Comic Book Reviews

Comic Book Reviews Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man Vol 1

The latest graphic novels and comic books reviewed

Peter Parker is dead, but the radioactive spider that bit him and gave him all his awesome powers isn’t the only radioactive spider with the ability to give people awesome powers. Enter Miles Morales, a young kid with little more to worry about than what school he’s going to be attending next year. Miles’ uncle is accidentally in possession of one of the special spiders, and one thing leads to another…

Miles is a very different character to Peter Parker and his origin story is told in a very subtle way. His extreme youth, naïveté and inexperience make him instantly…

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Comic Book Reviews Top Ten Graphic Novels of 2011

A round-up of the best comics of 2011

1. Holy Terror by Frank Miller

Living legend Frank Miller delivers a post-9/11 political carton exploded into a Batman-esque revenge fantasy! Some of Millers best art for years!

2. Criminal: Last of the Innocents by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

Forget ‘film noir’ and ‘pulp fiction’ Brubaker and Phillips have become the masters of comic book crime comics. Last of the Innocents is their best work to date.

3. Snow by Benjamin Rivers

A gentle, self published, detective tale set against the backdrop of a modern recession in a Canadian city.

4. Klondike by Zach Worton

Historically accurate,…

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Comic Book Reviews Snow, by Benjamin Rivers

The latest graphic novels and comic books reviewed

Shops closing down? Landlords upping rent to drive out existing tenants? Vibrant and lively areas of the city being needlessly gentrified? Sound familiar? Unfortunately this isn’t a problem that’s unique to Leeds. In Snow (£9.99, self-published by the author) graphic novelist Benjamin Rivers delivers a melancholy, mystery tale set against the backdrop of Toronto’s Queen Street West, an area previously buzzing with book shops, record stores and independent clothing boutiques. Slowly, one by one, these much loved businesses have closed down or moved out to make way for generic, bland corporations like Nike, Gap or Canadian chain store Roots.
…

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Comic Book Reviews Big Questions

The latest graphic novels and comic books reviewed – this month OK Comics' Jared Myland looks forward to a very special event

Chicago graphic novelist Anders Nilsen is touring the world promoting his new book, Big Questions. He’ll be stopping off at OK Comics in Leeds on Monday 17th October.
Nilsen has made a name for himself creating thoughtful, gentle stories about wide open spaces, animals and nature – and Big Questions (£29.99 Drawn and Quarterly) is no different. Set in a small area of woodland, the story centres around the wildlife that lives there, mainly birds, but some mammals and reptiles too. When a plane crashes in the middle of their usually quiet habitat the birds begin to question their…

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Comic Book Reviews League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century - 1969

The latest graphic novels and comic books reviewed

Do you ever find yourself doing something that you probably shouldn’t just to try to feel a little bit younger? Maybe staying out a bit later than you should? Or buying clothes that are probably better suited for a much younger, thinner person? Or using inappropriate street jargon when you’re in your mid thirties?

Well, That’s nothing. In the latest League of Extraordinary Gentlemen book Century: 1969 (£7.99, Knockabout) occultist Oliver Haddo (he’s a bit like Aleister Crowley) goes to great lengths to pass his spirit into a succession of younger bodies, effectively making himself immortal. And he’s not the…

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Comic Book Reviews Supergods

The latest graphic novels and comic books reviewed

Grant Morrison is probably the most critically-acclaimed writer in mainstream comics, and his writing is certainly some of the most intelligent in the genre. When he has something to tell you about comics, you pay attention. You do if you’re already a card-carrying comics reader, at least. Supergods: Our World in the Age of the Superhero (£17.99, Jonathan Cape) is part history, part analysis, part memoir and part metaphysical doctrine on the relationship between fiction and reality.

As history, memoir and analysis the book works really well. Beyond providing the nuts and bolts of comic publishing history, Morrison offers up…

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Comic Book Reviews Canadian Comics

Paying For It, Klondike and Spotting Deer reviewed

There are some pretty diverse comics coming out of Canada at the moment. Chester Brown‘s new book Paying For It (£19.99, Drawn and Quarterly) is a very personal autobiographical story of a man who enjoys the company of prostitutes.

Most people who are familiar with Browns work will be aware of how shocking his honesty can be, but this time he’s taken his introspective comics to a new level. How many friends and relatives reading his book really wanted to know that he achieves orgasm silently? Brown argues a good case for legalising and…

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Comic Book Reviews Thor: World Eaters

The latest graphic novels and comic books reviewed

You may well have seen Marvel’s version of Thor, God of Thunder, laying the smack down with his mighty hammer Mjolnir in the recent film he starred in. You might, reasonably, want to follow that up by reading some of the comics he came from. Unfortunately, while there’s a plethora of easily recommendable books for movie-goers stumbling out of X-Men, Spider-Man or Iron Man films, Thor’s back catalogue is somewhat bewildering and lacking in accessibility.

Marvel, however, has had a few of these moving picture thingies out before and, as a result, has you covered. The just-released World Eaters from…

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Comic Book Reviews iZombie by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred

The latest graphic novels and comic books reviewed

There’s definitely something in the zeitgeist. True Blood, ‘Twilight’, Supernatural, Underworld, Buffy, even Being Human – they all take well worn horror icons and put them together to tell new and interesting tales. It’s not a recent thing, Universal were doing it years ago; Abbot and Costello used to fight a different monster every week, so it seemed.

Trust comics to finally make the whole idea cool. iZombie: Dead To The World (£10, DC/Vertigo) is a very fresh take on the whole multiple monster genre. Gwen isn’t like a normal zombie – so long as she eats a brain or…

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Comic Book Reviews Daytripper by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba

Fortnightly news from the world of graphic novels

In a medium dominated by superhero, action adventure nonsense, a graphic novel like Daytripper (£10, Vertigo/DC) really stands out. But this chronicle of one man’s life would shine in any medium. It plays with narrative structure in a similar fashion to Catch 22 or Inception.

Bras de Olivia Domingos is an obituary writer working in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He’s lived most of his life in his father’s shadow, but the twists and turns of life, told over 10 chapters, will eventually bring Bras and his dad full circle illustrating the strong connection that can exist between fathers and sons.

And…

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