Mister X: Condemned by Dean Motter (writer and artist)
The City of Dreams had become The City of Nightmares . . . was it too late to awaken it?
Mister X: Condemned makes for a perfect introduction to the critically acclaimed Mister X series that first appeared in 1984. Since that time, other writers and artists also have been allowed to play in this futuristic world that Motter created, but if you want an affordable, quick introduction written and drawn by Motter,
May 10th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Animal Man, Volume 2: Origin of the Species & Animal Man, Volume 3: Deus Ex Machina by Grant Morrison (writer) & Chas Truog (artist) issues 10-26
These two volumes of Animal Man — Origin of the Species and Deus Ex Machina — complete the collection of Grant Morrison’s run on this once-minor DC character. This 26-issue run marks Morrison’s entry into American comics. The Scottish Morrison, along with Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore,
May 3rd, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Book of Lost Souls, Volume 1: Introductions All Around by J. Michael Straczynski (writer) and Colleen Doran (artist)
I am so pleased I picked The Book of Lost Souls up off the shelf at Oxford Comics in Atlanta, Georgia. Though I am familiar with the writer, J. Michael Straczynski (often referred to simply as JMS), I’d never heard of this book or its artist — Colleen Doran. But I was immediately grabbed by the title and cover image of a forlorn young man clutching a large,
April 26th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | J. Michael Straczynski | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Grendel: Archives and Grendel: Devil by the Deed by Matt Wagner (writer and artist)
Now that I’ve read Matt Wagner’s Grendel: Archives and Grendel: Devil by the Deed, I regret how long it took me to read any of his Grendel stories, a series of comics that have a thirty-year history (and counting). I kept reading about them here and there, but had no sense of what they were about. I assumed they had something to do with Beowulf,
April 19th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Animal Man, Volume 1 (Issues 1-9) by Grant Morrison (writer), Chas Truog (artist, Issues 1-8) and Tom Grummett (artist, Issue 9)
The twenty-six issue run on Animal Man by Grant Morrison is one of the most important works in comics, but it must be understood in an historical and artistic context; otherwise, someone new to comics might just flip through it and see what looks like a slightly-dated comic with artwork that isn’t currently as exciting and flashy and polished and colorful as newer comics.
April 12th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Who is Jake Ellis? by Nathan Edmondson (writer) and Tonci Zonjic (artist)
Who is Jake Ellis? is an excellent thriller that defied my expectations for the wonderful reason that I had so much trouble figuring out what my expectations should be in the first place. In other words, the story is so unique, I couldn’t see it fitting easily into any specific template. At first glance, it’s merely a thriller of the James Bond variety, but the James Bond character doesn’t actually seem to have any real skills of his own or seem to have any mission to accomplish other than not getting killed.
April 5th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Neil Gaiman’s Murder Mysteries adapted for comics by P. Craig Russell
P. Craig Russell’s artwork is stunning in his adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Murder Mysteries. And since the story has all the other-worldly hallmarks of a Neil Gaiman Sandman story, Russell really gets a chance to show off his talent as he bounces from the angelic Silver City to the cityscapes of our mundane world.
This graphic novel is based on what was originally a short story by Neil Gaiman (and eventually a radio drama in the spirit of The Shadow);
March 22nd, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Neil Gaiman | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Astonishing X-Men, Volume One: Gifted (Issues 1-6) and Astonishing X-Men, Volume 2: Dangerous (Issues 7-12) by Joss Whedon (writer) and John Cassaday (artist)
These two Astonishing X-Men trade collections by Joss Whedon — Gifted and Dangerous — make a great introduction either to superhero comics in general or to X-Men comics specifically. There are some goods reasons Joss Whedon was chosen to write and direct the latest Avengers movie,
March 15th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Point of Impact by Jay Faerber (writer) & Koray Kuranel (artist)
Jay Faerber’s Point of Impact, though not destined to become a great comic in the canon of graphic storytelling, is a perfect short story told in four issues, which is exactly what he tries to do. Sometimes one is in the mood for a large, sprawling epic, and other times, one just wants to read a poem or short story. You don’t need any background information about superheroes, supervillains, or mutants. All you need to do is start reading,
March 1st, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Daredevil (Volume One) by Mark Waid (writer) and various artists: Paolo Rivera, Joe Rivera, Marcos Martin, Javier Rodriguez, and Muntsa Vicente.
Mark Waid’s Daredevil is one of the best comic book titles of 2012, and I’m comparing his work with some of my favorite authors of all time who have written top-notch runs on Daredevil: Frank Miller, Brian Michael Bendis, and Ed Brubaker. Waid’s work, though different, is equally good, and even though I’d recommend as excellent starting points both the runs by Bendis and Brubaker,
February 8th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…
this sounds like a fun one