Batman: The Brave and the Bold #9 review

Batman and Hawkman beat Byth, with a little help from a friend. Bruce accompanies Carter as he hauls the shape-changing villain to Thanagar, but on the way they’re attacked by Byth’s men. Can the Winged Wonder and Gotham Guardian withstand photon torpedoes and, worse, Byth’s mocking tongue? And what happens when a brief power outage […]

Emperor Aquaman #2 review

Considered in isolation, this issue’s cover – a blood-spattered Mera – is DC going over the top. Remember what was on a variant for Flashpoint #2, though, and the company seems a model of restraint. Is it only longtime fans like me who don’t think the promise of bloody violence should be used to sell a comic […]

Batgirl #23 review

Batgirl’s wannabe partner the Grey Ghost is dead, killed by the Reavers, a secret society of college students with tech suits granting enhanced abilities. This issue we see more of them than ever – especially in the case of one who generates copies of himself – as they engineer a prison breakout. With other Gotham […]

Marvel Vault: The Defenders #1 review

Now this is a hoot. It’s years ago and Hulk, Dr Strange, Namor and the Silver Surfer are transported to a rural idyll. Or at least, their bodies are. Their minds are somewhere else, replaced by those of four college students, gamers who have collided with the Curse of Yandroth which brings the ever-squabbling Defenders […]

Booster Gold #46 review

The fight with Doomsday in the World of Flashpoint continues, with Booster alone against the rampaging beast. It doesn’t look good, but this isn’t the same Doomsday as in the real timeline; this is a weaker version, a less wily beast. That fact, and Booster’s sheer grit, mean this is a battle he might win. […]

X-Men: Schism #1 review

We know how it ends. With Wolverine and Cyclops heading philosophically opposed X-teams. But how does it begin? That’s what this five-issue mini plans to show us, and it gets off to a pretty good start here. Wolverine is knackered after another day as Marvel’s busiest mutant, but Cyclops has booked him to take young […]

Superman #713 review

So last issue’s scheduled stop in Los Angeles, in which Superman teamed up with Muslim superhero Sharif, was pulled by DC, with one rumour saying it was because Superman rescued a cat from a tree. This issue, Superman rescues a cat from a roof. Make of that what you will. The Grounded storyline trudges towards the […]

Adventure Comics #528 review

It’s Graduation Day for Legion Academy students Nightwind, Power Boy, Lamprey and Crystal Kid but celebrations are muted in some quarters. Most of the younger students are deflated, angry or both at the fact that after years of training, none of the graduates are off to the Legion of Super-Heroes. They’re leaving Montauk Point, outside […]

World of Flashpoint #2 review

When last we met, Traci 13 learned that dad Dr Terry Thirteen and his HIVE colleagues were set to unleash death from space on the Atlanteans and Themyscirans – killing millions of blameless Europeans in the process. This time she quests around the world, guided by the tarot cards of late mentor Madame Xanadu, looking […]

Fear Itself #4 review

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I hate prophecies. They come out of nowhere with their terrible foreboding, add a little cheap drama and scuttle away again, rarely paying off. Here we have Thor revealing that it’s been foretold he will die to slaughter a serpent. That’s after he’s told Nick Fury, […]