The Brave and the Bold #35 review

Michael J Straczynski is a versatile chap. On the one hand, there’s this week’s Superman #701 which is, to say the least, a sober comic. On the other there’s this confection, a team-up between two of DC’s lesser-known teams. I’ve always loved the Legion of Substitute-Heroes, the plucky Legion of Super-Heroes rejects who built their […]

Uncanny X-Men: The Heroic Age #1 review

Just as the X-Men titles descend into the darkness of a vampire storyline, here’s a special in which they step into the light. Three short tales are mixed and matched into a whole that marks the beginning of a new era for the team once dubbed Marvel’s Merry Mutants. It’s a long time since they’ve […]

Superman #701 review

Well, that wasn’t a bad one-issue story. Superman aids the little guy. He diagnoses car trouble and heart problems. He helps a suicidal woman find hope and annoys drug dealers. He cleans a storeroom. I’m down with that. For several years DC would devote a Christmas issue to Superman reading his fan mail and helping […]

JSA All-Stars #8 review

In the beginning, this comic was about a serious bunch of souls who felt they needed to act like a military unit in order to be effective. It was a pretty good read, but never really ignited. This issue, the sparks fly. And it’s nothing to do with a massive villain, or a big death; […]

Steve Rogers: Super Soldier #1 review

Hey, can Marvel call a book Super Soldier? I know Steve’s been a super-soldier since the Forties, but surely DC have the use of ‘super’ copyrighted for cover usage? No. Oh well. Super-Soldier it is, complete with the return of the dullest Captain America logo font ever, an ode to washing-up liquid if ever I […]

The Atom Special #1 review

Ray Palmer’s Ivy Town lab is broken into while he’s tackling a hostage situation in the local library. He reminisces with his old mentor, Professor Hyatt, about his origins – family and superheroic – before a final page shock. Well, it’s a shock if you’ve not read enough recent DC comics to realise that the […]

Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #1 review

It’s been too long. Too long since Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung brought us a tale of the Young Avengers. The best thing to come out of the Avengers Disassembled debacle, the teens starred in a series which proved short-lived more due to Heinberg’s other commitments than sales and reader interest. Over the last few […]

Wonder Woman: Amazon. Hero. Icon review

So Wonder Woman has a new costume. Been there, done that, as this latest coffee table book dedicated to the Amazing Amazon proves. Robert Greenberger’s Wonder Woman: Amazon. Hero. Icon, among other things, shows how the costume has changed since its 1941 debut. Sometimes it’s even been tossed out altogether, during the Mod period, for […]

The Flash #3 review

I’m not at all keen on Francis Manapul’s cover image, which is irrelevant to the issue, murkily executed and saddled with rubbish copy. Inside, things are somewhat happier, as the Reverse-Rogues from the future return to arrest Barry Allen for a crime he hasn’t yet committed and Captain Boomerang finds that his bounce back from […]

Action Comics #890 review

Another year without Superman in Action Comics. Weep. Another Blackest Night tie-in. Wail. What, more Lex Luthor? Gnashing of teeth. Those would be the reservations. The five-star casino hotel would be the way Paul Cornell and Pete Woods execute the beginning of their Lex Luthor series. Having tasted Green Lantern-style power during recent cosmic shenanigans, […]