Avengers: The Initiative 20 review

Writers Dan Slott and Christos Gage start wrapping up the current storylines of a book that’s gotten better with every issue. This comic was, hands down, the finest thing to come out of Civil War and almost justified the waste of paper that was Secret Invasion. Month after month we’ve had intrigue, action, suspense, twisted […]

Superman 683 review

Behind one of Alex Ross’s constipated elderly Superman covers, here’s the penultimate part of New Krypton and events crank up a gear as the JSA, JLA, Starfire and Steel confront Superman over the small matter of Kandorians murdering Earth policemen and generally stomping carelessly around the planet. Superman tries to evoke the Code of Dibs […]

Final Crisis Secret Files 1 review

There are two covers to this issue, one featuring the villain Libra, the other, Wonder Woman. I prefer the Libra one, not just because I like Frank Quitely’s image more than that of Richard Friend and Randy Mayor, but because it shows a character actually featured in the issue. There’s no real reason for Wonder […]

Secret Invasion: Requiem . . .

. . . or, The Skrulls Got Me Killed and All I Got Was This Lousy Cover. Brrr, that really is a weird illo from Khoi Pham. What’s the Wasp known for? Being a tiny superheroine. What do we have here? A composition that makes Janet Van Dyne look huge. And ugly. Really, the woman […]

Wonder Woman 27 review

Superheroes have a code against killing. Everyone knows that. A lesser known understanding is the Code of Dibs. Members of a heroic family can claim a conflict as their own even if regular, non-powered people are threatened and other heroes are willing and able to help out. The rule is amply demonstrated this issue as […]

Hellblazer 250 review

God help ye merry gentlemen, it’s John Constantine’s 250th issue and it’s a Christmas special to boot. As a treat, many former creators have been invited back and first off we have Dave Gibbons and Sean Phillips with Happy New Fucking Year. Once upon a time Vertigo couldn’t use the old expletive; now they can […]

Final Crisis 5

The battle for Earth continues on various fronts, with the forces of Darkseid threatening to underwhelm the human resistance as DC’s biggest event series for years continues. There are some brilliant moments, surprising turns of events, which I won’t spoil; suffice to say that writer Grant Morrison is having a tremendous time playing in DC’s […]

Green Arrow and Black Canary 15

This comic has everything a first issue should have – an origin recap, a look at the main relationships and an action sequence or two. It’s a shame, then, that this isn’t a first issue. It’s number 15 and it seems new writer Andrew Kreisberg hasn’t noticed. Why else spend pages showing us Ollie’s beginnings […]

Terra 3

It’s the penultimate issue of the four-part mini and we learn just who Terra is, and what her relationship is to the two late heroines who went by that name. There’s a fight between our teenage earthmover and zombie master Deathcoil for the life of Geo-Force in which the main battleground seems to be the […]

Marvels: Eye of the Camera 1

Fourteen years ago Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross made their first real impression on the comics industry with Marvels, a look at the early Marvel Universe through the eyes of news photographer Phil Sheldon. Ross’s next big project was Kingdom Come (with Mark Waid). For the last few months Ross has been revisiting the Kingdom, […]