Simon DelMonte's Profile

Joined: Jul 26, 2017

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Simon DelMonte reviewed Two-Face #3 Mar 2, 2025
8.0

Given how utterly absurd the premise is, this is really well written. Great art.

Two-Face #3

By: Christian Ward, Fabio Veras
Released: Feb 5, 2025

CAN GOOD HARVEY OUTSMART BAD HARVEY BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE? When Scarface is kidnapped, Gotham's underworld is thrown into chaos. Is this an isolated incident or the work of the Shadow Hand that Harvey's been tracking of late? Only Two-Face can bring order to the proceedings, but the culprit isn't another mob boss or criminal mastermind--it's a once-...

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7.5

A bit overcrowded - more guest stars than A Mad Mad Mad World - but a lot of fun. The Elementary saga is really quite well done, even if it takes screen time from our heroes.

The Spectacular Spider-Men #12

By: Greg Weisman, Emilio Laiso
Released: Feb 5, 2025

LEVEL UP! The only thing worse for the SPIDER-MEN than one ELECTRO - is TWO! And this electrifying tag team has LEVELED UP! The Electros aren't the only SINISTER and SHOCKING SURPRISE in store for Pete and Miles... Sssomone ELSE has a bone to pick with the Ssspectacular Ssspider-Men...


Rated T

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Simon DelMonte commented on this:
7.0

The runs just been fine the whole time so far. I didn’t love how quickly Elementary is catching on, so I liked the fumble at the end.

Why the handlebar mustache though?

The Spectacular Spider-Men #12

By: Greg Weisman, Emilio Laiso
Released: Feb 5, 2025

LEVEL UP! The only thing worse for the SPIDER-MEN than one ELECTRO - is TWO! And this electrifying tag team has LEVELED UP! The Electros aren't the only SINISTER and SHOCKING SURPRISE in store for Pete and Miles... Sssomone ELSE has a bone to pick with the Ssspectacular Ssspider-Men...


Rated T

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Simon DelMonte - Mar 2, 2025

That is someone else's fault, but yeah. Johnny has gone mad.

8.0

This series is just more of a labor of love for Waid than anything set in the present DCU.

Batman / Superman: World's Finest #35

By: Mark Waid, Adrian Gutierrez
Released: Jan 15, 2025

20,000 LEAGUES BEGINS! A distress call from Atlantis has brought Batman and Superman deep beneath the waves...and face to face with the king himself: Aquaman. But this man of two worlds harbors a secret, and it will be up to the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel to thwart a coup that threatens the peace of all undersea life! A new story arc begins a...

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8.5

Great art, solid characterization, fun story, and just a hint of the meta-commentary that makes Ewing a keeper. Plus you can really hear Malcolm McDowell playing the Mad Mod all over again, ducky.

Metamorpho: The Element Man #2

By: Al Ewing, Steve Lieber
Released: Jan 22, 2025

Who could win the heart of the most fabulous freak of all? Only one more fabulous still...the switched-on Sapphire Stagg! But when Metamorpho and Element Gal join superstar Sapphire in the spotlight, they find themselves in the gunsights of a deadly rival for her cultural crown--one mendaciously managed by the maliciously malevolent...Mad Mod! But ...

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Simon DelMonte reviewed Green Lantern #19 Feb 16, 2025
7.5

An interesting comic, but why are we getting Connor Kent here instead of a better division of GLs between the two books?

Green Lantern #19

By: Jeremy Adams, Fernando Pasarin
Released: Jan 29, 2025

A NEW ERA OF THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS BEGINS HERE! Go all in with Green Lantern as Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps are given a new mandate to patrol the galaxy, fight crime, and stop the rise of "fractal" lanterns throughout the universe. An exciting new status quo for the DC Universe begins here!

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Simon DelMonte reviewed The New Gods #2 Feb 16, 2025
8.0

Strong second part, especially the Scott/Barda/Olivia scenes.

The New Gods #2

By: Ram V, Evan Cagle
Released: Jan 15, 2025

A GREAT POWER HAS AWAKENED, AND THE UNIVERSE MAY NEVER BE THE SAME! Mr. Miracle has found himself at a crossroads. Presented with a terrible choice by his brother Orion, he must decide between venturing out to save a child he has never met--a new god made manifest--or stay home to raise a child of his own. Meanwhile, an evil awakens, driven mad by ...

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Simon DelMonte reviewed Star Trek #28 Feb 16, 2025
9.0

A work of deep beauty that would live with The Inner Light and The Visitor if it were live action.

Star Trek #28

By: Collin Kelly, Tess Fowler
Released: Jan 22, 2025

Lore has destroyed the multiverse, and its fate now lies in Benjamin Sisko's hands. But after the USS Theseus slingshots into the Celestial Temple, Sisko finds himself without his crew-or any technology-on Bronze-age Bajor. The ancient Bajorans don't know what to make of him: Is he a terrifying threat or the prophet they've been waiting for?...

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Simon DelMonte reviewed Shazam! #19 Feb 9, 2025

The ending is kind of muddled, but I like the resolution for Billy and Freddy.

Shazam! #19

By: Josie Campbell, Dan McDaid
Released: Jan 1, 2025

It's brother versus brother and Captain versus Commander, as Billy Batson is left with no choice but to confront Freddy in his new superhero persona head-on. If Mr. Mind was able to worm his way into the heart of the Shazam! Family, there's no knowing who else may have been infested with his influence. The gods are watching, and what they see could...

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7.5

So far, there is little here to distinguish this from Waid's other work with Mora, and way too many cast members. Maybe the stuff with J'Onn is a good starting point for something more.

Justice League Unlimited #2

By: Mark Waid, Dan Mora
Released: Dec 25, 2024

INTO THE NEST OF THE PARADEMON! As the Justice League grapples with the ramifications of the Atom Project, a strange alert brings the team to the jungles of South America...and a horrific discovery. Can the elite Justice League strike force save a village from total slaughter? Plus...the mystery of the Darkseid heir deepens, and dissension in the r...

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7.5

Solid storytelling though I have no idea where we are going with Elementary.

The Spectacular Spider-Men #10

By: Greg Weisman, Cory Smith
Released: Dec 18, 2024

• The Spider-Men and the new hero ELEMENTARY go out to protect the city.
•  One's maiden voyage is rarely just like practice, and this is no exception...
RATED T

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4.5

Painfully twee story that feels like Greg was in the mood to revisit the Faerie Court from Gargoyles but decided not to actually do it in his Gargoyles comics. The art is good, the stuff with the Electros is good, the fairies are annoying.

The Spectacular Spider-Men #11

By: Greg Weisman, Genolet
Released: Jan 1, 2025

ELEMENTARY debuted last issue and continues on her hero journey alongside BOTH SPIDER-MEN! But that journey is going to be rocky with TWO ELECTROS and...is that a giant Lizard? Uh-oh.

Rated T

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Simon DelMonte reviewed Blue Beetle #11 Feb 6, 2025
8.5

A good ending for a series that should have lasted a lot longer. I hope someone can do justice to Jaime going forward as I think he might get swallowed in the larger and noisier JLU books.

Blue Beetle #11

By: Josh Trujillo, Adrian Gutierrez
Released: Aug 7, 2024

Jaime Reyes has found himself since becoming Blue Beetle. He’s made new friends, saved the world, and found a new place to call home as he’s struck out on his own. So what’s next for Blue Beetle and the rest of la familia escarabajo?

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7.0

Not worth six bucks. But still very sweet and charming with some amazing art.

Gargoyles: Winter Special

By: Greg Weisman, George Kambadais
Released: Dec 18, 2024

Disney and Dynamite present a very special GARGOYLES holiday treat: "Bronx's Silent Night!"
  
When a December blizzard blankets New York in snow, the city that never sleeps comes to a standstill - and the Gargoyles awaken to find that Manhattan has been transformed into a silent winter wonderland!
  
With the rest...

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Simon DelMonte reviewed Green Lantern #18 Jan 26, 2025
7.5

Great art and great character moments for all, but the story is scattered and the ending both rushed and muddled.

Green Lantern #18

By: Jeremy Adams, Xermanico
Released: Dec 11, 2024

THE GRAND FINALE TO THE CIVIL CORPS EPIC! Thaaros has arrived on Oa, hell-bent on destroying everything in his wake, with only Hal Jordan and the other Lanterns to stop him. Meanwhile, Kyle uncovers the secret of the Source Lantern as Varron moves to gain its power for his own. The Green Lantern universe flies toward a new status quo as our heroes ...

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Simon DelMonte reviewed Star Trek #27 Jan 26, 2025
8.5

Beautiful, heartfelt issue that truly gets to the core of Trek and its characters. If only the art team didn't keep changing.

Star Trek #27

By: Collin Kelly, Mike Feehan
Released: Dec 18, 2024

Lore's destruction has consumed everything in the universe except the USS Theseus and the Celestial Temple. In one last maneuver, the crew uses every ounce of power left in their main systems to shoot their ship across the galaxy to the temple. While their ship flies, the crew has a Louisiana-style supper and heal wounds between them before ...

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Simon DelMonte reviewed The New Gods #1 Jan 26, 2025
8.5

Very well written and gorgeous first issue. Might this actually be the first New Gods comic since Evanier that makes it?

The New Gods #1

By: Ram V, Evan Cagle
Released: Dec 18, 2024

RAM V AND EVAN CAGLE RESHAPE THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE DCU! An old god has died, and the reverberations of his passing are felt across the universe, setting forth the soldiers of an intergalactic army and awakening the latent powers of a mysterious child on Earth. But this has all been foreseen--prophesized by the Source and fed as enigmatic images to i...

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8.0

Just straight silver age fun. With just a few hints of Ewing's more thoughtful and contemporary approach.

Metamorpho: The Element Man #1

By: Al Ewing, Steve Lieber
Released: Dec 25, 2024

To know him is to love him--that fab freak who can change himself into any element in the human body! He's the one and only Rex Mason, alias Metamorpho... but can even he win out against Cy.C.L.O.P.S., the hairy eyeball of crime that gazes from the top of the pop charts to the lowest depths of evil--and even into the far-off, far-out Ra-Realm? To f...

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7.5

A lot of fun, but takes its cues far more from what Waid and Peyer and Kitson did in Flash/GL: The Brave and the Bold than the actual Hard Travelling Heroes stories. Still, this is probably as close as we are getting to classic firebrand Ollie any time soon.

Green Lantern / Green Arrow: World's Finest Special #1

By: Jeremy Adams, Lucas Meyer
Released: Dec 18, 2024

Everyone's favorite hard-travelin' heroes are back and brought to you through the iconic lens of World's Finest! In the not-too-distant past, Oliver Queen and Hal Jordan find themselves at a crossroads...and only teaming up together once more will save them from the scope of the mysterious bounty hunter known in whispered tones throughout the under...

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6.5

About what I expected, with the parts by Ewing head and shoulders above the rest. The high point was probably the Leopards Eating Faces Party.

The Best Defense Defenders

By: Al Ewing, Simone Di Meo

Doctor Strange! The Hulk! Namor, the Sub-Mariner! The Silver Surfer! An unsolvable murder. An aquatic doorway to nothingness. A wanderer at the end of time. And a cosmic train of planetary proportions. Four seemingly unrelated events that will require the powers and insights of the greatest non-team of all. Only they can connect the dots and challe...

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6.5

Tamaki doesn't seem to like her protagonists to be happy. This was just really as much fun as a Zatanna comic should be. Zee doesn't need angst. And just because this is Black Label doesn't mean we need near nudity. Good art, though.

Zatanna: Bring Down The House #1

By: Mariko Tamaki, Javier Rodriguez
Released: Jun 26, 2024

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...please put your hands together for Zatanna Zatara! The greatest entertainer in the crappiest hotel and casino of Las Vegas! Not that the ritzier spots on the Strip haven't come calling, of course. But since a devastating instance of magic gone wrong that forever changed the course of her childhood, ...

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Simon DelMonte reviewed Two-Face #1 Dec 22, 2024
8.0

A set of ideas that only make sense in the confines of a comic book universe. So much of this is rank nonsense, if well executed rank nonsense.

Two-Face #1

By: Christian Ward, Fabio Veras
Released: Dec 4, 2024

HARVEY DENT'S GREATEST TRIAL BEGINS! After years of internal con?ict, both halves of Harvey Dent have reached an uneasy peace. Now Harvey will use his skills as an attorney to resolve the con?icts of Gotham's weirdest and most dangerous criminals, starting with Victor Zsasz. When Zsasz is accused of murdering a fellow member of Gotham's underworld ...

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8.0

A solid start, but a Justice League book with a cast of 200 is not what I want. The best runs on the League have smaller casts and a chance for the characters to do more than save the day. Plus what will distinguish this from World's Finest, which already acts as a DCU team up book?

Justice League Unlimited #1

By: Mark Waid, Dan Mora
Released: Nov 27, 2024

THE WATCHTOWER RISES! The Justice League is back and bigger than ever! In the wake of Absolute Power and the DC All In Special, Darkseid's death has triggered a massive power vacuum in the DCU, and Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman must unite like never before and expand the Justice League to encompass every hero championing the forces of good in ...

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7.0

The art is great but this is so much more violent than the original Augustyn stories, and for all the Victorian trappings, the big fight is indistinguishable from any standard Batman comic. Would also be nice if Batman were in this comic.

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight - The Kryptonian Age #1

By: Andy Diggle, Leandro Fernandez
Released: Jun 12, 2024

The new era of Elseworlds kicks off with the return of its crown jewel, the mysterious and gothic world originated by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola! When a mysterious meteor falls on the wide-open plains of the Midwest, it will unleash a chain of events that find Gotham's bizarre Batman contending with not just the twin threats of the Catwoman an...

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7.0

Rushed, but there wasn't enough here to justify a fourth part. Waid has fun writing the JSA, but it feels like a lot of this has been covered before him before Flashpoint. (Heck, he references at least two of his Flash comics here.)

Batman / Superman: World's Finest #33

By: Mark Waid, Adrian Gutierrez
Released: Nov 20, 2024

Eclipso's reign of terror has brought the Justice League to the brink of civil war...but there must be a way to break the spell! The answer lies within the very power source that allows Superman to race faster than a speeding bullet... It's a battle for Earth's yellow sun in the dramatic conclusion of "Darkness Falls"!

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Simon DelMonte reviewed Green Lantern #17 Dec 14, 2024
7.0

The art is stellar. The story is kind of a muddle, though if the Gls don't know what is going on, why should we?

Green Lantern #17

By: Jeremy Adams, Xermanico
Released: Nov 13, 2024

THE BATTLE OF OA BEGINS! Hal Jordan and John Stewart mount a defense against the United Planets and the newly transformed Lord Premier Thaaros, all while Star Sapphire faces an unlikely creature from her past!

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Simon DelMonte reviewed Absolute Superman #1 Dec 10, 2024
6.0

Some interesting ideas but the execution is flat and quickly forgotten.

Absolute Superman #1

By: Jason Aaron, Rafa Sandoval
Released: Nov 6, 2024

SUPERSTARS JASON AARON AND RAFA SANDOVAL UNLEASH A SHOCKING NEW TAKE ON THE LAST SON OF KRYPTON! Without the fortress...without the family...without a home...what's left is the Absolute Man of Steel!

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Simon DelMonte reviewed Batgirl #1 Dec 4, 2024
4.0

Instantly forgettable

Batgirl #1

By: Tate Brombal, Takeshi Miyazawa
Released: Nov 6, 2024

Hold on to your seats, clutch your pearls, and rejoice in celebration because Cassandra Cain is taking center stage in her first solo Batgirl series in nearly two decades! When a deadly group of assassins shows up to kill Cassandra, Lady Shiva comes to the rescue, and they must put their complicated past aside and work together as mother and daught...

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Anyone else find this cloying and nonsensical? What is with America's Santa obsession?

Batman / Santa Claus: Silent Knight: Returns #1

By: Jeff Parker, Michele Bandini
Released: Nov 27, 2024

Horrors haunt the Christmas season as life-drained bodies litter the countryside, each marked with a strange symbol. The Justice League responds--but it's a trap! The heroes are pulled from our world, but not before Batman helps Robin escape. Now Damian Wayne must seek out Zatanna and the one and only Santa Claus if there's any hope of saving their...

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7.5

The flashbacks are great. The present day stuff is just okay. A bit further away from the usual Diana than Absolute Batman seems to be from regular Batman, but the wheel doesn't really feel reinvented. Still, this is much better than most Wonder Woman comics since Rucka.

Absolute Wonder Woman #1

By: Kelly Thompson, Hayden Sherman
Released: Oct 23, 2024

EISNER WINNER KELLY THOMPSON AND BREAKOUT ARTIST HAYDEN SHERMAN REINVENT WONDER WOMAN FROM THE GROUND UP! Without the island paradise...without the sisterhood that shaped her...without a mission of peace...what's left is the Absolute Amazon!

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