What comic are you reading at the moment.

Recent reads for me:

Atomika - God Is Red #1 - Very strange superhero type book, the opener to a 12 issue miniseries by the look of things. Good artwork and an interestingly weird premise. If you liked Superman : Red Son, you'll probably like this.

Ocean #4 - Continuing the story, we see more about the creatures that have been discovered, find out a bit more about Nathan Kane and the Doors facility manager, and find out why their weapons are so dangerous...

Darkminds : Macropolis - Randomly purchased because I like the look of it, this is the 3rd collected Darkminds book but the first I've seen. It deals with Detectives Nagawa and Nakiko (premier detective in Macropolis, and cyborg, respectively) as a serial killer starts committing grisly murders in the futuristic decaying city of Macropolis. It's reminiscent of Blade Runner in many respects (visuals, setting), although the serial killer aspect is more like Se7en. Irritatingly, this collection doesn't have the complete story, and I can't find anything about it online. *sigh*

The Walking Dead (can't find a useful link for it, which is one of my big complaints about Image - love the company idea, hate the way it's so damn hard to find out anything about any book you want to buy from them!) - saw it going cheap, remembered Draco's recommendation, picked it up. A damn good read for any horror fan who doesn't just want gore, guts, and half-naked chicks.

Jim Woodring's "Frank" Randomly seen and purchased in a Galway book store, this has some wonderful artwork and the kind of strange allure that only purely visual (there's no dialog in the whole thing) comics can have. We follow the eponymous Frank (a purple cat/thing not unlike Mickey Mouse) as he explores his world and finds many a strange adventure lying in wait. Highly recommended.

Drawn & Quarterly Volume 5 - A 200 page collection of work by artists currently on the Drawn & Quarterly, this is a great sampler book to get to know more titles and creators. Six stories, an introduction and an epilogue of sorts - more than enough to satisfy anyone hungry for new stuff. Some excellent reading here, and definitely convincing enough to make me want to buy the other titles in the series.

R Crumb's Waiting for Food #3 - a bit of a strange proposition this, since it's basically a collection of Crumb's sketches from when he sits in restaurants and waits to be served. On the face of it this sounded like a cheeky way to get more money, but on the other hand this is Robert Crumb, a name more associated with indie comics and in particular with American Splendor (the only place I've seen his work, I admit). So I was curious when I was given this. It was very interesting for me because I wanted to learn more about Crumb's style, which is quite distinctive. I wouldn't recommend it for someone who hasn't seen any of his other work and wants a "proper" comic - this is a collection of rough works rather than a polished and complete piece. As an amateur comic artist it's interesting, and worth a look if yiou want to get more familiar with Crumb's style.

Coming soon (I hope) - 100%, Fables : The Mean Seasons, 1602 TPB, Vimanarama #2, Mega City 909 #6, Warren Ellis's Iron Man #3, and

Oh I know most of them are out - the "coming soon" part is more to do with local availability and (more pertinently) funding with which to buy them. I'm hoping Mega City #6 ain't the last one, there's info on at least one more issue over at the Devil's Due website and from the structure it looks like it's intended to be a 12-issue maxiseries. We shall see...

Didn't realise Iron Man had gone quarterly though - aagh! Thanks for the info, though.

J Hendrick wrote:

Does Cork not get there deliveries on the same day as Dublin?

Well there's something weird going on. I haven't seen Vimanarama 2 in Other Realms yet, they've got 100% but have told me that Fables : Mean Seasons isn't due to arrive there until today, despite the fact that Sub City in Galway had it two weeks ago...

I often moan about Other Realms, but truthfully my complaints are generally minor - sometimes they don't get many issues of something that I'd want to get (so it might sell out if I can't get in during the week and pop in on Saturday morning), and more often they'll take a couple of weeks longer than Sub City in Galway (also a regional store, I presume) or Easons to get certain trades in (seems to happen particularly with Fables, which is somewhat annoying) - but they could be far worse. Prices are decent, and considering that comics doesn't seem to be their main focus anymore (more of a gaming shop these days, methinks) their stock is pretty varied. It's just annoying when you know something is available in other stores and then you get told it hasn't shipped yet. But I suppose I can't have it all my own way.

Anyway, onto this week's numerous purchases:

7 Soldiers Of Victory #0
Shining Knight #1
Guardian #1

Grouping these as they are all part of Grant Morrison's 7 Soldiers of Victory project - picked up "7 Soldiers" first to see what it was like, dug it, then bought the other two. I'm guessing that Morrison is looking to do something vaguely along the lines of Watchmen here, but I could be wrong. The writing so far seems to be more accessible (ie not too much crazy crap happening without explanation) than much of his other stuff, although that could be because things are only just starting. Lots of little details I like in these, such as a subway pirate called No-Beard who has lightbulb earrings and fights the sun-lubbers in Guardian, or a talking unicorn who defents his apparently insane logic with the line : "I'm a horse. Whoever heard of a mad horse?"

Lullaby #1

Saw this in the now apparently defunct Comic Book Digest and was intrigued - seems to be kind of like LOEG only with fairytale characters, and aimed at an all-ages market. Lush artwork and the bones of an interesting story here - I'm looking forward to more of this book, as well as the rest of the Alias books.

Army Of Darkness : Shop 'Till You Drop Dead #2

More of the same from the Army of Darkness - laughs and violence aplenty, as well as revisiting a classic scene from the original movies. Not particularly big or clever, but when it's this much fun it doesn't have to be, really.

100%

As mentioned previously, I wanted this purely on the basis of having seen Pope's artwork in Solo #3. It's a hefty enough tome, but a rewarding read. Pope's individual style renders a future that's entirely recognisable as our own world a few years on, while still keeping it fresh and interesting. As he confesses in the afterword, the stories are really love stories wearing the trappings of sci-fi, but they're well-penned, with engaging characters and some interesting ideas.

Fragile

I didn't realise DC were going to release this under the Humanoids imprint, but I'm very glad they did. I've been following it in Metal Hurlant (speaking of which, there must be another issue due one of these days...) for a few issues and enjoyed it as a fairly original take on the zombie apocalypse premise. The storyline is engaging, and there's a nice mix of characters in it, from the military headcases to the unexpected comic relief. And it has one of the most amusing fight scenes I've seen in ages towards the end, too. Well worth a look if you enjoy, say, The Walking Dead.

Slim pickings this week in Other Realms, complemented handily with an order from ComixPress arriving the other day:

The Irregulars Read about this in CSN recently and was intrigued, faint overtones of LoEG although the main characters are as far as I know original creations. Essentially The Irregulars are a street urchin gang (not unlike the Artful Dodger and company from Oliver Twist) who help Sherlock Holmes with his investigations. They're called upon to help clear Watson's name when he's framed for murder, but the story goes deeper than that...It's all good fun, action/horror (although not too horrific).

Alan Moore's Hypothetical Lizard #1 - continuing my apparent habit of only picking up Alan Moore stuff on Avatar ages after it's released, I noticed that Other Realms had this. Interesting art and storyline, although it does feel like a bit of a slow start to the story. Should be interesting to see what it builds to.

Darkness & Light #0 - Negotiations - The first issue of what will hopefully be at least a maxiseries, this is from the horrible man who gave the world Flem Comics. It's an interesting proposition and the artwork consists of manipulated photographs that end up looking somewhat like Tim Bradstreet's work. As with all good #0s, it's frustrating only because I want to be able to read more of the story.

Timmy Kat - from the people who gave the world Two Lumps and the artist who gave you Flem and Darkness & Light (see above). A rather good children's story about judging people for who they are and not what they look like, with a difference....a pleasant story with an unexpected ending, this made me laugh out loud. Beware that it's not quite as cuddly as it might look.

spooydermot wrote:

Picked up the "7 soldiers" books after following the links in your post, really good stuff, glad I gave it a look - can't wait for the other titles in the "7 soldiers" series.....

Glad to be of service

spookydermot wrote:

Did anyone else pick up the 'countdown to infinite crisis' book? its pretty cool, but as someone who is not familiar with the DC universe I am woundering if I have any hope of 'getting' the story line that they are spreading out over their titles?

I'm not particularly well versed with DC history either. I know there are various collected books including the Crisis on Multiple Earths and Crisis on Infinite Earths stories, but I have no idea how much they interlink. One day when I have lots of cash and time to spare, I'll buy the lot of them and read them, just so I know what the fuss was about. (The same applies to the Squadron Supreme stories from Marvel - it's more historical curiosity than burning desire to read the actual stories themselves....)

Edit:

Have now gone, picked up the Countdown book (E1.20! - Decent price, wish more books were that cheap. To be perfectly honest, judging by my own experience of such storylines you'll have to at the least be following the miniseries advertised in the countdown book (the OMAC project, Wrath of the Spectre), and probably also the batman/superman/whatever books. It's the sort of huge sprawling crap that generally annoys me about these sort of crossovers - I shouldn't have to buy a load of books I don't normally read, just to follow the story. Sure, the full picture from all the books should be more complete than from any one book, but I shouldn't be left going "huh?" if I only read, eg, the Batman books covering the saga. It's the same thing that put me off the Crucifixion saga and the whole Onslaught nonsense back when I read the marvel perv suit books, and it's probably also going to happen with Marvel's "House of M" thing coming soon.

*sigh*

Shame, that. It looks like it could even just about deal with enough interesting ideas for me to forgive the perv-suited hero aspect (ie the pseudo fascistic aspect of wanting "humans to be ruled by humans, not impostors", the implications of our existing worldwide security and communications networks in terms of power abuse, acceptance and discussion of the improbable number of super-powered individuals in the DC Universe and how they interact, discussion of what it's like to be a second-rate "hero"). But not if it involves buying 15 different monthlies with a load of characters I'm not interested in, as well as trying to learn the backstory for each of them.

This week featured only single-issue/monthy purchases for me, due to end-of-month skintness. Still, I was very impressed with what was on offer:

Andi Watson's Little Star #2 - second issue of this down-to-earth series about Simon, a father struggling to balance his own interest in his job and his desire to be a full-time dad. I can't think of any word to describe this other than "charming". It's simple and honest and funny, with a pared-down visual style that appeals to me precisely because it's not trying to be lush and detailed.

Atomika #2 Issue 2 sees Atomika's godhood inadvertently challenged by Aronir, who seeks to create heralds of the new world. A curious world and storyline blends with excellent imagery in this comic. I was concerned that it might turn into a lifeless ongoing monthly, but according to the website it's a 12 issue maxi-series. Worth getting in at ground floor for - easily the most interesting superhero idea I've seen in ages (and so far superior to Millar's rather over-rated Superman : Red Son).

The Iron Ghost #1 Picked up on the basis that its cover intrigued me, this 1st of a 6 issue miniseries sets the scene - Berlin, 1945 : The allies and the russians are converging on the crumbling centre of Hitler's 3rd reich. As the Nazi leadership falls apart, police investigate an intriguing series series of murders - all carried out with .45 calibre guns (more usually associated with americans) and targeting SS officers involved in concentration camp administration....

Freakshow #5 Another fine addition to this excellent irish series. Jack and Myles manage to solve the mystery from #4, and receive payment....sort of. But it looks like this is only going to cause more trouble for them, especially going by the "in the next issue" teaser on the inside back cover.

Sea Of Red #1 Another purchase based heavily on a good cover, this is, at first glance, a pirate yarn. Not unlike the pirate yarn sub-story in Watchmen, in fact. There's a twist that's going to be central to the ongoing series, but I won't spoil it for you. Definitely worth a look if you like your horror, and fancy an adventure comic treading off the beaten superhero track.

Seven Soldiers : Klarion The Witch Boy And, on the heels of the rather disappointing Zatanna, Klarion pulls the whole project back into the realms of the firmly interesting (much as I'd hoped, in fact). Everything about this comic enchants me - the visual style is excellent, the main character is intriguing and likeable without feeling
forced, the world he lives in is frankly downright strange...and it draws you in. Aside from a hint at the end, it's hard to see where this is going to overlap with other Seven Soldiers projects, but frankly I'm not worried about that. This issue is excellent in its own right, and if nothing else I'll be buying Klarion 2, 3 & 4 no matter what.

Action Philosophers! Don't be fooled - this is exactly what the title suggests! An action-themed comic...about philosophers! It's a lot of fun, certainly more than one might expect, but then again I do have an interest in philosophy anyway. By no means a definitive guide to the philosophies of anyone featured, this is a fun light introduction to the basic ideas involved. It avoids feeling overly like an edumacational comic, instead mixing intellect and humour in equal measure.

bobbydoo wrote:

Richard Matheson's I Am Legend comic adaptation is quite good. Sticks very closely to the book, as I remember. Very expensive though, since it only comes in Hardback.

You may enjoy the Adaptation of Hell House that IDW are releasing then - it's in 3 mini-TPB releases, priced at about 8 euro a go so isn't too expensive (although for the eventual size of the story I'd have preferred just one TPB).

bobbydoo wrote:

Can anyone recommend any other horror comics?

The Atheist might be up your street - although the first issue was more about setting the scene than any real horror. Or the Castlevania comic, if it does anything interesting (hasn't yet, but then again the first issue had to set the scene so it should be forgiven).
Mega City 909 is a scifi/horror hybrid and well worth checking out; lush artwork and a good storyline.
Industriacide might appeal to you, although it's more weird than horror. Worth a look if you see it somewhere reasonably cheap.
I can't think of anything more off the top of my head, but I'll check when I get home.

There's also a bunch of vampire/horror stuff on Vertigo, which you may be interested in. Their graphic novel catalogue is here and their monthly release page is here. Series like Preacher & Transmet have horror moments, but aren't horror-focused so I'd suggest try before you buy. Hellblazer is mainly a horror book and is well worth checking out.

bobbydoo wrote:

Anyone read any of these yet?: Wake The Dead, Secret Skull, Containment, Lurkers, Fragile, Boneyard, Night Of the Living Dead, Zombie World, Deadworld, King of the Dead, Spookshow International?

I've not seen many of those, but I have picked up the Fragile collected book and enjoyed it. It wasn't strictly horror though, since its view of zombies was rather different to the general one. Definitely worth a look anyway though. Wake the dead is one of those ones that's perpetually on my "look at if there's nothing else worth buying" list next to 30 days of night (like you I'm put off by the artwork). The rest havne't turned up in Other Realms and I can't decide if they're worth buying or not without looking at them...

Khalim wrote:

this new group shows promise although they didn't have to include Wolverine. Highly recommended

He seems to be getting whored around everywhere these days, since the films made him such a popular character. It'll all end in tears, you mark my words

What have I read lately? A whole bunch of stuff, over the last two weeks or so. I should be seriously worried about how much money I've spent on comics lately, but I don't think there's anything much coming out soon that I want so hopefully the wallet will have a while to recover. Anyway. In no particular order (although split into singles and trades for your convenience ):

Singles:

Shining Knight #2
Not a bad issue as such, although it doesn't do all that much to convince me that the Shining Knight series is strong enough by itself. Basically, Justin the knight has to escape from police custody and find his talking horse, but finds himself taunted by the Mood 7 Mind Destroyer (which reminded me of Garth Ennis's F*ckpig from Hellblazer : Son Of Man )- an ethereal monster that goads him with guilty recollections of the world he left and taunts him with tales of how it collapsed. There's a bit of a typical pervsuit moment toward the end when he rallies his courage. I'll probably keep buying it because for the moment the whole 7 soldiers thing is still interesting me, but it's not a great standalone series so far.

Castlevania #2
A kind of "meh" follow-up, unfortunately. It feels like too much space is wasted on pointless exposition, although at least Belmont's wife has a personality. The art leaves something to be desired too - the motion effects are all done using line effects which manage to look imperfect (which, given that even an amateur like me can figure out how to get better effects using blurs and so on in Photoshop, is disappointing although it may be down to the printing process being used). Might give this one more issue to improve, but it seems to be a bit of a lazy license use tbh.

City Of Tomorrow #1

I can't decide on this. I've read a few things by Howard Chaykin lately and I can't get a handle on his writing style. Given that this is a first issue, it sets up some interesting possibilities and has a fantastic opening sequence. The story feels somewhat like Miller's background in Robocop - someone trying to create a utopian country from scratch. Except here it's not OCP, it's someone with genuine intentions. Of course, fast forward 15 years and it's not quite turned out right, and the future turns out to have crime and sex and prostitution, just like everywhere else. We shall see if it goes anywhere interesting, but it's a promising start at least.

Lullaby #2

I am loving Hector Sevilla's art on this book. Continuing the LoEG-with-fairy-tale-characters theme, in this issue we get to meet the Pied Piper and Little Red Riding hood, who are searching for Red's grandmother. We also see the pirate kid whose name I can't remember save Hansel & Gretel from some weird creatures. A good read all round, which is a particularly good compliment for an all-ages book. Definitely one to look out for.

Mnevore #1

The Vertigo site managed to get me excited about this, and it succeeded a little too well. This is an interesting first issue of a horror story trying to do something different. So far so good - as a fan of original horror, I'm more than happy about this. Problem is, the art is a bit too blah. It doesn't feel like it has a voice of its own, and it's anything but distinctive. Because of this, the story (which is good, but in its opening stages) hasn't drawn me in as much as I'd hoped. With any luck #2 will rectify this.

Sea of Red #2

I have to hand it to Remender, issue 2 of this took off in a completely unexpected direction, although I'm slightly disappointed that having been willing enough to go for something original they have then used that original idea as a way of apparently turning this into a fairly straightforward revenge story. Perhaps there are more twists on the way (to be expected, given some of the characters introduced in this issue) but there's a couple of nagging things that don't quite gel here...tiny things but they stop it from being great, relegating it back to being merely a very good horror comic.


Solo #4 : Howard Chaykin

Another decent addition to the Solo series, but as mentioned previously I can't make my mind up on Chaykin. In both his art and his writing there's something that I can't quite get a handle on. It's as if he makes you think you're getting a story A, then changes along the way and you think "cool, story A was just a decoy, the real story's going to be even more interesting" and then he goes back and gives you a story that seems to be like an incomplete draft of story A. Still, this issue is a good introduction to his visual style and a pleasant if a tad unremarkable introduction to his writing style. I suspect he's more of a "how you get there" writer than a "where you're going" writer, and it may be this that's stopping me from fully getting into his work...

Matador #1

One of those random purchases - the title caught my eye because the cover suggested a bit of a play on the meanings of the word "matador" (a term from bullfighting; the matador is the final bullfighter who kills the bull by stabbing it in the back with three arrows consecutively [something which has to be done with skill, flair and showmanship, even speaking as someone who despised the notion of bullfighting] and then using a sword to stab it through the heart and kill it). So while it literally translates as "killer" there are overtones of ritual, sport and even art to the word. The comic itself doesn't give much away about the overall direction of the miniseries - the Matador is an urban legend serial killer/assassin, but our main character (a female cop who you can't quite pin down as either competent but discriminated against, or bumbling but tolerated) improbably finds a breakthrough in a recent case that helps her pin about 10 unsolved cases on the Matador, figure out the unique aspect of his crime scenes, and manages to accidentally stumble across his next hit. It may do something interesting if, as I expect, it develops the alternative aspects of the Matador instead of just focusing on the assassin/serial killer aspect.

Draco wrote:

Seven Soldiers: The Manhattan Guardian #2
Awful. this just doesn't work for me at all. Not the witting, not the art, not the characters. I won't be getting the rest of this character's issues anyway.

You didn't like it? Fair enough, I guess. I picked this up on Saturday and really enjoyed it, although the second half flagged a bit. I liked the surreal pirate train battle rather a lot, and dug the way the Guardian was pretty much incidental in it. Not a big fan of the stilted way in which it retreads spiderman territory with the "i can't go on, I'll just get people killed" bit though.

Draco wrote:

You know, one thing about me actually putting my thoughts down like this is that I'm really weeding out the habitual comics. Means more money for trades!

Unfortunately it's the other way for me. I never used to have monthlies (and, by and large, still don't) but now that I've gotten through the main back catalogues of the trades I'm interested in (with a couple of exceptions like Sin City or Cerebus) I find myself more interested in monthly-based miniseries, even though I loathe the format and the everpresent advertising. Gaaaah.

My recent purchases, apart from Guardian #2, have been:

Hellblazer : Red Sepulchre My first experience of Mike Carey writing Constantine and it's a good one. I like the way he ties this in to Ellis and Ennis's last outings on the book, just because it makes Constantine's world seem more interesting and complex. The story is not particularly complex, but it doesn't suffer for it. I liked the opening sequence "High on Life" in particular. And Marcelo Frusin's art is excellent - my favourite ongoing Constantine artist, I think (although I also liked David Lloyd's 2 issues with Grant Morrison rather a lot).

Mnevore #2 Artwork's still a bit blah, story moves in a promising direction but doesn't give us enough to really get stuck in. I'm starting to suspect this should have been trimmed down to a 4 issue miniseries, because about half of this issue felt like pointless character exposition. If it doesn't change my mind by next issue, it'll get dropped.

Desolation Jones Having heard about it ages ago on the Bad Signal mailing list, I was looking forward to this. It doesn't disappoint for Warren Ellis fans, although the art is a bit of a departure. An interesting lead character, curious setting, and some entertainingly ludicrous secondary characters make this entertaining. It may not be high art, but it's a damn sight more entertaining than most of the dross passing itself off as comics at the moment.

Deal With The Devil #1 Even though I've already read the first four issues of this in black and white (they were featured in the now-defunct Comic Book Reader's Digest, also from Alias) I figured I'd pick it up in colour. First of a five-part serial killer story, it's an interesting opener. Not excessively violent, but dark enough to satisfy, it establishes the now-stereotyped jaded homicide cop haunted by the case he couldn't crack. But through meeting the cop's son and finding out about his family life this avoids being totally stereotyped. Worth a look if you're out for something different - plus it should only be a euro, since alias are doing a price promotion at the moment.

Elsinore #1 Another Alias book, this is decidedly weird. Hopping from the Plague in the seventeenth century to the present day in Elsinore asylum, this reminds me of Kingdom Hospital more than anything else (Lars Von Trier's original series, not the dumbed down american version that Stephen King consulted on). Weird goings-on in an asylum overlap with an ancient secret society's quest to save mankind from an unseen threat, as the society recruits a down-and-out doctor to further its mission...

Walking Dead vol 3 is on my list of upcoming purchases, along with sin city vols 2 & 3...there doesn't seem to be much else on the horizon other than the We3 trade (missed the original series) so I may start buying some more exotic stuff online soon. Freakshow 6 is supposed to be out around now - anybody read it yet?

I know Other Realms are carrying Atomika as I've been buying it. I could nip in during the week and see if they have any copies left if you want. I'm pretty sure I saw it in Sub City in Galway too last time I was there, but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll have any left in the Dublin branch...

After leaving it, what, nearly 2 weeks since my last post, I triumphantly return!

This week's reading:

Parliament Of Justice - One of the more random titles from image, I picked this up because I liked the cover. The artwork is strong, bold black and white bringing out the steampunk setting nicely, but the story is a bit unsure of itself. It starts out as a fun popcorn romp giving us Victorian equivalents of Batman & Robin, before shifting to become something darker, an examination of the superhero like Dark Knight Returns. But what lets it down is that it doesn't say anything original enough on the subject to get away with it, and I suspect it might have been better if it had just played the popcorn romp approach all the way through. Still, I got it for 6euro so I'm happy enough with it.

The Walking Dead : Safety Behind Bars - a strong continuation of the series, mixing good art with a good storyline and the everpresent excellent characterisation. Although I have to admit, I'm starting to wonder if this is going to go anywhere or if it's just going to be a perpetually ongoing series....

Sin City : A Dame To Kill For Having failed to read any further than The Hard Goodbye before seeing the film (*side note : GO AND SEE THE FILM NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY DONE SO. Without any qualifiers the best comic-to-film adaptation I've ever set eyes on, because it works as a film, and from what I know of the comics it doesn't change things unnecesarily and keeps the spirit and characters exactly right), I finally got back around to picking up the new Sin City trades. A Dame To Kill For isn't hugely different to The Hard Goodbye artistically speaking (which, imo, is no bad thing) but the story is a more subtle beast. Where Hard Goodbye was Marv's story of brutally uncompromising revenge no matter the cost, Dame To Kill For is a tale of manipulation and double-crossings. Dwight is a man haunted by his past who is contacted by an ex who asks him for help, but the age-old rule of noir applies, and things are not as they seem...

Atomika #3 : Golog Atomika must confront Golog, the ice-deity charged with ruling the work-prisons in which the undesirables of the Empire of Rus are kept, in order to strengthen his position. A bit of interesting history for the Empire, and a strangely hollow-feeling slugfest ensues. Still, this is a compelling story so far and I'll be following it until the close of the storyline if the quality keeps up.

Seven Soldiers : Zatanna #2 As with the last issue, there's a few interesting visual tricks here, but overall it feels like the story was taken from the Hellblazer reject script heap. Zatanna is pursued by a shapeless villain called, imaginatively, the Shapeless One, and ends up recruiting a friend's help. It feels too much like lazily-written Constantine for my liking, but I'll take a look at the next one, at least. The shine is starting to wear off the whole 7 Soldiers project for me, with the exception of Klarion The Witchboy. (Next issue is due on Wednesday, hopefully it won't disappoint.)

Matador #2 Isabel Cordova's confrontation with the musical killer takes a turn for the strange, and subsequent police investigation of the hit she stumbled onto sees her under suspicion of being involved. As she carries on digging deeper, it starts to look like the Mob are involved as more than just victims....not a bad issue, although the artwork is a bit blah. An entertaining read, but not exactly groundbreaking work.

City Of Tomorrow #2 : Bright Lights, Big City A better second issue than I'd anticipated. The artwork starts to take on a bit more character as Chaykin highlights the differences between his robot characters and the human players. The setting is firmly in the corrupted future of the City Of Tomorrow, where Tucker Foyle has returned to the city and meets up with his father after a lengthy time away. There's a whistle-stop tour of the City's history to bring us up to speed, as well as plenty of action and further plot development in the form of a growing dissident robot faction. Issue 3 is looking like it should be pretty good.

Mega City 909 #7 Contrary to rumours that the series had been cancelled, issue 7 is out and a nice one it is too. As demonic creatures infest the city (in lavishly-depicted panels, I might add) Phobia tries to stop it and rescue Jaeminae and Jerome from the tower that Kusanagi has taken over. As troops try to fight the demons and their seemingly invincible leader, Hoek finds a way to save himself from the alternate reality he was trapped in...by removing his neural implant and unleashing the monster inside. This series is shaping up for a hell of a concluding issue.

Army Of Darkness : Shop 'Till You Drop Dead #3 More of the same silly fun from this issue. Ash is pulled 500 years into the future, where Deaduns roam the streets being a nuisance more than anything else. He finds out that the Necronomicon still exists as a computer program in the underground portion of the city, and sets out to get himself back in time....only he still can't remember to get the incantation right, after getting it wrong, what, twice before already? So he manages to - once again - unleash the hordes of the dead onto the future. Except this time they're the dead of the digital world, and its Digi-Ash that he has to fight and bead in a Tron-style game to the death.