Danger Street #1 Review (Tom King, Jorge Fornes)

Danger Street is Tom King’s latest re-something of an obscure DC title which must make money regardless of their esotericism because they just keep a-coming (though any interest generated never seems to last).

The Punisher, Volume 1: The King of Killers, Book One Review (Jason Aaron, Jesus Saiz)

Marvel hasn’t been publishing comics I’m actually interested in reading for some time now though occasionally they’ll hit upon a title that will grab me attention - like Jason Aaron’s return to The Punisher. If you haven’t read it, Aaron’s Punisher MAX run from over ten years ago is superb - easily one of the best Punisher titles there’s ever been and holds up on re-readings too.

Dickens and Prince: A Particular Kind of Genius by Nick Hornby Review

Nick Hornby compares and contrasts the lives and careers of two world-famous artists who greatly inspire him: the Victorian novelist Charles Dickens and the 20th/21st century recording artist Prince, in an attempt to find out what qualities these two remarkable creators possessed that make them stand apart from their peers, in his short but wonderful book, Dickens and Prince: A Particular Kind of Genius.

No. 5, Volume 1 by Taiyo Matsumoto Review

In the distant future, there are a small group of superhero soldiers who go by numbers rather than names. No. 5 kills another number, so all the other numbers decide to hunt down No. 5.

A Town Called Terror, Volume 1 Review (Steve Niles, Szymon Kudranski)

A one-dimensional dickhead living in a Charles Addams/Tim Burton-esque cartoon town literally called Terror and filled with vampires, werewolves, witches and “Franks” (Frankenstein monsters) has kids who grow up to despise him, one of whom leaves. The one who leaves then comes back because the dickhead forces him to, seemingly to help his mother who’s gotten into it with some spirits who took her away or something silly.

Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino Review

The second book by Quentin Tarantino is Cinema Speculation, a collection of nonfiction essays on 13 notable movies from between 1968 and 1981 mixed in with autobiography about his experience with these films. Let’s run through the checklist - how many of these have you seen?

Dark Ages Review (Tom Taylor, Iban Coello)

A gigantic living machine designed to eat black holes has been imprisoned in the centre of Earth (for no reason) and is now awakening (for no reason) which spells the end of the world (no - in a Marvel comic? But those are hardly ever the stakes!). However, in putting a stop to the destruction, Doctor Strange (that bloody magician again!) inadvertently creates a “dark age” wherein all electricity no longer works on the planet. And still, even knowing the danger now lying dormant in the centre of Earth, the madmutant Apocalypse wants that power for his own - superheroes gotta stop him, dystopian(ish) future style!

Lilly and Her Slave by Hans Fallada Review

The six short stories that comprise this volume - Robinson in Prison, The Machinery of Love, Lilly and Her Slave, The Great Love, Pogg, the Coward, and Who Can Be the Judge? - were found in the papers of a psychiatrist whose patient in the mid-1920s was the writer Rudolf Ditzen, the real name of Hans Fallada. Three of them - Robinson, Lilly and Judge - are published here for the first time.

The Silver Coin, Volume 3 Review (Michael Walsh, James Tynion IV)

So… three volumes in and NOW The Silver Coin starts to become a decent title?? That’s weird and quite unexpected. The first book was such garbage that I thought the whole series would be like that but there were some pretty solid stories in this third volume - nothing amazing but some of them were surprisingly entertaining to read.

Novelist As a Vocation by Haruki Murakami Review

Novelist As a Vocation is a collection of 11 nonfiction essays by Haruki Murakami that are part memoir and part writing manual that was published in 2015 and has been translated and published into English for the first time this year. And I’d like to say it’s a cracking read - because I’ve been a Murakami fan for years, I’ve been looking forward to this one in particular for months and I read and loved Stephen King’s On Writing when I first read it years ago, which this book is basically Murakami’s version of - but unfortunately it’s not. Novelist As a Vocation is as dry and uninspiring to read as it is titled.

Upside Dawn by Jason Review

Norwegian cartoonist Jason’s back with a new short comics anthology, Upside Dawn, and continuing the unfortunate trend started last year with the lacklustre Good Night, Hem, it’s also not very good - and he normally does short comics so well!

Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan Review

Claire Keegan’s Walk the Blue Fields is a collection of eight short stories, half of which are pretty darn amazing and half of which aren’t.

Gotham City: Year One #1 Review (Tom King, Phil Hester)

It’s 1961 and Helen Wayne, the baby daughter of Richard and Constance Wayne, has been kidnapped - by Batman?! Samuel “Slam” Bradley is drawn into the case to act as middle-man between the Waynes and the Batman but soon realises he’s in way over his head.