A man receives an invoice of millions for the life he’s lived thus far, simply being alive! The man tries to understand his predicament by calling the company charging him and, amidst this Kafkaesque scenario, unexpectedly finds romance at the other end of the line - but what will happen to him if he can’t pay the bill?
Following the death of Martian Manhunter, the Justice League is no more. But when the Green Lantern Corps capture Lobo, whose recent most heinous crime is killing the New Gods, they turn to the scattered League for help in ensuring he makes it to trial. Batman’s plan? Hide out in the ruins of Apokolips…
Spiteful witches, monsters lurking in abandoned towers, homicidal dolls, crazed lighthouse keepers (as if there’s any other kind!), dissatisfied mushroom-sitting gnomes, child-eating ogres, gods, seals, and Inuits - Sergio Toppi wrote and drew a lotta imaginative fantasy-based comics from the late ‘70s to the late ‘90s, and a bunch of ‘em are here in The Collected Toppi, Volume 1: The Enchanted World.
It’s a sweltering August on a French beach campsite and teenage boy Leonard is there with his family for a summer holiday. And then, one night, Leonard watches a boy called Oscar strangle to death on a swing - and doesn’t step in to help. Even stranger, Leonard then decides to bury the body and tell no-one about it! With a mere day left of his holiday before he returns home, will Leonard’s actions be found out or will his secret lie buried along with Oscar?
A kid cutting his schoolteacher’s throat with a knife is just the latest in a string of bizarre incidents in and around 1890s Utah. A theory is floated that it’s due to the water coming from the old Canary Mine in the mountains and Marshal Azrael Holt is dispatched to join a geologist in investigating the alleged source. But the Marshal’s bloody past ain’t done with him jest yet…
Two coppers investigate the death of a superhero in Powers, Volume 1: The Subtitle Explains the Premise!I’ve read quite a bit of Bendis’ work but never his best known earliest comic, Powers - until now. And I wasn’t impressed.
Sonny and Xavier have found shelter from the international assassins after them in a hidden off-the-grid camp in British Columbia - but said assassins aren’t too far behind so they’ll only get a temporary respite… until the next one! And then they gots to run again! And… that’s the series, really. Fight, run, hide, repeat.
Red Hood somehow gets drafted into the latest roster of the Suicide Squad. Their target? Get Joker! Get Joker what - a decent storyline to appear in? It’s been a while - and this book ain’t changing that! Then Joker takes Waller’s boom box that blows up the Squad. What’s gonna happen next? I’m sure most people can wait to never find out, and they would be the smart ones.
Why Read collects some of Will Self’s essays from 2001 to 2021, most containing a literary angle, but some are about random topics like Self’s personal history with Australia, a trip to the haunting modernist ruins of Chernobyl and the ongoing environmental crisis. It’s a decent collection that’s got some stuff I enjoyed, some stuff I didn’t, and some stuff that was a bit of both!
Stray Dogs was one of the best comics of 2021, following a group of dogs slowly realising that their current owner was a serial killer who had killed all of their former owners. It’s a great done-in-one original horror story.
Hummingbird Heart is the underwhelming and seemingly pointless follow-up to Travis Dandro’s excellent 2019 memoir King of King Court. Whereas the first book was about his drug-addicted father and the chaos he brought to Travis’ early life and family, Hummingbird Heart isn’t about anything nearly as compelling or standout.
Set in a dystopian future where a major city is ruled over by thugs, the elderly but legendary hero returns for one last adventure - one last gasp to stand up to evil. Joining him is a young female sidekick, representing the future of justice - can the two of them bring hope to a bleak world? This is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Turtle Knight Returns!
Batman/Catwoman is the coda to Tom King’s Batman run - or, perhaps more accurately, a lengthy and increasingly dull victory lap that amounts to 12 issues (13, if we count the bumper special) of back-patting!
Thomas Muntzer was a 16th century German rabble-rouser who hated the Church and led an uprising against the upper classes, citing Jesus’ teachings for why the rich shouldn’t be, and so on. He knew what was up. What a scam organised religion really is. But it didn’t take and several centuries later Eric Vuillard wrote up the episode in this dinky book, The War of the Poor.
Sora is a closeted high schooler whose secret sexuality is giving him panic attacks - until he meets the kindly older cafe owner, Amamiya, who’s also gay, but out. And so begins their friendship as Sora plucks up the courage to tell his nearest and dearest who he really is - but will he also tell his crush?
I picked up Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen’s Boss Perry White sight-unseen, thinking it was going to be a one-shot follow-up to Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber’s excellent award-winning Jimmy Olsen maxi-series. And it is - partially (Fractionally?). Fraction/Lieber produce a new short story about how Metropolis saves Superman for a change, which is fine, but it’s only 7 pages!
Chris Hedges DOESN’T want you for the army in his latest polemic, The Greatest Evil is War. I’d say now’s a salient time for something like this to come out but, unfortunately, there’s always a war going on somewhere, it’s just that the Russia/Ukraine conflict happens to serve Western political interests and that’s why it’s getting front page news rather than highlighting the genocide in Yemen being enacted by Saudi Arabia (an American ally) or the horrendous things the Israelis (an American ally) are doing to the Palestinians or actual Nazi-level shit the Chinese (an important trading partner to the West) are doing to the Uyghurs, putting them in concentration camps and allegedly sterilising them, aka ethnic cleansing.
For not at all contrived or absurd reasons, Gotham City has been turned into a police state ruled over by The Magistrate, whose militarised private police force are keeping down vigilantes and ordinary people alike. Also in the mix is the mysterious Seer who has managed to hack into Oracle’s network and is using it to spread lies. It’s down to Nightwing and the Bat-fambly to set things right - nobody spies on or beats up the people of Gotham besides them!
Don DeLillo is one of those writers I’m told is a genius. I’ve tried Underworld and White Noise, two of his “best” novels, and failed early on with both. I actually managed to finish this pile of book called Point Omega a decade or so ago and hated it. Maybe age is a factor and now that I’m older and (arguably) wiser I’ll appreciate Donny-boy’s writing? Nahhhh.
Miles’ elderly father Syd Dallas was the artist and co-creator of The Domain, a wildly-popular superhero, whose latest big budget incarnation is set to reap still further riches for Singular Studios’ superhero cinematic universe - but not for the original comic book artist. Then, while attending the film’s premiere, Syd meets his former colleague Jerry Jasper’s assistant who unearths a surprising secret about the real IP owner of The Domain…
A pair of farming brothers, Rowan and Tulip, living on a remote Scottish island, come into a substantial inheritance and decide to use it to seek fame and fortune in London by opening their own restaurant. Alas, things don’t go so smoothly and the restaurant is soon foundering - until a mysterious mushroom growing on the brothers’ new property turns their fortunes around! But what makes it grow - and why only on their grounds?
Despite featuring nothing but big names in comics, there’s only one really decent story out of the five in Swamp Thing: Roots of Terror - not a great ratio for any collection!
A clown is abducting kids in a small town. Sound familiar? And it’s by Stephen King’s son, Joe Hill, no less! Balloons feature and, oh yeah, the main character’s sister also happens to have the Shining.
