Above-the-Board Recommendation: How to Read Comics the Marvel Way #1 (of 4) Reading (superhero) comics can be harder than it looks.  Sometimes that’s because the creators have created complex works that demand more from the reader than simply reading left-to-right in straight lines.  Other times that’s because the creators are so hopped up on fame, […]

I don’t think anyone expected “Avengers” to not have any tie-ins to the big crossover event that was “War of the Realms.”  Especially when its current writer was also busy writing the main event.  What we could expect was that it would have greater relevance to the inter-title fracas.  As these issues show, it does […]

It took only two volumes to get there, but it looks like “The Green Lantern” is going to be one of those rare Grant Morrison projects that don’t quite click.  These kinds of projects are where the writer gets so focused on conjuring up as many crazy ideas as he can that he forgets to […]

(Huh… I was looking for the link to this review to add to my review of the second volume of this series and couldn’t find it.  That’s a first for me. So if you’re wondering what I thought of vol. 2 after reading my thoughts here, come on back tomorrow.) After Geoff Johns gave us […]

There’s really only one question to ask regarding this miniseries.  Is it any good once you take Batman’s penis out of it? The flagship title for DC’s Black Label imprint sparked immediate infamy when it launched and the Caped Crusader’s batawang was visible in one scene.  In addition to spiking demand for this issue, it […]

I’ll say this right off the bat:  The first volume was not a fluke.  Vol. 2 of “Outer Darkness” cements its status as the best Image launch I’ve read this year.  Writer John Layman and artist Afu Chan serve up some more inspired stories in the series’ vein of “Star Trek” by way of “Ghostbusters” […]

Four-fifths of this volume can be described as “good.”  You get the same quality writing and art from Al Ewing and Joe Bennet, with Ryan Bodenheim doing solid work on the opening issue, as they move the story forward.  First by going backward with a look at the leader of Shadow Base, Gen. Reginald Fortean, […]

If “Dark Nights:  Metal” had one breakout character, it would be The Batman Who Laughs.  Not according to me, however. The idea of a Batman whose mind was infected, literally, by a toxin inside the Joker’s body which only emerged upon his death wasn’t the right kind of dumb for my tastes.  Seeing Batman and […]

Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw, together again on “Guardians of the Galaxy!”  It should’ve been a can’t-miss proposition after their work on “Thanos Wins.”  Yet Shaw only wound up drawing the issues in this volume and Cates wrapped things up after twelve issues.  I’m inclined to wonder “What went wrong?” under these circumstances, but another […]

In case anyone is keeping track of the “Actually” bit, vol. 16 was “War of the Realms.”) My biggest complaint with “War of the Realms” was that it was focused too much on spectacle.  There were lots of epic showdowns and conflicts on display, but it was lacking in smaller character moments to help flesh […]