Ice Cream Man, Volume 1: Rainbow Sprinkles Review (W. Maxwell Prince, Martin Morazzo)

Satan’s taken many forms in fiction: John Milton’s tragic fallen angel; the popular cartoonish red horned dude with cloven feet; Ned Flanders in that Simpsons Halloween episode; and now… an ice cream seller?! I don’t know exactly why they made that choice, other than some kind of playful juxtaposition with the innocence of childhood, but so it goes with W. Maxwell Prince and Martin Morazzo’s pretty decent horror anthology comic, Ice Cream Man.

The Magic Order #1 Review (Mark Millar, Olivier Coipel)

Gob Bluth is why I can’t take magicians in fiction seriously anymore - in the best possible way, because Arrested Development is too damn funny! But y’know what? Surprisingly, The Magic Order #1 wasn’t abracada-bad. Even more shocking - this was written by Hack Millar! Quite the trick indeed.

Moon Knight: Legacy, Volume 1: Crazy Runs in the Family Review (Max Bemis, Jacen Burrows)

We are the Knights who say… Moon! MOON! MOON!

I’m a big fan of Jacen Burrows who, up til now, I think only drew fucked up comics for small publisher Avatar Press by the likes of Alan Moore, Garth Ennis and Warren Ellis. So I was excited to see him finally making it into the big leagues with Marvel - and I wasn’t disappointed here. Lordy, this is a good-looking comic! Obviously it’s more restrained than his usual Avatar output - no Lovecraftian monsters are raping anyone (yet)! - but it’s no less accomplished and eye-catching. Unfortunately though the art is basically the only thing I really enjoyed about this one.

The Bad Seed by William March Review

Everyone who pisses off creepy 8 year old Rhoda dies – she couldn’t be murdering them. Could she…? DUuuuuuUUUUuuuuuhhhhh… waaaaaaaaaaaauUUGHghhhhhh! Muauarrrhghhhh! Wap wap waaaaaaap. Sorry, just trying to wrangle my brain to review this garbage semi-coherently!

Starman, Volume 1: Sins of the Father Review (James Robinson, Tony Harris)

Some guy was a superhero called Starman once upon a time. Then he got old and one of his sons became Starman. Then that son died and his other son became Starman. But he doesn’t want to be Starman. Uh huh. And this shit gets interesting… when??

For the longest time I’ve heard how Starman is James Robinson’s magnum opus. Don’t believe it - this comic buh-lows!

Doomsday Clock #5: There Is No God Review (Geoff Johns, Gary Frank)

Just when I thought Doomsday Clock couldn’t get more boring here comes issue #5! I could run down the list of characters doing what but it really comes down to them all doing the same thing: looking for other characters. That’s how little happens in this comic.

The Man of Steel #1 Review (Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Sinclair)

After months of hubbub over Brian Bendis’ sudden move to DC after many, many years at Marvel, here we finally are: Bendis’ first full-length DC comic ever, Man of Steel #1. And unfortunately it’s kinda underwhelming.

Batman: Creature of the Night #1 Review (Kurt Busiek, John Paul Leon)

Boston, 1968, and 8 year old Bruce Wainwright, a huge fan of Batman comics, suffers the tragic loss of his parents during a burglary of their house. While Officer Gordon Hoover investigates, Bruce’s great uncle Al(fred) does what he can to help the boy over his trauma. A year passes. If only Batman was real - he’d have brought the criminals to justice by now. And then something decidedly Batman-like descends upon the city to fight crime - a creature of the night. But is it real - does Batman exist in our world too??

Batman: White Knight Review (Sean Gordon Murphy, Matt Hollingsworth)

The Joker takes some magic pills and is no longer “crazy”. In his newly sober state, he decides to help Gotham by ridding it of its greatest scourge: Batman!

Oh boy, White Knight is all kinds of hot garbage! I knew Sean Murphy wasn’t a good writer after reading his laughable book Punk Rock Jesus but I thought he might’ve improved after five years – nuh uh! If anything he’s gotten worse.

Batman, Volume 6: Bride or Burglar Review (Tom King, Mikel Janin)

When a Baaaaat loves a (Cat)woman… !

The wedding’s right around the corner but there’s more adventures to be had first! Batman, Volume 6: Bride or Burglar? collects four stories of differing length. And, as usual, Tom King’s done it again, producing yet another corking Batman book!

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders Review

11 year old Willie Lincoln died in 1862 and his dad, President Abraham Lincoln, was very sad. That’s the premise, “story” of THE ENTIRE BOOK and overall message in one!

I’ve been a fan of George Saunders’ books for a long time so I’m delighted that he’s become famous now with this, his first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo. Though “novel” is both a misnomer and apt descriptor; it’s structured and reads like a play instead of a novel, while the format is a novelty from the traditional structure of a novel.

Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol Review

Be prepared - for a middling childhood memoir comic! Vera Brosgol’s latest book is about her going to a Russian summer camp as a kid and having a bit of a tough time of it. But it’s not all bad and yadda yadda yadda, learning important lessons, etc.

Dark Knights: Metal: The Nightmare Batmen Review (Peter J. Tomasi, Grant Morrison)

Oh thank criminey, it’s over! With this fourth and final book, the nightmarishly tedious event Dark Nights: Metal is complete. And speaking of nightmares, here are the origin stories of The Nightmare Batmen. Any of them good? Nope. They add anything to the overall story? Nope. Total waste of time? Yup! And that’s Dark Nights: Metal!

Love and Rockets: New Stories #5 Review (Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez)

With Love and Rockets, I usually prefer Gilbert’s comics over Jaime’s (though Jaime’s the better artist) but surprisingly I enjoyed Jaime’s comics more in New Stories #5.

Jaime tells the story of clownish teenager Tonta (Spanish for “dumb” - subtle!) who lusts after Eric Lopez, the dreamy singer of a local band. The longest episode was also the best: when Tonta and her much hotter half-sister Vivian get mixed up with an elderly gangster who decides to court VIvi and Tonta has to pretend to be her on the phone. It’s a funny, entertaining story with lots of hepped-up melodrama.