Marvels by Kurt Busiek (writer) & Alex Ross (artist)
Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross have produced a masterpiece in Marvels. It is simply one of the best superhero comics ever written. As far as I’m concerned, people who say they don’t like superhero comics haven’t earned the right to that claim unless they’ve read this comic. And even if their tastes remain unchanged, I can’t imagine anyone arguing that the book doesn’t have great literary and artistic merit. Marvels itself is a Marvel.
February 1st, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
RASL by Jeff Smith — available in four paperback volumes — is a fifteen-issue story that recently took me by complete surprise. However, I should have known how good it would be: Smith’s well-known comic Bone — an epic work of fantasy for all ages — is one of the great contemporary comic classics. However, I must warn fans of Jeff Smith and Bone that RASL is not a book for kids.
January 25th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Jeff Smith | Comics | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
Batman: Snow by Dan Curtis Johnson & J.H. Williams III (writers), Seth Fisher (artist), Dave Stewart (colors), Phil Balsman (letterer)
Batman: Snow is a trade collecting a story arc originally published in 2005 in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (issues 192-196). Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight is a series that featured stories about Bruce Wayne’s early adventures as Batman. Such a premise allows writers to deal with a somewhat naïve Bruce who makes mistakes as a vigilante and allows readers to see where he learned the lessons that make him the seasoned vigilante we see in later stories told in comics and block-buster movies.
January 18th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Lex Luthor: Man of Steel by Brian Azzarello (writer) & Lee Bermejo (artist)
Though I’m not a big fan of Superman comics, I am fascinated by his overlapping roles in American literature and popular culture. Therefore, I never hesitate to read Superman trades if they come highly recommended, as was Lex Luthor: Man of Steel. Though not as good as some of my other favorites like Superman: Red Son and Superman/Batman: Public Enemies,
January 11th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Silver Surfer: Requiem by J. Michael Straczynski (writer) and Esad Ribic (artist)
I truly enjoy Marvel’s cosmic characters, and Silver Surfer is one of my favorites. The Requiem storyline is not only the first Silver Surfer title I recommend; it’s also the first cosmic title I point new readers of comics toward. First published as four separate issues in 2007, it was put together as a trade in 2008. If you are new to Silver Surfer and Marvel’s cosmic universe, this book is a great place to start because you don’t need any previous information to appreciate it,
January 4th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | J. Michael Straczynski | Comics | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Godland: Hello, Cosmic! Volume One, Issues 1-5 by Joe Casey (author), Tom Scioli (artist) & Bill Crabtree (colors)
Godland is a fun, and funny, story about Adam Archer, an astronaut who gains super-heroic powers during a mission to Mars. It’s a playful comic, and even though its playfulness is based on a parody of older comics, knowledge of them isn’t essential. To be more specific, the visual style is based on older artists like Jack Kirby, who drew large, solid people with exaggerated perspective. If you aren’t familiar with Kirby,
December 28th, 2012. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Atomic Robo and the Fightin’ Scientists of Tesladyne Volume One, Issues 1-6 by Brian Clevinger (author) & Scott Wegener (artist)
Atomic Robo is a fast-paced story about a robot who was invented in 1923 by the great mad scientist Nikola Tesla. Therefore, though the story is set in the present, Atomic Robo looks like people in the 1920s thought a robot should look like. He’s roughly humanoid, with large clunky-looking arms and legs and large blue eyes with functioning metallic eyelids that the artist uses to express much of Robo’s emotions.
December 14th, 2012. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Batman: The Dark Knight #0, “Chill in the Air” by Gregg Hurwitz
Batman remains my favorite character in comics much the same way the sonnet remains my favorite form in poetry: I know what to expect, what the conventions are, and I like to see an author play artistically with those expectations to produce a mixture of familiarity and surprise. Today’s review focuses on a Batman story I read recently that does both of these things by building off the familiar initial murder that shaped Bruce Wayne and offering a new look at his shifting philosophic view as it was influenced as a young man by his memories of his father’s words and by his professors at his boarding school.
October 19th, 2012. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Gregg Hurwitz | Comics | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Planetary: The Fourth Man, Volume 2 by Warren Ellis & John Cassaday
Having just written a review of Volume 1 of Planetary by Warren Ellis, I didn’t think I’d feel any need to write a review of Volume 2; however, I just finished reading Planetary: The Fourth Man, Volume 2 again and feel that it certainly deserves a review of its own. Please read my first review to get a full picture of the complex nature of this profound yet quickly-paced comic book.
October 5th, 2012. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Warren Ellis | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Planetary: All Over the World and Other Stories, Volume 1 by Warren Ellis & John Cassaday
Planetary: All Over the World and Other Stories, Volume 1 by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday is for the reader who has a nostalgia for the space explorer- and Doc Savage-style pulp fiction along with a love of futuristic and science fiction settings. Three main characters make up the mysterious group called Planetary. Elijah Snow is about 100 years old, looks like a fit 40-50 year-old, can lower the temperature of a room by walking into it (hence his name),
September 7th, 2012. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Warren Ellis | Comics | SFF Reviews | 4 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