THOR: THE GODDESS OF THUNDER by Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman, and Jorge Molina

  I remember all the hoopla that went along with the debut of the female Thor. There were arguments on all sides, that it was just a gimmick, that it was to build onto the diversity package Marvel was hoping to bring to the brand. I didn’t buy into any of it. I figured it […]

DAREDEVIL: CHINATOWN by Charles Soule, Ron Garney, & Matt Milla

It’s been a while since I checked in with Daredevil. The last I’d read, he was out in San Francisco, and the scripts were by Mark Waid. I enjoyed the first graphic novel because Waid is always entertaining, but for some reason the story never quite came together for me. No reason in particular. The […]

CHRONICLES OF CONAN: TOWER OF THE ELEPHANT AND OTHER STORIES by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith

Roy Thomas was the second major writer at Marvel Comics, groomed by Stan Lee himself. But Thomas was also the first guy to bring Conan the Barbarian to comics. In fact, he was the one who named Conan “the Barbarian” instead of the Cimmerian as Robert E. Howard usually referred to his larger-than-life hero. I […]

RED SONJA: QUEEN OF PLAGUES by Gail Simone & Walter Giovanni

Gail Simone really GETS Red Sonja! Simone has long been one of my favorite comics writers, but she exceeds all my expectations with her first graphic novel collection featuring Red Sonja. This is absolutely a wonderful story, and Walter Giovanni’s art is a visual cornucopia of imagery. The story caught me completely off-guard because I […]

ANIMAL MAN: SPLINTER SPECIES

When the new 52 debuted with Animal Man on the list, I was pumped. I’ve always liked that character, even back when he was just a back-up feature, a lightweight hero with kind of ridiculous powers. Buddy Baker was just a guy’s guy who ended up putting on a costume and battling bad guys. I […]

THE PHANTOM STRANGER: A STRANGER AMONG US by Dan DiDio, Scott Hanna, & Brent Anderson

I’ve been a fan of the Phantom Stranger for years. One of the things I always liked about him was his mysterious origin. Over the years, there were all sorts of legends about where the Stranger was from, and I liked that I didn’t know. It was fun to suppose. Dan DiDio, the author and […]

SHAZAM! by Geoff Johns

Shazam, or Captain Marvel, was once the flagship of Fawcett Comics back in the 1930s. Captain Marvel’s adventures were released in Whiz Comics and he soon became the hottest selling superhero for decades before a copyright infringement case was settled in favor of DC Comics. For a long time, Captain Marvel languished, then DC Comics […]

EARTH 2: THE TOWER OF FATE by James Robinson & Nicola Scott

I was blown away by James Robinson’s first Earth-2 book, but not so much the second. The first graphic novel collection seems like it moves quickly, introducing a ton of idea and world building. This second volume has a ton of world building too, but it’s like it’s been exposed an Ice Age. There are […]

LAZARUS by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark

Greg Rucka is a writer I routinely follow in comics. He writes some of the best character-oriented stuff out there. I enjoyed his run on Wonder Woman and on Gotham Central (and I’m wondering how much of that will be cherry-picked for the new Gotham television series coming this fall). I love his work on […]

BATMAN: THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE by Grant Morrison

Grant Morrison’s The Return of Bruce Wayne is one of those dividing books in the DCU. You mostly either hated it or you loved it. I’m pretty much a fence-sitter on this one. I was okay with reading it, but not blown away. It felt too much like an “imaginary” adventure that was prevalent in […]