First things first:  Adam, apology accepted. Vol. 10 of “Empowered” didn’t just leave off with the series’ first-ever cliffhanger.  No, it left off with a downright brutal one by the standards of any title. After a big, dramatic heart-to-heart between Emp and Thugboy about their status, it looked like we were going to get a […]

The first volume of this series didn’t leave me very hopeful for its long-term prospects.  What with an ending that left so many plot threads and questions open to the point where one of its characters threw up their hands because of it.  Creator Rob Guillory has said that he wants this series to have […]

“Extremity” left me wanting to see creator Daniel Warren Johnson put his considerable artistic talents toward a more interesting story for his next series.  That is EXACTLY what has wound up happening with “Murder Falcon!” A balls-to-the-wall celebration of the intensity, awesomeness, and ridiculousness of Metal, it shows that style really can triumph over substance.  […]

Three volumes in and “Justice League” finally decides to dial things back a bit with its main story.  Instead of the fate of the Earth (again), it’s all about Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, and Green Lantern John Stewart getting some answers about the secret history of the universe on Thanagar Prime.  Getting said answers is going […]

THE HUNT IS ON!  Kraven the Hunter has been lurking around the margins of “Amazing Spider-Man” since the start of latest relaunch, having Taskmaster and Black Ant gather animal-themed supervillains, and now we find out why.  The story Kraven gives us is that he believes it’s time for them to truly learn what it means […]

Out of all the crazy power moves Robert Kirkman has made over the years — launching “Oblivion Song” with a trade paperback to retailers, surprise-ending “The Walking Dead” — the one behind this series has to be the craziest.  The first issue of “DIE!DIE!DIE!” showed up to retailers completely unannounced last year as part of […]

After reading this volume the action-packed start to the new era of “Robo” in the previous volume makes more sense.  Rather than go with a slow build, writer Brian Clevinger and artist Scott Wegener, decided to go big and have Robo face off some old antagonists to kick things off with a bang.  Now that […]

Above-the-Board Recommendation: The Dreaming vol. 2:  Empty Shells Si Spurrier is a writer who never takes the easy, obvious path when writing a story that involves established or corporate-owned characters.  No, he’ll always try to find some way to use them that’s still familiar yet takes them in a different direction. That’s what we got […]

Above-the-Board Recommendation: Outer Darkness vol. 2:  Castrophany of Hate So in case you didn’t get the message from my review of this last week, I REALLY liked the first volume of “Outer Darkness.”  To the point where I’m actually kind of concerned that I don’t hear more people talking about it.  After that first volume […]

Above-the-Board Recommendation: Conan:  Serpent War #’s 1&2 (of 4) This doesn’t get the “Above-the-Board” spot for what it is.  As a B-list event featuring Conan, fellow Robert E. Howard creations Solomon Kane and Dark Agnes (and also Moon Knight because why not), with Jim Zub writing and Scot Eaton and Stephen Segovia illustrating, I’m sure […]