Wonder Woman and origin(al) sin

Every day, people come up to me on the street and ask the same question: ‘I know Superman came to Earth in a rocketship and Batman saw his parents shot, but what’s the origin of Wonder Woman?’ In the past, I’ve explained that she was a clay baby given life by the gods after her […]

Amazing Spider-Man #673 review

Manhattan’s tenure as Spider Island is over. Having been given Spider-Man’s abilities, then transformed into giant arachnids, virtually the entire population is waking up after the cure with a fuzzy memory … and a distinct lack of clothing (click on image to enlarge). So there’s no better name for this epilogue than The Naked City. […]

Action Comics #3 review

Three months into the Superman relaunch and we get our first look at Krypton, as Jor-El warns Lara to get out of Kandor just in time for her to see it stolen by, presumably, Brainiac. A quarter of a century later, on Earth, Clark Kent dreams of the catastrophe, witnessed by him as a babe-in-arms. […]

Avengers Academy #21 review

It’s a new term at Avengers Academy. The Fear Itself crisis saw their interdimensional headquarters, Infinite Avengers Mansion, destroyed. One student, Veil, quit after feeling forced to kill in battle. Teachers Speedball and Justice resigned to go on a road trip. Relocating the Academy to the old Avengers West Coast Compound, headmaster Giant Man takes […]

Uncanny X-Men #1 review

Utopia leader Cyclops gathers his lieutenants and announces his latest notion – the Extinction Team. They’ll protect mutants and humans alike, and their world-saving displays of power will hopefully deter humans from victimising mutants. His thinking is that as non-mutants fear the X-Men without any show of force against them, they may as well amp […]

All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold #11 review

In the DC New 52, Jonah Hex has decamped to Gotham City. In the Johnny DC line, he’s there too (click on image to enlarge). Don’t expect saloon girls coming to sticky ends, though. This being an all-ages book the story centres on Ra’s al-Ghul, a giant robot and an earthquake machine. It’s the latter […]

Superman #2 review

Superman is getting slapped about by a monster that’s invisible to his senses, but a comment from Lois Lane tells him how to get into the fight. Defeated, the creature dissolves, but not without muttering one word in an unearthly language – ‘Rosebud’. Oh all right, it was ‘Krypton’, and yes, pretty much the same […]

Teen Titans #2 review

Having escaped from the N.O.W.H.E.R.E. goons, Red Robin and Wonder Girl encounter a new hunted teenager, the insectoid nicknamed Skitter. Elsewhere, Kid Flash escapes his N.O.W.H.E.R.E. holding cell and meets his next-door neighbour, a young woman named Solstice. And she’s burning to say hello. And at N.O.W.H.E.R.E. headquarters, newly born clone Superboy is readying for an […]

Wolverine and the X-Men #1 review

In the spirit of the recent Daredevil relaunch, here’s a Marvel title that puts fun first while honouring its characters and tradition. And tradition is at the heart of this book, as Wolverine rebuilds Professor Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and christens it the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. At Logan’s side are Kitty Pryde […]

Legion: Secret Origin #1

The future starts here. Like Batman and Green Lantern, the Legion of Super-Heroes is a series barely changed by DC’s Flashpoint event. With the New 52 experiment bringing new readers to comics, it makes sense, then, to go back and address the origins of the 31st-century team. As a longtime fan, though, having seen the origin […]