Like 51 other DC Universe titles, Swamp Thing started over with a new #1 issue in 2011. The goal of the initiative was to jump-start their sales by providing a jumping-on point for new readers, and DC committed a lot to it in terms of effort and publicity.
But don’t call it a “reboot”, because [...]
I’m a life-long fan of Star Trek, and of Doctor Who since it was relaunched, but there’s such a glut of comics tie-ins to them both in recent years that I decided not to bother following any of them. But for a crossover between the two, I figured I’d make an exception. It isn’t great [...]
There’s a danger in creating science fiction for the ideas to overwhelm the story and characters. That doesn’t happen altogether in Contraband, but the book suffers from it.
The story is set in the near future, and attempts to extrapolate the evolution of mobile media technology and the impact of online user-generated video content on [...]
There’s no mistaking that the creators of Fusion Anthology have put a lot of time, effort, and money into this project. The production values and packaging alone shout “commitment”. Which makes it all the more baffling that they didn’t bother with a good proofreading. There are some good things to be said [...]
There’s a bit of irony in the title of The Originals. Despite the futuristic trappings, it’s a rather thinly disguised story about teenagers in 1960s England. The Orginals ride hoverscooters and their parkas have evolved a bit, but they’re obviously Mods. Likewise the Dirt ride hovercycles, but the leather jackets are the [...]
WE3 is a fairly short tale (just under 100 pages) that the publisher calls a cross between The Incredble Journey (the Disney film about three pets trying to find their way home) and The Terminator (the explosion-fest featuring a robotic weapon). That’s a fairly good description. The pets in this case are a [...]
Earthboy Jacobus is both surprisingly light and refreshing, and surprisingly filling and satisfying. In the blurb on the back cover, Mike Mignola compares it to a cross between Will Eisner and Bill Waterson, and I can definitely see what he means by that. On one hand, it’s full of wacky sci-fi elements and [...]
“It all started with Star Wars“.
So begins the text page at the back of issue #1.
No kidding. {smile}
It’s easy to see a dozen or more elements of this series that were inspired by Lucas’ movies, from the energy staff the hero carries, to the desert world on which he lives, to the variety of alien [...]
Alan Grant is best known these days as a Bat-writer, scripting the adventures of the Caped Crusader and his friends in Batman: Shadow of the Bat. Well, Tattered Banners is something a departure from that. In fact, about the only thing it has in common with the tales of the dark night detective [...]
This series was originally printed in color. The reprint collection from which this review is written was done in black and white with grey tones added to approximate the original coloring. Because this is the most available format (and particularly since it’s the only one I have) this is what I’m using in [...]
OK, here’s a space story for the hard sci-fi crowd.
The last two space-based comics I read were space operas: stories following the adventures of pretty-much-present-day humans in the future, with space as the setting. Not that there’s anything wrong with that… Galaxion and Wandering Star are both excellent stories I recommend reading. But [...]
As I write this review, there’s a discussion taking place in rec.arts.comics.dc.universe about the clichés of DC’s “Elseworlds” stories. For those not familiar with this imprint, it designates special stories that take place outside the standard DC Universe. Many of them seem to be little more than costume dramas with different costumes: Batman [...]