Good Golly Miss Molly, Marvel is shitting the bed with their comics these days! Unfortunately the crap has now spread to its Star Wars line as well. You’d think a Han Solo comic would be a home-run but instead it’s one big yawner with a helluva convoluted plot that’s not worth trying to puzzle out.
Atlantis has built a dry land embassy on the Massachusetts shore to strengthen relations with America. But xenophobic Atlantean terrorists calling themselves the Deluge, as well as Aquaman’s nemesis Black Manta, seek to destroy any attempt at peaceful co-existence. Time for Aquaman and Mera to hit stuff!
Honestly, I don’t think Flash is for me – I simply cannot see what it is that some people love about this character. He runs fast, yellow lightning surrounds him, I fall asleep – it’s the same with every Flash book whoever the writer is! Flash is one of the blandest superheroes ever created and, six decades later, he’s still chasing after a personality!
Freshly dumped K gets signed up to online dating site Lovebug by his rambunctious roommate to lift his spirits. What starts off as a series of disastrous dates leads to an extremely active sex life as K discovers a world of women ready to fool around with him. But where will all of this temptation lead our once-meek protagonist?
The wonderfully titled Insane Clown President reprints Matt Taibbi’s Rolling Stone articles from this past election, starting in August 2015 to the aftermath of that apocalyptic Election Night. The book has its moments but Taibbi isn’t the most original of commentators, more often than not going with the overall media narrative, so, if you followed the election closely like me, this reads more like a summary of the whole thing than a unique insight from the campaign trail.
As one dynamic duo, Tom King and David Finch, take over the main Batman title, another dynamic duo appears in town: Gotham and Gotham Girl, two Superman/Supergirl-types out to help Batman in his war against crime! But this fresh-faced pair are about to discover how dangerous the shadows in the city can be even with the Dark Knight at their side…
Jason Latour, Chris Brunner and Rico Renzi started their four-issue miniseries Loose Ends in 2007, managed to publish three issues and then stopped indefinitely. This year Image will publish the complete run including the previously unpublished fourth and final issue – the creative team finally tying up this… loose end? Ohohoho, I amuse myself…
Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron was arguably the best new character in The Force Awakens. The perfect blend of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, Poe stole every scene he was in and it wasn’t surprising when rumours of a spinoff solo movie started doing the rounds. I’m all in favour of that, Disney, but one thing: please, please, please NEVER hire Charles Soule to write the script, he will torpedo any interest in the character like he did in this crappy comic!
A powerful new Allied weapon enters the closing stages of World War 2: Sledgehammer 44, a robot imbued with supernatural Vril power. But during a mission to retrieve a prisoner and experimental plane, Sledgehammer 44 comes up against a formidable Nazi figure: the Black Flame!
A couple books ago Ms Marvel was engulfed in the then-current Marvel event, Secret Wars, and thankfully came through relatively unscathed; this time around Kamala is once more sucked into the latest event, Civil War II, and it kinda ruins this one unfortunately. Not to say it’s a bad comic but it’s definitely my least favourite volume in the series so far. Good job, Marvel!
An infectious virus is sweeping North America transforming its victims into hungry, flesh-eating cannibals and the small Florida town of Willow is about to experience its first outbreak. Cash and Jolene are young lovers but one morning Jolene disappears - did she run off or was she taken by a cannibal? Or has she been infected…
I used to look forward to Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman books. Amidst the sea of crap that was the New 52, their title was one of the few that was genuinely good. Now, after reading this book, I’m just glad they’ve moved on as Snyder in particular seems burned out of ideas.
Dust to Death is the last Sixth Gun spinoff, comprising two three-issue arcs: Dust to Dust and Valley of Death. The first is good, the other is absolute drivel!
Following Avengers Standoff, Steve Rogers is young and hunky again thanks to the cosmic cube kid Kobik – except Kobik, secretly coerced by the Red Skull, not only made Steve young again but made another major change that fundamentally altered his character. (Hail Hydra.)
Can cities have evil twins? Apparently Atlantis does! A city called Thule is emerging from the shadow realm into our world, destroying Atlantis in the process. So why is Aquaman fighting on Thule’s side??
A creepy drifter gets work at a farm and then strange things coincidentally start happening like the dead coming back to life! Death Follows this chap – but why?
We’ve all played Tetris and enjoyed its blocky goodness (until the pieces start coming down too quickly and that damn long piece won’t appear and it’s game over, man, GAME OVER!!!). Box Brown’s Tetris: The Games People Play tells its origin story and unfortunately it’s not nearly as fun.
So I discovered Rick and Morty in the last year and I’m now hooked on this fantastic show - but it’s only got two frikkin’ seasons! The third one is on the way but I’m jonesing for more, so I checked out this comic, Lil’ Poopy Superstar, and ooh, wee, it’s no substitute.
Days of the Dead is a spinoff/prequel to the main Sixth Gun series and, like most prequels, it’s unnecessary! But it could’ve still been entertaining and unfortunately it wasn’t.
It’s over – the final Chew book is plated at last! So is it a satisfying finale? Eh… sort of.
The chicken conspiracy and the fire writing in the sky is finally revealed – but at a price. Tony endures tragedy and must make a dreadful choice for the future of the planet.
Dark Tales is an anthology of Shirley Jackson’s stories made up of previous collections Come Along With Me, Just An Ordinary Day and Let Me Tell You - there’s no new material here. And, let me tell you, it’s also by far the weakest fiction of Jackson’s I’ve read!
Horror writer Steve Niles confirms that Batman books with supernatural/horror themes are the major suck with Gotham County Line!
In the midst of war and potential alien invasion, President Blades must make a difficult choice on behalf of the human race. Meanwhile the crew of the Clarke join forces with the alien Builders in an attempt to thwart the incoming hostiles.
Darkseid’s dead, the Anti-Monitor has bestowed New Gods powers on the Justice League for no reason, and chaos follows - it’s the final part of The Darkseid War aka Zzz… FART… Huh?!…Zzz...
Jimmy Yee wants to die. He checks into a motel, writes a suicide note and hangs himself. And then wakes up in the motel room still alive! So he decides to slit his wrists with a razor in the bathtub. And then he wakes up in the motel room still alive! The fuck’s going on - is he suddenly immortal?!
By Chew Volume 10 I’d gotten fed up with the series because John Layman was more concerned with spinning his wheels than getting on with the story he’d set up way back when. Now that the series is over, I can finish out the final two volumes without any delays in between. I went into Volume 11: Last Suppers, not expecting much and that’s pretty much what I got!
It’s Rick’s crew vs The Whisperers, the nutters who wear zombie skin and live among the zombie herds! Rick’s guys have guns, swords, horses, and walled communities; The Whisperers have bows and arrows, knives, zombies and live in the woods. Yeah, I loves me a good one-sided fight, really puts you on the edge of your seat, that’s why the Ronda Rousey/Amanda Nunes fight was the best ever! Damn, already broke my resolution to be less sarcastic this year...
As their first year at university ends, the girls prepare for summer. Daisy goes on an archaeological dig and encounters a mean professor, Esther and Ed take a job from Dean Thompson that seems too good to be true (and of course is), and Susan’s still not over McGraw. They reunite for an extremely muddy music festival before moving into their new place ready for the second year - if only their furniture weren’t held together by glue!
Darkseid invaded Earth and the Justice League fought him. Then him and the old gods died and the Justice League became the new gods. Oh, wow, I’m so excited. Let me just check my pulse. Yeah it’s still going - no change.
The Mud King is psychically linked to millions of people under his control but that’s not enough – he really wants Zeb Osidis to become his slave as well because... uh… When Zeb is killed for defying his wishes, his son Adam must seek mercy in the King’s citadel of Zhal or his entire family will be massacred. However his pa’s not the only dissident in the land and a rebellion is stirring against his Royal Muddiness!
This is the last Daredevil story. Daredevil/Matt Murdock is beaten to death on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen by a crazed Bullseye. With his dying breath, Matt whispers a single word: Mapone. Daily Bugle veteran reporter Ben Urich sets out to uncover Daredevil’s desperate final days and reveal the mystery behind Mapone. Matt Murdock is dead. Long live… Daredevil?
I’ve read some Black Panther comics before this but I’m definitely not that familiar with the character and I’m guessing almost 100% of readers coming to this book are gonna be in the same boat. He’s a relatively obscure character who occasionally pops up in ensemble stories with bigger readerships than his own books and that’s mainly where I know him from.
When you’ve read as much Batman as I have you basically look to the new stuff only in hopes of a great Batman story. So I was really surprised to find this overlooked 2004 storyline, Death and the Maidens, to be a hidden gem - and by Greg Rucka no less (I’m not a huge fan)!
Lottie Person is a twentysomething LA fashion blogger who looks beautiful and perfectly put-together on the surface but in secret her allergies turn her into a snotty mess. When she meets a new friend, something terrible happens on their night out sending Lottie into a mental and emotional spiral!
Ever wonder what a day in the life of an Arkham Asylum nurse is like? Me neither but here we have it anyway with Arkham Asylum: Madness. And it’s fucking boring!
In his latest book, Chuck Klosterman takes a look at the present as if it were the distant past, posing some interesting thought experiments: what will people think of the early 21st century in 500 years’ time? Will rock music still be popular and who will be remembered as the epitome of the genre? Will team sports like football still be popular? Who will be remembered as the most significant writer of this time? Has science reached an impasse or are we about to discover a major new bountiful field of research? Will democracy become a distant memory as humanity discovers a better political system?
Ehhh. Paul Pope’s comics are awesome - now - but this anthology of his early stuff from the ‘90s isn’t good.
