Absolute Batman #11 - DC Comics

ABSOLUTE BATMAN No. 11, October 2025

Providing the much anticipated all-new “origin of Bane” according to Scott Snyder’s alternative universe, the heavily worded storyline for Issue Eleven of “Absolute Batman” must have physically exhausted many within the comic’s audience. True, the publication delivers a somewhat compulsive account of the muscle-bound behemoth’s early life upon the tiny island of Santa Prisca. But such is the sheer amount of narration hurled at the reader throughout its twenty-one pages that anyone picking up this book would definitely have had to work to reach the tale’s end; “He’s coming for you at this very moment. Wherever you are, kid, I’m sorry.”

Similarly as exhausting is arguably the pacing of this periodical, which repeatedly relies upon tiny, micro-panels to help tell its plot. These layouts seemingly slow down even the most pulse-pounding of military coups to a soporific speed which disconcertingly induces much of the weariness felt by the rebel fighters whenever they are forced to race across their homeland’s sandy beaches battling the enemy. Indeed, many a bibliophile was probably absolutely elated whenever Clay Mann pencilled a splash page or two, as it momentarily provides an all-too brief respite from the American author’s avalanche of syllables, sentences, and paragraphs.

Such a situation is genuinely disheartening, as this instalment contains several memorable moments – not least of which is Bane brutally breaking the back of his aged father as part of his deal with the Joker. Furthermore, the New York City born writer must have caught the vast majority of onlookers completely off-guard when the cold-hearted Caribbean killer quite literally chops off both of the Dark Knight’s arms with the vigilante’s own axe-blade, and then proceeds to brutally brain the pleading torso which remains.

Possibly just as disappointing as this comic’s penmanship is Mann’s aforementioned scribblings, which for much of the book simply aren’t given any chance to breathe. In fact, it’s not until the artist is able to muscle his sketches into some sensibly-sized frames that he is able to show how truly talented he is - even if  the illustrator’s design for a bare-chested, Venom-enhanced Caped Crusader may well look a little too over-the-top for some Bat-fans.

The regular cover art of "ABSOLUTE BATMAN" #11 by Nick Dragotta & Frank Martin

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2024] #12 - IDW Publishing

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES No. 12, October 2025

For those readers who have successfully navigated the debatable ups and downs of Jason Aaron’s year-long narrative for “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, this ongoing series’ twelfth instalment probably proved a bit of an anti-climax to the Alabama-born author’s lengthy storyline. Indeed, considering that a heavily mutilated District Attorney Hale is well and truly defeated just half-way through the twenty-two page periodical, this comic’s ambience genuinely smacks of its creative team simply just wanting the book to be over; “They said they had something important they needed to handle. Just the four of them.”

So disappointing an atmosphere is arguably best seen by the still bickering titular quartet supposedly finally setting aside their differences so as to conjure up a monstrous four-armed turtle spirit, whose ghostly presence in the night sky indicates that the ‘heroes in a half shell’ are once again fully committed brothers-in-arms. Unfortunately, none of this co-operative temperament is actually on show as Raphael continues to angrily ignore Donatello’s plea for a short-loved meeting of minds, Michelangelo repeatedly bad-mouths his fellow fighters, and Leonardo is once again hurled into the action, so his fellow siblings don’t have to listen to him anymore.

Admittedly, this sequence does show the main cast somewhat working together – especially when they employ the aforementioned Leo fastball special. But they simply don’t appear to be any more at peace in one another’s company as they were when they first begrudgingly came back together to fight the injustices overshadowing the Big Apple several issues past, and yet the audience are suddenly told to trust Donny when he conveniently claims “We did it. We fought our way home.”

Perhaps this book’s biggest head-scratcher though is at its very end, when artist Juan Ferreyra has to pencil the dead Master Splinter momentarily appearing before his 'children' during a sewer-based séance. Initially, it appears that the humanoid rodent is about to make some story-stopping proclamation, or perhaps even step back into the physical world from beyond the grave. However, instead Aaron decides to have the Sensei shockingly reform in the secret headquarters of “Jonin of the Foot Clan” after the sorceress has unsuccessfully tried “to pillage the secrets of the Afterlife, the Yomi-No-Kuni!” without any sort of rhyme or reason whatsoever.

The regular cover art to "TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES" #12 by Jorge Fornes

Unholy Nightmare #2 - Mutant Farm Comics

UNHOLY NIGHTMARE No. 2, September 2025

It should probably come as to no surprise to any onlookers that an impressive one hundred and sixty-three backers dared “to continue the descent into darkness” with Issue Two of “Unholy Nightmare” on the online crowdfunding platform Kickstarter in June 2025. Sure, Dolan Waddick’s script for the thirty-two page plot arguably contains a fair few quieter moments than this title’s previous outing, courtesy of a somewhat romantic interlude between his two central characters back at the Recluse’s secret hideaway. But for the vast majority of this comic there’s still plenty of pulse-pounding action to keep the audience absolutely riveted; “Couldn’t I have gone to jail? Did I deserve to be shot repeatedly?”

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly however, many a bibliophile will also most likely find Lieutenant Magnum’s fiery introduction as the highlight of this book, rather than Jenny and her spiderlike partner-in-crime, with the absolutely no-nonsense Chicago Police Officer dominating every panel in which he appears. Of particular interest is the sheer sense of energy and humour the man adds to an already fast-paced car pursuit down the back roads of Gary, Indiana, with his heated rebuke of a rookie cop who gets their vehicle stuck in a traffic jam genuinely delivering a laugh-out-loud moment.

Furthermore, the author manages to provide every one of this publication’s considerably-sized cast with plenty of unique personality, including a wonderfully penned bald-headed priest who is as quick to throw a painful punch straight to the jaw as he is to amusingly curse using almost every expletive under the sun. Such individuality really helps draw the reader’s attention to each of Vlad’s mysterious minions, and should easily make them eager to peruse a much-desired third instalment of this title once its release is announced.

Similarly as successful as this comic’s writing though is its layouts, with Aurelio Mazzara, inker Gaetano Petrigno and colorist Gene Jimenez doing a fantastic job of bringing all the grim-faced ghouls contained within the narrative to vibrant life. Indeed, this book is absolutely packed full of some truly memorable visuals, such as Magnum’s aforementioned descent into a red-faced rage, or the Recluse’s awesome-looking arachnid-mobile sending the local police cars flying into the hard shoulder as it plunges bonnet-first into the murky depths of Lake Michigan.

Writer: Dolan Waddick, Illustrator: Aurelio Mazzara, and Colorist: Gene Jimenez

Star Trek: The Last Starship #1- IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: THE LAST STARSHIP No. 1, September 2025

Whilst co-author Jackson Lanzig was certainly right when he stated that this publication was going to be “something totally different" from the Star Trek stories he’s previously penned, it’s probably highly unlikely many of the thirty-two page periodical’s readers would agree with Collin Kelly’s claim that “If you love space, if you love adventure, if you love noir, this book is going to be for you." Indeed, for those older fans of Gene Roddenberry’s science fiction franchise, not even the last minute cameo of a resurrected James Tiberius Kirk will arguably be enough to have them placing this title on their monthly Pull List.

To begin with the entire series’ premise may well strike many within its audience as being unacceptably contrived with ninety-six percent of Starfleet being mysteriously eradicated via all the dilithium crystals across the galaxy suddenly exploding for no perceivable reason. This catastrophic disaster understandably leaves the Federation completely helpless, and apparently immediately causes the sole remaining Vulcan Admiral in charge to unconvincingly accept the help of the belligerent Borg – even though the always assimilating aliens have supposedly been dead and buried for centuries.

Debatably making matters even more unpalatable though is the Eisner Award-nominated duo’s decision to have their narrative’s central protagonist, Captain Delacourt Sato of the Starship Sagan, be rather disagreeably pompous and overbearing – even threatening to strip any other skipper in his fleet of their command should they go to red alert when an antagonistic Gorn fleet abruptly powers up “every weapon they have” during a tense stand-off. Furthermore, the senior officer’s plan to reconstitute an eight hundred year-old modular prototype into a transwarp space vessel which won’t then investigate the aforementioned “Burn” doesn’t sit well at all, and makes as much sense as the Borg appearing out of no-where simply to become the U.S.S. Omega’s engineer so they can subsequently ‘borrow’ the central plot from William Shatner’s 1996 novel “The Return”.

Disappointingly, Adrian Bonilla and Heather Moore’s layouts don’t seem to help with this comic’s storytelling either. Admittedly, the creative pair’s pencilling and colours are proficient enough to make it reasonably clear to any onlooker as to what events are taking place – with perhaps the Gorn’s holographic visualisation and a double-splash of the Federation’s new flagship being particularly worthy of praise. Yet most of the panels are filled with some incredibly dark, scratchily-sketched figures, which sadly simply don’t help spark the imagination for either the characters or the action.

The regular cover art to "STAR TREK: THE LAST STARSHIP" #1 by Francesco Francavilla 

Never By Night: Disturbing Passages Into The Unknown #2 - SnowyWorks [Part Four]

NEVER BY NIGHT: DISTURBING PASSAGES INTO THE UNKNOWN No. 2, October 2025

Quite possibly saving this horror anthology’s best story for last, Jonathan Chance’s “Collect Them All” is also this comic book collection’s most straightforward zombie-fest thriller – at least at the beginning when it seems that the author is simply corralling as many hapless innocents as he can muster into Pirate Pete’s Pizza House before unleashing a flesh-hungry cadaver amongst them. Enjoyably however, things don’t actually pan out that way at all, with the writer cleverly shifting the focus away from the adorable little Missy and her doting grandfather on to the staff working behind the counter at the fast-food diner.

This switch is remarkably well done, and definitely helps stop the narrative from flagging during its middle as the likes of David and Josh desperately attempt to leave the restaurant despite police marksmen cold-bloodedly gunning down any one reckless enough to escape their containment zone. In addition, the tale provides an intriguing cause behind the sudden and undoubtedly deadly outbreak, which will no doubt appeal to any within the audience who enjoy countrywide administration conspiracy theories; “But if you wanted to be the first to break the story… on the bio-hazard disaster at the Techizo Corporation and what the U.S. Government did to cover up a major outbreak occurring here.”

By far this yarn’s biggest hook though has to be the author’s ability to mix heart-warming emotion with sense-shattering action. The kind, loving relationship between the aforementioned little girl and her granddad is genuinely moving, especially once the child falls to the merciless infection and her elderly carer refuses to give her up to her ungodly craving for human brains. Nonetheless, such sentimentality is also quickly pushed from out of the readers’ minds, as the few remaining survivors terrifyingly find themselves fighting for their lives against both their former friends, as well as the people they originally thought must be coming to their rescue.

Ably adding plenty of gore and buckets of physical mutilation is penciller Rodel Noora, who alongside colourist Alzir Alves, does a fantastic job of ramping up the publication’s pace once the deaths start occurring. Indeed, the slow speed of this tale’s opening appears to neatly match that of the somewhat doddering old man spending time with his wholly innocent granddaughter, and then dramatically increases once the much younger and energetic protagonists take centre stage.

Written by: Jonathan Chance, Illustrated by: Rodel Noora, and Colored by: Alzir Alves

Absolute Batman #10 - DC Comics

ABSOLUTE BATMAN No. 10, September 2025

Chock-full of body mutilation and some truly terrific examples of just how ingenious Bruce Wayne can be when the circumstances warrant it, Scott Snyder’s narrative for Issue Ten of “Absolute Batman” probably kept its audience repeatedly guessing as to whether the Dark Knight was ever going to escape “the horrors of Ark M.” In fact, one of the few concerns some bibliophiles might have with this particular twenty-page periodical’s plot is just how the upcoming crimefighter is ever going to recover from removing many of his own teeth, and undergoing a number of near fatal surgeries – including a painful sounding “craniotomy and subsequent brain-stem insertion.”

Also somewhat disconcerting is the fact that no-one seems to actually care just who Subject Twenty Seven is, with the institution’s hierarchy seemingly doing no research whatsoever into the six foot nine inch tall vigilante’s secret identity. True, this inactivity could simply demonstrate a complete disinterest in just where the experimental facility gets its hapless stooges from. But considering just how much attention is subsequently paid to the titular character as he repeatedly attempts to break out from his cell, this lack of interest into someone who has previously defeated the Black Mask could strike some readers as being a little too convenient – especially when his mother Martha is so desperately trying to track him down on the outside.

Quite possibly this comic’s only other quibble is that Bane apparently always knows that Wayne is going to escape, as well as where to locate him within the massive maze-like complex. The American author does a good job of using Bruce’s various exploratory exploits to drop-in all manner of Batman’s (alternative) Rogues Gallery, such as Clayface and Poison Ivy. However, due to it soon becoming clear that the super-strong villain is apparently always one step ahead of his increasingly brutalised prisoner, any sense of suspense as to the possibility of the young man's escape is quickly diminished.

Definitely assisting in making this book as successful as it is has to be Nick Dragotta, whose ability to pencil the increasing physical toll being placed upon the (now) Capeless Crusader’s frame should genuinely disturb many within this publication’s audience. In addition, the sheer creativity employed to depict the other Ark M inmates is incredibly well done, with Waylon Jone’s Killer Croc persona probably being the best of the bunch.

The regular cover art of "ABSOLUTE BATMAN" #10 by Nick Dragotta & Frank Martin

Red Hulk #9 - Marvel Comics

RED HULK No. 9, December 2025

It is probably quite hard to find a comic book containing two quite so distinct halves as Issue Nine of “Red Hulk”. For whilst this twenty-page periodical’s opening part firmly focuses upon Thunderbolt Ross’ tenuous political sway inside his country’s government, and any favours he can pull when he needs help “to launch a mission to Latveria”. The publication’s later stages depict a no holds barred punch-up between the titular character and his cybernetically enhanced allies against a trainload of Doctor Doom’s nefarious automatons; “You have committed treason against Latveria. You are enemies of Doom. You will be executed.”

Happily however, both of these plot threads are enthrallingly well-penned by Benjamin Percy, and rather neatly flow into one another courtesy of an extremely bemusing “tickets please” scene. Indeed, in some ways it’s a pity that the General’s covert meeting with a sympathetic Senator doesn’t continue for a bit longer as the American author makes it clear that not all the politicians within the United States Capitol building are willing to bend the knee to the Fantastic Four’s foremost adversary.

Having said that though, there is an awful lot for readers to enjoy once the likes of Deathlok, Machine Man and First Sergeant Bowden begin mercilessly battering any Doombot foolish enough to identify itself aboard a cross-country express in modern-day Hungary. This lengthy action sequence, made all the more dynamic once the Red Hulk himself makes a welcome appearance, rattles along at a ferocious pace, and demonstrates just why the despicable despot of Latveria was so eager to ensure Ross went without any source of radiation when the aging war veteran was his prisoner in the past.

Quite possibly this comic’s sole quibble therefore might arise from those bibliophiles who struggle with Gabriel Guzman’s pencilling, and some of Bryan Valenza’s colour choices. There should be absolutely no doubt that the creative pair bring an absolute ton of raw energy to the proceedings, most notably in the form of a double-splash showing the claustrophobic close combat taking place within the passenger carriages. But some within this book’s audience may well find the odd panel too busy to perceive precisely what is going on with its heavily detailed lines and disconcertingly dark shadows.

The regular cover art of "RED HULK" #9 by Geoff Shaw & Marte Gracia