Batman, Volume 1: Their Dark Designs Review (James Tynion IV, Guillem March)

Batman finds himself under siege from new villains and old as five world-class assassins headed up by Deathstroke arrive to wreak havoc in Gotham, while Riddler, Penguin and Joker ally under the mysterious Designer who has some dark designs for the Dark Knight…

Alien #1 Review (Philip Kennedy Johnson, Salvador Larroca)

Marvel’s latest licence acquisition is the iconic sci-fi horror franchise Alien. In this new “original” story, a dull old geezer, who dreams about an Alien version of the Borg Queen for some reason, is retiring from Weyland-Yutani and trying to reconnect with his terrorist hippie son who’s against corporations. Which, to be fair, he’s right to be given that Weyland-Yutani is the most absurdly one-dimensionally evil corporation ever - they’re STILL fucking around with xenomorphs for no good reason even though it always goes wrong!

Quarantine Comix: A Memoir of Life in Lockdown by Rachael Smith Review

Rachael Smith began documenting her quarantine experience shortly after the first lockdown began in the UK in 2020, and Quarantine Comix is the end result: a collection of one-page black and white diary strips with the occasional full colour splash page thrown in.

Juggernaut: No Stopping Now Review (Fabian Nicieza, Ron Garney)

Like everybody else, I’m not a Juggernaut fan, but I heard that Fabian Nicieza was doing to Juggs what Matt Fraction did for Hawkeye. Could that even be possible? Nope and he didn’t! I’ve never read a standalone Juggy book before but I imagine this is as bad as any of the previous ones (if they exist) have been.

The Boys: Dear Becky Review (Garth Ennis, Russ Braun)

Set ten years after the events of the last book, Hughie and Annie are living a happy, quiet life in Scotland - a life suddenly disrupted by the delivery of Butcher’s notebook. A notebook full of letters to his long-dead wife, Becky - but what secrets does it contain, and who sent it?

The Slanted Gutter by S. Craig Zahler Review

Darren “Task” Tasking aka “the slick” (get used to this nonsense - EVERYONE’S got multiple names in this baby!) is a pimp of a brothel who tricks his sex workers into working for him. But when he recruits Erin Greene, aka “the butterfly”, her complicated life complicates his life and soon shit starts falling right into the gutter - the SLANTED gutter (aka S. Craig Zahler’s latest novel)!

Hellblazer: Rise and Fall Review (Tom Taylor, Darick Robertson)

Members of the wealthy elite are turning up dead in unusual circumstances: nekkid, impaled, and wearing angel wings. Coincidentally the beat for all these deaths is Liverpool, John Constantine’s hometown, and, with the help of a childhood friend we’ve never seen before (and prolly won’t see again) and Lucifer Morningstar, the Hellblazer is on the case to find out wha happen, like.

The Scumbag, Volume 1: Snowblower Indemnity Review (Rick Remender, Lewis LaRosa)

Bargain basement SHIELD/HYDRA battle but SHIELD-lite got an advantage: magic injectable formula! Except the needle gets mixed up with a junkie’s who accidentally ends up injecting himself with it and gets superpowers! Now, Ernie Ray Clementine, a degenerate fuckup, has to use his newfound powers to save the world - but he just wants to get hiiiigh! Har-de-har-har! …

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen? Review (Matt Fraction, Steve Lieber)

Someone wants to kill Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen - but who and why? To find out, Jimmy Olsen must fake his own death and puzzle it out on the sly!

Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio by Derf Backderf Review

“Required reading for all Americans” says the blurb on the cover - pfft, hardly! An anti-war protest ended badly on May 4, 1970, when National Guardsmen opened fire on American university students using live rounds resulting in four dead and several others injured. Yeah, it’s not right and all that, but - what about that makes this “required reading” for anybody?

The Last Resort by Susi Holliday Review

Susi Holliday’s The Last Resort sells itself as a modern version of Agatha Christie’s beloved classic … And Then There Were None, and initially it looks like that’s what this is: buncha strangers rock up to an island after receiving mysterious invites. But that’s about all the two books have in common - The Last Resort is as terrible as Aggie’s novel is superb.

Friend of the Devil Review (Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips)

It’s 1985, Satanic panic is in the Californian air and Ethan Reckless has a new case: find the missing step-sister of a librarian - but is it too late?

Avengers: Disassembled Review (Brian Michael Bendis, David Finch)

Avengers Mansion ‘splodes! Ultrons attack - and then Kree! Heroes die, She-Hulk hulks out, and Tony gets drunk at the UN! Whas goin onnnn…?!

State of the Union: A Marriage in Ten Parts by Nick Hornby Review

One of the things I used to love about Nick Hornby’s writing was the dialogue, which often made me laugh - there’s some great stuff in High Fidelity and About a Boy. So, even though I’m fairly convinced at this point (thanks to last year’s Just Like You) that Hornby’s no longer for me, I thought I’d give State of the Union a shot as it seemed light and possibly even fun. It’s not very fun, or funny, unfortunately - but it is light!

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Volume 1: Secrets and Rumors Review (Tom Taylor, Juann Cabal)

Anachronistic goons from the 1940s with super-strength are hunting a mother and her two kids for reasons - who’s gonna help? Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man!

The Department of Truth, Volume 1: The End of the World Review (James Tynion IV, Martin Simmonds)

We’ve all heard the conspiracy theories: who was really behind the JFK assassation, the moon landings were faked, Flat Earth theory, crisis actors and false flag events, and the Illuminati - the secret group controlling the governments of the world. But what if they were all true? Cole Turner is head-hunted by the secret Department of Truth and enters the shadow war that’s been going on for decades between the Department and another clandestine group called Black Hat - a group whose members include a woman in a red dress with black crosses for eyes and the Devil himself…