of the mutant pack. What’s that, you say? How about stories with a unique tone, tales that don’t depend on crossovers to be ‘worthwhile’, […]

Special guest review – Rob Staeger on Flash #20

People think Barry Allen is boring, but they’ve been sold a bill of goods. He’s a police investigator, looking for the trace elements criminals unwittingly leave behind…a fairly cerebral, high-stakes activity for a hero synonymous with motion. He’s – in the current continuity, at least – someone who enforces the legal system, even though he […]

Superman #20 review

Ma and Pa Kent are visiting Clark and his family in Metropolis. The City of Tomorrow has never looked more futuristic, Lana Lang-Kent more stunning. And look at that cute puppy! We’re about to meet Clark and Lana’s little girl when … SCRASHK WHAM! Whatever the cause of his reverie, Superman is thoroughly knocked out […]