Superhero

Beyond a Joke - Dark Knight

17 Jul 2008

As the latest Batman adaptation arrives on the silver screen, Alan Bissett explores the colourful history and enduring appeal of the caped crusader’s arch nemesis, the Joker

Ed Brubaker & Trevor Hairsine - comic review

Ed Brubaker & Trevor Hairsine

9 Jan 2007

SUPERHERO Comics have embraced and pioneered the ret-con more that any other artistic medium. For the less geeky amongst us, a ret-con is ‘retro continuity’, the art of going back and retelling the past so it vaguely makes sense with what’s gone…

The Dark Knight

31 Jul 2008

SUPERHERO/THRILLER (12A) 152min British filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s revamp of the superhero franchise reaches its apotheosis with this sequel to Batman Begins, a well-imagined, perfectly executed film that combines blockbuster spectacle with indie…

Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson - The Boys II

8 May 2008

SUPERHERO SATIRE (Titan) Some 20 years ago Alan Moore asked the question: ‘Who watches The Watchmen?’ Garth Ennis answers the question with this anarchic superhero satire about a gang of super-powered, CIA-backed thugs who police – with extreme…

Jeff Smith - Shazam!: Monster Society of Evil

17 Jan 2008

SUPER HERO (DC) Jeff Smith will forever be known for his wonderful, self-published, multi-award-winning Bone series, a whimsical fantasy tale that got the balance of childish wonder and compelling storytelling just right. Here he takes on Captain…

Gail Simone, Dale Eaglesham & Val Semeiks

Villains United (DC)

11 Nov 2006

SUPERHERO Seemingly an excuse to reel out every other car boot sale bad guy that the archives of DC forgot. A bunch of vaguely uninspiring villains are banded together as the Secret Six by a mysterious power to challenge Lex Luthor’s Society, an army…

Geoff Johns & Phil Jimenez

Infinite Crisis (DC)

11 Nov 2006

SUPERHERO Finally we get to the meat in the seemingly endless build up to DC’s earth shattering Infinite Crisis mega crossover. Comic fans will know that every now and then (usually once a summer) some huge calamity will threaten the universe our…

Hancock

3 Jul 2008

SUPERHERO/COMEDY (12A) 91min The writers and director of Hancock take a hyper-powered leaf out of the Mystery Men and Return of Captain Invincible school of heroism with Hancock. Will Smith plays a nihilistic superhero who has fallen out of favour…

Steve Niles & Kelly Jones - Batman: Gotham After Midnight No 1

19 Jun 2008

SUPERHERO (DC) In the arena of American superhero comics, Batman and the X-Men’s Wolverine are probably the most over-saturated characters. It can be a minefield trying to guess which titles featuring either character on the cover are actually…

Iron Man

8 May 2008

SUPERHERO (12A) 125min The mighty world of Marvel superheroes continues to receive the big screen treatment with this blockbuster adaptation of just about the last of the comic book publisher’s original creations from the 1960s (Matthew Vaughn’s…

Brian K Vaughan & Various - Batman: False Faces

10 Apr 2008

SUPERHERO (DC/Titan) Now better known for his Y: The Last Man, Pride of Baghdad and Ex-Machina titles as well as being one of the keys writers on TV’s Lost, Brian K Vaughan started off as a jobbing writer. With his star now well and truly established…

Brad Meltzer & Ed Benes

(DC/Titan)

23 Aug 2007

Novelist Brad Meltzer proved he has a knack for comics with the gripping Identity Crisis, perfecting a style of weaving human feelings into tales of world shattering superpowers. This is no mean feat given that it’s often near impossible to anchor the…

Marvel Masterworks

Comics

23 Apr 2007

SUPERHERO Spider-Man is Marvel’s mascot, one of the most recognisable superheroes of all time. With the latest huge blockbuster on the horizon there’s bound to be a lot of interest in everyone’s favourite webslinger. Created back in 1962 by comics…

Comic - Jim Krueger, Alex Ross & Doug Braithwaite

Justice (DC/Titan)

22 Nov 2006

SUPERHERO The creators of Earth, Universe and Paradise X reunite (with Braithwaite providing pencil base for Ross’ glorious painted panels) for another heavily religious, wholly apocalyptic adventure involving DC’s greatest heroes and villains. This…

Power Girl

Geoff Johns, Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti (DC)

11 Nov 2006

SUPERHERO Power Girl lies at the crux of the events and concepts that Infinite Crisis deals with. The character has been retconned more than most, her origins obscured within various parallel universes. This compilation looks back through the years…

Andy Diggle & Jock - Green Arrow: Year One

31 Jul 2008

SUPERHERO (DC/Titan) Former 2000AD editor Andy Diggle is another Brit making a name for himself in the world of US comics with stints on ‘Batman’, ‘Hellblazer’ and ‘Swamp Thing’ under his belt. Once again teaming up with frequent collaborator Jock…

Greg Pak, Carlo Pagulayan & Aaron Lopresti - Planet Hulk

5 Jun 2008

SUPERHERO (Marvel) We reviewed World War Hulk in issue 599 ( ••• ) but let’s go back to the story that launched Hulk on his revenge fuelled tirade against planet earth. The Illuminati (a secretive cabal of superheroes that includes Iron Man, Mr…

Various - The Definitive Iron Man

22 May 2008

SUPERHERO (Marvel UK) With Iron Man proving to be the first genuine blockbuster of the summer season (and a fantastic adaptation of the source material) Marvel UK presents the ultimate introduction to ol’ Shellhead. The collection offers slices of…

Iron Man: Demon in a Bottle

David Michelinie, Bob Layton & John Romita Jr

24 Apr 2008

SUPERHERO (Marvel) In the world of comics Iron Man is one of the main players in the Marvel Universe. As provisional leader of the Avengers for many, many years, he’s helped shape the fictional world more than most. However Iron Man hasn’t crossed…

Iron Man: Extremis

Warren Ellis & Adi Granov

24 Apr 2008

SUPERHERO (Marvel) This is perhaps the classic modern Iron Man tale. Warren Ellis gets his grubby hands on Tony Stark and changes him forever. Here the Golden Avenger takes on bio-chemically altered terrorists, who possess more power than even his…

Reginald Hudlin, Larry Stroman & Ken Lashley - Black Panther: Black to the Future

13 Mar 2008

SUPERHERO (Marvel) Marvel celebrates Black History Month with this double-sized one shot focusing on two of the highest profile black characters in comics: The Black Panther and his wife Storm (of X-Men fame). The tale is set in the fictional African…

Underdog

(U) 81min

31 Jan 2008

‘This is so much more fun than sticking your head out the car window!’ whoops the gifted canine protagonist of Underdog, a live-action feature from Disney about a crime fighting dog with super-powers. Attractive as this proposition might sound to fans…

Warren Ellis, Cary Nord & Dave Stewart - Ultimate Human No.1

17 Jan 2008

SUPERHERO (Marvel) Marvel’s Ultimate line was intended to reinvent the company’s main characters for the 21st century, to drag them out of the hands of continuity-obsessed fanboys for a while and show off how well superhero stories could function as a…

Various

15 Nov 2007

SUPERHERO Marvel Europa (Marvel UK) Last fortnight we had a collection of the UK’s best writers and artists. This issue we look at Europa a collection bringing together a selection of European creators as they tackle Marvel’s roster of superheroes.

Wolverine: Origin

Comics

7 May 2007

SUPERHERO

Warren Ellis & Mike Deodato Jr - comic review

Warren Ellis & Mike Deodato Jr

29 Jan 2007

SUPERHERO Having run for the past few years as a fanboy-friendly graveyard for all of Marvel’s most colourful and perhaps least inspiring villains, this first issue of Warren Ellis’ tour of duty as writer promises to make it a title worth…

The Incredible Hulk

19 Jun 2008

SUPERHERO (12A) 112min By general consent, Ang Lee’s 2003 film Hulk was considered a flop. Five years on from its failure to win over fans of the Marvel Comic monster/superhero – and to clean up at the box office – comes this relaunch of the franchise…

Bruce Jones & John Romita Jr - The Incredible Hulk: Return of the Monster

5 Jun 2008

SUPERHERO (Marvel) This year’s blockbuster roster is jam packed with comic adaptations, and Marvel’s second big hitter of the year, The Incredible Hulk (after the considerable success of Iron Man) smashes it’s way onto the big screen this…

Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale - Hulk: Gray

5 Jun 2008

SUPERHERO (Marvel) He’s probably as famous for his tough green hide as his anger-management problems but the Hulk has spent several years as a grey goliath (in fact he was grey in his first ever appearance in 1962). Some creative teams work…

Jodi Picoult, Terry Dodson & Rachel Dodson - Wonder Woman: Love and Murder

4 Jan 2008

SUPERHERO (DC) Novellist Jodi Picoult (who gave us bestseller My Sister’s Keeper) makes her first foray into graphic fiction and surprisingly she’s the first female writer to take on the monthly Wonder Woman title. This gripping work follows Diana…

Stan Lee presents Mosaic (DVD)

18 Jun 2007

As the creator of Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four and X-Men, Stan Lee is the McCartney of comic books alongside his own Lennon, psychedelic frequent collaborator Jack Kirby. But just because they invented some hugely enduring characters in colourful…

Comics - S&BvP&A and MZvAD

Mark Schultz & Ariel Olivetti

26 Mar 2007

CROSSOVER MANIA John layman & Fabiano Neves Marvel Zombies v Army of Darkness (Marvel/Dynamite) Every now and then you get an Abbot & Costello meet Frankenstein or Freddy v Jason, but it’s comics that have truly embraced the crossover.

Comics - Captain Britain Volume 1

Chris Claremont & Herb Trimpe

14 Mar 2007

SUPERHERO It may have stemmed from a slightly cynical, ‘lets see if we can cash in on the British market with a thinly disguised take on Captain America’ but Chris Claremont may well be one of the greatest comics story tellers of his time (admittedly…

Batman: Gotham County Line

(DC/Titan)

19 Dec 2006

Location. Location. Location. Or how to bring a neat twist to Batman by sending him to the ‘burbs. Asked to investigate a spate of mysterious killings in Gotham City’s suburbs by a retired Commissioner Gordon, the story shifts from Manhunter-esque…

Greg Rucka, Marl Verheiden, Gail Simone & Various

Superman: Sacrifice (DC)

11 Nov 2006

SUPERHERO Yet another chapter in DC’s gargantuan Infinite Crisis, this one at least lends a little character work to the usual monolithic superhero dust-ups that usually infest such crossovers. We start off with Superman undergoing a crisis of…

Paul Jenkins & Paolo Rivera

Mythos: Hulk (Marvel)

28 Sep 2006

SUPERHERO The second in Paul Jenkins’ irregular Mythos series, which retells key events in the history of Marvel’s greatest creations. Here The Hulk gets the revamp treatment, going back to that initial gamma explosion that turned Bruce Banner into…