Fantastic Universes

Writer : Benjamin Percy Artist : Amancay Nahuelpan Colors:  Nick Filardi Letters:  Carlos M. Mangual Review by Steve J. Ray Summary “HARM’S WAY”: PART TWO. Nightwing has been driven into a nexus between realities by  The Silencer . Is she friend or foe? Can our hero win the race to save his friends, trapped in cyberspace by the evil Wyrm? Or will Professor Pyg, El Flamingo and Leviathan’s assassins take him out first? Fire up your engines, folks. It’s all happening in Nightwing #49. Positives This issue truly is firing on all cylinders. Benjamin Percy has given us a comic that would work in any era of DC Comics’ 80 year history, but with all the flourish, depth and characterisation that 21st century comics fans have come to expect. Being a regular reader of Silencer’s ongoing book, I knew that she was one of the goodies, but I have read a lot of reviews for issue #48 where writers were expecting her to be gunning for Nightwing. Sometimes being an uber...

Writer:  Adam Glass Artist:  Bernard Chang Colors:  Marcelo Maiolo Letters:  Deron Bennett Review by Steve J. Ray Summary “SET IT OFF”: PART THREE. After Roundhouse’s heroic sacrifice to save his team and city  last issue , the Teen Titans are all coming to terms with his tragic demise in their own unique, strange and even hilarious ways. Has this new team met it’s demise so soon after forming? Will the surviving members rally, grow and learn from their loss? All these questions and less may not be answered by the end of this issue. Positives A sterling script, gorgeous art, action, pathos and humor… what’s not to like? Any misgivings I had about writer Adam Glass’ take on these characters were eradicated by the end of his second issue. After reading Teen Titans #22 they’ve been left so far behind me, that they are nothing but a speck in the dust in my rear-view mirror. Every character, old and new, in this series has a personality and ratio...

“Target: Batman” – Part Four Writer: Dan Jurgens Artists: Will Conrad & David Baron Review by Adam Ray As revealed in the  last issue , The Scarecrow has returned to Gotham. Methods for spreading mass panic have only grown stronger and more sophisticated over the many decades since Bruce Wayne fought Jonathan Crane. We see in this issue exactly how a new Scarecrow has transformed the people of Gotham into deadly weapons. Batman is truly everyone’s target. I, and many readers, are thankful for the brief fly-by as the issue opens. Witnessing Matt really take on responsibilities at the helm of the Batmobile. It helps us all see why Bruce trusts the younger McGinnis brother as a natural fit for the mantle of Robin. It also shows how quickly Matt can go from calm and self-assured to surrounded by a mob and fighting with all his might. The art throughout this issue is really,  really  good. The consistency we’re seeing in having Jack Ryder...

Writer : Benjamin Percy Artist : Amancay Nahuelpan Colors:  Nick Filardi Letters:  Carlos M. Mangual Review by Steve J. Ray Summary “HARM’S WAY”: PART ONE. Following hot on the heels of  issue #47  and the first  Nightwing Annual of the DC Rebirth era, this issue hits readers full throttle… in more ways than one. Trying to find a way to save his friends Willem Cloke and Vicki Vale from Wyrm’s cyberspace prison, Dick Grayson takes the Night Bus and Night Cycle to Ireland’s Isle Of Harm to compete in a cosmic road-duel for their safe return. Positives What can I say? This issue blew me away! Script, dialogue, art, color, lettering… the works. Writer Benjamin Percy and indie artist Amancay Nahuelpan have delivered 20 pages of high octane comics gold. The setting is Mad Max meets Highlander, and the atmosphere is the perfect fusion of hard sci-fi and comic-book carnage. Throw in a guest appearance from one of DC’s New Age Of Heroes’ ...

Article by Adam Ray Week two of Guilds of Ravnica spoilers are here. With Prerelease coming next weekend, it's likely that as we're sitting down to FNM this week, we'll see the whole set unveiled. Until then, we can discuss and speculate about new cards shown off online. A classic returns to us. A welcome evasive threat in Limited, the Wee Dragonauts are certainly welcome, and with the number of aggressive Wizards in Standard, may have a place alongside Adeliz in aggro decks. Well this is an interesting milkshake. Milkshake being a term popluarised by SBMtG , for cards that deliberately put cards into your graveyard (because milkshakes bring all the boys to the yard). This is definitely the enabler to get Golgari decks going in Limited. I don't know if this is the milkshake of Standard yet to come though. Perpetual Timepiece  was a stronger repeatable milkshake that didn't get there when Delirium nor Muldrotha was with it in Standard. I doubt this w...

“A Solitary Man” Writer: James Robinson Artists: Stephen Segovia & Ivan Plascencia Review by Steve J. Ray We are now just 12 issues, 6 short months, away from the landmark 1000th issue of  Detective Comics . This series is the longest running DC title as well as the comic that gives the publisher its name. Now, hold on, I hear you say,  Action Comics  hit 1000 issues a few months back, how can ‘Tec be the oldest series? Let me explain. Detective Comics  Vol. 1 #1 was published with a cover date of March 1937, pre-dating  Action Comics  #1 by 15 months. The reason that  Action  has already passed the 1000 issue mark is that for a part of the 1970s  Detective  only released one issue every two months, and  Action  became a weekly title between June 1988 and March 1989, so was releasing four issues per month for almost a year. All clear? Great. History lesson over (for now). The Road To Detective Comics #100...