Tag: review
Review – Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #4 – From the Beginning
Ray: Ram V continues to take us deeper into the mystical side of the DCU than any other writer has in a long time. Mitch Shelley has completed his latest evolution as Resurrection Man, dying peacefully of old age – and as such, has evolved to be immune and above time itself. Now in the…
Review – New History of the DC Universe #1: At the Beginning
Ray: Uniting one of the top DC writers of all time with two of its most long-running artists, this book takes on an incredibly ambitious goal – retelling the entire history of the DCU according to the new all-encompassing timeline. The framing device finds Barry Allen, now retired as the Flash ever since he lost…
Review – Justice League Unlimited #8: Time’s End
Ray: It’s the final chapter of “We Are Yesterday”, a cosmic epic that saw the Legion of Doom of the past make their way to the present, courtesy of a Gorilla Grodd upgraded with Martian Manhunter’s psychic abilities. The last chapter saw both sides bring their big guns – the heroes recruited allies from across…
Review – Absolute Martian Manhunter #4: City of Rage
Ray: Of all the Absolute books, this is the one that feels the most set apart from the larger universe it takes place in. It’s a strange cosmic sci-fi thriller heavily set in one man’s mind after he survives a traumatic event. But that doesn’t mean it has less on its mind – quite the…
Review – DC x Sonic the Hedgehog #4: Justice League on Angel Island
Ray: For the last issue, we got to see Sonic and his crew take over the DCU, with each fuzzy hero taking on the turf and style of one of the missing-in-action DCU heroes. Which raises the question of where the Justice League is – and the answer is, on Sonic’s world! That means these…
Review – Green Lantern Dark #5: Castle of the Bat
Ray: This continues to be one of the most intriguing new Elseworlds in a while, not just for its characters and worldbuilding but for its stunning art style. “Something Is Killing the Children” artist Werther Dell’Edera is very comfortable with working with cosmic horrors, so it’s not a surprise that he manages to bring some…
Review – Mr. Terrific: Year One #2 – Ghost Story
Ray: When we picked up with Michael Holt last issue, he was a man at his wit’s end. After losing his wife and unborn child in a freak car accident, he had spiraled – and not even his best friend Dre was able to pull him out of it. Michael didn’t agree to help when…
‘Paved With Good Intentions:’ A Book Review
It’s always sad when a favorite series finishes. Peter McLean closed his War of the Rose Throne series in 2022, and I thought that was that. It was a great ending to one of fantasy’s most consistently thrilling series. Imagine my excitement when, earlier this year, I learned that McLean was revisiting the world of…
Review – Krypto: Last Dog of Krypton #1 – Good Boy
Ray: Superman is riding a hot streak like no character has at DC in a long time. Every book in the line has been good to fantastic, and that means spin-offs aplenty. Including one for comics’ ultimate Good Boy! Ryan North, making his DC writing debut, is the perfect choice for this – so many…
Review – Superman Unlimited #2: World of Kryptonite
Ray: It’s a brave new world for Superman, as last issue saw a massive Kryptonite meteor bear down on Earth. Superman was able to stop it, nearly dying in the process – but the result changed the world. Now, Kryptonite is omnipresent on Earth, easily winding up in the hands of a common criminal who…
Review – Wonder Woman #22: Of Men and Mice
Ray: After the battle with the Sovereign, we haven’t gotten to the next big WW arc yet – but Tom King is making the most of this break from bigger storylines. First we got a two-part murder mystery with Batman joining Wonder Woman on Olympus – and now we have a breather issue set right…
Review – Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #40 – Fight Night in Metropolis
Ray: One of the fun things about doing an ongoing flashback series is that you can do stories that wouldn’t make their way into a continuity-dense ongoing series. Supergirl and Robin’s date from hell is a prime example – and this issue is another oddball team-up that has some great twists. It’s set in the…
Review – Absolute Flash #4: Safe Haven
Ray: This series has done some incredible things with Wally’s character so far, but it’s also had the smallest scope of any of the Absolute books. We’ve been following Wally as he’s pursued by the Rogues, trying to get control of his speed powers and grieving the loss of his mentor. But this issue takes…
Review – Zatanna #5: Dance of Death
Ray: This series has been one of the best Zatanna comics in a long time, and has added a lot of new elements to Zatanna’s roster for the future. But to resolve this conflict, Zatanna’s going to have to go back to the past. In a flashback segment, we get a much darker version of…
‘Kill Them With Kindness by Will Carver:’ A Book Review
Earlier this year, I reviewed All Better Now, by Neal Shusterman. It’s a book about a deadly pandemic that leaves survivors feeling more empathy towards one another. This review is for Will Carver’s Kill Them With Kindness, a story that centers around a virus that leaves survivors feeling more empathy towards one another. Two books…
Review – The New Gods #7: Unlikely Alliances
Ray: When it comes to books starring characters who are more cult fixtures of the DCU, writers can easily shake up the status quo – sometimes permanently. And that seems to be what happened in this issue of New Gods – as the conflict has led to the planet of New Genesis shattering, sending a…
‘The Betrayal of Thomas True:’ A Book Review
I originally overlooked The Betrayal of Thomas True because I don’t tend to enjoy gothic novels. Later, I kept seeing it gain excellent reviews and started to feel that I’d missed an opportunity. I was very excited, therefore, when I was contacted out of the blue and asked if I’d like to review Thomas True…
Chris Mason: Spending Review is a gamble on patience in an era of impatience
The hours, days, weeks and even months after a Spending Review can feel like peeling away the layers of an onion. First, there is the speech from the chancellor in the Commons: the political rhetoric and the numbers often designed to sound big but which are often incomprehensible. Then there are accompanying documents – in…
Seven ways the Spending Review will affect you
All the talk of departmental budgets and fiscal rules may feel somewhat distant from the cost of food shopping and your finances. The Spending Review is not a Budget in which taxes are changed or a host of new policies announced. But, don’t be fooled, it will have an impact on you and your money.…
‘Escape Room: Game Zero’ A Book Review
Christopher Edge is one of those authors who offers slender novels packed full of ideas. It ought to be impossible to include the broad sweep of technology and science that he brings to his stories and get them under 200 pages. Even harder if you’re aiming at a middle grade audience. Yet he has done…
Review – JSA #8: The Wrath of Wotan
Ray: JSA is one of those properties that has a long, storied history – something Jeff Lemire always likes to explore. Last issue, we ended the funeral for Wildcat with a huge twist – Ted Grant in the afterlife, being reunited with his deceased partners from the original WW2 JSA for one last mission. And…
Review – Poison Ivy #34: Gathering of the Trees
Ray: A lot of people have speculated that this series might be reaching its natural ending point soon, as the story seems to be reaching a crescendo and author Wilson has recently revealed a major new book for the competition. I’m not sure, but it does seem like this book is about to have its…
Home secretary yet to agree deal days before spending review
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has still yet to agree a deal with the Treasury before Wednesday’s Spending Review, despite an offer of above inflation increases to police funding in each of the next three years. Ministers have been locked in talks with Rachel Reeves and her team ahead of the major financial statement, which sets…
‘Bee Speaker’ by Adrian Tchaikovsky: A Book Review
Another month, another book by Adrian Tchaikovsky. This time, returning to his irregular but excellent Dogs of War series. Each book nominally stands on its own. Indeed, I read book 2, Bear Head, before reading book 1, Dogs of War, with little detriment. Having said that, to fully understand the world Tchaikovsky has created, I…
Spending Review: Massive cheques from the chancellor for some – but what do totals hide?
The next few days are vital – “one of the last moments to weave it all together – to look politically credible to the people Labour has lost”, one senior figure reckons. There have been huge fights inside government about the looming Spending Review. As I write, the home secretary and deputy prime minister are…
Kickstarter Review: The Qwerkywriter Typewriter Keyboard 10 Year Anniversary Edition
I (not so) fondly remember summer school typing classes, where I had to labor to learn touch typing on an old-fashioned typewriter. No word processor for me; if I made a mistake, it would be Liquid Paper brushed on and waiting for it to dry before I could continue my keystrokes. Despite my irritation at…
‘The Malevolent Eight:’ A Book Review
The follow-up to The Malevolent Seven is, perhaps inevitably, called The Malevolent Eight. I wanted to make a joke about people asking in shops for the first 6 books in the series, but author Sebastien de Castell does that in his acknowledgments, so whilst I can mention it, I can’t claim to have thought of…
Britain’s defence review has grand ambition. Now it needs the money
The British defence review was asked to make its recommendations within the budgetary constraints of spending 2.5% of GDP on defence. But it is already clear that to meet its goals of transforming Britain’s armed forces, to make them ready for war, there’ll have to be more money. The review welcomes the government’s “ambition” to…
Review – Batman #160: The Temptation of Jason Todd
Ray: One of the most defining scenes of the original Hush, of course, was the return of Jason Todd – or so it seemed. The Jason in that story turned out to be Clayface, tasked with screwing with Batman’s mind, but the excitement over that moment led to the real return only a short time…
Review – Superman #26: Superman Red
Ray: After last issue’s brutal battle with the deranged clone X-El, the status quo Josh Williamson has built is in shambles. Lex Luthor is back in prison, blamed for the attack and covering for Mercy. His trust with Superman is shattered after he executed the evil clone. Mercy is free, but has lost her alliance…
Review – Absolute Wonder Woman #8: The Poisoned Tree
Ray: The previous arc by Mattia De Iiuls was a masterstroke, taking us to the underworld for a brilliant flashback tale explaining how Diana got to Man’s World. But now Hayden Sherman is back on art duties, and we’re back to the main story – and there is a lot to get into without delay.…
Review – Absolute Martian Manhunter #3: Into the Fire
Ray: This is by far the most offbeat of the Absolute books so far, and also one of the most intriguing. There are no signs of connections to a larger DCU, and it’s street-level in a deeply surrealist way. We’re just alone with this strange, haunted detective and the Gumby-esque psychic imprint of a Green…
Review – Justice League Unlimited #7: The Omega Gambit
Ray: “We Are Yesterday” is reaching its final act, and it’s not looking good for the good guys. Inferno, better known as the Legion of Doom of yesterday, has invaded the present and used their time guns to scatter the Justice League across the timestream. With only Elongated Man left to oppose them, the stretchy…
Review – The Flash #21: Army of the Flash
Ray: “Dark Moon Rising”, the current Flash crossover, definitely continues the strange and surreal tone of this series under Simon Spurrier – but it also escalates that to a cosmic level, with Eclipso having taken over the moon and launched a massive war on reality. The only thing standing in his way – the Flash,…
‘Then There Was One:’ A Book Review
Who wouldn’t want to read a mash-up of The Hunger Games and Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None? As the title suggests, Then There Was One leans heavily on one while borrowing a little from the other. The result? An entertaining mystery and a compulsive Young Adult thriller. The book is set in the…
‘Epic Factopia!:’ A Book Review
Factopia is back, and this time it’s EPIC! Epic Factopia is the 8th book in the series of interconnected fact books by Rose Davidson and Andy Smith. I’ve reviewed a number of these before, so you know the drill! The book’s subtitle is “Follow the Trail of 400 Extreme Facts, so we can expect more…
Review – Absolute Batman #8: Deep Freeze
Ray: If there’s one thing that sets apart the Absolute Universe from the main one, it’s that the villains here are absolutely terrifying. They’re bigger, more vicious, and far more distanced from reality. That’s never clearer than with Mr. Freeze, who in the main continuity is a gimmick crook driven by love and obsession. In…
Review – Aquaman #5: Dagon’s Wrath
Ray: So far, Aquaman has sent our title character into the world of magic – a big change for Aquaman’s usual adventures. Atlantis has been spirited away to the realm of Dagon, a magic city ruled by a mad God-king, and assassins have come after Aquaman from that world, but we’ve never seen it –…
Review – Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #2 – The Undying Man
Ray: The Black Label line is capable of doing things that no other DC book can, and this title makes the case that it’s at its best when it’s used to reinvent obscure and lower-tier heroes where there are no issues with branding. After a one-page prelude by the late, great Jackson “Butch” Guice, we’re…
‘Shrapnel Boys:’ A Book Review
This week sees the 80th anniversary of V.E. Day, and here in the UK, there have been fly pasts and street parties (blighted by the weather, of course) to celebrate. Following on from the excellent Under a Fire Red Sky, published last month, Usborne Books has brought us another first-class children’s novel set in World…
Gear Review: The RIG M2 Pro HD STREAMSTAR
One such upgrade you’ll be looking for is in your audio gear. RIG Gaming recently released the M2 Pro HD STREAMSTAR microphone, geared towards streamers, content creators, and gamers. They sent me one so I could share my thoughts with our readers. The RIG M2 Pro HD STREAMSTAR is a USB Microphone with built-in Bluetooth,…
South Africa to review claims past ANC governments impeded apartheid crimes investigations
Cyril Ramaphosa sets up inquiry as victims’ families allege interference from ‘highest levels of government’ South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is setting up an inquiry into whether past ANC governments interfered with the investigation and prosecution of apartheid-era crimes, amid criticism from the families of victims. A group of 25 relatives and survivors of apartheid-era…
HHS will review guidance on the addition of fluoride to drinking water
By Alana Wise The Department of Health and Human Services is directing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make new recommendations on the addition of fluoride to U.S. water sources. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has blamed the fluoridation of water for a number of health problems. The agency is directing the…
FEMA Disaster Aid Review Could Deter Migrants from Seeking Help in Extreme Weather
FEMA Disaster Aid Review Could Deter Migrants from Seeking Help in Extreme Weather A previously undisclosed FEMA review could block disaster assistance to millions of undocumented people and deter legal immigrants from seeking help in extreme weather By Thomas Frank & E&E News People are seen outside a wildfire shelter at the Pasadena Convention Center…
Southport killer’s referral to counter-terror scheme closed too early, review finds
The Prevent counter-terrorism scheme “prematurely” closed its case on Axel Rudakubana three years before he went on to murder three children in Southport, a government review has found. Security minister Dan Jarvis MP told the House of Commons Rudakubana had already discussed the Manchester Arena bombing and stabbing people when Prevent decided to end its…
2024 in review: Amid hottest year on record, nature takes center stage
As 2024 comes to a close, global temperatures are at an all-time high — topping the previous hottest-year on record: 2023. As the rising temperatures fuel extreme weather around the world, communities are left to grapple with catastrophic floods, severe droughts and devastating wildfires. Yet amid this backdrop, new research consistently shows nature is a…
2024 in review: Turning the tide for the world’s oceans
It was a year of rough seas for the world’s oceans. Despite some progress on both fronts, overfishing and pollution persisted, while waters continued to warm at a rate that scientists “cannot fully explain,” according to Johan Rockström, chief scientist at Conservation International. But that didn’t stop conservationists and communities from working to protect the…
2024 in review: Amid crisis, victories for nature emerge
Alarm bells screamed for nature in 2024. Each week seemed to bring fresh warnings of the loss of wildlife, habitat destruction and the escalating impacts of climate change. But amid the gloom, quiet victories emerged, as ordinary people made extraordinary progress for nature. This year, Conservation News highlighted unlikely partnerships bringing wildlife back from the…