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Teen Titans: Titans East

by Geoff Johns &  Adam Beechen 

(Art by Peter Snejbjerg, Tony S. Daniel, Jonathan Glapion, Edwin Rosell, Al Barrionuevo, Bit and Chris Batista)

Book 7.  The Titans find themselves confronted by another team of Titans, led by none other than their nemesis Deathstroke.  The two teams go toe to toe and victory comes down to whether or not the true Titans' bonds of adopted family prove stronger than the hate and vengeance that fuels Deathstroke's team.

I like the basic premise of this story, with Deathstroke putting together a team directly intended to mirror the Titans but at the same time mock them.  However, it has to be said that the execution of the story is a bit incoherent.  It jumps around between various characters and their predicaments but never actually seems to come together in a convincing and satisfying way.

It was particularly nice to see various legacy characters interacting, however.  Donna Troy, the original Wonder Girl, fights alongside her younger counterpart, the matured Bart Allen fights his evil clone, Inertia, and Ravager goes toe-to-toe with Deathstroke.  The finest moment of this, however, is seeing Dick Grayson and Tim Drake team-up to beat up Jason Todd.

A good idea, messily executed.

3 out of 5

 

Teen Titans: Titans Of Tomorrow

by Sean McKeever, Geoff Johns, Marv Wolfman & Todd Dezago

(Art by Randy Green, Mike McKone, George Perez, Todd Nauck, Ale Garza, Jamal Igle, Eddy Barrows, Joe Prado, Greg Tocchini, Andy Lanning, Sandra Hope, Marlo Alquiza, Lary Stucker, Derek Fridolfs, Rob Hunter, Julio Ferreira and Oclair Albert)

Book 8.  This book begins with the Titans remembering their fallen friends Bart Allen (Kid Flash) and Conner Kent (Superboy) whilst simultaneous mysterious assailants incapacitate the most powerful members of the Justice League.  The Titans then have to face those assailants, who turn out to be none other than their fascistic future selves.

There's an intriguing core narrative here which sees several of the Titans having to face future versions of themselves that they don't like.  It's an engaging idea since who could you trust better than yourself but what happens if the person you become isn't who you want to be?  For example Tim has to face the concept of being a gun-toting murderous incarnation of Batman, whilst Cassie has to meet a cold and ruthless version of herself who becomes Wonder Woman.

Despite having some engaging emotional beats this book as a whole is pretty messy and doesn't feel like a cohesive story; relying too much on previous events and then failing to properly resolve anything either.  Then when you drop future Lex Luthor and the Titans Army into the mix, not to mention the beginning of the Sinestro Corps War, it's all too much.

Also, I have to say that the whole 'awful future versions of themselves' story was spoiled a little bit for me by the fact that it's also the Series 6 finale of Red Dwarf which I first saw decades ago and, honestly, is done much better there.  ("Better dead than smeg!")

3 out of 5

 

Teen Titans/Outsiders: The Death And Return Of Donna Troy

by Judd Winick, Phil Jimenez & Chuck Kim

(Art by Ale Garza, Trevor Scott, Lary Stucker, Marlo Alquiza, Phil Jimenez, Andy Lanning, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and George Perez)

A tie-in to the build-up towards Geoff Johns' 'Infinte Crisis' epic story event, this book is divided into three chapters.  The first sees the Titans (Nightwing, Troia, Cyborg etc) team up with Young Justice (Robin, Wonder Girl, Superboy etc) against a powerful cyborg from the future.  In its attempts to find compatible technology, the cyborg awakens one of the malfunctioning Superman robots.  The ensuing battle with the Titans and Young Justice makes for exciting reading and leads to the deaths of two young heroes (one being Troia/Donna Troy). 

The second chapter features Cassie, who took over as Wonder Girl from Donna, reviewing the life and times of her deceased friend.  This allows us to get to know the history of a character that I otherwise wouldn't have understood (what with Wonder Woman, two Wonder Girls and so on). 

There is then a time gap before the third chapter in which Troia, alive but stripped of her memory, is helping the Titans of Legend to conquer the innocent planet of Minosyss.  Members of the new Titans and the Outsiders are transported to Minosyss where they are forced to fight against Troia in the hopes of reminding her of her life a Donna Troy.  In this chapter there is quite a bit of reference to Donna's mixed backstory and also to the events of 'Crisis on Infinite Earths', both of which are unknown to me. 

I enjoyed this book as whole, though, despite some of the references flying right over my head.  What I liked most was the constrasts created by the different generations of young heroes against their more famous mentors, ie Batman-Nightwing-Robin, Wonder Woman-Troia-Wonder Girl and Superman-Superboy.  Don't expect to get the full story here though, you'll need 'Infinite Crisis' for that.

4 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Attack On Technodrome

by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow & Tom Waltz

(Art by Cory Smith)

The eleventh volume in the series.  Donatello forms an unlikely alliance with Shredder and the Foot Clan to prevent Krang from using the Technodrome to wipe out humanity.  Meanwhile, his brothers are torn between Splinter's desire to confront the Foot alongside Old Hob's Mutanimals and their need to help Donnie save the world.

Quite a lot of what's come before has been leading up to this story, with the threat of the Technodrome finally becoming immanently deadly.  Unfortunately, all the build-up of the Krang/Technodrome has been the least interesting plot thread of this series for me.  I suppose in some ways it's nice to finally get it out of the way but, honestly, I've always been much more invested in the age-old conflict between Hamato Yoshi and Oroku Saki than I have in all the stuff involving shape-shifting robots and transdimensional brain-people.

This isn't bad by any stretch, but I just didn't find myself particularly engaged with what should've felt like an epic showdown.  That said, this book does contain the series' darkest and most shocking moment, which adds a level of danger to the story and the series as a whole that wasn't there before (and bear in mind we've already seen Shredder stab Casey in the guy and almost kill him).  No spoilers, but be prepared for some emotional trauma.

3 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Bebop & Rocksteady Hit The Road

by Ben Bates & Dustin Weaver

(Art by Ben Bates and Dustin Weaver)

The two psychotic mutant villains tire of their exile in Mexico and decide to head for New York City by any means necessary.  Hounded the Earth Protection Force, Bebop and Rocksteady encounter various speed bumps in their journey, including alien bat-men, techno-ninjas, Time Masters and robot versions of themselves.

This book is neither big nor clever, with not much in the way of plot and a series of random encounters that make little to no sense.  Usually that would totally kill my enjoyment of a story (see my review of TMNT/Ghostbusters 2, for example) but, to my surprise, I actually found myself getting along with this book just fine.

I think what makes the difference is Bebop and Rocksteady themselves.  They're just so willfully, gleefully stupid that it's hard not to be engaged with their carefree and brain-free approach to all of the random stuff thrown their way.  They revel in the chaos and it's hard not to have some of their enthusiasm and ability to just roll with whatever happens next rub off on you.  Simple things like the fact that their reactions to losing their mutations is to immediately decide to get normal 9-to-5 jobs or their excited reaction to meeting robot versions of themselves sent to defeat mean that it's a lot of fun to spend time with them.

So yeah, not big nor clever but still a bit of fun.

3 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Change Is Constant

by Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz

(Art by Kevin Eastman and Dan Duncan)

The first volume of IDW's reboot of the TMNT comics.  Every night Splinter sends his sons Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo out into the streets of New York seeking Raphael, the brother they lost whilst escaping the lab where they originated.

Here we're given an interesting take on the origin of the Turtles, which sees Raphael separated from them before they achieve their mutated intelligent forms.  Always the outsider in the franchise, Raph here isn't aware of the others or of his own identity and instead makes a friend in young Casey Jones.  We're also introduced to a new (as far as I'm aware) antagonist in the form of Old Hob, a cat who was mutated at the same time as the Turtles and who holds a deep-seated grudge against Splinter.

I was a big fan of the Ninja Turtles as a kid (well, 'Hero Turtles', because the word 'Ninja' was considered too violent for the title of a kids' cartoon in the UK), so it's nice to revisit the characters now.  That said, however, this first volume of this iteration of the franchise didn't really blow me away.  It's interesting and fresh enough to keep me reading, but wasn't powerful enough in its storytelling to completely enthrall me.

3 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: City Fall, Part 1

by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow & Tom Waltz

(Art by Kevin Eastman and Mateus Santolouco)

Volume 6.  The city has become a dark and more dangerous place as Shredder and the Foot Clan make their bid for control of the criminal underworld.  The Turtles are left reeling after Shredder stabs Casey Jones and are further weakened when one of their own turns against them.

This book seems to deliberate evoke storylines from other comics, with things like the 'Batman: War Games' saga immediately jumping to mind, but rather than just feeling derivative, I think it adds a bit more dimension to the Turtles stories after the fairly weak and silly 'Krang War'.  Here we see the Turtles having to face odds too long for them to overcome, those they care about suffering real harm and a betrayal that shakes them all to the core.

As well as a darker story, this one also feels more grounded and, again, it works to this book's advantage.  Here it's the story of two rival clans of warriors whose enmity goes back centuries finally clashing for supremacy.  The fact that some of those ninjas are mutant reptiles and rodents is almost an irrelevance to the core story being told.  And here Shredder once again feels like a credible and deadly threat, not least when he deliberately baits the Turtles by punching his bladed fist into Casey's abdomen.

A much darker and less whimsical book but one which, for my money, absolutely benefits as a result.

4 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: City Fall, Part 2

by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow & Tom Waltz

(Art by Mateus Santolouco and Kevin Eastman)

Volume 7.  As Shredder and the Foot Clan seize control of the streets of New York, the Turtles desperately seek to find Leonardo, who has fallen under their enemy's control.  Meanwhile, Splinter forges an alliance with a former adversary to gain reinforcements in the war against the Foot Clan.

This is a good continuation of the story begun in 'Part 1', beginning with the heroes at their lowest ebb and showing how they persevere to work their way back up.  I particularly liked that the Turtles have to rely on the friendships they've formed over the course of the series to counterbalance the numerical supremacy of the Foot Clan.  I also really like that the ending is a little ambiguous, with the heroes achieving their primary goal but also being forced to flee into hiding by the ascendance of Shredder.

On top of the solid story, some other great elements here are Leo's new 'dark side' look, the reappearance of Slash (and his friendship with Mikey) and the introduction of classic cartoon baddies Bebop and Rocksteady.

4 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Desperate Measures

by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow & Tom Waltz

(Art by Sophie Campbell and Mateus Santolouco)

Book 17.  The Earth Protection Force, led by the fanatical Agent Bishop, captures Slash and turns him into a living weapon to be used against his former friends.  With the Mutanimals captured and subjected to cruel experimentation by the EPF, Old Hob turns to the Turtles to help rescue his family.

There's plenty of drama and emotion to this story, not least because we see the lovable Slash turned against his friends in the most brutal ways (he tears off one of Herman the Hermit Crab's claws at one point).  It explores the idea that using monstrous tactics to fight monsters only turns you into the villain yourself and it covers the idea of simple prejudice being an insurmountable barrier between some groups ever making peace with one another.  It's all pretty complex and grown-up.

The problem is that most of these ideas have been explored in great detail in other comics in the past.  Most obviously, the bigoted government agents hunting mutants just for existing is clearly something the X-Men have been addressing since the 70s.  Sure the themes are timeless (as, sadly, is human bigotry), but here they feel a bit derivative.

So, whilst this book is impactful, it does feel overly familiar.

3 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Enemies Old, Enemies New

by Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz

(Art by Dan Duncan and Mateus Santolouco)

Volume 2.  Baxter Stockman tasks Old Hob with hunting down Splinter and the Turtles, giving him command of an army of robot Mousers.  Meanwhile, Splinter reveals to his sons his belief that they are the reincarnations of ninjas from feudal Japan who were murdered by the villainous Oroku Saki.

I enjoyed this second book in the series quite a bit more than the first one.  The framing of IDW's reboot has settled in with me a bit now and here, with the origin story out of the way, we get to see the development of some of the key storylines, as well as the welcome appearance of classic TMNT elements.  For instance, here we see April O'Neill and Casey Jones meet for the first time, we get the return of the Mousers (I smashed so many of them in the old Turtles arcade game...) and we get to see the moment that the Turtles get their individual coloured bandanas.

The stuff I found most compelling though, was the exploration of the idea that a feudal era ninja and his four sons, who were betrayed and murdered, has been reincarnated as Splinter and the Turtles.  It's such an interesting idea and nicely encompasses the various explanations of Splinter's origins (in the 80s cartoon he was human who turned into a rat, but in the original movies he was a rat who learned ninjitsu by mimicking his human owner) whilst adding an overall new take on them.  I also liked the idea of introducing a supernatural element of vengeance from beyond the grave to what is essentially, with labs, aliens and mutants, a science fiction story.  Also, Oroku Saki (Shredder, if you didn't know) is such an iconic villain of my childhood that it's great to see his origins explored here.

4 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Krang War

by Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz

(Art by Ben Bates)

Volume 5.  In an unexpected turn of events, the Turtles find themselves transported to the planet Neutrino in Dimension X.  To save Earth in their own dimension, they ally with the Neutrino resistance fighters against the brutal warlord General Krang.

Of all the books of the series so far, this felt the most like the 80s cartoon.  Under most circumstances I would use that as the highest compliment but here I mean that this book feels shallow, predictable and, in the larger storyline, inconsequential.  Although Krang is clearly being set-up to be one of the main antagonists of the series, this story feels a lot like a sidequest and the personal stakes of the Turtles feel so much lower than they did against Shredder and the Foot Clan.

It doesn't help that none of the new characters are particularly engaging, largely consisting of generic resistance fighters and/or generic rulers whose kingdom has been invaded.  Whilst Krang's angry-brain-in-a-robot-body design is pretty iconic, I can't say the same of any of the other characters this storyline introduces to the series, with the Neutrinos looking like elves-meet-manga and Krang's soldiers being bland beyond description.

2 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Leatherhead

by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow & Tom Waltz

(Art by Mateus Santolouco and Dave Wachter)

Volume 15.  The Turtles are called to Burnow Island to help revive the Utroms in stasis there and meet a new ally in the form of the mutant alligator Leatherhead.  Meanwhile, Kitsune puts her plans into motion and attempts to overthrow and murder Splinter using her mind-controlling powers.

This book sees the long-overdue introduction of another classic Turtles character and I 'gah-ron-tee' that it won't disappoint.  Here Leatherhead is given a new backstory and a surprising amount of complexity to his character.  In fact, although I know all along that he'd end up being an antagonist, part of me wished that his alliance with the Turtles could genuinely continue and blossom.  He's certainly compelling enough to want to see more of.

The second half of the book focuses on the machinations of Kitsune as the discovery of her immortal heritage forces her to reveal her true colours.  I liked how we see Kitsune unleashed, revealing her immense and terrible power, but I also enjoyed seeing her shock at discovering that some of these mere mortals are immune to her manipulations.  I particularly liked that Leonardo was unaffected by her powers, having fought his way clear of her mind control the hard way in 'City Fall'.

Definitely one of the more impactful books of the series, featuring two of the most complex and interesting antagonists.

4 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Monsters, Misfits And Madmen

by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow & Tom Waltz

(Art by Mateus Santolouco)

Book 9.  Returning to New York, the Turtles, Splinter, Casey and April find the city a much more dangerous place.  As they prepare to strike back at Shredder, each of them must face challenges of their own, including malfunctioning robots, Hun's gang, Hob's mysterious plans and the emergence of the Rat King.

This book is every bit the jumble of short side adventures that the title would suggest.  It feels simply like old superhero comics in which the main character would face a different enemy or challenge in every issue with very little connective tissue.  That wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that this series has gone to great lengths to get us invested in the Turtles Versus Foot Clan narrative, which then takes a huge backseat here.  The last volume, 'Northampton', felt like a much-needed pause for breath in the series, but this book feels like the series spinning its wheels for no purpose.

The only reason I've not rated this book lower is that the introductions of Metalhead and Rat King are really well done.  I was particularly intrigued to see that the already-creepy Rat King has been given a new look and the backstory of a sinister god-like being.

3 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: New Mutant Order

by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow & Tom Waltz

(Art by Cory Smith and Mateus Santolouco)

Volume 10.  Whilst Shredder and Krang discuss an alliance, the Turtles are contemplating an alliance of their own; with Old Hob's ever-growing army of mutants.  Meanwhile, Donatello feels he is the only one taking the threat of the Technodrome seriously and sets out to do whatever he feels is necessary to save the world.

Whilst this book isn't as wheel-spinning as the previous volume, I still felt like it didn't do enough to advance the overall story of the series.  Almost nothing has changed to a significant degree by the end of the book and I definitely felt like I would've preferred a bit of plot movement.

However, it has to be said that this is a more enjoyable book than the last one and has some really cool moments.  I particularly enjoyed seeing Hob's mutant army, now including Herman the Hermit Crab and Mondo Gecko, go toe-to-toe with Bebop and Rocksteady.  That said, Hob's weird racism due to the latter being only half-mutant felt like something that should've been called out by someone, not to mention how neither Splinter or the Turtles bat an eyelid at Hob's plan to conquer the planet and subdue humanity.

3 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Northampton

by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow & Tom Waltz

(Art by Ross Campbell)

The eighth book in the series sees the Turtles and their friends fleeing from New York to the countryside in the wake of 'City Fall'.  Although hunted by Foot assassins, they all get time to recover from the physical, psychological and emotional wounds suffered in their confrontation with Shredder.

I really appreciated that this book, although having a bit of action in it, is actually more of a pause for breath than previous volumes.  It would be easy for a series like TMNT to just keep hitting the 'mutant ninjas fight' button over and over ad infinitum but, after the high-stakes events of 'City Fall', I felt it was really appropriate for all of the characters to have a few peaceful scenes in which they can get to grips with everything that's happened.

The flip side of that, of course, is that if you haven't just comes straight off of reading 'City Fall' when you read this book then it would definitely seem like boring filler material.  It's very much the catharsis for events featured elsewhere and ends just as the heroes decide to return to the fight in New York.  All of this was, of course, not a problem for me, but it should be noted that, of all of the Turtles books I've read so far, this one is the least able to stand alone.

3 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Order From Chaos

by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow & Tom Waltz

(Art by Ken Garing and Michael Dialynas)

Volume 14.  Recent events have shaken established relationships to the core.  With Splinter in command of the Foot Clan, Mikey decides to leave, joining up with Old Hob's Mutanimals instead.  Meanwhile, returning from their trip into the desert, tension between Casey and April begins to grow.  Added to all of this is the arrival of the Street Phantoms, a new gang using highly advanced technology.

The next story after a big climactic moment (like the previous story, 'Vengeance') is always tough because it has to deal with the fallout of the previous volume in a way that doesn't detract from what has just happened but which also doesn't stall the momentum of the series.  I would say, in that regard, this book manages mixed results.

The best element here is definitely the story thread following Michelangelo.  He's left Splinter and his brothers because he needs to believe he's one of the 'good guys' and can't square that with leadership of the Foot Clan.  He finds comradeship with the Mutanimals, of whom Slash is almost like family to him already, but once again finds that Old Hob is also engaged in activities that clash with his morality.  For the Turtle who's the most light-hearted and least serious usually, it's really interesting to see him have to face complex situations that really test his faith in himself and those around him.

The rest of the book, as I said, is of mixed quality.  I was particularly frustrated by the path Casey seems to be going down.  I'm not saying that him falling into violent behaviour in a sad echo of his father isn't a believable character arc (lord knows that's what happens all too often in the real world) but I definitely felt that he deserved better than that.  His strength as a character had always been that he used his background as an abused child to push him to be better and it was always triumphant whenever he overcame the pain of his past.  To see him looking and acting a lot like Hun at times here was disappointing.

3 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shadows Of The Past

by Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz

(Art by Dan Duncan)

Volume 3.  The Turtles, along with their allies Casey Jones and April O'Neill, race to rescue Splinter from potential vivisection at the hands of Baxter Stockman.  However, they soon discover that a third party has kidnapped Splinter; the Foot Clan and its vicious leader Shredder.

In the previous volume I enjoyed the exploration of the idea that Splinter and the Turtles were the reincarnations of murdered ninja from feudal Japan and here we see that storyline ripen fully as Splinter (AKA Hamato Yoshi) finally comes face to face with Shredder (AKA Oroku Saki).  The confrontation between these two characters, whose emnity has endured beyond death (and beyond one of them being turned into a giant talking rat) is this book's most compelling scene.  I particularly loved the fact that Shredder shrugs off the reasons and method of Yoshi's reincarnation as inconsequential compared to the opportunity for him to kill his nemesis once more.

The scene in which the Turtles rescue Splinter at the last moment and combine their talents to defeat Shredder is a little cliche but, honestly, I still loved it.  It felt true to the spirit of the cartoon which I loved as a kid and ends with a particularly badass moment where Shredder says to the fleeing Turtles "I am unyielding.  I am unstoppable.  I am the Shredder" to which Leonardo turns just long enough to throw a shuriken into the wall by Shredder's head and reply "I am... unimpressed."

4 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Sins Of The Fathers

by Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz

(Art by Andy Kuhn)

Volume 4.  Splinter and the Turtles face moral dilemmas as they seek ways of ending the threats posed by the likes of Shredder and Casey Jones' abusive father.  Meanwhile, another Stockgen mutant has escaped into the city and begins causing chaos.

Although there is the story of the rogue mutant, the gigantic snapping turtle Slash, most of this book is bridging material dealing with the aftermath of the confrontation with Shredder in the previous volume and setting up events to come (such as General Krang's plans).  As a result, this doesn't feel hugely satisfying to read in and of itself and is definitely a step down from 'Shadows of the Past'.

Whilst the narrative in this book might be less than satisfying to read, it deserves credit for the moral conundrums it poses.  We see how each of the Turtles react to Splinter's assertion that they'll have to kill Shredder but we also get a great scene where Splinter and Raphael confront Casey's violent father and debate the line between righteous justice and rage-fuelled vengeance.

3 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Trial Of Krang

by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow & Tom Waltz

(Art by Dave Wachter, Cory Smith, Mateus Santolouco, Chris Johnson and Damian Couceiro)

The eighteenth book of the series see the Turtles confronting the powerful immortals known as The Pantheon and then travelling to Dimension X to aid in the prosecution of General Krang for war crimes.

This is very much a book of two halves, except it's more a book of 1/4 and 3/4 and only the first quarter is any good.  That first quarter is brilliant though, as we get to see a centennial meeting of The Pantheon, which the Turtles infiltrate to learn more about their enemy.  I've always enjoyed the psuedo-mystical aspects of this series, so it was really interesting to meet the complete Pantheon and see how they interact with each other.  Honestly, the mixture of familial connection and rivalry reminded me greatly of the Endless from 'The Sandman' and just to be mentioned in the same sentence as Neil Gaiman's masterpiece is noteworthy.

Unfortunately, the back 3/4 of this book take us once again to Dimension X.  I found much of the actual trial storyline to be pretty tedious and, honestly, with Triceratons, swarms of alien insects, cyborg bounty hunters, ace-pilot ducks (no, really) it feels like everything was thrown at the wall to see what would stick.  The answer is; very little.  It doesn't help that large parts of the Turtles' adventures in Dimension X are told in other books, so there are big gaps in the story.  This series has always referenced its various associated miniseries, but this was the first time I felt like I genuinely didn't have enough story detail due to not having read them.  The only redeeming feature for this part of the book for me was Leatherhead, who continues to be a complex and engaging antagonist.

3 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Vengeance, Part 1

by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow & Tom Waltz

(Art by Mateus Santolouco, Charles Paul Wilson III, Dan Duncan, Sophie Campbell and Cory Smith)

Volume 12.  The Turtles, their friends and their enemies alike are all left reeling from the devastating attack on the Technodrome.  With Shredder missing and believed dead, the Foot Clan seeks to purge itself of outside influences.  Hun and the Purple Dragons try to reassert their dominance on the streets but are once again faced down by Casey, alongside Nobody and Alopex.  Meanwhile, the Turtles desperately seek to save Donnie's life and take advantage of their enemies' disarray.

This book feels like a break point for the series as a whole.  It largely deals with the aftermath of 'Attack on Technodrome' and serves to put the various characters on their respective paths going forwards.  This means it has to carefully walk the tightrope of being introspective whilst still moving the overall plot on and, honestly, it occasionally slips.  For me the worst part was the large section which basically served as a summary of all of the major plot points of the TMNT series so far.  That would be a great catch-up opportunity for anyone jumping-on here but, having read the whole series from Volume 1, it felt tedious to me in a 'Yes, I know, get on with it!' sort of way.

There is a stand-out subplot here, however, that goes a long way to covering for the book's other shortcomings.  It's the one which sees Casey becoming a respected man in the community around the shop owned by April's parents, which leads to a great scene in which Casey, Angel and Alopex have to face overwhelming odds but are rescued by members of that community.  The explicitly-stated message is that Casey's true family is not his abusive father but the people around him to whom he's built strong personal connections.  It's a strong moment for the story overall but a particularly emotionally cathartic moment for Casey's character arc.

3 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Vengeance, Part 2

by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow & Tom Waltz

(Art by Cory Smith and Mateus Santolouco)

Book 13.  Seeking to restore the honour of the Foot Clan, Karai calls a Gauntlet; a sacred ninja ritual which sees Splinter and the Turtles face Shredder and his chosen minions in honourable combat.  Splinter agrees from a desire to end the threat to his family, whilst Shredder agrees in order to prove his dominance once and for all.

Throughout this TMNT series the aspect that has most engaged me has been the emnity between Hamato Yoshi (and his sons) and Oroku Saki (and the Foot Clan).  The story of two close friends becoming such fierce enemies that their conflict transcends death itself is a really powerful one.  It was great, therefore, to finally get a satisfying conclusion to that story arc.  The series has had big moments before, such as 'City Fall' and 'Attack on Technodrome', but for me this feels like what everything has really been leading up to.  I also really enjoyed Splinter's flashbacks to his former life where we get an even deeper appreciation of the relationship between Yoshi and Saki, as well as get a better sense of why each feels so betrayed by the other.  It gives much great depth and complexity to both characters.

But it's not just the conflict between Splinter and Shredder that takes centre stage here, as we get to see the Turtles confronting Bebop, Rocksteady, Bludgeon and Koya, the mutant animals of the Foot Clan.  It gives all of those characters the opportunity to revisit rivalries which have played out in previous books, with Donatello's revenge on Rocksteady and Bebop being particularly enjoyable after what they did to him in Volume 11.

The conclusion hits all the right emotional buttons and serves as a fitting end point for war between the Turtles and the Foot, as well as having a surprising twist right at the end.

4 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters

by Erik Burnham & Tom Waltz

(Art by Dan Schoening, Charles Paul Wilson III and Cory Smith)

The immortal bull god Chi-You is cast into another dimension by General Krang and the witch Kitsune.  Centuries later the testing of a teleportation device also sends the Turtles, April O'Neill and Casey Jones across dimensions and into the world of the Ghostbusters.  The two sets of heroes then have to pool their resources and their ideas to defeat the greatly empowered Chi-You.

There's a bull-aspected god who the Turtles and the Ghostbusters have to fight.  That's really all there is to this book in terms of plot.  It's not bad, it's just not big or clever.  In fact this crossover more or less plays out the way the old crossovers of the 80s and 90s (Marvel, DC and the like) did, in which the two sets of protagonists meet, take a while to get over their confusion and differences and then spend the rest of the book commenting on how much they like aspects of each others' franchises.  Again, it's not bad necessarily but it's not going to blow any minds either.

If all you want is to see April and Janine sharing coffee, Donnie and Egon nerding-it-up together or Mikey using the siren in Ecto-1, then this will tick all of those boxes for you.  As a childhood fan of both of these franchises, once upon a time this crossover, unremarkable as the story is, would've been just what I wanted.  These days I tend to expect a bit more of crossovers, however.  If two such iconic properties are going to interact, I want them to either have something significant to say about one another or to make some sort of lasting impression on each others' worlds.  None of that is the case here and the result is just... fine.

3 out of 5

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters 2

by Erik Burnham & Tom Waltz

(Art by Dan Schoening, Mark Torres, Pablo Tunica, Tadd Galusha and Charles Paul Wilson III)

The spirit of the Turtles' deceased enemy Darius Dun enlists the interdimensional demons known as the Collectors to get his revenge.  Unable to fight these potent spirits, the Turtles use their dimensional teleporter to seek the help of the Ghostbusters.

The previous Turtles/Ghostbusters crossover was something of a disappointment because it didn't really do anything interesting with the crossover.  However, in hindsight, it seems like a masterpiece compared to this absolute trainwreck.

The writers throw in every single idea that they possibly can (demons, Darius Dun's ghost, an animal dimension, a battleworld dimension, body-swapping with Viking ghosts, psychic linking between Donnie and Winston, Ghostbusturtles named after the actors from Ghostbusters, proton nunchuks and much more) without any relevance to the plot seemingly necessary.  This is all made worse by the constantly changing (and, honestly, mostly terrible) artwork, which is jarring and disjointed.

Probably the only positive thing I could bring myself to say about this book is that at one point Leonardo ends up in a dimension where he looks like the 80s cartoon version of himself.  So, score one tiny point for nostalgia.

1 out of 5

 

The Adventures Of Captain America, Sentinel Of Liberty: First Flight Of The Eagle

by Fabian Nicieza & Kevin Maguire

(Art by Kevin Maguire, Joe Rubinstein and Tom Christopher)

Book one of four, retelling the story of how patriotic weakling Steve Rogers becomes part of Project Rebirth and emerges as Captain America.

This is a perfectly adequate retelling of Cap's origin story and is, in fact, more intelligent and insightful than previous retellings from before 1991 (when this came out).  The problem is that it is (currently, at least) 2021 and we have since had a much more compelling version of the origin story and a far more charismatic and engaging version of Steve Rogers too (God bless you Chris Evans!).  So whilst this once might have seemed innovative, now it simply feels like a less-enjoyable version of what you can watch in 'Captain America: The First Avenger'.

Interesting to get a bit more detail on some of the other Rebirth candidates however (and to see that Hodge, who was just obnoxious in the movie, is a truly horrible anti-Semitic racist homophobe here).

2 out of 5

 

The Amazing Spider-Man: Birth Of Venom

by Roger Stern, Tom DeFalco, Louise Simonson & David Michelinie

(Art by Ron Frenz, Greg LaRocque, Todd McFarlane, Brett Breeding, Josef Rubinstein and Jim Mooney)

Picking up immediately after the events of 'Secret Wars' (reviewed here), Spider-Man returns to Earth sporting a new black costume which features remarkable powers of its own.  When the costume begins to behave strangely, however, Spidey learns that it is in fact an intelligent alien symbiote attempting to permanently bond with him.  His desperate attempts to separate himself from the costume will eventually lead to the creation of one of his most dangerous enemies ever; Venom.

One of the things that makes Venom's origin so compelling is that it was built-up slowly over time, with the alien costume going from just a cool gimmick, to a threat and, eventually, to a fully-fledged enemy.  This book charts that story as we slowly start to see the effect the black costume's behaviour has on his life, particularly in the creepy way it sneaks up on Peter when he's asleep and takes his body for a joyride.  It all feels like a strong progression and the only real downside to the whole story is Eddie Brock himself.  His motivation for revenge (i.e. Spider-Man proved an article he wrote was unintentionally untrue) feels really thin and unconvincing.

On top of the great alien costume shenanigans, we also see the return of MJ, who I'm a big fan of, to Peter's life and some action involving Puma and Hobgoblin.  So pretty enjoyable stuff, really.

4 out of 5

 

The Amazing Spider-Man: In The Grip Of The Goblin

by Stan Lee & Roy Thomas

(Art by John Romita Snr., Sal Buscema, Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia)

The eighth book in this series of reprints of classic Spider-Man comics (the previous seven were all written by Lee alone).  Peter Parker travels to London to track down his beloved Gwen Stacy but when he returns to New York he has to help his friend Harry Osborn, who has fallen into drug abuse.  When an attempt to cure himself of his spider powers goes awry, the now six-armed Spidey finds himself caught between the Lizard and Morbius the Living Vampire in search of a cure.

This book is a marked change of pace to most of the preceding Spider-Man stories, setting aside the format of a series of battles against various supervillains (although there is a bit of that here, such as the appearance of the Beetle) and instead focusing in on Peter Parker's life and his circle of friends.  It felt weird to begin with, jarringly out of step with the previous volumes, but I soon found myself rather enjoying it.  There's the tension of Peter's on-and-off relationship with Gwen, there's Harry, ever in Peter's shadow, turning to drugs and there's MJ, trying to get her showbiz career off the ground but caught between Peter and Harry.  It's all very Dawson's Creek, but for some reason here it really worked for me.  I think the subject of drug abuse was particularly well-handled, addressing it without the condescending attitude to youth culture that the establishment had at the time, as well as tackling the issues of race tied-up in it.

The tail end of the book does return to Spidey versus supervillain action, but the three-way conflict, which introduces the character of Morbius for the very first time, is so well done that it doesn't feel like a let down compared to the more adult themes of the rest of the book.  Also, anyone who grew up on the 90s Spider-Man cartoon (such as myself) will appreciate it for being where that show got a few of its major storylines from.

4 out of 5

 

The Amazing Spider-Man: The Death Of Gwen Stacy

by Stan Lee, Gerry Conway & John Marc DeMatteis

(Art by John Romita Sr., Gil Kane, Frank Giacoia, Tony Mortellaro)

As their friend Harry Osborn struggles with drug abuse, Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy rekindle their budding romance.  However, Harry's father suffers a mental breakdown which leads to the resurgence of his supervillain persona, the Green Goblin, who not only hates Spider-Man but also knows his secret identity.

If I were to describe the events of this book in one word it would simply be 'iconic'.  The confrontation between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin atop the Brooklyn Bridge is one of the pillars of comics lore, spawning countless retellings and homages (not least in the Spider-Man movies).  This is where we see why the Green Goblin is Spider-Man's true arch-enemy, beating out such strong contenders as Doctor Octopus and Venom, with the two characters being perfectly balanced in power and enmity.

For all it's iconic nature, this was the first time that I actually read this scene in its original context and I was impressed by how strong the purely emotional beats of this story are.  Aside from the obvious hatred, pain and grief of the main confrontation, we also get to see some of the tender moments of Gwen and Peter's on-again-off-again relationship.  However, there were two scenes in particular which really hit me with an emotional gut punch.  The first is where Harry, suffering a mental breakdown due to taking LSD, begs his best friend for help and company, but Peter is so filled with vengeful anger for Norman Osborn that he abandons the weeping and desperate Harry.  Nowhere is Peter's anger sold so convincingly as seeing the usually empathetic character leaving his mentally broken friend to fend for himself.  The other scene which really hit me was right at the end, where Peter verbally lashes out at the usually carefree Mary Jane when she tries to comfort him, bringing her to tears.  She walks to the door, hesitates and then closes it, remaining to help Peter.  It powerfully juxtaposes with the earlier scene between Peter and Harry.

The book ends with an epilogue which has Peter, many years later and happily in love with MJ, looking back at the last night he and Gwen spent together before her death.  We see him looking over his regrets of not realising how limited their time together would be and I think that's something anyone who's suffered a bereavement can relate to.

4 out of 5

 

The Batman/Judge Dredd Files

by Alan Grant & John Wagner

(Art by Simon Bisley, Carl Critchlow, Dermot Power, Glen Fabry, Jim Murray and Jason Brashill)

An omnibus which collects three crossover stories between the Dark Knight and the Lawman of the Future.  The reason these crossovers work so well is that they combine the morbid humour of Dredd's stories with the gothic intrigue of Batman's. 

The first of the three stories here sees Judge Death unleashed on Gotham and it is made great by two separate relationships.  The first is, obviously, Batman and Dredd who fully indulge a testosterone-fuelled rivalry.  But far more interesting than that is the interplay between Judge Death and the Scarecrow, who maintain a hilariously sinister banter, not to mention the revelation that Judge Death's darkest fear is cuddly Disney-esque animals!  Throw in the headbutting antics of Mean Angel and you've got the best part of the book. 

The second story sees the two title characters having to join forces to survive a bizarre alien bloodsport.  The third and final story sees the Joker travelling to Mega City One and unleashing the imprisoned Dark Judges.  Although perhaps not terribly deep, this book is thoroughly enjoyable, particularly if you enjoy both characters separately.

5 out of 5

 

The Chronicles Of Genghis Grimtoad

by Alan Grant & John Wagner

(Art by Ian Gibson)

On the world of Shadow-Earth, the apprentice sorcerer Genghis Grimtoad must step-up to protect the Queen and her son the Prince when they are forced to flee by the brutal Kang and the evil sorcerer Toadthrax.

Both writers and the artist of this book are respected 2000 AD alumni and I was therefore hoping for something with that feel to it in this fantasy story published as a Marvel graphic novel.  I was, therefore, disappointed to find that this is a bland and generic fantasy story with none of the wry humour or satirical sensibilities that makes 2000 AD great.

Honestly, the plot of this book couldn't be more 'every fantasy story between 1977 and 1991' if it tried and it doesn't even hit those familiar beats particularly well.  The only thing that makes this book stand out at all is the fact that some of the characters are anthropomorphic toads.  And that's not a good thing.

1 out of 5

 

The Death Of Superman

by Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson & Roger Stern

(Art by Jon Bogdanove, Tom Grummett, Jackson Guice, Dan Jurgens, Brett Breeding, Rick Burchett, Doug Hazlewood, Dannis Janke and Denis Rodier)

Book one of 'The Death and Return of Superman'.  An unstoppable monster, quickly nicknamed Doomsday, begins crossing America, destroying anything and anyone in its path.  The Justice League of America steps in to stop the creature but soon find themselves outmatched, leaving only Superman to stand between Doomsday and the destruction of Metropolis.

I've read a lot of criticism of this story over the years; ranging from it simply having been a cynical marketing ploy by DC to boost sales, to it being totally shallow and insubstantial and even that it's pointless due to Superman's almost immediate resurrection.  I first read this (and the subsequent books of the Death and Return trilogy) as a spotty comicbook-collecting fourteen year old geek and loved it.  I was therefore curious to go back to it after more than twenty years and see how my more mature (ha!) and refined tastes reacted now.

Some of the criticisms mentioned above are certainly true, the 'cynical marketing ploy' one being especially so.  This was the first time that one of the big publishers made real-world headlines by creating a deliberately provocative event story and the comics industry has had to live with the, sadly recurring, legacy of that ever since.  It is also fair to say that the content of this book is fairly shallow, consisting mostly of Superman hitting Doomsday and then Doomsday hitting Superman.  However, despite all of that, I still liked it.

Some have criticised the fact that we get no explanation of Doomsday here, but for me that was fine.  He becomes something of a force of nature which not only cannot be stopped, but also cannot be understood.  Not every villain needs a complicated origin in which they have legitimate reasons for being bad for them to make good antagonists.  The fact that Doomsday is a mystery and, thankfully, a mostly mute one is what makes him compelling.  I enjoyed watching the JLA (albeit second-string members of whom the most famous are Booster Gold and Blue Beetle) and then Superman repeatedly battering themselves against this walking brick wall to little effect, with merely slowing Doomsday down being the best they can hope for for most of the book.  The book then ends on the really powerful image of the broken Superman in the arms of his tearful wife, having given everything to save the city he loves.  (I'm assuming that 'Superman dies' doesn't really constitute a spoiler in this case...)

4 out of 5

 

The Defenders: Indefensible

by Keith Giffen & J. M. DeMatteis

(Art by Kevin Maguire)

When Dormammu forms an alliance with his sister Umar, Doctor Strange fears for the safety of the universe and calls upon Bruce Banner and Prince Namor to help him fight the terrible siblings.

You know that guy at work who's convinced he's hilarious and is constantly making the same terrible jokes without ever realising that literally no-one finds him amusing?  That's what this book is.  It purports to be comedic but where the comedy amounts to 'Dormammu's sister makes fun of him and the Defenders say mean things to each other'.  That's it.  The repetition of the 'jokes' about Doctor Strange's speech patterns or Namor's trunks rapidly began to drive me insane.

I was from the outset, I think, somewhat disappointed not to get a serious story in which Doctor Strange, Namor and the Hulk take on Dormammu, but for it to be this inane trash just added insult to injury.  I could've forgiven the missed opportunity if any of what we got instead had been even vaguely funny or amusing.  It isn't.

1 out of 5

 

The Fantastic Four: The Overthrow Of Doom

by Len Wein, Roger Slifer, Keith Pollard, Bill Mantlo & Marv Wolfman

(Art by George Perez, Keith Pollard, Joe Sinnott, Dave Hunt and Pablo Marcos)

Reed Richards has lost his powers and the Fantastic Four has been disbanded.  However, when a mysterious individual begins manipulating the former teammates, the stage is set for the return of Reed's powers and the reunification of the four heroes.

The FF have never been hugely interesting to me, mostly because I find them such unlikeable characters.  Johnny is the kind of brash, arrogant jock that I loathed at school, Ben is a belligerent moron and Reed is borderline abusive in his treatment of his closest friends/family.  Only Sue is in any way engaging, mixing femininity with, as Doctor Doom puts it here, underrated power.  So, to get me invested in an FF story it needs a really strong plot... something sadly lacking here.

Three-quarters of this book is the tiresome 'villain of the week' style of storytelling and it's not even as if the villains on offer are particularly interesting, with the likes of Red Ghost, Diablo and (*ugh*) the Texas Twister.  The last quarter has a more iconic villain, the titular Doom, but he spends most of his time in tiresome megalomaniacal rants.  There's a brief glimpse of something more interesting when Doom has to fight a clone who represents who he'd be if he hadn't been in the disfiguring explosion, but it's over too quickly to ever develop thematically.

In general this is an inoffensive FF story, but I found it so aggressively bland that it ended up feeling worse than the sum of its parts.

1 out of 5

 

The Flash: The Wild Wests

by Mark Waid, John Rogers & Keith Champagne

(Art by Daniel Acuna, Freddie Williams II, Doug Braithwaite, Koi Turnbull and Art Thibert)

In this book Wally West, the Flash, introduces the world to his two super-powered children and vice versa.  The young Wests get their first test when an alien invasion threatens Keystone City whilst the Flash calls in Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Black Lightning for help.

Despite loving Batman, I've always been more a Marvel fan than a DC one, but Wally West's irreverant incarnation of the Flash has always been one DC character who I have always liked.  Here we get to see him trying to cope with the pressures of being a father whilst also dealing with the potentially tragic instability in the superpowers of his son Jai and daughter Iris.  There's a great scene where the JLA confront Wally about taking his kids into crimefighting and he, angry and defensive, turns to Batman and says "I'm getting lectured on child safety from a man who's gone through four Robins?" to which the other JLAers pull awkward faces.

Overarching the struggles of the West family is the alien invasion plot involving tentacled monsters from a water-based dimension.  There's nothing new or challenging to this plotline, but we do get to find out later in the book how each incarnation of the Flash (plus Impulse) are actually involved in the backstory of why the invasion is happening.

Rounding out the book is a self-professed bonus story in which Wally, Jai, Iris and Superman have to fight the supervillain Livewire.

Overall this was a surprisingly enjoyable, albeit not terriby ground-breaking, read.

4 out of 5

 

The Gathering Storm

by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson

Book twelve of the Wheel of Time series, completed by Sanderson following Jordan's death.  I was at first wary of the idea of an unknown (to me, at least) author coming in and working with the creation which Jordan had built up across eleven massive novels (not including the prequel or the companion book) but Sanderson proves that he is very much up to the challenge.

In fact, one of my biggest criticisms of Jordan was his seeming inability to bring plot threads to any sort of conclusion but in this book Sanderson manages to do just that with two main plotlines; Rand's growing insanity and the fracturing of the White Tower.  And not only does Sanderson give us some resolution to these storylines, but he does it in an entirely appropriate and organic way so that you don't feel cheated after all the time invested to get to this point.

My only major problem with this book is that many of Jordan's other diverse range of characters don't appear at all, leaving you wondering where they are and what they're doing.

Sanderson actually proves that he may, in fact, be a better writer than Jordan as this book's prose, pacing and plotlines (and alliteration) are far better than most of what's come before in the Wheel of Time series.  I look forward to seeing how this good author takes Jordan's epic ideas to their final conclusion.

Followed by 'Towers of Midnight'.

5 out of 5

 

The Human Torch (Jim Hammond): The Torch

by Alex Ross & Mike Carey

(Art by Patrick Berkenkotter)

Marvel's Mightiest Heroes Book 2.  Tom Raymond, the WWII-era hero known as Toro, struggles to cope with being brought back to life in the 21st Century and decides to seek revenge on the villain who originally killed him, the Mad Thinker.  However, the Mad Thinker captures Tom and uses him to resurrect Tom's closest ally Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch, as a weapon under the control of A.I.M.

The story of the original Human Torch is long and complicated and I'll spare you the details, however (as a childhood fan of 'Avengers West Coast') I always found the idea of his resurrection into the modern Marvel Universe to be an interesting one, exploring not only the same 'man-out-of-time' themes as Captain America, but also the nature of his humanity as an android.  These are all themes that get explored here and I found it very enjoyable to revisit them, particularly when Jim is faced with the dark mirror of the so-called Inhuman Torch.

I also found the Mad Thinker to be an excellent antagonist, being the quintessential amoral scientist concerned only with his experiment, even to the detriment of those who have employed him in their evil schemes.  He is genuinely incapable of seeing how his actions in furthering science are in any way abhorrent and that makes him a particularly chilling villain.

I honestly wasn't expecting too much of this story but with some compelling character beats for the protagonists, a brilliant villain and burning Nazi robots, there's a great deal to enjoy here.

4 out of 5

 

The Immortal Iron Fist: The Complete Collection Vol. 1

by Matt Fraction & Ed Brubaker

(Art by David Aja, Travel Foreman,  Derek Friedolfs , John Severin, Russ Heath, Sal Buscema, Tom Palmer, Roy Allan Martinez, Scott Koblish, Kano, Javier Pulido, Tonci Zonjic, Leandro Fernandez, Franscico Paronzini, Khari Evans, Victor Olazaba, Howard Chaykin, Dan Brereton, Jelena Kevic Djurdjevic, Clay Mann, Nick Dragotta, Mike Allred, Lewis LaRosa, Stefano Gaudiano and Mitch Bretweiser)

Danny Rand's life is thrown into turmoil as he becomes a fugitive unregistered superhero (in the wake of Mark Millar's 'Civil War'), the Rand Corporation faces a hostile takeover at the hands of Hydra and another man wielding the Iron Fist arrives in New York.

In much the same way that Matt Fraction and David Aja breathed new life into Hawkeye, here we get a total reinvigoration of Iron Fist as a character; respecting everything that has come before but relaunching the character into the 21st Century.  As well as seeing some significant personal growth for Danny himself, the lore surrounding K'un Lun and the Iron Fist is totally overhauled and we get to learn the stories of various other Immortal Weapons from across the planes of existence and across time itself.  There's a genuinely brilliant balance cast between the 'now' events, in which Danny has to face Hydra in the mortal realm and an ancient combat tournament in the extra-dimensional realm of the Seven Heavens, as well as the flashbacks not only to Iron Fists throughout history but more specifically to the history of Danny's father Wendell and the man who raised him, the emotionally-broken Iron Fist Orson Randall.

For me, Orson Randall was the highlight of this book.  He's the Immortal Iron Fist, sure, but he's also a man with a damaged psyche, broken by having fought in the First World War and the discovery that his faith in K'un Lun is misguided.  The mixture of heroism and emotional baggage makes him a wonderfully nuanced character whose connection to Danny is far more interesting than if he was simply just another Iron Fist.  Also, using the Chi of the dragon Shou-Lao to power duel-wielded pistols is cool as hell.

But it's not just Orson.  Lots of other characters get plenty of time to develop and shine, not least the other Immortal Weapons and guest-stars Luke Cage, Misty Knight and Colleen Wing.  Perhaps the most interesting other player here is Davos, the Steel Serpent, who gets a character arc almost as dramatic and engaging as that of Danny himself.

If, like me, you've got a long-standing soft spot for Iron Fist (I even managed to not hate the Netflix show) then you should love this book.  If you're not familiar with the character and looking for somewhere to start, then this is absolutely the place to do it.

4 out of 5

 

The Mighty Thor: In The Shadow Of Mangog!

by Stan Lee & Gerry Conway

(Art by John Buscema, Joe Sinnott, Sam Grainger, Sal Buscema and Vince Coletta)

Collecting ten issues from the 1960s, this book sees Thor confront Hela, Goddess of Death, challenge Loki's conquest of Asgard and battle the all-powerful demon Mangog.

What I found somewhat surprising about this book, particularly given the era these stories were written and Stan Lee's involvement, was how detached from the Marvel Universe it feels.  Sure, the Silver Surfer turns up for a bit but he's the only one from outside of Thor's mythos and I genuinely expected some of the Avengers at least to make cameo appearances.  Instead, this book is a self-contained series of fantasy adventures with trolls, demons and evil gods.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does make this feel a isolated as a Marvel story.

Much worse for me was the awful and constant faux-Shakespearean dialogue.  All the thees, thous and doths rapidly become irritating and make the entire book a chore to read.  I'm really not sure what prompted Stan Lee to adopt that style of language for Thor ("Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?") given the fact that there's no actual link between Norse mythology and Shakespeare's work, but I deeply regret that he did.

If this had just been a series of pulpy fantasy adventures from the 60s that would be just fine, but the terrible dialogue and jarring sense of it being part of and not part of the Marvel Universe just soured the whole experience for me.

2 out of 5

 

The OMAC Project

by Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka & Judd Winick

(Art by Rags Morales, Michael Bair, Ed Benes, Jesus Saiz, Jimmy Palmiotti, Ivan Reis, Marc Campos, Phil Jimenez, Andy Lanning, Bob Wiacek, David Lopez, Tom Derenick, Georges Jeanty, Karl Kerschl, Mark Propst, Bit, Dexter Vines, Bob Petrecca, Nelson and Cliff Richards)

Part of the 'Countdown To Infinite Crisis' series.  I've long been away from the world of DC comics and I read 'Prelude To Infinite Crisis' to try to get into this major storyline.  That book, however, left me completely bewildered.  This book has set me back on track.  The basic storyline is this; after learning that other heroes were tampering with villains memories, as well as his own, Batman created Brother Eye, an artificial intelligence tasked with monitoring the planet's so-called metahumans.  Unfortunately, Brother Eye has been subverted by a dangerous mastermind. 

The book begins with the tragic story of the Blue Beetle.  He begins to learn the secrets of OMAC but finds himself shunned and marginalised by the other heroes.  Unsure of his future as a costumed crime fighter, he nevertheless resolves to uncover the details of OMAC.  Later events in the story include the mental subversion of Superman, leading to a titanic clash between him and Wonder Woman (you'll need to buy another book, 'Superman: Sacrifice', for the first round though), and Wonder Woman's murder of the mastermind behind the plot. 

With its master dead, Brother Eye begins an attempt to cleanse the world of metahumans using powerful OMAC warriors.  This leads to a classic 'last-stand' style conclusion which, despite being reminiscent of Marvel's Sentinels vs X-Men events, was awesome.  After 'Prelude...' I was ready to bypass the Infinite Crisis storyline.  Now, I look forward to reading more.

4 out of 5

 

The Power Of Iron Man

by David Michelinie & Bob Layton

(Art by John Romita Jr., Bob Layton and Carmine Infantino)

Tony Stark finds everything he's built under threat as S.H.I.E.L.D. moves to assume a controlling influence in Stark Industries and his Iron Man armour suffers a series of malfunctions which ultimately leaves him wanted for murder.  Desperate to get to the bottom of the malfunctions and clear his name, Tony can't help but also seek refuge in the bottom of a bottle.

 This is one of the most important Iron Man stories ever told, culminating in the now-iconic 'Demon in a Bottle' storyline which sees Tony struggling with alcoholism.  With the type of comic books and graphic novels we get today it's hard to appreciate just how groundbreaking it was for Marvel to have one of their flagship Avengers go through something so troubling and complex.  Tony Stark is a rich, charming superhero genius ("Billionaire, genius, playboy philanthropist") but here we get to see that he's also as human as anyone else and vulnerable to the same weaknesses.  It's an impressively mature and nuanced take on Iron Man and is handled very well.

Alcoholism issues aside, the rest of this book is a solid Iron Man adventure in which he has to fight off various supervillains (I will never be okay with how goofy the Beetle's tentacle fingers used to look) in order to get at the man behind everything; the cunning businessman Justin Hammer.

4 out of 5

 

The Redemption Of Althalus

by David & Leigh Eddings

This book begins quite enjoyably as we follow the adventures of the rogueish thief Althalus and his attempts to find his or, more accurately, other people's fortune.  With his charm, wit and delightful lack of morals Althalus is an instantly appealing character.  Sadly, however, the authors rapidly remove us from this enjoyable fable and throw us into a world of contesting gods and their unique mortal agents. 

The story quickly takes on the aspect of a poor imitation of the Beglariad and Malloreon sagas and Althalus is set up as a distinctly lacklustre replacement for Belgarath the Sorcerer.  Not only is the book largely a rehashing of the authors' previous work, but it's not a very good one at that. 

The psuedo-omniscient characters such as Dweia (an annoying Polgara-esque bitch) take great pains to explain things like the scientific nature of ice ages or the stars, robbing some of the fantasy wonder from the book, but then the authors just fob us off with a "Never mind" whenever they introduce a concept which they're too lazy to rationalise.  Of nearly equal annoyance is the heavy repetition involved with the characters reciting the events of previous chapters over and over, with the story of the robbery of Gosti Big Belly even going so far as to take up huge chunks of both the first and the last quarters of the book. 

Add to this irritating dialogue, a disconcerting failure to understand temporal causality (something you do need to consider if you're going to mess around with time travel in a novel) and some of the biggest plot holes I've ever read and you've got the makings of a pretty bad book all over. 

A very long fall from grace by the authors of the outstanding 'Belgarath The Sorcerer'.

2 out of 5

 

The Return Of Superman

by Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, Louise Simonson, Roger Stern & Gerard Jones

(Art by Jon Bogdanove, Tom Grummett, Jackson Guice, Dan Jurgens, M. D. Bright, Brett Breeding, Doug Hazlewood, Dennis Janke, Denis Rodier and Romeo Tanghal)

The conclusion to the 'Death and Return...' trilogy sees four claimants to the mantle of Superman arrive in Metropolis.  They include a cyborg claiming to be the reconstructed Superman, a youth claiming to be Superman's clone, a ruthless avenger calling himself the Last Son of Krypton and an armoured crusader using the monniker Man of Steel.  As these four vie for control of Superman's place, a Kryptonian war suit marches inexorably towards Metropolis with a mysterious cargo which will truly herald the return of Superman.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this book is the way it uses the four different Supermen to explore what exactly it is that makes the one true Superman so iconic.  There's a surprising humanity and vunerability to the Cyborg Superman, whilst at the opposite end of the scale there's the terrifyingly unrelenting nature of the Last Son of Krypton.  The young clone Superman has his charisma and naievete, whilst the Man of Steel has his honour and strict personal code.  Each, in their own way, is indeed Superman whilst, ultimately, none of them are.  Superheroes have had their psyches split into multiple individuals before and since, but I think it was here that the products of that division proved the most interesting.

Unfortunately, this book is neither as sharply focused and impactful as 'The Death of Superman' nor is it as thoughtful and introspective as 'World Without a Superman'.  It therefore comes off feeling overall as the weakest book of the trilogy and, honestly, the return of the true Superman here was a bit disappointing for me; not least because now he has a hideous 90s haircut.

And on the subject of 90s things that haven't aged well, we have Superboy.  Much later he developed into a genuinely interesting character in his own right, but here he is just awful.  His character design is so painfully 'this is what we think a cool youth looks like in 1993' that it makes me cringe.  The haircut, the sunglasses, the leather jacket... just awful.  Worse than the design, however, is how he behaves.  Setting aside the appalling 'trendy youth speak' that he constantly spouts dude, it's his horny misogyny that really doesn't sit well in the #metoo era.  Not a single young woman passes him by without him making some lewd objectifying comment about them.  Hell, the very first thing he says to Supergirl is a comment about her breasts.  Twenty six years on, it's not okay anymore (and it shouldn't have been okay then, either).

3 out of 5

 

The Superior Spider-Man: The Superior Venom

by Dan Slott & Christos Gage

(Art by Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, Javier Rodriguez, Marcos Martin and Alvaro Lopez)

Book 5.  As the Superior Spider-Man, Otto Octavius uses increasingly ruthless methods to seize control of New York and is given a new opportunity when he crosses paths with Agent Venom.  His desire to seize the Venom symbiote for his own purposes leads him into direct conflict with the Avengers and threatens to reveal the secret of this identity.  Meanwhile, a criminal turf-war erupts between the followers of the Green Goblin and the Hobgoblin.

I struggled a bit with the earlier books of this series because it made me uncomfortable to see the real Peter Parker getting such a raw deal; having to watch Otto take over his life and then being all but destroyed within their shared Mindscape.  Here, however, that's not such a problem because the Superior Spider-Man's villainy is on the increase and he feels less like a perversion of a beloved hero and more like an antagonist again.

I found the idea of the interplay between the Superior Spider-Man and Agent Venom to be particularly engaging here too.  On the one hand we've got a twisted version of Spider-Man and on the other we've got a heroic Venom, a relationship made all the more interesting by the fact that in their secret identities this Peter Parker knows Flash is Venom but has forgotten their friendship, whilst Flash thinks of Peter as a good friend and has no idea of Spider-Man's identity.

Despite all of that good stuff, my two favourite parts of this book were seeing Otto showing his truly vicious side when confronting the demonic Blackout and the Goblin war.  I don't know why exactly but I've always had a soft spot for the Hobgoblin and I enjoyed seeing him matching wits and goblin powers with the original glider-rider, the Green Goblin.

4 out of 5

 

The Superman Monster

by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning

(Art by Anthony Williams and Tom Palmer)

An Elseworlds story which mashes-up Mary Shelley's groundbreaking 'Frankenstein' with DC Comics' Man of Steel.  It is 1888 and the brilliant but ruthless student of natural philosophy Viktor Luthor is seeking to create life itself.  His experiments gain an unexpected boost when he finds a mysterious object from the stars which contains the skeleton of an alien child and the recorded knowledge of the advanced civilisation of the planet Krypton.

So, basically, it's 'Frankenstein' but where Lex Luthor is Frankenstein and Superman is... well, you get it.  I honestly don't have much more to say beyond that.  There's nothing here that will shock you but at the same time there's nothing here that's genuinely bad.  I think, if anything, I disliked just how aggressively 'this is fine' this book is.  It takes few, if any risks, and doesn't explore anything that hasn't already been explored in the two elements of the mash-up.

One thing I will give it credit for is casting Luthor as Frankenstein.  His brilliance, arrogance and recklessness are in-keeping with the original character, but his ruthlessness adds a layer of menace that wasn't there before.

2 out of 5

 

The Transformers: Last Stand Of The Wreckers

by Nick Roche & James Roberts

(Art by Nick Roche, Guido Guidi, John Wycough and Andrew Griffith)

When the powerful and psychotic Decepticon Overlord takes control of a former Autobot prison facility and begins hunting and torturing the guards for sport, the Wreckers are called in to save the day.  Facing overwhelming odds and reinforced with untested new recruits, Springer, Kup and Perceptor lead the Autobot's elite special forces team into what may be their final battle.

It took me a little while to get into this book since so few of the characters featured were familiar to me (I'm pretty new to IDW's take on the robots in disguise) and some of those characters are alike enough visually for it to be a bit confusing at times.  However, by the end of the book I was fully invested in this Dirty Dozen-style team of commandos.  And like the Dirty Dozen, there's a surprisingly high body count among the main characters, with several dying in genuinely horrific ways.  This is not a book for kids, despite being based on a cartoon/toy line.

A brutal but surprisingly emotionally engaging addition to the Transformers saga.

4 out of 5

 

The Transformers: Volume 4 - Heart Of Darkness

by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning

(Art by Ulises Farinas)

Galvatron returns empowered by the anti-Matrix, the Heart of Darkness, and begins gathering forces to investigate a mysterious threat from the Dead Universe.  He soon discovers that an eldritch horror, bent on draining the life energies from all robotic lifeforms, is gathering its strength to break through into the universe of the Transformers.

Having read Volumes 1 to 3, all by Mike Costa, this book feels like a jarring 90-degree turn for the series, coming out of nowhere and having little relation to what has come before.  In fact, all the way through, I had the feeling that this was a tangential miniseries, like Costa's 'Ironhide' or Zander Cannon's 'Bumblebee' and it was only after I'd finished it that I discovered that's exactly what it was.  Presumably events here have repercussions later in the larger story, but by presenting it as simply the next chapter in the ongoing series this book is likely to disappoint and confuse casual readers.

However, once I'd got my head around the fact that this is a separate story, things got easier.  I'll admit it also took me a while to get to grips with this version of Galvatron, who isn't a rebirth of Megatron and is, honestly, basically a good guy here.  I grew up watching the cartoons (and the awesome 1986 movie), as well as reading Marvel's G1 comics, so to have such a radically different Galvatron was pretty jarring.  However, it does lead a great scene in which Galvatron sees different versions of himself from different realities, including the various versions of Megatron, the original version of Galvatron, a blister-packed action figure and, best of all, Spock (if you're unclear on the reference, Galvatron was voiced by Leonard Nimoy in 'Transformers: The Movie').

Unfortunately, although the story slowly started to win me over, I have to say that the art style prevented me from really engaging with this book.  It's not often that I can't just roll with the art of a graphic novel and judge the story for its writing, but the design of Galvatron here is, frankly, terrible and it was constantly jarring for me.

3 out of 5

 

The Transformers: Volume 7 - Chaos

by Mike Costa & James Roberts

(Art by Livio Ramondelli and Casey Coller)

The conclusion to this particular run of IDW's Transformers series.  Optimus Prime and the Autobots return to Cybertron to confront Galvatron, who has gathered an army and seized control of the planet.  However, a far greater threat arises as the D-Void emerges from the Dead Universe intent on devouring all robotic life and only the combined might of the Autobots and Decepticons united have a hope of stopping it.

This book definitely feels like it's trying to hit the same tone and gravitas of the confrontation with Unicron from Simon Furman's original run of Marvel Comics, in which the entire Cybertronian race has to unite to fight a foe unimaginable vast and beyond them.  Unfortunately it falls short of capturing that same feel and instead comes across as something of a pale imitation.  At no point does the D-Void really feel like a genuine threat, and instead feels like a bit of a sideshow for all of the smaller stories going on around it.  It doesn't helped that the defeat of this terrible enemy is actually pretty easy and something of an anticlimax in the end.

There are some really good things here, including Ramondelli's gorgeous artwork, seeing Megatron unleash his full power in an attempt to save Cybertron and a brilliant coda which shows the world of the Transformers millions of years in the future, after their great victory.  But despite those good elements, the book as a whole definitely feels lesser than the stories to which it is supposed to be the climax.

3 out of 5

 

The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain

by Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone

The first of the Fighting Fantasy series of adventure gamebooks.  In 1982 this book broke ground which would later have a very significant impact on the literary tastes of a young me (although 'Forest of Doom' was actually my favourite).  The gamebook puts you in control of the adventure as you explore the tunnels beneath Firetop Mountain in search of the warlock's treasure.

Sadly, nostalgia doesn't always pay off.  With some books I read in my younger days, revisiting them as an adult was a joy but here, unfortunately, it turned out to be a bit of a chore.  The longer sections are very well written, with atmospheric descriptions of hideous monsters, dank dungeons and situations with a very real sense of danger, but the truth is that those sections only take up about a third of the book.  The other two thirds consists of Turn to 264... You are in a long tunnel, Turn to 17... You see a door, if you'd like to open it Turn to 321... and so on and so forth.  Where as a child I'd enjoyed the sense of mystery that skipping to different paragraphs in the book held, here it just became increasingly tedious. 

The feeling of tedium is especially prevalent in the last third of the story, where you enter the Maze of Zagor.  Here you are sent round and round in circles, over and over again, to the point that I almost gave up re-reading the book.  Whilst this is a very clever bit of writing by the authors, genuinely making you feel the frustrations of an adventurer lost in a subterranean maze, it heavily detracts from the enjoyability of the book.  Sure, the introduction recommends that you draw yourself a map as you progress, but whilst reading a book I don't feel inclined to indulge in cartography.  Thankfully, someone else has, and you can find maps online, which is the only reason I continued reading the book to the end.

Overall, a well-written childrens/teens roleplaying fantasy but one which failed to live up to the twenty-year-old memory I have of enjoying it the first time.

2 out of 5

 

The World Of Robert Jordan's The Wheel Of Time

by Robert Jordan & Teresa Patterson

A companion piece to the Wheel of Time series which contains numerous 'historical' essays about the history, cultures and geography of that series, similiar to those found in books like Le Guin's 'Tales of Earthsea' or, of course, Tolkien's 'Unfinished Tales'.

I finished reading the Wheel of Time a long time ago and, despite owning it, neglected to read this book amid the novels, so I was dubious about picking it up now.  However, I was pleasantly surprised.

Jordan's world-building was so expansive that, truth be told, I lost track of things like which was Amadicia and which was Altara whilst reading the books.  Here, however, we get an in-depth guide to almost every aspect of that world.  For me the best part of the book was the first half, in which we get a narrative history of things only hinted at in the main stories, such as the Age of Legends, the Breaking of the World, the Trolloc Wars and more.  I really enjoyed finally learning the details behind these events.

Over the years I've made disparaging comments about the Wheel of Time, about the repetition, about the excessively long books, about the fact that it took fourteen books to complete the story, etcetera.  However, this book reminded me of something important that I'd almost forgotten; for all the series' many faults, I still LOVED it!  And as a result, despite some very ponderous later chapters, I really liked this book too.

One downside I did see to this book is that I can't say when you should read it.  I felt that much of the information would've helped me enjoy the main novels more, but you shouldn't read it before starting the series because it reveals some fairly major plotpoints.  I think it was released around the time of book nine ('Winter's Heart') but to stop and read this when you could just plow on with the story seems silly.  A conundrum, but if you can solve it, you should like this book.

4 out of 5

 

Thor/Iron Man: God Complex

by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning

(Art by Scot Eaton, Jaime Mendoza, Jeff Huet and Lorenzo Ruggiero)

In the aftermath of Asgard's devastation in 'Siege' (and cashing in on the release of the first Thor movie) this book has Tony Stark and the God of Thunder becoming embroiled in the High Evolutionary's plan to create a new god for the 21st Century.

Despite the creation of a new god being an intriguing concept, the truth is that there's nothing particularly big or clever about this story.  The core concept never really develops and the mixing of mystical and technological elements is handled fairly hamfistedly.  I found the High Evolutionary and Diablo to be largely uninspiring villains too, lacking any real credible motivations.

A short crossover with no lasting consequences, but you may enjoy watching the titular Avengers throw down with Crimson Dynamo and Ulik the Troll.

2 out of 5

 

Thunderbolts: Justice, Like Lightning...

by Kurt Busiek & Peter David

(Art by Mark Bagley, Mike Deodato Jr., Sal Buscema, Bob McLeod, Tom Grummet, Ron Randall, Gene Colan, Darick Robertson, George Perez, Chris Marrinan, Vince Russell, Tom Wegryzyn, Dick Giordano, Al Milgrom, Will Blyberg, Scott Koblish, Jim Sanders, Tom Palmer, Bruce Patterson, Karl Kesel and Andrew Pepoy)

In the aftermath of Onslaught, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four are presumed dead and the world's remaining superheroes are pushed to their limits.  Suddenly a new team of heroes makes its public debut, but these Thunderbolts hide a dark secret; they are supervillains in disguise.

I always loved the core concept of the Thunderbolts; that in the absence of the Marvel Universe's greatest heroes, a team of villains would step in as impostors, only to find the adulation and feeling of righteousness generated by being heroes powerfully seductive.  And on top of that brilliant concept, I really liked the heroic redesign these villains got in the process, with the Beetle's transformation in the Mach-1 being my favourite.

It has to be said, however, that the delivery of that core concept here, in the collection of the Thunderbolts' first appearances, isn't as compelling as I remembered.  This is just mostly the Thunderbolts going into battle against other supervillains and trying not to let slip in front of the public that they're not really heroes, over and over again.  It's not bad, but the elements that really intrigued me, such as the so-called Masters of Evil actually being somewhat seduced by doing good, weren't fully developed here.

My favourite part of this book (collecting a Spider-Man Team-Up comic that I bought on release back in the day) sees the Thunderbolts being tasked with hunting down the wanted criminal Spider-Man, much to the delight of the Beetle.  However, after Spider-Man saves Mach-1's life and they fight side by side, the former Beetle helps to clear his nemesis' name; "Well, maybe the Beetle could've stabbed him in the back... but Mach-1 couldn't".  It's a nice little glimpse into the effect being 'good guys' is having on the world view of the team of villains.

3 out of 5

 

Titans Vol. 2: Made In Manhattan

by Dan Abnett & James Asmus

(Art by Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund, Minkyu Jung, Lee Weeks, Reilly Brown and Scott Hanna)

A Rebirth book.  Beginning to work as a team once more, the Titans investigate Meta Solutions, a company which claims to be able to help people with superhuman powers but which appears to be linked to the villains of the Fearsome Five.  The Titans are then thrown together with their older counterparts in the Justice League by an enemy who intends to push their relationships to the breaking point.

This book is a bit of a jumble really, with no overarching storyline and a real mixture of high points and, honestly, boring points.  Among the high points, however, are seeing the pre-Flashpoint/Rebirth Superman seek Wally out due to their shared experience of remembering a different world and a nice chance to compare and contrast some of the JLA and Titans; Batman/Nightwing, Wonder Woman/Donna Troy, Aquaman/Tempest and the Barry Allen/Wally West Flashes.  I think what I enjoyed most about the latter was seeing that in many ways the Titans are a better team than the Justice League.  The Justice League has the A-list top power-tier heroes but the genuine bonds of friendship among the Titans make them more cohesive and stronger through their support of each other.  It was a nice idea to explore and it's done pretty well here.

Among the downsides of this book are disappointing conclusions to both of the main stories featured within as well as some fairly obvious 'are the villains actually reformed?' and 'is one of the heroes an impostor?' plot points that turn out more or less exactly how you'd expect.

3 out of 5

 

Towers Of Midnight

by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson

The Wheel of Time book thirteen, once again completed from Jordan's notes by Sanderson following the former's death.

Sanderson continues with the excellent pace he set in 'The Gathering Storm' advancing all of the various plotlines of the series in leaps and bounds, something that Jordan often struggled to do.

In addition to the great and dynamic plot, Sanderson has managed to completely eliminate the irritating repetition which plagued Jordan's books and, largely, dispense with the main characters' various irritating character traits.

There are a few weird bits in this book that didn't sit entirely well with me however.  Perrin's activities in Tel'aran'rhiod, Mat's quest into the bizarre Tower of Ghenjei and Aviendha's vision of the future in which everything basically sucks.  All these things were just a little too out there and detract from an otherwise excellent book.

Followed by 'A Memory of Light'.

4 out of 5

 

Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 6 - Target: 2006

by Simon Furman & Bob Budiansky

(Art by Jeff Anderson, Will Simpson, Ron Smith, Geoff Senior, Don Perlin, Ian Akin and Brian Garvey)

In this graphic novel the Autobots of 1986 find themselves faced with a trio of Decepticons from the future, led by the impossibly powerful Galvatron.  Their only hope is the arrival of a powerful new leader called Ultra Magnus.  The Autobots are then faced with public-relations issues when Decepticon interference brings them into conflict with a human organisation led by a robot-hating superhero known as Circuit Breaker.

To understand this book you have to understand that its two halves were written on different sides of the Atlantic in very different circumstances (this book does feature a couple of essays that expand on this too).  The UK version of the Transformers comic, published weekly, was immensely successful but was constantly held back by having to tell its stories around those of the monthly US version, which took precedence.  However, with Furman's 'Target: 2006' the UK comics got to use new characters from the animated 'Transformers: The Movie' which the American comics were ignoring, whilst still being able to circle back to where Budiansky's US comics picked up later.  What we get here then is a book with a single consecutive story overall but whose constituent parts couldn't be more different.

What you rapidly discover is that the UK story is of vastly higher quality, both in the subtlety of its writing and in its excellent artwork, than the US one.  The titular chapters introduces us to some impressive new characters from the movie (which I love, by the way - infinitely better than Michael Bay's garbage) and pit them against the more familiar Transformers of the 1980s.  I particularly enjoyed watching Galvatron go toe-to-toe with Megatron, his past-self.

Sadly, where the US stories pick up the narrative, things take a swift downturn in quality.  The art is sub-par and the scripting is obvious and features too much cheesy exposition.  There's also a bit in it which is largely glossed over but which I found genuinely disturbing.  When Circuit Breaker captures a bunch of Autobots she decides to have their faces removed and mounted on the wall as trophies.  Now I know these characters are robots who can be rebuilt, but there was something properly horrific about seeing some of my favourite childhood characters (like Blaster, Seaspray and Cosmos) with their faces cut off as trophies.  And Budiansky never really acknowledges just how much of a psychopath that makes Circuit Breaker.

So, only really worth reading for Simon Furman's first half.

3 out of 5

 

Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 16 - The Primal Scream

by Simon Furman & Ian Rimmer

(Art by Andy Wildman, Stephen Baskerville, Lee Sullivan, Dan Reed, John Stokes, Jose Delbo, Dave Hunt and Geoff Senior)

The factions of the Transformers' civil war splinter further as Autobots and Decepticons adjust to the return of long-dead warriors such as Optimus Prime, Megatron and Starscream.  Then, on Cybertron, a group of Autobots learn the origins of the Transformers and inadvertently gain the attention of their god Primus and his evil opposite number, Unicron.

When Simon Furman took over as the leading creative mind behind both the US and UK incarnations of the Transformers comics, the quality of the stories increased immeasurably.  Not only was there more cohesion in the overall narratives but, due to the expected cancellation of the series, Furman decided to push the boundaries of what stories could be told (as explained in the into to this book).  This means that we get much more introspective moments than the previously action-heavy stories, where characters like the iconic Optimus Prime (returned to life as a Powermaster) question their very reasons for fighting at all.

As well as telling more thoughtful stories, Furman also decided to push the boundaries of Transformers lore and this book's best moment comes at the end when we learn of the primeval battle between Primus and Unicron and how it led Primus to create a last line of defence, the Transformers.  It gives a depth and mythology to the Transformers' backstory that had been lacking before and also begins the build-up to the final cataclysmic confrontation with Orson Welles... sorry, 'Unicron'.

3 out of 5

 

Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 35 - Primacy

by Chris Metzen & Flint Dille

(Art by Livio Ramondelli)

Collecting parts two and three ('Monstrosity' and 'Primacy') of IDW's Transformers origin story, this book opens with Megatron defeated and Optimus Prime as Cybertron's new leader.  However, Optimus' rule is disrupted by civil unrest in the wake of countless years of warfare and the Decepticons, now led by Scorponok, continue to be a threat.  As Megatron embarks on a quest to reclaim his throne, the Autobots have to face a primal threat from beneath Cybertron's surface.

My first reaction to this book was one of surprise.  Having read some of IDW's contributions to the Star Wars franchise, I wasn't expecting much depth or complexity in their licence of an IP built around kids' toys and cartoons.  I was very wrong and for a while it left me a little nonplussed by this book.  I was not expecting to see Optimus Prime having to operate as a politician or to see Megatron as a former freedom-fighter and it took a while to get my head around those and other things on offer here.

Once I got to grips with this book, however, I rapidly started to love it.  This is the product of finding the perfect balance between not changing too much of the beloved source material but also treating it as a serious and adult story (much in the way that the MCU redeemed comic book movies).  As such there's a really interesting core story of a world torn apart by generations of war and how that affects the leaders, soldiers and civilians trying to make something from the ruins, whilst still having plenty of 'transforming robots bash hell out of each other'.  The book is filled with familiar faces and their characters are also familiar (unlike in some updates of this sort of franchise), even if they've been given a new dimension to their stories (the Dinobots... sorry, 'Dynobots'... are an excellent example of this done well).

This is a brilliant reimagining of the history of the Transformers universe and is carried in no small part by Livio Ramondelli's absolutely gorgeous artwork.  Also, if you're in two minds about whether it's worth your time, just remember that we get to see Metroplex fight Trypticon.  If you're unfamiliar with them, then basically imagine a Transformer that is also a city fighting a Transformer which is also Godzilla.

5 out of 5