Batman #21 [The New 52] - DC Comics

BATMAN No. 21, August 2013

Considering that writer Scott Snyder aspired to make this “yearlong comic book crossover event” “bold, fun, fast and bright” it does not bode well when the most exciting thing about its opening instalment is the boringly bland and blank beveled cover illustration. Yet disappointingly this is arguably all that “Secret City: Part One” has to offer its 142,088 readers as the American author desperately tries to create a “big, huge, city-shaking, action, sci-fi sometimes adventure!” But instead produces a messy disjointed narrative which proves to be overly complicated by first disconcertingly starting presumably near the story’s conclusion and then leaps to different periods in Bruce Wayne’s past.

Indeed for its first few pages, which depict a street urchin first spear-fishing in a water-logged underground train station and then being rescued by a short-sleeved crossbow carrying Dark Knight, Issue Twenty One of “Batman” genuinely creates the impression that this is someway an “Elseworlds” tale rather than the beginning of the creative team’s questionable decision to make the Caped Crusader’s origin story “totally their own”.

Admittedly the heavily disguised crimefighter’s four-page ‘run-in’ with the Red Hood provides a little amusement as the billionaire’s well-meaning butler is told to “kindly… shut up” during a risky getaway sequence. But even this is spoilt by the New Yorker having the hero defiantly give the mysterious criminal mastermind an offensive hand gesture in the final panel. To make matters worse this escapade somewhat confusingly occurs “five months earlier” than the previous “six years ago…” and is then followed, without any warning, by a scene depicting a pre-teen Bruce being handed a “visual mapper” by his father Thomas Wayne?

This ‘choppy’ sedentary dialogue-reliant storytelling unfortunately persists throughout the magazine’s narrative with scenes regularly ‘flitting’, with no apparent warning whatsoever, between a time when the ‘fledgling’ Batman’s Uncle Philip, Head of Wayne Enterprises, is seemingly conspiring with a certain Edward Nygma in order to ‘kill his nephew’ and a much earlier, more innocent period in the vigilante’s life, when he was just a boy.

Equally as substandard, though infinitely more action-packed, is Snyder’s secondary tale co-written with James Tynion IV and unimpressively drawn by Rafael Albuquerque “Where The Hell Did He Learn To Drive?!” A supposedly humorous tale concerning a youthful Bruce Wayne apparently learning “all the tricks” of being a getaway driver from an unpleasantly arrogant villain who has “killed twenty-three police officers in thirteen countries over the last three years…”

Writer: Scott Snyder, Artist: Greg Capullo and Inker: Danny Miki

Uber #7 - Avatar Press

UBER No. 7, October 2013

As an instalment which “brings our current time in the Pacific theatre to a close” it is perfectly understandable for creator Kieron Gillen to want Issue Seven of “Uber” to be a thrilling, actioned-packed affair, absolutely crammed with wartime engagements, firefights and the famous ‘suicidal’ frontal infantry attacks which the Japanese Army seemed to so frequently employ during the last years of the Second World War. But alongside this carousel of combat the former computer games journalist disappointingly also incorporates enough unnecessary profanities and vulgar speeches into his narrative to have the 1954 regulators of the Comics Code Authority turning in their graves for many moons to come.

The greater part of this disagreeable dialogue is due to the presence of Eammon O’Connor’s foul-mouthed buddy “charmer” Chuck, an offensively obnoxious soldier who seems to unpleasantly verbally relate the everyday happenings of the war to various biological bowel movements. Indeed this character’s contribution to the comic is so distasteful that it arguably comes as something of a relief when, upon the turn of page, he’s cut off mid-sentence by a halo disruption field partially removing his head; “Heh. Yeah. Guys-- Just try to screa--”

Fortunately the vast majority of this book’s twenty two pages actually concentrate upon the exploits of a trio of somewhat softly-spoken Japanese supermen, rather than wallow in the swearing and grisly innuendo of the American trenches… And as a result the reader is able to gain some insight into the motivations of these Miyoko warriors and their absolute dedication to the ‘will of their Emperor’, as well as explore the final fatal effects of a “fatigued” Uber.

Gillen's script also provides artist Caanan White with plenty of opportunities to draw some truly grisly and bloody wartime casualties. In fact the African-American illustrator arguably depicts his most gory bodily mutilations yet published, as the three surviving super-powered saboteurs on Okinawa quite literally tear apart a squad of hapless United States Marines who happen to be foolish enough to try and trap the ‘panzermensch’ in a cave. Arms, legs, decapitated heads, torsos and unrecognisable chunks of human flesh are all tossed unceremoniously into the air as the Japanese Miyoko counter-attack their foes and the fast-falling American soldiers “scrabble around” for cover.

The variant cover art of "UBER" No. 7 by Caanan White

Batman #20 [The New 52] - DC Comics

BATMAN No. 20, July 2013

Whilst undoubtedly an action-packed high-octane read, this second instalment of “Nowhere Man” arguably demonstrates Scott Snyder’s writing at its most uninventive and lackadaisical. For despite ‘introducing’ a truly formidable-looking cipher-enabled Clayface, and featuring the shape-shifter’s subsequent seriously thrilling fist-fight with the Dark Knight, the New Yorker resorts to some truly cheap tacky gimmicks in order to bring this adventure to a woefully dissatisfying conclusion.

High on this list of disappointments is the way in which Bruce Wayne is so simply overpowered by Basil Karlo despite Gotham City's most eligible bachelor confronting his foe within Wayne Enterprises Red Laboratory; a “little armoury” crammed full of numerous Bat-utilities and weapons. Considering the sheer breadth of familiar armaments at his disposal, it is incomprehensible that the industrialist wouldn't put up some semblance of a contest or at the very least utilise a hidden escape hatch. But instead the Billionaire essentially just stands impotently before his nemesis, who, after a few panels of heavy rhetoric, swallows the wealthy playboy whole.

Dishearteningly however that is nothing compared to the incredible lengths luck then seems to play in the philanthropist’s astounding escape. For starters Snyder would have the reader believe that the business magnate survived being consumed by Clayface by astonishingly holding his breath for over seven minutes because “breathing’s overrated”; something which whilst feasible is somewhat unbelievable even for so dedicated a crimefighter as the Caped Crusader. The American author then follows up this implausible 'superhuman' feat by having Bruce and Lucius Fox escape the writer's homage to the Death Star compactor scene from the 1977 motion picture “Star Wars” by fortuitously discovering a fully-operational concept Batsuit amongst the surrounding detritus. A staggeringly implausible find which permits the duo to easily burst through one of the crushing machine’s extremely solid-looking walls.

Such utter absurdity is unfortunately actually surpassed though towards the end of the comic when an armoured Batman confronts Karlo, and having attacked the clay-like super-villain with hydrogen fluoride, coolant and an electrical charge, ridiculously traps the criminal within “a panic chamber” whilst wearing a ‘fibre DNA mask’ of his alter ego, Bruce Wayne... Thus all-too simply negating the shape-changing criminal's argument to Commissioner Gordon that the cowled vigilante and celebrity socialite are one and the same.

Mercifully, despite being a rather simplistic tale, this comic’s eight-page secondary narrative “Ghost Lights” is a far more enjoyable read. James Tynion IV really captures the sometimes edgy comradery between the World's Greatest Detective and the Man of Steel, and despite its brevity produces a storyline which entertainingly explores Superman’s vulnerability to magic. Artist Alex Maleev also produces some wonderfully dark visuals for this story, providing Batman in particular with some nicely drawn silhouettes.

The variant cover art of "BATMAN" No. 20 by Alex Maleev

Wytches #2 - Image Comics

WYTCHES No. 2, November 2014

For those readers who enjoy their comics taking them to ‘creepy, bone-chilling places’ then it is well worth persevering through the opening third of this somewhat disappointing instalment of Scott Snyder’s “fresh, contemporary, and much scarier” reimagining of “the mythology of witches”. For once the New Yorker’s narrative starts to focus upon Lucy Rook’s bygone motor vehicle accident and depicts her daughter Sailor bleeding out during a school swimming lesson, Issue Two of “Wytches” becomes a deeply disturbing, unnerving experience.

Indeed, whether it be the ghoulish-looking zombie Annie boasting that she “gotttt…you…”, the blood-shot eyed comatose victim Dylan momentarily waking to whisper "I can smell it on you", or the emaciated giant skull-faced witches who emerge from behind the trees in the local woodland, the America writer provides plenty of incentive for anyone perusing this periodical to be very “afraid to go to bed at night”. Even the man of the house, Charlie, isn’t safe from the scary shenanigans as some aged bald invalid, having left a trail of extracted human teeth on his lawn, savagely assaults him with one of her prosthetic limbs.  

Unfortunately however, before anything is encountered which “will really scare you to death”, buyers of this book will first have to endure a bitterly disappointing resolution to the previous publication’s extremely tense and sinister cliff-hanger. For having ended with Sailor seemingly being attacked by the undead corpse of a former school bully, this instalment bizarrely begins with the girl’s father frustratingly fixing a chair lift with “Uncle Reggie”? In fact such is the feeling of disconnect between this edition’s beginning and the conclusion of the preceding comic that doubtless many of its 58,345 buyers in November 2014 had to double-check to ensure they hadn’t inadvertently missed an issue.

Equally as dishearteningly lack-lustre, at least at the start of this book, is the artwork of Mark Simpson. Without the threat of something “bestial and primal” leaping up out of the page, Jock’s illustrations are disappointingly awkward-looking, even with Matt Hollingsworth’s wonderful spatterings of colour. But once the Scottish penciller starts drawing the grotesquely-shaped witches which exist “deep in the woods and prey on human flesh” then his panels take on a chillingly twisted unnatural life of their own.

The variant cover art of "WYTCHES" No. 2 by Declan Shalvey

Where Monsters Dwell #1 - Marvel Comics

WHERE MONSTERS DWELL No. 1, July 2015

Whilst it is far from clear how this “story about a World War One fighter pilot battling dinosaurs ties into” the “Marvel Worldwide” multi-title mega-event “Secret Wars”. This first edition of “Where Monsters Dwell” proves to be a fun, enjoyable read, crammed full of intense action-sequences, some genuinely entertaining madcap moments and plenty of prehistoric behemoths.

Most of this enjoyment comes at the expense of Karl Kaufman, a “famous flying ace” who writer Garth Ennis has made every bit the scheming somewhat disagreeable rogue as he is a skilled aviator. Indeed the hapless Phantom Eagle seems to personify the Eisner Award-winner’s aspiration to pen “something a little bit lighter” with his humorous yet oft-times deplorable behaviour throughout the comic’s twenty-pages. Whether it be the American-born stunt pilot’s insincere promise to a pregnant native princess that he’ll do the honourable thing before racing to his bi-plane’s cockpit, or ‘stinging’ a “naïve English socialite” into paying his aircraft’s latest repair bill, the stubble-faced swindler’s unscrupulous behaviour arguably can’t help but generate a smile upon the reader’s lips.

Equally as engaging is the Northern Irish author’s Clementine Franklin-Cox, a “ditsy little half-wit” who is clearly “not quite all she seems” and evidently just as knowledgeable as “Kaufmann-Tuan” when it comes to uncouth songs, flying manoeuvers and “the ins and outs of an air-cooled Lewis gun”. Missy’s putdowns and insults, despite containing the occasional profanity, are extremely endearing as she switches between personas; one moment lightly enquiring whether the surrounding hurricane “might delay our arrival a tad?” and the next sarcastically belittling her would-be rescuer for failing to recognise a Pteranodon Longiceps because ‘an education is clearly not his forte.’

However it is undoubtedly the dinosaurs which steal the show due to some incredible illustrations by Russell Braun. The New York-based penciller’s stunning series of pages depicting Kaufmann’s vintage bi-plane being battered by a flock of flying reptiles builds wonderfully upon the anticipation generated by Frank Cho and Jason Keith’s terrifically dynamic cover artwork. In fact the sequence’s two double-splash montages really show off the former “Walt Disney” animator’s flair for incorporating both the dramatic and comical into his drawings with Clementine bashing Karl about the head as the lizards from the Late Cretaceous murderously encircle their aircraft.

Writer: Garth Ennis, Artist: Russ Braun and Color Artist: Dono Sanchez Almara

Secret Wars #1 - Marvel Comics

SECRET WARS No. 1, July 2015

Despite its arguably inappropriate title, for there little that is secretive about two planets smashing into one another, Issue One of “Secret Wars” is undoubtedly a triumphant combination of suspenseful action-packed storytelling and wonderfully highly detailed characterful artwork by Croatian artist Esad Ribic. For whether the reader is a devotee of either the Marvel Universe (1961-2015) or the Ultimate Universe (2000-2015) there is plenty for them to cheer and mourn, as Jonathan Hickman literally has the two ‘realities’ tear one another apart.

Admittedly those who have followed the longer living and comic book world defining exploits of Stan Lee’s co-creations, will undoubtedly have more to be happy about having perused this magazine’s thirty-four page extravaganza. To begin with this actuality seemingly has the better day when both worlds’ super-heroes confront one another, despite ‘the other Earth’s secondary attack’ using the best technology its “specially bred engineers” could muster. But amazingly it also manages to somehow have a few of its inhabitants somehow survive the fracturing of both existences; albeit a grim-faced bearded Mister Fantastic doesn’t succeed in saving anywhere near as many people as he hoped… including his own beloved wife and family.

There is though still plenty to enjoy if any bibliophile is more familiar with the Earth-1610 imprint, as both the Triskelion, Headquarter’s of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the City, home of the Cabal and the Children of Tomorrow, feature prominently in the South Carolina-born writer’s narrative. Indeed General Fury and the “thousand-year-old megalomaniacal boy genius who wiped out most of Europe on a whim” Reed Richards provide much of the book’s early exposition as to what is actually taking place. Something which is crucial if you haven’t been following any of the events depicted in the “Time Runs Out” storyline from the “Avengers” and “New Avengers” comic books.

Equally as enjoyable and arguably a great contributor as to why this opening instalment of the mini-series proved so popular a purchase that it sold a staggering 527,678 copies in May 2015, is that despite the colossal scale of his script, Hickman still somehow manages to find the time to incorporate numerous genuinely memorable micro-sized moments within its sweeping grandeur. Some such as the sudden tragic demise of Rocket Raccoon or Invisible Woman are poignant panels which draw a heavy pause in the chaotic proceedings. Whilst others, such as a confident sounding Spider-Man telling the New York locals that “I’ve got this… Uh. Maybe” or the Punisher asking a packed out bar full of the city’s most notorious super-villains “what am I gonna do with all these bullets” are humorous laugh out loud moments.

The regular cover art of "SECRET WARS" No. 1 by Alex Ross

Star Wars #4 - Marvel Comics

STAR WARS No. 4, June 2015

Whilst there is undoubtedly an awful lot going on within the twenty pages of the best-selling comic of April 2015, the vast majority of it regrettably concerns simple plot and character development as opposed to any pulse-pounding ‘laser-pinging’ action. In fact besides a clumsy attempt by Jason Aaron to imitate the infamous ‘Han shoots first’ cantina scene from the film “A New Hope”, the only real tension to be gleaned from Issue Four of “Star Wars” is the edgy threat-laden verbal sparring between Darth Vader and Jabba the Hutt.

This confrontation between two of the saga’s most villainous giants is tremendously well-written, and whether they be negotiating over supply shipments from the Outer Rim in the gangster’s palace or taunting one another whilst chasing down wild banthas on board the criminal’s pleasure barge, their every word seemingly drips with poisonous menace.

In addition, despite this rather surprising lack of action for such a ‘swashbuckling’ science fiction title, this magazine still proves to be something of an enjoyable read as the Alabama-born author slowly starts pushing his playing pieces around George Lucas’ galaxy, far far away… and simultaneously tries to align his narrative with those of the other “Star Wars” books concurrently being published by “Marvel Worldwide”.

Disappointingly though this fourth instalment of “Skywalker Strikes” arguably doesn’t provide much justice for the script’s main protagonists, with a bandaged Han Solo and his co-pilot Chewbacca effectively side-lined for the entire periodical on account of repairing the Millennium Falcon. Luke, despite some significant ‘screen time’ ineffectively battling training remotes, doesn’t fare much better either. As Aaron suddenly turns the aspiring Jedi into a youth full of concern, fear and anxiety; something which is dishearteningly far removed from the carefree adventure-seeking farm boy seen on the ‘big screen’.

Interestingly there is a discernible stylistic change in some of John Cassaday’s illustrations when compared to the artist's previous pencilling on the series. Such a prominent variation in the Eisner Award-winner’s work is especially noticeable in his depiction of Leia Organa, which appears to demonstrate a complete departure from his former philosophy of trying to portray the princess as a ‘perfect’ likeness of the actress Carrie Fisher.

The regular cover art of "STAR WARS" No. 4 by John Cassaday and Laura Martin