REVIEWS Here you can read my reviews of comics I've read. I'll try to update as often as possible.
Oh, check out my Old Reviews.

03-Aug-00
Finally !! Proper reviews!!!!!! Beware of SPOILERS and harsh language, kiddies!!
UPDATE: 03-Aug-2000

BATGIRL #7: Batgirl struggles to come to terms with the loss of her gift, and runs across a very powerful enemy.
THE GOOD: I really like this book. It started off a bit shaky as the artwork didn't flow very well, but it has improved in leaps and bounds. This issue was great as it shows Batgirl training to compensate for the loss of her ability to "read" people. She's speaking more now which I'm not entirely thrilled about. The fact that couldn't really speak made her a very unique character but I'm willing to stay on board and see where this story goes. It's a great book.
THE BAD: Like i said, I was more interested when she was the unspeaking living weapon, but other than that, no complaints.

JSA ANNUAL #1: Continuing the "PLANET DC" series, this introduces us to NEMESIS.
THE GOOD: the set-up first story was ok. Nicely drawn with good dialogue. It introduces us to good girl Nemesis and bad sister Ellina.The second patrt of the story is interesting because it shows us Wonder Woman and Canary training The Star Spangled Kid and Hawkgirl. Some good stuff. More interesting is the revelation tha Hawkgirl is hiding something important from the team. Obviously the girls meet Nemesis and help her fight her sister. Just one question, who is The Ultra-Humanite??
THE BAD: None of these Planet DC annuals have been outstanding. The characters they introduced haven't been very interesting or original. Nemesis' father's resources are "nearly infinite". He's a brilliant genetisist/scientist guy and he's evil. Christ, the DCU is over-run with guys like him. How come we've never heard of him before?! I highly doubt we'll see any of these Planet DC guys again. Good.

LUCIFER #5: The former ruler of Hell visits the Afterworld.
THE GOOD: This book is just weird enough to keep me interested. Lucifer opens a portal to the Afterworld and a lot of spooky fuckers are drawn to it. Some good stuff, some great ideas, and some familiar faces. Nice artwork, too.
THE BAD: I know this is an unfair thing to say but this book lacks the grace of Gaiman's work. He wrote a wonderfully majestic but believeable Lucifer and this, to be honest, feels like a poor reflection. Something special is going to have to happen soon or I might drop this title.

MARVEL BOY #3: The lost Kree fights a living corporation.
THE GOOD: Great idea, the living corporation. Nicely executed, simple story. The type that Morrison does best. this almost reads like an Ellisian book!! ;o) This is a very strong, fun title ad I recommend you read it.
THE BAD: Not much. It's all good!!

RISING STARS #9: Ten years from now, MEDIAWEEK reviews the current state of The Specials.
THE GOOD: Great issue. The first half is a series of articles from a magazine called MEDIAWEEK focusing of what happended to The Specials after the events of the previous issue. We find out that Critical Maas has taken Chicago as her own, Patriot is still with NexusCorp and Matthew Bright is protector of New York. Another well written and clever issue from one of the best titles out there. (and don't listen to WIZARD, the art is great!)
THE BAD: some may find this series a little slow but for those of you looking for a well thought out, cleverly scripted title with beliveable characters will enjoy this.

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31-July-2000
Right. I haven't updated this site in ages because I haven't had the time and I haven't really had anything to say. Just a quick note that the X-MEN movie won't be released here in Ireland 'till August 18 so I dead jealous of all youse yanks wot got to see it already. Soon as I do, I'll let yis know what I think. Anyway, I still don't have the time for proper reviews but I'm feeling guitly so here goes:

UPDATE: 31-July-2000
Not going into review mode because it's late and I'm tired.
Bought MIRACLEMAN COLLECTION 4 by Neil Gaiman yesterday in a second-hand shop. I've never read Moore's original but have been meaning to get it for ages. This was REALLY good. Clever, well written stories (natch) and nice artwork. read it if ya can.

Generally, the latest Authority was great. Get to see Midnighter without costume in a very good scene. The Pope gets killed by a subway train (very funny!! to me anyway...) and other super-goodness. Buy it.
PLANETARY remains one of the best books money can buy. Elijah Snow gets some of his memories back and remebers who the Fouth Man is. Presumably to be revealed next issue.
The X-Books are generally good because I'm reading on the basis that I expect NOTHING to be resolved or explained anytime soon. (This is Clairemont we're talking about!)
Buy BATGIRL, JLAand JSA
(Promise to have better reviews soon!!)

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UPDATE: (20-May-00) Hello! I know it's been ages but here, at last , are some new reviews. (Spoilers-a-go-go) :

JSA #12: Kobra's defeat.
THE GOOD: The DEO's involvment with the Blackhawks and the island. The Atom Smasher scene
where he grabs Kobra's plane. And Metron turing up at the end. THE BAD: *meh*. That's the best way to describe this. It wasn't a great issue by any means.
I just didn't really enjoy it. Kobra is a really crap villian, for one thing.
Too much silver-age style posturing.I didn't buy the "hard-light" hologram explaination
for Sand not dying. Too easy. And, really, Atom Smasher should've just killed Kobra
when he had the chance. The deaths of anyone Kobra kills from now on are Al's fault,
as far as I'm concerned.Here's hoping next issue's showdown with Extant will be
an improvment.I'd hate to have to stop buying JSA.

TOM STRONG #8: 3 Stories in one
THE GOOD: People NOT tolerating Timmy Turbo's stupid dialogue, the reference to
the Aztech's. "Blue Triangle. Blue Triangle...oww!!" *heh*. the Tesla story was good, too
I like her a lot. She's fun and an interesting character.
THE BAD: Still hate that damn monkey. The main story, Tom and Solomon encountering a town
in the wild west that had been abducted for 150 years wasn't all that great.
It was a slow lead in (I HATE westerns) although the ending was okay. I don't like
Timmy Turbo, although I found the comments of the Strongmen of America quite funny.
Weird blending of things though, Timmy lives in Millenium City and reads about Tom
in the TOM STRONG comic, the same stories we read. Very clever but a little out of place.
Oh yeah, and like the letter from Josh Barbieri said, "Tom Strong" T-shirt please!!

GENERATION X # 65: Part 3 of "Correction"
The GOOD: Good use of Jubilee in this issue. She comes up with a plan (MY GOD!!) and the
others follow it!! (Sweet Jesus!!). Oh, and Paige gets a new power along with her "husk".
THE BAD: Plenty. I don't like this new direction. I'm sorry, I love Warren's work but this
just isn't working in Gen X. It feels...empty. nobody's acting normal, I miss the others
and I'm just not enjoying the book as much as I did when Jay Faerber was writing.
I'm also not sure about the Paige development in this issue. She husks and gets
super-speed along with her new form. I'm not sure about this. Yes, it's logical
and harks back to her first appearance during "Young Hunt", but this opens up a
can o' worms. What other powers will develop? Will she learn to control what powers
she gets? Doesn't she run the risk of the husking in to a form she can't control?? I ain't happy.
Well, I could hark on for hours here but ya get the point.

COSMIC POWERS UNLIMITED #1: Cosmic fun!
(I got this back issues coz Thanos was in it. Bear with me!)
THE GOOD: Plenty! I'm sorry I missed this series!! Silver Surfer goes to Thanos for
help when Mistress Death starts to fancy him. Thanos is none to pleased and beats the
crap outta The Surfer! He delivers him to Death to curry her favour but she spurns
him again, and then bans him from ever dying!! Thanos is immortal!!
Fantastic story. I love Thanos, he's THE best villan in the Marvel Universe,
when written by Ron Marz. This was an important story and it really showed you the
complexity of Thanos' character.
The back-up story was wriiten by Ron Marz and drawn by the greatest Thanos
artists ever, RON LIM!! Thanos is revealed to be the one who was entrusted with keeping
the reality gem, and he uses it to bring CAPTAIN MARVEL back from the dead.
He claims it is only to test the gem but Mar-Vell realises that he did it so the
capt. would act as his conscience. He reckons that Thanos is going to
use the gem to restructure the universe into one where Death loves him.
Thanos always sub-consciously provides the means for his defeat when he knows in
his heart-of-hearts that what he is doing is wrong.
He's right, of course, Thanos banishes Mar-vell back to the after-life and
returns the gem back to it's case. Excellent little story. It was a treat to find
a Lim drawn Thanos story I hadn't read.
THE BAD: Nothing. Except, that there is no Thanos on-going series.

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UPDATE: (28-Dec-99) Fuck it. I had some great reviews done. They were witty, insightful and through and then this bloody system went and crashed!! Well, i'm not typing 'em out again.
THE GOOD:
The Authority
JLA
Armageddon (Chaos!)
X-Men: True Friends
And other stuff. Dammit....

UPDATE: (03-Dec-99)
Hello again. Lets start of with a generalisation: THE X-BOOKS ARE READABLE AGAIN!
Now, regular readers will now that I have been...unhappy with the X-Books of late due to Alan Davis.
Well, the latest "The Twelve" storyline is really good. Big battles, a sense of impending doom. Great stuff.

GREEN LANTERN #121
This is really good. Kyle and Jade are married?! They live on new Oa?! THE CORPS IS BACK??!?
THE GOOD: Great story. Kyle wakes up married, on a new Oa with a new Corps which he put together but doesn't remember any of it.
He and group of Lanterns are snet to find out what happened to a Lantern who has gone missing. They find him impaled on a spear of yellow
flame: Effigy is back and he's brought some friends. He has his own "Anti-Corps"!!
THE BAD: As I said, great story but it's probably only going to last for a couple of issues, which is a pity because if the book had this
situation all the time, i'd actually buy it on a regular basis.

PLANETARY #7
London, 1987. A strange time filled with strange people.
THE GOOD: I really haven't the words. This is fabulous stuff. Set in a "Vertigo" stylem, this is the story of Jack Carter, a John Constantine-style
character who has lead a weird life and has apparently been murdered. Lots of parody/homage, a wonderful throw-away conecpt of "this year's Herod" and a great ending.
Spectacular artwork and a compelling story. Buy this now.
THE BAD: Nowt.

RISING STARS #3
A living flame is extinguished and a motive is established.
THE GOOD: Lovely art again whcih is a little confusing in places. Gorgeous cover, though. The story is features Poet's conversation with Raven's Shadow about
another "special" named Lee Jackson (Also called "Pyre", I believe.) We get some back-story on Lee which is great but not half as interesting as the possible motive
that is established. All 113 Specials got their powers from thwe same source. When one of them dies, their portion of the power is relesed and the others become that much
stronger. Some else has figured this out...
THE BAD: Other than the occasional confusing panel, nothing. I love this book.

TOP TEN #5
This issue resolves the mystery of The Libra Killer
THE GOOD: Gene Ha continues to produce astounding art littered with amusing comic references and digs. the Libra Killer is revealed to be an Alien with unusual hibernation
cycle. However, The Ghostly Goose remians at large! This is a great book. It's not very often than I read a comic and get that horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that
a character I REALLY care about is gonna die. I got that feeling TWICE in this issue alone! Wonderful.
THE BAD: Nothing. This is great stuff.

********************************************************************** UPDATE: (15-Nov-99)
Hiyis. It's been ages since I've had the chance to update and I'm sorry. I haven't really got time now, come to think of it, but what the heck!
Right, ye'll be getting short reviews. Firstly, THE SANDMAN COMPANION is well worth it if you're a fan of this wonderful series. In-depth interview with Gaiman. Never-before published artwork (though not much) and Neil is a very witty and entertaning interviewee.
THE WITCHING HOUR was bloody confusing. Something about a woman named after the White Goddess, who was once an irish lass (though i'm Irish and she speaks with an accent I've never heard before and what the hell are Pomengrantes!?!??!?) and her friends who are named after colours. Weird. And with it's Prestige format it's a little too pricey to be staying with. Wait for the TPB.
PROMETHIA is wandering. I hope something happens soon. I really don't want to stop buying this. "You are a total Lesbo". Brilliant.
THE AUTHORITY #8. Fan-fuckin-tastic. God i love this so much it's bordering on illegal. In this issue we finally get confirmation that Midnughter and Apollo are indeed a couple. This is great. Finally, gay character who don't bitch and moan about and just get on with theitr lives. Wonderful. The story is the conclusion of "Shift Ships" in which Regis dies horribly at the hands of the dead-cool Midnighter and Jack, and Jenny blows shit up.
X-MEN. I'm enjoying this again. Even with the disappointing revelation of The Twelve. Looking forward to the year end battle. NOT so sure about the reality-warp that'll result from it. A little to AOA for my liking.
My fav comic shop, SUB-CITY, recently had a sale and I got my hands on:
X-FORCE/YOUNGBLOOD Pret UPDATE: (14-Sept-99) Yeah, I know it's been ages since I last reviewed anything but I've been mad busy in work, Ok?
First off the bat, JLA:SUPERPOWER. Excellent comic. Some of you may have been put off by the high cover price, but this book was definitely worth it.
The story is about a guy who has superpowers and gets asked to join the league. However, he doesn't always agree with thier policies...
THE GOOD: Nice art. Good, dramatic layout. The story was well paced. We're introduced to Mark Antaeus, a local hero who has Super-strength and invulnerability idolises Superman (He has a huge "S" tatoo on his back). He tried to save 4 people from a burning building, but fails and they die.
This leads him to get cybernetic enhancements. He fells he needs these to become a better person. A better hero. Afetr much heroic doings, he eventually gets asked to Join the JLA, much to the annoyance of Kyle, whom Mark completely overlooks for Superman. A nice touch in this is story is a scene where
Supes and Antaeus are flying and we see a large "S" painted on Mark's Metallic back. It's a more stylised version (and looks better than the original). Kal notices it and thinks to himself about how he didn't get it quite right. Is this DC's way of leading up to the Superman millenial re-vamp?
Anyway, While all this is happening, a small far-eastern country is being oppressed by a tryant (who bears absolutely no resemblence to Saddam Hussein. At all. ;) ). Mark thinks thge Jla should interfere. They don't. Mark does anyway and kills said tyrant. This leads to a huge battle (of ideals as well as super-powers)
during which Antaeus is beaten. In his intense greif, he purposely causes his nuclear powercell to rupture, killing him.
The ending is a surprise, not the death of Antaeus, but rather the team's reaction to Kyle. All through the story he had been bitching about Mark and how unstable he was. in the end, he fells that he was proved right. Upon hearing this Superman practically EXPLODES! "He was a good man who did a bad trhing. If you can't see that then why the hell are you here?"
Intense. A real shocker. An amazing little story that you should read asap.
THE BAD: Aside from Kyle showing more character development here than in his own book (he actually stands up to Batman!), nothing.

Next up, a quick word on DAY OF JUDGEMENT #1&2. The rogue King-Angel Asmodel merges with The Spectre and freezes hell, unleashing demons on the Earth.
THE GOOD: Great story. The Enchantress is back!! Yay!! Nice to see the magic heroes doing something. They decide that they need to find a spirit for The Spectre too bond with so one team journeys to the gates of Heaven (very cool!) while another goes to Hell. They end up going to limbo when Jim Corrigan, the previous Spectre host, refuses. There they meet Hal Jordan, Paralax, who offers to help.
Now THAT'S a cliffhanger!
THE BAD: Hellboy-ish art that i'm not too keen on. Isn't Alan Scott called Green Lantern again?

X-MEN:TRUE FRIENDS #1&2 is a really good read. I know I said that I wasn't buying any more x-books, but, I just couldn't resist!! (Besides, I bought the recent issues of the X 'cos it was a Colossus story). The story is: Kitty Pryde and Rachel Summers get cast back to Scotland during WWII.
THE GOOD: Nice art from Rick Leonardi. The story is pretty good. Not an original idea and Wolverine pops up at the end of issue 2, bu they! It's worth it for teh characterisation. The writer picks up on often forgotten aspects of these characters (e.g Kitty's photographic memory). A nice tale.
THE BAD: Wolverine's in it. I had hoped they'd resist the temptation.

THE AUTHORITY #5&6. Fantastic. I love this book (as you all know by now!). This is the second story arc-"Shift Ships". It's about the Earth being attacked by an alternate Earth. It's The Authority V. The Forces of Sliding Albion.
THE GOOD: Lovely art. Really funny moments Jack and The Midnighter. "Hello. We're here to hit you." Truly chilling villian. After popping the King's head like a ballon he says: "I'm hungry, Yggdvil. The King had children, didn't he?" Brrrr...... Excellent stuff. More big explosions and they attack L.A and we get to see some of Jenny's past. Oh, and at the end of issue 6, Jenny introduces Swift and
The Engineer to her first husband!!
THE BAD: Not a single damn thing.

Sorry, but that's all I have for you right now. But here's some titles I HIGHLY recommend:
Promethia
Top Ten
Tom Strong
Generation X
The New Warriors
JSA

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UPDATE: (02-August-99) Well! Good week for comics!!
RISING STARS #1 was brilliant! It's a bout a small american town that gets hit (?) by a meteor/comet one night and the 113 children that were concieved that night are born with super-powers. And it's written by J. Michael Strazinsky (BABYLON 5)
THE GOOD: Everything. The art was great. Lovely colouring. The story itself was absolutely engrossing. It's told from the point of view of the last surviving super-powered man named Poet. This issue takes us through the begining when the "flash" hit, to the moment when the kids reveal they have powers to the moment that changed everything for them. One of the kids, a pyrokinetic, kills a councellor at camp who abused him the last time he stayed there. This is just so different from any other comic out there at the moment. It's got a set number of supermen. Heroes, killers and madmen. the difference is that all of these guys grew up trogether. They know each others names. And the public knows they exist. They have done from day one. That sets up a unique dynamic for the book. Plus you see the poaranoia of the U.S. goverment and the clebver way they get to study the kids without breaking any human rights laws. The characters are interesting, already! There's the narrator, Poet, who is writing this story in his journal so that the world will know the truth about them. There's the suoper-strong kid who will come to embrace his gift. The girl who sings an enchanting song. The boy who never smiles. The boy whose parents believe his power to lift objects with his mind (accompanied by a brilliant light) is a gift from god, and others. QWell, I could go on all day about how good this book is but I won't. Go out and get it NOW!!
THE BAD: Nuthin'.

THE FLASH #152 is the first meeting of the new "Dark Flash" with the rest of the Flash family. THE GOOD: Gorgeous cover (which can be found here!. Now, I don't normally read Flash but this whole "who is the new Flash?" mystery has got me hooked. This was a good story which is told mostly from Jay Garrick's point of view. The new Flash unmasks himself and Jay instantly recognises and trusts him. He looks shocked, though, so It's unlikely to be "just Wally". The new Flash needs Jay's endorsement to do "the job". Jay gives this willingly. This new Flash has new powers! He is faster than any other Flash, can vibrate harmlessly through walls (something Wally couldn't do without destroying the wall!!) and can steal speed. Something no other Flash can do. He beats Dr. Alchemy in an interesting way, by accelerating his neurons. At the end, he build himself an obelisk outside the Flash museum which he vibrates into. Inside are boxes of stuff labelled with Wally's and Barry's names. And an unseen photo which causes Flash some emotional pain? On the sub-plot side of things, Linda's being held captive outside of time and no-one except Impulse remembers who she is. Good stuff. I suggest you read this before JLA #33.
THE BAD: The art wasn't great.

JLA #33 was really good. Batman splits the group up to deal with the man responsible for the situation Gotham is in: Bruce Wayne!
THE GOOD: This was a nicely set-up story. Batman sends a group who don't know his true identity after Bruce Wayne (GL, Orion, Barda, Steel and Plastic Man) while he sends Superman and Wonder Woman to monitor others. Supes runs into the new Flash and helps him save the bridge that Dr. Alchemy tried to destroy in FLASH #152. Kal comments that this Flash appears to be in his early 30'a while Wally was in his early 20's. Later, Flash reveals his identity to Superman who says that Flash is "definelty JLA material". Oh, and Bruce Wayne turns out to be a White Martian. So do the other targets. THE BAD: Other than the fact that it wasn't by the regular creative team ( this was written by Mark Waid), no complaints!

PLANETARY #5 was excellent. This issue was rendered in a "pulp" sytle and was a conversation between Mr.Snow and Doc Brass, the man planetary rescues in Issue #1
THE GOOD: Excellent art, as always, and a wonderful story. I really can't do this book justice. It is full of amazing ideas and wonderful characters. Elijah Snow is the only member of planetary that appears in this issue. Him and Doc Brass talk about the Hark corporation, cigarettes, and the good old days. This issue establishes that Planetary are very interested in people born on 01/01/1900. Turns out that Doc Brass has this birthday ( as do Mr.Snow and Jenny Sparks, by the way). As I said, I can't do this book justice. It's ..amazing. Truly amazing. Buy it now.
THE BAD: Not one thing.

THE SANDMAN PRESENTS: LOVE STREET #3 is the final issue of this weird and wonderful story featuring John Constantine. THE GOOD: Lovely art. A cameo by Morpheus. And bad language. What more do you want? I really don't know what to say. You'd have to read all three parts together. The scary thing in John's dreams was the dream that set out to free Morpheus but got bonded to a human. Pammie dies and the Rabbi revelas that he knows as much about the mystic as John does. Nice tale.
THE BAD: I did like the art but it was sometimes hard to pick out who was who. Plus I was expecting a tale of Constantine's youth, which we got in the first issue. But the rest if the story was about dealing with the consequences.

EARTH X #6 was actually a good issue!! We learn what happened to the X-Men, and the formation of an all-new, all-different group.
THE GOOD: Interesting story for once. A group of mutants from Darkdevil's circus attack Cyclops to prove that they are ready to be trained as X-Men. They were sent by Captain America. Cyke trains them. Meanwhile, Doc Strange prepares to send the Hulk into Death's realm to retrive the soul of Captain Mar-Vell. A good, concise story, and for once, the chatter between Uatu and X-51 didn't go on forever! THE BAD: Not much, for a change. But at the end, in the glossary-thing at the back, it states what happened to the X-Men. It says the Banshee died fighting his Black Tom Cassidy, his brother. Wasn't Black Tom his cousin?

ASTONISHING X-MEN #1 was ok. It tells of Jean and Scott gathering a new team of X-Men to help Nina and the Mannites.
THE GOOD: Art was nice. This issues introduces the new Death (who, as a CBR poster commented, looks like Senyaka) and features a new team composed of Angel, Cable, X-Man, Phoenix, Cyclops and Wolverine. The enetr the Hulk-Buster base to rescue the rest of the Mannites and meet the head of Bastion. He tells them that the Mannites have the power to make mutants look like earthworms. In the end, they rescue the Manites, Bastion goes missing, the base blows up and Death survives.
THE BAD: Right, I know I liked this issue but it had problems. Firstly, Jean gathers a new team. Why the hell is it made up of characters who are hugely popular and have their own books (mostly)?!? And since when could X-Man and Cable stay so close? Don't they experience extreme pain when in proximity to each other!? Bastion says that he spred the Mannites. Hello? Does that sound likely? He made it his goal to exterminate all mutants then along come an ever more powerful species, and he spares them?!?!!??! What the hell for!?!? I don't buy it. Oh, and as pointed out by yet another CBR poster, this is listed as issue 1 volume 1. It's not. There was an Astonishing X-Men during the AGE OF APOCALYPSE. *sigh* ..Marvel Marvel Marvel......Anyway, we'll see where this book goes (If anywhere). ********************************************************************** UPDATE: (26-July-99) Right. Let me get this out of the way. X-MEN #92 was a bad comic.
THE GOOD: Marrow practicing retracting her extra bone growth. Nice to see an X-Man actually learning to use thier powers. The team splits up when Charlie gets nored of them not actually doing anything and moaning all the time. Nice one. He boots Wolverine out even after he offers to stay and help Xavier and Storm recruit new X-Men. This is a nice idea and makes sense. Chuck is finally bored of Wolvie's rebel ways and gets rid of him. The formation of two seperate X-Teams should (but probably won't) be interesting.
THE BAD: The art. Terrible. The relations between the characters. Colossus and Marrow taking off together? Why? Colossus seeming eager to get Rogue to go with them. Is he attracted to her? Hope not. The Bishop/Deathbird sub-plot. Dull. She betrays him. Big surprise. and finally the Mannites. Character that look and talk like they're part of a saturday morning cartoon show. Remember when the X-Men was good?

CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS II #2 was ok. It's a light-weight story but was kinda enjoyable.
THE GOOD: The art was really nice. I enjoyed the Spider-Woman/Human Torch battle. Iron Man is more interesting than I've ever seen him. Love the way the tech in his armour is being written. I also liked the fact that the nanites couldn't bond correctly to Shadowcat because her natural state is to be intangible. The way in which the Hulk beats Mr. Fantastic is great! He inhales him, then spits 'im out! Great stuff!! I haven't mentioned the story because there really isn't one. The aliens, The Coiterie, are not returning the combatants home after their battles, but rather transporting them to some jungle-type terrain which may or may not be aprt of thier ship. They're also revealed to be connected/controlled/actually-are The Brood. Readable.

JSA #2 was not as bad as I'd heard. the team splits into 3 groups to find the new-born Fate-child.
THE GOOD: Sand officially uses his new name. Liked the bit where Canary comments on the way Scarab smells! The art was nice in places. Jack Knight's expressions were great. Courtney's moment of hesitation before jumping through the swirling-vortex was funny. Nice meeting with Hawkgirl at the end, too. No battle, just a simple misunderstanding that was easily rectified. Oh, and The Dark Lord is revealed to be Mordru (the guy from Legion of Super-heroes)
THE BAD: Scarab is just dumb-looking. I can't take him seriously. The art was sketchy. Sometimes the expressions were great (Jack) and sometimes looked....weird. Other than that, great issue!!

Ahhh..... THE TITANS #7 was great! There's a new drug in town and it's turning people into speedsters!
THE GOOD: I loved this issue! The art was nice. Gar's never looked better. speaking of who, I loved the fact that his revelation that his girlfriend, Dolphin, is pregnant with is child WASN'T the big shock ending. Just dropped in the first few pages. Nice. Also love the way this book is keeping track of what the characters are doing in thier own books. Nightwing has been ordered back to Gotham by The Bat so he can't help and Jesse helps out because the Flash is still time-travelling! Very nice touches. I hope they manage to keep this throughout the run. Nice to see Cyborg learning new tricks with his powers and not relying on the tried-and-tested Cyber-gimmicks. Jesse's speed-speak was fun. Oh, and the revelation that the guy pushing the drug, Velocity 10, onto the streets is Aregnt's dad?! Classic!! This was a great issue.
THE BAD: Mark Buckingham can't draw Vandal Savage. He looks retarded. Plus that woman he recruits for Tartarus looks stupid. Is her name really Lady Vic? The Titans made an overly dramatic enterance into the dealer's place. It didn't look that big and I'm surprised Starfire didn't kill anybody! Anyway, looking forward to the next issue.

THE L.A.W. #1 was the worst comic I've read this year. A new bad-guy shows up and makes the JLA and Watchtower disapear. He then goes on to attack some cities.
THE GOOD: Not a single goddamn thing.
THE BAD: Everything. The art was terrible. Really, really bad. Childish, even. The plot was non-existant and the dialogue was so bad, I couldn't even finish the book in one sitting. I kept being disgusted and stopped reading. Captain Atom's actuall thought: "My wife, Platique.." AARRGGHH!! What the hell is that!?!? NOt only does he have to use her name IN HIS OWN THOUGHTS but he calls her by her code-name!?!??!? Rubbish. Then the reporter introduces: "The creature known only as AVATAR!!". That's corny enough but The Avatar then goes on to refer to himself as "the reincarnation of the hindu god Parashrama". GOOD GOD. And why are reporters swarming around another reporter(The Question) !??!??!?? Absolute shite. Avoid.

********************************************************************** UPDATE: (15-July-99)
Weeeeeeellllllllllllll it MARVEL mini-series time again folks, and what a load of mediocre rubbish they've served up this time! CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS II #1 features Marvel's heroes pitted against each other for the amusement of Aliens. It looks and reads like a video game and that's the best way to think of it. It's nonsense that ignores current continuity (Psylocke has her psi-powers in this book!). Art wanders from nice to awful. In this issue, Aliens come to Earth, abduct all the heroes and infect them with nanites to control them so they'll fight in the arena. Bouts in this issues were Iron Man V, Psylocke, Iron Man V. X-Force. What I want to know is how the hell Domino managed to kick Iron Man in the head and ACTUALLY HURT HIM?!?! Rubbish. Stay away.

TOM STRONG #3 was another amazing issue. Here, a group of Aztec's from a parallel universe invade and Tom's gotta stop 'em! Great story and great art. I love this book! Wondering when we're gonna have a story that isn't wrapped up in one issue? Oh yeah, this book also has the first reference to another ABC Comics title (TOP TEN). Speaking of which.....

TOP TEN #1 is another fine publication from ABC!! This is about super-powered cops in a city where everyone has super-powers. It really reads like "Hill Street Blues" with super-powers!! This story follows Officer Slinger (Toybox) on her first day at Precinct 10 (known as TOP TEN to the staff). Nice way to start the series and introduce the cast. Great art by Gene Ha which suffers a little from heavy inking. Nice Alex Ross cover (and someone one on Comic Book Resources noted, you can see Toybox's nipple!!) Nice "easter eggs" littered about the backgrounds, too. A great first issue. Hope this series does well.

We finally find out what the JLA are doing about Gotham in JLA #32. This story shows a telepathic conversation between HUNTRESS and SUPERMAN. It shows the JLA battling off forces (including LOCUS) who are trying to take advantage of Gotham's unique situation, while Huntress battles inside the city. It ends up with Supes saying that he's surprised that Huntress didn't realise the JLA already had people working in Gotham. Good issue that was wtritten by Mark Waid and drawn by the fill-in artist that did the Atom/Amazo story a few issues back.

Planetary #4 was good. Loved the art. The story was about a sentient shift-ship from another dimension trying to gather a crew to take it home.

********************************************************************** UPDATE: (29-June-99)
Well, what can I say? THE AUTHORITY #4 was amazing!! It's the conclusion of the first story arc and it's spectacular!! I don't know where to begin! Jenny's sparks' wonderful reaction to the very unique way in which The Doctor uses his powers? The witty banter of Apollo? The incredible scenes with The Midnighter? (Including the fantastic ending with the destruction of Gamorra tower!!!) This is just the absolute BEST COMIC THERE IS!!! BUY IT NOW!! (check out the IMAGES

JSA #1 was ok. Starts off with the death of Eternity Kid and moves on to the funeral of Wesley Dodds, the original Sandman. Sets up the story with Fate (Jared Stevens) being murdered by the Sons Of Anubis (mummified corpses in Egyptian gear) so that they can retreive the Fate artifacts. The Scarab appears at the end. All in all, an OK beginning. I never read STARMAN but I'm beginning to wish I had because I already like Jack. The new Star-Spangled Kid seems....young. Well, sorry, but I don't know yet. Have to give her time. I'll buy the next issue, but I'm not exactly counting the hours.

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UPDATE: (24-June-99)
Bad week for comics!! DC ONE MILLION 80 PAGE GIANT was rubbish. Bad artwork, bad stories. Nothing worth reading. Avoid.

JSA:SECRET FILES #1 was Ok, I suppose. It's a "getting the team together" story. but they don't actually meet. It's the set-up for thier first group meeting at Wesley Dodds funeral. It was interesting enough, I suppose. The art was Ok throughout, except for the "lost pages" of Black Canary meets Fate. Horrid art. Nice bit was Nuklon looking over his photo album, making fun of his hair and then donning a new costume which looks like the original Atom's and takes the name "Atom Smasher". Have to say, not over-joyed to see a new Hawkgirl. The Hawks never really interested me (except for the HAWKWORLD limited series). Still, we'll wait and see!

TITANS #6 was a showdown with Red Panzer. Worst issue so far. Boring battle. The only redeeming part was Green Lantern's appearence. He makes a costume for Roy Harper and someone in the background shouts:"Look!" It's Green Arrow!" *heh* Cool!

********************************************************************** UPDATE (08-June-99) Sorry it took so long, but here's some new reviews:

GENER ATION X #54 was, as usual, a great comic!! Lots of fun with the usual gorgeous art. Spoilsport looks fab in this issue, and I definitely want to see more of her (so to speak!!). The story is the conclusion of the gang's trip to Madripoor to retreive a sword for Adrienne. Nice touch at the end when it's revealed that the sword was used to kill her husband. (Nicer touch was that Adrienne herself arranged to have him killed!!) A fast paced issue, but good nonetheless.

Not sure about HOURMAN # 5. This issue, he takes one of Rex Tyler's (the original Hourman) miraclo pills and he hallucinates. The story mixes modern art with the "flat" style of art from Rex's time. That was a nice touch. Our Hourman (EH?!) relieves one of Rex's early adventures and experiences his emotions from childhood to his unfortunate death at the hands of Extant (during ZERO HOUR). Amazo also returns this issue and kills a cat (Booo!! Hss!). Hourman recovers from his trip and faces the JLAndroids!! Robotic versions of Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash and Plastic Man!! Nice enough story, but if you didn't read the first 4 issues, I don't how much sense this will make....

BATMAN:LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #120: This is it. The unmasking of Batgirl (to find out who she is, scroll to the NEWS section at the bottom the page!). It was a little undramatic, and a complete surprise. However, a the costume is filled by someone else by the end of this issue. A good read. Important, too. (For the cover, see: IMAGES)

PROMETHIA #1 was really good! A nice concept as to the origin of the Promethia power, although reminisent of The Sandman. The text at the end of the issue gave a great feeling of realism to the book. The story surrounds a girl's reaserch into the legend of Promethia and the startling discoveries she makes. This was a better first issue than TOM STRONG and well worth reading.

THE AUTHORITY #3 was, as usual, fantastic. The shock at the end of seeing hundreds of the super-human asassins flying through the sky was worth the cover price alone. As always, this somes with my highest recommendation. READ IT NOW!!

I was surprised how good 100 BULLETS #1 was. This is the new monthly book from Vertigo based of the question: If you could get away with murder, would you commit it? This first story centers around a former gang member named Dizzy who's family was gunned down in a drive-by. She's approached by the mysterious Agent Graves who gives her an attache case with the identity of the murderers, a gun with 100 rounds of ammo, and carte blanche immunity. Thankfully, this story isn't contained within one issue. I think it'll take about 3 issues before this arc is resolved. The only problem with this issue was the dialogue of the gang members. Lots of "ese"'s and "holmes". Made it hard to read. And annoying. Also, it'll be interesting to see if the series becomes focused on the identity of Agent Graves. If it does, it will detract from the premise of the book. Good readin', though. (For the cover, see IMAGES

FLASH #150 features the "death" of Wally West. It's the conclusion of the Chain Lightning story which pits The Flash against Cobalt Blue and The Anti-Monitor!! Excellent story, particularly for the end which shows a number of speedsters running through the speed force with the dialogue: "My name was Wally West. I was the fastest man alive". Brilliant!! Really moving!! This issue also introdues the new "Silver Flash", leading to the big mystery for the next few months; Who is he?! This issue has gotten me interested in The Flash again, and I will be buying it for the forseeabe future. (oh, except for the next issue, which is a flash-back story to the Wally's days as Kid Flash) (For the covers of #150 and #152, see: IMAGES)

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Old Reviews.