DJ's Comics Blog

That was a very fun issue. Making a returns after a couple of decades, this new volume continues in thebsame vein as the original run, albeit with a more Fantastic Four focused narrative. Issue 1 mostly deals with Ben Grimm, and his feelings towards what happened to Sue and Reed during Secret Wars. He misses them, and is sent to a warehouse where all of the old Baxter Building items are being stored, recieving a message recorded by Reed in the event of his demise. It essentially says that Ben needs to look after Johnny, and keep adventuring, just has they had done as members of the Fantastic Four. Towards the end of the issue, Ben confronts Johnny, who is clearly distraught at the loss of his sister, pleading with Ben to stop reminding him of their existence. The issue ends with Ben telling Johnny that Reed and Sue my still be alive, all while being observed by Victor Von Doom. I e njoyed this issue,nd Chip Zdarsky does a gret job with the writing, as he does with Spectacular Spider

Wilson Fisk as Mayor of New York really works for some strange reason. This Marvel Legacy arc brings a cool new dynamic to the relationship between Wilsin Fisk and Daredevol that I don't thimk we have ever really seen before. Before this, Daredevil could just fo to Fisk's building, and beat the tar out of him; but now, if he chooses to do this, the police will be alerted to Daredevil's actions, and hunt him down. Before this arc began, it had been established that Matt managed to take his case to the Supreme Court, and make it the norm for costumed heroes/vigiliantes to testify against criminals, in order for them to go to prison, and actully stay there, rather than going there briefly, and then being let out due to the fact that they could just blame the vigilante for beating them up. Now, it seems, that Daredevil has been branded as a criminal, and can no longer act without the intervention of the NYPD. At the end of the iasue,  Matt recieves a phone call from Mayor F

Hey, remember when I posted regularly on here .... good times. Those good time will be returning very soon, as I will be renewing the Marvel Chronological Journey, beginning with Defenders #110-131 (will probably do that in small junks), followed by 6 other series reviews, culminating in a review of Marvel's first Secret Wars event. I will make an effort to actually post these reviews on a regular basis, and let you know if I am unable to do so. Once I reach Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars,  I will be covering in 2 separate parts; Issue #1-#6, and then Issue #7-#12. This will be the structure for all event reviews for this feature in the future.

SPOILERS FOR SUPERFRIENDS PART 1 This week marked the beginning of a new Batman arc, called Superfriends. This first issue very well written, and captures the dynamic between Batman and Superman very nicely, Tom King understands both if them. Throughout the issue, Superman is talkng to Lois about calling Batman about his engagement, which directly parallels Batman's conversation with Catwoman, about calling Superman to tell him about said engagement. This is accompanied by both couples investigating some crimes, which eventually are revealed to be the same, with the four of them meeting in a building, after coming out of separate lifts. The issue ends with Bats and Supes fighting the bad guys. The tease for the  next issue of Batman was 'A double-date, 78 years in the making'. I feel that this arc could be quite interesting if it continues with the quality of this issue. This goes doubly for the art, as well as the writing, as I really enjoyed Clay Mann's art. I gi

It has finally arrived. Doomsday Clock #1 sets the stage for this event, which will last for the next year. I'm not going to lie, nothing really happens in this first issue, it just sets up for the next element issues. It follows Rorschach as he gathers up a couple of people, Marionette and Mike, and take them to his partner, 'to find god'. At first we believe that his partner is Nite Owl, but it is then revealed that it is Ozymandiasm and that their quest is to find Dr Manhattan, who we are led to believe is the mastermind behind the events of D.C. Rebirth. At the end of the issue, Superman appears for the first time, having a nightmare, and we discover that this is something that has never happened to him before, further hinting at Manhattans meddling within the DC Universe. As usual, Geoff John's knocks it out of the part with his writing, cementing the fact thatheis one of the best writers in the business today. Gary Frank's pencils were excellent as well, w

I didn't expect this. Brian Michael Bendis, who has written almost exclusively for Marvel for the last 17 years, has signed an exclusive contract with DC Comics. I'm always in two minds about his work, sometimes he's incredible and writes some captivating and legendary stories, but sometimes he also writes some garbage, and doesn't pay attention to continuity. That said, I am quite interested in what he has to offer DC and their universe, and which books he is going to be writing for. On the other hand, I'm worried for the futures of the books he has been writing for Marvel, namely Jessica Jones and The Defenders, as I don't really think that many other writers care for them as much as Bendis does, (considering he created Jones) , and I feel that they will either get cancelled or just trundle along, getting more and more terrible.

First of all ... I'm back. Hi. Now, I have just this second finished reading the final issue of Spectacular Spider-Man before the Legacy arc begins, and boy was it ... different. In the previous issue, Peter had made a deal with Jonah Jameson that Spider-Man would provide him with an interview for his new blog, and due to this, Jonah would not be allowed to write about Spider-Man for a year. This whole issue focused upon that concept, which was kind of fun. Re-treading past events of their relationship, until finally Peter unmasked himself in front of Jonah, revealing himself after over 50 years of hatred between the two. The issue ends with FBI agents swarming Jonah's apartment, just missing Peter. Once he arrives back at his own place, agents are watching, setting Legacy in motion. This issue was ... okay ... not terrible, but not the greatest comic I've ever read in my life.

SPOILERS AHEAD ...  It's been over a year now, but the identity of Mr Oz in DC Rebirth has now been revealed. He has been working away in the background of the DC Rebirth landscape since it began in the middle of last year, taking key figures such as Doomsday and Tim Drake. His only full on interactions were in the pages of Superman and Action Comics. Rumours circulated for months on who this mystery figure could possibly be: Was it Ozymandias from the Watchmen universe? This could have made sense, due to Doctor Manhattan's seeming involvement in the overarching events of Rebirth. Was it Superboy Prime? Was it pre-New 52 Lex Luthor? Was it  Mister Mxyzptlk again? It turns out that it was none of these characters, but it was a much more intriguing option. It took the majority of the issue, but only a few lines gave a hint as to who this figure really was. He kept referring to to everybody as "humans", and at the end he says "Had I only known what a cessp

The main issues of Secret Empire wrapped up this week. (Finally!) In truth, I feel that it was underwhelming, mostly due to the 'memory' of how Steve used to be coming out of the Cosmic Cube and battling his 'evil doppelganger'. However, it is nice that Nick Spencer didn't just have some characters travel back in time to find Steve Rogers, and then the same battle taking place. This whole conclusion is mostly being used to set up the events of the Captain America portion of Generations, and the  overarching Legacy initiative that begins at the end of September. This also means that Sam Wilson's days as Cap are numbered, as he will be returning as Falcon in his own Legacy solo series. My rating for this issue is a 6.5/10. (Now we're just waiting on the Omega issue to show us the aftermath. Yay!)

Ah, Marvel crossover events. Those things that they tell us are going to be a set length, with a bunch of pointless tie-ins that add nothing to the experience. You feel safe in the notion that it will all be over after those issues are done, only to be told halfway through that an extra issue has been added. That's the feeling I have with Secret Empire #9. There's absolutely no earthly reason why this couldn't have been the finale of the event, but for some reason we needed all of this filler, where the Underground is searching for fragments of the Cosmic Cube, and with 'Steve Rogers' in the forest for so many issues. It was revealed in this issue that this version of Steve Rogers was the memory of how Kobik knew him before she transformed him into an agent of Hydra, which was a twist that could be telegraphed from a mile away. I'm also still confused about who the narrator of this story is. For this issue's content, I'll give it a 6/10 (For th

The six month journey to the climax of this event had begun. This first issue of Dark Nights: Metal, brought to us by the superstar duo of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, is brilliant. (Obviously!) The art is excellent, the writing is great, and most important of all ... Batman is being Batman. I can't really say much, due to spoilers. But I can definitely recommend that you read this book, and maybe read some of the tie-ins as well (even if they don't advance the story in any way.) The cast of characters that had been assembled is an all-star cast of Justice League members: Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Aquaman, and Cyborg. Aquaman being there is kind of a spoiler for what happens in the events of his solo series, which is annoying, but I think I can cope. I give this issue an 8/10 rating.

The Marvel Generations series continued this week, with the release of The Phoenix. This issue centres around the time displaced version of Jean Grey meeting, and working alongside, a past version of herself, when she was the host for the Phoenix Force. Like The Strongest, the issue serves to teach the character some kind of lesson that could possibly help them in the future, with this teaching Jean more about the Phoenix entity itself. Although I did enjoy the issue, I do feel that they probably should have used a different set of characters, as the two Jean's are far too similar in my opinion, maybe they could have used other legacy characters, rather than essentially the exact same person. I give this issue a 6/10.

The cover (featuring Totally Awesome and Incredible Hulks) Like many people who read modern comic books, I was initially sceptical about this whole Generations 'event' that Marvel were going to do. I didn't really have that much information about it and didn't actually understand what was going to happen. The first issue was good. I feel that starting it of with the two Hulks was a smart idea, as it would get the fans to become interested and intrigued. My only real gripe with this now is that they don't really explain how the two of them got there in the first place, or why it is happening. Apart from that, the writing was excellent from Greg Pak (as it most often is), and the art really suited the Hulks. Even due to all this I am still going to give this issue a 7/10.

Detective Comics #961 cover I have to say that Detective Comics is probably one of my favourite title being released for DC Rebirth. This latest issue contains Part 4 of the 'Intelligence' story arc, which puts a heavy focus upon Jean-Paul Valley, AKA Azrael. The new suit In this issue, Jean-Paul is mostly seen within his own head, speaking with Ascalon, whilst he battles his own team-mates in the real world. The flashbacks between Batman and Zatanna also continue in this issue, with a cameo appearance from Ra's Al Ghul. The issue ends with Lucas Fox making a breakthrough with the AI for Jean-Paul's new suit, which he hopes will snap him out of whatever trance like state he is in. The last page reveals the suit in question, which bares a striking resemblance to the suit that Jean-Paul wore in the 1990s, after he had taken over the Batman mantle from Bruce Wayne, after the events of the 'Knightfall' storyline. (Well, I think it does, anyway) All i

The list of titles being released by Marvel Comics this week is looking very strong. We seem to have reached the point of Secret Empire where the issues are coming thick and fast, as Issue #7 is released this week, only 1 week after the previous offering. We may finally witness what was predicted way back in Civil War II, with the issue set to focus on The new Red Room's efforts to kill Steve Rogers, Hydra's Supreme Leader. Greg Pak's Weapon X title brings us Part Five of Weapons of Mutant Destruction. The next batch of mutant hunters is finally ready after a couple of issues of preparation, now the question is: Can the team stick together and survive the latest onslaught? We also have no less than SIX tie-in issues for the Secret Empire event. X-Men Blue #8, Occupy Avengers #9, The Mighty Captain Marvel #7, Captain America: Sam Wilson #24, Captain America: Steve Rogers #19, and Deadpool #34. I'm not even going to try and explain what is going on in each of thos

The cover The final 'new' X-book has finally been released, and it was alright. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the book itself, written by Charles Soule, I have to admit that I did spend the majority of my reading time pondering whether this is set before or after the Secret Empire event that is currently taking place across most of the other Marvel books. The first issue revolves around attacks on various psychics and telepaths, leading to Psylocke being attacked, and hell being reigned upon the city of London. This prompts a new group of mutants to jump into action and save her; Gambit, Fantomex (just why though?),  Bishop, Angel/Archangel, Beast, Rogue, and Logan. Charles Xavier in chains After rescuing Psylocke, she lets the 'team' know that the Shadow King orchestrated all of this from the astral plane, so they all agree to go there (with Angel staying behind to protect Psylocke.) Once there, we are shown Shadow King opening a vault, speaking to whoeve

This week, Marvel released the follow-up to the 2012 mini-series 'Spider-Men'. This first issue serves the purpose of catching us up with what went on in that event, but also answered many questions regarding Miles Morales, such as that he still remembers living in a different dimension, and that the main universe and Ultimate universe seem to have merged with each  other. At the end of the issue it is revealed that there is a Miles Morales that was already native to the 616 continuity, and it seems that he is going to be one of the antagonists in this event. I quite enjoyed this issue, mostly due to Bendis' writing, and the art was incredible.  This issue gets an 8.5/10.

Simply put, this was written brilliantly. James Tynion IV and Scott Snyder know exactly how to write a Batman story. Not only that, but the art by Jon Romita Jr, Andy Kubert, and Jim Lee is stellar as well, and it really goes along with each of the arcs that are featured in the story. The journal entries, written by Carter Hall, serve their purpose very well. That is to say that they provide a kind of back story as to what is going on in the modern day, and his journey mirrors that of Batman's. Along with this, we are given a different view of events from The Joker, and this causes us to question which account is true; Hall's or Joker's. Dark Days: The Casting cover (July 2017) The two 'Dark Days' one-shots that we have been given on the lead-up to 'Metal, which begins on August 18th, have both been incredible. I can't wait for the main event to begin, as it brings back the New 52 Batman creative team of Scott Snyder and Grep Capullo. I give this i

It's been a while since I have done one of these, but it will only be a short one. Recently, I made the decision to rewrite the origin stories of many of my characters, as I felt that they were not sufficiently fleshed out, and that the stories involving them would not be compelling. As you can probably imagine, this process will take quite a while to complete, and then I can eventually rewrite later stories featuring these characters, that are fun to read, and also fun for me to write as well.

For the third instalment of ‘The Chronological Marvel Journey’, I will be discussing Moon Knight Volume 1, Issues 12-18 from 1982. From viewing the information about the issues, and the stories contained within, my initial feeling (before I had even read them) was that switching from one storyline per issue to two storylines per issue meant that they did not have enough content in one story to fill out a 20-page comic, and they had to find another one to fill that extra space. I feel that this suspicion is justified, as this was around the era where the Moon Knight comics were not the most popular titles being sold by Marvel. This was definitely true with me when I tried to read the first 11 issues of the run, and I couldn’t even really get through the first issue. Thankfully, I know who most of the characters are, after watching various YouTube videos about the Moon Knight mythos, and through reading the latest Moon Knight run by Jeff Lemire. This chunk of issues that I will

THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!! This was hands-down the best Spider-Man movie I have seen. Sure, Spider-Man 1 and 2 in the Raimi trilogy were great, and The Amazing Spider-Man had its good moments, bu this WAS Spider-Man done completely right. Tom Holland was both a brilliant Peter Parker and an amazing (pun intended) Spider-Man. The action scenes were well choreographed, the comedy was excellent, and the easter-eggs were nice. I was probably the only person who noticed the building with 'Bagley' on the side. This was of course a reference to Mark Bagley, who was the artist for the main Spider-Man title for many years, and was also the original artist for 'Ultimate Spider-Man'.  The reveal at the end that Michelle's 'friends call her MJ' feels, to me, like it really should shut some people up, who said it was 'obvious that she was playing Mary-Jane Watson', but she isn't, she was playing 'Michelle Jones'. The post cre

The cover image of Deathstroke and the team After the conclusion of 'The Lazarus Contract' crossover, between Titans, Teen Titans, and Deathstroke, we were offered a story in the aftermath that depicted Slade Wilson seemingly having had a 'religious experience' while in possession of the Speed Force. This led to Slade going around, trying to right some of the wrongs that he had committed towards various people, including his children. This week, this came to fruition, with the formation of the 'Defiance' team, who seem to be a government funded team. It consists of Deathstroke, his sone Joseph, his daughter Rose, Power Girl and presumably Kid Flash (as he had just been kicked off of the Teen Titans after saving Deathstroke's life.) I've got to say, it is an interesting looking team, and is run by Slade's ex-wife, so that should lend itself to some intense storytelling. At the end of the issue, as the team is dealing with a threat, Adeline i

For the second instalment of 'The Chronological Marvel Journey', we will be delving into Power Man & Iron Fist Volume 1, Issues 74 and 75 from 1981. Issues 74 and 75 are a two-part story, written by Jo Duffy, with art by Kerry Gammill. The two parts are named 'Doorway to Heaven', and 'This Insubstanial Pageant Faded'respectively. Before I even start properly talking about Issue #74, I just have to say that nothing really massive happens, and that it is mainly used to set up the events of the next issue. Issue #74 begins with a largely insignificant plot, which only really there to show what Power Man (Luke Cage) and Iron Fist (Danny Rand) are doing at that moment in time. The daughter of a rich man has been kidnapped by some 'cowboys'. Once Power Man and Iron Fist arrive, a rather short battle ensues, with some funny and weird moments happening during it, such as with the 'buck-o-matic', and Iron Fist having a 'bullfight' with o

Since re-subcribing to Marvel Unlimited last November, I set myself the challenge of reading Marvel Comics in chronological order, using a reading order I found online. I am currently on the third part of this and have decided to chronical the remaining seven parts here on the blog, as it will be a very long journey. This new feature on the blog starts off with the most recent limited series that I have read - Weapon X: First Class, published between 2008-2009. The main story is 3 issues long, written by Marc Sumerak, with art by Mark Robinson. This story follows Wolverine and Professor Charles Xavier, as they attempt to uncover Wolverine's lost memories. In Part One: Don't Look Back in Anger, Logan and Xavier venture in to the first part of his mind, where they encounter Sabretooth, a long standing villain of Logans. After a brief battle between them, it is revealed that this version of Sabretooth only exists in Logan's mind, and is the only person who is able to navig

So, in my last Batman review, I alluded to this event taking place. 'The War of Jokes & Riddles' officially began this week, and let me tell you, it was great. The entire issue takes place as Bruce is telling Selina the story of the event. Bruce had been Batman for around a year at this point in time, and the focus of the story is of a conflict between The Riddler and The Joker, where they essentially both want to kill Batman, but is not willing to allow the other to do it. I really recommend that you go and check this first issue out, it is currently £2.49 on Comixology, and is 36 pages, due to it being the 25th issue, and the title has been going for a full year and a bit. As I have said, this issue of Batman is brilliant, and features two of Batman's greatest foes. The art from Mikel Janin is great, along with Tom King's writing, as usual, being stellar. I GIVE THIS ISSUE A RATING OF 8/10.

That was a strange experience I just had while reading this issue. I guess that's just what I get for not reading every title that Marvel released back in 2014 though. (Even though I doubt anyone else read Amazing Spider-Man: Family Business either.) So, apparently, our good buddy Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, has a younger sister. I didn't know this. This being the first issue of a new ongoing series, I guess Marvel needed a hook to get readers to buy the next issue, and let me tell you, this one works for me. Throughout the issue I wasn't really sure how to feel, as it wasn't the greatest story I have ever read, and nothing really happened (apart from a possible new love interest for Spidey being introduced.)  What I found funny about this issue however, was Peter making a promise not to miss the movie with Johnny Storm, but obviously he does because he's Spider-Man, but then he does the same with the girl. I am intrigued about where this is going to go, and i

As my first proper post back after my hiatus, I will be reviewing last week issue of All-New Wolverine #21. This issue concludes the Immune storyline, where many citizens of Manhattan were infected with an alien virus. It was discovered that Laura, AKA Wolverine, was immune to the effects of the virus due to her healing factor. Although she attempted to cure everyone herself, it got to be too much, and Doctor Strange located other mutants with healing factors: Old Man Logan, his son Daken, and Deadpool. In short, all of them were slowly overwhelmed by the disease and collapsed, with Laura being the final one, as she did not want to stop, and allow all of the people to die. This caused her to wither and collapse, just like the rest of her allies. I have enjoyed this current iteration of Wolverine, as it was something new, and a natural progression of the character, as Laura is the female clone of the original Wolverine. Tom Taylor really seems to know what he is doing with the cha

For the last few weeks, I've taken some time off from posting things to the blog. I felt that I should prioritise my exams over posting on here, but they are over now so I'll be back now. There will probably be a slightly different  schedule for posts, but I haven't sorted that yet, so I'll keep you all updated via Facebook and Twitter as to when everything will be up. However, I'm unsure of when videos on the Youtube channel will return.

For today's second post, a sad event took place on 9th June 2017. Adam West, who was the man to first bring Batman to our television screens, has passed away aged 88. His take on Batman perfectly reflected the comic books of the time, with a campy and comedic approach to the character. He starred in the 1966 television series and its accompanying film release in 1969, alongside Burt Ward as Robin. After many years, he returned to the role in 2016's 'Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders', which was an animation based on the original 1966 TV series.

Hot off the heels of the Fantastic Four being introduced to Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, they strived to create a new character, one who the teenagers of the 1960s could relate to on a more personal level. Enter young Peter Parker. Just your typical teenager of the day, who has to deal with the usual problems of a high school student. He gets bullied by Flash Thompson, he has to look after his elderly aunt, after the death of his Uncle Ben. He has to do all of these things with the added baggage of also having super-powers, which he gained after being bitten by a radioactive spider. His origin is now timeless, and instantly recognisable to almost all in the comic book community. His success is vast, with action figures, animated television programs, and a few live action movies (all to different levels of success). The original cover of Amazing Fantasy #15, August 1962 He made his debut in the pages of Amazing Fantasy #15 in August 1962, which so happened to be the

I know that I said there wouldn't be many posts this week, but I just have to talk about Batman #24. Going into 'Every Epilogue is a Prelude', I was just expecting another filler issue, like with the Swamp-Thing story last time out. But this issue cleared up a bunch of plot threads from the Rebirth run so far. The majority of the issue follows a conversation that Batman is having with Gotham-Girl, about what she should do now that she is herself again, and we get some more insight in to why Bruce is Batman, and why he cannot be happy ... because he is scared. This leads directly in to the ending of the issue, where he is talking to Catwoman, and tells her about a diamond that she was stealing when they first met. He tells her how he had bought that diamond afterwards, as he knew that he would need it someday. After this he removes his cowl, drops to one knee, and proposes to Selina. I loved this issue, honestly, and I am intrigued as to what the future holds for Bru

In this instalment of 'Classic Comics', I will be discussing the debut appearance of one of the most iconic characters in all of comic books. I am of course talking about Batman. His debut was a very short one. The full issue of Detective Comics #27 was 64 pages in length, with Batman's story only taking up 6 of those pages. The title of his debut tale is 'The Case of the Chemical Syndicate', and it is written by Bob Kane. The story begins in the house of Commissioner Gordon, who is having a conversation with Bruce Wayne. As they talk, Gordon receives a phone-call about a man who has been murdered, and that the man's son is the prime suspect. Wayne and Gordon head to the man's mansion, where they discover that the son was not behind it after all. They receive another call, from the next victim. Bruce pretends that he is leaving this to Gordon, but secretly dons his Batman persona in order to capture the criminals. After dispatching of the murderers, Ba

When I decide to write a new story for a comic book, I will usually spend a small amount of time deciding what the main character is like, and the other characters will come much later. I tend to type out a few short pieces that detail the origin of this particular character, making sure that I get their history down before even attempting to place them in to a full on story. After I have decided on who they are as a person, that is when I begin to write up the main story. The usual word count of my stories is between 1500 and 2000 words, as I feel that this is long enough to tell a cohesive story that also has enough development of certain characters. After the story itself has been written, this is when I will begin to adapt it in to a script format. My approach to scripting my comics is to take it a few pages at a time, roughly 5 or 6 in a single session, and when the artist, in my case it is my sister, receives the scripted pages, this method makes the turnaround slightly faste

The cover for the relaunched X-Men title. This week, for this third instalment of Classic Comics, I will be discussing Giant-Size X-Men from January 1975, written by Len Wein, with art by Dave Cockrum. A bit of background for this book. In 1963, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the X-Men, a team of teenaged mutants, led by the telepath Professor Charles Xavier. Although it was an initially successful publication, sales began to decline throughout the 1960s, before the title was cancelled, having been filled with backup stories and reprints for many years. The original X-Men team consisted of Scott Summers, known as Cyclops, Warren Worthington III, known as Angel, Bobby Drake, called Iceman, Henry 'Hank' McCoy, codenamed Beast, and finally Jean Grey, known as Marvel Girl, and the only female member of this original incarnation. The team was later joined by Alex Summers, who is Scott's brother and codenamed Havok, and also Lorna Dane, AKA Polaris. The issue begins in W

Right, be warned that if you have not watched 'Lian Yu' yet, then do not read on, as there will be spoilers for the episode. So, last night was the Season 5 finale of the Arrow TV series, and lets just say that it was best season finale out of all the Arrowverse's 4 shows. Flash was alright, Supergirl was watchable, Legends was so long ago I can't remember (something about dinosaurs in the present day or something.) But Arrow was just incredible. After the lows of Season 4, and how disappointing that whole Damien Darhk stuff was, this season really stepped up its game. With a great villain in Prometheus/Adrian Chase, to bringing back Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke, now completely free of Mirakuru, and sane. Oliver travels to Lian Yu in order to rescue his team, and enlists the aid of Deathstroke and Captain Boomerang to do so, and of course Boomerang betrays him straight away. Throughout the episode, we had hints that Slade would follow suit, but they we

This week from DC Comics is looking to be a good one. First of all we have Detective Comics #957. After the events in the League of Shadows story arc, we have the return of Stephanie Brown, AKA Spoiler. She has not featured in this title for a while, after the perceived 'death' of her boyfriend Tim Drake a few months ago, and when she was attacked by various 'victims' of Batman, she left and has not been seen since. This week 'The Wrath of Spoiler' begins. The issue is available for around £2.30. We are also being treated to Batgirl #11, which will see the finale of 'Son of Penguin'. After the events of last issue which saw The Penguin make his appearance and attempting to help Batgirl, Ethan Cobblepot's plan is coming to a head. This book is available for just over £3, which indicates to me that it will be a slightly longer issue than we have been offered in the past. From Marvel this week, we are being offered the next chapter in Captain Amer

In my lifetime of reading comics, I have been influenced by many different writers. The first of these being the current head writer for The Amazing Spider-Man, Dan Slott. He has crafted a narrative that is cohesive and easy to read. The cast of supporting characters that he has created to interact with Peter Parker in his everyday life is vast and complex. The next writer that I have been majorly influence by is the legendary Stan Lee. He has inspired me in a way that no other writer probably ever will. The sheer number of characters that he has created over the course of his career is enormous, and his style of writing is unique to him. Nick Spencer is a writer that I was only introduced to in the last couple of years, as he has been the main writer for both of the current Captain America books, starring Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers in the title roles, and of course he is also writing the Secret Empire event. I enjoy Spencer's writing as he is not afraid to get involved with

Today, I felt like giving you all a small piece of information about how it is that I like to read my comic books. Back when I first began to read comics in 2010/2011, I would buy the comics published by Panini for Marvel from WHSmith, every two weeks. In that time, I really enjoyed doing that, as I could go home and sit in bed, reading multiple issues at a time, with arcs ending nice and quickly. After a while, I did not have the money to buy them anymore, so I stopped, and they were also about a year behind the main  single American issues. Nowadays, although I do have many singular, physical copies of titles in my collection, I prefer to read my comics digitally on services like Comixology, as they are more affordable, and I don't have to risk damaging them. Reading digitally means that I can read them wherever I am. The affordable prices mean that I can also purchase original comics from the Golden Age for about 69p or so. The Guided View on digital readers also helps me to

Unlike with last Sunday, I have decided that I will be combining the DC and Marvel Weekly Rundowns, just for the reason that Marvel did not get much love this previous week, and DC did. DC - BATMAN #23 This weeks offering of Batman, written by Tom King, was most definitely a filler issue, to cleanse our pallets after the conclusion of the Button storyline from the last month or so. The story for this issue has a title that is an awful pun 'The Brave and the Mold', a spin on the classic 'Brave and the Bold' concept. It centres around the murder of the Swamp Thing's father. Batman and Swamp Thing go a search for the killer, which takes them to many different places, such as a Pawn Shop, where they find out the location of the killer. It turned out that Swamp Thing did not want to settle for just finding who killed his father, but also so that he could kill the person responsible, which Batman is not too pleased about.  Overall, I feel that this issue serves i

For the second instalment of Classic Comics, we are returning once again to the year 1973. This week, I will be telling you about what could be considered as one of the first crossover 'events'. First of all, before I delve in to the story itself, I'll run through the current rosters for these teams at the time of the event. For the Avengers we have: Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, The Vision, Scarlet Witch, Thor, Swordsman and Mantis. Most of these characters have been mainstays on the Avengers team for a few years, with only Black Panther, Mantis and Swordsman having joined fairly recently. On The Defenders side of things we have: Doctor Strange, Namor the Submariner, Valkyrie, Silver Surfer, The Incredible Hulk, and Hawkeye, (Hawkeye had joined only a couple of issues before this event took place, after he had previously left the Avengers after a disagreement.) The Defenders, as Strange goes to find the Knights soul The narrative of the story centre