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This star means that the title or site is recommended especially for younger teens
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Superheroes are considered the lifeblood of comics, and there are so many tales to choose from it's almost impossible to select so few. Superhero comics are often considered the fairy and folk tales of our time, and are right up there with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files for containing mythology, action, and kick-butt characters. Here's a sampling of a variety of superheroes, some familiar, some not, but all worth your time.
Jump to a title:
Across the Universe: the DC Universe of Alan Moore
Astro City
The Authority
Batgirl
Batman
Birds of Prey
Brand Buidling: Wildcats Version 3.0
Captain Gravity
Daredevil
Even More Secret Origins
Ex Machina
Exiles
Fantastic Four
Gen13
Green Arrow
GoGirl
Gotham Central
Invincible
Love Fights
Mage
Nightwing
Outsiders
Robin
Runaways
Sentinel
Sidekicks
Spider-man
Starman
Superman
Supreme
Teen Titans
Tom Strong
Watchmen
Wonder Woman
X-Men
Young Justice
for a printer friendly version of this list, click here
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Are you an Alan Moore fan? Have you watched his career closely through Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Tom Strong, and From Hell? Or are you simply curious to know what's so special about the writer who (according to The Onion) has "reached previously unscaled heights" of story telling innovation? For Moore devotees and dilettantes alike, Across the Universe is an enjoyable sampler of the work of a comic book genius. The 13 stories in this collection all feature the DC heroes, with a special focus on the Green Lantern Corps, Superman, and Batman. My personal favorites include an encounter between Superman and the Swamp Thing, the background on The Phantom's secret origin, and some hilarious Green Lantern lore imparted from the Great Hall of Service on the Planet Oa. Like so many of Moore's longer works, these stories all end with a dramatic twist that's either heart-wrenching or silly, keeping us guessing until the punchline in the last panels. This is an opportunity to see how a virtuoso writer incorporates his own peculiar perspective into pre-existing characters and worlds with their own history, rules, and mythology. review by alison |
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Ever wondered what superheroes do in their off time? Do they even have off time? Go on dates? Go shopping? Hang out with their friends? Kurt Busiek has created a wonderful series considering these burning questions with Astro City, and with Alex Ross and Brent Anderson creating such vibrant visuals, there's never a boring moment. If you like Astro City, you should
definitely check out Kurt Busiek's Marvels review by robin |
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I had heard a great deal about The Authority, in general comments about the series' excellence and in specific about its groundbreaking characters (see my random thoughts on this distinction). As you may have noticed by now, I love superhero comics as much as the next guy, but I love them even more when the stories twist expectations. The Authority is a kind of descendant of Alan Moore's Watchmen and the familiar Justice League set-up. A group of empowered beings decide that they have a duty to change the world for the better. The difference here is that since attempting to convince the world to change has failed, they will enforce change. The world will be better, or face The Authority's judgement and sentence. The members of the Authority are familar and different at the same time ¸ key members Apollo and the Midnighter follow the Superman and Batman mold respectively. Other members exhibit inventive new powers, from Jack Hawksmoor's ability to feel and integrate with the spirit of cities to the Engineer's evolution into a human being with machines making up her very blood. Their unflappable and dangerous leader is Jenny Sparks, Spirit of the Twentieth Century, gifted with the power to focus and control electricity. Warren Ellis' writing is witty and suitably dark, and the artwork shows once again the depth and beauty computer aided color can bring to comics. For superheroes with one-liners, intelligence, and brawn to spare, flip to The Authority. review by robin |
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Batgirl reminding Oracle of Batman is probably not a ringing endorsement for the state of Batgirl's mental health. On the other hand, Batman is in awe of her fighting skills and she looks really good in a batsuit. Cassandra Cain, daughter of renowned/infamous assassin David Cain first appeared in the "No Man's Land" series. Cain raised her to be a killer. Deprived of speech, she relies solely on body language to communicate. It makes her a frighteningly efficient warrior, but she has turned her back on her father's training and with Oracle's blessing she has become the new Batgirl. Scott has managed to capture Cassandra's reliance on the unspoken. He uses her body language to convey what she is feeling, and even behind the mask her facial expressions are evocative. In this story Batgirl is coming to terms with who she was raised to be, and who she wants to become. The question, however, is whether Batman can allow her remain with his team as he reluctantly discovers more about her past. read more... If you like, you can skip to individual volumes in the series: Batgirl:
Silent Running reviews by petra |
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Whether you are just getting started or looking to explore the Batman universe even deeper, there are dozens of Batman titles to entertain you. Here's what we have to say about some of them: Batman Titles Reviewed: Batman: War Drums While Batman is one of its cental figures, Gotham City holds many other stories. Looking for titles about Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing and the others? Check out their reviews elsewhere on the Superhero Soup page! |
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What about the women? Well, two of the hottest female superheroes in DC's universe Black Canary and Oracle together form Birds of Prey. Black Canary is sassy, deadly, and fully capable of wiping the floor with the bad guys. Oracle, once Batgirl until the Joker's violent trick confined her to a wheelchair, is Black Canary's lightning fast link to all information via the Internet. She's also often Black Canary's conscience and more often than she'd like, her mother hen. Together, they're a force even the Dark Knight himself is impressed by. ...read more The Complete Series: Black Canary/Oracle: Birds of Prey
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"You people aren't just readers, you're consumers. How special do you feel...?" Jack Marlowe, who some readers might remember as the alien warrior Spartan from the original WildC.A.T.S. series, has focused his superpowers on the project of creating The Halo Corporation (slogan: "your life... only better!"). Halo's goal is to use its vast marketing, product placement, advertising, and media clout to quietly take over control of the known world. Marlowe benevolently oversees all aspects of the company, from public relations to product development (including a line of batteries that literally last forever) but keeps some time in his schedule to supervise Cole Cash and Mr. Wax, his team of undercover investigators, mercenaries, and general men-of-all work. While Halo expands its grasp, swallowing up smaller companies and expanding ever faster into the global entertainment business, Wax and Cash labor behind the scenes to solve the mystery of the connection between the beautiful and deadly C.C. Rendozzo and the FBI's secret "nuclear family" project. Casey et al have created an interesting story line which is regretfully short as the 2003 trade paperback includes only issues 1-6 of Brand Building, closing the story at a tantalizing point. These first issues hint at a clash between the power of government intelligence and the might of mass marketing, played out in the design of human bodies and the smallest details of everyday life. review by alison |
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If you know something about the history of American comics, you'll recognize the scene on the cover of Captain Gravity: a superhero delivering a knock-out punch to an evil Nazi henchman. Captain Gravity is a fun superhero adventure, but it's first and foremost a tribute to Golden Age comics and the Golden Age of Hollywood. The comic has a lot going for it: sympathetic characters, a good old-fashioned swashbuckling story, and lively, colorful art that's a nice mix of classic and contemporary. Our hero, Joshua Jones, is a young black man struggling to find a place for himself in a prejudiced Hollywood. Working as an assistant to a kind-hearted director, Joshua dreams of his boyhood hero Captain Marvelous. Little does he know that his life is about to collide with the movies; on location in Mexico, shooting a movie about fictitious hero Captain Gravity, Josh stumbles onto a Nazi plot. Soon he must assume the mantel of the movie hero to keep an extraterrestrial power out of enemy hands. It's a good premise, and it comes with great supporting characters like plucky and egalitarian starlet Chase DuBois. The problem is the dialogue. Cheesy soliloquies and exclamations are all part of the adventure-movie experience, and Captain Gravity obviously means to poke fun at its own cliches. The characters deliver their clunky lines with a wink and a nudge, but that doesn't make them any less painful. Every character has to play "exposition ball"; they pretend to have conversations while clumsily filling the reader in on the plot. Just when the story gets going, Joshua will launch into a speech about his unresolved feelings for his dad that's totally implausible in the scene. Josh's father was lynched, a fact we learn in a flashback that's unexpectedly detailed and (obviously) disturbing. Captain Gravity would be perfectly appropriate for middle school and high school readers; it contains no sex or gore. Adults may be more likely to appreciate the references (and the significance of the Nazi villains) but anyone familiar with Indiana Jones movies will recognize the classic adventure elements. The language is fairly sophisticated, but the story is easy enough to understand. I just wish it was a little better. review by Jen |
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Matt Murdock grew up an outcast, bullied constantly, while tending his alcoholic father, a retired prizefighter caught in too deep with the mob. After his father's murder, Matt was left to his own devices, surviving by instinct. When he hits thirteen, however, he is accidentally blinded. Just when it seems he's beaten, Matt is taken under the wing of a frightening but charismatic teacher who will lead him toward his destiny -- to become the defender of those who cannot defend themselves. review by robin |
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Jumping jets! It's Kid Flash, and he's about to subdue a zoo full of angry circus animals! Yes, the year is 1962 and DC Comics has just published the shocking story of how The Flash accidentally ended up with a young partner-in-crime-fighting. Just a few pages away in 1960 Jimmy Olsen and Robin are hiding out in the Fortress of Solitude and planning to fake their own deaths to protect Superman and Batman from a fortune-telling enemy. Somewhere high above the city Hawkman is in pursuit of an extraterrestrial criminal, and Green Lantern is explaining the origin of his Oath to a man named "Pieface." The six Comics-Code-approved tales reunited in this volume reveal origin stories and little-known adventures of many of the DC stable of superheroes, and provide an interesting taste of how they talked (stiltedly), thought (slowly), and flew (horizontally) during their earliest incarnations. Although it can be hard to take these big-jawed, heavy-eyebrowed characters seriously, Even More Secret Origins is a fascinating look back in time for modern-day fans of Green Lantern, Superman, Batman, The Flash and others. review by alison |
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At first, being able to talk to machines may not seem like the most impressive superpower. I mean, so you can tell your washing machine to start. Big whoop. Then think about the fact that you can tell a gun not to fire, or all of the power plants around you to shut down. Not too shabby. As is the tradition for uncounted superheroes before him, Mitchell Hundred started as just an ordinary civil engineer who, while working on dredging the city's river is splashed with a mysterious glowing green goo that alters him so that he can hear and communicate with machines. Having grown up with superhero comics, he immediately sees the gift for what it is, and becomes The Great Machine, New York's latest costumed vigilante fighting the good fight. All too soon, though, he decides that while he's making a dent here and there, he's not doing enough for the city he loves by battling mad supervillains and accomplishing daring rescues. He wants to do more, less dynamically and more consistently, and maybe even instigate a sustained change toward the better. So what does he do? He runs for mayor. Read more... The Complete Series review by robin |
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A blank canvas of desert. Suddenly, six figures appear out of nowhere, one by one. As each introduces him or her self, it is revealed that they are all X-Men, but each is from a different reality. A mysterious figure known as a Time Broker shows up, and reveals why they have been brought together. Each one of them has become unhinged from their reality, and in order to put things right, they must fix what has gone wrong in other realities. Sometimes, the goal is as easy as freeing an old enemy from prison, but sometimes it's as difficult as killing an old friend. Every reality is different, and must be put right in the way that it belongs. Failure means being sent back to their flawed realities, where they may end up comatose, crippled, or even dead. Given minimal clues to their objective each time, the group struggles against their own definitions of right and wrong, good and evil, and friend and foe to do what must be done to move on, and hopefully, eventually, go home. read more... reviews by wil The Complete Series |
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Normally I would be hard pressed to say anything bad about something written by Brian Michael Bendis, but apparently I've just found the exception that proves the rule. This is not to say that Ultimate Fantastic Four was bad, it just lacked spark. In Marvel's continuing line of Ultimate Universe stories this volume establishes the background of the Fantastic Four. The four main characters ¸ Richard Reed, Susan Reed (nee Storm), Johnny Storm, and Ben Grim ¸ are introduced. Richard and Ben are mismatched high school friends, the brain and the jock. When Richard is tapped by the government to work for the specialized technology development group he escapes to New York where he meets Sue and her brother Johnny, and his mentor Professor Storm, Sue's father. Richard's ongoing experiments with accessing alternate dimensions ends up going horribly wrong and alters the «fantastic four' giving them superhuman powers ¸ Richard is elastic man, Susan can turn herself invisible, Johnny is the human torch, and Ben (visiting his old friend by chance) is turned into stone. This is as good an introduction to the Fantastic Four canon as any, but I can't say that I'm desperate for the next volume. The art has Kubert's usual elegant style and gorgeous color palate. review by petra |
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Last update, I was introduced to The Authority, hardened, fierce peacekeepers. Gen13 is like a superhero team made up of the Authority's bratty younger siblings. The members of Gen13 are young, hot, powerful, and in the prime of their teenage lives. This collection starts off with a deliberate homage to VH1's Behind the Music specials, but this time, it's Behind the Powers. Hilariously tracking each Gen13 member's rise to fame and fall from grace, this tale also serves to introduce the cast: the lecherous Grunge, the brainy beauty Caitlin, her insecure younger sister Freefall, the impulsive Burnout, and the imperious Rainmaker. Assisted by their android housekeeper Anna, they manage to save home city San Francisco a few times over while braving the wilds of superhero parties, fast-food joints, and each others' spiky personalities. Note: don't read this in a place where you'll be embarrassed to laugh out loud. Often. review by robin |
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The number of times I laughed out loud at this title (and they were too numerous to count) should not in any way detract from the seriousness of its issues or the craft of its creators. If anything, readers should be grateful for a tale that's smart, dramatic, full of excellent DC and Green Arrow canonical references, and, with all that, makes you guffaw at least once. Read More... The Complete Series |
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It's a great time to be a girl comics fan. Between shouju manga (Japanese comics written for girls) and the current generation of kick-ass heroines, girls have more comics choices than ever before. That said, GoGirl! is still unique. Trina Robbins and Anne Timmons have given us the girl superhero that never was. Written and drawn in the style of the classic American comics, GoGirl! is a nostalgic yet timeless story. Lindsay Goldman's mom used to be Go-Go Girl, a superheroine of the 1970's, and Lindsay has inherited her abilites. Lindsay and her best friend Haseena like to look at mom's old scrapbooks, but Lindsay never considers trying out Go-Go girl's old costume until a crazed villainess kidnaps Haseena. After she rushes headlong into danger and survives, Lindsay's mom realizes she'll have train her daughter to take up Go-Go Girl's mantle. Lindsay puts her own spin on the family tradition, shortening the name to GoGirl! GoGirl! is a fun mix of retro and modern, with some of the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie's campy charm. It's fun to see mother and daughter superheroines fighting side by side. review by Jen |
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Gotham has always been Batman's city; his to protect and his to serve. But, where does that leave Gotham's police department? Gotham Central is a look at what it means to be a police officer in a city where you only have until nightfall to solve a crime because after the sun goes down it's Batman's city and Batman's collar. Gotham Central puts you inside the GCPD with a Law & Order/Homicide: Life on the Streets feel to it. This title works as both a police procedural, full of partners' camaraderie and jockeying for rank, and as a glimpse into a world dominated by a power no cop can come close to ¸ and archvillains that no regular guy can really survive. Petra wasn't thrilled with this title through no fault of its own ¸ she's just not a fan of cop dramas. Robin, on the other hand, is known to watch Law and Order for hours and counts Homicide as one of her favorites shows, and she loved Gotham Central. Both agree Michael Lark's artwork evokes a noirish feel to Gotham City that compliments the storyline. review by petra |
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In this era of violent superhero tales, in which we're led to question the nature and heroics of superheroes themselves, I every once in a while long for a story where the good guys are good (though still human) and the heroism is clear, without mixed motives or shady dealings. Invincible is just such a breath of fresh air. Not a terribly new idea -- the son of a superhero begins learning his own powers and place in the world -- the whole book is nonetheless wonderfully refreshing. It answers some of those long-standing questions about the pedestrian aspect of superheros. What do you do when you return from an alternate dimesion where time flowed faster? You go have a shower and shave. Where do all those vibrant, skin-tight costumes come from? Why, the same tailor, naturally. Read more... The Complete Series review by robin |
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There have been quite a few series lately that focus on what mere mortals' lives might be like in a world of superheroes, from Bendis' and Rucka's cop-centric Powers and Gotham Central to Kurt Busiek's classic Marvels. As with all things Andi Watson, he takes a familiar idea and gives it his own light, romantic touch. Jack, a comics penciller working to retell a real-life superhero's acts of bravery and heroism, is in a bad mood. Not only is his superhero, the Flamer, lacking for dramatic stories lately, but he's also being hit with a paternity suit that has his public image hitting rock bottom. On top of that, Jack is less than suave with the ladies and is particularly paranoid about how he might compare to superheroes prime physiques – in a world of paragons, why would anyone want an ordinary guy? Then he meets Nora, a smart young woman who, wonder of wonders, likes him back. Of course, once love is looking possible, life starts hitting Jack with everything that could go wrong. Nora is not just a great girl next door, but also a reporter for the scandal mag that broke the story about the Flamer's unclaimed son. She also seems a little too cozy with the Flamer himself, setting off all of Jack's insecurities. On top of that, Jack's cat Guthrie not only starts talking but gains superpowers, dons a costume, and joins the ranks of caped crusaders. Anyone who's ever lived with a cat can just imagine the weirdness, never mind the snide commentary, that might well be voiced if your cat could talk <i>and</i> kick your butt. Watson is known for his romantic comedies, and this tale has the same bittersweet and everyday rhythm feel that makes all his work unique and endearing. His artwork remains intentionally rough around the edges and full of broad strokes, and it works its minimalistic magic in eloquent expressions and implied movement. A fine addition to any teen or adult collection. review by robin |
A magic baseball bat? Reincarnation? Hercules!? Yes, you will find all of these things, and much more, in Matt Wagner's epic Mage series. Kevin Matchstick, as it turns out, is the reincarnation of Arthur Pendragon (i.e. King Arthur), and his baseball bat is the fabled Excalibur. Joined by Hercules and Hermes, each reborn, he seeks his destiny. review by robin |
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Introduction Nightwing, a.k.a. Dick Grayson, once Robin to Bruce Wayne's Batman, struggles to define himself as an independent superhero. Can you imagine trying to distinguish yourself compared to Gotham's hero, let alone trying to step out of his shadow and become a superhero of your own? He's determined to make it his own no matter the opposition (remind you of anyone?) Despite his skill, however, he may have reached a little too far. Chuck Dixon, a legend at work, writes great storylines and dialogue, with his black humor and talent for true-to-life dialogue in prime form. read more... Other Series Titles Nightwing: Year One -- NEW! The Bludhaven Years |
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A vigilante, a meta-human, and a costumed superhero walk into a bar . . . it sounds like the start of a painfully bad joke. Except that this comic is written by Judd Winick, so actually it’s a very good joke with plot, angst, compelling characters, and witty quips. Read more... The Complete Series review by petra
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Tim Drake is the third boy to wear the Robin suit, but he's the first one who's had to break curfew to do it. The question is, what happens when his parents find out? How would you react if you found out your 16 year old son was running around Gotham in the middle of the night in brightly colored spandex fighting criminals with a much older man who named himself after a flying rodent? Yeah. That's about how Tim's father reacted too. Read more... Robin Titles review by petra |
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Every teenager knows that their parents are evil. After all, it's your parents who prevent you from joining that socialist collective, and force you to play with their friends' kids, and just do not understand the importance of black nail polish. But, what if your parents really were evil, in a secret society, uber-villain, sacrificing young girls kind of way? Alex, Carolina, Nico, Chase, Gertrude and Molly have nothing in common except that their parents meet once a year to discuss very boring tax and charitable donation stuff. Except, it turns out their parents all belong to a secret society called the Pride, and apparently, the Pride isn't exactly on the side of the angels. Now they're on the run from the police and their parents and finding out that none of them is quite as ordinary as they thought. Read more... The Complete Series review by petra |
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Nothing in life has come easy for Juston Seyfert, and in fact if you asked him he might tell you that nothing much has ever come his way, period. Life is hard on the world's junior-high geeks and dorks, budding engineers and clever introverts, and for Juston the addition of a posse of bullies with a special interest in his welfare feels like the last straw. Just getting through the day in one piece can be a challenge for our anti-hero, pursued by high school goons during the day and hazarding life and limb at night on a variety of mechanical salvage projects supplied by his dad's scrap business. Years of obscurity and practice with discarded technology pay off in a heartbeat the night Juston discovers a giant robot clumsily reassembling itself in the family junkyard's empty barn. Nothing much changes on the surface after Juston makes his most incredible find, except that every interaction and decision is now tinged with a starry glow of “Wow, have I found the coolest new friend EVER.” Juston isn't as invisible as he thinks he is, however, and after a few days his friends and family are starting to wonder what's made him so jumpy and distracted. Struggling to hide his discovery from over-curious friends, Juston soon finds himself up to the neck in difficult questions: is strength the only thing that separates a nice guy from a bully? Does great power come with great responsibility? How does a giant robot help you get over your first big crush? And perhaps most importantly, what the heck is a fully-loaded battle robot doing crashing around in the rural woods of Juston's hometown, and who is going to come looking for him? McKeever's shadowy color palette and hip young-superhero drawing style will appeal to fans of Sidekicks (for the hair and clothes) and Brad Bird's The Iron Giant (for everything else) – even if you're not a big fan of robot-fiction, Sentinel is a great read for its sweetly accurate portrayal of the hazards of high school and mechanical expertise. review by alison |
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Did you want to run away to Professor Xavier's school when you saw X-Men? Yeah, I did too. Reading Sidekicks might help to tide you over «til you develop your own superpowers. Terry Highland's dad was once a superhero sidekick, and Terry has powers of her own. So how do kids with super-powers learn to use them? By enrolling in Shuster Academy, a state-of-the-art high school that trains future heroes. Life at Shuster isn't all costumes and kicking butt, though; use your powers between classes and you'll have to deal with the strict Ms. Sternin. As Terry adjusts to her new environment, she has to deal with exams, demerits, and cliques like any other high school student. Her greatest challenge, however, will be overcoming her own fears; although Terry's power is super-strength, she can't face returning to the virtual reality fight-training room where an accident threatened her life. J. Torres, who also writes Alison Dare, knows exactly what high school is like, and Takeshi Miyazawa draws teens who really look like teens! The only problem with Sidekicks is that it left me wanting to know what happens next, so here's hoping there's another installment soon. review by Jen |
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What would you do if you could suddenly wallop the bullies who tease you? If you could literally climb the walls? Come on, I bet even the best of us would be up the side of a building in about two seconds flat dropping water balloons. Peter Parker learns the hard way that superpowers provide many temptations and that in order to be a true hero, he has to temper his abilities with a careful mind and strong heart. Read more... Spider-Man Titles review by robin |
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Jack Knight is having a bad day. His older brother has been murdered, his father attacked, and he's expected take up the family tradition -- being Opal City's guardian, Starman. Never mind that he's never had any interest in being a superhero. Never mind that he's being attacked left and right by old enemies without any idea of why. Will he rise to the occasion or will he prove his inner demons right -- and fail? review by robin |
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For a girl who loves Smallville, I realize it's really sad that this is the first Superman centric graphic novel that I've reviewed. I must admit, though, that I was never drawn to Superman all that much -- too noble, too good, no shades of grey. This title, though, by guru Jeph Loeb, is wonderful. It is also, I discovered, a really good place to start in terms of learning a bit more about the Man of Steel's background and personality. With spare dialogue that never jars or feels too full of convenient, folksy platitudes, Jeph Loeb has created a subtle and complex portrait of Clark Kent, Superman, Lois Lane, and Lex Luthor. For each season, we get a different narrator in Clark's life, and thus a different point of view on the man. The artwork by Tim Sale veers away from the flashy primary colors so associated with superheroes and instead evokes the story through graded watercolors and flowing lines. All together, this title is not a careening action tale, but instead a kind of meditation on the man, the myth, and the definition of a hero. review by robin |
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Who is Supreme? Caped and powered up, he fights unusual crimes in the streets of his city as any superhero might. Between 9:00 and 5:00 Supreme works as a writer and editor for... a company that publishes comic books. Supreme's alter-ego Ethan Tate can pass on plenty of great superhero "material" to his writer colleagues, recounting his own exploits to provide a basis for the company's "Omniman" series. This is a stable arrangement without much glory or romance for our undercover hero until a galley copy of a comic book appears that not only tells the story of Supreme's past, but also predicts his future. Thus the story begins with a broad hint that not everything in Supreme's universe is as straightforward as it seems. Readers may catch on to Alan Moore's little game faster than his protagonist as Supreme stumbles into alternate realities reminiscent of World War One superhero cartoons and adventure stories from even earlier in the history of comics. By the time he reaches "The Supremacy," a world inhabited by every prototype and "cancelled" incarnation of Supreme from a Mickey Mouse lookalike to a blue bug-headed monster, our hero has begun to realize that he is neither unique nor in control of his own destiny. Now it is up to Supreme and his assorted sidekicks and colleagues to keep the city of Omegapolis free of supervillains, even as the very fabric of their universe is manipulated by an unseen hand. Just a little knowledge of the history of the comic book genre will add a lot of depth to Moore's story line, with is otherwise a sly examination of how our self-image can change when we first see ourselves through the eyes of others. review by Alison |
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My initial reactions to Teen Titans: A Kid's Game were: The Complete Series review by petra |
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Sometime in the early years of the 20th century inventor Sinclair Strong and his wife Susan land on the island of Attabar Teru. The Strongs have come to the island to bring up their son Tomas as the perfect human in accordance with Sinclair's peculiar scientific vision. Raised in a high-gravity chamber on a special diet of Attabar Teru roots and herbs, Tom grows up muscular, intelligent, and resilient. A tragedy early in the story propels young Tom away from his island home and friends into the outside world, accompanied by his robotic butler Pneuman and his sidekick King Solomon ¸ a talking ape of extraordinary intelligence. Read more... The Complete Series reviews by alison |
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If you're like me, reading superhero tales, there is also that nagging, logical question in the back of your mind -- just why are these particular men and women driven to put on costumes and become, for all intents and purposes, vigilantes? There's a reason people didn't trust Batman when he first roamed the streets of Gotham -- who was he to judge who was right and who was wrong? Superman may have a noble and undeniable calling, but many of these figures, Batman perhaps the most darkly conflicted, have other, more human reasons for what they do. Watchmen, full of superheroes of the same breed as Superman, Spiderman, and Wonder Woman, explores all the complicated answers provoked by these questions. In its pages, not only do we find a little superhero in ourselves, but also find the humanity, flawed or noble, in the heroes elevated above us. review by robin |
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I suppose that it is possible that someday Greg Rucka will write something that I don't like, but it hasn't happened yet. Hiketeia is a beautifully written and beautifully illustrated book which is both a gripping story and a thoughtful meditation on the changing conceptions of justice, obligation, and the price of keeping promises. The rite of hiketeia is one of supplication and obligation. The supplicants debase themselves to a protector who in turn is sworn to shield them from all harm. In Ancient Greece this rite was understood and ensured by the vengeance of the Furies for those who broke hiketeia. However, when Danielle Wellys recites the ancient pledge to Diana, Princess of Themyscira, events begin to unfold which trap Wonder Woman between her sworn word and Batman's dedication to justice. Batman cannot compromise his ethics to allow Danielle to escape the penalty for the murders which she has committed, no matter how compelling her reasons. Equally, Wonder Woman cannot afford to break her oath to Danielle to protect and defend her. The artwork here is gorgeous. Muted color tones echo the meditative nature of the story, but the panels are alive with detail and depth. review by petra |
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Step right up folks, get your nice fresh crack right here, hot off the presses ¸ Joss Whedon is writing X-Men! Let me repeat that, Joss Whedon is writing X-Men. Okay, for the non-Joss Whedon-is-a-god market, Astonishing X-Men is a Kitty Pryde centric storyline. It is crack in written form I tell you. Ahem. Read more... More X-Men Titles review by petra |
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Unlike Young Justice: A League of Their Own this book does not suffer from a lack of plot. If anything, it has far too much plot, and far far too many characters. On occasion it seemed as if every superhero the DC Universe has ever spawned turned up in this book. The basic plot is that Klarion (bum bum bum . . . the Witch Boy) orchestrates an occasion at which all members of the DC superhero universe both old and young will be in one place and then turns a magic ray on them, making the adult superheroes into teenagers and the teenage superheroes into adults. Read more... The Complete Series review by petra |
Astro
City: Life in the Big City
The
Authority: Relentless
Batman
Birds
of Prey
Daredevil:
A Man without Fear
Ultimate
Fantastic Four: The Fantastic (Volume 1)
Gen13:
Superhuman like You
GoGirl!
Gotham
Central: In the Line of Duty
Love
Fights (Volume 1)
Mage
The
Outsiders: Looking for Trouble
Robin
Unmasked
Runaways
Sentinel:
Salvage
Sidekicks:
The Transfer Student
Starman:
Sins of the Father
Superman
for All Seasons 
Tom
Strong
Watchmen
Astonishing
X-Men
copyright Robin Brenner 2002-2004