Jinx: A Cursed Life #1

Bought from cover artist Jay Kennedy, who had a table at Zombie Hideout in Springfield MA USA for Free Comic Book Day 2025.

Title: Jinx: A Cursed Life
Issue: 1
Date: July, 2023
Publisher: Archie Comics
Writer: Magdalene Visaggio
Artist: Craig Cermak
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Colorist: Ellie Wright
Cover: Jay Kennedy
Editor: Jamie Lee Rotante, Vincent Lovallo, Stephen Oswald

This is from Archie's horror line, putting the familiar Riverdale gang into horror scenarios. Jinx, rumored to be the daughter of the Devil, just wants to be a punk rock musician and for everyone to leave her alone. But when Archie shows up seeking help for a demonically possessed Jughead, Jinx and her friend Danni spring into action. After a sufficient bribe, that is.

This felt a bit more like dark comedy than horror, and it was having some trouble figuring out if it would rather lean into the comedy side of things or the dark. Demonic Jughead was presented as a serious threat, even if rotting-meat hamburgers was a big part of his gimmick, but he ended up getting defeated relatively easily once Jinx started using her not-all-that-well-defined superpowers.

The best parts of this were the characterization of Jinx and Danni, who were both great and full of snarky dialogue. Archie was fun too in his supporting role. This provided a good introduction to this version of Jinx, but didn't lay the groundwork for much ongoing story.

Rating: 5.5/10

Little Cat's Big Adventure

From the 2025 Flywheel Zine Fest.

Title: Little Cat's Big Adventure
Publisher: My Monster Hat
Date: May, 2020
Writer:Anne Thalheimer
Artist: Anne Thalheimer

A cat goes on a quest to find the sword Excalibur! Along the way, there are birds, turtles, and a final test of worthiness. This was a fun and cute minicomic. The quest turns out to be not exactly epic, but it is definitely adorable. Will there be more adventures of this once-and-future cat?

Rating 6.5/10

The Warden #2

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Title: The Warden
Issue: 2
Date: 2025
Publisher: Ironclad Comics
Writer: David Timm Jr., Cody Karamol
Penciller: Mathieu Pereira
Inker: Mathieu Pereira
Colorist: Roman Stevens
Letterer: Jimmy Greenhalgh
Cover: Jonny Wise

Somewhat surprisingly, the kidnapping plotline from the first issue gets resolved off-screen. This is one of those things that shouldn't work, but it does, as we go straight to the reactions of the various cast members as it becomes apparent that a (possibly superhuman) vigilante is fighting crime in Detroit. There's also another flashback sequence as the origin of our vigilante begins to take shape.

Emma Summers is back with her newspaper as she senses that the vigilante story might be just the thing she's been looking for. Henry Hunt confesses his sins, and Detective Cabello is in full uptight-cop mode.

The final action sequence is really good, and a nice look at what we can expect as we see more of the Detroit vigilante in future stories. 

All the storytelling here was nice and tight, without too much new being introduced. Instead, we got a bit more time to get to know the main characters, which was nice. The story is developing nicely, but still needs to find what distinguishes it from similar tales of masked vigilantes that have been a standard of comics since the 1930s (and the pulps before that). The story also is now seeking a new villain, as the vigilante can't just stick to beating up random robbers forever. That being said, this  issue laid some very necessary groundwork delivered a bit of a plot twist up front, and kept the pacing while still developing characters.

Rating: 6.5/10

The Spectre #39

Bought this from a back issue bin at Most Excellent Comics and Games in Enfield CT USA when I visited for Free Comic Book Day 2025.

Title: The Spectre
Issue: 39
Date: March, 1996
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: John Ostrander
Artist: Tom Mandrake
Colorist: Carla Feeny
Letterer: Todd Klein
Editor: Dan Raspler, Peter Tomasi

Nicodemus Hazard puts on his totem armor for a big fight with Shadrach and... it doesn't help. Shadrach is a (checks notes...) legal entity, which apparently means that he no-sells lethal damage. Hazard runs away, and it's up to the Spectre to save the day, which he does with, less than minimal bystander casualties. Really, that fits with Spectre's vibe, though.

In between all of that there's an interesting conversation between Jim Corrigan and a spiritual advisor of sorts about subjective and objective reality.

We end with the cult of the National Interest bringing back Shadrach for another round, and the beginning of a quest for a series of "American Talismans", which seems to be a sort of supernatural take on the ideas behind the National Treasure films.

I wasn't really thrilled with Shadrach as a villain, although he did have a pretty cool sequence where he reassembles himself in an interesting fashion after being cut up with a sword. The dialogue was more interesting than the action in this one, but what it sets up in the end has potential.

Rating: 5.5/10

Fantastic Four/Giant-Sized X-Men Free Comic Book Day 2025 #1

Picked this up at Most Excellent Comics and Games in Enfield CT USA on Free Comic Book Day 2025.

Title: Fantastic Four/Giant-Sized X-Men Free Comic Book Day 2025
Issue: 1 
Date: 2025
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Ryan North, Jason Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Chip Zdarksy
Artist: Humberto Ramos, Iban Coello
Colorist: Edgar Delgado, Brian Reber
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna, VC's Clayton Cowles
Editor: Martin Biro, Annalise Bissa, Tom Brevoort

Free Comic Book Day freebie just in time for the upcoming FF film. The Fantastic Four story is adorable, featuring alien children engaging in some very familiar spooky fun and accidentally "summoning" the Fantastig Four from Earth. Johnny has... a mustache, apparently? Anyway, this was adorable.

The second story was a reboot of the New X-Men, previewing a, well, reboot of Giant-Sized X-Men #1. This was just Cyclops beating everyone else up in the Danger Room, and is probably the kind of thing that will generate a lot of outrage on the internet because Scott makes everyone from Logan to Ororo to Thunderbird (remember him?) look like jobbers. Oh, and Ms. Marvel is in it, just to give it a bit more of an update, I guess. She's apparently already made the team, so is saved the indignity of getting beat up by Cyclops.

The last story is Wolverpool and Deadverine, and it's just trying so hard to be even more meta than meta. This story has never "meta" fourth wall it didn't want to break. Nice to see a two-panel appearance by Ox, though. 

Rating: 5.5/10

The Warden #1

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Title: The Warden
Issue: 1
Date: 2025
Publisher: Ironclad Comics
Writer: David Timm Jr., Cody Karamol
Penciller: Mathieu Pereira
Inker: Mathieu Pereira
Colorist: Roman Stevens
Letterer: Jimmy Greenhalgh
Cover: Nate Wells

This plays as an ensemble crime drama with some hints of moving into superhero territory. We begin with a flashback to 1978 Detroit, and the violent and chaotic birth scene involving a pregnant woman wounded by gunfire and rushed to the emergency room. We then jump ahead to the early 00's with a girl kidnapped off the streets, and then the introduction of three main characters.

Henry Hunt is a prison guard with possibly some kind of extraordinary abilities. Emma Summers is a crime reporter just beginning her investigation of the recent kidnapping spree. Her boyfriend, Matt, is a cop working the same case.

This had a good, gritty noir feel. The publisher is going for something of a throwback vibe and it generally works well. The dialogue was solid, especially the relationships between Emma and Matt, and between Emma and her editor at the newspaper where she works, as we see them on the edge of a possible transition in their lives. Henry Hunt is a bit more of a mystery, which is intentional, and the slower rollout of his introduction is effective.

The villain felt generic. The story made references to human trafficking, but this the kind of human trafficking you see in James Patterson novels or in those well-intentioned email forwards that warn people to beware of kidnappers in white vans. We did only get a few scenes with the villain, so there is room to make him a bit more compelling. And it's not a bad idea to keep the first storyline pretty straightforward, even if falling back on tropes a bit.

This had a lot of potential, with a good set of interesting characters set up, art that does a nice job of capturing the action and the mood, and lots of room for the plot to expand from here. I have the second issue, so I'm looking forward to checking out more of this series.

Rating: 7/10

Sabrina the Teenage Witch Holiday Special

Bought from cover artist Jay Kennedy, who had a table at Zombie Hideout in Springfield MA USA for Free Comic Book Day 2025.

Title: Sabrina the Teenage Witch Holiday Special
Issue: 1
Date: 2024
Publisher: Archie Comics
Writer: Kelly Thompson, Danielle Page
Artist: Veronica Fish, Veronica Johnson
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Colorist: Matt Herms
Cover: Jay Kennedy
Editor: Jamie Lee Rotante, Vincent Lovallo, Stephen Oswald

Two stories here. The first one has Sabrina and a crew of girls at the Academy of Unseen Arts pulling off a bold plan to rescue a fellow student who was abducted by a batlike demon. Sabrina ventures into the demon's dimension while her classmates keep the portal open and prepare a reception for the demon. This was fun, tightly written and delightfully girl-powered. It was nice to see a serious-but-fun side of Sabrina.

The second story is a flashback to Hilda and Zelda as teenagers, and involves a less-confident Hilda calling up a trickster spirit that threatens to cause all sorts of mayhem on the Solstice. I didn't really have the background knowledge to fully appreciate this, and the level of the threat the characters faced seemed to be a bit ill-defined. I did appreciate the exploration of the themes of family and tradition.

It was also nice to see a holiday-themed comic that kept its focus fully on Solstice.

Rating: 7/10

Suicide Squad: King Shark Special Edition: Free Comic Book Day 2021

A previous year's FCBD edition that I got from Zombie Hideout in Springfield MA USA for this year's Free Comic Book Day.

Title: Suicide Squad: King Shark Special Edition
Issue: 1
Date: May, 2021
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Tim Seeley, Brian Azzarello
Artist: Scott Kolins, Alex Maleev
Colorist: John Kalisz, Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: Wes Abbott, Jared Fletcher
Editor: Michael McCalister, Mike Cotton, Bixie Matheiu
Cover: Trevor Hairsine

This was released in anticipation of the James Gunn Suicide Squad film, which heavily featured King Shark, thus the hype here. And much to my surprise, this really lived up to the hype. Told primarily from the point of view of Defacer, a graffiti artist who somehow got lumped in with the supervillains at Belle Reve Penitentiary, the story follows King Shark as he goes on temporary release to fulfill his obligations to his father, Lord Chondrakha, the shark god. Why is Defacer along? Because King Shark likes her, and so Amanda Waller is using her as leverage to assure King Shark's return. Weirdly, this actually works really well, and the almost-certainly-doomed defacer has instant chemistry with King Shark. This was way more fun than it had any right to be, and I actually found myself interested in both characters.

The second story was also pretty good, although it didn't do much in terms of treading new ground. Told in first-person by Jason Todd, it recaps his origin, this time as Robin, and his subsequent return as the Red Hood, before placing him in (you guessed it) Belle Reve Penitentiary and introducing the storyline for Suicide Squad: Get Joker! The recap was effective for getting readers up to speed on what the deal is with Jason Todd, and Jason's voice is well written. The art does a nice job of using the shadows of the cell bars in Belle Reve to establish mood, and takes its time to let Jason's thoughts sink in.

Rating: 7.5/10

The Life of a Salamander

From the 2025 Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke Ma USA.

Title: The Life of a Salamander
Publisher: Adi E. Areaotsiaer
Writer: Adi E. Areaotsiaer
Artist: Adi E. Areaotsiaer

A salamander really loves their life, until they end up as a permanent guest in someone's terrarium. There are plots of revenge and some very subjective perceptions of time, and a bit of commentary on the general unfairness of life. We are definitely all this salamander sometimes.

Rating: 7/10

Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Annual Spectacular

Bought from cover artist Jay Kennedy, who had a table at Zombie Hideout in Springfield MA USA for Free Comic Book Day 2025.

Title: Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Annual Spectacular
Issue: 1
Date: 2023
Publisher: Archie Comics
Writer: James L. Rotante, George Gladir, Al Hartley, Dick Malmgren, Ian Flynn
Penciler: Holly G, Dan Decarlo, Al Hartley, Harry Lucey, Chad Thomas
Inker: Jim Amash, Rudy Lapick, Joe Sinnott, Marty Epp
Letterer: Jack Morelli, Bill Yoshida, Vincent Decarlo
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
Cover: Jay Kennedy
Editor: Jamie Lee Rotante, Vincent Lovallo, Stephen Oswald

Two new stories and three classic reprints.

The main feature has Sabrina battling the Wicked Trinity of Amber Nightstone and her two new henchgirls Jade and Sapphire. They've kidnapped Sabrina's aunts as well as Salem and Enchantra. Sabrina is determined to rescue the captives (using the term "captives" a little loosely here as the Unholy Trinity have done a pretty inept job of securing their supposed prisoners). Sabrina ends up in Riverdale and gets a bit of reluctant help from Josie of the Pussycats.

From there we get a Sabrina origin story from 1962 that does into fairly interesting detail about Sabrinas powers and weaknesses. A story from the 1970s brings some definite Saturday morning cartoon vibes as Sabrina explores a haunted house with Archie and Jughead. The last reprint, also from the early 70s, involves Sabrina trying to teach Reggie a lesson in humility by enhancing rival Archie's basketball skill. Unfortunately, Archie as the star player proves to have an ego just as insufferable as Reggie's.

The book ends with a solo story featuring Salem when he was a human boy, and it's another haunted house adventure that brings the same Saturday-morning-cartoon-spooky vibe as the haunted house reprint.

I enjoyed the look at Sabrina's origins here, and the character profiles at the end of the book provide some interesting depth to Jade and Sapphire, who seem poised to be important recurring characters. The rest of this was the usual harmless fun that we expect from the Archie titles.

Rating: 6.5/10

Nostalgia Whiplash #1

From the 2025 Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke Ma USA.

Title: Nostalgia Whiplash
Issue: 1
Date: February 2018
Publisher: Olivia M
Writer: Olivia M
Artist: Olivia M

Mini zine about internet culture in 2005-2007. I always enjoy a bit of geeky history combined with autobiography, and this was a really fascinating look at the teen girl subculture that grew up around early free webhosting sites like Geocities and Matmice. It also has some self-reflection from the author's experiences exploring these sites while part of a fundamentalist Christian household.

The zine is primarily a prose essay, and examples of website graphics from the era it is looking back on.

Although I was aware of some areas adjacent to the cultures described here through my own experiences on Livejournal, most of this was new to me, and it made for a really interesting rabbit hole of a very specific bit of subculture that is mostly scrubbed from the web at this point. I'm glad someone is remembering and recording this.

Rating: 7.5/10

Godzilla: The New Heroes

From Zombie Hideout, Springfield MA, on Free Comic Book Day, 2025.

Title: Godzilla: The New Heroes
Date: May, 2025
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Tim Seeley, Ethan S. Parker, Griffin Sheridan, Chris Gooch
Art: Nikola Cizmesija, Pablo Tunica, Oliver Ono
Colorist: Marissa Louise
Letterer: Brian Kolek
Editor: Jake Williams

IDW's Free Comic Book Day offering for 2025 soft-reboots their Godzilla universe, which is not the same universe as Legendary's Monsterverse, and actually ends up feeling an awful lot like Pacific Rim, with some elements of the Toho films.

There are three stories here, each previewing a new series. The flagship Godzilla title introduces G-Force USA, which immediately feels like more like a superhero team than a military/science operation, and only becomes more so with the addition of  "G-mutant" Jacen Braid. Also on the team is Jet Jaguar (from Godzilla Versus Megalon; I'm not sure if he's made previous comic appearances), who is inexplicably providing comic relief by (*checks notes*) speaking only in rhymes that are apparently set to the tune of its theme-song. Let's just say that I've met Etrigan, and you, sir, are no Etrigan.

Building on the mutation theme, the second story introduces the Dead Zone, an area of the Pacific Northwest that has been turned into a mutant-populated wasteland by kaiju attacks. We really just get a glimpse of the setting here, but if you just picture "mutant-populated wasteland" you've pretty much got it. A mysterious being called the Wanderer is shown battling a maybe T-Rex-sized kaiju, but we don't get too much beyond a basic peek.

The third feature is Starship Godzilla, but it really seems to be Starship Mechagodzilla, and it feels a bit like Guardians of the Galaxy with a heist in space and Mechagodzilla as the getaway vehicle.

I wanted to like this, but it all felt a bit off from what I think of as a Godzilla story, and while I commend IDW for trying some different directions, none of it felt all that original either. Everything felt too reliant on superhero-team tropes, space-opera tropes, and post-apocalyptic tropes. Just a lot of tropes here, and only five pages of actual Godzilla. I think there's potential for this to still come together, but this was not as strong a start as it could have been.

Rating: 4.5/10

Monsters in Sweaters

From the 2025 Flywheel Zine Fest.

Title: Monsters in Sweaters
Publisher: My Monster Hat
Writer:Anne Thalheimer
Artist: Anne Thalheimer

With there being so little truth in advertising these days, I am always thrilled to find something, like the Combined Gas Law, or the film Snakes of a Plane, that delivers exactly what it promises.

Monsters in Sweaters promises you monsters! In sweaters! And that is exactly what you get!

The monsters include a vampire, a werewolf, a skeleton, and some sort of wormlike thing with eyestalks. Sweaters include turtlenecks, and even a sweatervest!

Amusing micro-mini zine with seven very cute pieces of artwork, wordless except for the title because, really, what more needs to be said.

Rating 8/10

Batman #444

From the Random Box of Unread Comics.

Title: Batman
Issue: #444
Date: February, 1990
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Penciller: Jim Aparo
Inker: Mike DeCarlo
Colorist: Adrienne Roy
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Denny O'Neil

The Batman is on the trail of the mysterious Crimesmith. The only problem is, Crimesmith has rigged his henchpersons to explode if they try to rat him out. So the Batman goes into full-on detective mode, all while providing new associate Tim Drake with some Robin-in-training advice. The Crimesmith turns out to be closer to home than Bruce Wayne might have imagined, and he's holed up in a lair loaded with deathtrap-level security systems.

This was a solid story: Good detective work, some nice scenes with Tim, good action when it came time for that, and villains who felt human. This continues directly from the previous issue, but stands alone well while setting the stage for some future plot developments.

Rating: 7/10

Slayers Special: Spellbound

From the tbr shelf.

Title: Slayers Special
Issue: Spellbound
Date: 2001
Publisher: CPM Manga
Writer: Hajime Kanzaka
Artist: Tommy Ohtsuka

Collection of short adventures starring sorceress Lina Inverse and her frenemy Naga the White Serpent. The two rival sorceresses are constantly finding themselves on the opposite sides of local conflicts, including a reporter out to break the story of a nilfa who has survived extinction and a rivalry between competing carriage services. Their battles take on a kind of Spy Vs. Spy level of silliness, but when Naga goes missing, it;s Lina who (reluctantly) steps up to get her out of trouble.

The slapstick comedy was amusing, and the multi-story format did a nice job of giving us little glimpses of the world, which is nicely detailed in spite of not taking itself too seriously.

Rating: 5.5/10

Silver Surfer #2

A re-read from my collection.

Title: Silver Surfer
Issue: 2
Date: August, 1987
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Steve Englehart
Penciler: Marshall Rogers
Inker: Josef Rubinstein
Colorist: Marshall Rogers
Letterer: John Workman
Editor: Michael Higgins

I remember being hugely disappointed in this issue when I read it in 1987. With some more years to look back on it, I've gotten a better understanding of what was going on here, but it still feels like it could have been handled better.

For all of his history up to this point, Norrin Radd's love for his lost Shalla-Bal was the heart of his story. Surfer was all about the tragic romance, and this issue was all about sweeping that completely under the rug so that Norrin (or rather, Surfer) could be freed up adventures in space. Unfortunately, if you go with the HEA, then you really don't have any reason to have an ongoing series.

But even if it was necessary, this felt rushed and did a disservice to the character of Shalla-Bal, who had good reasons to break things off, but failed to do a good job of expressing them and so came off as not even trying.

There was some intrigue involving the Skrulls, because Skrulls are gonna Skrull, and that aspect of the story was well handled with a good buildup of future subplots. But the dismissal of one of comics' best romances (Seriously? We get one kiss and that's it?) remains a disappointment.

Rating: 4/10

The Punisher #5

 

Another re-read from my collection.

Title: The Punisher
Issue: 5
Date: May, 1986
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Steven Grant, Jo Duffy
Artist: Mike Vosburg, John Beatty
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Letterer: Ken Bruzenak
Editor: Carl Potts

This is the final issue of the five-issue limited series that was the Punisher's first series after he was introduced in the pages of Spider-Man and had occasional appearances in other titles.

Frank Castle has been trapped by a mysterious organization aiming to produce a brainwashed army of "Punishers" for an all-out war on crime with no regard for protecting innocent lives. The opening sequence has Castle in one of those ridiculously-slow-deathtraps, although the purpose is brainwashing rather than death. The result is pretty standard. Punisher escapes and takes on his old enemy Jigsaw, now dressed in Punisher cosplay along with a crew of jobbers. The rest of this is mop-up.

While the action never gets all that interesting, the character work here is pretty solid. Faced with his own crusade taken to its logical extreme, Frank Castle suddenly has doubts. The result is a bit at odds with where the story picks up in the two ongoing titles that follow this, but it does make a good conclusion to this arc, and really in some sense, it felt like a conclusion to the Punisher character itself. This was a good walk off into the sunset for Frank Castle, that still left a lot of moral ambiguity, but also gave Frank the chance to walk away from his obsessive crusade. It's almost disappointing that this isn't how things turned out.

Rating 6.5/10

Kingdom Hearts II Volume 1

From the shelf of unread books.

Title: Kingdom Hearts II
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 2007
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Shiro Amano
Artist: Shiro Amano

Roxas, a teenager living in a small village called Twilight Town, just wants to enjoy his summer vacation with his friends. But weird things keep happening. A mysterious thief is stealing not just items, but the memories of those items too. And Roxas keeps having dreams about a boy named Sora.

This is actually the third series of manga based on the Kingdom Hearts game, so it's probably not the best jumping-in point for a franchise with so much lore. It was a bit difficult to keep everyone straight, and the artwork gets very jumpy in the scenes where the various bits of weirdness kick in. I did really enjoy the art in the quieter scenes, but even for someone unfamiliar with Kingdom Hearts, this felt more confusing than it needed to be. A bit more time to breathe and explain would have been nice.

And while I have some idea of what types of things to expect out of Kingdom Hearts is was still a little disconcerting to have Donald Duck and Goofy just show up seemingly randomly in a couple of panels.

Fun character interactions between Roxas and his friends did help make this interesting, but not so much that I felt like I needed to find out what comes next.

Rating: 5.5/10

Silver Surfer #1

Another re-read from my collection.

Title: Silver Surfer
Issue: 1
Date: March, 1987
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Steve Englehart
Penciler: Marshall Rogers
Inker: Josef Rubinstein
Colorist: Marshall Rogers
Letterer: John Workman
Editor: Michael Higgins

Silver Surfer escapes from the barrier that kept him trapped on Earth and mends fences with Galactus by rescuing Nova (the Frankie Raye version of Nova), who is a hostage of the Skrulls. Along the way, he gets some much-needed help from the Fantastic Four and teaches the Champion a lesson in not bringing one's fists to a cosmic-power-blast fight.

The artwork here is gorgeous, particularly on the space scenes, which are given plenty of, well, space. Surfer and Nova look great. The interaction with the FF is a bit on the wordy side, with a lot of recap that seems mostly aimed at catching readers up on developments in the FF book (wait... Alicia married WHO?).

The portrayal of Galactus is a bit too humanized for a being that really needs to be an unfeeling cosmic force, but it does serve the plot, and accomplishes the important main objective of this first issue. Surfer is now free to seek out new adventures across Marvel's cosmic settings. This was a solid reboot for the character.

Rating: 7/10

The Punisher War Journal #1

So, apparently there are some books that got stashed in the Random Box of Unread Comics that I have, in fact, read. But I haven't reviewed them, so I'll be giving them a reread. I don't think I've given this one a look since I bought in when it was released.

Title: The Punisher War Journal
Issue: 1
Date: November, 1988
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Carl Potts
Artist: Carl Potts, Jim Lee
Colorist: John Wellington
Letterer: Jim Novak
Editor: Don Daley

Frank Castle is on a mission, but life keeps getting in the way. In this case, life involves getting caught up in mob drama involving hitmen, kidnapped babies, and an exceptionally messy divorce.

This is a really cleverly constructed first issue, particularly the use of wordless panels at the bottom of the pages to retell the Punisher's origin story, as well as the character-building twist at the end where we discover the nature of Frank's mission.

It also reintroduces Microchip, brings in some new supporting cast, has a Matt Murdock cameo, and features a clever ending teaser for a bunch of upcoming stories. The only bit where it drags is in a wordy explanation that sets the stage for the mob drama. The action is solid and the art looks great. And Punisher fans will appreciate that there is no effort to soften Castle's approach to his work here.

Rating: 7.5/10

Deathmate Prologue

From the Box of Random Unread Comics.

Title: Deathmate Prologue
Date: June, 1993
Publisher: Valiant Entertainment / Image Comics
Writer: Bob Layton
Penciler: Barry Windsor-Smith, Rob Liefeld
Inker: Jim Lee, Bob Layton, Danny Miki, Dan Panosian
Colorist: Joe Chiodo
Letterer: Mike Heisler
Editor: Mark Moretti

This was the opening scene to the large-scale Valiant/Image crossover event. It opens with a death, and Solar consumed by grief and retreating into the Unreality where he meets up with Void. Fascinated by each other, they kiss and become one. That's the first story.

The second story starts in a dream sequence that is essentially a Rob Liefeld rollcall of Image and Valiant characters. It's the Geomancer who's dreaming, and he wakes up in a panic and runs right into a fight with the Berzerkers, which leads to Prophet getting involved. Turns out Prophet is in on the whole dream thing and we're off and (literally) running.

I don't really know either set of characters, so this felt a little disjointed, but it was sufficient to get the idea across that there is some kind of Crisis-On-Infinite-Earths-level event heading in the heroes' direction. So while a bit more backstory would have been nice to make me feel a bit more invested, this was still a reasonable opening to the coming saga.

Rating: 5.5/10

Sketch Series 02: Punko Turt

From last Spring's Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke MA USA.

Title: Sketch Series
Issue: 02: Punko Turt

Another from a batch of uncredited micro-mini comics I picked up at Flywheel Zine Fest. This book uses only three illustrations to introduce Punko Turt, a combination of pumpkin and turtle, that bears a slight resemblance to Pokemon's Bulbasaur. Punko Turt uses its pumpkin vine to catch small ghosts. A single line of caption explains Punko Turt's ongoing battle against evil.

This was very cute, and the one line of text hit with unexpected gravitas.

Rating: 6/10

Captain America #233

From the Random Box of Unread Comics.

Title: Captain America
Issue: 233
Date: May, 1979
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Roger McKenzie
Artist: Sal Buscema, Don Perlin
Colorist: Nel Yomtov
Letterer: Rick Parker
Editor: Roger Stern

Steve Rogers is caught between Harlem mobsters and a gang of white supremacists wielding high-tech weaponry. To make matters worse, a mind-controlled Sharon Carter is leading the charge for the National Force.

The story quickly moves away from its political implications as the mind control aspect takes center stage and a villain gets a big reveal, followed by an extra bit of a twist to end things.

Steve shows some good emotion as he grapples with the possible fate of Sharon, but the use of generic villain tropes  (and traps!) detracts a bit in terms of keeping my interest.

Rating: 5.5/10

Orfina Volume 1

From the tbr shelf. Not sure where I got this one.

Title: Orfina
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 2005
Publisher: CMX
Writer: Kitsune Tennouji
Artist: Kitsune Tennouji
Editorial Director: Jim Lee

A young soldier fleeing the forces of an advanced militant nation is taken in by the royal family of a peaceful kingdom, and it's discovered that the soldier appears nearly identical to that kingdom's princess. The princess and the resistance fighter become best friends from the moment they meet, but the forces of the invading nation, Granze, are closing in, unleashing destruction with guns and fire dragons which the armies of Cordia have no defense against.

The story in this opening volume turns grim pretty quickly as the folk of Cordia fight a brave, but losing battle against the invaders and Princess Orfina and her "twin", Fana, must flee for their lives.

There was some good character development, particularly in the relationship between Orfina and Fana, and lots of room for future plot complications. This was a solid start, and the artwork was lovely.

Rating: 7.5/10

BoooOOOooom Box Halloween Haunt 2016

From a past Free Comic Book Day.

Title: BoooOOOooom! Box Halloween Haunt 2016
Date: October, 2016

Publisher: Boom! Studios (Boom Box)
Writer: Shannon Watters, John Allison, James Tynion IV, Hope Larson
Artist: Carey Pietsch, Max Sarin, Rian Sygh, Brittney Williams
Colorist: Maarta Laiho, Whitney Cogar, Walter Baiamonte, Sarah Stern
Letterer: Aubrey Aiese, Jim Campbell
Cover:  Rian Sygh
Editor: Dafna Pleban, Whitney Leopard, Shannon Watters, Jasmine Amiri

Ashcan format freebie with four stories: Lumberjanes, Giant Days, The Backstagers, and Goldie Vance.

The Lumberjanes story is an excellent short, featuring Mal giving a mix CD to Molly and Molly enlisting April's help to reciprocate. The interactions were adorable, and it has the typical Lumberjanes weirdness where no one even raises an eyebrow at a dance club inhabited by deer. Artist Carey Pietsch does a great job with the expressions and body language of the characters, especially Molly.

The other stories are more teases/introductions. They're effective, but don't do much beyond introducing characters and setting up the basic scenario for each book they are previewing. Giant Days caught, which is a college-life drama/comedy, caught my interest the most out of the three. The Backstagers and Goldie Vance both could have used a bit more pagecount to give a better sense of what they were all about.

Rating: 6/10

Brave

From my school's library.

Title: Brave
Date: 2017
Publisher: Yen Press
Writer: Svetlana Chmakova
Artist: Svetlana Chmakova
Colorist: Svetlana Chmakova, Melissa McCommon
Letterer: JuYoun Lee

Constant Daydreamer (and future astronaut hero) Jensen struggles to navigate middle school, figuring out his place as he finds his chance to help the school newspaper and begins to drift apart from his art club friends. 

This is a sequel to Awkward (reviewed here), with a new focus character, and an examination of bullying, particularly the idea that the victim of bullying may not always understand that that is what is happening to them. The addressing of the topic is realistic without anything being taken too extreme. There is some justice in the end, but it is realistically incomplete, and the author does a good job of showing that there are not easy solutions to complex problems.

The characters are diverse and nuanced (even the most of the teachers who get screen time), and it was fun to see the same setting from Awkward from a completely different set of eyes.

Rating: 7/10

Anatomical Botanical

From last Spring's Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke MA USA.

Title: Anatomical Botanical

Uncredited minicomic/zine featuring artwork of common wildflowers and other plants growing among and within human bones. The pen/ink art and simple labeling ("Hip primrose") make for a quirky and slightly creepy vibe.

Rating: 6.5/10

Heartstopper Volume 3

From my school library.

Title: Heartstopper
Issue: Volume 3
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2021
Writer: Alice Oseman
Artist: Alice Oseman

I really liked the idea that formed one of the major themes in this volume: Coming out isn't something that just happens once. Charlie and Nick are now dating, but they need to figure out who to tell and how to do it. As exams bring an end to the school year, they find themselves off to Paris on a school trip with classmates, some of whom are in on their semi-secret and some who are not.

Lots of school-trip things happen, including the beginning/deepening of some new romances among their friends group, and we get some good character development in the supporting cast, along with some more revelations about Nick's family.

There are also some revelations about Charlie's mental health struggles. as well as the continuing progress of he and Nick's relationship.

As has been the case through the series, the author does a great job of giving the scenes the time and space they need, and the positive support that the main characters receive from friends is a welcome element of the story.

Rating: 8/10

Bio Booster Armor Guyver Volume 3: Dark Masters

From the tbr shelf. Not sure where I got this one.

Title: Bio-Booster Armor Guyver
Issue: Volume 3: Dark Masters
Date: 1995
Publisher Viz Media
Writer: Yoshiki Takaya
Artist: Yoshiki Takaya

Chronos has captured members of Sho's family, and they proceed to do a bunch of villainsplaining to reveal some of their evil schemes. Betrayals, rescues, escapes, and more rescues follow. The hyperzoanoids have a big fight with two versions of Guyver, leading to a brief reprieve for the heroes. Then Chronos comes up with a new plan: Using Sho's father as a weapon against him. More battle and shocking cliffhanger follows.

I was at a bit of a disadvantage jumping into the story here, but the father/son drama was good, and the ending with its emotional impact worked well. The villains felt really generic.

Rating: 4.5/10

Marvel Comics Presents #29

From the random box of unread comics.

Title: Marvel Comics Presents
Issue: 29
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: October 1989
Writer: Howard Mackie, Don McGregor, Doug Moench, Mark Gruenwald
Artist: Rich Buckler, Bruce Patterson, Gene Colan, Tom Palmer, Paul Gulacy, Paul Ryan, Danny Bulanadi
Colorist: Andy Yanchus, Mike Rockwitz, Glynis Oliver, Paul Becton
Letterer: Bill Oakley, Joe Rosen, Tim Harkins, Janice Chiang
Cover: Dennis Jensen, Dan Adkins
Editor:Terry Kavanagh, Michael Rockwitz

Marvel's bi-weekly anthology series from the late 80's is a combination of short series of varying length told in one chapter per issue, and the occasional standalone story. There was a fairly heavy emphasis on X-Men characters in this series, with Wolverine appearing in most issues.

This one starts off with a Havok story, part 6 of 8, with the revelation of the villainess Plasma revealed as the "Living Pharaoh". Havok has taken a beating in the story leading up to this, so he's in no condition to take on Plasma, but he manages to escape. In the Egyptian desert, he's found by Wolverine, and a battle with some ethnic-stereotyped henchfolk riding hovercraft occurs. The word "infidel" gets shouted a lot as Havok and Wolverine squash the jobbers, setting up the looming confrontation with Plasma,

Next up is Black Panther in part 17 of 25 of a really interesting premise: T'Challa on seeking out his long-lost mother in apartheid South Africa. This is a pretty grim story with T'Challa dealing with his own failures, and a lot of focus placed on the corruption present in the street-level reality of South Africa. Definitely the best story here, although this segment only scratches the surface of the possible story. I'd be interested in reading more of this.

The third story is Coldblood, which looks like an attempt to soft-launch a new character. I'm not sure if anything more was ever done with Coldblood. The title character is a cyborg, in the process of escaping from his makers, I guess, who want to use him to do, well, evil cyborg things, I suppose. There is a lot of shooting and explosions. This was possibly influenced by The Terminator? It had some decent visuals, including a car crashing through, a Vegas casino, but the feel was pretty generic.

Last up was this issue's standalone story, featuring Quasar with a cameo by Man-Thing, who is involved in the plot, but doesn't actually do much. Quasar is tracking a strange energy disturbance and finds himself in Man-Thing's swamp in Florida. Jennifer Kale (inexplicably dressed in an armor-bikini; or maybe this is how she always dresses?) explains that the Man -Thing has been infected with something, and that something turns out to be a villain named Quagmire. Quagmire takes one look at Jennifer and goes into full-on attempted sexual assault mode. Quasar puts a stop to that, and quickly determines that while Quagmire is immune to Quasar's energy powers, he is fully punchable in the face. The weird body-horror setup with Man-Thing is not bad, but Quagmire is pretty disappointing as a villain.

Rating: 4.5/10

The Witch Boy: Halloween ComicFest

I got this at Most Excellent Comics and Games in Enfield CT USA last Free Comic Book Day. It's a Halloween freebie from several years back, that the store had on their table of free books.

Title: The Witch Boy: Halloween ComicFest
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2017
Writer: Molly Knox Ostertag
Artist: Molly Knox Ostertag

Full color preview mini containing an excerpt from Molly Knox Ostertag's graphic novel, The Witch Boy. The scene here is a fairly standard bit with the main character getting bullied and finally getting pushed to the point where he responds with his magical powers. It does a nice job of introducing the basic rules of the world: On the "magical side of town", boys are shapeshifters and girls are witches. Aster is a boy who hasn't been able to figure out the shapeshifting bit, but has some skill at witchery.

The artwork is lovely, and the overall trans theme of the story is appreciated. This preview doesn't reveal much, but there are enough hints at the overall storyline to hook the reader, which makes it a reasonably effective marketing piece.

Rating: 6/10

XXXholic Volume 4

From the books unpacked from storage.

Title: XXXHolic
Issue: Volume 3
Date: 2004
Publisher: Del Rey Manga
Writer: Clamp
Artist: Clamp
Letterer: Dana Hayward

This was mostly a Valentines Day (and White Day) themed issue, with Watanuki lamenting his lack of Valentines attention while Domeki is showered in gifts and chocolates. Meanwhile Watanuki is stuck making chocolates for Yuko to give away. Of course, spirits of various sorts become involved.

This then leads into an adventure involving a pair of twin sisters with a strange and possibly toxic connection, before finally setting up the stage for the next issue and filling in some backstory.

The setup for future issues felt more important here than any of the Valentines mishaps, so this felt like something of a transitional volume.

Rating: 5/10

Many Moths

From last Spring's Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke MA USA.

Title: Many Moths

Uncredited minicomic/zine that is exactly what the title promises: A collection of drawings of different moth species, one per page, from an overhead view, to best show the patterns of their wings This is simple, straightforward, and lovely. Educational too.

Rating: 7/10

Solar Man of the Atom #26

From the Random Box of Unread Comics.

Title: Solar Man of the Atom
Issue: 26
Date: October, 1993
Publisher: Valiant Entertainment
Writer: Tony Bedard, Kevin Vanhook
Penciler: David Wong
Inker: Fred Fredricks
Colorist: Carol Vanhook
Letterer: Jade
Editor: Don Perlman, Bob Layton

Phil (Solar) and Gayle find themselves traveling through rural Georgia when Solar recognizes a photo of a small-town mayor as an alien foe who had escaped from a previous battle.

Now, Rusk the spider-alien, Mayor Russel to his friends, runs the little town of Terminus, GA, as well as its textile plant. And he's got the corrupt sheriff right out of central casting on his side.

Gayle proceeds to break into a public library at night to find... well, information she could have just found with no problems if she'd waited until normal business hours. Instead, she gets caught and damseled by the aforementioned sheriff.

Solar proceeds to do his thing, while Gayle actually talks a bit of sense into the locals. As it turns out, blood-drinking spider aliens fall into the category of "Try that in a small town".

I'm being a bit harsh here, because the flow of the plot was pretty good, and the decision to make Rusk more pathetic than menacing was an interesting choice that contributed to the tone of the story. I also liked the fact that the townsfolk were not completely blindly obedient to the bad guys.

The interactions between Gayle and Phil were good, and the dialogue all made sense. This was my first time reading this series, and for a random issue, I found it pretty accessible as a new reader.

Rating: 6/10

Action Comics #687

From the box of random unread comics.

Title: Action Comics
Issue: #687
Date: June, 1993
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Roger Stern
Art: Jackson Guice, Denis Rodier
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Editor: Mike Carlin, Jennifer Frank

Reign of the Supermen! This is one of the four issues introducing the new "Supermen" following Superman's death at the hands of Doomsday. These issues (complete with gimmicky cutout covers) each featured a "pretender" to the role of Superman, based on phrases associated with the character: "Man of Steel", "Man of Tomorrow", "Metropolis Kid", and in the case of this issue, "Last Son of Krypton".

The actual character in this case is the Eradicator (no, not Rhea Ripley). The story is written so that it is possible to believe that Eradicator is actually some sort of reincarnation of Superman, who has gone full-on Kryptonian at the loss of his humanity.

In the background, we see lots of details of the ripple effect of Superman's death. This is one of those stories that felt like a gimmick at the time. After all, no one believed for a minute that Superman was actually dead. He was simply spending some time "dead in the DC Universe", as one does. But looking at this story years later, the fact that the Superman's death turned out to be as temporary as everyone knew it would be seems less important, and the story itself is quite good.

Writer Roger Stern juggles a ton of little details and character interactions and does a nice job of introducing Eradicator-Superman while adding to the overall mystery. While I wasn't buying that Eradicator really was Superman, and I knew that we were getting the real Superman back eventually, I was left intrigued to find out how we get there and what other plot twists lie ahead.

Nice piece of an epic story that still holds up pretty well.

Rating: 7/10

Midwest Books To Prisoners Community Zine 2023

This was a freebie at Pilsen Community Book Shop, Chicago IL USA.

Title: Midwest Books To Prisoners Community Zine
Date: 2023
Publisher: Midwest Books To Prisoners
Contributors: Cam Eash, Daniel Baker, Adrian Pettis, Raheem Rahman, Jacob Gaines, Dwight Quigley, Rachael Christina Hilyard, Andre Winters, Buddy Smith, Jeremy W. Winsor, Rodrigo Ramirez, Edwin Steve Suarez, Ahmeed Fowler, De'jon Yearling, Wayne Bell, Sean Swain, Michael Owlfeather-Gorbey, Dennis Rogers Jr., Alan Piwowar, Levar Williams, Jose Landa

This zine is about half news and activism, particularly focused on issues around book and mail censorship, and out right abuse of basic human rights of prisoners. The other half is poetry and essays by incarcerated persons.

This covers some important issues that don't receive enough attention. I certainly found some of the details around the control of mail to prisoners and the exploitation by technology companies marketing services to the prison systems to be eye-opening.

The poems, drawing/cartoons, and other short bits of writing were moving as well.

Rating: 8/10

The Question #8

 From the Random Box of Unread Comics.

Title: The Question
Issue: 8
Date: September, 1987
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Dennis O'Neil
Artist: Denys Cowan, Rick Magyar
Colorist: Tatjana Wood
Letterer: Gaspar
Editor: Mike Gold

A deranged Gilbert & Sullivan fan named Mister Mikado is going around mutilating people in revenge for abusive acts they committed toward others, reciting a verse about making the punishment fit the crime before carrying out the nasty bit of revenge.

And they are nasty. The deaths/maimings reminded me a bit of the film Se7en (actually released 8 years after this book).

Vic Sage does a bit of detective/vigilante work to track down Mister Mikado, which is fairly standard fare. The confrontation between them is a lot more interesting, resulting in a verbal showdown about the nature of good and evil, and whether those who have done wrong can be redeemed.

This was a self-contained story (although it did advance some ongoing subplots in the background), and it serves as a pretty good introduction to what makes the Question's seeking of truth different from, for example, the Batman's quest for justice.

Ending was clever and very open-to-interpretation. As always, the Question has one of the best letter columns of its time, and I always enjoy getting Dennis O'Neil's recommended reading suggestion at the end (in this case, a fitting tie-in with the theme of the story: Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment).

Rating: 8/10

Getting Into Gaming: Peaceful Games

From last Spring's Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke MA USA.

Title: Getting Into Gaming: Peaceful Games
Date: August, 2023
Writer: Silver Kahn
Artist: Silver Kahn

Video game zine designed as an introduction for non-gamers. This was one of two in the series, this one covering a selection of nonviolent games (and mostly nonviolent ones such as Minecraft). I loved the tone of this because as someone who is into most areas of geekery, but has barely minimal knowledge of video games, I felt like this was right on my level. It's going to come off as probably too basic for a lot of potential readers, but it was a perfect fit for me. As an added bonus, it did feature one of the few games that I have played extensively: Monument Valley, which I enjoyed as much as the author of this zine did.

Your mileage may vary in terms of whether this is telling you anything new, but it is well written with a clear heartfelt love of gaming and a desire to spread the word in a positive way.

Rating: 7.5/10

Choose Your Own Adventure: Tobacco Hornworm

From last Spring's Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke MA USA.

Title: Choose Your Own Adventure: Tobacco Hornworm
Writer: ESmorc
Artist: ESmorc

What's better than an educational micro-minicomic about insect life cycles? An insect life cycle minicomic in (abbreviated) Choose Your Own Adventure format! And I do mean abbreviated. This book involves one choice, with one very good outcome and one very bad one. The back cover contains additional useful hornworm facts including what they metamorphose into...

SPOILER WARNING...
...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Sphinx moths!

You'll also learn some size comparisons, as well as the important skill of distinguishing a tobacco hornworm from a tomato hornworm.

This was quick, but so very quirky and amusing. Plus I learned things.

Rating: 8/10

You Know You're A Rural Queer When...

First review of 2025! Not a comic. Prose zine that I got last Spring at the Flywheel Zine Fest.

Title: You Know You're A Rural Queer When...
Date: 2019
Writer: Olivia M.
Artist: Olivia M.

Short essay in micro-zine form that lays out the challenges facing those in the queer community who live in rural areas. There are a lot of isolating factors that are detailed here, not all of them completely obvious, and there are also some issues with misguided our outright counterproductive attempts at allyship that the author has experienced. There is also a good reminder of the role (and limitations) of online supports.

This was a lot of important insights in a small amount of words.

Rating: 8/10