Thank you Gerry Duggan; this is what I’ve wanted to see in my main Batman title.

Batman #34 is a wonderful one issue story called ‘The Meek’ which is a welcome break from reading some really long story arcs. The plot is your standard find the murderer book, but instead of using copy-cat killers or any of the usual big names we get a nameless, disposable villain; which in my opinion does the book a lot of favours.

The book felt very ‘Black Mirror’ to me, especially in terms of tone, which is interesting as Scott Snyder is credited as co-writing the story to this issue. One observation I have made on Snyder’s work before is that he doesn’t write about Batman, he writes about Gotham and features Batman within the book, but I don’t think I can honestly say the same about this story.

I found that the art style of this book was also similar to that of ‘Black Mirror’ and both really fit the narrative of their stories. What I really like about the art in this book (by Matteo Scalera) and Black Mirror (Jock) is both artists can really build tension and atmosphere without making anything feel over the top. I also loved Scalera’s Batmobile, it seemed like a beautiful mixture of the Killing Joke Batmobile, the Tim Burton Batmobile and the Tumbler.

It has to be said that Batman doesn’t get the most ‘screen time’ this issue, but his dialogue and actions make him feel like a benevolent and vengeful guardian of Gotham, which to me makes him closer to the core of the character, rather than the anger filled Batman we’ve seen in the bigger story arcs. I actually found this issues Batman more in line with the Animated Series interpretation.

To focus more on the comparison to the Animated Series; when Batman ultimately apprehends the villain of the story he doesn’t just lock him in Arkham, he adds a twist to the punishment so the villain doesn’t get any ‘reward’ from his actions. Touches like that that made me fall in love with the animated series, and if Snyder can continue to produce good characterisation like this then I’m eagerly awaiting his newer issues.

Even though I am a reader of Batman Eternal, I found the two page spread at the start of the book a brilliant way to recap what had happened in the Batman world before and during the publishing of Zero Year; it wasn’t an overload of exposition and it felt natural to the events of the plot.

For anybody looking to get into the New 52 Batman titles without having to wade through back issues or pick up a bunch of trades I would certainly recommend this to you, and for anybody up to date on their Batman titles I would recommend this as a brilliant story of Batman being Batman.

For more comic views and reviews follow Chris on Twitter at @fenneth1989

I’m finding it quite difficult to think how to word this review. I love Tomasi’s work, and I think his work with Gleason has been consistently the best Batman book since the launch of the New 52. I also love the Fourth World and am instantly interested any time they become a focus in a book. The difficulty I have is that this issue has quite a few things I really dislike with it.

First of all I both love and hate the opening to this book. I love it because it gives a very clear and concise summary of the conception, life and death of Damian Wayne; which must be nice as a new reader and is also a good refresher to people already familiar with the story. What I truly hate about the introduction, though, is using pre-Flashpoint events as an origin to New 52 stories.

Now I am quite a large lover of canon and continuity; I love non-canon stories, Elseworlds and one-shots but I also really appreciate a set and established order of events, and my understanding of resetting a universe is that DC decide to start from scratch; the problem with starting from scratch is then relying on material that occurred before the reset. One huge glaring example in this book is showing Batman get hit with the Omega Sanction, an event which occurred in Final Crisis; and for anybody that hasn’t read Final Crisis [SPOLIER ALERT] this is the event where Darkseid dies in canon, yet this is used as a prequel to a story where Darkseid has only been fought by the Justice League once.

As to not dwell on that particular aspect of the comic I’m going to point out a few other parts of this book that I disliked, and they seem to hinge on the artwork more than anything. There is one particular sequence where Batman shoots, who I think is Glorious Godfrey, in the head with, what I think is, a grappling hook; now as you may tell from how I describe it, the image isn’t very clear and just feels cluttered.

The final thing I’m going to moan about is how Batman seems to act at times. Through the bulk of the book Batman and Ra’s are fighting parademons and Batman cuts both hands off of one and gouges the eye of another. Now I know parademons aren’t human, but that seems really overly brutal for Batman; does this mean he can inadvertently kill mutants, aliens and animals? I also really hated the way he clunkily said “Knowing Ra’s, probably not deep enough”, come on Tomasi; you’re better than that!

Now the things I really enjoyed about this issue basically boil down to two events; the first is when the Justice League arrive. Now it was obvious something was going to happen when Godfrey began to scream but I thought it would be Ra’s, not the amazing two page spread of the Justice League saving the day; this really epitomizes what I want to see from a superhero team.

I also love Batman’s loss of temper, particularly his outbursts against Luthor and Shazam. I feel that when he lashes out in these instances they are justified, considering he has travelled across the world to try and get his son back, only to lose him at the last second to a madman on another planet, I also love the assertive and committed speech he gives on the final page.

Despite my grumblings this is a good issue; it isn’t as good as Tomasi’s other work, and pretty much anything I haven’t mentioned is good. I think this upcoming arc will bring out the best in Batman, the Fourth World and Damian.

For more comic views and reviews follow Chris on Twitter at @fenneth1989

Image number ones are usually a good choice to take a first look at. Spread is yet another post-apocalyptic tale that features wastelands, bandits and blood. It’s sort of funny because the book has elements and parts that remind me of a few different books; but Spread still retains its own identity.

The narrative really struck me as being similar to Saga; it’s an anecdotal tale from an articulate individual who we see as a baby later revealed to be called Hope. Our main character is a man who is referred to as “No”, and he seems to have gotten his name from his monosyllabic answers, and he seems good hearted but also highly capable in close quarters combat.

The main threat of the book is The Spread, which leads me to comparisons to the recent Garth Ennis series Rover Red Charlie. So far the nature of the spread is not mentioned, we don’t know what it is, how it got there or how it reproduces, but the thing that really linked the two books was the simplicity and innocence of the naming. No is called No because he says “no”, Hope is called Hope because she is the only hope against the spread, a plane is called a Flyer because it flies, and the Spread is called the Spread presumably because it spreads across the world quickly.

Now I know the comparisons to Rover Red Charlie are sketchy at best, especially in a post-apocalyptic world where there is no formal education and everything is more basic due to survival, but noticing them made me really optimistic for the series because the elements of innocence and the unknown really hooked me with Rover Red Charlie.

Linking to another piece of Ennis’ work I found the scene where No takes on the bandits really reminiscent of Preacher; specifically the issues that cover the origin of The Saint of Killers. Seeing a lone traveller in a snowy wasteland lay waste to a group of bandits is something I think I’ll always find cool, and I can’t help but think that Justin Jordan is somewhat a fan of Ennis.

Now as a comic reader I’m not too much of a fan of the ultra-gore style comics. Crossed is something that has never appealed to me, and at times I find looking through books like Kick-Ass and feeling put off by the seemingly superfluous and excessive gore, but I can safely say that Kyle Strahm has got a balance that I can really invest and believe in.

The book does contain blood, violence and a fair bit of pulverising and chopping, and the Spread does look like somebodies digestive system with teeth, but it all feels tonally right and I’ve not seen something that I think is just unnecessary.

Now I’m not one to say that a book is going to be the next greatest thing or anything like that, but I think if you like the idea of the close knit relationships in Saga, with a hint of Ennis thrown into the mix and thrown out onto a dystopian snowy wasteland then I think this is certainly worth your time!

For more comic views and reviews follow Chris on Twitter at @fenneth1989

The first time I saw this series was on the @InterComics upcoming comics page, and I thought it would be another needlessly dark and tragic re-imagining of a fan favourite character, but I was pleasantly surprised when I read the preview in the back pages of some DC books.

The entire tone of the book is really light and totally fits with Dick Grayson’s character. Now is the time where I sound like a total DC fanboy and say that this book reminds me a lot of the current Marvel Now Daredevil series, except I like Grayson and haven’t been too sold on Daredevil.

The similarities between the two books extends beyond the two acrobatic characters; both books make a lot of use of spirals and lines and jazzy colours that almost seem out of place but really suit the book. There is also a nice scene where we see Dick jump off a bridge and behind him are the images of how he moved – something that I feel is inherently ‘Daredevil’.

Now the reason why I think I like this book over Daredevil is probably down to familiarity with the character. I have always perceived Daredevil to be a brooding character more in line with Batman than Nightwing, but Dick has pretty much always been lighter and more humorous. I could be largely wrong, but that is the one thing that I have sort of not ‘got’ about Daredevil, however before anybody shouts at me I do read it and enjoy it!

One thing that is nice to see is Dick still retains his knowledge and skill from Batman. It’s done in seemingly small touches, but I like the fact that Midnighter mentions that he is “Well-trained… but not adverse to improvisation” and although this isn’t a direct reference to Batman I felt it was a nice observation to his past. I also really liked how he quickly deduced the best way to get Ninel to spend his energy was to anger him, again something that a detective would be able to figure out.

There are a couple of things I’m not overly keen on; I find the hypnos implants are a sort of get out of jail free card to being a spy, but I suppose something needs to be done to stop Dick’s identity from being exposed. I also find the treacherous female ally love interest is a bit crowbarred in, but if there’s one thing DC fans know is chicks love the Dick!

I find Spyral questionable, and not in an ethical way. I’m not too sure that their motive is that compelling, and they don’t feel evil like they were or Incorporated or benevolent like Mister Minos sounds like he wants to be, they just seem… there. I do love how they kept the funky black and red chevrons on the walls, really retains what Morrison established in his Batman Incorporated saga.

This was a really good first issue, it has me hooked and it’s good to read something lighter where nobody died or got any limbs torn off. I can see this being an enjoyable book, and I think it could be a good starter for anybody who likes Daredevil and wants a taste of DC.

For more comic views and reviews follow Chris on Twitter at @fenneth1989

Now I know @LukeBbtt has been reviewing Batman Eternal but I thought I’d give it a read this week and see how my thoughts compared to his.

I reviewed the first issue of this series and thought it was really good with a very promising future for Gotham City. Since reading it though I have to say I have been disappointed.

My favourite issue to date has been the Batgirl one, with Red Hood and El Gaucho, because it felt like a Batman comic with a clear story and character work instead of just a cluster of loose ends and characters. This issue, to me, felt like another collection of characters doing meaningless stuff.

Now let me throw this out there before people get upset or angry; I like Scott Snyder. I really liked The Black Mirror. I liked the Court of Owls. I mostly liked Death of the Family. Scott Snyder is a good writer…

… But Scott Snyder needs to stop doing story arcs that require a million issues. I’ve complained about Zero Year before for being too long, but Batman Eternal is estimated to run for Sixty issues. Sixty! From start to finish that’s fifteen months. This story will finish in around July 2015, and I cannot fathom why this story needs sixty issues to tell.

Based on the Batman #28 preview/filler issue we know that Steph is going to be spoiler and we know that Harper is going to assume a more active role in the plot as Bluebird and we know that there is going to be a sort of police state in place, so until then it’s almost like we’re going to tread water.

I also now totally agree with what the @intercomicspod gang (@gizmo151183 specifically) have been saying about destroying the character of Gordon, only now it feels that nobody ever except for Batman is allowed to be good and try to not outright murder people. At first I thought Snyder and Tynion IV were going to build Bard up as being squeaky clean and the Jim Gordon people want in the New 52 so his inevitable heel turn would have more impact, but in this issue he reveals he’s cool with a dozen people dying.

Also why is it trendy to make the Scarecrow an awful character? He was awful in Arkham War, he was awful in the Gothtopia storyline and he’s awful in this. Oh, and The Joker’s Daughter is in this too; so far she has popped up twice for no real reason and in no relation to any other events of the story; but she has Joker in her name so cool beans, right guys?

I feel like this book is struggling and could be due to end any time soon, but we are less than 25% into the event. I just really want some nice short stories; a few one and done comics, some two or three issue arcs, with interesting characters that don’t need to change the face of the DC Universe forever.

I don’t understand what Batman Eternal is trying to do; why is Carmine Falcone built like a WWE Superstar, why did The Penguin pierce the throat of his henchmen for being helpful and why don’t we see Batman in a Batman comic?

I don’t want to read Batman Eternal any more, but I feel obligated to considering everything has to tie into everything else and I’ll probably not be able to read any other Bat title soon if I dare to miss a single issue.

All in all I find Batman Eternal as a whole, and Scott Snyder, to be overly indulgent, with too many characters, not enough direction and far too much of a desire to be remembered forever instead of giving readers a good story.

All in all, I give Batman Eternal #14 a 9.5 out of 10.

That was a joke by the way.

I think I’ll leave this series to @LukeBbtt in future!

For more comic views and reviews follow Chris on Twitter at @fenneth1989

It is such a joy to see this in my reading pile; it’s one of those books that makes me excited to see and is often at the top of my reading list. This installment lives up to the high benchmark the previous issues have already set.

Now before I get into the meat of The Punisher I will sort of apologise if this review seems a bit samey. At the time of writing my local post man screwed me over and only brought me four comics, so I try not to go over the same book too often, but this week I have no real choice.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Now if you listen to @intercomicspod you may hear them say that Wonder Woman is DC’s dark but wonderful book. Now my reading list is much the opposite of the pod’s team; I am predominantly a DC guy with a few Marvel titles, and what they describe Wonder Woman as is how I would say The Punisher is.

This issue acts as an ending to a smaller arc around Ortiz, but as I have said in the past, the flow of the overarching narrative seems to continue. Now if you ask me where we are compared to the first issue there has been such a lot of movement but it has all felt so smooth and natural.

One of the cornerstones of this issue is honour, and Maurer and Edmondson really bring a lot of character to our protagonists. The way Frank and Tom bond and connect and bounce off each other knowing only previous training is beautiful to behold. I love the simplicity on how they explain each other’s pasts and backgrounds. The dialogue doesn’t feel like overlong exposition, and it does feel like a natural conversation men who are entrusting each other with their lives would talk about whilst preparing for battle.

One sentiment that is echoed throughout the issue is “we don’t leave teammates behind” and seeing that Tom came back to claim the bodies of his fallen allies, and he and Frank constantly try to return and help each other is such a hopeful and optimistic message as well as feeling so natural and authentic.

It’s interesting to note that even Crossbones seems to have a sense of honour when it comes to combatants; seeing Tom and Greg as ‘sport’ and allowing them to go free is so much more welcome and makes for a more compelling villain than simply seeing him murder them in cold blood. I wouldn’t be surprised if we later see a tentative partnership between Frank and Crossbones.

I especially love the closing page of the comic, seeing Tom honour Frank by naming his squad and appropriating his skull insignia as well as trying to keep remote tabs on him. This is such a brilliant and inspiring series, and I am truly glad I chose to pick it up.

For more comic views and reviews follow Chris on Twitter at @fenneth1989

This is the penultimate issue of Zero Year, and I quite enjoyed this issue. There are some bits I thought were really good, some bits I wasn’t too keen on and some bits that I didn’t get at all.

One of the bits I just didn’t get was the opening page of the issue. I don’t know who the homeless person is, if he is supposed to be anybody, and it isn’t made clear what favour Batman requested of him. I don’t know if this is something that will be made clear in the final issue.

This could be something minor, or perhaps a lack of thinking on my behalf; I remember there being the ‘Tokyo Moon’ references in the build up to Dr. Death and they were sort of lost on me until pointed out. It could just be the case that I’ve only been reading these issues as they come and not in one big sitting so the plot isn’t as fresh in my mind as it could be.

One thing that I really liked was the colouring of the issue. It’s rare to see Batman out in the day, and it makes sense in this story, but seeing such vivid colours of the Savage City reminds me a lot of the original colouring of The Killing Joke. The psychedelic backgrounds and multi-coloured robots really contrast with the oppressive nature of the story and it’s really pleasing to look at.

Capullo’s pencils are at his usual high standard, and I love the sleeveless Batman look; granted out of this story it wouldn’t make much sense but I do like the ‘Cowled Commando’ costume.

Snyder seems to have nailed The Riddler’s voice in this story; he’s intelligent and smug to the point of outright arrogance. I love how he distributes little fun facts to his victims when he thinks he’s about to kill them. This is definitely a villain I want to see come back in future storylines, especially in the capable hands of Snyder.

I like how Batman is portrayed as fallible and doubtful; I like how when he and Lucius are talking where to strike Batman guesses, and acknowledges that it’s a guess and if he’s wrong then it’s all over. Remember this is Batman’s New 52 version of Year One, and he is supposed to be making mistakes and not omnipotent or omniscient.

There’s a brilliant heartfelt moment where Bruce sends a message to Alfred admitting that Alfred was right and acknowledging his own mistakes. It always warms my heart to see Bruce show his true emotions to Alfred, and seeing him say “I love you Alfred” almost brought a tear to my eye. I haven’t been the biggest fan of Snyder’s Batman; I’ve felt in the past he has been too consumed by rage and unwilling to seek help from his extended family, but this moment has really sold me on Snyder’s ability to write an emotionally balanced and fleshed out Batman and I hope we can see more emotional responses like this.

I also really liked the scene where Bruce tells Alfred he loves him for a more cinematic reason. Seeing the air force prepare their jets adds real immanency and urgency to the story and pushes the pace on a lot quicker; now Batman has to beat the Riddler and be quicker than Jim in order to save Gotham from destruction.

This has been a really good issue of Batman, but I will still be happy to see the back of Zero Year. One more issue to go before I can get truly excited about Snyder and the main Batman series again!

For more comic views and reviews follow Chris on Twitter at @fenneth1989

I wanted Sovereign to be the Game of Thrones of comics. I wanted to be able to get into an epic world of fantasy, swords and politics and be reading each page with bated breath. Sadly I am not reading with baited breath; I’m counting down the pages until the book has finished.

This book started off in a really unusual way because we were told about the basic forces of this universe and the previous eras of the world. It feels like this is how the first issue should have begun, but reading it in the fourth issue feels like Chris Roberson thought it was pretty cool and wanted to shove it in somewhere.

I feel this issue as a whole really missed an opportunity; last issue ended with a zombie king being killed by his sons, and the guys that deal with disposing of the dead warn everybody of worse things to come. This issue basically dissolves into everybody talking to each other.

Now I enjoy good bits of writing and dialogue, I find films like Clerks massively engaging because of the dialogue between characters, but in Sovereign it feels overly indulgent of itself. I understand that this is a fantasy world, and it will have more fantasy-sounding people and places, but I honestly feel completely lost reading this. I have no idea who or what places are called.

Perhaps this is a problem with me though, I did used to call Prince Oberyn in Game of Thrones ‘Yellow Man’ because he was a man who wore yellow, but I never felt lost with that; I knew who people were talking about even if I couldn’t remember the names myself, and I can’t say I have that same level of understanding with Sovereign.

I do kind of like what Roberson does at the end of each issue, having a piece of prose that helps explain things to the reader and fleshes out the world, but when I’ve not really been enjoying the plot I find it difficult to care what’s written there. Truth be told, I missed out reading this part for the last couple of issues because I didn’t get what the others were talking about.

I think Sovereign is a brilliant idea and it’s something I know I would love to watch, but the way it’s written doesn’t lend itself to monthly comic book reading. Perhaps this is something that would translate better to trades, and produce the small prose parts as a reader’s companion or something.

I’ve given this book the first four issues, and I think it’s time for me to drop it. I got caught up with it during the closing pages of issue three, but it felt like issue four has taken a few steps in the wrong direction.

I’d be interested to see what anybody else thinks of Sovereign; is there a nuance I’ve missed and this is a gem? You tell me! Go check out the first couple of issues and let me know on twitter @fenneth1989

Listen to anybody from the @intercomicspod or @InterComics himself and they will tell you how good Saga is, and I’m not going to be the first to disagree with them.

This issue starts in a way that reminded me a lot of the first issue; utterly ridiculous without any context. It’s good to see that Prince Robot IV will still be in this story, I was wondering if he had dropped out of the story when he seemed to forget who he was.

Following on from the bombshell that was the final page of the previous issue we see the seeds potentially being sewn here. Alana seems to be very preoccupied with work, leaving to get there before Marco is even awake. I imagine this could play in to the separation a lot, but more interestingly we see Alana start to use some drugs. Now she hints that she has done drugs in the past, but we are warned that this is stronger than what she may be used to, and I can see this really escalating into a problem for her.

Marco is looking after Hazel full time and is seeing more of Ginny, a parent and dance teacher. Now I know that just because a man and a woman talk to each other doesn’t necessarily mean they’re together, but seeing the two parents feeling kind of ‘alone’ in their relationships seems to suggest they will form some kind of connection; be it a friendship or more. I have to say I can see this factoring in to the inevitable break-up.

The true shocker of this issue was seeing the events unfold with Price Robot IV’s wife and son. We see a robot janitor, who has been a minor character in previous issues, confront the Princess and tell her a story of poverty and death within her kingdom.

Then the surprise comes.

I don’t really know much about this robot janitor, but he clearly has a key part in the future of Saga, and his sights are set on the Open Circuit, which will weave his story in with that of Alana’s and ultimately Marco and Hazel.

It’s amazing how fleshed out this universe is, and at this point it does feel like a universe. The art is consistently brilliant; every character looks and feels unique in all of their outfits and disguises, and they all speak, think and act like real characters.

Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples are killing it again. Saga is utterly brilliant, and if you’re reading this and have never heard of the series I urge you to pick up all the back issues or trades and go from the beginning.

For more comic views and reviews follow Chris on Twitter at @fenneth1989

This will be the first Image #1 I’ve ever reviewed. Pretty much every Image comic I own I’ve gotten because @InterComics or @intercomicspod has suggested it – Saga, East of West, Nailbiter, the list goes on – and they have all been brilliant titles.

The Wicked + The Divine was suggested to me by @InterComics and I thought it sounded appealing. The concept of Gods on Earth is something that always appeals to me, and when it’s done right (Seven Soldiers of Victory: Mr Miracle or Wonder Woman) it makes for a fantastic read.

The story starts with five nameless characters on New Year’s Eve 1923. Not much is explained about these characters; there is a large table with skulls in front of empty seats and four people sitting down. Now I did become a bit of a Wikipedia warrior for this; Susanoo is the Shinto God of Sea and Storms, and in this comic he is the young lad with the lightning bolt cuff links and tie pin. Based on this, and the obvious conclusion to this beginning segment, the four seated people are all Gods who had to die, or go away.

When we get to the present day we follow the story of Laura, a normal human. When she goes to a concert she ends up meeting three Gods who all seem to be ‘disguised’ as mega successful pop stars. We are introduced to a woman who is cynical and disbelieves the fact that these people are Gods, however after an attack on their lives we witness some of the power of Luci (a.k.a Lucifer).

Now I had some questions and some things I pieced together. I think Laura, our everywoman seventeen year old, is or will become a God. It’s stated that Laura is seventeen, which is the same as Amaterasu, and every other God has looked very young. Also Laura gets brought along to an interview with three mega celebrities, which is something that doesn’t typically happen to a fan who passed out in a concert.

Another thing I observed is all the Gods are from different religions, which is very unusual. When I mentioned Wonder Woman before they are all Greek Gods, and Mr Miracle is all New Gods from The Fourth World. This is a really interesting take on things, and I observed that one of the ‘terrorists’ who shoots at Lucifer is wearing a silver cross. I think it will be fascinating to see how humanity responds to their own Gods.

This issue ends with a not so typical ‘whodunit’ as we see a judge murdered in the same way that the terrorists were murdered. With Lucifer being the only person seen to use the ‘head explosion’ click the obvious answer is it’s her, however Laura, and the reader, know it isn’t.

At the start of each time period we saw a circle with twelve symbols; in 1923 eight of those symbols were skulls, which tied to the skulls around the absent seats on the table. In the present day there are no skulls and we have only met three Gods so far. I for one will be back for the second issue of The Wicked + The Divine, and I can see this being something special to read.

For more comic views and reviews follow Chris on Twitter at @fenneth1989

The story of Batman and Robin has come a long way since the death of Damian. We’ve encountered a lot of characters; whether they’ve been trying to stop Batman from resurrecting Damian, or helping Batman stop Ra’s al Ghul, but now the Batman comes head to head with The Demon.

My admiration goes to the colorist of this issue, John Kalisz, as I was simply awestruck with how the first seven pages created such a mood and atmosphere. I think the predominant use of green and black really made the conversation between Ra’s and Batman feel so intense; this wasn’t a Saturday morning cartoon character talking down to the hero, this was two hurt fathers pouring their souls at each other, and the colours really made it that much more heartfelt and impressive.

Going hand in hand with colours, the art is what I come to expect from Patrick Gleason; brilliant. There’s a lot of ‘Batman Poses’ where you just see the eyes against a black silhouette, which is something I can never get enough of, and he also manages to make a fight feel brutal and real. The fight between Ra’s and Batman isn’t a typical ‘superhero’ fight with people in swimsuits throwing buildings at each other and looking unscathed, it’s a brawl in the snow with no rules and no finesse, just rage and anger.

Tomasi’s writing is really good in this issue; he has a task of explaining everything about this special Lazarus pit and its origin as well as having some meaningful dialogue with Batman and Ras. I think he deals with this spectacularly, having Frankenstein, a former agent of S.H.A.D.E., and Ra’s al Ghul discuss the plot points makes the issue feel natural, as it is both within their characters to know these things and to express their knowledge about it.

I found that the dialogue between Ra’s and Batman was really insightful to them as people; Batman unprepared to risk his son’s soul, whereas Ra’s is happy to risk anything in order to preserve his family and his legacy. Both strike me as things a father would do, and having been on a Game of Thrones TV series binge Ra’s stance reminds me a lot of Tywin Lannister.

Its seems as if the Game of Thrones comparisons don’t stop there; as I mentioned earlier about the fist fight in the snow feeling real I couldn’t help but compare it to the fight between Brienne and The Hound in the recent series finale. I also found that when Batman begins pressing his thumbs into Ra’s’ eyes I thought of the fight between The Mountain and Prince Oberyn and I genuinely believed that Batman was going to break his rule and end Ra’s – which I would have found extremely fitting, appropriate and powerful.

That will have to be an Elseworlds though, as now we’re up against the forces of Apokolips. I personally love the Fourth World and embrace any story line that deals with the New Gods and Darkseid. Tomasi hasn’t let me down yet, and I will follow him to Apokolips and back!

For more comic views and reviews follow Chris on Twitter at @fenneth1989

DC is currently producing two weekly series that I’ve been keeping up with; Batman Eternal and Futures End. I have to say neither one of them have really grabbed me like I thought they would, but Futures End does seem to be the most engaging.

The story is split across a fair few characters; at first I found this confusing but lately I’ve read all of Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldier of Victory, and Futures End isn’t so difficult to follow after that!

Linking to Seven Soldiers we start this book with my good friend Frankenstein. I’ve found this element of the story to be a lot less engaging, especially as we, the readers, have already seen what happened to Stormwatch at the very beginning of this story.

Tim Drake’s story has been quite fascinating and did grab my attention for some while; I want to know what happened in Paris and I want to know how Tim survived and what happened to the rest of the Titans.  I understand why they would want to progress the character of Tim’s girlfriend, Madison, but having her have a breakdown and namedrop her father isn’t the way to go about it. Also I have no idea who Maxwell Payne is, and all google gave me was the Max Payne computer game series!

I found Firestorm quite interesting in that one half of him was being held hostage and there is a lot of guilt and blame being shared between the two. In this issue though it just felt like the Firestorm story was only included as a reminder that these characters exist, and there was little advancement or development. We did learn that Ronnie Raymond lost his mother in ‘The Battle of Pittsburgh’ but it didn’t impact me emotionally and we are still none the wiser to the war that happened four years ago.

I am liking the Grifter story: Grifter was a New 52 book I owned from start to cancellation, and it was really good until Rob Liefeld kind of ruined it. The same can be said for the other focus on Cadmus Island; Deathstroke! I was sort of disappointed that Team 7 wasn’t mentioned; Grifter clearly recognized Slade’s name, but in a more “I’ve read about this guy” kind of way than actually working with him; no big deal though! Having a clearly very powerful little girl seems a bit too cliché for me; it reminds me of Locus from Justice League 3000 and I’m not a huge fan of that character either.

The closing segment is about Terry, which I feel is the backbone of the Futures End story. It feels to me like the team of Coil, Key and Plastique have been talking about this plan for days and gotten nowhere, and I can’t tell if this part of the story needed more space or what, but it felt like a lot of treading water for Terry to just fly off and leave the cyborg Plastique with Mr. Terrific.

I really want to like this weekly series, but I feel it and Batman Eternal suffer with trying to juggle too many characters and components with not enough space. I am keen to learn about the war, why Superman wears a mask and see Terry and Grifter save the universe, but I’m still not sold on these weekly events.

For more comic views and reviews follow Chris on Twitter at @fenneth1989

This new creative team is exactly what Detective Comics need. They make me want to just never stop reading, and I’m honestly considering going back to read their Flash run.

The art and page layout in this comic is utterly beautiful. Going through the book I took time to appreciate the first page, and the page where we see Annette walking down the pier; both have such wonderful layouts and really good use of panels.

I think my favourite image in the entire comic, and a contender for my favourite image of all time, is the two page splash featuring the creative credits. The setting sun juxtaposing with the darker sky not only looks good on the page but conveys the themes I want to see in a Batman comic; Batman being a saviour and a symbol of hope.

Whilst the art is utterly magnificent the writing is fantastic too. With a hardboiled detective like Bullock it seems easy to fall into cliché’s; have him having a drink at the bar and be snarky to everybody all the time – but showing him go home and listen to his voicemails has done more for his progression than anything else I’ve read before.

I also love the fact that so far we haven’t seen Batman stumble upon some ‘deus ex machina’ to get him to the killer and deal out justice. I like the fact that he had to interrogate a criminal to find where the victim’s car was before swimming to retrieve the evidence. I even like the fact that all that did was help him find a base without actually knowing who lurks there.

The end of the issue is excellent as well; Batman is without his utility belt and is in the middle of a Mexican Standoff. This scenario feels like something a street level hero would end up in; it isn’t a convoluted death trap, and the fate of Gotham doesn’t hang in the balance – it’s just so simple yet so brilliant.

I thought that with all the seemingly endless huge story arcs in DC at the moment I’d have run out of steam for a multiple issue Batman story in Detective Comics, but this has been such a pleasure to read. It doesn’t feel forced, or exhausting or like it’s trying to change the DC Universe as we know it.

For anybody who wants to read a good Batman story about a detective who takes on street level threats, please pick up Detective Comics by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato.

For more comic views and reviews follow Chris on Twitter at @fenneth1989

I get it now.

I started Moon Knight with its first issue of Marvel Now; something to broaden my horizons and move out of Gotham for a while. I really liked the books artwork, and I liked the idea behind this insane superhero that is quite light without being silly. A really good concept and something I looked forward to.

But I didn’t get it.

Last issue had the chain gang ghosts and the music box, and after speaking to Dan (@Gizmo151183) saying that I didn’t quite understand it and it just sort of washed over me. It was cool to read but I felt either I didn’t get the depth of what the comic wanted to say, or it simply had nothing to say.

I don’t think I got it.

When I read this issue I was instantly drawn to it all. I’m quite a fan of dreamscapes and internal exploration anyway, so the plot was a big thumbs up from me. The way Declan Shalvey creates a unique feeling dream world but ties it in to the grand reveal at the end is wonderful – it doesn’t feel forced, or obvious but brings the entire piece together.

The double page splash was simply gorgeous, and it made me start to get it.

Whilst talking about the art, I want to say that it’s fantastic to see a damp room actually look damp. Maybe it’s because I spend most of my time in Gotham, but I’m used to seeing dingy rooms, or slums or hovels – but the damp room in Moon Knight genuinely looked damp, and that made me happy.

I was beginning to get it.

I love the plot to this as well, it manages to make me believe that Moon Knight straddles the line between being a genius and being utterly insane; in an odd way he reminds me a bit of Robert Downy Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes. This is a character I feel I can emotionally invest in without knowing what he does in his private life.

I utterly felt like I was going to get it.

But then I managed to get all confused by the ending. I can’t tell if this is the end of another self-contained issue, or if this is only the beginning to a two part story. I really want it to be one issue, but I suppose I will find out next month there WILL be a next month!

Even though I don’t know if I get it now…

For more comic views and reviews follow Chris on Twitter at @fenneth1989

This is something I originally picked up at the suggestion of Mr Inter-Comics himself (@InterComics) and I did the forbidden thing of judging the first issue by its cover. I didn’t really want it; I thought it would be needlessly gory without any substance.

Holy crap how wrong I was. Top Gear top tip people: when Mr. Inter-Comics recommends a book to you, give it a buy because he’s spot on!

The world of Nailbiter is so fleshed out and complete; the town feels real and every one of the inhabitants has had proper characterization despite their small appearances. It’s interesting that the person who I feel has the least characterisation is Nicholas Finch, the main character, but I don’t view this as a bad thing because he acts as a conduit for the reader to exist in this book. His reactions are what I think a lot of people would wish they could do, and it offers relief to some situations.

Now I think relief is a smart phrasing, if I do say so myself, as I found the opening pages of this book to be exceptionally tense. After listening to the Inter-Comics Podcast (@intercomicspod) after the release of the first issue Free (@Free_Costin) commented how the comic managed to get to her and creep her out so much, and I have to agree with her. I felt utter chills when we saw a glimpse of what Warren does to his cattle, and his dialogue about cow’s mooing was so haunting.

I really loved how the masked killer slashed the face of Robby, the way it was drawn made it feel so real and gave me chills.  Then this is really juxtaposed by the dinner conversation of the other Buckaroo Butchers; how their methods are mocked and seen as jokingly admirable by two defenders of the law.

This series has got a lot in it, it’s barely scratched the surface and I’m already in love with it. I can see twists, turns and blood curdling scenes on the horizon and I’m happy to fully embrace it. I honestly cannot recommend this comic high enough, especially if you’re into chilling thrillers.

I mentioned this about C.O.W.L. #1, but this does have a feel of True Detectives to it, only instead of the main focus being on the relationship between the two cops it is more about the almost supernatural murders before them.

Please, anybody who is reading this; get on behind this title.

For more comic views and reviews follow Chris on Twitter at @fenneth1989