Reviews

As humongous and "earth shattering" as event comics can be they usually aren't the endgame a publisher has in mind. The payoff usually lies in what comes after, whether it's in the form of another event or a new series. Unfortunately for Marvel the pattern that's developed is a stale event followed by a great series; one example that comes to mind was Dark Avengers coming after the Secret Invasion event. Marvel's latest case, AXIS, while convoluted at times, has set the stage for Tom Taylor to play on the other side of the big two field with Superior Iron Man.

By Matthew Jent Hellboy and the BPRD #1 Writers: Mike Mignola & John Arcudi Artist: Alex Maleev Colorist: Dave Stewart Cover Artist: Alex Maleev Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Action/Adventure Publisher: Dark Horse...

By Matthew Jent Hellboy and the BPRD #1 Writers: Mike Mignola & John Arcudi Artist: Alex Maleev Colorist: Dave Stewart Cover Artist: Alex Maleev Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Action/Adventure Publisher: Dark Horse...

The duo of Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey have done it again in the 10th anniversary edition of their comic book series Action Philosophers. It's available in late October from Dark Horse in a beautiful hardcover one volume edition with new cover art. This smart and witty non-fiction graphic book is the introduction to philosophy that should be required reading. I wish it had been around when I struggled through some of these works! The series originally published by Van Lente and Dunlavey under their company Evil Twin Comics began life as a single issue comic book about Frederick Niestche, he of the “God is Dead” philosophy. The comic book proved to be so popular that the guys developed a series that was eventually distributed by Diamond. For those of you unfamiliar with the industry that’s pretty impressive for an indie company. With support and appreciation from the industry the series won a Xeric Grant in 2004, was nominated twice for an Ignatz award and lauded by the American Library Association. For Evil Twin Comics they've also created Action Presidents and The Comic Book History of Comics.

By Matthew Jent The Rise of Aurora West Written by JT Petty and Paul Pope Art by David Rubin Published by First Second   “You don’t have to attack what’s...

by Zachary Clemente Written by Ivan Brandon, Art & Colors by Nic Klein, Letters by Clem Robins, Design by Tom Muller, Edited by Sebastian Griner, Published by Image Comics. Mankind’s colonization of the...

By Matthew Jent Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #1 Story: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa Artwork: Robert Hack Lettering: Jack Morelli Covers: Robert Hack Publisher: Archie Comic Publications, Inc.   Poor little witch-girl. Where can we start...

Have you been reading Uncanny Avengers?  You'll want to catch up on that before reading AXIS.  I guess you probably ought to catch up on Magneto, too....

by Alexander Jones If Men of Wrath's 'Mail of Wrath' letters column is true, author Jason Aaron has one bleak family tree. His latest creator-owned...

By Matthew Jent Annihilator #1 Writer: Grant Morrison Illustrator: Frazer Irving Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher Book & Logo Designer: John J. Hill Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror   “Get this black mass on the floor.” Annihilator...

Admit it, if you hear title "Star Spangled War Stories featuring G.I. Zombie," you're probably going to wince a little bit.  Especially given the...

The Marvel Universe of 2099 debuted in 1993 with four titles, one of which was Spider-Man 2099. The bulk of the series, featuring Miguel O’Hara as Spider-Man battling supervillains and the evil-future-corporation of Alchemax, was written by Peter David. I love Peter David. He’s a wonderful writer who knows dialogue, structure, and character development. David is a superhero in his own right -- when he suffered a stroke in 2012, he broke the news himself on his blog a few days later, and he’s been writing comics pretty consistently since his recovery. It’s flat-out wonderful that David is writing a Spider-Man 2099 comic in the year 2014, the actual 21st century.