Publisher DC Comics - Review

Jimmy Olsen 1

This Jimmy Olsen one-shot is a knitted-together set of scrapings, unwanted leftovers from DC’s back-up program last year. This run of ten-page back-ups in Action Comics was dumped mid-run when DC decided that people would rather pay $2.99 for less pages. Snappy, fun and hanging on the full, ridiculous history of Jimmy Olsen, these little stories are knitted into a really fun 70 page giant, which successfully manages to tell a new, contemporary, fun Jimmy Olsen story.

Adventure Comics 523-525

Twenty-two years ago, in the previous ‘hardcopy’ incarnation of this illustrious publication, I concluded a dismissal of the first issue of the 1989 Legion of Super-Heroes series with a phrase along the lines of, “Legion fans have long memories, and endless patience. We can wait.”

Justice League of America 80-Page Giant 2011

I love the JLA: as a concept, in that I love plenty of past issues, and in that I love many of the mainstays of the team. I always want a reason to read it, and rarely regret it. But oh my god this is fucking dreadful.

Xombi 1 vs. Xombi 1

Xombi, in its original incarnation (1994-96, 22 issues), was a title in the Milestone line, that grand mid-nineties experiment presided over by the recently deceased Dwayne McDuffie in tweaking mainstream comic archetypes via a more pronounced multicultural presence sans qualifiers. The series’ spotlight was placed upon David Kim, a research scientist endowed with nigh-immortality, an optimum body (always at its peak performance and never subject to aging), and the quirk of minor matter transmutation, all courtesy of that break-glass-here element of superhero comics, nanotechnology.

Showcase Presents The Witching Hour 1

Who writes the blurbs for these things? This features art “from a host of comics legends including Alex Toth, Bernie Wrightson, Jack Sparling, Pat Boyette and George Tuska,” a selection that slips steeply away from the legendary. In case you think that really is the best list they could pull, here are a few more artists featured inside: Kirby, Adams, Infantino, Gil Kane, Cardy, Morrow, Williamson, Sekowsky, Wood, Grandenetti, Aparo. I think I’d have mentioned one or two of those ahead of, for instance, George Tuska.

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.

Giant Size Atom 1

It’s not quite up there with Giant-Sized Man-Thing, but Giant Size Atom’s a pleasing oxymoron. If only the contents were as diverting.

Tiny Titans 31

This is rather charming: a comic featuring the Teen Titans and other superheroes as primary school characters, drawn in a style that you traditionally associate with (US) childrens comics. How is this supposed to fit in with existing DC continuity? Well, Tiny Titans is a TV show that the “real-life” Titans watch. How very metatextual.

Azrael 17

Appearing several years too late to get caught up in the sales wake of The Da Vinci Code, here comes Azrael. He’s dressed in the costume of a crusading knight, carries a fiery sword…and wears a face mask. Question: if you’ve returned from the dead, as Azrael has, why are you bothering to hide your identity?

DMZ 60

DMZ is a Vertigo title set in a near future America in which the USA is caught up in a civil war between redneck libertarian gun nuts and the brutal military-industrial complex who control the central government. The series is set in New York, which is some kind of frontline or demilitarised zone between the two sides. I suppose the idea is to show First World readers what modern war is like, by bringing an Iraq-style maelstrom home to that most quintessentially American city.