It might start a little slow, but Campbell's story draws together several elements that should be fun as the story continues. The fundamental grounding of the current "Amazons Attack" story might feel a bit silly. Still, Campbell is building something interesting in what should be a fun adventure drama that should deliver an interesting new dynamic to the world of Wonder Woman and the rest of the Amazons if all goes well. 

The background and world-building that are going on in the first issue. Have an incredible density about them. This is going to be kind of a challenge moving forward. The series could be remarkable if the world-building settles down a bit in the issues to come. Yes, it is. Things are whipping across the page very, very quickly. And this does deliver a really impressive "fog of war" sort of an effect on the reader. Still, it will get really old quickly if Daniel doesn't settle the narrative down at least a bit and allow the central drama to dictate the pacing of the action.

The 346th issue of the series feels...exhausted. Everyone is overcome by the relentlessness of it all. There is an overwhelming feeling of fatigue hanging heavily over nearly every panel in the issue. There certainly IS an interesting story in the current issue of Spawn, but it seems to be immersed in a heavy, heavy layer of plot machinery moving around in a massive ensemble of characters who arent really given enough time to really do much of anything to define themselves as individuals. Its a big, amorphous mass of art waiting for the next big fight. 

As bad a movie as it was, Tod Brownings Dracula is starkly iconic and a landmark horror film. Theres something kind of cool about a big two-page title spread that reads Universal Pictures and Skybound Present...Dracula. Tynion and Simmonds manage a first issue that feels darkly cinematic while intensifying the atmosphere that feels that much more powerful than that which was committed to film on the Universal Studios Lot in the Autumn of 1930. 

There might have been some doubt that Wonder Woman was in good hands at the end of the first issue of the current series. That doubt evaporates pretty quickly with the second issue. King and company arent doing anything with Wonder Woman that she hasnt done before, but they manage to make it work in a way that feels new and novel while embracing the traditions of one of the most storied heroes in the history of popular fiction. Wonder Womans been a fugitive before. Shes been up against similar villains in the past. If King and company are going to keep things fresh, theyre going to have to continue to do the kind of job that they have done with the second issue. 

There's no way series like this could live up to its potential or what anyone could expect from it. But it's nice to see them trying, even if it's just an opportunity for DC and company to make some money. There's a great respect for every significant property that is being displayed in the series. But they remain properties for the most part. Not actual characters that feel terribly fleshed-out at the end of the first issue. How much is doubtlessly going to come in time as the series progresses?

Elvira seems to have made a very successful leap from her long-running 1990s indie comics series to a very steady contemporary run with Dynamite Comics. Having survived another series, Elvira will take on the xenophobic mind of a twisted little racist guy who just happened to write some very phenomenal and hugely influential horror as Elvira meets H.P. Lovecraft. The current page-and-panel adventures of Elvira continue to feel like a natural progression for the Mistress of the Dark as she continues a longstanding relationship with the comics page. 

Williams extends certain aspects of Power Girls personality that make her who she is. The inadvertent damage is a recurring theme that makes Power Girl seem relatable. Her desire to go beyond the physical confines of superheroism to try to deal with problems on a more holistic level is one that never really had the opportunity to be nearly as prominent as it should have been in the past. Hopefully, Williams can look into that a bit more closely. Williams writing in the first issue suggests a willingness to explore the title characters semi-disheveled single-girl lifestyle, which should be fun in future issues as well. 

Having firmly established the overall premise of an intrepid investigation into an alien world, Thompson is moving ahead, very clearly, in a very cool way, into a fascinating new direction or an adventure series. The reader learns a little bit more about the characters as they interact with another world that doesn't appear to be dangerous on the surface but is clearly going to be apocalyptically awful. It's a very delicate kind of brilliance that Thompson's working with.

Kings pacing hits the page with clever direction. An early showdown between a powerful Wonder Woman and a comparatively weak Steel features some very smart foreshadowing. Wonder Woman has been around for long enough that she KNOWS shes going to face this guy again many, many times. She tells him as much...which is such a brilliantly self-aware line for Wonder Woman to utter as she defeats the guy. If King can manage more of this kind of cleverness, his run with Diana should be a lot of fun. 

Alpha Flight has been a tricky team to get right. Its not often that the teams delicate balance between politics, emotion, and action has been placed on the page in a way that makes any kind of sense. John Byrne did a brilliant job with the first run on the first series back in the early 1980s. The series has been hit-or-miss since. Thankfully, Brisson and Godlewski are doing a good job of bringing it all to the page. 

Its taken a while for the story of Jackie and Bryce to pick up enough narrative momentum to build into something impressively engaging. By the fourth issue, all of the writers seem to have found a dynamic that works as the story progresses into some pretty poignant territory that explores certain inevitabilities inherent in the pantheon of heroes and villains inhabiting Gotham City.

Thompson has done a good job of slowly adding layers to the first chapter of the story. She gives away just enough added depth and detail with each scene. The mystery of what it is that's going on is slowly revealed until the big final reveal at the end of the issue. At that stage, there are so many more questions that are brought up that make the second issue feel that much more impressive. It's going to be a fun ride with Thompson.

Its inevitable that Zdarski is going to have to bring Matt back into the mask, but Elektra continues to be really, really appealing as the title character in the book. The darkness in her tragic backstory and the loss of love feels like a very, very strong and intense dramatic anchor for all of the violence and action. Its really fun to see it play out the way it does. But then theres that last scene...and a coming video serial with Charlie Cox...so its inevitable that hell be back. With any luck, Zdarski is able to take his time with the brooding former assassin as Daredevil. Shes really cool.

The delicate balance between the supernatural and the social is really, really difficult to maintain. Foxe and company run the risk of leaning a bit more in the direction of the supernatural with the opening issue, but this IS Dark X-Men, so its totally understandable. The challenge moving forward is going to lie in making certain that theres enough of an X-component to the series to keep it grounded in the appeal that has worked so well for these characters over the decades. Its not easy. The past few decades are littered with forgettable X-titles.

DC/RWBY hasn't always hit the page with perfect pacing for human Motion, but overall, the rest of the action in the final installment brings it all to her clothes with a delicate sense of poise. Had Bennett been a little bit more conscientious about making sure that everybody had the right amount of time on the page throughout the DC universe, it would've been just a bit more well-modulated. As it is, though, it's a memorable ending to a strange dramatic fugue in a very strange summer for the DC Universe with all of its many, many crossovers.

Starer, developed a really interesting concept and a fun cast of characters that fit into a potentially interesting premise.

More clever moments of comedy like the one mentioned in the above paragraph might have aided the issue a bit, but Percy brings both heroes to the page in a way thats a lot of fun, even in the issues darkest moments. Team-ups arent often quite this much fun. Unlike some of the best team-ups, Ghost Rider and Wolverine clearly DONT belong together, but its going to be really fun to watch them continue to work together in the course of the brief crossover series that theyre engaging in at Summers end. 

In the second issue of the current series, the artist's big, flat tapestries of massive crowds of people serve a story that involves the oppressive mass of the masses in the service of commerce. The big crowd shots serve a deeper meaning in another satisfyingly simple adventure for one of the longer-lived satirical characters on the fringes of pop cultural fame. Sixty years is a long time to be working in ANY industry. Aragons' style is charming enough to maintain for another sixty years or more, though it's undoubtedly the case that this is likely to be the later period beloved artists' impressively long career. The guy IS 85. It's just cool that he continues to produce stuff with such resilient heart.

Abnett is a remarkably versatile writer. Hes doing some staggeringly intricate work for 2,000 A.D. in his Azimuth series. His work on Wilds End is hauntingly still. And with Groot, hes managed a very contemporary-feeling sort of a vintage space ranger-type story. Theres a definite momentum in a traditional tale of early Mar-Vel that could gain a whole new series if Groot does as well as it should.

Its part of a crossover that started in the Scarlet Witch annual. It feels kind of late for a summer annual crossover, but its fine. Really. Heroes battling heroes. Its not like thats ever been done before, right? There hasnt ever been a crossover series like that, has there? Its fine. Its not...like...memorable or anything like that. Its fine, though. The Iron Man Annual is probably going to look a lot better in the context of the rest of the crossover. Its bound to do so in one way or another.

The opening issue has enough mystery to keep everything rolling into issue, too. However, 1 girl's fantasy world being affected by reality and unforeseen consequences in a coming-of-age story feels way too familiar. Or things could really become very tired and clichd if Parker and Sheridan aren't careful. Rose seems like a really cool little person. And that's a good enough start for what could be a really, really powerful series.

There HAD been rather a lot of action throughout the crossover featuring quite a few characters who all showed a great deal of promise, but none of them feature all that prominently in the final chapter of the crossover, so their presence earlier on feels kind of empty for the most part. Deadman comes across with some degree of power, but there really isnt much on the page aside from him and his big, final tussle with Insomnia.

The concept of the Joker with a day job is fun. What Rosenberg is working with feels appealing, like Brett Easton Ellis' American Psycho in Gotham City, which is much more fun than it SHOULD be. And it would be much more interesting to dive into as a more complete serial. Two issues aren't enough to explore the concept of the kind of death it needs. Rosenberg needs more room to give the premise enough depth. It's a fun survey of elements that could extend into a more extended series. As a two-issue series, however, it falls flat.

Mignola and Lonergan deliver a primal ending to a simple fantasy story that has one foot firmly planted in a more conservative reality somewhere in the nineteenth century. It's a fun fugue of a dream that casts itself across the page and vanishes into nothingness by the end of the final panel. It's too bad that there isn't a bit more to what writer and artist are putting on the page. With just a bit more complex conflict, the victory and tragedy at the chapter's end could have been a bit more powerful.

The first couple of issues of the series could be criticized for lacking a strong central direction. Thats actually a good portion of the point of the series, though. A big part of the central conflict IS Panyas overall lack of direction. Shes looking for deeper meaning in and around the edges of a very simple life. When the fantastic finally DOES strike, it does so in impressive fashion when contrasted against Panyas daily life. Its a nice little world that Roberson and Mitten have begun to explore.

Questions of the difference between hero and villainy continue to be explored with monsters of all sorts. Above all, every character in the series seems really, really interesting in ways that one might not entirely expect. Even Harley is given and interesting and novel new life. This is quite an accomplishment, given all of the different angles that she has been given over the years. Wilson, Takara, and Prianto continue to develop something truly distinct and distinctive that feels quite unlike anything else on the comics rack right now. Very, very impressive stuff that doesnt seem to be slowing down or fading in the least.

The right elements are in place for a really good story. However, there's a lot of potential silliness that seems quite ready to swoop in at nearly every corner of the plot. The drama has real potential. The political end of Val Verde seems to be resting quite clearly in the background of the story. The fictional locale for pop action fiction in films, comics, and video games doesn't often get a very close look, so it'll be interesting to see if DeSouza and company are able to place it a bit more in the foreground of an action thriller that's grounded in political drama.

Yeah. Its okay. Go ahead and do a Spider-Boy series. Really. Itll be...cool or whatever. Its not like hes THAT much younger than the original Peter Parker was when he started up back in the 1960s. What was he...like...a sophomore in high school or something like that? Yeah...so its not like this is going to be all that different, right? Really. Another Spider-title. Itll be...fine. Honestly, its not like...its not like there are any other ideas for a new Marvel series, right?

It's the end of the world. Again. And it's fun to explore just a little bit more. However, it doesn't seem to add a whole lot to questions posed by the end of humanity. There is no whole lot of insight into what's being developed in this story. It's just a really fun end-of-the-world story. And maybe it doesn't need to be any more than that. But one can't help but get the feeling that maybe there is something deeper that could have been developed out of the story if Prince could have found something a bit more inventive.

Overall, Crooks pacing seems to be the central appeal of the series. Its beginning to become apparent over the course of the series that Cooks story might have taken the space of a single issue written by a less inspired writer. The fact that Crook can keep things interesting at a very low metabolism is quite an achievement in and of itself. The fact that theres as much going on as there is, even WITH the slow pacing of the series,...thats its own kind of genius. Precisely where it is that Crooks going with the series might become a bit of a problem over time, but the first two issues of the series are beautiful.

Duggan and company manage a very cleverly-modulated first issue. Its remarkable how much the creative team manages to cram into a single book without making it feel cluttered. Its really only 38 pages or so, but it feels spacious and well-executed enough that they could have actually filled a few issues. Theres a sharp slickness about it all that feels like its. Going in a fresh direction for everyone involved. The themes being covered have been around in X-books for decades, but Duggan and company are giving it fresh life in a new series. 

Its not just Ra who sees great potential in Marlenes heroism. And..yknow...if editors at Marvel are listening...with great potential comes great responsibility. Im ready for Luminary to have her own series. Really. It would be totally cool so long as Shultz wrote it. Its a clever idea and a fun concept, and really...it would make a nice contrast to the adventures of Marc Spector. The contrast between the Sun and the moon would be really interesting on the comics rack within the Marvel Universe. Schultz doesnt have to do much to set Marlene up as a fun hero, though it WOULD be interesting to see what kind of a costume Bill Sienkiewicz might have rendered for her in some parallel universe...

There is some poetry to the way that Guggenheim is framing the former future history, which was not destined to be the presents present on the comics page. The issue opens with a funeral and ends with a wedding. Theres a great deal of potential in a closer look at Claremont and Byrnes Days of Future Past, but Guggenheim is rushing through events in the course of the series. A more satisfying approach might involve a whole subset of issues set in that dark future. Rachel Summers saga during the era would be interesting enough to warrant its own series. 

The anthology takes a quick break from the usual next week for what appears to be an issue of one-shots aimed at more of an all-ages crowd, which should be a weird experiment for the anthology. As it is right now, the series is weighted heavily in a classic cyberpunk format. A brief escape from that might be fun.

With the story reaching its ending, there's a fundamental problem with the series: it needs a fresh perspective. What made the franchise's original films so appealing was that it was a progression of different sub-genres. The first was sci-fi horror. The second was sci-fi action. The third was sci-fi drama. The fourth was franchise sci-fi legacy. Johnson's series needs something significantly new to offer the franchise aside from the comic book format that's been a part of the franchise for a long time. And though the overall design of the series fits the film's production design perfectly, it all feels superficial. 

There are clues in the script that suggest that Batman has only been operating for about a year as the story opens. Clark Kent is only starting in his career as a reporter. Waid envisions a contemporary first meeting between the two legends. It's the opening of a fun two-part story that serves as a surprisingly fresh team-up, given how often the two characters have appeared together over the past century. 

Kalan's Hades has no business being anywhere near as appealing as it is. The overall premise is silly, and the plot's basic nuts-and-bolts are tedious. Still, Kalan and Ranaldi nail the fun of the story with such brilliance that it almost makes the mini-series opening feel much more appealing than anything that Disney managed with the original 1997 film.

Maleficent's appeal continues on the page as it did in live-action in recent memory and cell animation in the late 1950s. Lee's approach to storytelling maintains the ineffable visual of the story in a way that makes for one of the more memorable entries into Dynamite Comics' Disney Villains series.

Dakota comes across as a fun character in an otherwise messy issue. Given the right narrative momentum, she could become something special in her title. Time traveling. She was working with dinosaurs and wearing a ridiculous-looking hat. It all works so well in the center of the panel. Cowboys and dinosaurs could be a lot of fun under the right circumstances...particularly with a dinosaur wrangler like Dakota.

Once again, an anthology issue proves that you only need three colors and three stories to fill a fully satisfying comic between the covers. Harleys personality works well in bite-sized jokes, even if they have no coherent punchline. Shes a lawless person who makes three stories come to life even if she isnt the center of every level in the issue.

Axelrod and Nahuelpan bring Hawkgirl through quite a bit of inner progression in a single issue. They manage to do this without making it feel rushed or forced. She's dealing with inner turmoil, so the character development feels natural. Internal struggle can be tough to bring to the comics page in a way that doesn't feel over-emphasized. Nahuelpan's intricate subtlety in characterization works well between the dialogue to develop something that feels quite vivid. Now that the antagonist entirely views the hero, that character development should start to go in exciting directions.

It's strange to title the comic book as it's been titled. There's no question that it will sell if you have the giant ape on the cover. And indeed, his presence can be felt throughout the issue, even if he's not directly there. It just seems strange to have the title character. Only if you're on the cover, the title page, and then a final splash page. This is not a King Kong comic book. Honestly... that's a good thing, what with the sort of job that Cox, Bianchi, and Devlin are managing.

For all its lack of consistency, the issue has one of the more vital endings of all of the Knight Terrors crossovers so far. Kyle wakes up to a powerful jolt of awareness in bed. Howard and Leiz converge beautifully at the issue's end. Howard has done an outstanding job with Selina in recent months. It's too bad this nightmare couldn't have been more vivid. 

Grayson finds his way out of the nightmare and into something new. Its fun watching Conrad and Cloonan work with him, but the little bits of the extended cast in the periphery feel a bit stronger. The cameo with the Batgirls is excellent fun and a painful reminder that they no longer have their series. Cloonan and Conrad have added a nifty little corner to the Knight Terrors crossover event with a fun pair of issues that help round out one of the more satisfying summer events in recent memory. 

There's real poetry in the ending of Punchline's latest mini-series. She might be flawed for it with any writer, but Lore has done an excellent job of framing a story around Punchline's fears. She comes across as a mighty hero in the end. It's almost inspiring. Interestingly, this is the second time this week in which Batgirl has shown up as a hideous monster. She has yet to have a whole lot of luck in Knight Terrors. Hopefully things turn around for her.

The Knight Terrors crossover event has featured a lot of excellent writing. Williamson puts a solid end to a promising exploration into the darker realm of Supermans dreams. Its not nearly as impressive and intricate as it could have been...and given all of the weird, little mutations of the nightmare that other writers have put other heroes through throughout the summer, its excellent to see a more straight-ahead interpretation of the premise.

Wonder Woman has occasionally appeared on wanted posters in comics for decades back to the early Silver Age and beyond. Campbell and Ferreyra place a Wonder Woman wanted poster in the first few issues of the current comic as a bit of foreshadowing to the Tom King series thats coming next month. Diana may have overcome her inner struggle here, but theres more next month as Amazons become fugitives in the U.S.

Grnbekk has handled the traditional sword-and-sorcery story with a well-thought-out first couple of issues. Sonja versus a priest capable of mind-control...its a very sharp and symbolic conflict that speaks to the heart of who Sonja is. Grnbekk knows exactly what makes Sonja work on a fundamental level.

The issue marches on, and the pacing begins to reveal itself. Two issues in, and it already feels like its organized and articulated well enough to have been running for years. If each Savage Squad mini-series could be its mission, it could become an enjoyable property over many years, with squad members occasionally dying in service to add to the stylish brutality of the series...but thats all in the future. The Squad has a small pack of monsters to deal with next month.

The series continues to find exciting dynamics for a diverse crew but needs finesse. Sutters story feels solidly pointed in a direction that might be interesting as things progress, but even in the second issue, things are only just starting to get moving. Theres still a lot of potential in the series at issues end. Theres a good chance that Sutter and company could manage. 

Howard does an excellent job with a reluctant hero. Carlinis work is breathtaking. Theres no reason they cant work together on an ongoing Raven series. Ravens a difficult character to hit just right, but Howard and Carlini have done an excellent job hitting all the right points in a standalone Raven story. She thinks of herself as a Titan. Itd be interesting to give her a bit more room on her own...get the character out of her comfort zone just a bit more to explore her in greater depth.

The super-powered squad of heroes is almost fully established by the end of the eighth issue of the series. Ram V has been patient enough, rolling out the backstory for every team member. Its been a very practiced and systematic approach to unveiling a team that maximizes the readers connection with every team member. The cleverness of Ram Vs writing isnt in its inventiveness...it lies in his technique and the overall composition of what is rapidly becoming a very satisfying new addition to the DC universe.

The Cull is completely unlike anything else on the comics rack right now. It flawlessly engages the emotions on a level thats kind of difficult to manage with most traditional comics. Thompson approaches the story with a steady and patient hand as the reality of the terror begins to bleed in around the edges of the panel. The richly textured mood of a thoughtfully-rendered ensemble horror story begins to assemble itself in a promising first issue for Thompson and De Iulis. 

Writer David Barnett also delivers a fun opening for a story of a guy named Herne who is looking to save a young girl from the cult that is on her trail. The contemporary fantasy makes for a nice addition to the rest of this weeks offerings in one of the most reliably good sci-fi anthology comics in history. There I.S. some dead weight to this issue, but there is more than enough to carry the momentum from one cover to the other.

Hoyt, Bogani, and Sanchez call the fantastic grandma to a close with a great deal of style and flair. It's all drama, and there could be a better deal of action. However, that doesn't matter. Because it all looks so good while everyone is discussing dramatic matters pertaining to a distinctly non-human culture. Once again, the title character manages to keep herself totally on track the entire issue, and everything feels more emotionally engaging than one might typically expect from a light space opera. It's precisely the type of thing that makes for an outstanding Barbarella story.

With the events of the first part of the story already finished, it'll be interesting to see which direction Thompson takes the arc in. It's pretty romantic stuff. And it has quite an emotional weight to it. There's no question that Thompson is working with effortless and broad strokes. That doesn't make what she's putting on the page any less powerful. Given what happened, the second arc could be drastically different from the first. It will be interesting to see which direction she pushes it in, given that things will be dramatically different after the end of the sixth issue. 

Given how well laid out each issue has been concerning the dramatic impetus of the ensemble, Weisman has a solid idea of how to keep the momentum of the series going. There is a do you love motion towards the end of the second issue, which we all catapult things into the third. Weisman has the first two issues ending in cliffhangers that feel remarkably strong, given how little story has actually made it across the page by the end of the second issue.

As sharp as Chaykin's storytelling is, it's a very quick enjoyment across various elements of this point in comic book history. There isn't a whole lot of insight that's being driven into the narrative. He's just delivering it to the page in a way that seems suitably crazy. Because it was a crazy area. Because there's never been anything other than a crazy era in a very, very strange industry. The business never really made sense. Chaykin knows this, and he's playing with it in a way that makes it feel every bit as insane as it is. Art imitates life imitating art.

In its short run thus far, the new Justice Society is consistently one of the best series that DC has put out in recent memory. We're not tackling anything new. In fact, it's all an echo of an echo of an echo. It's just a really good iteration of themes that have been ricocheting back and forth around DC for a long time. How long these teams have been moving in and around various titles for years, it's kind of impressive that Johns has managed to bring it to the page with an impact that truly seems to fit the concept of the new Golden Age that he's reaching for in his corner of the DC universe.

There's an absolute purity of vision here. It has strength all its own. Simply allow Ivy's nightmare to run its course in a non-complicated and straightforward way without trying to amplify anything. And it becomes its own breathtakingly simple analysis of a very complex and conflicted person. Wilson's long-term progression of Ivy's psyche has been fascinating to watch. She explores that here as well. The true identity of the polo-shirted Batman of Ivy's nightmares is a clever echo of something that Wilson has been echoing around the back corners of her characterization since she started working with the character. 

There aren't very many traditional heroes who could register much intensity simply fighting monsters. Most of the more traditional-looking heroes have slain it so many over the years that it doesn't really feel like much on the page anymore. Ravager has enough of a dark edge about her that she can fight something like Murder Man and come across as being every bit as dangerous and monstrous as the monster itself. The inner journey here is also relatively straightforward, but Brisson and Soy put together a rendering of the story that has just enough momentum to keep it interesting through the final panels. 

It had been a dream. Something that was very pleasant and relaxed. Then things change. Any reader knows that change is coming. King's delivery of the story keeps the inevitable seeming tantalizingly out of the immediacy of the moment until the next splash page hits and the cycle of the series sets in one more time. The entire reality of the horror is only beginning to set in ten issues, and it's breathtaking to watch it all unravel the way it is. Joan has been so painstakingly rendered in tender moments. Now the horror really hits.

Weaver's world moves around on the page with the depth that comes from a whole lot of a story that hasn't made it to the panels. There is a ridge depth to everything that makes it all feel firmly anchored into space. That seems more or less infinite. This is quite an accomplishment, given the fact that the series is only running for 10 issues so far. He's been working on it for a lot longer than that, though. The next issue we explore is a little bit of the prehistory of it all with an issue #0, which explores some of his earlier non-published work with the characters.

Luna and Wood might be moving the story along in a way that feels a little awkward at the outset. However, it feels like things could really ramp up and become more intriguing. Once the story moves out beyond the palace. The nobility of the princess will be contrasted against the rest of the world in which she's adventuring. That's going to add a great deal of momentum to things. The Southeast Asian atmosphere should be a pleasant and fascinating contrast against all of the European-based fantasy adventure stories that dominate the comics rack. 

Indeed, everything seems in place for a compelling and cosmic war drama. It's just assembled on the page in a way that doesn't feel like it can really articulate the dangers and threats and things they are clearly playing with. It's just a lot of Musilli people jumping around and shooting at each other. There isn't enough thought about how things are staged or the beats in the drama to bring across anything terribly coherent. It's not really clear what's happening. Which is too bad because it actually looks kind of fantastic while it happens.

On the whole, it's very sharp and very clever stuff. And powerful forces move around the story in ways that make for some fascinating dynamics. It is a carefully woven story with lots of moving parts that don't seem all that apparent until things wrap up toward the end of the issue. Honestly, it might be one of Tynion's best works in the past couple of years.

With the basic premise of the series, a fully established priest has a long way to go with it. There is an impossibly large amount of complexity in what he is setting up in the first issue. There are a lot of ways that this could go wrong. However, Priest knows precisely what he's doing from the first issue. There isn't much of a margin of error on this sort of thing. You're dealing with two very powerful and prevalent vampires. It's a daunting task for any author.

The series hits its stride in an issue that mixes in a bit more dramatic intrigue than the prior issue did. Johnsons skill at bringing together dramatic dynamics in the foreground serves as a solid foundation for action, even if everything going on in the background is really quite silly. Its an attempt to weld a super soldier-style story into a 007 tux. There might be some way of doing it well, but its at odds with Johnsons style.

Willingham and Manco are working with something far more technically accomplished than what Bakshi managed with the original film. Theres great thematic substance to Willinghams script that also seems a great deal denser than what rested at the heart of the 1983 film. If they meet success in the prequel, maybe Willingham and Manco can do something about an adaptation of the movie as well.

So, the opening issue looks really good. There is clearly a lot of world-building to be done over the course of the series. Remender is taking his time with it. The world rests in the background as the drama of these two families gradually finds its way to the page. So much is seen through the eyes of the two children, even as they are clearly given smaller corners of the narrative at the beginning of a hopefully long and satisfying serial.

One of the oldest running sci-fi comics anthologies continues to look good as it pushes into the second half of its fifth decade in existence. Abnett is a major talent working on a number of different series for a number of different companies, but his work in 2000 A.D. continues to be some of his best. Dredd might seem a bit tired even in his current series, but he maintains a solid presence as a second mascot behind its fictional editor Tharg the Mighty. 

All the cosmic energy burns off of Marvel Manhattan one more time. Everybody gets back to all of those things that they were doing before. Theres kind of a lot of other activity in Marvel Manhattan...and all over the world, for that matter. Theres an impossible city in orbit around the Earth. Interdimensional cityslayers from that city are attacking Manila, Helsinki, Toronto, Sydney, and Vatican City. The Avengers have to go to work on that in their OWN title.

It appears as though the series is going to run through a very comprehensive look at this particular vision of the future. More than just a crime procedural, it is an adventure set in a world that is being presented to audiences in a slightly new and fresh perspective. With any luck, the creative team will do something that will involve a lot more of an intrepid adventure through this particularly dark city of the future as the series progresses.

Gotham City has been in so much peril over the many, many decades its been around. Its kind of hard to do that in a way that feels fresh, original, and genuinely dangerous. The author and company manage to do something that feels more or less precisely where it needs to be in order to bring across a genuine sense of danger. However, the tension seems to be moving just a little bit too quickly for it to really come across as anything more than a very quick and breezy fugue.

The sharp and stylish anthology series continues to find a variety of different appealing angles on action and drama in the DC Universe. Brissons Stormwatch series has been entertaining enough that it could easily fit under its own title with the current creative team. Not everythings brilliant, but it all fits together quite well in a package that feels like it could keep going and even potentially introduce entirely new features with marginal characters that could lead to something bigger down the road. 

There need to be more actual events going on for each character to have more of a presence on the page. This would also allow the threat to develop in a way that is much more engaging. It feels like Bennett tried to do too much in too small a span of time. Its very difficult to manage the kind of ambitious storytelling that Bennett is really trying to do with the series. The story needs to be large enough to fill six issues and interact with enough of the DC Universe to really live up to its title. However, there just isnt enough time for everything. And there isnt enough time spent on any one thing. It feels cluttered.

Envy is next. There are quite a few ways to play out a conflict with the abstract entity of Envy, but only a few of them are actually going to feel all that interesting. Envy can make people do some very, very vicious things, but Envy in and of itself isnt really a very powerful force without someone to work through. Orlando is going to have a hell of a time framing the conflict on the same sort of heroic level that hes managed with the other sins thus far.

Its fun to watch Stark launch himself selflessly into a situation in hopes of saving the day while making things that much more difficult for himself. Stark hasnt always come across in such a heroic light. Duggan and company give Stark some altruistic weight to fling around the page, and he does so in a suitably heroic fashion with moments of genuinely fun action and some very cleverly-rendered emotional complexity. 

There are dark and sinister shadows around the entire issue. Its not very easy to bring authentic horror to the page in a way that sneaks in around the perceptions of a reader. Populating a world full of people having nightmares with dead people and the resurrected heroes of ages past is a very powerful step in the right direction. The reality being presented in the story feels like its own kind of nightmare. All of the heroes are gone, and all thats left is a few shadows of people who arent alive anymore.

The Knight Terrors crossover continues to be very successful. The simple narrative device of throwing everybody into their own nightmares actually manages to find quite a few different ways of being novel. And all of the writers involved are doing a pretty good job of making them feel like something other than clich. Its pretty rare that a big summer crossover like this comes across as being anything other than an attempt to make more money. Theres actually a narrative weight to this particular crossover, and its kind of refreshing.

Once again, this particular summer crossover shows that the peripheral inhabitants of the DC Universe have quite a bit of potential in and of themselves. It seems kind of strange to think that characters that have been around forever still have as much momentum as they do given how often characters like this pop up. Its nice to see Angel in her own series, even if its only going to be for a couple of months.

As interesting as it all is, it doesnt really engage with the deeper themes that its presenting. That being said, this issue really does give a very interesting perspective into the psyche of Jim Gordon. If anything, its nice to see a deeper connection with a character who tends to be a little bit more marginal. So often, the perspective of those in the shadow of super-humans and their enemies goes largely unnoticed. Its fascinating to see this sort of character focused on with this kind of detail. And its a pity that this sort of thing doesnt happen more often.

Running through things as quickly as Howard has it should be interesting to see where the second issue takes her. Shes been all over the place on a cosmic level and here she is inside of her own skull. Howard will pick up from this to issue, miniseries, and or launch Harley into further cosmic adventures in her own title. So shes got a long journey ahead of her. This is an interesting opening to that journey.

Constant and company have managed to work with what could have been a very clich concept and turn it into something that feels genuinely interesting. And maybe all they really needed was to introduce one character and one mirror and suddenly it becomes something new. Hold a mirror up to the old clich and suddenly theres steps to it. All you have to do is look at things in reflection. Its kind of an interesting image. Very iconic.

So much of what the story is doing is delivering a vehicle for the visuals. On the whole, thats not really a bad thing given the fact that it still manages to feel substantially compelling. Its a really solid execution of decent action that feels suitably scary for a horror story. Hazan has some novel ideas underpinning everything, but they dont seem all that prominent in the third issue. 

The series ends with an announcement that Rowell and Genolet will be working together on a new Sensational She-Hulk series. Last month, Rainbow Rowell posted a picture of a row of Sharpies in a range of colors, including green and purple, along with the text, She-Hulk Brainstorming Time. So, one series ends, and the next begins...in a while. As of this writing, there still has been no formal solicitation for the new series, so there could be a bit of a wait. In any case, its been a really, really nice run with Walters and Rowell, and its going to be weird to have both of them MIA for at least 2-3 months. The current She-Hulk has been a very unique title that focuses a lot more on the personal life of the hero than most titles on the rack today. No one else is doing what Rowell has done with Jen.

Jordan is beginning to ramp up towards the climax of this particular series. It's going to be interesting to see the way it all comes together. Once things have settled down into a more intelligible fashion, the ensemble should hit the page with suitable flare. As of right now, it's all kind of a mess. But that's kind of the nature of battle, isn't it?

Clearly, Waid is going somewhere with this. And it probably is a lot more interesting than it seems by the end of the issue. The problem is that with technology being what it is in the DC Universe, it feels kind of unlikely that things would go off the way they do at the end of this issue. It just doesnt feel all that believable. That being said, so much of the basic dynamics of the dramatics that are being delivered to the page actually work quite well. Its just really hard to look at it with fresh eyes without knowing all the history thats gone down with these two people.

And now we know the name of the naked woman. She once was a sweet little girl named Samm. And we also know how she got twisted into doing what shes doing. So, in a sense, the fourth issue is a bit of an origin story for her, but theres still so much more mystery that Tynion hasnt quite delivered on. For the time being, its a fascinating mystery.

As it is largely ancillary to the movie, Brown and company don't need to have any kind of finality about the series. It ends on its way into the end of the movie. And it feels largely incomplete as a result. Given how nauseatingly close Disney animated features always tend to run to the traditional 3-Act Hollywood plot structure, its actually really cool to see a fragment of characterization presented as a complete story. Granted...its only a supplement to the movie that has inspired it, but taken on its own, this particular Disney Villains series feels like a strangely elegant mutation of something that is far more commercially digestible. 

The TV series may have only run for a very brief time back in the 1990s, but there WERE 78 episodes in total. A comic book series would take quite a few issues to make up the kind of ground that the TV series did. Weisman is doing a solid job of laying out everyone in the ensemble and moving them through the motions on the page, but Gargoyles has a pretty large cast of characters, so its going to take a WHILE to get the momentum running on the series. Its nice to see it off to such a solid start, though.

The stinger at the end of the story hits perfectly. Its worth noting that the issue kind of plays out like the final scene of an episode of a one-hour action drama...but it fits a hell of a lot better on the page than it does on the screen. Theres a kind of purity about getting the heroes started without too many bits of subplot and then just...launching them right into a chase that ends at the end of an episode. Its difficult to imagine that working out in any other format than the single issue of a comic book. 

The decision to make Sprout entirely nonverbal might be the single most defining decision in the entire story. So much of the rest of it is a weird construct of different tropes all pasted and plastered and duct-taped together...a bit like something Sprout herself might come up with to detain gun-toting pursuers. The heart of what makes Klik Klik Boom so fun is the fact that there ARE no words coming from Sprout. Theres no first-person narration. There arent any thoughts. Only actions and polaroids. Its such a cleverly distinctive form of characterization for one of the most promising new characters to emerge on the comics rack this year.

As powerful as the visuals continue to feel, it all begins to feel like one big, strange wallpaper as the prison break approaches. The planet Golga is impressive, but there isnt enough variation from panel to panel. It all tends to blur together in a way that can drone a bit in the background visually. There isnt anything visually dynamic going on beyond the vision of this other world...and so it feels like a long, slow slog through the prison. Not exactly dazzling, but it DOES present a very haunting and disturbing image that continues to burrow its way through another issue and the mind of the reader.

Theres such a strong dedication to the overall look and feel of a guy like Newburn who works in Newburns line of business. Its all perfectly casual, which makes the act of reading the comic book feel really slimy and illicit. Its just people doing business that happens to involve murder and the darker side of human endeavor. Things are so strangely dispassionate that its difficult to feel a whole lot of engagement coming from the comic book itself until they get to the motel and shots are fired. Then the issues almost over.

Shalvey takes a hell of a chance with the action on the surface. There really isnt much thats truly engaging about the action aside from its brutality. This IS the end of a major plot arc and the beginning of another, but its got so much depth and weight to it that doesnt appear until issues end. Hes really running a risk of boring the hell out of the type of person who might otherwise love the weird mind-bender of an ending that hammers into the last few pages.

Just give Nyctessa her own series. Really. Shes cool. Van Lentes work is really fun. The overall feel of the action continues to find interesting ways of framing old fantasy. If the team can maintain the weirdness of this particular fantasy world, this particular series could end up being much more than a comic book based on a game. Its been a lot of fun so far.

The first issue engages the reader through a sense of mystery and weirdness. So much of what drives the action from page to page lies in the foundations of that mystery. There is a little bit of intriguing drama with Deb. She seems like a truly interesting character. However, that might not be enough to keep this series feeling novel. A series based in mystery can rather quickly turn out to be dull in full view. The first issues great. Andolfo is going to have to tread carefully in the issues to come. Its a fun story so far, but occult and gore and family drama...could turn unpleasantly silly really, really quickly.

The issue manages some level of fun, but Dylan and Renna arent quite hitting the script or visuals in a way that feels particularly memorable. There are a lot of angles on the story that feel more or less interesting, but theyre not quite hitting the page in a way that feels dynamic enough to really make much of an impression. It would have been very cool if things had been managed in the right way. Dylan and Renna clearly know what theyre doing. Theres little doubt that the series is going to find its footing again in the near future. 

And then everybody turns away from the horror and just tries to deal with it. Its weird. The fantasy doesnt work without the mundane. Hell is other people on the inside of the tenement, but theres a whole different hell lurking outside. The real challenge for Lemire and Sorrentino moving forward is going to lie in maintaining the same kind of dichotomy between realistic emotional drama inside and the supernatural hell that rests beyond.

DL has come a long way in only seven issues. Floress overall pacing feels like it might be moving a bit too quickly, but only because shes gone from San Francisco to Jordan in...seven issues. Theres nothing structurally wrong with Floress pacing over the course of the entire run of the series...but there IS some concern that maybe she might be painting herself into a corner in the long run if things get international as quickly as they have. At this rate, shes going to be fighting aliens on the other side of the galaxy by the end of the year.

Theres SUCH a strange and distinct reality being brought to the page by Craig. It has a language and reality all its own that doesnt quite feel like anything else. The style is really cool in places, but the story is SO derivative of so many different elements in the superhero genre that its kind of difficult to walk away from the substance of the story with any kind of impression at all. Given enough issues, it would be interesting to see where Craig is taking the story, but at the outset, its just kind of a weird visual exercise.

Vampirella knows that Photofit isnt at the top of the criminal food chain. Shes going to have to dive deeper, but her designs on investigation get a bit derailed when the action sets in. The story delivers smartly on some of what makes her such an appealing presence on the page. Abnett has spent some time delivering background details to the reader in the form of top-secret document pages in courier font. Its almost as though hes building a place designed for something more than a single plot. It could work. The 1957 part of the series has some really fun aspects to it.

Xaviers art can feel a little bit stiff in places, but the dialogue is crisp and occasionally quite witty. And theres a slaying scene involving a decapitation towards the end of the book that has got to be one of the more dramatic and graphic deaths on the comic book rack so far this year. The complex emotional dynamic that Xavier nails in that one panel is positively haunting. Belle might feel a bit generically superheroic on the surface, but Franchini and company make her engaging and relatable enough to hold her own regular series.

The deeper themes of Ewings series will have a chance to expand and open up in the issues to come. The initial sketches of a nation in transition seem to hit page and panel a bit unevenly, but Ewing is doing a good job of establishing them with a degree of grace as Black Panther and Beisa get a bit closer in the second issue of the series.

There are ways to bring conversation to the page that serve even the black-and-white format of Blacks Myth. Dave Sim did remarkable things with intrigue and drama on the comic book page back in the 1980s. Its all a matter of fusing the sequential format of the drama to the mystery in a way thats both visually appealing and closely tied to a series of pictures. Cavalcanti hasnt quite worked it out yet, but theres some very powerful drama making it to the page, so its well worth a look.

Its a promising opening to a new series. Rarely is a single issue this balanced between creative personnel. Everyone working on the project seems to have an equal impact on the story. Hill is delivering a script that really is a blueprint for action for someone with a very precise idea of how to deliver it to the page in a way that allows for the colorist to come in and bring it all to life. If every issue is going to be like this, the current incarnation of Blade should be a fun one.

Once again, its apparent that the series isnt really offering anything that hasnt been done countless times before with various X-books over the years. This wouldnt be all that bad if it was executed with any competence of execution. Deadpool is a very cool character. He deserves better than Liefeld. And...he IS getting better than this...with Alyssa Wongs series. The first couple of issues of Liefelds series just arent any good. But, yknow...the color is actually really cool. 

It's a soap opera with panels. And the fact that it just happens to be in a space fantasy setting is what sells it. The political drama would be a lot more potent if it were focused on a little bit more closely. It would also feel like a closer walk with the world of the novels if the deeper philosophical aspects were explored. Once again--the authors are doing a pretty good job of being faithful to Dune...insofar as a casual fan of the series would be to enjoy, in any case. An ideal comic adaptation would tie in a bit more to the visual.

It's remarkably strange how far things have come from the early 1990s. There used to be an arrow where the only real variants were on the covers. Shoot ahead a few decades, and now there are countless variations of nearly every major superhero and villain. Extreme Venomverse has been a weird exploration into this on the verge of the symbiotes 40th anniversary this coming January. Its been a weird journey. Some of it's been fun. Some of it has just been strange.

The series continues to gradually coalesce as the team is gradually drawn together. Its fun to watch Lanzing and Kelly revealing aspects of events that scattered the team. Theres a sense of anticipation and build-up to the big climactic resolution, but it feels like its running the risk of totally falling apart by the time the story reaches its final issue. 

Now that Marc is off into realms beyond life, Pepose and company are going to have to tread pretty lightly. The supernatural location is going to pose some problems, as it might bend Marc in an exclusively supernatural direction thats going to alienate the basic humanity of the character. Moon Knight has always worked best as a balance between street-level crime and the supernatural. If Pepose and company can maintain that, theyll have a hell of a series on their hands.

Honestly...there are probably at least 2-3 more characters than are actually necessary in the ensemble. Theres a core group that seems to be continuing to work well for the team, and the overall run of the series has been pretty good, but theres a big pile-up at the end of the series for the big resolution. It just feels cluttered. The best writers on any mutant team book have always managed to direct the flow of traffic. Anders has done a pretty good job, but things just got congested on the way to the series climax. 

The monster they're facing now is something that challenges them quite a lot. And there's a deep thematic complexity about it. They hunt monsters. They feel like monsters. Now, theyre facing a monster that looks and moves like them, and they wonder just how far the darkness moves in and within them. The thirty-first issue explores some of that around the edges of everything in a way that cleverly increases the overall horror of the story.

Gail Simones The Variants with Jessica Jones was SUCH a good treatment of the multiple variants concept. The trade paperback for that series came out at the end of last April. The multi-Gwen thing comes out a little too close to that particular bit of extreme cleverness. Kim has a solidly well-told story with Gwen, but it lacks enough depth to feel original in light of Simones still very recent work in the same universe.

There have been A LOT of Star Trek comics over the years. Older series never really managed to capture the feel of an episode as well as the contemporary issues. Day of Blood connects to the Next Generation with such strength that it honestly feels kind of weird that the episode ends where it does, only like...22 minutes into the story. It feels like the story should resume at the end of the commercial break and not...like...a couple of weeks from now as the crossover continues in Defiant #6, which is due out on August 2nd.

One should not expect a terribly deep story given the fact that it's just a fusion of two highly marketable properties. There isn't anything terribly revolutionary about the way the action hits the page. It's just kind of fun to see an issue that is so dedicated to action for the sake of action. The issue reaches its end, and it doesn't really feel like there's been a whole lot of emotional engagement. But it's been fun.

If it was handled with just a bit more poise and squishiness, it might feel like an Archie-meets-Buffy sort of thing. There's an undeniable appeal about it that feels like a pleasantly strange mutation of the original TV series. It doesn't quite have the same impact, but it does feel like a natural extension of the beloved franchise that fits everything together quite endearingly on the page. It all ends with a bit more cheesiness than most episodes of the TV show, but its a nice, cuddly close to an adaptation. And its just nice to see an old franchise continue to make its way forward after all these years.

Liesel is going home. And hopefully, she can get things to come together for Julie so that she wont have to be quite so sick. The ongoing adventures of Liesel Van Helsing have been a lot of fun in the recent past. Her sharp resourcefulness and her quick wit would be interesting to explore in a more frequently-appearing series of comics, but its just nice to get a chance to hang out with her on occasion. A more satisfying Grimm universe would also include regular solo appearances of Hellchild and Julie as well. Theyre both quite fun. 

Cuteness often gets mixed with horror for the raw, visceral effect. What is cute is meant to be cozy and cuddly and something that's inherently safe. Give it claws and gore and sudden slashing of razor-sharp teeth, and suddenly it's very disturbing. A child scampering around can be cute. A child scampering around with a bloody butcher knife is horrifying. However, Wilds End is doing something altogether different. The cuteness of the animals cries for the reader's empathy. As a result, the horrifying reality of what's going on is that much more emotionally present for the reader. It's quite an effect.

When a huge amount of story moves glacially towards a massive crossover event, every now and again, an issue feels like it's just connecting out major moments rather than existing as a compelling story in and of itself. Thats the case with X-Men: Red #13. There seems to be a lot of waiting around to make sure that everything is in place before Ewing can move on to more important stuff that's going to be much more consequential than this issue.

Intricate plots are fun. A war with AI could be maddeningly sophisticated given the right angles. Waid and Mora keep the complexity out of the way, allowing for a really fun action climax with well-directed aggression that seems to be moving across the page in the right way. It might be big, dumb action on one level, but its big, dumb action that is very smartly executed with a sharp sense of style. Waid and Mora ARE working with a large group of heroes in the book, and none of them seems to get enough time on the page or nearly enough credit for being as powerful as they are, but then...thats always the problem with a superhero party thats as big as the 17th issue of Batman / Superman: Worlds Finest.

Harley Quinn is hit-or-miss. She can be a lot of fun if shes caught at the right angles. Its really, really difficult to do so, though. Shes such an erratic personality. What works well with one writer might not necessarily work really well with another. The cool thing about an anthology is that if one creative team doesnt necessarily have a fun relationship with the clown girl, theres a good chance that shes going to get along with at least one of the other two. In this issue, that connection is made quite well with Maguire and Zdarsky.

The Knight Terrors crossover event has had a dazzlingly weird variety of different stories that all manage to come from the same heart. Supermans foray into the horror is the first one to really openly embrace the dark absurdity of the situation. Its a very cool approach that makes for a truly enjoyable Superman story.

The cliffhanger ending for the issue does feel a bit forced given what a strong presence Diana had managed throughout so much of the issue. And the inner struggle that the nightmare is bringing out of Diana and Constantine might seem kind of disinteresting on a surface-level, but there IS some interesting insight into the inner psyches of both heroes. Some of the surface level stuff can be pretty haunting in its own right. The lasso turning into barbed wire is a particularly intense visual given how reassuringly safe its been for Diana over the years...even when its been something of a threat to her. 

Its been quite a bit of fun having Chelli and Luke hang out in a tightly-composed team-up with a few other characters. Writers have a tendency to want to work with a whole bunch of different action figures when someone's writing a Star Wars comic book. Wong keeps it close and cozy, and the resulting two-player adventure with optional droids feels remarkably fun. 

The Hales do little to advance the personal growth of Starfire. However, the one-shot in question does continue to explore the general appeal of a character that has never really been given the right venue for her distinct power and personality. The story present in the first issue of this new series is fun, but it's too much of an echo of what's come before it to make much of an impact in and of itself. The concerns of Starfires family are entertaining enough, but theyve been solidly explored before. 

Burnett is allowing the world to expand a little more as he introduces a new character on the other side of the narrative. As cool as the itinerant hero is in the first couple of issues, it's cooler to see a contrasting hero who is every bit as valorous while being much more firmly anchored in a single location. 

There's still time for the series to live up to the potential of the themes being explored. The writing team is certainly circling around at the deeper end of the premise. They just haven't zeroed in on it yet. And that's a little frustrating. Three issues in, and they were still playing around on the surface-level silliness of the premise. There is so much more that could be explored about a pair of kids dealing with the legacy that they were now forced to be a part of. There's a legacy of madness there, and they really could be doing more to integrate and interface with the legend of one of the more popular villains in the history of comic books.

The only problem with Madureiras pacing is that it takes SO LONG for a plot to develop. A typical writer might have chosen to try to cram both #10 and #11 into a single normal-length issue. With Lullabi as the artist, it could have even worked that way, but Madureiras a lot more patient than that, and what results is gorgeous in places. (Red Monika continues to be fairly dazzling even in the presence of a giant monster.) Its kind of difficult to feel an emotional connection with much of whats going on on the page, though the series has been back for two months now and very little has happened. It looks really, really good, though.

It's remarkable how short-lived the original cartoon was. The three-season series was largely a series of one-shot episodes. The patience given to a single issue of the comic book series feels roughly equivalent to a 22-minute episode of the series. So it feels a little bit indulgent to have a multi-part story for the comic book. Really, though...the fact that the series has been off the air for over thirty years makes ANY further exploration of the character feel at least a bit indulgent.

The brutality of the series continues to march on in the midst of some basic history that Kennedy is covering. Its generally a fun ancient war march. Ancient war drama is so often focused on generals and emperors and powerful heroic figures. Its actually kind of cool to see a war drama from ancient Rome that firmly has its boots on the ground. 

The plot of the series thus far has been enjoyable. The actual execution of the plot is lacking in intensity. If it was to be amplified in certain areas, it could really be something remarkable. Edgar Rice Burroughss characters and setting are inherently very appealing. There's clearly something in them to have lasted for as long as they have. Dejah is a really interesting character. Its so very, very difficult to frame her in a way that does justice to her potential. 

Next up: Kaiju. Thatll be fun. (Gamera would be particularly weird in the context of the series.) Regardless of how long the miniseries is going to be, theres little question that itll feel like its ending at least a bit too soon. The character of Elvira has been looking for this kind of opportunity and story for at least a couple of decades, whether she realizes it or not. 

Though hes clearly the center and soul of the issue, the title character serves as more of a sidekick to the guest stars, which tends to be the case with characters that dont speak clear English. Its difficult to maintain a central focus on the title character if theyre not going to allow a deeper perspective on his own articulated thoughts and emotions, but its just really nice to see him hanging out with an old hero from the Silver Age in a story set some time ago on a distant planet.

Although it is the case that the aggression of the 22nd issue of the series is kind of overwhelming, there clearly is a dramatic gravity thats holding it all together. Its just a bit lost in all of the action thats scratched into the page. Somewhere under the weight of all that blood and aggression lies a hell of a lot of emotion thats going to have to wait for issue #23 to really emerge.

Beyond all of the surface-level silliness, there's a really deep somatic thing going on with I Hate Fairyland, which somehow manages to peekaboo out from the end of the strange game of hokey pokey that Young has been playing with Gertie over the course of the past seven issues. Its taken a while to build up momentum, but theres definitely...something going on in the pages of the series.

Beacham really could've turned this into something bigger if there had been the opportunity to do so. The long, protracted journey being taken by Baruch and Fin could have been its own series. Both romantic leads are interesting enough, and the journey theyre taking is distinct enough that theres little question that it could have its own appeal. By issues end, it feels like its over way too soon.

And its all punctuated by the furtive plap of a severed head at the end of an issue...and the ominous return of a guy smoking a cigarette. Honestly...the current storyline feels like it might have been running for a little long. As painstakingly written as the script is, there isnt quite enough holding the drama to the page. If Lewis and company could lean back from the action just a little bit more, the series would improve immeasurably. Lewis CAN write decent drama, and his dialogue doesnt suck. If they slow it down and let the drama creep across the page, it could feel a lot more interesting.

It's nightmarish. It's dystopian. And it's kind of fun. But it lacks the central vision that would make it anything more than a strange curiosity. Bendis is clearly tilting toward a sort of Frank Miller Sin City feel in the direction of something thats at least ostensibly attempting to be a little more political than his work, but it feels kind of like a weak attempt as the series continues.

Its beautiful and fantastically dark in places, but there simply isnt enough holding it together to make it feel like a coherent story. The pursuit is interesting, but so much of what Emory is going through lacks the kind of direction that would make for a compelling trip between two covers of a single comic book.

Itll be interesting to see where the next issue takes the new Catalyst War story arc. It appears as though Clark and Higgins are working the whole...duplicate thing straight through the end of the arc. The next two issues have variant covers that are patterned the same way as issue #25. The parallel heroes concept looks like fun. Whether or not it turns out to be a cheap, insubstantial gimmick will be revealed in the course of the coming months.

Sonjas recent exploits have been hit-or-miss. Shes such an interesting character, but its all too easy to simply fling her at a conflict and allow her to swing her way through it. Or maybe theres a premise for a series that seems to force her into being a supporting character in her own book. Thankfully, this new series looks like its going to be very well-balanced. Grnbekk is one of the best contemporary writers working in the sword-and-sorcery genre for the comic book industry. Her work with Thor and Jane Foster for Marvel had been particularly impressive. Her Red Sonja for Dynamite joins a Carnage that shes going to be doing for Marvel, which should be really interesting too. 

There isnt a whole lot to the character of Robyn. There isnt allowed to be. Shes always being thrown into action, spouting fun lines of dialogue and battling some monster of some sort. There doesnt really need to be a whole lot more to it than that, honestly. Brusha and company put together fun supernatural action that aims for a minimum of innovation in the interest of having fun with some gorgeous heroes. Theres certainly space on the comic book rack for that sort of thing.

Static is drawn ever closer to making decisions that he doesn't want to make in an issue that feels a bit like it's stuck in its own gravity. There is little question that the momentum of the plot is going to pick up as the series progresses, but its going to have a hell of a time doing so with its hero being as tortured as he is right now. As heavy as it is, there's a very profound charisma tied up in the whole story. It's very appealing in its own way.

By the fourth issue, the series has finally met its stride. Ghostbusters has fully met Escape from New York, and the two distinct ends of action are working together quite well. Hopefully, the story can find a more distinct voice as the issues progress. Ahmed is tackling a story that is beginning to look like something new and interesting, but its had to crawl through the muck of a whole lot of world-building to get there. The artwork feels well-rendered. The squad-based drama feels like its running on all cylinders. The series can really start to go places in the fifth issue.

The kinetics of the action and the warmth of the drama are more than engaging enough to launch the series forward into its second issue. Its been a great deal of fun so far...and it almost seems to more or less be a story that picks up right at the end of Dave Stevens original series, which ends up feeling like a smooth transition for anyone who might have only been familiar with Cliff, Bettie, and Peevy from Stevenss original work. Mooneys style feels similar enough to Stevenss that everything seems to fit together remarkably well between Den of Thieves and a series that had originally appeared on the racks of comic shops decades ago.

Everybody in the ensembles just...in a mood. Theyre having a bad day or week or year or...offensive or whatever. Its just...the 25th issue of the series is overcome with such extreme...fatigue. Everyones just a little edgy. Maybe the series gets a chance to sleep until August, when the next issue comes out. Maybe everybodys going to be a little bit better rested by then. Its a good series. Really. Issue #25...just caught everyone on a bad month, is all.

Walker treads a very fine line between comedy and horror, and its a lot of fun to watch him do it. Only a couple of issues in, Victory seems like a profoundly complex person. Its already been a long and very personal emotional journey with Victory, and the adventure hasnt even really gotten started yet. 

Its too bad that Ram Vs fragmented narrative is so intentionally shattered. Theres a fine line between telling a compelling mystery and just...throwing a whole bunch of narrative shards at the reader and letting them work it out. There DOES seem to be enough holding everything together to keep a readers interest, but Ram V and company are really taking a chance that they might not have the ability to pull it all together before the end of the series. 

The series could go in a whole bunch of different directions. The hint at bigger mysteries in future issues may lie in the fact that the kid is surprised when Scrapper talks. When shes returned, her parents assure her that dogs cant talk. So theres something special about Scrapper and Tank...and all those weird, little talking pigeons and rats that are lurking about.

Wells is mixing comedy and serious drama in a way that makes it kind of difficult to interface with the center of the story. A few pages before the end of the issue, its just...silly. It all kind of falls apart by the end, but there ARE some really good moments splattered throughout the issue that almost reach a kind of brilliance with some very witty dialogue by Wells. 

As delicately as the creative team on the book moves the action along, that final scene is a little more intense than much of the rest of the book. They were wise to slowly lead into it. However, that sudden burst of energy at the end of the issue feels like a bit of a jarring contrast to the more intimate,  intricate, and emotionally dramatic nuances that lead to that final scene. The delicate balance between earthbound drama and the world of magic and fantasy needs to be well-defined if the series is going to live up to its potential.

There isnt much in Wilsons bigger narrative machinery that feels terribly new. Something about the way that shes casting together the two races feels elegant in its simplicity. All too often, sword-and-sorcery fantasy overloads the page with too many unnecessary details. Wilson knows exactly how much the page will hold and doesnt try to cram it with even one element more than is totally necessary to deliver the story. Its a very patient approach for a very promising new series. 

The reality of what Howard and Lupe are going to be dealing with is quite firmly established in the issue-ending splash page. Its an ending that you just know is coming based on the events of the opening of the issue, but it packs a hell of an impact once the visual is finally delivered at issues end. The overall feel of it is pretty remarkable given the fact that it all moves as slowly and moodily as it does. With the conflict firmly in view, Crooks challenge is going to be a matter of finding new ways to present a very familiar cryptid. 

Lim had done a lot of work over the years. Its possible that some of his most captivating work was with Jim Starlin on The Thanos Quest. That series had an intensity to it that came from far more than the mere physical conflict that Marz is bringing to the page here. If there was a bit more of an emotional component to the conflict, this would be a powerful rebirth and not just a weird...reanimation of old, dead narrative matter.  

Once its over and the final panel crosses the final page, you kind of have to reach for a tissue. Its all been a lot of fun and everything, but its time to clean up and get on with the process of figuring out just what the hell it was all about. There was a lot of suffering and slime and slashing and such. And its not like there isnt SOME appeal to the deeper drama, but theres just way too much mucous on the page in a conflict between Carnage and Venom. Honestly...the upcoming Carnage #1 might be a lot of fun if the title character is given something less...slimy to contrast against. 

The issue wraps up with a pretty exhaustive interview with industry legend Walt Simonson. Hes always good in an interview, but this one in particular feels like a perfect companion to this issue. Its kind of a fun retrospective on the man and his work with Thor that turns the one-shot into something more than a simple What If?

The restlessness of the opening issue of the series really could have been cut entirely. So much of the introduction to Hannah and her life leading into her trip to Antarctica could have appeared as flashbacks. That sort of set-up might have resulted in a little more immediacy in the first issue, but its difficult to find any real fault with starting Hannahs story a bit earlier until it becomes apparent exactly where Birks is taking it in the issues to come. 

Andolfo and Blengino have established a story that seems familiar enough without feeling tedious. Given the universal recognition of Bettie, there might be a tendency to want to take the character in a direction that would be more weird and abstract simply for the sake of contrasting against how iconic a figure she is. Andolfo and Blengino have found a perfect spot for Bettie in a surprisingly enjoyable shallow mystery. Theyre also managing to engage the reader in the peripheral characters. The charm of the current series might well run out in a few issues, but by then, the story will most assuredly have come to a close. Everything in the series is so well-balanced.

Williamson has an excellent rhythm for the series. The seventh issue brings the ensemble to a very crucial moment. Its a conflict that has been brewing for quite some time. Its a bit strange to see it flow out the way that it does in the seventh issue. One might have expected something more dynamic in the showdown. Its just a conversation before the food arrives at a restaurant. Williamson, Bressan, and Lucas make the pre-dinner conversation quite engrossing.

Clark and Higgins show a masterful sense of rhythm with respect to the overall plot structure of the one-shot story. Dramatic moments hang in the air and on the page just long enough to make an impression before the next major plot point glides into view. Its a remarkably delicate and intricate drama that continues to establish Deep Cuts as one of the best new series of 2023.

Fishflies inhabits a chillingly poetic narrative space. Psychological horror twists into something far more supernatural and deeply unsettling as the story progresses. Above it all, Lemire does a strikingly good job of bringing across the uniquely strange relationship between Franny and the dying man. Their interaction exists mostly in silences and unspoken words. And there is SUCH a profound sense of stillness about the horror right up until that final page. Lemire takes such a hard turn in that final panel of the first issue...it will be interesting to see where he takes it in the final five issues. 

Weisman keeps the politics clean and simple as the issue opens...only allowing just as many different moving elements in the story as can comfortably fit between two covers. Given this attention to pacing and overall narrative rhythm, theres very little doubt that Dark Ages is going to be a well-designed series. Its not envisioning a whole new reality for the Gargoyles...only building on the back of the rich history of the series to bring something entertaining to the page that appears to be off to a good start.

The clever mixing of environmental and supernatural horror should be fun to explore in future issues of the series, but it will remain to be seen whether or not the series can get enough distance from the central ensemble to get a good look at the world that theyre exploring. The ensemble of characters IS interesting in places, but it lacks the kind of compelling dynamic that would serve the center of the series alone without something more being added in. As the central conflict begins to set in at the end of the issue, there DOES appear to be a chance that the plot will begin to balance out. 

The story seems cleverly crafted on so many levels. The art feels like...a rough thumbnail outline for the real art that Niimura isnt ever going to deliver. And though the action and attitude feel really, really fun, the visuals are simply too empty to engage the reader in what really SHOULD be a much more immersive dramatic story. Its a fun story, and the minimalism of Niimuras art style IS a part of that fun, but it doesnt suit the deeper drama of the story at all. 

Layman and Jok are working with a very large and diverse ensemble of characters who seem to be well-articulated and equally well-rendered on the page. The challenge moving forward is going to lie in maintaining the right balance of weird comic energy and deeper emotional drama while still keeping a firm grasp on each of the characters and everyone involved in the action. Judging from the first couple of issues, the overall integrity of the series is in good hands with Layman and Jok.

The crossover enters its third week with a sharp little dive into the background of the big villain and a bit of a closer look at a character who is between series of his own. The crossover has had its ups and downs throughout the first two weeks, but its honestly been one of the better DC crossovers of the past couple of years. Some of DCs better writers have worked on it, and theyve all been pretty well integrated in the course of the series. There are still a couple of weeks to go, but the crossover has been a lot of fun going into the third week.

Once the pattern is established, things settle down. And they shouldn't be settling down. Because they need to be tightening up with respect to the drama. It is a lot more fun watching the pattern of the issue establish itself than it is actually watching it play out to its cliffhanger ending. This is really too bad, as the story started out with such a strong and offbeat tone. The surrealism had a powerful connection to the crossover. Porter had been doing such a good job early on. Dual-track psychological action/horror is very difficult and tricky stuff to manage.

Mary may be more or less oblivious about the situation that shes in, but she remains an admirably heroic figure throughout the issue, which ends up being really, really impressive in its own right. She knows that shes caught in a dream, but she refuses to acknowledge it until she has to. There are things to be done regardless of the situation with the world around her. Its an interestingly skewed look at superheroism that ends up being really, really fascinating on closer inspection, even though...ostensibly, its just another superhero horror story. 

Barrys heroism comes across quite vividly. Paknadel even allows him a chance to completely mess with the speed force if it will allow him to save the life of Wally. There are some truly touching moments in an issue based on a dreamlike reality that rests beyond the tapestry of DCs tattered continuity to speak to something a bit more real and emotionally resonant. Its impressive stuff. 

The Knight Terrors one-shots have been a pleasant surprise thus far. Not all of them have been brilliant, but there have been quite a few sparkling moments here and there. Its not often that Zatanna is given her own title. Zatanna-centric stories have been rather hit-or-miss in the past. Its nice to see it done so well. Not everyone gets the character right, but Culver has a clever handle on what makes her appealing. A Culver-written Zatanna series would be great fun.

The idea of an aging Tarzan returning to the jungle to set some things straight is actually a really intriguing idea. It's just too bad that Jurgenss plot structure is so weighted down in unnecessary details. Had Jurgens focused just a bit more on the psyche of the hero and not what was going on in the world around him, it might have been a more fascinating psychological journey with the character. As it is, theres nothing specifically wrong with the story. Its just not very interesting. 

Honestly, with things being the way they are, it wouldn't be that difficult to edit the entire six-issue series down into a much more pleasantly comical three-issue miniseries. While there is a hell of a lot of filler, there are quite a few moments scattered throughout the series that are actually pretty funny. This last issue, though? It's probably the best.

To a degree, it feels like Larsen is simply hanging out with a group of people that he truly loves. One does not work on a single project for 30 years straight without gaining a very deep love for everyone involved, and Larsen is clearly having fun with it, but he doesnt exactly need to work terribly hard to sell a series thats been running for as long as Savage Dragon. So its really no problem for him to spend an entire issue focusing exclusively on the decision to move across the continent. On one level, Savage Dragon is a perfectly social and casual experience. On another level, its actually kind of weird to see an entire issue focused so narrowly on...a move.

The series is off and running in a positive direction. The Savages seem pretty cool. And it IS fun to hang out with them for at least one issue. Venditti and McKinney move things across the page with a stylish sense of fun that might continue to find an appeal in the issues to come if they can continue to track the right kind of poetry and march it across the page at the right angles. 

Orlando has been giving Wanda a respectably enjoyable tour of the Marvel Universe through the pages of her own book. It was only a matter of time before Wanda ended up visiting family. Shes going to be getting a visit from a more notable member of her family for issue #7, which should be great fun given Orlandos distinct writing style. Its been fun so far. Hopefully, Orlando can keep it interesting on all levels the way he does with issue #6.

Kudranski is clearly moving towards...something. Theres a clear gravity thats pulling Danny towards the darkness, which may yet come to dominate a hopefully heroic coming-of-age tale. Though it seems to be trying a little too hard to search for deeper meaning, its unquestionably interesting from cover to cover as the series reaches the close of its third issue. Its like Dannys mother says: Danny IS someone very special. It will remain to be seen whether or not his story can truly live up to his potential. There are quite a few directions that Kudranski could take in future issues. Given the cliched nature of stories about creativity, very few of the potential paths ahead seem potentially satisfying. 

Its so very, very difficult to completely start a new superhero universe. Ahmed and Levens make it look strikingly easy by choosing a simple conceptual framework for the action that seems strikingly familiar without enslaving itself completely to echoes and shadows of what has come before. The overall feel of it is actually really impressive. Its a fun concept for action and drama that plays competently across the page. If Ahmed and Levens can maintain their momentum, Starsigns could really turn into something.

Kubert is a delightful storyteller. Her unique take on the sword-and-sorcery fantasy genre maintains a focus on the kind of reader-character relationship that could lead to fierce fan loyalty if the series is given enough time to gain momentum into the future. Her perspective and art style are distinctive enough that its not difficult to imagine her rolling with Shayde for years to come. So much of her style and pacing seems reminiscent of Pinis Elfquest. It all feels so warm and comfortable with just the right amount of intrepid adventure.

The casual brutality at the end of the issue is a bit intense. Its understandable, though, given the fact that its the end of the fourth issue of a six-issue mini-series. Porter has to end Act Two with a big hit to the hero that will be completely resolved by the end of Act Three in issue #6. Theres a death in this issue, though, that hits like a hammer and almost seems to come out of nowhere. Porter didnt have to do that, but the effect is actually really impressive. Lindsay does such a brilliant job of framing that death. Its a powerful moment that serves as one of the more powerful single events in the series thus far.

The gorgeous visuals of the issue deeply engage with and amplify the weirdness of Culvers script. Superhero teams are notoriously filled with neurotics, psychotics, and general dysfunction. Theyre almost never given the opportunity to get in-panel psychiatric treatment. Its fascinating to watch it happen. As weird as it is, the same overall plot COULD be brought to the page by a different writer, and it would be a completely different story. The same could be said of the art and the coloring. The weird fusion of Culver, Lafuente, and Reber has made for one of the more unique experiences on the mainstream comics rack over the course of the past few months. Its weird to think that the series is over in just three months. It feels like its just getting started. 

The action hits the issue in the first couple of pages and doesnt really let up for the entire length of the book. Theres a kind of purity in that. Moraless adjustment to the armor Stark has made for him is a fun addition to a story that features Stark doing something a bit more challenging than he is often called upon to do. Everyone seems to be reaching just a bit further than they normally would, which ends up being a lot of fun.

People have tried to pit Daredevil against more traditional devils, but outside of Ann Nocentis brilliant run with the character back in the 1990s, its never worked all that well. Combine the supernatural with a relatively nuanced new ally, and the new series is encountering a bit of a challenge right away. Things should settle down once the series has built up enough narrative momentum to really get going. For now, though...its still faltering in a mix of different elements that arent exactly common to Daredevil.

Wong and company are putting Wade Wilson through the hell...of a perfectly normal life situation with friends. Things are wrong, and...inevitably, there IS the sort of life that typically inhabits a superhero comic book, but its nice to see Wong hang the possibility of that in front of Deadpool long enough for him to get a taste of the life he doesnt have. Its a nice little shot at hell for a guy who has a life thats anything but normal.

Due to its sheer simplicity and engaging sense of action, Maleficent #3 might be one of the single most memorable comics to come out so far this year. Lee isnt trying to do anything too complicated. Shes just telling a simple story of a simple conflict that isnt at all unlike a million others that play out in nature every single day on the planet. Its fun to see her bring it onto the comics page without substantial embellishment. Any other artist/writer would be tempted to add something in the way of additional story. The purity of Lees vision is captivating. 

Its dense, complex fun that has to do with devils and demons and things. Compare the emotional complexity of this with a longer-running series like Spawn, and it feels positively brilliant by comparison. Spawn is also dealing with very direct conflicts between angels and demons, and it isnt anywhere NEAR as engaging as what Priest is bringing to the page in Draculina. 

Given enough time, Weisman will have to give Demona a little more dramatic depth. Shes clearly a very formidable antagonist, but she IS somewhere near the center of the conflict, and shes going to need to show something of a sophisticated motivation behind what shes doing for the Here In Manhattan story to have a solid weight as it reaches its climax.

Perhaps the biggest issue is the lack of definition in the entire concept of a Spirit of Corruption. What exactly it is that it's going for is kind of hard to define. And it's just sort of a blanket evil. Might as well be something a lot more abstract than that. Because the concept of corruption kind of messes with the entire idea of the demonic activity that's going on. It just clashes with it in a way that makes it a little bit more murky than it should be. Overall, however, the basic premise of this kind of pursuit of the supernatural is actually really interesting. Given the right momentum, Percy could come up with a better approach.

The title character really needs to have a bit more of a presence on the page. There are a couple of moments when Kong is quite prominent, but there isnt nearly enough of a focus on him in the second issue. Hes this ominous monster in the background that defines so much of whats going on in the foreground...but only thematically. Cox and company DO seem to be setting up some kind of a showdown between the shipwrecked Germans and the title character, but theyre definitely taking their time with it. This is perfectly okay so long as theres a satisfying pay-off coming at the end of the series.

Nightmares of characters have been done quite a lot before, but that doesnt mean that they cant be made interesting again. With any luck, the writers involved with the crossover might turn the idea in fun new directions. Full issues exploring nightmares for all DC heroes and villains sounds like a lot of fun. However, it's been done quite a lot before, and it's going to be difficult finding new life in the premise. 

One might have hoped for something with a little more novelty to it. However, it's very difficult to find anything in the mind of Bruce Wayne that would be truly new. He's been so many different things in so many different ways for the better part of the last 100 years. It would be really hard to find anything new in his personality. However, there is a solidly entertaining story that comes in through the script and the visuals that make it worth reading. It may not be a terribly original idea, but it is a solidly-executed version of it. 

The Knight Terrors crossover event has been an interesting exercise in its opening week. Everything has hit the page with a particularly memorable impact. Haun finds some level of intensity in what he's putting to the page. So much of it seems to rest on the surface, but Haun is subtly placing deeper horrors in and around the edges of everything, which makes the Black Adam entry into the crossover well worth a look.

The Knight Terrors crossover has had mixed results from a variety of different writers in its opening week. Wilson's vision of the darkness is very impressive. She manages to avoid clichs and show an antiheros worst nightmare of pleasant happiness. She never quite manages to dive into a biting satire on the nature of the traditional American dream. She doesn't need to. This is really more of a story about Ivy and her interior life. Its sharp. Its clever.

This is probably the most straight-ahead adaptation of the horror genre in the whole crossover thus far. Knight Terrors: Ravager feels like one of the more sophisticated treatments of the nightmare realm concept. Rose comes across as a very formidable warrior against darkness. The deadly skill that she wields is that much more potent as the story explores the darkness that's not only in her own past but in her own mind. Theres a powerful contrast in that which feels overwhelmingly cool on more than one level.

The idea is solid. Had it been executed just a little bit better, it could've really turned into something that was kind of genius. Honestly, the idea is clever enough that it could turn into its own sitcom. There's no questioning that. However, the overall execution in this particular comic book lacks the kind of wit and satire that would elevate it beyond a simple execution of a silly idea. There IS a darkness to it that gradually fades in around the edges of everything, but it lacks the depth necessary for something more interesting. 

There are quite a few different ways to tell a story featuring the Predator. The most prominent forms of the story involve basic human survival in the face of this vicious alien intelligence. There have been a few other approaches over the years. Brisson seems to be embracing a style of Predator storytelling that has been around since the very first film. There are so many different ways a story like this could be told. And while it is nice to see tradition upheld, it would be really preferable to see this inhuman predatory intelligence in some other light.

Rowells relations with Jen have been pretty fun so far. The weird convolutions in her life are given plenty of time and space to develop. Rowell may be giving some pretty heavy foreshadowing to major events throughout her time with Jen, but its still pretty satisfying seeing things play out when they finally hit page and panel. To her credit, Rowell manages to hammer in that inevitability with a bit of style and intrigue. Still--it WOULD be kind of nice to get a general feel of the unpredictability of the chaos in Jens life every once in a while.

The genre-of-the-month format remains fresh in the second issue. It would be interesting to see Kim and Guara try something new...some sort of less traditional and cliched genre in an upcoming issue or two. As it is, its been fun watching Kim and Guara lay the groundwork for the series in a couple of well-established genres, but there is so much more that could be explored in the format that Kim has delivered in the first couple of issues of the series. Next up: Cindy engages in a little bit of swashbuckling as a pirate on the high seas. 

There IS room in the Marvel pantheon for another high-powered character. (Honestly, theres always room for that. There are endless epic, Earth-shaking conflicts for heroes to deal with.) The issue, though, is that Ghost Light is lost in a kind of nebulous story that isnt adequately fusing the cosmic with the personal and psychological. The worst element in the entire series may be the main title character. Silver Surfer himself doesnt seem all that interesting in the fifth issue of the series, which is too bad. Hes been a part of some remarkable plots in the past.

Two issues in, and Nocenti seems to be making a strong case for an ongoing series....whether she wants to or not. Storm is one of the more fascinating characters in the X-Men, and Nocenti is carefully adding to the background of Ororo in an era just before Storms powerful and magnetic Lifedeath solo issues of The Uncanny X-Men. X-Men writer Chris Claremont did such a good job of juggling a massive ensemble for that series. Its nice to see a bit of a close-up on a single character from that era. Nocentis chosen the perfect character for that close-up. 

Grnbekk once again shows that shes one of the better writers to work with Thor and the Asgardians for Marvel. An impressively entertaining story comes to a close that seems to match the overall feel and execution of ancient Norse tales. Thor continues to be an integral part of the magical end of the Marvel Universe in another deeply satisfying adventure. Loki makes an impressive supporting appearance. Grnbekk does such a good job with Hela that the goddess of the underworld comes across as someone who would be fun in her own title. 

Its a remarkably beautiful retro comic that seems to be circulating around the edges of some really interesting themes. Marz seems content to let the ideas slowly develop and play out as the mini-series punches its way with great power through conflicts that feel like a natural progression from some of the more clever aspects of the Infinity Gauntlet era.

Wells works with all of the standard Spidey tropes in slightly new ways. Its not terribly insightful or groundbreaking, but it DOES take a certain amount of vision and talent to put together all of those familiar elements that Spidey has been dealing with over the decades in a way that doesnt feel excessively repetitious. The overall feel of the new Doc Ock is interesting...but lacks anything beyond the physical that would make him seem any more interesting than he has been in the past.

As had been the case with Landys All-Out Avengers, the writer is clearly planning things in a way that could really turn into something later on. There are clearly plans that involve bigger themes and a more extensive plot. The fourth issue in the current series doesnt feel like it has the kind of momentum it would need to turn out as satisfying as All-Out Avengers. With Landys preceding Avengers mini-series, there was an intriguing plot construction that seemed to be leading somewhere. With Beyond, Landy seems to be a bit more directionless than he was with the previous series.

The story ends in an uneasy kind of peace. The final showdown with the killer features fire, rain, and a whole lot of bullets. Its caught somewhere in between the real and the unreal. Its not over-the-top darkness like Frank Millers Hard Boiled, but its scarcely the kind of complex realism that is so very, very rare in police procedural dramas. Its just...kind of a fun trip into a Silence of the Lambs sort of drama that never quite goes far enough in any direction to register much of an impression.

The actual center of the issues conflict may not be terribly interesting, but Sam Wilson is, in and of himself, more than enough to carry the bulk of the book straight through. Theres a strong and palpable sense of inner conflict that could easily be the center of everything. That psychological connection between character and reader is often a lot more difficult to achieve than a fully engaging action conflict, so Onyebuchi is doing a solidly respectable job with the title.

Given Chaykins keen precision, its actually kind of surprising that hes only made it as far as the early 1980s in the first four issues of the current series. Chaykin slices through history with an impressively deft understanding of storytelling. There are so many different stories from the history of the comics industry for Chaykin to roll through, and it would be all too easy to get lost in details. Chaykin knows to keep it simple: get into the heart of an exchange, get out of it, and get on to the next scene. Brilliant pacing.

Starks leaves it open for another series. Considering what Trudy and Gabby have already been through, theres a lot of potential in future issues if Starks is willing to return to their adventures. Its been a fun journey so far, and it would be nice to see what Starks would come up with to further explore the psyches, psychologies, and personalities of a couple of survivors like Trudy and Gabby.

The dark background of Junk Rabbit finally has a complex conflict in the foreground to keep it moving. All of the concern about authorities looking for the revolutionary has been really engaging and everything, but its been done before so many times in the pages of so many comic books. Its nice to see something a bit more fresh. Ashleen is one of the more interesting characters to come out of the series thus far. Its nice to see her enhance the originality of the series, if only for a few pages. 

Given how sad the issue is, its remarkable how truly captivating it is. Aside from the predictable ending, theres only one major plot development. Somehow, King and company manage to keep Joans emotional journey so totally pure and uncluttered that it grabs hold of the reader and doesnt let go until the end. And of course theres more. Joan advances into older age, which should take the series up through the mid-to-late 1960s and beyond. Its been an interesting journey thus far, but itll be interesting to see where King and company take it as the series continues its descent with Joan.

Monstress continues to be a thing of terrible beauty that is drawn straight out of another realm in ways that so many other comics are only attempting. The darkness is overwhelming, and the heroism of the central characters rests on a towering level as they confront so much on so many levels...many of them scarcely able to be articulated in any kind of coherent language. Its like nothing else being done in any other format.

Higgins and Buccellato engage the comic book format in a way that almost keeps it from completely embracing it. So much of the drama would feel that much more at home on stage or screen. The story isnt quite serving the comics medium by focusing as much as it does on mysteries that take place largely off-page. That being said, there are aspects of the story that could only work in comic book format, so there definitely IS enough to keep the story firmly planted on page and panel. It is a compelling story...it just seems to be a story thats looking for a different format. 

Lemire is incredibly patient with the story. Theres clearly A LOT going on in Phantom Road that doesnt meet the surface of the panel, but hes allowing it to slowly reveal itself over time. And hes letting it happen without any kind of narration. The story will get where its going in time. Just let the readers enjoy the disturbingly slow weirdness of it all. Its a good time.

Spawn continues to echo through politics and personal vendettas and things that go way back and echo throughout the lengthy history of the series and all of its subsidiary titles. Its not actually bad...its just a relentless, boring nightmare of the same types of conflicts over and over and over again without a whole lot of new elements being thrown in. So its...its just a lot. And theres a war between Heaven and Hell. So thats...yknow...thats cool. 

The penultimate chapter ends at the beginning of...an assault on a fortress. Its a pretty traditional action trope that is a variation of something that has been done in major movies in the Star Wars franchise on more than one occasion. Its an okay way to end a series. The lack of anything truly new in the course of the series really begins to drag it down in the seventh issue. 

Not everything is resolved. Itll be interesting to see where Guggenheim takes Torrent next. As big and sweeping as the first five issues have been, theres quite a lot of room to explore things further moving forward into another story arc. Hes finished a story. Its been good. Where he goes with it from here will determine whether Torrent has a future beyond that first story.

Ewings work is a progression of what has been done by others over the years, going all the way back to Louise Simonsons creation of Apocalypse back in the late 1980s. The elements that Ewing is exploring are almost present enough in the one-shot to stand alone as a compelling pseudo-mythological story...but not quite.

Prince and Simmonds have put something together that has a kind of purity rarely granted to an end of any kind on the comics page. There have been a lot of ends of the world in a lot of different comics, but theyve always been marred by the trivialities that come from ongoing series or the restless introduction of every new beginning. Prince and Simmonds open their series on the end with a simple, open embrace of the end of the world. Its kinda cool.

In theory, it should be a lot of fun to watch a bunch of different artists and writers take the weird playground of Youngs Fairyland and just...run with it in any direction they want. Its all too easy to go for something WAY too simple, though...and thats pretty much what the first issue of the anthology series has turned out to be. Gerts a fun character. Fairylands a fun place. With any luck, theres good stuff coming from this mini-series in the months to come.

As awkward, crude, and ugly as the art is, it DOES make an impressive impact on the page. Kanes style is distinct. Anyone looking at Weird Work from across the room would know that its done by Kane. Theres power in the uniqueness thats undeniable. Theres a definite appeal to the series once a readers eyes get used to it, but with the story being as familiar as it is, there isnt a whole lot of incentive for the reader to get acquainted with Kanes art.

The DC Animated Universe continues to grow and develop. Burnett and Dini have been working in it forever. Their consistency in writing continues to serve the comic book incarnation of a Batman animated series that has been around for over three decades. Its an impressive accomplishment that Burnett and Dini still manage to find new inspiration for fresh stories after all these years. Granted---it IS all variations on and echoes of what has come before, but its still a lot of fun.

Not everything in the issue works perfectly. Though Rodrguezs art on the Superman story is undeniably cool, Cantwells story seems to need longer chapters to build up the narrative momentum that it needs to engage the reader. The mix of different stories within the anthology should bring forth a sense of experimentation. The best moments within the second issue of Brave and the Bold work really well on their own without having to connect up with a larger narrative structure. 

There is so much potential for exploring Cameron's powers on every level, from individual people to neighborhoods to aspects of infrastructure. In the first couple of issues of the series, Pak is exploring City Boys power in more of a traditional superhero story. Cameron is different enough from other superheroes that it will take a while to really settle into the kind of story he has the potential for. Hopefully, people stick around long enough for the premise to embrace its originality.

The temptation to work with as large an ensemble as possible seems to have won out over the desire to work with something a bit more cleverly satirical and nuanced than the traditional episode of the series. Its a series that will have had a great deal of appeal for adults who would have grown up with the cartoon. It wouldnt be that difficult to point a series at them that also appeals to their kids, but that would have required a bit more conceptual work on the part of the creative team.

Bennett and company have a couple of issues left to go in the series. The overall arc of the plot has had a nice composition to it. Having been in several different locations, the series returns to Gotham City next month before wrapping up in August. It's been a fun and well-structured journey through the DC Universe with a couple of characters who aren't from around here. Though it's difficult to imagine them becoming an integral part of the DC Universe, it's nice of them to visit every now and then. 2021s crossover with the Justice League was fun. Its going to be nice to watch this years crossover wrap up at the end of summer. 

As bad as it is, Gotham Citys been through worse. Ram V is putting it through the usual kind of torture. Its fun to watch him go to work on it with a strange mix of horror, superhero conflict, and straight-ahead psychodrama. Theres nothing in the story that is specifically new in any practical way, but its pretty rare for a writer to dive this far into the psyche of Batman and still make it seem like its something at least vaguely new. Batmans been torn apart and reassembled so many times by so many authors that its truly rare to see Ram V manage something as interesting as Detective Comics #1073.

Loughridges color palette feels very sylvan. The light and dark greens and the Earth tones give the issue a feeling of calm. There's enough shadow in and around the dialogue that it never runs the risk of feeling garishly overpowered. All too often, fantasy doesn't work the mundane effectively enough to make the magic seem wondrous. Willingham and company are doing a great job of modulating the fantasy.

Green Arrow is regaining some footing in the course of things. Its nice to see that happen, but Williamsons series seems far too connected to Green Arrows earlier exploits to feel like its truly exploring new territory with the character. Throwing the character into a strange relationship with time and space is a nice step in the right direction, but Williamson needs to find something a bit more engaging if the premise is going to live up to its potential.

Harley has been all over the place in the past few years. Howard might be having fun with throwing Harley into some weird journey through various different worlds, but its really, really difficult to do that with Harley in a way that feels fresh or new. Shes had some very big conflicts that have hit the page in a number of different ways, and Howard simply isnt putting anything in front of Harley that readers havent already seen before. This compromises the wild irreverence of Harleys energy. As the issue opens, it DOES feel like anything could happen. Its just a little hard to engage with the energy as a reader at this stage.

Nottingham has kind of an interesting and ugly gravity about it. Bectons vision would be a lot more interesting if there was just a bit more elegance about the brutality. The visual poetry that could accompany Bectons darkness gets lost in a million little lines that are tattooed into page and panel. Its all very, very aggressive in every way imaginable...from the dialogue to the plot to every last line of rendering. That aggression doesnt come across nearly as badass as it should. It just feels restless and angry. 

The limited color format is kind of...in the way of a decent anthology. Its not the colorists fault, though. The format needs to be very carefully approached for it to mean anything at all. Otherwise, it just sort of feels...incomplete. Either make it black and white or full-color. Or have a compelling reason for adding the red into the black-and-white.

The Sason Temple is a fun idea for a location, and some of what Wong populates it with IS interesting, but like so much else with the Star Wars franchise, it fails to live up to its potential. Aphra continues to be a really interesting and appealing character, but there simply isnt a strong enough story to really make use of her potential. Its fun to see Aphra hanging out with Luke, but the connection should be more potent. There should be MUCH more of a reason for the two characters to meet. The Sason Temple isnt quite the right reason for the crossover.

The lightsaber duel that serves as part of the big final issue is as competently executed as the rest of the series. Its been a fun journey, but its populated by a bunch of characters who dont necessarily seem very memorable. Sav is a pretty fun character to hang out with, but there isnt a whole lot of background on the young Jedi. Only just enough to empathize with her on a surface level as the series draws to a generally enjoyable end.

When they were working on the series, Older and company would not have been anticipating the kind of tremendous lag between issues that they ended up facing. If they did anticipate a long wait for the current issue, they couldnt have come up with a better return to the story than the rush of Issue #6. It almost feels like they planned for the lag. The story glides well from opening cliffhanger to closing cliffhanger with ease and poise. 

The Gimmick is kind of easy to overlook at first glance. On the surface, its a silly little wrestling comedy. The intricate relations between all of the characters in the ensemble are deeply engaging. As are the weird angles at which the characters meet. The fact that Shane is now in the company of the daughter of his recent inadvertent victim is...darkly comic and emotionally engaging at the same time. Starer has a gift for finding the right situations to amplify comedy and drama at the same time.

The first issue actually does a really good job of introducing Christopher, which is all thats really called for in a simple dramatic series. Christopher Chaos makes a firm impact in his first appearance on the comics page. Now that hes done so, its time to start lowering in the deeper conflicts that will come to define him in the issues to come.

Dano is taking a chance with an issue like The Riddler #5. Its nice to see alternative narrative techniques used in something that has a strong connection to the mainstream. Theres a poetry to it thats a lot of fun to follow. It doesnt necessarily provide the kind of insight into the character that might make for a more meaningful journey. Theres something about the Riddlers obsession with trivia, details, and raw information that would seem to be a lot more interesting if it was explored with the kind of clinical depth that would reveal a bit more of Edwards condition. A more straight-ahead look at the writings and ramblings of Edward might not have the visual punch that Subic is bringing to the page, but MANY more details would be needed to truly dive into the psyche of a trivia-based maniac. 

The series makes its way to a smart and largely satisfying ending that completes a very strong overall plot structure by Fitzmartin. While her dialogue is also quite strong, it DOES lack a bit of personality to illuminate the darkness. Fitzmartins adventure is more than engaging enough to overcome a slight lack of personality on the part of the dialogue. And Cizmesijas art has a straightforward elegance that makes for a really appealing visual presentation of an enjoyable story. The screenwriter/comic book writer has had a warm relationship with Robin in the recent past. Its nice to see that continue.

For all its flaws, its still nice to see Bond on the comics page. The story is simple and breezy. Bond appears suitably Bond-like on the page. Everything seems more or less as it should. One would hope for more of a flashy stylishness in a contemporary Bond comic, though. Aside from a smartphone, theres very little on the page that would have felt out of place during any other era in the history of the franchise. This should feel timeless. In the hands of the creative team assembled for the issue...it just feels a bit old.

Suzi Nine is fun in a second round in 2000 A.D. Writer Dan Abnett has like...three different things going on with three different indie publishers that are all DRASTICALLY different. Azimuth is strikingly different from Abnetts Vampirella for Dynamite, which is completely different from the Wilds End hes doing for BOOM! Studios. As for 2000 A.D.--this week, its another mix of action and weirdness that leans a little too heavily into familiar territory with a couple of notable exceptions. Azimuth alone is well worth picking up this weeks issue.

Tynions interest in the Hill abduction case is kind of a fun trip back to an old mystery, but the author isnt really adding anything to the story that makes the journey worth making. Still--Oemings art and the coolly distinctive visual feel of the issue make it graphically appealing in a way that old accounts of alien abduction so rarely are. 

Elvira has appeared in A LOT of comics over the course of the past couple of decades. Some artists get her poise and personality. Some dont. The creative team of Avallone, Baal, and Pereyra might be some of the better people to work with the character over the years. The second issue of the current series is silly and weird, but its also perfectly lined up with the love of cinema thats made the character such an enduring pop cultural icon. The next issue will make for an interesting contrast. Elvira seems to have popped up inside An American Werewolf in London (1981). Early 1980s horror? That should be fun...

Ellen and Syd just defeated Gluttony. Next month, its on to Greed. THAT is something thats been echoing around the margins of the series since the first issue. Its going to be one heck of a dragon to try to slay as the stakes get just a little bit higher in a series thats proving to be a lot cooler than the basic premise has any right to be. The third issue was a solid mix of jarring action and deep psychodrama. If Orlando and company can hold onto it, the series could be one of the better debuts for 2023. 

The interplay between capitalism and the realm of the devils is a fun one to explore. Soule casts a pretty stern glance into the overlay between money and misery without going into a great amount of detail. It might be interesting to see him explore that in a bit more depth, but he has other places to be with the Shrouded College, and the next series is about vampires in space. So...yknow...Im sure there will be depth there as its connected to Hell to Pay, but hes clearly going to be exploring other themes with the next series.

The actual action in the issue feels pretty flat on the page, but this particular Hellboy isnt a story that thrives in action. The drama of the mystery is what drives the entire appeal of the story, and it does so in a way that capably carries the story from one cover to the other with a few moments of genuine interest along the way. The atmosphere is maintained throughout the issue in a way that makes for a memorable trip to India with Hellboy.

Chicago. Mexico. Now, Afghanistan. In a couple of months, theyll be in Cairo. Pires and White are moving the Indigo Children all over the place. There IS a central sense of momentum about the series thus far, but too much of an adherence to the journey across the globe will make all those different exotic locations seem pretty mundane in the world of the series as people with powers continue to be tracked down. Its been an interesting journey so far. Pires and White need to find some central momentum to the plot if the series is going to live up to its potential.

And maybe thats the whole point. When seen from the right perspective, the gorgeous battles between toned figures in brightly-colored costumes that hit the page with such grace and form...really arent all that different than a couple of middle-aged guys beating the hell out of each other at the Community Center. Aggression is aggression, and conflict is conflict. Writers and artists can be as realistic as they want, but on some level, all action is aggression and violence, and...its all ugly. All of it. That doesnt mean that its particularly interesting on the comics page, though. 

As of the sixth issue, Maskerade is a more satisfying emotional journey than most superhuman medical horror manages. The basic premise might not have a whole lot to offer in the way of anything new, but the emotional end of the characters comes across quite vividly in a darkly enjoyable lead-up to the big climactic conclusion that will hit at the end of the summer. Smith and McElfresh are heading towards what feels very much like a climax in the next issue. The writers have done a good job of delivering the story so far. Itll be interesting to see how the pacing develops for the last two issues of the series. 

Space exploration fantasy has been around for well over half a century. Its been really, really successful as well. Any sub-genre of pop fiction with the kind of success of Star Trek and Babylon 5 and so on has also garnered a whole bunch of spoofery and parody. Over the decades, there have been many, many space adventure comedies. Space Job is one of those. It kind of feels like its been an attempt to fuse Star Trek with The Office. Or maybe not. I dont know. 

Jordan and Claretti advance Rai and Tomas into further mysteries through a couple of big action sequences. Montis colors bring art and script together in a complete package that has a very distinct presence on the page. Rai and Tomas continue to be interesting characters moving through the end of the third issue of the series. The plot doesnt have a whole lot going for it beyond the central adventure, but it doesnt really need anything more. Its a fun ride. Any attempt at turning it into anything more than it is would encumber the fun, breezy action.

The actual design of Grants suit and the visual component of his powers are cool enough. At the heart of the comic, Grant actually seems like a pretty fun idea for a character. It kind of feels like the story for the comic book might have been cobbled together from Frank Millers Daredevil and Jim Shooters Star Brand and classic superhero teens like Spider-Man, but I mean...it all fits together well enough that Craigs really got something interesting in Starstorm. It just feels weird watching the thing take its first couple of shambling steps in its first couple of issues.

Theres real potential in the premise behind the Scorched. The overall premise echoes some admirable reflections of Chris Claremont and H.P. Lovecraft and a few other really influential writers. The visuals have an undeniable power that shoots across the page. All of the right elements are clearly there. They just arent on the page in a way that feels at all interesting. 

At first glance, it would seem like Abnett is trying to cram too much backstory into the politics of the story. Its only the second issue, and there really is a HELL of a lot of posing and posturing and scheming and planning that doesnt quite fit the comic book format, as its all delivered in dialogue. Abnett is careful to use all of that dialogue as background for the dramatic essence of everything going on with Vampirella in the central story. It almost fails to come together, but Abnett and company know what theyre doing. Its actually remarkably good execution given what theyre going for.

The force of the impact across page and panel is kind of impressive. The story that has been delivered over the course of the first eight issues is fun, but it wouldnt be enough to justify its existence alone without the impact of the visual reality of Vanish, which isnt enough to make it work as a complete narrative. So much of the basic premise of the plot is a fusion of various cliches. The first eight issues have been fun, but they havent amounted to much.

Once Tynion starts to dive into the mystery at the heart of the series, its actually a pretty silly concept. Judging from what Tynions revealed so far, the 30-second elevator pitch for W0rldtr33 would come across as sounding incredibly bad. (Of course...ANY 30-second elevator pitch is going to sound awful...) Exactly how Tynion is going to make the premise feel anything other than cheesy is a matter for future issues. For now, its all cool, atmospheric, and ambiguous enough to be fun.

London has done a pretty good job of modulating the action. Rising tensions have gradually been mounting over the course of the first half of the series. Clearly, Artemis is heading towards some kind of showdown with Zeus. If she had all the power of her original divinity, a confrontation with the diety would be a challenge. Without her power, its going to be that much more of a challenge. Its a captivating journey with Archidiaconos work amping up the intensity with some very well-executed godlike aggression exploding across the page.

Beyond the novelty of the situation and the loftier philosophy driving the plot, the actual horror that Hazan is exploring feels pretty standard. Its basically a haunted house story with weird insect creatures and nightmares drawn from the lives of those who have entered the castle. Whether or not its going to distinguish itself beyond that will be something answered in future issues.

Abnett and Bettins Azimuth should be a fun series to follow. The density of Abnetts writing feels that much more electric than anything else in the anthology right now. This is not to say that there isnt a hell of a lot going on in the issue besides. And some of it is QUITE good, but Azimuth feels like a breath of fresh air next to the rest of it. 

One might imagine that theres going to be a big plot twist at the end of the series thats going to allow it to all make sense. And one hopes that doesnt happen. Some horror is just inexplicable. Theres so little to the basic premise of the story that its easy to feel like Foxe and company are going to lower some kind of a trick ending on things at some point next issue. Theres really no reason to think that this is going to happen, though. Foxe hasnt given any indication of a big plot twist coming at the end of the series.

Betsy is an appealing enough character that she really deserves a bit more of a central focus. Howard is trying to give her extended cast a bit too much of the plot. The inner struggles of Betsy should rest more or less at the center of the book, but shes not allowed nearly enough time on the page to develop into anything more than the leader of a team. Its cool to see her in charge, but there should be more of a focus on her and who she is in the center of her own book.

The series draws to a close. Its been fun. Lore and company have done a good job of telling an interesting story. It makes a pretty good case for further adventures with Brielle. Brielle DOES come across as the type of character who could carry her own ongoing series. She hasnt quite been dropped into the heart of the bewildering mess that is the totality of the Marvel Universe, so there are a lot of different directions she could be taken in if the right creative team decided to sponsor her. 

The seriousness of the drama really hits at the end of the issue. The story ends with the fifth issue. Things have gotten out of control. And yet everything still feels so static and isolated. Its a very nuanced and complicated drama. The physical action is really only there to amplify it in various directions. Buccellato and Monaco have something interesting in the series. Its the type of story that could easily be made as an indie drama or a one-season streaming series. Presenting it in comic book format lends a remarkably vivid quality to it that no other format could do justice to.

Archie Comics has found a nice format for horror. Theres nothing brilliant in the book, but it IS an interesting pop experiment that finds a weirdly familiar voice and just sort of...goes with it. The overall feel of it may be a bit weird, but in the end, the tiny narrative nuggets have a way of sticking around in the back of the mind well after theyve been read. Anything memorable in the comic book format is worth paying attention to. Archie Comics clearly knows what its doing.

Everything fits together remarkably well considering the different dramatic elements that are coming into play. If a writer or artist leans a bit too heavy with any of the themes, the entire thing would collapse. To a certain extent, the success of Misery requires that the narrative not take the teams too seriously. But to a certain extent, it really just needs to focus on the momentum of the action. And this is precisely what everyone involved is doing with this series. And that's why it manages to be as successful as it is.

Its been nearly 3 decades since the last time Mackie spent time hanging out with the Spirit of Vengeance. A couple of issues into his big reunion, and its apparent that there are fresh echoes moving through the night between co-creator and creation. Hopefully, Mackie has the time to explore things with Danny Ketch for a long time to come. Another half-decade would be nice.

The decision to hammer in the ancient seafaring atmosphere of the series with multiple stories might actually be a rather clever one. Its all well and good to set a monster story in the golden age of piracy, but once Godzilla shows up, he pretty much takes over the book. Winding a few different narratives into a single story allows the creative team much more time to establish the ancient nautical end of the story before everything gets coated in kaiju. If youre really going to fuse kaiju and piracy, youre going to need to focus on the piracy first.

The first really close look at the heart of Groot in this series seems like its in more or less the right spot. Kelly and Lanzing clearly have a very solid perspective on how to handle things. Theres a thoughtful approach to the story that feels like its trying to avoid Marvel space-fantasy cliches. The whole creative team IS coming up with something distinctly new without completely reinventing the concept of space fantasy. Its not brilliant, but its a great deal of fun, and thats exactly what Guardians of the Galaxy has always been in its best moments.

It might've had a bit of a challenging start, but Hallows Eve finally feels like it's going somewhere. There's little question that Schultz and company are going to wrap this up in a way that feels satisfying enough. The series has really found its momentum just one issue before it closes out. It's a clever idea. With any luck, Schultz will have a chance to explore Janine and her powers a little bit more in the future. 

One issue. Theres one issue left to go in the series. Cantwell and company have just really gotten going on the series, and its over with Issue #5. The cleverly-crafted story is coming to an end, but Cantwell has found a really nice niche for Patsy that works so well with an area of the Marvel Universe that so rarely gets the right treatment. Hopefully, everything wraps up with a clear conclusion for the next issue. If all goes well, it would be cool to see Cantwell and Lins have another adventure with Patsy.

Tonys been through a lot over the years. His psyche has been explored on page and screen quite a lot over the decades. Ayodele and Akande are exploring Stark in a way that feels like it might be coming from a wholly new perspective. Its a lot of fun to see him outside the traditionally explosive action of a standard Iron Man story. 

Ziglar has the panels framed on the right combination of characters. Miles looks good when squaring off against Carnage. The additional focus on Taskmaster and Frye and company adds a bit of accent around the edges of the action for a really striking visual punch. The constant beat of the action throughout the issue feels like a solid progression of tension, which should meet a hopefully satisfying resolution next issue. Ziglar isnt trying anything that hasnt been tried on some level before a million times. (Carnage and other symbiotes have been inciting chaos for decades now.) Ziglar has, nevertheless, found a way to breathe life into the fallout from Spider-Mans alien costume one more time. 

The story continues. Dagon isnt finished at the end of the issue, but hes made important progress. The drama that makes its way from cover to cover mixes straight-ahead psychological horror with epic sword-and-sorcery fantasy horror and something slightly darker. So many things in Dagon are being fused together by a rather large team. Its impressive in light of this that the issue feels as coherent as it does. So much of the issue looks so good. Itll be interesting to see where Dagon goes from here.

So often, summer crossovers are forced to awkwardly lurch onto the racks of comic book shops. Orlando and Nieto do a good job of bringing some sense of grace to the page in a way that will hopefully make this particular crossover feel a little bit more fluid than they so often do. Once again--Scarlet Witchs current corner of the Marvel Universe is a fun place to hang out.

Sword and sorcery fantasy has such a distinct look. Its one of the easiest genres to bring to the page. Send a few heroes on a quest and give them some monsters. Let them have fun. Its a format thats literally been around since the dawn of storytelling. Its also one of the most difficult things to do well. Its a tiny, little indie comic book, but The Mighty Barbarians manages to nail the spirit of fun and action in an impressively satisfying adventure.

There really isn't much hope of this becoming any kind of major event. The summer is already too cluttered with different crossovers and things. And this sort of thing has happened so often before in the past. However, it's possible that there might yet be some original quality to this particular mega-crossover. There might be some flash of brilliance in it. Certainly, everything seems to be placed on the page in a way that could catch the reader's attention if everything goes well.

It's not like this sort of thing hasn't been tried before. And sometimes dramatic departures from traditional conventions of the plot structure of a comic book work really, really well. In the context of the larger run of this particular series, Venom #21 might not actually be nearly as clever as it seems to think it is. However, it's just really fun to see something like this attempted.

The darkness that Abnett inserts at the end of the first issue suggests that theres a greater darkness on the horizon. Theres every possibility that things could start to get VERY disturbing as the series progresses. Its a mystery,  yes...but theres just enough to suggest that there might be kind of a deeper horror lurking beneath the surface of it all.

Burnetts big accomplishment with the series thus far has been the ease with which hes given everyone very simple and instantly recognizable motivation for their actions. Arcade Kings isnt a world of simplistic notions of good and evil. So often, this type of story uses that dichotomy as a crutch to launch the action. Burnett is telling a simple action story without resorting to good and evil. Very cool. 

Ideally, a series thats been as good as Batgirls doesnt have to end. If it DOES have to end, though, it really SHOULD end with an issue like Batgirls #19. The final chapter in the series pays homage to the characters and their struggles while providing a satisfying conclusion to central conflicts and holding open the possibility of more at some point in the future. Its all quite meticulously placed on the page while embracing everything that makes the Batgirls such a fun trio to hang out with every month.

Waid, Mora, and Bonvillain tell a solidly entertaining narrative in another fun issue of a popular series. Its too bad that there isnt a more balanced story being placed on the page. Heroes in peril help out other heroes in peril as AI looks to take over. Theres a lot of action moving around the page.

As fun as the idea is, Generation Joker doesn't really have any right to be anywhere near as entertaining as it is. After all, this is just a few different elements that have been fused together into a road trip action comedy sort of situation. Andolfos art brings together a three-person writing team in a way that makes it all feel so vibrant and full of life. It's just too bad that the artist doesn't have more room to explore a more dynamic visual range. There's just way too much going on in every single page.

The challenge with any cosmic-level conflict lies in making the power FEEL powerful as it all concludes. By the time the series hits its twelfth issue, theres already so much thats going on. Priest and Barrows do their best to wrap everything up. Theres some sense of finality about it, and there IS a real sense of heroism radiating off the page, but Priest has tried to build way too much in the course of the first 11 issues. It looks good, and it makes sense, but it isnt entirely satisfying.

A werewolf P.I., a half-djinn assistant, and a half-demon intern. Southern California seems more or less a perfect place for this sort of thing. Palicki modulates the rhythm of the contemporary urban fantasy in a way that feels perfectly well-suited to another pleasant fusion. Palicki and company are working with so many tropes that are so harrowingly close to cliche, but they have managed to more or less successfully avoid them all so far. 

Howard and company submerge Catwoman in a complex underworld that would probably fit better on the page if every character had the time and space to develop a little more than they do. It would be nice to see Howard have the opportunity to do this, as she clearly has meticulously worked out a very complex interconnected drama that might have a great impact under the right circumstances.

Vics reaction to the situation is understandable, but the drama is kind of unduly amplified when one considers Vics history. Hes been through SO MUCH over the years. An android claiming to be his dead father? Even if he only died a couple of weeks ago, Vic should really have a bit more of a measured reaction to the whole situation. Hes going to be angry, but its not like he didnt know that something like this might happen. Hes not going to openly accept the android as his father, but his anger seems a bit out of place given all that hes been through.

Kennedy could be exploring deeper territory with the issue given the matters of the heart that hes covering in the fourth issue of the series, but hes wise to let the deeper resonance of the theme remain shrouded in the fog, just out of reach of the central conflicts. The central conflict feels more at home in the center of the panel than deeper concerns that rest just outside the spoken dialogue. Sometimes the language just isnt dark enough, and the ugliest thing you can write about war can only be delivered by the artist. 

Brown and Pinna capably frame the story of a young Dejah Thoris running into the Goolians for one of her first times. The tension and intensity of the encounter could have (and should have) been a lot more powerful than Brown and Pinna are managing in the fourth issue of the current series. Writer and artist have plenty of time to catch up with their own momentum next month in the fifth issue of the series. Theres nothing specifically wrong with what theyre doing--it just lacks the explosive sense of adventure that would really propel it across the page. 

Once again--it IS nice to see a style of visual that attempts to take an old, traditionally animated movie and bring it forward to the comics page with some sense of darkness. The old classic Disney film had such a prominent style that any deviation from it will seem like a massive change in the visual reality of The Lion King. In any case...doing justice to The Lion King is an unenviable task. Lean too far in a direction that takes no chances, and it comes across as a pointless piece of artistic product. Lean too far away from it, and its going to feel like it doesn't do justice to the original. The creative team of Scar is doing an admirable job in light of this. 

Revealed in full on the issue-ending splash page, the basic idea of the story isnt terribly original, but Gertrude IS an interesting character, so its actually got a lot of potential. The Gertrude from the past is being sent to the future, and shes not going alone. Theres a rather large group of others going with her. And they all look really familiar. What could go wrong? Its going to be interesting to see where Young takes it, but its going to be a real challenge to make it work.

As large a canvas as Craig is working with, it's interesting to note that it still feels pretty small. There are benefits and drawbacks to this. It's cool to enter a fantasy world like this and have an immediate grasp of all of the forces at work. However, fantasy thrives on the notion of immensity and power. And everything seems just a little bit too small to really grant a substantial sense of wonder. Every now and then, some things hit the page in just the right way to deliver the magic. The giant bat thats hauling around Kaya at the opening of the issue is a good example of this. Craig needs more moments like this to maintain the wonder.

The basic conflict that's going on doesn't really have a whole lot of weight. However, the emotional gravity of everything that's going on does. And that's really all that's needed for a powerful horror fantasy comic book. As long as there's enough pole on the page between the different compelling supernatural forces, everything works. Still, it would be nice if things were delivered to the page in a way that felt a little bit more defined between villain, hero, and heros cop accomplice. 

Redondos level of detail is its own character in this issue. One gets the impression that he knows the history of every building and street corner in Bldhaven. Grayson has a Funko Pop of Robin on his shelf. Hes got a Batman bookend and an array of Nightwing masks as decoration. Its SO fun to look around the edges of any panel and see the personality of Bldhaven through the eyes of Redondo. There are scars visible all over Graysons shirtless torso. Theres so much story in every panel. Its one of those rare issues that feels like its fundamentally integrated with the whole of the continuity in every little, tiny detail.

Bunn and Deodato have delivered a remarkably detailed world to page and panel. Theres a great deal in the script that suggests a lot more is going on than meets the center of the panel. And theres SO MUCH in the periphery of the action that Deodato delivers. In places, it feels almost photo-realistic. Its a fun and mysterious place to visit, but there hasnt been nearly enough space in the four issues. Bunn and Deodato have a lot of further exploration to do into the world of Red Zone if its going to feel satisfying on a larger level.

Parrott and Renna are playing with some really fun things in a setting that should be a lot more appealing than its coming across on the page. The setting should have more impact than it does, but the central visual appeal of the character and the villains that hes up against continues to hold a great deal of gravity on the page.

Sutter has established quite a path forward for this series. There are several major plot points that need to be hit in the course of the next several issues for everything to seem reasonably satisfying. Pacing is going to be crucial. If everything moves too quickly, then it's going to feel like too much of a mess. As busy as the first issue is, Sutter has done a really good job of keeping it well-modulated in a very dense first issue.

The specific novelty of Superboy working with a group of adventurers could wear off in a few issues if Porter continues to take a manga-inspired approach to the ensemble. The writer is clearly telegraphing plot points issues in advance...and those plot points dont seem to be all that interesting. Hes going to have to find a fresh approach to old sci-fi ensemble tropes if hes going to continue to navigate relatively fresh territory with this particular Superboy.

Were there a little bit more of a contrast between the hero, the setting, and the conflict of the plot, the series could be really appealing on a whole bunch of different levels. As it is, however, there simply isn't enough of a connection between the visuals and the darkness of the story. There needs to be more of an integration to provide the kind of disconnect needed to make this story really feel all that coherent. Its fun, but theres a feeling of disconnect between Sweetie and the multiple homicide that still hasnt become totally clear as of the end of the sixth issue.

The two features couldnt possibly look much different. The contrast between the two of them makes Tales of Syzspense one of the more unique-looking books to come out so far this year. Both of them seem to have been pulled out of some weird, dreamy, retro corner from a Silver Age that never really existed. Its fascinating stuff.

Ahmed has found a nice mix of genres. The third issue of the series leans pretty heavily on the cyberpunk end of the equation. It works pretty well, but the ensemble of characters doesnt necessarily come across with a great deal of depth. Ahmed has a major part of the plot to lower into place, and it doesnt allow for a whole lot of interesting characterization in and within the machinery of the plot, but theres no doubt that more personality is coming in future issues.

Its horror. Its subtle and sinister. Theres going to be some very, very dark stuff thats going to hit the pages of future issues as things progress, but for now, Lemire and Sorrentino are more than content to let the mood resonate off the page before the shadows take over and plunge everything into darkness. The anticipation of that darkness is SO palpable in the first issue of the series.

The series would've been a lot more satisfying if it had an additional issue in which to clear everything up at the end. Each one of the characters in the ensemble has an appeal that would have benefited from a little more room on the page before the series closed out. The big final conflict would have seemed much more compelling if there had been more time to build up to it as well.

McConville and Shalvey move things around very, very quickly in a one-shot that could have easily taken up the space of its own supporting mini-series. Theres no question that Verna Grace could have been a much more captivating character if she had the opportunity to move around a bit more in and within the plot. As it is, the broad strokes that the character is given feel more or less perfect for the amount of story that she has. Its a very well-paced issue. 

The first issue of the new series looks extremely promising. Walker has shown that he can work well with the character in her world while dealing with what could have been a very simple introduction meant to lead the hero into a new adventure. Walker pumps so much wit, charm, and swagger into the first issue. Itll be interesting to see what he does with an issue that actually begins to render some of the series major plot points.

Its still too early to predict quite which direction Ram V is going to take the series in. The darkness is nice, but it needs to have something to contrast against it for it to have any definition at all. These ARE super-heroic types, and there DOES need to be some sense of wonder for it to feel appealing enough to keep the pages turning. For the time being, however, Ram V has a story to tell. And its a story covered in pain and shadows. 

Theres a recurring theme this month in nearly every appearance Wonder Woman has had--shes always late. There are elements of that in Kings story and her appearance in this months Worlds Finest...even her cameo appearance in The Flash movie thats out this month. Kind of a weird coincidence and an odd detail to add in if they did it consciously. Conrad and Cloonan have a lot to focus on for their final issue. They might be going over old tropes, but theyre doing so in a way that feels very personal to both of them. From a certain point of view, it almost even looks like theyre making a cameo this issue as the entity that speaks to Diana...theres some suggestion that it might be a stand-in for the two of them. Kind of a graceful and tasteful creator cameo if thats what theyre intending.

Its a more or less seamless extension of the series that was abandoned two decades ago. Madureira and company are picking it up like the last 20 years didnt even happen. Theres an almost heroic level of integrity in that faithfulness to the original series. Its a quick, breezy jaunt from beginning to end. Monika and Garrison return in a thoroughly enjoyable adventure that will hopefully lead to a series that runs much longer than the original one. Madureira and company have firmly resurrected a series that didnt appear to have any chance of ever returning to the comics rack.

Adams and company take a well-balanced approach to Hal and his life. Hes a sharp guy with a hell of a lot of charisma that guides the narrative gracefully from the beginning to the cliffhanger ending of another thoroughly satisfying issue. Larger concerns in and within the current plot arc will take a little while to emerge, but for now, Green Lantern is gliding quite well through all of the different angles on the life of Hal Jordan. Its nice to see Adams taking a slow and measured approach to this particular Green Lantern.

Not everything works. Some of the costuming is remarkably silly. As beautiful as it is, so much of Gunslinger Spawn #21 is so repetitious that it could have been easily edited down to half an issue. The interplay between demons and dinosaurs and time travel and magic and gunplay could really find a way to come together brilliantly, but it would take a more clever sense of thematic modulation than McFarlane is attempting. There have been moments over the course of the series thus far that seem to have been reaching for something bigger. Its consistently disappointing to see McFarlane fail to live up to the potential of the premises weirdness.

Theres a whole John W. Campbell Who Goes There? feel to the series. A group of experts in a few different areas dive into the unknown. Some of the better examples of this sort of thing in pop fiction tend to be sci-fi horror. Cady and Mutti take a group of people who dont seem to believe in ghosts into the heart of supernatural horror while also fusing the narrative with a post-apocalyptic vibe. Its a fun mash-up that could easily play with the audiences expectations. Itll be interesting to see where Cady and Mutti take it.

The journey continues. And one wonders if it might not be the case that Sarge is a bit more savvy about the nature of the situation than hes letting on. Theres wisdom in his craziness that feels compelling enough to carry the series through the next couple of issues. Its a fun, well-modulated walk into earthy madness on the road. The visuals seem pleasantly erratic. A slightly tighter visual presentation would benefit the series, but the loose lines of the action keep it feeling fluid and wild.

Wagner and Dabbs conjure a brilliantly expressive first issue with some primal bits of characterization in a mystery that is carefully and painstakingly bound to the page. It may lack the kind of heavy text and rendering that so often accompanies a first issue, but Klik Klik Boom delivers more actual story in a single issue than many titles manage in three. Its a very promising start for Wagner and Dabbs.

The basic ideas crossing over the page in the fifth issue echo sci-fi tropes that have been around for decades. Nevertheless, Barnes, Lins, and NCT bring deeply engaging emotion to an old story that feels fresh. In five issues, Monarch has managed to slowly develop something that looks like it could be headed in an interesting direction. If Barnes and company can find a novel resolution in the next couple of issues, they might have found some new life for an old trope. Time will tell. 

Shalvey isnt doing anything terribly original with the series. Taken on their own, all of the different plot elements in the issue have been seen before. Its the way that Shalvey is placing them on the page and juxtaposing them against each otherTHAT is what makes Old Dog what it is. Given the right momentum, Shalvey could really do something with the series. The current plot arc ends with the sixth issue. Its been a fun ride so far. If Shalvey can stick the landing on the sixth issue, Old Dog might turn into something great. 

Its a very promising opening. Moreci and Howell have the series off and running with three interesting heroic women (and a pretty cool sword). The drama moving the magic around the edges of the action is intriguing enough to keep everything moving from cover to cover. The contemporary wit of the dialogue keeps everything feeling brisk and breezy in an adventure that just might have considerable emotional depth lurking beyond the surface of what appears to be a really fun action serial. 

Kudraski is taking his time with the story. There may be a lot of jumping around through the patchwork psyche of Danny, but theres a definite rhythm to his progression through the major events of the series thus far. If Kudraski were to move any more quickly through Dannys life than he has been in the course of the first couple of issues, Dannys creative life would feel more or less totally indecipherable. The erratic nature of Dannys interior life demands a slow and determined march. Given enough time, Kudraski could build Something Epic into a major coming-of-age story. 

There is room for great brilliance in crude satire. Without some consistent level of sophisticated humor in and around the edges of something as crude as The Giant Kokju, it gets pretty weak a couple of pages after the opening and never really manages to redeem itself. There were moments in the first couple of issues that might have suggested something weird and wonderful. Instead, Duggan and Koblish allow the premise and the plot to become weak and disinteresting just as the series is reaching its...uh...climax. 

The promotional copy for the fifth issue suggests that this is the end of the first volume of the series. Laroche provides some sense of conflict that could be carried into a second series, but he would have to find a way to conjure some depth out of all the awkward, exhausted, post-apocalyptic surface tension if hes going to conjure much more than a restless insomniac vision of life after the fall of civilization. There needs to be more in and within the panels if Almighty is going to bring a bit more weight to the comics rack.

Andolfo establishes a cozy adventure for Bettie in the first issue of her fifth series with Dynamite Entertainment. The Queen of the Pinups continues to be a pleasant and engaging character to hang out with for 24 pages. From form to color to plot, its all so well-constructed that it scarcely seems to matter that there really isnt anything new being explored. The depth of the color aside, the story and its artistic rendering wouldnt seem entirely out of place in a mid-20th century issue of Millie the Model. Thats not a bad thing. The contemporary shading on a retro comic feels more or less perfect. 

Tomasi plays with expectations. Some of the revelations that hit the page in the penultimate issue feel pretty obvious. Some of them hit like a hammer. Tomasi and imi have a solidly haunting story that theyre bringing to the page, but the finer points of it seem drowned in the dreamy nightmare of a story that never quite manages to provide the proper perspective. Theres something deeper being explored between the homicides and the men who are investigating them, but any insight into that seems firmly planted outside the panels.

Pacat and company continue to craft an appealing story with a fun group of characters. Its too bad that the fencing aspect of the story isnt a little more integrated with the ensemble drama. Its the first issue of a new Fence series, though. Pacat has plenty of time to get into it in the months to come. Its the beginning of a new training camp. Things are going to feel a bit stiff and awkward early on.

Astone grants the visuals a rich spectrum of color that feels somewhat immersive. It all looks good. Its too bad the story assembling around the edges of the art doesnt have a bit more momentum. Sebela and Hennessy have a really unique fantasy story on their hands. If they can manage to frame that story with just a little more focus, itll go a long way towards making a classic. 

Soule has put down a hell of a lot of story in the first five issues of the series. Given how much has been delivered in the course of the first five issues, its kind of surprising that the series hasnt felt more narratively cramped and crowded as it could have been. Soule gives each moment a great deal of room to breathe, and Slineys visuals lend a voluminous weight to everything that makes it feel much bigger than the images on the page.

One wonders how easy it might be to do something really, really similar to this that DIDNT thinly veil everyones identity. It might not work as well, though. Any history of the comic book industry (and there have been A LOT of them over the years) tends to focus on companies, characters, and personalities. What Chaykin is doing with this incredibly clever series istelling history with a focus on the people. Names like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and Marvel and DC and EC are way too big. Taking away the names, the fame, and the legend allows Chaykin to focus his history on the people who built an industry that has had a profound impact on pop culture.

Theres a point in any action story where it feels as though things have gotten so completely out of hand that theres nothing for the heroes to do but embrace the chaos and swing through to the final encounters. Starks and company take that moment and stretch it out into a full issue. Its a fun moment for the series, but it seems to get in the way of what really SHOULD be a more appealing issue of the series.

The fact that theyre expecting ice cream in Hell kind of suggests a delightfully weird vision of the afterlife that should be fun to follow as the series keeps going. As the series opens, it feels like it might have had more of an impact if it had spent a little more time with the characters in the ensemble prior to the adventure, but it may be a bit too early in the series to make that kind of judgment.

Robinson builds a really fun and compelling world for Junk Rabbit, but so little of the world is actively or directly involved in the concerns of the main characters. As of the third issue, there still isnt a strong enough connection between the main characters and the history of the world, so it feels more than a little flat as a result. Its too bad that there isnt more of a sense of connection between the fascinating world Robinson is building in the background and the interesting characters that Robinson is working with in the foreground.

The journey into self-awareness that Joan has been going through over the course of the series has been pretty intense. Theres some profound level of darkness going on in Tom Kings 1963 that reflects deeper concerns in the heart of the American home in that era. Its a fascinating, provocative look at the human psyche that holds great promise in possibly exploring things of equal depth from other eras through Joans fractured psyche. In the long run, the series repetition COULD damage it, but it still feels like an impressive accomplishment eight issues-in.

Seeley walks a very fine line between tasteful silliness and something altogether more unsavory, but hes doing so in a way that feels like it could really make a statement if he chose to point it in a more definitively satirical direction. Theres a lot that almost gets said in the course of this second issue of the series that could be provocative on a variety of different levels, but Seeley doesnt seem all that interested in the depth that might be possible with the plot that hes working with.

Poison Ivy started out as a rather weak villain that was occasionally interesting in the past, but Wilson is taking the character in a direction that solidly establishes her as one of the most complicated and compelling characters in all of mainstream comics. A political and intellectually rendered anti-hero who is actively interested in saving the ecosystem? Very cool stuff.

The third issue of Stranges latest series further establishes MacKays grasp over realms of magic, which hes been exploring from various angles in various ways for the past few years. MacKay has a very respectable progression for Doctor Strange. From life to death to life again, theres a definite sense that Stephen and Clea have progressed since they started hanging out with MacKay. MacKays clever blend of social drama and the weird realms of Marvel magic has served the Sorcerer Supreme quite well in the recent past. 

There are going to be those who complain that Kamala deserved to die in her own series. Its worth noting that...well in advance of the release of this issue, it was well-known that she was going to die. The Amazing Spider-Man #26 may be a Spider-Man comic, and he may be in it A LOT, but he and his life and his concerns DO fade out into the background of his own title for at least one month. THAT doesnt happen very often to a major character like Spider-Man. Kamala DOES deserve better, but Amazing Spider-Man #26 might as well be a Ms. Marvel comic. 

Betsys been through a lot. Shes been many different people since she debuted back in the 1980s. Braddocks latest incarnation as Captain Britain has proven to be an appealing one. Howards writing has moved Betsy into a remarkably satisfying place that balances drama with action, mystery, and magic. It really is the perfect mixture for a decent Captain Britain story. Georgievs art fits the overall presence of Howards writing quite well. 

Valenza adds a bit of crucial depth and atmosphere around the edges of the action, but Skroce runs everything else with an expert sense of showmanship. Given how completely Skroces art and writing style dominates the series, Clobberin Time really sets itself apart from much of the rest of the mainstream comics rack. If it werent for the fact that Skroce is working with some of the biggest-named characters at Marvel in one of the most recognizable settings in comic books, Clobberin Time would feel a lot like an indie comic.

Once again--Robyn continues to come across as a deeply appealing character. Brusha does a really good job of shedding a bit of light on her past. All too often, a writer will attempt to saddle a hero with far too many subplots and ancillary bits of characterization. Brusha knows exactly how much of Robyn is going to fit on the page and gives her plenty of room to do what she needs to do. Theres a great deal of patience for the episodic nature of the pacing in another satisfying 30 pages with Robyn.

Theres no question that the Rocketeer could easily land in his own long-running series. The swashbuckling adventures of a guy and a rocket pack could work so well in so many different types of action from the 1940s. Stevens never really had the opportunity to bring the character the kind of long-running adventures that he might have deserved, but its nice to see other people take another look at the character a few decades after his big debut back in the early 1980s.

From the All-Out Avengers title that Landy and Land had done last year to the current Avengers Beyond series, the creative team has been doing a good job of maintaining an enjoyable level of quality. There hasnt been the kind of versatility in theme and tone that one might hope for in the better superhero team comics, but action and intensity have been maintained for Landy and Land throughout.

Even with the knowledge gained from the Unnamable, Barbarella still has quite a lot to deal with. Theres still the threat of the Architects on the horizon. Thanks to her adventure in the third issue of the series, shes got a better idea of how shes going to handle the fourth. Shes learned something, and she didnt have to resort to any kind of negative energy to gain that knowledge. 

As with any anthology, DC Pride 2023 has its weaker moments as well. Not everything feels completely in sync with the format of a short-form comic book story, but theres more than enough here to make for an inspiring series of stories told from angles not often found on the pages of a mainstream comic book. The whole thing feels like it was pulled from a parallel dimension that might have had a more inclusive mainstream comic book industry stretching all the way back to the Golden Age. As always--its really nice to see the mainstream embrace a bit more of the full spectrum of human experience.

Once again, Higgins and Clark have nailed a very sharp story that manages to resonate even though its telling the type of artists journey that has been delivered to page, stage, and screen countless times before. The distinct package thats being delivered by Higgins and Clark feels quite refreshingly unlike anything else thats currently on the comics rack.

Ram V might need a few more pages to bring across what hes trying to deliver in Gotham Nocturne. Every chapter seems almost haphazardly cut into weird, jagged shrapnel of narration. Theres a far more elegant suspense somewhere in the heart of what Ram V is trying to say with the series, but hes been jerking the narrative around so aggressively that its difficult to settle into the rhythm of the story. 

On one level, it kind of seems like Hudlin and Chills are trying to put too many different parallel plots into a single series. It almost feels like the series could have worked better as three different one-shots with three different main characters, and it would have felt a bit less crammed together. Theres more than enough going on between the three central plots to keep it all captivating from cover to cover, but it doesn't seem like the parallel plots in the series fit together all that well.

Seeley and Fleecs are working on a premise that could still have some impact. The pacing may be off, but thats a judgment thats made only four issues into what is clearly a very, very dense story. When the dust clears on the first dozen or so issues of the series, it may turn out to be the case that theres a kind of genius in the way that Seeley and Fleecs are approaching the story. Four issues in, it just feels like a mess.

Van Lente, Casallos, and Sutil have opened a promising series. All too often, sword-and-sorcery fantasy in any format seems to be trying to reach for WAY more depth than it is capable of exploring in a quickly-paced serial. The genre takes so well to action that any attempt at serious drama ends up feeling like a malformed mutation of subhuman Shakespeare. Van Lente and company do solidly entertaining work with modest ambitions. A series like this could go far.

DC is wise to broaden its domain. In recent years, SO MANY titles have been curling around Gotham City with a host of main characters in the orbit of Batman. New titles for Power Girl and Fire & Ice are a step in the right direction. Judging from the opening adventures of both characters, there DOES appear to be potential in casting fresh, new glances at supporting characters from the Justice Society and the Justice League. 

Craig could drop the interpersonal drama altogether, and the title wouldnt suffer at all. Judging from the intensity of the action and the way Craig directs it across the page, the entirety of the story could rest on action and drama with Grant and the weapon hes wielding. Its where Craigs strengths lie. Focusing on that exclusively would make Starstorm that much more of an original on the comics rack. As it is now, Craigs trying to do a little more than hes capable of carrying with his art and writing. His talent doesnt quite have the range for what hes attempting in the first issue.

Lewis and company are working with tropes that all seem to fill the same space they always have. There are countless tropes running through this particular superhero team book. Its actually kind of fun to count all of the things Lewis and company have ripped off of pre-existing comics. Ideas twist and wind their way through superhero comics...continuing to echo down through the decades. Its fun to see those echoes continue, but it never produces anything terribly memorable.

Michelle continues to march her way to her destiny. Guggenheim has given himself a real challenge in giving the climactic completion of the first arc next month. Michelle is seriously compromised going into the big climax. It will be difficult to frame the showdown at the end of the opening arc with the kind of intensity that hes managed to find in Michelles battle with the rest of her former teammates. Guggenheims done a good job with the series thus far, which suggests a sharp understanding of pacing and intensity for Michelle. Theres every reason to think that Guggenheim is going to maintain the right form through the end of the first arc of the series.

Its a nice climax. Vampirella maintains a heroic presence on the page throughout. The series ends with enough forward motion to lend anticipation to the next. Vampirella Strikes will give way to Armageddon. So...yknow...things are only going to get more intense in Sepulcher City for Vampirella and Dagwood. Its a simple action drama set-up that has a great deal of potential to move in a great many different directions. If the creative team can maintain a simple approach, things look quite welcoming for the further adventures of a beautiful vampire superhero into the Armageddon that lies ahead.

The problem with a mystery serial lies in the slow and steady revelation of aspects of that mystery. A series that is as weird and potentially existential as the one that Tynion is outlining in W0rldtr33 has the potential to go down some pretty absurd paths pretty quickly. The whole thing could collapse into absurdity on any page. Its impressive that Tynion has managed to hold it together for as long as he has without revealing too much about the plot. It continues to show promise at the end of its second issue.

The amnesiac detective is a really fun trope to explore. Its not attempted too often, but its always notably interesting when it IS...especially with a character who is as immersed in the darkness as Patsy Walker. Cantwell clearly has the series thoughtfully laid out. There are only two issues left to go before the big inevitable resolution. As disappointingly short as the series is, Cantwells writing through the third issue suggests that theres a really sharply satisfying ending coming in late July.

Abnett is trying to do A LOT with the series. Vampirella is quite present on the page, but shes lost in so much worldbuilding. Abnett has many other characters to introduce. They all make it to the page with enough presence to register a very complex world. Given the right amount of time, Abnett should make them all as interesting as they deserve to be. Hopefully, he can do so without pulling Vampirella too far out of the center of the panel.

The series continues as the genesis of the crisis is revealed. Theres a perfectly logical reason for why everything is happening as it is, and it all seems to come together with some level of charm. Team RWBY articulates with the DC Universe in an enjoyable way. Given the right momentum, RWBY might even be a nice addition to the DC Universe as a whole. DC/RWBY doesnt quite make the kind of impact it needs to form a truly novel connection between the two properties, but its been fun so far. 

As strange as things have gotten, they've been a lot weirder for Harley in the years past. Howard is taking the character a little bit less seriously than she's been taken before. And that's perfectly fine. She's a very dynamic and rubbery sort of a hero who could easily fit into just about any corner you happen to shove her in. It's one of the reasons why she's been so successful for so long. She can do serious heart-crushing drama, and she can do totally bonkers slapstick. Sometimes in the same panel. Howard seems to understand this. And she seems to be moving the character in a direction that can fully embrace every angle.

The bulk of the issue seems to play out in the combat between Degaton and the JSA. Jann has been granted a great deal of real estate in the issue to deliver the impact of a single fight, and it REALLY works. Johns has a deft enough handle on the pacing to allow Jann the space he needs to hit that combat with impressive impact. All of the drama falls in line behind that combat quite well.

Nightwing is that much more of a hero by the end of the issue than he had been going into it. That cant be said of every issue of every comic book. Its just the 104th issue. Its not some big crossover event. Its not some epic earth-shaking moment that will have repercussions that are meant to echo across the DC Universe. Its just one guy, a great deal of power, and a selfless action. Taylor really manages to make it feel like a very, very big moment. 

Highly trained, star-faring, high-powered military personnel have been fighting strange armies of inhuman ETs since Heinleins 1959 novel Starship Troopers...and likely before that in some of the earliest pulp sci-fi stories. Contemporary adaptations have ranged from Games Workshops graphically brilliant, highly successful Warhammer 40,000 tabletop war game (from 1987) to James Camerons hilariously bad 1986 movie Aliens. With Forged, Rucka and Trautmann have perfected the precise blend of humor, action, and horror. It has been a hugely satisfying comic book iteration of the space marines vs. hordes of alien monsters sub-genre.

Rowells run continues to work through many of the issues that Jens been dealing with in one fashion or another for decades. Its been a lot of fun in a way thats come to define Jens presence ever since Byrne first started hanging out with her in the mid-1980s. The clever work around the margins of the Marvel Universe continues to be a sparkling gem in its own distinct corner of the comics rack. Judging from developments coming to the title in the next couple of months, Jens going to have her hands full through the summer...and Rowells going to be there for every turn. 

Burnetts sci-fi mutation of the traditional late 1990s video arcade makes for a fun milieu for the nomadic hero trope. There may not be anything terribly original about the story, but Joe seems like kind of a cool guy, and Burnetts art swiftly slides the story through page and panel in a way that allows for a very distinct narrative fingerprint. Burnett lowers a few different subplots into place in the first issue that could be interesting in subsequent chapters. It will remain to be seen if the nomadic hero trope will hold up over the course of the next few issues of the series. Burnett might have something special here.

Only one issue left. Conrad and Cloonan have accomplished quite a lot in less than two years with the series. Its just too bad it has to end at only 19. The creative team has done an exemplary job of taking a tired, old setting and breathing new life into it for a couple of years. With any luck, there will be a future for the three Batgirls somewhere down the line. As for now--theres one more issue in June.

Its the style that really sells the series more than anything else. Theres a real sense of urgency about the action, even if the overall framing of the story lacks some degree of satisfying definition. Catwoman has been through a lot over the course of the past few years. Howard has a distinct perspective on Selina and her world that has been enjoyable thus far, but there hasnt been enough time with any one element of that world to fully explore its potential.

It takes a lot of guts to fade in on a moody murder drama over the course of a long, slow, sustained first issue. Its not exactly an issue that dares the reader to look at it, but it isnt particularly interested in appealing to any eyes that happen to be scanning through it at any given moment. One has to respect the attitude of a story that is so very, very sure of itself that it doesnt need to slam itself in the readers face just to get people intrigued. With the mood and tone for Good Deeds being what it is, itll be fascinating to see where its going from here.

Its hard to imagine Duggans story remaining appealing as it crawls its way over to its third and final issue. Honestly, though, theres really no reason why this thing should have been anything other than tedious by the time it hit its second issue (or even...the second half of its first). Duggan is a clever enough satirist that hes probably going to make the comedy work right through the end of the third and final issue. Its going to be kind of a close finish, though.

The events of the past couple of years reach a climax as Conrad and Cloonans run (which began in early 2021) comes to an end. The thirty-issue cycle should meet with an impressive ending if the lead-in issue is any indicator at all. Having been around for the better part of a century, Wonder Woman has periodically been summed up in anniversary issues countless times. It appears as though Conrad and Cloonan may have found a fresh approach to an anniversary celebration.

One gets the feeling that the satire would have a lot more bite if there was some sense of direction to it all. The generally meandering nature of the narrative DOES allow for a look at the aimlessness of spirituality in modern American life. Theres a genius satirical narrative buried somewhere in Second Coming, but Russell and company have actually done a really good job of avoiding it thus far.

The success of a mini-series like this is going to rely on the creative teams ability to shift from one mood and genre to another in a way that embraces the strange contrast between settings while also maintaining a solid through-line of drama and intrigue that never loses sight of Cindy as the central character. Its kind of a lot to ask for. Kim did such a good job with the last series. Its nice to see her going for something a bit more challenging with her second Silk series.

The White Knight concept advances certain elements of the Batman mythos in interesting ways. It may feel more than a little bit like a weirdly insubstantial fugue on many of the central figures in Gotham City, but its managed to find the right angle on everything to give it fresh depth. Honestly, though, that may be a little more than it deserves. Batman and his extended ensemble have been around for a long time. DC might be served a bit better by exploring new characters altogether.

Jordan has been through many different convolutions over the decades...arguably more than any major mainstream superhero this side of Wonder Woman. Its nice to see a creative team willing to take him back to a traditionally balanced superhero format. Adams and company arent completely reinventing the character, but seeing him return to his roots feels very much like seeing Hal Jordan come back to Earth one more time.

Orlando has kept the series going at an impressively quick pace. Its been a great deal of fun so far. Theres more than enough charm between Wanda and Darcy in Orlandos dialogue and Dautermans art. The series could be perfectly satisfying running forever with this creative team as Orlando slowly explores every corner of magic in the Marvel Universe...one troubled soul at a time. The series has been a success so far. Theres more to come in the months to come. 

It has all the hallmarks of a Golden Age story, but Waid fuses the feel of an old-school comic book hero with a more contemporary perspective that serves the story quite well. The Billy Batson/Shazam premise has always been an interesting one. Waid is going to have a challenge keeping it fresh in the long run, but everything seems more or less entertaining in the debut issue of a potentially good series.

Theres real potential for a horror like the one Kudranski is developing for the series. Its an attractive concept: everything in every fantasy world that youve ever encountered actually exists alongside everyone you know in your real waking life. Given the right framing of the concept and the right creative momentum, Something Epic could really turn into something overwhelmingly cool and close to genius. At the end of the first issue, however, its very difficult to tell whether or not it might simply be cheesy horror with a reasonably novel premise.

A group of superhero sidekicks are lost in time. Its an interesting idea with a lot of potential. Theoretically, Johns could really take it in a fun direction now that the basic action is over. The dramatic implications of the situation would be great fun to explore. Its too bad Johns had the series so focused in on the rescue of the characters to deal with the more fascinating dramatic angles of the premise.

Theres a really good story somewhere in the center of what Tynions bringing to the page. Theoretically, when its finished, the full mini-series could easily be cut down into a deeply satisfying single issue about the central romance between the businessman and the dead girl. As it is, theres simply too much going on that isnt interesting.

A steampunk monster hunter with a stylish sense of poise and action has a great deal of potential, but its nothing that any creative team has managed all that well with Liesel Van Helsing over the course of the recent past. She remains a fun character with the occasional powerful moment and interesting bit of dialogue, but shes never given enough novelty or personality to come across with the kind of intensity that she could have. A tumble through the pages with her remains fun anyway.

As fun as it is to see everything tumble through at the end of the issue, Zdarsky and company take a hard turn when everything looks like it will resolve somewhere around Page 26. Really, they could have ended it there, and it would have been a solid glance into drama with Batman. Though the art in the final pages is impressive, it scarcely justifies ruining the ending of an otherwise interesting and reflective drama. 

The Flash has dealt with so much over the decades. Its a natural place for him to find himself in as he approaches the big 800th issue milestone in the near future. Adams and company will have their work cut out for them in trying to make it all feel new. Flash has been across time and space so many times in ways that have really shaken the DC Universe. Its going to be difficult to do it in a truly new way.

The series continues to make its mark in squalor, madness, and darkness. Its a milieu that has been explored pretty extensively over the decades on the comics page...particularly in those comics set in Gotham City. So its not exactly new ground, but it IS still a bit novel to hang out with the face of madness for a few more pages.

An issue like #12 was bound to happen eventually. Wilson and company need to balance out the moody supernatural horror with the occasional moment of action intensity that blows over into deeply reflective inner emotional drama. The story was building to this sort of climax over the course of the past eleven issues. Its nice to see it play out in a suitably dramatic burst. Itll be interesting to see where Wilson and company take the story from here.

The larger story that is being presented has yet to completely resolve into anything that would be terribly compelling. That doesn't mean that a bigger payoff isn't coming. It just seems like Landy hasnt quite found a way to frame this part of the larger serial in a way that is terribly interesting. In the larger run of things, Landy set himself up with kind of a challenge for this particular issue. It DOES deliver information important to the story, but it's difficult to bring it to the page in a way that feels like it's catapulting the action forward.

The script format of a four-part series begins to seem like something that might have fit rather nicely between a couple of episodes of the old Saturday morning series. That means that the first couple of issues would constitute a single episode. The overall feel of the story is true enough to the original series that it is a little weird being fitted around the plot structure of a couple of issues of a contemporary comic book, but it remains a lot of fun to hang out with a few old friends again.

As bad as it was, The Matrix was a fusion between Philip K. Dick-style artificial reality mind-bending with special-effects-laden martial arts action cinema that made for kind of a novel experience. Tynion isnt doing enough to make for a novel fusion between all of the elements that make up the story hes delivering to the page in the opening issue of the new series. Its not that the drama doesnt have substantial impact. (It does.) Its just not a fresh and interesting enough impact to feel like anything new.

Conrad and Cloonan are clearly setting up for a deeper look into the nature of crime in their new From Hells Heart storyline. The black market arms dealers who serve as this issues minor villains add some depth to the themes that the writers are going to be exploring. Its the sort of thing thats been done countless times before, but Conrad and Cloonan seem to be tackling the theme with an impressive sense of overall composition that should be interesting in the months to come.

Once things are really going, the novelty is going to wear off. Bruce Wayne has been accused of murder, and there is something uniquely interesting about that. Its not going to last too much longer, though. Things will begin to turn a corner as Waids story reaches its climax. If everything has been lined up right, it just might be some kind of satisfying end, but its difficult to tell, and it already feels as though the action in the foreground might overpower everything else once the story reaches its big conclusion.

Selinas been Catwoman for so long that its kind of disappointing to see her slide back into the role at issues end. With things shifting back in the direction of the status quo, Howard and company can get back to more traditional Catwoman stories, but Kyle has been drifting quite a bit over the course of the past few years, and there doesnt seem to be a whole lot of momentum in her adventures of late. Eiko seems a lot more captivating.

Overall, the story has been a thoughtful tour through various angles of the DC Universe. Gotham City gives way to Themyscira in a largely fun third issue. The ideas that Bennett is working with ARE interesting. Magic infecting one universe from another...its an intriguing idea with lots of potential across a universe as big and diverse as DCs. Its too bad not every issue in the series is framed with the right narrative spin to keep it all living up to its potential.

The journey into a deeper darkness may be coming with the next couple of issues. Granny Goodness always had a potential for greater darkness than what truly managed to hit the page before. Adams appears to be moving things in the direction of some very seriously weighty drama in the issues to come. It may lack the crazy energy of the huge group dynamic of the past several issues, but the story thats emerging here does seem to be entering into promising territory.

Wilson gives Wonder Woman the warmth and passion that she so richly deserves in one of the biggest combat sequences shes ever been a part of. Marys adventures continue in Shazam!...which is written by Mark Waid. Is it too much to ask to have Campbell continue to write her adventures as a back-up feature in that series as well?  

Though Nightwing is the center of the story, this really feels more like a classic issue of the Titans. It's nice to see the team back together in a way that is appealing enough. It's just too bad there isn't as much time for the title character. There are a few moments that grant the reader a bit of insight into him and what he's going through right now. However, Taylor seems much more interested in telling a story that could have been written better.

There is SOME sense of overlap between issues #12 and #11, but Rowells approach to the serial of Jens life keeps the events from being annoyingly repetitious. The series is as evenly-balanced as Jens life, making repetition seem tantalizingly natural. Rowell makes Jen...and She-Hulk feel deeply relatable in spite of all that shes been through and all that shes capable of. Rowells writing remains remarkably impressive in light of this. 

The storyline draws to a close in next weeks Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods #4. The Revenge of the Gods storyline has been one of those rare instances in which a big crossover event actually turns out to be kind of good. The writers working on the series have done an impressive job with it. With any luck, the big conclusion next week will give the storyline a solid landing.

With the initial encounter out of the way, Franchini and company can now dive right into the heart of a body action comedy, which should have a slick visual appeal that will give it a great deal of momentum leading through the final two issues of the series. Given the right angles, both of the leads could even gather a bit more substance before the series hits its final panel in a couple of months. There may not be much going on in the story after 30 pages or so, but the series can only improve now that all of the main pieces appear to be in play. 

Lanzing, Kelly, and company have plenty of time to bring the series into focus. A cowboy-heavy space western set in the Marvel Universe has plenty of potential. It just needs to find the right direction. The first issue is not without considerable visceral impact. Everything seems to be moving in the right direction. It just doesnt seem to have found the right direction by the end of the first issue. This isnt a great sign. The ensemble is good, though. The setting is interesting. The basic elements need to come together a bit more to really gain speed.

Wong has done an excellent job of writing a huge range of different stories for a huge range of different art styles that all managed to deliver surprisingly different moods, motions, and emotions without ever saying a single actual word. It speaks to a very impressively simple and versatile group of characters who never really achieved their full potential in the 1980s when they were created. In a modern era of endless kawaii-cute adventure characters, the Ewoks continue to show real potential for ongoing adventures in one of the more popular and enduring space fantasy worlds in the history of science fiction.

Brisson and company direct the flow of traffic quite well in the course of the issue. The group of crime fighters all come across as being distinct and dynamic in the larger flow of action. No one moment feels too rushed or too heavy-handed, which is particularly impressive given the weird buffet of different personalities laid out between the covers of a very, very busy series of action scenes.