A Bank Holiday Monday in the UK where it isn’t raining; I was almost too shocked to write anything. However, I don’t let meteorological surprise get in the way of talking about comic books I bought six weeks ago.

Astro City: Silver Agent #1
A breath of fresh air – an Astro City story that isn’t The Dark Age. In it, we learn about the Silver Agent, aka Alan, who came from a family who served the city but he couldn’t because of polio, becoming a mailman before he was transformed by an alien artefact and became a hero, only for him to be saved by the greatest heroes of the 43rd century to keep on fighting the good fight. This is the first issue of a two-parter, so it’s about information and set up, with resolution next issue, but it’s very nicely done. I still don’t like Brent Anderson’s art, but what are you going to do?

Batman #701
I’m not quite sure what the point of this issue was – Grant Morrison writes ‘RIP The Missing Chapter’ with his usual briskness and economy and humour (Batman: ‘How’s the whole “extreme butlering” thing working out for you, Alfred?’ Alfred: ‘I believe the correct term is “butling”, sir.’), but I don’t think it serves any purpose. It doesn’t help that Tony Daniel’s art is inconsistent; he’s not a bad artist but he draws a splash page of a brokedown Batman that just looks all wrong, too big and blocky with shoulders and biceps far too large for his arms, but then draws him slicker and more svelte in the next pages. I’ll wait for the next issue to pass complete judgement.

The Unwritten #15
‘That literary GPS thing again’ – I like that description of the element of The Unwritten that I enjoy, which is to the fore in this episode as Tommy Taylor makes deductions in order to locate his father, using clues about places in London with a literary connection, where his father finally arrives to deal with the man who has been taken over by the fictional character of Count Ambrosio (I loved the way he dealt with him). Another good issue from Carey and Gross.