West Coast Avengers [2024] #4 - Marvel Comics

WEST COAST AVENGERS No. 4, April 2025

As personality-driven pieces go Gerry Duggan’s writing for Issue Four of “West Coast Avengers” certainly must have caught a fair few of its readers off-guard by momentarily depicting a “romance” between the deeply disturbed Firestar and “the newest and least-tested member” of Iron Man’s team. Indeed, despite the New York City-based publisher’s overt declaration that this particular twenty-page periodical would depict Angelica Jones smooching with the disagreeable Blue Bolt, the actual moment the two characters kiss is still arguably rather surprising.

For starters, the former New Warrior appears to make it crystal clear beforehand that she doesn’t want anything to do with Tommy Watt, and even reprimands the rehabilitating super-villain for addressing her as “Red”. She then spends the vast majority of this comic pushing the people around her further away with her excessive drinking, paranoid delusion that Tony Stark is not to be trusted, and misguided, alcohol-fuelled belief that the "Whackos" leader would rather have Ultron on his squad’s roster than her.

All of these misconceptions cause Firestar to seemingly depart the West Coast Avengers for a solitary existence with just her drunken demons. However, within moments of Blue Bolt chasing after her, the clearly vulnerable heroine is shockingly embracing a man who previously joined Hydra under Flag-Smasher’s rule. Of course, Watt does apparently manage to penetrate poor Angelica’s brain fog with his PTSD diagnosis, and offers her a shoulder to cry upon. But even so, the unlikely pair’s night-time smooch debatably just seems to have been penned by Duggan for its shock value, rather than anything else; “Please don’t call me Red. Please don’t call me anything Killerwat.”

Disappointingly, Danny Kim’s pencilling also appears to be just as unconvincing as this book’s narrative, despite the artist at least providing it with some much-needed dynamism when Iron Man and War Machine tackle the “nasty member of the Technarch race named” Shradram the Breaker. Much of this ‘unease’ stems from some almost amateurish-looking panels featuring Jim Rhodes and Stark, where the two armour-reliant protagonists genuinely appear to have been sketched by someone different to whoever is drawing Jones' facial features. In fact, even Firestar’s appearance occasionally suffers from a disconcerting lack of detail, such as when she starts drinking from a hip flask right in front of the billionaire industrialist.

The regular cover art of "WEST COAST AVENGERS" #4 by Ben Harvey

Alien Verses Captain America #3 - Marvel Comics

ALIEN VERSES CAPTAIN AMERICA No. 3, March 2026

Packed full of planetwide invasions, grisly infestations and some seriously scintillating close combat, those readers who enjoy witnessing Xenomorphs massacre both heavily-armed soldiers and hapless civilians with the same deadly precision will doubtless have enjoyed Issue Three of “Alien Verses Captain America”. Indeed, Frank Tieri’s plot for this twenty-page periodical races along at a truly breath-taking pace, and only occasionally pauses to allow the likes of Sergeant Nick Fury to momentarily mourn the deaths of his Howling Commandos before throwing its audience back into a writhing mass of all-devouring aliens.

However, such unrelenting storytelling does arguably result in the American author taking a few somewhat jarring short-cuts when it comes to explaining some pretty important events, like the Kree’s Supreme Intelligence being ruthlessly slaughtered by a heavily-mutated chestburster. Sure, this comic’s opening does a grand job in depicting the Empire’s initial fall before the razor sharp teeth and spiked tails of the extra-terrestrials on the planet Hala. But there’s no explanation as to how the ‘militaristic, blue-skinned humanoids’ subsequently manage to vanquish their merciless foes under the leadership of Supremor Mar-Vell.

In fact, apart from the Kree clearly assuming the mantle of galactic defenders against the Xenomorph hordes, this book doesn’t debatably provide all that much information about them at all – and seemingly supposes that any onlookers already know about their large, interstellar civilisation. Such an assumption can prove a little problematic at times, such as when Tieri suddenly introduces Yon-Rogg into the narrative from completely out of the blue, and due to the commander’s physical similarity to Mar-Vell, could easily be mistaken for the “decorated captain” himself – an oversight which isn’t clarified until Steve Rogers calls him by name several panels later.

Easily doing most of the publication’s heavy-lifting though has to be Stefano Raffaele and colour artist Neeraj Menon. Together the creative pair provide some gobsmackingly good layouts, and provide so many intriguing insights into the fall of Hala, that some perusing bibliophiles may well wish that this particular instalment of the mini-series went into much further detail as to the aforementioned fall of the Kree’s artificial intelligence; “The Gods of Pama were unkind to us that day. Many lives were lost.”

Writer: Frank Tieri, Artist: Stefano Raffaele, and Color Artist: Neeraj Menon

West Coast Avengers [2024] #3 - Marvel Comics

WEST COAST AVENGERS No. 3, March 2025

Advertised as being the comic in which Iron Man and War Machine finally reveal just “how their Ultron became a hero”, Gerry Duggan’s storyline for Issue Three of “West Coast Avengers” probably didn’t live up to its audience’s expectations. Sure, the twenty-page periodical does provide its readers with some sort of insight into why one of Hank Pym’s mechanical monstrosities suddenly decided to join Tony Stark’s super-team whilst the convalescing artificial intelligence was orbiting the Earth. But precisely what the motivation for so shocking a change in behaviour could be is never debatably disclosed; “I will find out enemies, the Avengers, and make them allies. I will live to serve.”

Instead, the majority of this magazine has the “veteran of Deadpool, X-Men, Star Wars, and Gotham City” depicting just how dangerously dysfunctional this particular incarnation of the “Wackos” is, with the likes of both Blue Bolt and Firestar appearing to be utterly incapable of following their team leader’s instructions. Indeed, arguably the highlight of this book is Tommy Watt’s repeated attempts to best the One and his cyborg-cultists against Iron Man's wishes, only to keep being continually flattened by them.

Furthermore, Angelica Jones’ complete inability to pull her fire-laced punches, even though her opponents are still partially human, shows just how far down the slippery slope of alcoholism the former New Warrior has sadly fallen. However, rather than make the reader sympathetic to the young woman’s plight, Duggan pens her with such arrogance and hubris that the character becomes increasingly disagreeable – most notably when Firestar shows no remorse for burning a chap who is subsequently almost killed by the One as a punishment for hitting Blue Bolt into a lamp post.  

With such ‘choppy’ writing, it is therefore perhaps not too unexpected to find Danny Kim’s layouts rather disappointing too. This comic’s aforementioned opening featuring a number of Ultron’s holding court on the Moon’s surface debatably lacks any sense of true drama, whilst many of the artist’s panels appear to alternate between some rather impressively detailed close-ups – such as when Spider-Woman realises one of the One’s followers is terminally ill Meredith, to some rather bland, almost amateurish figures – as seen when a rather disconcertingly rotund War Machine decides to deploy his riot package in mid-air.

The regular cover art of "WEST COAST AVENGERS" #3 by Ben Harvey

The Golem #1 - Mutant Farm Comics

THE GOLEM No. 1, September 2025

Offered as an add-on during the June 2025 kickstarter for Issue Two of “Unholy Nightmare” by “Mutant Farm Comics”, Dolan Waddick’s storyline for “The Golem” must surely have delighted any of the campaign’s backers who added it to their pledge. Indeed, the comic book creator’s take on so iconic a mythical monster from Jewish folklore is incredibly emotional, and should readily tug upon the heartstrings of even the most cold-blooded of readers; “I love you, Bissel. Happy Birthday. Someday soon, we’ll celebrate on a beach.”

This genuine sense of attachment to both the pitiable Jerome Abrahams and his deeply endearing eight-year-old son, Adam, is undoubtedly the highlight of this short-story, and proves particularly impressive given that the writer achieves it within the space of just a handful of panels. In addition, it makes the second part of this horror tale all the more impactive, and easily explains just why the boy’s father readily loses all interest in life once the ‘apple of his eye’ has been so cruelly taken from him.

Of course, those bibliophiles more interested in action than careful character building will doubtless have soon found plenty of adrenaline-fuelled terror and physical mutilation to keep them happy in this comic too – courtesy of the titular character rising from its remains and taking a truly terrible revenge upon the Nazi soldiers responsible for running the Concentration Camp. These scenes don’t suffer from any unnecessary dialogue or exposition, and are simply allowed to run their course as the almost silent behemoth tears all of his former captors asunder, whilst simultaneously tenderly mourning the demise of his recently executed father.

Adding an incredible amount of depth, tenderness and all-too understandable savagery to these enthrallingly-penned proceedings are the incredibly well-detailed layouts of Vu Danh. The decision to simply utilise the Vietnamese concept artist’s black and white pencils really adds to the sombre, almost hopeless existence experienced by Abrahams and his fellow prisoners. It also allows the audience to witness the tragic, physical frailty of the death camp’s inmates, as well as later emphasise the sheer hopelessness of their Nazi captors when the tables are well and truly turned against the vile regime.

Writer: Dolan Waddick, and Illustrator: Vu Danh

Planet Of The Apes Verses Fantastic Four #1 - Marvel Comics

PLANET OF THE APES VS. FANTASTIC FOUR No. 1, April 2026

Described by its New York City based publisher as “an exciting new chapter in Marvel Comics’ storied history with Planet of the Apes” when it was first announced in November 2025, Josh Trujillo’s plot for this four-part mini-series’ opening instalment probably caught quite a few of its readers off-guard by stripping Reed Richards’ famous super-team of their special powers. Indeed, for those bibliophiles expecting to witness the Fantastic Four dynamically going toe-to-toe against the gorilla soldiers of human-hating General Ursus, this particular twenty-five page publication will undoubtedly strike them as being rather sedentary in its storytelling; “Your quality remains undetermined, but you leave this tribunal with many questions.”

True, the American author’s narrative isn’t entirely confined to being a dialogue-driven courtroom drama, and does – courtesy of an adrenalin-fuelled flashback sequence – provide a genuinely scintillating bout of fisticuffs between Stan Lee’s co-creations and the Red Ghost. However, just how Ivan Kragoff managed to penetrate the well-documented security systems of the Baxter Building with his Super-Apes, let alone activated Mister Fantastic’s Di-Quantum Stabilizer is never explained, and may well resultantly strike some in the audience as simply providing this comic with some much-needed “Thok!” before the book gets too bogged down with a seemingly never ending carousel of conversations.

Perhaps this publication’s best moment therefore occurs just after a de-powered Fantastic Four miraculously arrive in one of the large crop fields belonging to Ape City, and are quickly captured by a handful of soldiers. This sequence does a good job of acknowledging one of the defining scenes in Franklin J. Schaffner’s 1968 movie “Planet of the Apes”, and certainly brings back memories of actor Charlton Heston deftly dodging one of the gorillas’ nets as they unsuccessfully tried to ensnare his silver screen alter-ego.

Likewise, Andrea Di Vito does a first-rate job in capturing all of Twentieth Century Studio’s science fiction characters – such as “Cornelius, Zira, Ursus, and of course Dr. Zaius!” Furthermore, the illustrator's backgrounds make it is very easy to imagine the increasing roar of a hostile crowd as the leading member of the Ape National Assembly, Minister of Science and also Chief Defender of the Faith desperately attempts to “follow the rules set forth by the Lawgiver” so as to ascertain just who these (new) talking humans actually are.

The regular cover art of "PLANET OF THE APES VS. FANTASTIC FOUR" #1 by Greg Land & Rachelle Rosenberg

Space Ghost #12 - Dynamite Entertainment

SPACE GHOST No. 12, April 2025

Considering that at the start of this twenty-two page periodical both “Ghost Planet lies in ruins” and “Space Ghost clings to life”, many a bibliophile were probably excitedly wondering just how David Pepose’s subsequent plot would show the titular character still saving the day. Indeed, with Moltar’s seismic resonator threatening to blow the entire place apart in less than an hour, and Dax literally bleeding out from a grisly wound to his side, it’s debatable whether things have ever looked quite so bleak for Hanna-Barbera Productions’ costumed cartoon super-hero; “This is bad, Jan… What’re we gonna do?! Space Ghost is down, the bad guys already stole Blip…”

Unfortunately, having created such a dramatically tense dilemma for the central protagonist to overcome, the American author arguably then simply decides to rely upon a series of unconvincing contrivances to ensure that the day is well and truly saved. Foremost of these has to be the notion that Alex Toth’s co-creation can just shrug off all of his numerous injuries at the hands of the savage Council of Doom by having one of his sidekicks partially-roast him alive using the flame-thrower on his Power Band. This solution is understandably incredibly painful. But afterwards seems to result in the brutalized cosmic vigilante being perfectly able to withstand “nearly the level of a nuclear bomb” single-handedly.

In addition, the Ringo Award-nominee would have his audience believe that Doctor Kander Ibal’s band of murderous renegades would throw away their victory just because Metallus destroyed some “magnificently coloured flames” conjured up by Jace, much to the great anger of Moltar. This internal squabble-turned-dissolution of Brak's fellow team-mates appears extremely petty, and whilst it does perhaps show just how obsessed with fire “one of the main antagonists of the Space Ghost franchise” has become. It doesn’t debatably ring all that true for a reason as to why the murderous band of villains would unceremoniously splinter apart just as they are on the cusp of a resounding, planet-wide victory.

Far more compelling than this publication’s penmanship is its layouts, with Jonathan Lau arguably providing all of this comic’s considerably-sized cast with plenty of spotlight. In fact, even poor little Blip, bound and gagged with Widow Web’s vines, is given a moment or two at Robo Corp Tower, even if any explanation as to just how the little monkey's cybernetically-enhanced brain powers the decidedly deadly Project Ultima isn’t terribly forthcoming.

The regular cover art of "SPACE GHOST" #12 by Francesco Mattina

Absolute Batman #13 - DC Comics

ABSOLUTE BATMAN No. 13, December 2025

Described by its Burbank-based publisher as “Batman’s final showdown with the monstrous Bane”, Scott Snyder’s narrative for “Abomination” probably left many of its readers scratching their heads in mild bewilderment due to Bruce Wayne’s arch-nemesis barely making an actual appearance in the book. In fact, the Venom-enriched psychopath only features in a handful of panels, and during these the masked behemoth is simply depicted sedentarily sat whilst a small team of surgeons rather disconcertingly work on his cybernetically-enhanced spinal cord; “Soon you’ll have my replacement, and he’ll have his new Bane. Then, I’ll finally go home.”

Instead this eighteen-page periodical largely focuses upon Catwoman, and her apparent ‘on-and-off relationship’ with the titular character. Admittedly, this largely dialogue-driven encounter proves pretty interesting at first, especially when it appears that the young woman’s helmet “looks a lot like the gear Black Mask uses”. But this insight also reveals a decidedly disconcerting difference between the American author’s incarnation of Batman to that co-created by Bob Kane, in that the titular character will “cut a deal” will the villainous Falcone to rig a boxing match, just because he doesn’t have any faith that his friend Waylon can win it fair and square.

Quite possibly this comic therefore only comes into its own once the Dark Knight and Kyle team-up together to penetrate the Red Hood Gang’s headquarters at a seaside funfair. This confrontation shows just how formidable a partnership the fighting duo make and contains a pretty surprising revelation in that the criminal gang are led by a shaven-headed Harley Quinn. In addition, Snyder finally hints at just what physical metamorphosis his version of Batman has undertaken having almost been broken “in a place called Ark M, where they do make monsters.”

Setting aside any criticisms of the storyline though, it’s doubtful many bibliophiles will find Nick Dragotta’s pencils for this publication underwhelming. The illustrator definitely channels his inner Frank Miller for some of his panels – most notably a splash page showing this book’s lead pair leaping through a sunset-lit sky, as well as providing a genuine laugh-out-loud moment when Catwoman captures Alfred Pennyworth and almost strangles him with her tail.

The regular cover art of "ABSOLUTE BATMAN" #13 by Nick Dragotta & Frank Martin