Stray Dogs: Dog Days Review (Tony Fleecs, Trish Forstner)

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 by Travis Dandro Review

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.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin Review (Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird)

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 Review (Tom King, Clay Mann)

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!

The War of the Poor by Éric Vuillard Review

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.

Our Colors by by Gengoroh Tagame Review

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?

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen's Boss Perry White #1 Review (Matt Fraction, Steve Lieber)

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!

The Greatest Evil is War by Chris Hedges Review

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.

Nightwing, Volume 2: Fear State Review (Tom Taylor, Robbi Rodriguez)

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!

The Silence by Don DeLillo Review

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.

Public Domain #1 by Chip Zdarsky Review

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…

The Delicacy by James Albon Review

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?

Swamp Thing: Roots of Terror Review (Len Wein, Kelley Jones)

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!

The Black Phone by Joe Hill Review

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.