Martin Skidmore - FA Online

Samurai Executioner

I think it’s worth discussing, if only because there seems to be an assumption that Koike & Kojima’s other works are inevitably inferior to their most famous epic, and I honestly think there is far less to choose between them than is generally thought.

Venom 1

I said of Flash Thompson in my review of Amazing Spider-Man 654.1, which may as well have been the first issue of Venom, “Why a disabled ex-corporal was chosen for this is not stated – because he’s an old pal of Spider-Man, is all I can come up with, which is a comic writer’s reason, not military intelligence’s.” I thought this might start to attempt to justify that, but in fact I now learn that Flash has had problems with alcoholism which, since they need the host to be in calm control of the Venom symbiote, pushes this even further beyond plausibility.

Ruse 1

I’ve had to get good at not judging a comic by its cover (I assume Willie Dixon would approve of the extension): the third-rate John Buscema knock-off here, delivered by the always imagination-free Butch Guice, would be enough to put many readers off, I would think.

Fear Itself: Book of the Skull

Fear Itself is Marvel’s big crossover event for the next few months – I can’t tell you how many months or how many comics you’ll have to read to make sense of it, because to my surprise there is no checklist included with this. This first comic in the story is also by a different writer from the main series (that’s Matt Fraction), which also surprises me.

Takio

The first in a series of graphic novels by the team behind Powers. It’s smaller than comic format, hardback, 96 pages. The story is about two young sisters (7 and 13), who bicker with each other in convincing style, and then gain superpowers in an accident, the first people in their world to do so.

The Intrepids 1

I’ve moaned a lot recently about comics devoid of inspiration or vitality. This looked to have a decent idea, and I liked the look of the style a lot. I was quite hopeful that it would be enjoyable. I am now very disappointed.

Joe the Barbarian

Grant may be my favourite writer (who isn’t also an artist) in the history of comics, and this is one of his most completely satisfying works ever. It tells the story of a boy named Joe going into hypoglycemic shock, and his epic heroic fantasy quest to get to the kitchen for a soda, then to the basement to reset the surge protector, after lightning switched the electricity off.

Deadpool 33.1

The first thing to say is that this actually fits what I thought a .1 ‘jumping-on point’ issue might be like far more than the other couple I’ve tried. It’s a one-off story, giving what I assume to be a typical flavour of the character. The second thing to say is: isn’t Bong Dazo a great name for a comedy hippy?

Powers 7

Powers was always a winning idea: ordinary cops investigating super-powered crimes. By now, Bendis has raised the stakes some, in that our pair of cops are investigating the death of the demigod Damocles.

Phoenix

Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix is the greatest unfinished work in comics (and a real contender for comics’ greatest work of any kind). Don’t let the lack of a conclusion put you off – each volume is self-contained, though there are gains to be had from reading them all, in that characters recur, as do the central themes of reincarnation and questing for immortality, all centred on the mythical bird of the title, whose blood allegedly confers immortality.