Review Category: Comic Books

FORMAT: TRADE PAPERBACK | RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 15TH

An ageing ex-superhero seeks revenge in a post-apocalyptic wasteland run by President Red Skull and an army of supervillains. But not the one you’re thinking of. Before Old Man Logan, there was Hawkeye, running a quest of his own across the wastelands of America. Not deemed worth killing by Red Skull and his old compatriots in the Thunderbolts, Hawkeye hunts them down one by one, working his way up to criminal mastermind Baron Zemo. But can he take down Zemo and the Thunderbolts ‘before’ he loses his eyesight entirely? And what does the surprisingly dapper Bullseye hope to achieve amidst all this?

A prequel to Mark Millar’s iconic Old Man Logan, this twelve-issue epic takes in the preceding five years, dropping in on familiar faces and old foes along the way. Ever wonder where Logan’s kids got their Xbox from? Wonder no more! Although the story does occasionally suffer from such prequelitis, it is largely its own beast. The greatest addition to its canon is companion Kate Bishop, who shakes up the formula quite nicely and should be worthy of a spin-off of her own somewhere down the line. Its villain game is strong too – particularly big bad Bullseye; doing rather well for himself in Daredevil’s absence.

Old Man Hawkeye isn’t quite essential reading, but it is one of the better books in Marvel’s Old Man Logan universe. It hits far more than it ever misses – even if it ‘does’ only aim for the easy targets.

FORMAT: SINGLE ISSUE | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Who is the Joker? Four years after Batman asked the question during the Darkseid War, we finally get an answer. As the Dark Knight learned in 2015, there are not one but three Jokers; The Criminal, The Comedian, and The Clown. And no, that’s not a metaphor, there are literally three of them. 

What was once set to be a major shakeup of DC continuity is relegated to a three-part Black Label story, written by Geoff Johns (Doomsday Clock) and illustrated by Jason Fabok. As multiple Jokers are spotted across Gotham, Batman, Batgirl, and Red Hood take to the streets to put down the Clown Prince(s) of Crime before he can do too much damage. This is as much a story about confronting trauma as it is Batman and the Joker. As such, it’s probably the only post-resurrection Jason Todd story worth reading.

Unfortunately, the three Jokers are the least interesting thing about Three Jokers; a story far too indebted to The Killing Joke for its own good. Why bother having three if at least two of them are practically indistinguishable? At least it explains why the world’s greatest detective never clocked on before. Gorgeous and well-written as it is, it comes too late, into a market already oversaturated with Jokers. There’s plenty of wiggle room after Issue 1’s shocking cliffhanger, but it’s only likely to get more convoluted from here, as we go deeper into the Joker-verse. 

FORMAT: TRADE PAPERBACK | RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 3RD

Hero. Villain. Futuristic city cop and dystopian fascist. No story better illustrates the fundamental dichotomy that is Judge Dredd than America. Dredd might be best known for battling the Dark Judges or his many adventures across the Cursed Earth, but his handlers at 2000 AD aren’t afraid of going political either; and this is when the character really shines.

Essential Judge Dredd: America not only reprints John Wagner’s classic titular story, but also those which preceded and followed it too – Letter from a Democrat, Revolution, Politics, The Devil You Know, and Twilight’s Last Gleaming. Had this been written in the here and now, we’d be dismissing it as too on-the-nose. It’s depressing – not for how little has changed, but for how much the real world has caught up with Mega-City One. It’s a case of life imitating art, as the heavily armed police force of the future kidnap peaceful protestors, initiate riots, and brutally beat civilians into submission left, right and centre. Did we mention that this story was written 30 years ago?

This first volume of a new series by Rebellion delivers exactly what it promises. Essential Judge Dredd is essential reading; not only for fans or newbies to Dredd’s world, but anyone remotely invested in comic books and literature at large. Right now, it’s more relevant than ever.

FORMAT: SINGLE ISSUE | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Dan O’Bannon’s original script for Alien (then known as Star Beast) was very different to what finally ended up onscreen. Story, characters, and the proposed look of the project were fundamentally different, and yet the DNA was still recognisably Alien. This fascinating alternate version of the classic has now finally been brought to life, courtesy of writer Cristiano Seixas and artist Guilherme Balbi.

O’Bannon deliberately wrote his characters as non-defined and often genderless – allowing for a wider range of casting choices, and this is reflected here. We’ve a female captain named Standard, and Roby – our Ripley substitute – (the only specifically male character in the original script) is reimagined as a black woman. The Nostromo becomes the Snark, a still impressive but more generic ship than the movie’s industrialised design. The only element closely resembling its onscreen counterpart is the cat!

Plot-wise, issue #1 covers familiar ground, with the crew awoken to investigate a mysterious signal, followed by the discovery of an alien ship and its mummified pilot on a planet’s surface: humanity’s first contact with alien life. Like the Nostromo, the alien ship and Space Jockey have reverted to their original, vastly different pre-Giger incarnations. And while the Swiss surrealist’s input was a huge part of making Alien the classic it is, the designs presented are beautifully imagined by Balbi.

While it was never going to match Ridley Scott’s masterpiece, Alien: The Original Screenplay is a fascinating what-might-have-been version of a sci-fi classic. Recommended.

FORMAT: TRADE PAPERBACK (REVIEWED), DIGITAL | RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 9TH

It’s typically a good idea to regard any spin-off media as a remix of the source material. Getting bogged down as to ‘how true to the source’ a particular thing is rarely works out well. Firefly: New Sheriff in the ‘Verse is a great example of this; the book takes the well-loved characters from the TV show Firefly and takes them in an unexpected direction. This is a book that makes liar, cheat, and all-round scoundrel Mal Reynolds the new Sherriff in town.

It shouldn’t work. You shouldn’t be able to cut and paste any old Spaghetti Western cliché into Firefly and have it be fun. But it does. Mal is strong-armed by the alliance into the role of Sherriff for a back-water world. He pairs up with a cyborg friend and the rest of the Firefly cast are pretty much relegated to supporting character status. None of this fits with the established world of Firefly and it feels like a different book cosplaying as the well-loved show. But somehow it’s still fun.

This is partly due to Lalit Kumar Sharma’s art, which lends a sort of ‘rebel storybook’ style to the work. Francesco Segala’s understated and washed-out colours and Jim Campbell’s clear and vivid lettering also stand out. Greg Pak’s story is okay, but it’s the art that sells it. This is an entertaining book if you don’t worry about the canon.

Out of 5

FORMAT: HARDCOVER + DIGITAL (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 8TH

The premiere release for DC’s Hill House subdivision, comes the complete Basketful of Heads. Fresh from the mind of Joe Hill (best known for his Locke & Key, and numerous, all excellent, prose work), it’s the perfect showcase for DC’s horror bona fides. Fans of both Hill and comic book horror will not be disappointed.

This tale of small-town terror follows heroine June Branch as she investigates the disappearance of her boyfriend, hunting down an elusive serial killer with only an axe for protection and an ever-growing basketful of (very vocal!) heads for company. It’s worth powering through the book’s slow build, as once it gets started, the action rarely lets up. Hill puts poor June through the wringer, emotionally and physically (if this were a movie, it’d be a Sam Raimi one) in a story which is both harrowing and hilarious.

The art by Leomacs is stupendous, especially in the book’s character work and world-building. It’s sumptuously illustrated; atmospheric and packed full of cinematic action sequences. Dave Stewart handles the colours, and does a magnificent job in jumping from hot, sticky summer days to dark nights and gloomy rainstorms. This is one of the best-looking horror comics in years, with the entire creative team (including the evocative lettering of Deron Bennett, and covers by Reiko Murakami) firing on all cylinders.

As an introduction to Hill House, Basketful of Heads absolutely smashes its doors in – an instant all-timer, and one of Joe Hill’s best stories to date.

RELEASE DATE: 18TH AUGUST

The School for Extraterrestrial Girls is a comic book series that, as the name suggests, is firmly focused on high-school drama and girls trying to figure out who they really are – in this case, rather literally. The story opens with Tara Smith, a young lady who spends most of her time in a strict routine, keeping her head down and trying to avoid being noticed by her classmates. She has thus far succeeded in being the quiet, weird one that nobody talks to.

That is until one very bad day in which her daily routine goes very, very wrong. Nothing goes right and the result is that she suddenly discovers that when she gets stressed, she explodes into flames (hence the title of the book). The next thing she knows, a shadowy secret agency picks her up and informs her that she is, in fact, an alien and has had her alien form suppressed for her entire life, and can either go and study at a secret high-school for her kind or be deported to an alien world she’s never even heard of.

This entire premise is a neat way of exploring some very serious real-world issues in a light-hearted and teen-friendly sort of way. The writing is pretty straightforward; it’s a teen drama, and one of the characters spends most of her time lamp-shading the fact that the various dramatic reveals can be found on TV Tropes. Despite all of this, it’s a huge amount of fun, but don’t read too deeply into any of it.

Jamie Noguchi’s art fits the story very well, toggling between the mundane character design of the schoolgirls in their human disguises and then going all out when it comes to the transformation into alien. It’s a smooth visual style, not too exaggerated but distinctive enough. It’s a strong blend between a Saturday morning cartoon vibe and more exaggerated alien model designs. This is a fun book, suitable for anyone looking for a light read and an ideal choice for young teens.