Compassion, loyalty and faith are used to tell a beautiful story with what seems like much more depth and realness than what was tried in the latest Wonder Woman comic. This book is a true gem and has all the components a denouement needs to be lasting to real fans of the title character. The Doctors sense of responsibility is true to character (witch is nice these days) and the darkness of the epilogue makes me hunger for more! Fantastic stuff! more

Just binge read the series so this score is more for all four books. This is lighthearted while still pulse pounding and truly a joy to read. This is kind of books DC needs right now and the fact it's a Santa story that actually kick ass is insane. Top notch!

More of the same with a new numbering. If you liked the last series this just continues it and you will be happy with everything but the price of the book.

Other than Raven mouthing off to Batman in the first issue and here looking doe eyed at Nightwing and thanking him for doing what the Titans would always do for one another (they're family for crying out loud), this series has been great and this issue is no exception. I've always liked Amanda Waller as a character and here she really gets to shine. Can't wait to see how this all plays out.

Completely unconnected to the ongoing Beast World storyline, and that is just fine. Just a fun and wholesome comic book. Nightwing is always a great antidote to the dark, depressing and brooding Batman. Both have their place. Nightwing is there for his little brother and the type of person you’d follow into anything.
It’s not a story for the ages. It does deliver it’s message a little too hard and seems like a vehicle for introducing a new villain without having the villain do much.
But the cover is fun, the characters are good and the story moves with pace. It doesn’t have any pretense. It’s a comic book. more

If this was my last ever version of John Constantine then I would be a very happy old man. Without spoilers all I can really say is great writing and wonderful art all wrapped up in a story that makes me smile from ear to ear. Give yourself a winter treat and delve into Occult the way it should be.

A perfect return to John Constantine with just enough of that regretful desire to do something good without actually being able to fully be a ‘good guy’.
Constantine is in serious trouble and he has dragged a couple of generally unknowing accomplices with him.
A couple of great guest appearances with callbacks to previous stories if you’ve read Constantine before. But if you haven’t, read it anyway.
A brilliant jumping on point for a great character who has appeared in other comics and TV shows. This is everything you want from Constantine and everything you need to know about the character. more

Grampá does a good job of pushing the alternative elements of this Batman story. Not only is this a visually distinctive comic, but the new Batman characters are staking up nicely.
Both Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon are alternative versions. Similar enough, with a couple of interesting differences. This Bruce is a bit unpleasant and Gordon is more assertive. Gordon also has a great line when he disagrees with Batman. It’s a good twist on Batman’s usual disappearance.
Book one was almost a stand-alone story. Book two looks to introduce new characters and push the narrative in a different direction. It’s not completely clear what that direction is or what is happening in the larger world of this Batman.
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The first off-world issue appeared a little more tentative as Aaron established Batman in space. Issue two appears more stable and provides a pace filled narrative with a distinctive sense of Batman as a character.
The comic has a good deal of action and moves with a sense of purpose. Batman’s planning and preparation is clear as well as his commitment to saving lives. An interesting situation given Aaron’s previous run on Punisher that appeared to be focused on ending as many lives as possible.
The ending of the comic is odd. It gives a clear sense of a cliff-hanger, there is more story to be had, but it could also be an ending in itself. Strange.
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The series has been good to this point, but this issue has been the best so far. Fingers crossed for the final issue.
Great Wolverine back story with well-integrated use of Weapon X. The Predator’s motivations and actions are completely within everything we know about the character. The two characters come together seamlessly.
The end continues the time jumping narrative and the Predator’s desire for self-improvement.
Only mark against the awesome penultimate scene is Batman did it in a recent issue.
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Action driven and character focused. Great first issue. Not too much backstory or explanation. The action does most of the explaining. There is some required knowledge of Marvel characters, but nothing too demanding or important.
The Thunderbolts line up feels a little thin, but the format of a gradually increasing line up promises surprise arrivals for future issues.
The group has purpose, but the comic feels more like an ongoing story rather than a mini-series. A good read.
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Once upon a time X-Men was written by a legend who worked under a regime who asserted that homosexuality did not exist in the Marvel universe but who were, as bigots often are, too dense to see queercoding happening right under their noses (like constantly). Later, the gap left by unfulfilled ambitions was by a writer who is also legendary, but in a bad way. And now that history has come to a point where we can say the quiet part loud, the task of reconciling Claremont's original intent with Austen's infamous replacement (and Lobdell's kind of incoherent Unlimited issue) falls to Si Spurrier, Wilton Santos & Marcus To.

Unfortunately, that leaves little room for anything but doing the tedious accounting necessary to square these disparate versions of Kurt's origin so that people won't get grumpy that the writers are ignoring a Chuck Austen story that everyone hates. But these exercises are a part of superhero comics that we'll never truly be rid of, and Spurrier, Santos & To spice it up as best they can.

Much of this comes down to the mysterious Bamf from Uncanny Spider-Man providing what the character himself describes as a Greek chorus, and your opinion of this story will definitely be driven by how much you do or do not like the character. Personally, I think he's the kind of idea that would be cute and clever in an issue of Generation X from 1994 (or even Morrison's Batman in 2009) but who's a bit tiresome and cliche in 2023, and a whole issue of him constantly talking is a recipe for irritation for me personally. Still, I'd rather have him livening up the bookkeeping than stick to pure infodumps.

How does the new origin work? Well, it's Frankensteined together from disparate parts, some long-awaited and some better forgotten, but they do a fairly solid job of hammering these things together to make something that will get up off the table and move as well as it needs to, giving us sapphic fans the origin we've been waiting for and giving us all permission to never ever mention Azazel again. I'm satisfied!

Tl;dr: As a comic, it's only a little more entertaining than just reading a plot summary online, but the team dives into a unenviably difficult assignment with style and vigor and style and come up with a workable Nightcrawler origin whose cumbersome-but-obligatory intricacies can be quietly excised by future writers. It's as good as it's going to be and maybe a little better, and that's the best you can ask for an exercise like this. Probably a 7 on its merits but I'll add a point out of respect for the difficulty, because this really was an impossible assignment. more

You know what ? I like B-movies. This issue was not great, was not very smart, but it was like a very good, brainless b-movie of the 80 with Batman. And i'm up for that.

One part comedy, one part family drama, one part social commentary, one part vigilante story. Holy Roller has a lot going on and it works.
Celebrity writers Andy Samberg’s writing credit alongside Rick Remender and Joe Trohman feels like too many writers for one comic. But it works.
The comics has character conflict, room for character development and the art is good.
Unlike a few other first issues laying the exposition on too heavily, Holy Rollers manages to incorporate it into the story. Levi’s conversation with the captain covers a good deal of backstory with elements of humor.
It’s serious, it’s light hearted, it contains danger and some action. There is a good setup for the second issue and the reader is left wanting to know what happens. Looking forward to the second issue.
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The concept of Batman in space runs the risk of crashing into the ridiculous. Setting the series in the early years of Batman mitigates any continuity complaints and allows the story to exist beyond the scope of other Batman stories which feels like a smart move.
As first issue there is a good deal of backstory, but a number of flashbacks are used to prioritize the action before giving the explanation. The issue moves quickly with crisp artwork from Doug Mahnke.
Jason Aaron is bringing a relentless ad brutal version of Batman who has a specific purpose to be in space. It doesn’t feel like there is a need for Batman to be in space yet, but the issue to not too serious and not too goofy. It feels similar to when Mark Waid took Doctor Strange into space in 2018.
It’s a good first issue that hasn’t reached the full scope of the series, but it is fun and has potential.
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The last couple of issues have been less impressive (too many characters, not clear enough significant events). The final issue makes up for any previous shortfalls. This is a concise ending to the mini-series with great interactions between Cable and Bishop. The character don’t like one another, but in previous issues they didn’t seem to always function in the story as a duo. Here they give a great story.
The Children of the Vault are much more coherent as characters. Given they have multiple versions and are presented as if the reader knows they, they can make the story feel inaccessible.
It is unfortunate that the series comes to an end with the suggestion that nothing that happened will appear anywhere else in the X-men, Krakoa or Marvel universe.
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An enjoyable and self-contained Wolverine and Captain America team-up. Full of great callbacks to previous comics, Wolverine and Cap’s past, the whole Krakoa storyline and previous Wolverine storylines.
A couple of really awesome pages. The whole pages and set-pieces are really great. A really great page as Wolverine is fighting his way down and Cap is moving across. Unfortunately a when the masks come off, the close ups of faces are a little off.
The story is self-contained, which is probably a little bit of a shame because it lacked a sense of larger importance. Sure, getting weapons away from bad people is important, but it happens a little too neatly. more

Will the real Stephen Strange please stand up?

Overall, this was a pretty solid issue. For all that it made use of 9 splash pages, the storytelling was strong (I mention this because splash pages are generally what lazy writers use to make you think you got value for your money). Pasqual Ferry's art has never looked better. His lines are clean, characters look good, he's great at using body language and facial expression to convey emotion. And the man draws backgrounds! Ok, the backgrounds disappear when the action starts,but I'll let that pass. Ferry makes good use of the page turns to reveal story elements and build tension, His page layouts are somewhat basic, but get the job done.The colors are beautiful. Heather Moore did a great job making this issue pop. The cover is by Alex Ross, normally, that's all that need be said, but it also reflects the actual story in the comic, and isn't just a pinup (looking at you, Thor #1).

Jed MacKay continues to deliver a strong story with decent dialogue (Side bar: Dr. Strange and Thor are tough on dialogue, with a "By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth!" here, and an "I say thee, nay!" there, it can be easy for writers to get lost in the verbiage.). The exposition is delivered smoothly, and MacKay gives the reader credit for being able to keep up. A high point of the issue is Clea demonstrating that killer instinct we've heard so much about, but haven't really seen ("The Punisher in panty hose", indeed).

Now it's time to talk about General Strange. From MacKay's frist foray into the world of Marvel's master magician, we have been getting one Strange after another. In "The Death of Dr Strange" a younger Stephen Strange magically excerpted from the past as a failsafe solves the murder of Dr Strange. In "Strange", we got "The Harvester", a dead version of Stephen Strange. Now we have General Strange, the ruthless wizard, hardened by millennia of war that is a future version of Stephen Strange excised from reality by the Vishanti. I"m starting to feel like this comic is about that other "Doctor", who's constantly running into past and future selves, and has a ruthless version of himself that's been hardened by millennia of war. While I have enjoyed these stories quite a bit, this is becoming a running gag, and it needs to not.

This comic is quite good. If you like Dr. Strange, magical characters in general, or The Doctor, you'll probably enjoy this issue. more

Outsiders has big goals. Like many first issues around at the moment, it’s trying to lay some foundations and tell a story. The foundations are there. The story, not so much. The team is ok. Batwoman is probably the highest profile with Batwing. Then there is Lucias Fox who can be a great part of a Batman story, but here is a guy on a screen offering support for his son. Then there is Drummer. The most interesting, but vaguest character.
The massive world ending discovery is interesting but glossed over very quickly and doesn’t seem to be connected to anything else that is going to happen in the rest of the series. It is actually a reference to The Authority comic books series, but if you haven’t read it, you can easily miss it.
The idea is there, but the hook isn’t strong enough yet. more

Issue 1 makes a good attempt at restarting the Punisher story, but trying to follow Jason Aaron’s King of Killer is no easy task.
The story is an easily recognizable Punisher story. A criminal has committed a terrible crime and only a highly skilled vigilante can bring him to justice. The story might just be too recognizable.
Except there is no Frank Castle and Joe Garrison accidentally becomes the Punisher because his outfit looks familiar. Garrison doesn’t make much of an impression and overall the issue is a little bit of a shame to call it a Punisher comic.
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The set-up in the first issue leads nicely into the second issue with another mystery to solve. There is almost a Scooby-Doo element in the story, except no “meddling kids”. The nostalgic references from the first issue return along with another guest appearance. There is a good sense of a larger story with enough interest in the immediate plot of the issue to provide a solid comic.

Issue one was getting the team together. Issue two is making the team work and setting up for what is a heist. A couple of good set pieces. There is some good tension between the characters as they attempt to achieve the impossible and infiltrate Themyscira. There is a good sense of urgency in the story and a good slice of action. Love the whole page fight scenes with lots happening. Watch out for some guest appearances. The special guest from at the end of the issue was great. More good stuff from Cassandra Cain and Big Barda. Fabulous duo. more

A solid issue. Interesting, well drawn with lots of mystery. A number of callbacks to Bruce’s past and previous issues.
The after effects of the Gotham War are well used. The issue doesn’t merely establish Batman’s current method of operating, it actually moves the story along. Jorge Jimenez’s artwork is great. A couple of pages contain no words and the panels tell the story. Awesome.
Batman is investigating, which is great. There is a death trap and some great insanity from The Joker.
It doesn’t feel like the arc of the story is clear, not like the obvious attack of Failsafe leading to escape and countering the attack. However, it’s a good issue.
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A disappointing issue. After the promise of the first issue, the second issue did not deliver. The insight into new locations in the Marvel Universe was good. Lots of great work from Valerio Schiti. The investigation into the villain Cubisk Core was interesting and creates a little pity for him after the events of issue 1.
The shift of focus to Aiko away from Wyn was good. Wyn barely appears in the issue. The problem with Aiko’s role is she recruiting Mia, so we get very little of Aiko. Given the start of the issue, the end is a foregone conclusion and the issue as a whole was a little boring.
The one redeeming moment is a brief appearance of an angry god. Unfortunately one frame early in the comic is not going to sustain my interest.
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