Reviews - Review - FA Online

The Return of Bruce Wayne

All credit to Grant for the way he has played Batman’s death. Yes, he gave us some ‘he really is dead’ stuff in the wonderful Final Crisis series where Batman and Darkseid kill each other, with Superman carrying the clearly dead body. However, he also ended the series with a clear statement that he isn’t dead, that he is now somehow lost in the depths of the past.

Incredible Hulks 618

Marvel and DC’s business strategy to the symptom of plummeting sales seems to be this: spin off your most popular characters into second and third and fourth books. Spin-off the spin-offs. Then involve them in one long, universe-threatening, cross-over.

American Vampire 9

I sometimes struggle to see the point of Vertigo. I guess it wants to be seen as DC’s serious, arty line, far from the superheroes, for intelligent adults, equating to indie graphic novels. Trouble is, it always seems to me to be kind of like a DC comic but with more violence and swearing and stuff like that, and rarely any more genuine intelligence or substance, mostly just the trappings of those kinds of values.

The Killer: Modus Vivendi 5

An acclaimed series, taken from an award-winning series of European albums featuring the exploits of an introspective hitman, carrying out assassinations for political factions whose purposes he only slowly begins to understand. What could be better?

The Comix Reader 1

This is a 24-page tabloid newsprint comic, mostly in colour, for £1, seeking the old underground spirit. A noble aim, and I am all for the format and price, but is it any good?

The Extremist

The Extremist was a four issue limited series from Vertigo in the early 1990s that they have now reissued as part of their Vertigo Resurrected line. Set in San Francisco, the book concerns itself with the Order, an organisation of Sadeans with outré sexual urges.

Ayako

In my mind, a big new (well, new in English – this is from 1973) Tezuka graphic novel is a major comics publishing event. I don’t think I’ve been as excited about reading a new comic in many months.

Human Target (TV show)

What the show offers within its own comfort zone, is good old fashioned fun: spectacular stunts, humorous interaction by likable characters, and variety.

Grandville Mon Amour

The first thing that strikes you about this is that it’s a really lovely volume – a large hardback, perfectly printed on thick glossy paper, with a striking embossed two-colour cover. The next thing you notice, without any surprise for anyone who knows Bryan’s work, is that the beauty of the art justifies and all but demands such treatment.

Bomb Queen 2

This is possibly not the worst comic I’ve ever read, but it feels like it.