26th August comic releases

Batman and Robin #3 Morrison/Quitely

A very good end to the first arc, Morrison and Quitely make Pyg a gloriously grotesque and disturbing villain. On the first read I wasn't sure whether this issue strayed into being too weird for the sake of being weird, but on re-reading it I was much more satisfied. I am actually really enjoying Damien as Robin and the reversal of the normal Dynamic Duo relationship. The introduction the Red Hood leaves me very interested for the next arc, even though Quitely is not on art duties. Gold

Detective Comics #856 Rucka/Williams

The art, of course, is brilliant, though I actually preferred the Kate Kane parts of the issue to the Batwoman parts. The double page dance scene is the stand-out piece of art, with the penultimate page that bleeds from the Kate Kane to Batwoman styles is also great.

While Rucka is doing a good job making me interested in the central character, and it is especially good to see her civilian life, and Alice works well as the main villain, the rest of Crime Bible storyline doesn't gel as well. I don't quite know where the werewolf, squid-man and lizard-woman fit into everything and what the point of them being brought into the story was. Silver

The Question Rucka/Hamner

I am quite enjoying this Question story, though there's not really much to it so far, but the art is nice. Bronze

Guardians of the Galaxy #17 Abnett/Lanning/Walker

As usual, GotG is packed full of awesome. Rocket Raccoon, Groot and Maximus are all incredibly funny and the last part sets up great possibilities for future stories. Walker's art has improved greatly and this issue is very impressive. The choice of colours also really stands out. Gold

New Mutants #4 Wells/Neves

I'm very glad I decided to try this series out, this issue caps an impressive debut arc. Wells has managed to get me invested in the team in a very short space of time and provides more great character moments this month. I particularly enjoyed the last page interaction between Cannonball and Cyclops. Neves' art is also very good, giving all the characters distinctive looks and depicting the action well. Silver

Nova #28 Abnett/Lanning/Di Vito

DnA produce another great, fun comic this week, keeping up the pace from last issue while still finding time for quieter character moments. A satisfying conclusion to the Strontian fight is followed by more great interaction between Nova Prime and Blastaar, before the new core of the reformed Corps is introduced. Di Vito provides his usual high quality, clean and bold art. Gold

X-Force #18 Kyle/Yost/Choi/Oback

A welcome improvement from last issue, Warpath's rescue of Boom Boom and Wolverine and Cyclops' "discussion" are both great moments. As well as wrapping up the fallout from the Leper Queen story before Messiah War, this issue also introduces both the immediate, X-23 centric next arc and the upcoming Necrosha event. The only thing that doesn't fit is Wolfsbane and Hrimhari's fight against the frost giants, which I can't really see the point of taking up three pages. The art is very good, Domino's suprise is expressed very well and there are some cool splash pages, the only problem being X-23 apparently having a right arm cut off her left shoulder. Silver

19th August comic reviews

Wolverine: Weapon X #4 Aaron/Garney

Great issue, shows just why Wolverine is so popular and over-exposed. The main fight scene is brilliantly choreographed with amazing art from Ron Garney. Also liked the interplay between Maverick and the Hammer agent. Gold

X-Factor #47 David/De Landro

Cortex is great, enjoyed Madrox and Layla's conversation and the "whinging" remarks. The art was good except for Monet's strangely saggy face near the end. Not sure who Cortex is supposed to have been revealed as exactly. Silver

Batman: Streets of Gotham #3 Dini/Nguyen

Enjoyed this issue, the parts with Zsasz were very good, as was the Penguin's internal monologue, though I hope the Hush situation hasn't been fully wrapped up so quickly like the Firefly plot was. More really good art from Nguyen. Silver

Manhunter Andreyko/Jeanty

Really just an extended chase and fight scene, but Kate Spencer's internal monologue was still interesting and funny. The art was a bit mixed, some of it really good, but a few bits let it down. Bronze

Viking #3 Brandon/Klein

The series really gets interesting with this issue, the characters are easier to differentiate, and the main plot has kicked in. The art is simply sublime: atmospheric, visceral and incredibly expressive. Gold

I didn't think...

...Greg Land could get any worse, but then I saw two of his covers for November issues, both of which seem unfinished:

In the Uncanny cover, the characters are floating around with no perspective and all at completely different scales, Emma Frost's cloak is unfinished, and she seems to be standing on a flying X-badge, Namor has a Psylocke-shaped growth sprouting from his chest, there's no background, it's absolutely ridiculous that the supposed flagship of the X-Men franchise is so blighted by such terrible "art".

The Black Widow cover also has no perspective, Black Widow is floating in front of a giant skull, having jumped out of a huge scope, the Eiffel tower is trying to be a background but failing and a car is driving away from an explosion that isn't actually happening anywhere exactly. And that's without mentioning that she's clearly been traced from an amputee porn star...

Marvel November Solicitations

Damn you Marvel for announcing so many interesting new series, story arcs or events and creative teams all the time!

The first example of this: Assault on New Olympus and Incredible Hercules #138 (Pak/Van Lente/Buchemi). I was thinking of getting into Herc a while ago, but put it off as there was a lot of other stuff I was getting anyway. November however seems to be the time to get started, with the big event and the added bonus of Agents of Atlas back-ups, another series I was going to start but put off. Therefore, I'm quite likely to get these two issues, though not finally decided yet.

Mighty Avengers #31 (Slott/Gage/Chen) might be on my list, though it depends on whether I decide to get into the Unspoken arc now (including catching up with last issue) and while I'm really into the Inhumans, I'm not sure I have space for this series.

Now, the cosmic titles are must buys for me, so firstly: Guardians of the Galaxy #20 (Abnett/Lanning/Walker) which I'm sure won't disappoint. Brad Walker has provided some good art on recent issues, though hopefully he can sort out his depiction of Rocket Raccoon again.

Nova #31 (Abnett/Lanning/DiVito) sees Richard Rider having to track down Darkhawk, who is believed to be assassin of Lilandra. I thought that Darkhawk reappearing in Nova was one possibility after WofK and I think this makes more sense than giving him an ongoing series at this point. DiVito has been brilliant as regular Nova artist and I hope he's in it for the long run.

The Realm of Kings kicks off with a one shot (Abnett/Lanning/Manco) then leads into Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard #1(Abnett/Lanning/Walker) and Realm of Kings: Inhumans #1 (Abnett/Lanning/Raimondi).

The political intrigue angle of the Inhumans mini sounds very appealing, while the Imperial Guard are finally getting some development. I'm not familiar with Leonardo Manco, but Kev Walker was good on Annihilation: Nova, and I liked Pablo Raimondi's work on Madrox and the Books of Doom.

The X-Books next: I'm not sure about Astonishing X-Men #32 (Ellis/Jimenez). I want to read Astonishing, but I don't know whether I'll pick it up in singles or wait for the trade. It partly depends on whether I get Ghost Box in hardcover or wait for the trade. I may hold off for now, as there are so many other books to follow.

X-Force #21 (Kyle/Yost/Crain) and New Mutants #7 (Wells/Neves).

The Necrosha crossover actually has my interest, I like how it doesn't hop between books but has parallel stories and I was already following or planning to start with each series. Crain can produce very good art that should suit the story, though hopefully he's improved his fuzzy faces problem. I'm also really enjoying Neves' art on New Mutants so far.

Dark X-Men #1 (Cornell/Kirk): Though this is by one of my favourite creative teams I'm unlikely to buy it for several reasons. First, I haven't been reading the Utopia crossover; second, I have very little interest in the characters, as they include two alternate reality analogues of main universe characters (Dark Beast/Beast and Nate Grey/Cable), along with Mimic and Weapon Omega who I'm not really aware of; and finally the higher price for a miniseries makes me rank this as less important than all the other announcements that were made at the same time.

On the other hand, S.W.O.R.D. #1 (Gillen/Sanders) definitely appeals. The concept of Earth's planetary border agency really interests me, and I became a fan of Agent Brand during Joss Whedon's run on AXM. I also quite like Beast, and Gillen's description in interviews of Lockheed as the team's Wolverine sounds good. Plus, covers by John Cassaday!

Wolverine: Weapon X #7 (Aaron/Paquette). I've enjoyed this series so far, and I'm sure Aaron can make this second arc great. Haven't seen much of Paquette's art, but his Uncanny issue was well received so I'm sure it will be good.

I'm probably going to get X-Men Legacy #229 (Carey/Roberson?/Acuna) as I'm interested in seeing Rogue's new role. I hope Gambit isn't being pushed away from the X-Men again, my idea is that maybe he will be using his skills as a thief (and possible as a saboteur) for the benefit of the X-Men.

I mentioned trying to get into Agents of Atlas earlier, so X-Men vs Agents of Atlas #2 (Parker/Pagulayan) will probably be where I start, before it becomes a back-up in iHerc and hopefully gets relaunched again later.

DC November Solicitations

There's only really the Batman line that interests me from DC at the moment.

Though Sinestro Corps War was brilliant, Blackest Night just doesn't appeal to me at all.

Characters I've either never heard of or only vaguely know coming back as basically zombies, a big bad reveal to which my only response is "Who?!?" and the sidelining of the War of Light, which I am interested in as a continuation of the Sinestro Corps War, in favour of "DC Zombies! From Space!" makes me glad I decided against getting all caught up in it.

So, Batman and Robin #6 (Morrison/Tan) will be a must, I've really enjoyed the new partnership between Dick and Damian so far and though Frank Quitely won't be on art for this second arc, Philip Tan's covers have looked good.

Detective Comics #859 (Rucka/Williams/Hamner) is also a definite purchase, I'm very interested in seeing the origin of Batwoman explored, the Question backup has also been good so far, and the art on both parts will of course be amazing.

The other Batman title I have picked up since the June relaunch is Batman: Streets of Gotham. #6 (Yost/Nguyen and Andreyko/Haun) is not likely to remain on my pull list. I've come to the probable conclusion that I'll drop the book with #5, as this arc has a guest writer, guest stars (though I am interested in the Huntress) and I imagine Paul Dini's initial storylines (especially Hush impersonating Bruce Wayne) will be finished by then. I'm not really all that invested in the Manhunter backup, so #5 seems like a good place to drop the series.

The main reason is that in November, and October less so, Marvel have a shedload of new books/story arcs that I'm interested in, and I'm already getting two Bat-books, so Streets of Gotham is up for the chop to make a bit of room.

5th August comic reviews

War of Kings #6 Abnett/Lanning/Pelletier

A brilliant climax to the event, which has been exciting, unpredictable and filled not only with action but a great deal of character development and interaction. The fight between Black Bolt and Vulcan is brutal, but the continuing development of Crystal ensures this issue is not all action. Paul Pelletier has become my favourite artist through Guardians of the Galaxy and War of Kings and while I'd like to see him on higher profile books, I hope he returns to GotG soon. Looking forward to the Who Will Rule? epilogue issue next month. Gold

War of Kings: Warriors #2 Faerber/Melo/Perez

Crystal Jay Faerber contributes a very good story that further adds to Crystal's prominent role in WoK. Melo's art is good on the whole, though Crystal's breasts are ridiculously large most of the time. Silver

Lilandra I think this is the weakest of the Warriors stories, it seems very quick doesn't really link into Lilandra's role in the event. Perez depicts some good motion and the Brood design is good, but overall the art is too cartoony. Bronze

Exiles #5 Parker/Jones

The compact stories are refreshing in Exiles. Parker has managed to make the characters really interesting in a short space of time. The art is good again. Silver

Review of July comics

Book of the Month

Batman and Robin #2

Morrison/Quitely

Runner-up

War of Kings #5

Abnett/Lanning/Pelletier

Cover of the Month

Nova #27

Cover by Daniel Acuna

Artist of the Month

Frank Quitely

Batman and Robin

Characters of the Month

Crystal Amaquelin Maximoff

War of Kings

Faiza Hussain

Captain Britain and MI13

Dani Moonstar

New Mutants

29th July comic reviews

Detective Comics #855 Rucka/Williams

Great art again, darker and more psychedelic than last issue, but overall less impressive than the second issue of Batman and Robin. Silver

The Question Rucka/Hamner

Impressive second part, with a good fight scene and great art. Silver

War of Kings: Ascension #4 Abnett/Lanning/Alves

An enjoyable end to the tie-in mini, a couple of good fights and good art. I would be keen to follow a Darkhawk ongoing if it was written by DnA. Silver