Author: Joshua Hill

Based on a video game I’ve never played and set alongside a video game that isn’t out yet, Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Lost Suns is a half-hearted attempt at a Star Wars story.

The X-Men are doing something. Hope is bringing mutants to life, or out of their shell, or something that is making them mutanty. But it’s different now, and no one’s really certain why.

In complete contrast to the other purchase which arrived from Amazon – Uncanny X-Men: The Birth of Generation Hope – the opening in the Uncanny X-Force books, The Apocalypse Solution doesn’t need me to have at my fingertips the entire last three years of X-books to understand what is happening.

On Monday morning’s The Morning Stream with Scott Johnson, someone in the chat room asked Stephen Schleicher whether Captain America is as popular in other countries as he is in America, and whether that would be detrimental to the upcoming movie. Given a) my love for Captain America and b) my love of Australia, where I was born and have lived my whole life, I figured I would take it upon myself to offer up some answers of my own.

It can’t have been that long ago that I praised X-Factor as being one of my favorite comic books. It must have been even less time than that that I announced, even though the artwork by Larry Stroman was giving me heart palpitations, I would continue to buy the book for Peter David’s writing. Yeah… what was I thinking?

I literally feel that I cannot say enough good things about Batman Confidential at the moment. I picked it up for the first time 5 issues ago, with the beginning of ‘The Bat & The Cat’ storyline (because for nothing else, I love Barbara Gordon) and I honestly wonder if I’ll be able to put it down again. With this, the final issue in the 5-issue arc, I once again have trouble finding any fault with the book.

There are very few event tie-ins that would be able to exist on their own. Not surprisingly, many are so heavily dependent upon the main event that you are left with only two options; read on in ignorance, or buy more and more tie-ins. However, you occasionally get a tie-in that is well written, apart from the main event, and carrying all the gravitas and import due. Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins Rogues’ Revenge is one of those comics.

I’m writing this review, moments after closing down the window for the review for X-Factor #34, and in doing so I am swapping from a bad book to a book that I have to give full marks too. Granted, any story that focuses solely on Layla Miller is definitely going to be awesome in my books, but Peter David and Valentine De Landro pulled off a miracle, and made it even better.

Following up on last week’s review of two linked comics, this week I get to sit down and review both X-Factor #34 and X-Factor Layla Miller #1. And for all those of you who get sick of seeing me review 5 out of 5 comics, your wish has come at last. In this installment; the in-continuity/issued X-Factor #34, part 3 of the Darwin Awards storyline that was last seen in She Hulk #31.

With Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s history making run on Astonishing X-Men concluded, Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi picked up the mantel at issue #25, and continued this week with Astonishing X-Men #26. For whatever reason, the front cover showcased Beast in both action and pensive moments, despite actually not appearing one iota within the book.

Issue #20 of Batman Confidential continues ‘The Bat and the Cat’ storyline by adding another Bat to the mix, in the fourth part of this five part series. Seeing as the review for #19 is probably not far away from this sentence, I won’t bother reviewing what has happened, except to say that it is awesome!

In lieu of the fact that I may not have been the only one to miss the release of Batman Confidential #19, I’ve decided, in the face of the release of issue #20, to review both. I won’t do it at the same time, because that would take away from the fact that these are two really great issues, and deserved of their own time in the sun.

One of my pet loves in the literary world is the mystical and demonic. There is nothing quite like a well told, not too anti-Christian, believable mystical story. Gaiman did it so well with American Gods, and Joss Whedon did the campy just as well with Buffy and Angel. But one of the better portrayals of the mystical universe has always stemmed from DC’s line of mystical and magical characters.

Continuing one of the greatest Secret Origins stories I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading, the powerhouse that is Geoff Johns is writing Green Lantern to a tee. And as much as we’ve had a massive amount of Johns-love this past week with SDCC, I have no choice but to really continue the trend.