Astonishing X-Men #7–12 by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday This trade paperback continues on from the first, but it is just a break in the story, really; fortunately, Whedon is an experienced man when it comes to episodic storytelling. Things start off with a fight scene, expertly executed and with…
Astonishing X-Men #1–6 by Joss Whedon & John Cassaday Here’s the strange thing – Joss Whedon is a good writer but he is also a major X-Men fanboy. It’s an unusual combination; it makes for fun, geeky comics. Why else would Kitty Pryde and Peter Rasputin be back in the…
Alice In Sunderland by Bryan Talbot How cool is my library? To have Bryan Talbot’s Alice in Sunderland in stock so soon after it is published? And what a book it is – a massive, impressive hardback tome, heavy with knowledge and delight. It just defies easy description – it’s…
X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1–6 by Ed Brubaker and Trevor Hairsine The continual nature of superhero comic books requires the necessity of the retcon to introduce new elements to the otherwise static nature of the narrative. In the early days, continuity wasn’t a big deal; it was the development of the…
The Originals by Dave Gibbons Dave Gibbons (didn’t he try to be ‘David Gibbons’ at one stage, to be taken more seriously? I understand the dilemma – I’ve never liked the ‘Dave’ contraction myself, only allowing it in sport situations – but history and common knowledge will out, so Dave…
Fantastic Four #527–532 by J Michael Straczynski and Mike McKone Welcome back to From A Library Week. Today is the collection of the first six issues of the Fantastic Four written by JMS. I looked in the book for the name of this collection but couldn’t find any indication of…
Welcome to From A Library Week – a whole week of reviews of comic books that I borrowed from my excellent local library. First up, American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. I enjoy reading reviews, particularly on the internet. The discussion of stories and the introduction to things I…
Challengers of the Unknown #1–6 by Howard Chaykin Howard Chaykin, he’s all about design – the covers are essentially the same, but with different characters in the foreground not showing their whole face, the motifs of the diamond, crown, star, heart and cross above the styilised font all look sharp.…
Created by John Woo, written by Garth Ennis and drawn by Jeevan Kang 7 Brothers was one of the first titles to come from Virgin Comics, the attempt by Richard Branson to get into the comic book business. Despite having very silly credits on the inside cover – ‘Chief Visionaries’?…
Midnighter #1–6 by Garth Ennis and various artists Issues 1–5 ‘Killing Machine' Midnighter doesn’t strike me as the type of character who requires his own series. He is a Batman analogue, taken to the extreme, who works well by brooding and being deliriously violent at appropriate junctures. Probably the only…