Hawkeye: Freefall Review (Matthew Rosenberg, Otto Schmidt)

Ronin is back and causing strife for the villain of the week, The Hood (a nobody wearing a Doctor Strange-esque cape). People think it’s Hawkeye but it’s not. Or is it…? Who cares…

My Alcoholic Escape from Reality by Kabi Nagata Review

Kabi Nagata’s latest memoir manga, My Alcoholic Escape From Reality, should really be called something like Dealing wIth the Consequences of Alcoholism as her drinking escalates to the point where she’s hospitalised with pancreatitis and fatty liver. The book follows her treatment and long road back to recovering her health.

X of Swords, Volume 1 Review (Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz)

Egyptian-themed villains of the week from some other world, imaginatively named Otherworld, want to destroy our world, or something, for Definitely Not Arbitrary Reasons. Alien tarot cards mean ten X-Men have to get ten magic swords to fight the baddies with. Get ready for monumental boredom as the X-books go from bad to worst!

The Magician by Colm Toibin Review

The Magician tells the life story of Thomas Mann, an early-to-mid 20th century German writer, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his novel The Magic Mountain, and who was later revealed to be gay (or at least bisexual), following the unsealing of his diaries in the late 1990s, several decades after his death.

Batman '89 #1 Review (Sam Hamm, Joe Quinones)

DC revisits the world of the 1989 Batman movie by bringing back its screenwriter, Sam I Am Green Eggs And Hamm, for a new comics series. And this first issue is a really uninspired and boring beginning!

Destroy All Monsters Review (Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips)

A councilman, whose dad was involved with a shady developer shortly before dying in suspicious circumstances, wants Ethan Reckless’ help in bringing down said developer. But Ethan will have to do it without his assistant Anna as she’s decided the private investigation game isn’t her bag anymore. It’s the third Reckless book: Destroy All Interest In The Series!

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino Review

It’s 1969, Hollywood, and Rick Dalton, an aging, washed-up, alcoholic actor, is looking for work - and finds it, playing the villain (he used to play heroes when he was younger), on a new cowboy TV show. Joining Rick on his slide down from the top is his best friend and stuntman stand-in (when Rick needed it), Cliff Booth. Together they navigate a strange path through a changing film industry and encounter up-and-coming actors, uppity agents, and hippies - hippies are everywhere. And some of them, like spurned wannabe rock star Charlie Manson, are gonna take out their frustrations on the unwitting residents of the Hollywood Hills…

The Autumnal Review (Daniel Kraus, Chris Shehan)

After discovering her estranged ma has died, single white trash female Kat Somerville takes her kid Sybil back to her childhood smalltown home, Comfort Notch, “home of Amurica’s prettiest autumn” (the only time I’ve heard that season described so on that side of the pond - usually Muricans calls it “Fall” because it sounds more Biblical I guess), for the funeral and to take up residence in her ma’s house. But things aren’t what they seem in Comfort Notch. Them fancy trees is killer…

Batman: Black and White, Volume 5 Review (Paul Dini, James Tynion IV)

The award-winning Batman: Black and White is back for another limited run of Batman short stories, but, unfortunately, true to its name, it is a very colourless book, both literally and in terms of story quality.

The Collected Toppi, Volume 6: Japan by Sergio Toppi Review

The sixth (of seven) books collecting the works of master Italian illustrator Sergio Toppi contains his Japanese comics, mostly from the 1980s, with one from the ‘70s and one from the ‘00s. They’re an uneven bunch writing/story-wise but Toppi’s art is incredible throughout.

Factory Summers by Guy Delisle Review

Guy Delisle recounts his teenage years working a summer job at a Quebec paper mill in Factory Summers. And… that’s about it?

Superman and The Authority #1 Review (Grant Morrison, Mikel Janin)

In a world where the Justice League has failed, an older Superman who’s losing his powers makes one last attempt at resurrecting the spirit of collective action by putting together another superteam: The Authority! But time is running out as rogue robots loose in the Phantom Zone threaten to break through and destroy our world and a mysterious villain in space plots to kill a weakened Superman, once and for all…

Radiant Black, Volume 1: (Not So) Secret Origin Review (Kyle Higgins, Marcelo Costa)

Broke and feeling like a failure, aspiring young writer Nathan Burnett moves from LA back to his parents in smalltown Illinois to regroup and figure out what he’s doing. And then, on a night out with his snarky best bud, they stumble across a blue glowing mini black hole - and Nathan’s world is suddenly changed. Now he’s a superhero: Radiant Black!

Sensor by Junji Ito Review

A mysterious young woman with golden hair becomes the focus of a cult and a reporter. But what is her connection to the volcanic countryside she can’t seem to escape?