Intermezzo by Sally Rooney Review

Peter and Ivan’s dad has died. The two brothers have always had a rocky relationship but without the buffer of their old duffer between them anymore, they’re gonna be ornery to one another - Irish style!

X-Men: Wolverine/Gambit Review (Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale)

Gambit’s missing Rogue (something to do with a larger X-Men storyline happening around this time) and decides to distract himself by investigating the death of an ex in London - the latest victim of a Jack the Ripper copycat killer with a Wolverine silhouette. Couldn’t be Logan, could it? He does have blades in his hands and has a tendency to go off on one without really knowing what he’s doing. Nahhh. Anyhoo, Remy’s on the case, cher.

Hard Copy by Fien Veldman Review

The elevator pitch that got my attention for this novel was “a woman falls in love with a printer” - not a person working the job of printer, but the actual office machine. Alright, that might be fun. And a similar tagline is on the cover too: “This is a story of girl meets printer.” (Hard Copy - geddit, the innuendo, hoho!) And it is that, but it’s also not much more than that - and that’s not enough for a novel.

Ronin Rising Review (Frank Miller, Philip Tan)

I read Frank Miller’s original Ronin years ago and don’t remember much about it besides it fused Japanese samurai with robots. Which sounds ok and probably was - it was the ‘80s and back when Frank Miller was still capable of ok!

The Deviant, Book One Review (James Tynion IV, Joshua Hixson)

1973, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Before Dahmer, there was The Deviant Killer. Dressed as a mall santa wielding an axe, he killed three people - including two teenage boys - before he was stopped. Randall Olsen, a closeted store manager, was convicted of the killings.

Ultimate Spider-Man, Volume 1: Married With Children Review (Jonathan Hickman, Marco Checchetto)

In Ultimate Invasion, The Maker made it so that the origin stories of superheroes in an alternate world never happened - which means no magic spider ever bit a teenage Peter Parker and this world never had a Spider-Man! Instead, this world’s Peter is a middle-aged photojournalist at the Bugle, married to MJ, a PR exec, with a couple kids. The perfect life - except Peter can’t shake the feeling of dissatisfaction… that he should maybe be doing something else with his life…

Batman, Volume 3: The Joker Year One Review (Chip Zdarsky, Jorge Jimenez)

After boring readers with his tedious recounting of how Bruce Wayne learned the skills in his youth to become Batman (he trained with masters of multiple disciplines around the world - whodathunkit!?) in The Knight, Chip Zdarsky does a truncated version of that same, needless story with The Joker. Yup, unfortunately Zdarsky’s Batman run still isn’t improving in this third volume, The Joker Year One.

Batman/Dylan Dog Review (Roberto Recchioni, Gigi Cavenego)

Batman’s had more than his share of crossovers over the years and at this point DC are scraping the bottom of the barrel with this latest one. That’s right, it’s the crossover nobody asked for, featuring a character most English comics readers will be thinking “...who?”: Dylan Dog.

Cormac McCarthy's The Road: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Manu Larcenet Review

A dying man and his young son walk a blighted landscape littered with the mass dead, dodging roaming cannibals and surviving on whatever they can find, heading south, to the coast. Will they make it there alive - and what is at the end of the road?

Batman: The Knight Review (Chip Zdarsky, Carmine Di Giandomenico)

We’re living in a particularly uncreative era for art where a great deal of what’s being produced by the big companies is an endless raft of unwanted prequels, sequels, spinoffs and remakes rather than imaginative original stories and challenging ideas. So here’s another useless prequel: Batman: The Knight!

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Volume 1 Review (Larry Hama, Chris Mooneyham)

Volume 1 is an interesting way of framing a book that starts with issue #301!

Larry Hama has been writing GI Joe comics on and off for over 40 years. His first run started at Marvel in 1982 and ran until 1994. The series went on hiatus and was picked up by IDW in 2010 with Hama writing again and ran until 2022. This third iteration began at Image/Skybound in conjunction with Robert Kirkman’s Energon Universe endeavour in 2023, so, if the pattern holds and Hama lives until he’s 86 (he’s currently in his mid 70s), there’s another 11 years of Hama/GI Joe comics to follow! Gawd help us…

The Tin Can Society #1 Review (Peter Warren, Francesco Mobili)

Born with spina bifida, John Moore overcame his physical obstacles and grew up to become a brilliant inventor. Among his inventions was a powerful armour that turned him into the superhero Caliburn. His childhood friends watched as their friend amazed the world - until today, when Caliburn was found brutally murdered. Whodunit? His old pal Kasia thinks it was someone in their childhood club known as The Tin Can Society…

Jillian by Halle Butler Review

Mid-20s cynical semi-drunk Megan is obsessed with her co-worker, Jillian, a single mom in her mid-30s, relentlessly upbeat and full of love for the Lord. Obsessed in a negative way because Megan hates Jillian. Megan hates full stop. Except when Jillian’s life starts to go tits up and then Megan l-u-v-s the fallout. But how will Jillian react to unending Ls?

Batman: City of Madness by Christian Ward Review

There suddenly exists a distorted mirror version of Gotham called Gotham Below where everything’s a little bit spookier for no reason. Now it’s affecting the rogues in the real Gotham and Batman Below (who has tentacles coming out of his mouth for no reason) has kidnapped some kid to be his Robin for some reason. Batman and a Talon from the Court of Owls have to portal over to save the day. Yay…

Hunger by Knut Hamsun Review

Hunger is literally the story of the starving artist! An unsuccessful writer (yup, that tired trope of a writer making their main character a writer like them), he’s a hungry boy because he’s got no money for food. He writes, he sometimes gets money, and occasionally something mildly interesting happens, but mostly he staggers around hungry.

Void Rivals, Volume 2: Hunted Across the Wasteland Review (Robert Kirkman, Lorenzo De Felici)

Absolutely fascinating and totally distinct main characters Generic Man Hero Character and Generic Woman Hero Character are on the run for alien treason. Kylo Ren-wannabe Proximus is dispatched to kill them. Couple of Transformers cameo. Do not read Void Rivals while operating heavy machinery!

Boy's Abyss, Volume 6 by Ryo Minenami Review

In this sixth volume of Boy’s Abyss, we learn the backstory of the cult author Esemori (his younger self is on the cover) and his doomed romance with Rei’s mother, Yuko, when they were in high school. Back in the present, Rei’s former friend and sometime bully Gen finds out about his relationship with their teacher Shibasawa while Rei’s morbid death fascination finally leads him to a place he thought he wanted to go - or does he?

Feral, Volume 1: Indoor Cats Review (Tony Fleecs, Trish Forstner)

One day Elsie, Patch and Lord Fluffy Britches were living the good life of pampered, domesticated cats - now they’re locked in cages along with other animals in the back of a truck driving away from their home! What’s going on - and why’re all the humans suddenly afraid of them…?

And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks Review (William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac)

In Manhattan 1944, a Columbia student called Lucien Carr stabbed 32 year old David Kammerer and drowned the body. William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac were friends of Carr’s and both were arrested after the murder as Carr had confessed to them and neither had gone to the police (Kerouac even helped dispose of the murder weapon!).

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid Review

A young Pakistani called Changez tells an unnamed American his life story as they leisurely sit at a restaurant in Lahore. How he once lived the American Dream - until 9/11 changed everything…

Christmas at Stalingrad by Antony Beevor Review

Antony Beevor published what may be the definitive book on the Battle of Stalingrad (modern-day Volgograd) in 1998 - Christmas at Stalingrad is a short extract from that book, focusing on the bitter winter of 1942-43 when the fate of Hitler’s doomed Sixth Army was sealed.

Hulk, Volume 1: Red Hulk Review (Jeph Loeb, Ed McGuinness)

You know how the latest footage of next year’s flopbuster Captain America 4: We Keep Changing the Title But It Definitely Has “World” In It got smeared like you-know-what across our screens and we got treated to that amazing footage of Harry Ford as Red Hulk, and we collectively didn’t go “gross” and immediately try to forget we saw it, but pre-ordered our tickets (and probably popcorn buckets of Red Hulk’s… hmm, head)? Glad we’re on the same page.

Time Under Tension by M. S. Harkness Review

It’s an eventful time in MS Harkness’ life: she’s graduating art school, she’s making comics, she’s having an affair with an MMA fighter, she’s doing a lil sex work on the side to fund it all, she’s studying to become a personal trainer, and her incarcerated molesting father is trying to make “amends”. Tense indeed.

The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura Review

The Woman in the Purple Skirt sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t. When she doesn’t, she has a daily routine where she sits on a park bench and eats a snack. But whether she’s working or not, there’s always someone watching her. And, even though she doesn’t know they exist (yet), that someone really wants to be her friend…

Wonder Woman, Volume 1: Outlaw Review (Tom King, Daniel Sampere)

A rogue Amazon kills some dudes in an American bar causing Congress to pass a law calling for the expulsion of all Amazons from ‘murica, or something. But Wonder Woman doesn’t want to go - which makes her an Outlaw. Idiotic fighting ensues while an absurd villain cackles in the background in this abysmally stupid book.

Peepshow #15 by Joe Matt Review

Joe Matt died last year at the relatively young age of 60. Peepshow #15 is his last comic, published posthumously and completed with the help of his friend and fellow cartoonist Chester Brown, who inked the last four pages.

Mister Miracle by Jack Kirby Review

If Jack Kirby isn’t the patron saint of comics, he’s definitely up there in the pantheon of comics gods. So, as a lifelong comics reader, I felt it important that I at least read one book by “King” Kirby - and I also brung along some suckers friends to join in! Yay, we’re headed back to the Silver Age…

I thought titling the buddy read after Curb was just a silly fun pun but my enthusiasm was unfortunately curbed early on into this one!

Cat + Gamer, Volume 4 by Wataru Nadatani Review

Kozakura is getting on great with her tuxedo kitten Musubi - so great that she decides to mix it up by getting another kitten! Enter: Soboro. The most cute kitten ever. A munchkin cat (the breed has stubby legs which only makes her cuter) - how will Musubi react to another kitten in the house?

Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, or the Children's Crusade Review (Ryan North, Albert Monteys)

We’re all of us different people at different times of our lives - and yet the same person. Like the main character of Slaughterhouse-Five, Billy Pilgrim, who is alternately: a prisoner of war in the closing stages of WW2; a successful optometrist in later life; a self-admitted mental patient in a veteran’s hospital; a philandering husband; a distant father; an exhibit in an alien zoo; a little boy failing to swim.

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates Review

Frank and April Wheeler are married with kids, living in suburbia, on idyllic Revolutionary Road. They have drinks with the neighbours, Frank works in the city, April keeps house - but both are unsatisfied. They plan to start a new life in Paris. Yes, that’ll definitely happen…

Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley Review

Richard and Juliette potter around their remote country house of Starve Acre, mourning the death of their young son, Ewan. But how did Ewan die - and can the mysterious Mrs Forde and the Beacons help them move on?

Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens by David Mitchell Review

Comedian and actor (to distinguish him from the famous novelist of the same name) David Mitchell writes about the kings and queens of England in his history book, Unruly. Covering the murky days of post-Roman occupation, from when various Anglo-Saxon leaders ruled areas of what will become known as England, vikings periodically stopped off for a barney, and a fictional character called Arthur ruled in a fictional place called Camelot, up to Queen Elizabeth I, because then her successor James I becomes both king of England AND Scotland rather than just England. Which makes it seem like Mitchell focused on rulers only of England but quite a few kings had also been kings of Ireland, and sometimes France, in addition to England up to that point. Hmm.

The Penguin, Volume 1: The Prodigal Bird Review (Tom King, Roberto de la Torre)

With Penguin dead and loving it, his kids have filled the power vacuum he left behind in Gotham. Except (shock) Pengy isn’t dead - he’s retired incognito to Metropolis, living the quiet life. Except (shock) he isn’t - the Feds want him back in the game for reasons. Pingu’s gotta assemble a crew and take back Gotham. Just when he thought he was out, yadda yadda wak…

Miracleman: The Silver Age Review (Neil Gaiman, Mark Buckingham)

Miracleman is a comic with a convoluted past. Post-Alan Moore run, Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham took over and got out the first book in a proposed trilogy, The Golden Age, with The Silver and Dark Ages to follow. Except the then-publisher of the title went bankrupt in the mid-90s so only two issues of Silver Age were published up to that point - and there the title languished, unfinished.

Until now.

Sour Grapes by Dan Rhodes Review

A quiet village in the English countryside becomes the unwitting vortex for international espionage, shady corporations’ plans, billionaire’s balloon-popping antics, incel romance… and a literary festival. And all because the lady loves Milk Tray Dan Rhodes has some gripes about the book world!

Cobra Commander, Volume 1: Determined to Rule the World Review (Joshua Williamson, Andrea Milana)

Cobra-La. An underwater snake-themed kingdom weakened from lack of resources. Except its chief scientist has uncovered a powerful new energy source to restore it to its former glory: Energon. That scientist’s name? Cobra Commander. His mission? Find and bring back a buttload of Energon so that Cobra-La can rule the world moo-ha-ha!

Cat + Gamer, Volume 1 by Wataru Nadatani Review

An office worker adopts a stray kitten on a whim - not realising how disruptive her cute new friend will be to her secret gamer double-life! But maybe a little chaos in her highly regimented routine is what’s needed…?

Duke, Volume 1: Knowing is Half the Battle Review (Joshua Williamson, Tom Reilly)

All-American model soldier Duke saw his buddy get squished like a bug by a plane… that transformed into a robot!? Told by his superiors to keep quiet about it, Duke decides to go rogue and seek answers - and revenge - by his lonesome. But shadowy organisations a-plenty have their eyes on Duke and he’s gonna have to shoot his way to the truth!

In My Time of Dying by Sebastian Junger Review

In June 2020 Sebastian Junger nearly died from a massive haemorrhage in his abdomen - and also saw his dead father floating in the void next to him, urging him onto the next plane of existence! But that was just a hallucination brought about by massive blood loss - right?

Eleven Kinds of Loneliness by Richard Yates Review

As blown away as I was with his novel, The Easter Parade, I was disappointed with Richard Yates’ short story collection, Eleven Kinds of Loneliness, which is a themed collection about characters who are isolated in different ways. I didn’t love any of the stories but I appreciated and enjoyed some aspects of five of them.

George Sand: True Genius, True Woman Review (Severine Vidal, Kim Consigny)

George Sand was the pen name of 19th century French novelist/playwright Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, or simply “Aurore” to her nearest and dearest. George Sand: True Genius, True Woman is Severine Vidal and Kim Consigny’s comics biography of the artist and not an especially good one at that - although that might be in part to Sand not being that compelling a subject too.

Rogue Trooper: Blighty Valley Review (Garth Ennis, Patrick Goddard)

If you grew up reading 2000AD like me, Rogue Trooper is one of those iconic characters you’ll never forget with his blue skin, blank eyes and cool gear - except that’s all I think of when I think of the character. Unlike Dredd or Slaine, there’s no Dark Judges or Horned God Saga storyline to point to as a high point in that character’s history. And I think that’s why Rebellion brought in Garth Ennis: to finally give Rogue one of those memorable storylines.

Houses of the Unholy Review (Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips)

Satanic panic gripped America in the 1980s, like a modern-day Salem witch hunt, and suddenly the Devil was everywhere - especially in Natalie Burns’ town where she and a few other kids, later dubbed the “Satanic Six”, accused teachers of heinous acts, claiming Satan was involved, leading to horrible consequences for all concerned.

Ultimate Invasion Review (Jonathan Hickman, Bryan Hitch)

Marvel’s Ultimate universe got blowed up a few years ago with the only survivors making it to the 616-verse being Miles Morales and The Maker (aka evil Reed Richards). We’ll deffo never see the likes of that place agin. Never ever. But waaaaait: The Maker wants to go home - home to the perpetually low-selling universe he originated from? Wope - an entirely “new” one of course that’s conveniently like the Ultimate universe to allow Marvel to do another line of Ultimates-esque, potentially high-selling books in - so Marvel does get to have its cake and eat it too! Ultimate Invasion is the beginning of the totally-not-but-basically-is new Ultimate universe.

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders Review

Old man Saunders likes soaking in gross ponds during inclement weather - and wrote a book about his demented hobby?! Or, y’know, it’s about literary criticism on some Ruskie short story writers or summat.

Transformers, Volume 1: Robots in Disguise by Daniel Warren Johnson Review

Autobots.

Decepticons.

(Duh-duh-duhduh-duuuh)

Fat Cop by Johnny Ryan Review

Murder, rape, necrophilia - all in a day’s work for Fatcop. But disaster strikes as Fatcop gets paired with a straight-shootin’ partner - however will he continue his heinous lifestyle? And what’s going on in the basement of Trader Joe’s!?

My Son the Fanatic by Hanif Kureishi Review

Parvez’s son Ali is behaving strangely: he’s broken up with his English girlfriend, begun giving away his possessions and abandoned his accountancy course. But why? Could it be drugs - or something more insidious…

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin Review

There’s emptiness like the kind of emptiness that’s between Vin Diesel’s ears and then there’s this novel.

(That’s probably not fair on Mr Diesel - there’s gotta be mashed spuds or something in there to make his eyes blink)