Fantastic Universes

“The Next Batman”, “Batgirls”, “Rise” Writers: John Ridley, Vita Ayala & Paula Sevenbergen Artists: Nick Derington, Laura Braga, Aneke, Rob Haynes & Emanuela Luppachino Colour Artists: Arif Prianto, Trish Mulvihill & John Kalisz Letterers: Clayton Cowles, Steve Wands & Becca Carey Review by Max Byrne This sophomore effort for The Next Batman had the opportunity to expand upon the extremely solid foundations built by issue #1 . The debut offering did a masterful job of establishing the status quo of this futuristic setting, and also managing to cram a lot of world building within its pages. So, imagine my surprise when this issue took a more streamlined approach that made the content tighter and more concentrated. Did it work? In the words of Stone Cold Steve Austin, "Oh Hell Yeah!" Whilst the true identity of the new Caped Crusader wasn't revealed in the aforementioned debut, DC had already let the proverbial cat out of the bag by announcing that a certai...

The Spider-Man Clone saga is one of the most reviled story lines ever. It featured the return of Spider-Man's clone Ben Reilly, but also dragged Spider-Man through one of the strangest, series of conspiracies and narratives that the franchise have ever seen. But... is it really as bad as the internet would have you believe? Come with us as we review the Clone Saga story arc by story arc as we uncover how one of comics' most infamous series holds up today. "Revelations"  Spectacular Spider-Man #240, Sensational Spider-Man #11, Amazing Spider-Man #418, Peter Parker Spider-Man #75 Writer: Todd DeZago, Tom DeFalco, Howard Mackie Artist: Luke Ross, Mike Wieringo, Steven Skroce, John Romita Jr. Review by Eric Lee  We have finally arrived at the grand finale of the Clone Saga. All of   most of your questions will be answered! Who lives? Who dies? Find out in "Revelations"! We open with the traitorous Seward Trainer helping the Gaunt turn into a full-gr...

“Up On The House Top” Writer: Tom King Artist: Clay Mann Color Artist: Tomeu Morey Letterer: Clayton Cowles Review by Eric Lee After an amazing debut issue,  Batman/Catwoman  #2 becomes more muddled, with a less-than-engaging plot and unclear transition scenes. As the  previous review  stated, write Tom King is a thinking man’s writer. He doesn’t spell out everything for a reader., but rather forces us to think more about what’s actually happening. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it definitely muddles the narrative quite a bit. Given that we have three concurrent story lines, it may also be too much of an ask for readers to track every single plot detail. The problem is that there’s not a clear enough delineation of which timeline we’re following. I’m honestly not sure if there was any “past” plot in this issue or not. I wish the art gave more of a visual indicator, when moving between the “present day” and the “past”. Unfortunately, it makes the readi...

“Once Upon A Night In Gotham” Writer: Andrew Constant Artist: Nicola Scott Color Artist: Ivan Plascencia Letterer: Wes Abbott Review by Steve J. Ray In two, short months the brilliant Tom Taylor will take over writing the adventures of Dick Grayson. Until then, however, we still have a couple of brand new,  DC: Future State  adventures to enjoy, by writer Andrew Constant, with visuals by Nicola Scott, Ivan Plascencia, and Wes Abbott. The great news is – if  Future State: Nightwing  #1 is anything to go by, this series is going to be all thriller, and no filler. Next Batman , and  Dark Detective  dropped lines like “Dick Grayson in Arkham Asylum”, so I feared the worst, but Andrew Constant has turned my terror around. Anyone who’s read the legendary  Batman: No Man’s Land  epic may have a clue as to what’s really going on, but brand new readers are in for a treat. Nicola Scott Talent I’ve been saying for a while now that I wished we’d see...