Action Comics #970

Action Comics #970

Action Comics is written by Dan Jurgens and drawn by Patrick Zircher (Cable & Deadpool, Nightwing, Iron Man). Dan Jurgens penned the well-received Superman: Lois and Clark at the end of New 52 in which the Superman from the events in Convergence and not originally part of this Earth has moved to our Earth with the Lois Lane from his timeline. After losing his powers previously this Clark had a son with Lois and started hiding out in the middle of nowhere raising his new son with Lois. Eventually his powers returned and with the death of New 52 Superman this other-world Superman stepped in to be the hero Earth needs.

In the current story arc Lex Luthor has become a new kind of Superman due to the death of this planet’s Superman but Clark doesn’t trust him at all.

To make matters even more confusing a new character has showed up called… Clark Kent. He has no super-powers and no one knows where he’s come from.

Phew.

Action Comics #970 is part four of the Men of Stell story in which Lex Luthos is going on trial for being Lex Luthor. He is accused of destroying the lives of millions by L’cal the Godslayer. Can Superman allow Lex to be killed based on the accusations?

Please let the answer be yes.

Star Wars #26

Star Wars #26

*cue theme music*

This Star Wars book has been Marvel’s primary offering since getting the licence to publish Star Wars again for the first time since 1986! The series started with plenty of fan fare but actually overshadowed Dark Horse’s final run on it which was also brilliant and well-worth picking up retrospectively, apart from the fact that all of Dark Horse’s work is now non-canon….

“sorry-not-sorry, Dark Horse”

- Marvel

The current Star Wars story follows the Rebels after the destruction of the first Death Star and focuses on a few different characters even doing some issues from the Imperial point of view (say hello to Scar Squadron). Along with this we have a series of Obi Wan Kenobi issues done in the style of diary entries of when he was protecting young Luke on Tatooine. Throw in a host of excellent variant covers and Marvel have put an appreciable amount of effort into what is essentially a side-show for them.

This issue happens to be one of the Obi-Wan stories but this is the first time that the Obi-Wan diaries are interspersed with the ongoing story-line.

In the ongoing story our mighty heroes have restored HOPE to the Galaxy. I capitalized the word hope because apparently hope is super important as shown in the recent documentary Rogue One.

Rebels have captured an Imperial Star Destroyer not unlike previous Star Wars story arcs (Wedge Antilles shows up in the captured Lusankya in Crimson Empire) and the main characters have escaped the clutches of the evil Darth Vader. All except one of them... C-3PO who now faces interrogation at the hands of Scar Squadron.

Much like Action or Detective Comics you can jump into Star Wars at any issue number and enjoy it. Even better this issue kicks off a new story arc: Yoda’s Secret War. Get on it!

The Atom: Rebirth #1

The Atom: Rebirth #1

The Atom introduces DC’s second Asian superhero title of the Rebirth era. Say hello to Lun Choi A.K.A. The Atom although the name he’s chosen for easing into United States society is Ryan. In his first semester he is already fluent in all of the lecture material before even attending the lectures having listened to all of his professors’ lectures and read them online. Flash forward 12 months and Ryan is acting as a research assistant to one of his physics lecturers.

It’s Ryan’s sophomore year and already he’s published and patented work so he’s a bit of a nerd.  

Genius.

Sorry, I meant genius.

Professor Palmer recognises Ryan as someone he can trust and, after examining his reasons for wanting to study science, reveals to him his identity as the Atom. At first Ryan is The Atom’s aide, coordinating his efforts from a command centre. Fast forward another 12 months now (Junior Year) and The Atom (Professor Palmer) has sent Ryan a message that he’s shrunk smaller than atoms and discovered the Microverse. He tells Ryan that he’s left him the equipment to become another...Atom and that he needs his help to save the nanostructure of the temporal time-line.

As a story it flows nice and will become a good adventure type title if it continues in this vein. Will it make the pull-list? Not for me, there’s just too much available on the market in terms of well-written books right now but this character might gel well for some people and #1’s are always worth a pull.

The Atom: Rebirth #1 is out this week.

Old Man Logan #16

Old Man Logan #16

Written By: Jeff Lemire

Drawn by Sorrentino

We're back to Old Man Logan once again! In Old Man Logan our hero is transported from a horrific future where his family is dead and he is guilty of butchering the X-Men under the malign influence of Mysterio.

The setting is like Stephen King’s Dark Tower, not just that one of the key settings is The Wasteland, a desolate terrain in a future where the bad guys have won. The hero is the same as well, reluctant, sometimes starved and dehydrated, disoriented. Logan has journeyed from the Wasteland to somehow end up back on Earth as we know it in the Marvel Universe. This is a Logan where the wires are more exposed than ever. The claws are quick problem solvers, like they were in the aftermath of the Weapon X Program. When it’s fighting time he doesn’t talk as much, it’s like he’s decided at this late stage that death is inevitable. For everyone else.

In this issue Logan is back in the Wastelands, somehow transported back from our Earth in events he can’t recall clearly.

The art is incredible. I quit Old Man Logan for a couple of issues when they got Filipe Andrade to pencil some issues (#14-#15) but now Sorrentino is back. He gets a huge amount of emotion from his facial expressions and contrasting scenes, helped by the fact that Logan is one of the most ‘real’ superheroes, despite overexposure to the movie industry and a legion of comic books left the character vulnerable to typecasting and not being relevant any more but Old Man Logan is possibly my favourite rendition of Wolverine since Weapon X.

The colouring of the book is on par with the sketching and evolves over the course of the first 10 issues moving from harsh contrasting colours to pastel shades later on. Jeff Lemire is writing other X-Titles but this seems to be the Marvel title where everything gels just perfectly throughout.

Often switching between worlds (or planes of existence, take your pick) is hard to pull off but Old Man Logan has been doing it for over a dozen issues. The book is consistently good (as long as they don’t go changing artist again…) and I can’t recommend enough. Start with Old Man Logan Vol. 1 - Berserker, out on paperback already. This should give you a good taste. But in my opinion a good comic can only ever stand up to someone being able to get into it based on reading a random issue. If the writing and art speaks to you you’re onto a winner so maybe just grab #16, out this week.

Batman #13 and #14

Batman #13 and #14

In issue #13 of this acclaimed Tom King series the ‘I am Suicide’ story continues (#12 was a corker also).

Bats finally defeats the psycho-pirate and subdues Bane with the help from Catwoman and the Ventriloquist. At the end of the issue Bats tells Bane that he doesn’t have to come and find the monster etc. and that he’s not necessarily a completely bad guy but in typical fashion the issue closes with Bane calling for lots and lots of venom to turn himself into a psycho again. This leads nicely into the next Batman storyline where Bane comes back to kick some Bat-butt, starting in Batman #16 on sale February 1st.

#14 opens with a very sexy make-out scene between the Cat and the Bat. Bats tells her she has to go to prison because she’s killed an awful lot of people (237 to be exact, along with one broken Bat-heart). She won’t get the death penalty but gets life instead and it’s in Blackgate not Arkham so that’s a bonus I guess.

Catwoman wants one last night before being locked away for good and so she and the Bat roam the city rooftops fighting two-bit criminals. The night ends in a romantic farewell between the two and after next issue Catwoman will be locked up.

Batman #14 is out this week.

Superman #14

Superman #14

Superman #14 sees the start of a new story, Multiplicity!

In this story a Russian-speaking Superman appears in front of our Superman driving his truck. He’s bloodied and running from people called the Gatherers who seem all-obsessed with consuming living breathing Supermen. As it turns out these Supermen that they want are all across the Multiverse but our Superman is not on the list, I’m guessing because he is from the events in Convergence and not originally part of this Earth.

Superman is written by Joe Tomasi, a writer who got me into DC in the first place when he wrote some New 52 Detective Comics. I like his storytelling and the character they’ve given him (Dan Jurgens Superman) and will probably always have time for him especially with the upcoming Supersons title in February.

But this issue of Superman ends with a bunny wearing a cape held on by little carrots.

And that’s pretty much all you need to know, give it a miss but definitely pick this title up in future or try to collected editions!

Detective Comics #946

Detective Comics #946

(slightly behind due to New Year hangover)

Easily my favourite of the Rebirth era so far, the story in Detective is gripping and attractive to probably any DC fan new and old.

Over the Christmas/New Year period we had #946 ( God I love the return to old numbering…) and #947. The issues are standalone from Batman/Batgirl, etc. and are an excellent read. Scott Tynion IV has delivered on previous Batman titles like Batman Eternal and he suits the Dark Knight very well. It’s a comic that has not let me down once and will go down as one of the best of Rebirth due to its gritty art, hard story-telling and consistency.

Issue #946 sees the continuation of the Victim Syndicate storyline where Batman’s first ‘victims’ (who are not criminals, see?) take offence at having their lives ruined by the caped crusader. At the start of the issue we see a character who left us after he sacrificed himself to save the rest of the team: Bruce and Tim are in the old Wayne Tower looking forward to the possibilities the new project could bring, the new project is of course Batman and Batwoman’s team that they put together in this run of Detective.

There is an excellent image on the second page showing a throwback to the night Tim died, a vast panorama of broken glass and Gotham, Wayne Tower in ruins, an airship and the sky filled with danger. It looks dystopian with all the lighting and two vigilant capes ready for action.

Tim talks to Batman of another way forward, a way of trusting other people to help him on his quest to make Gotham the city it should be. The juxtaposition is excellent. Tim tore Bruce apart when he died a few months ago but in this scene he is telling him the benefits of opening himself up to trust. One can easily imagine after being hurt so badly Bruce just doesn’t want to trust anything ever again.

The issue ties in nicely with Batman #12 also, part of the ‘I am Suicide’ storyline in which Tom King examines Bruce’s reason for donning the cowl in an excellent issue-long monologue.

As I’ve said any time someone is unlucky enough to ask me about this run of Detective Comics, this is an excellent book, consistently #1 or #2 of DC’s Rebirth line and long may it continue.

If you're not reading it you really should give it a chance, pick up the TPB versions of this run, the first of which is coming out 14th February of this year.