Writer John Layman’s plan to jump-start interest in his current series, “Outer Darkness,” by having it crossover with his old series, “Chew,” didn’t pan out.  Which frankly sucks because the two volumes of “Outer Darkness” that we did get were pretty great.  They also left the main story pretty unresolved, so I was hoping that […]

A new comic written by Joe Hill?  Even though it’s debuting in hardcover, I was sold on picking up “Basketful of Heads” when it was collected after the writer’s comics work on the “Locke & Key” series and “Wraith.”  That the writer was also setting this title up as the flagship for his Hill House […]

…are going alright, I suppose.  The previous volume in this series, “Mr. Higgins Comes Home,” found writer Mike Mignola in a comedic mood as he teamed with artist Warwick Johnson-Caldwell for a vampire story with more jocularity than jugulars.  For this follow-up story, Caldwell flies solo as Very British vampire hunters J.T. Meinhardt and Mr. […]

You know, I liked all three movies of the last “Star Wars” trilogy.  Individually.  Taken together, they’re a really great argument for having one solid vision behind any planned three-film cycle.  If this recent trilogy had that kind of planning behind it, a miniseries like “The Rise of Kylo Ren” might have been completely superfluous.  […]

I thought I was getting a story about a son getting to know his dead father while vampires take over the City of Brotherly Love.  That part was mostly true.  What I got along with it was a story about our second president, John Adams, being the source of said vampire outbreak and working to […]

Above-the-Board Recommendation: Everything vol. 2:  Black Friday The second and concluding volume of writer Christopher Cantwell and artist I.N.J. Culbard’s series about the weirder side of consumerism.  While the launch of the Everything superstore in Holland, Michigan was a rousing success by any metric, there are still a few people in town who haven’t been […]

Above-the-Board Recommendation: Swamp Thing:  The New 52 Omnibus This is a comic of two halves:  The one written by Scott Snyder and the one written by Charles Soule.  If you’re wondering how that shakes out quality-wise, imagine a curve that’s more like a valley than a mountain.  Snyder’s run started off well enough, but was […]

Above-the-Board Recommendation: Chu vol. 1:  First Course John Layman and Rob Guillory’s “Chew” was a lot of fun over the course of its 60+ issue run.  It also tied things up pretty well at the end to indicate that Cibopathic detective Tony Chu’s adventures were at their end.  So what’s the focus for this similarly […]

Above-the-Board Recommendation: Miles Morales vol. 4:  Ultimatum Under writer Saladin Ahmed’s watch, Miles has foiled a plot to hypnotize kids into being criminals, been experimented on by an unknown collector, fought the Ultimate Green Goblin, and survived team-ups with the Rhino and his own Uncle Aaron.  In this volume, however, he’ll face his greatest challenge:  […]

“Hellboy” isn’t driven anymore by an epic story about the title character’s role in the end of the world.  Instead, creator Mike Mignola is free to give us more stories about the character’s adventures prior to his death.  “The Beast of Vargu and Others” serves up four stories in that vein.  Three of which are […]