This was an odd volume.  As its title implies, this collection of Mike Carey-written stories picks up on the heels of not one, but TWO crossovers, “Second Coming” and “Age of X,” and uses the fallout from both to tell a couple of character-driven stories about some of the lesser-known mutants.  “Fables of the Reconstruction” […]

Ed Brubaker’s run on “Captain America” has been in a slump for the past two volumes.  After spending so much time on selling the idea of Bucky Barnes as a worthy inheritor of the title and shield, his most recent adventures have cast considerable doubt on it.  Being outsmarted by Baron Zemo and having his […]

So the biggest news over the past week has unquestionably been the announcements coming out of the Image Comics Expo.  Yes, getting Grant Morrison to do his first non-DC creator-owned series with Darick Robertson is indeed exciting news, but that wasn’t the highlight for me.  Finding out that Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie would be […]

Though writer Tim Truman and artist Tomas Giorello wrapped up their run on “Conan the Cimmerian” a while back, they’ve teamed up again for this tale of the character’s years as a king.  This time, after being betrayed on the battlefield and having his army slaughtered to the man, Conan finds himself imprisoned in the […]

The “Avengers vs. X-Men” steamroller continues through this month.  There has also been some talk about how tie-ins to these events have been producing diminishing returns since the “Civil War” era.  So even though not every book is featuring a tie-in to the event, the fact that every “Avengers” and “X-Men” related book is still […]

Knowing that Scott Snyder had a hand in creating the story here and that it’s supposed to tie into his current “Batman” run made picking this up a fairly easy decision.  His hand isn’t the only one in the pot here, as this mini-series is co-plotted with Kyle Higgins, with Higgins dialoguing most of it […]

The first thing listed in the solicitations this month is “Earth Two” #1 from writer James Robinson and artist Nicola Scott.  Coming off the heels of the “New 52” relaunch which was designed with making (almost) every title a clear jumping-on point for fans, it does seem a bit odd that they’re bringing back the […]

Vol. 2 of this series was just about everything you could ask for in a second volume, and that’s why I picked it as one of the best comics I read last year.  It clarified the title’s direction and purpose, introduced compelling new characters and gave depth to the established ones, and set up a […]

If it hasn’t quite worked its way back to being “The X-book for people who don’t like ‘X-Men,’” this latest volume of “X-Factor” at least delivers a more consistent standard of quality than most other superhero books out there.  Peter David’s character-driven approach to the title has sustained it for over seventy issues now and […]