DJ's Comics Blog

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...