CRYPT OF SHADOWS No. 1, December 2023 Penned by Declan Shalvey to “haunt new fans and long-time readers alike this Halloween season”, the second half of “Crypt Of Shadows” opens with a pulse-pounding piece depicting a heavily-fatigued Daredevil fending off a literal army of deadly ninjas in a long-abandoned subway system. Aptly entitled “…Without Fear”, the six-pager quite succinctly showcases both that there is much more to the blind crime-fighter than simply being a phenomenal acrobat, as well as taps into the horror of poor Doctor Ted Sallis’ never-ending existence as the lonely Ma ..read more

CRYPT OF SHADOWS No. 1, December 2023 Apparently returning “with more chilling tales starring your favourite Marvel Heroes”, Steve Orlando’s “Brick By Brick” certainly seems to get this anthology comic off to a somewhat “Creepshow” flavoured start, courtesy of the Scarlet Witch encountering “a terrifying new villain called the Bricklayer!” Admittedly, a man-shaped monster created by having a possessed brick inadvertently lodged in his chest probably isn’t the most convincing of origin stories for a central antagonist. But the American author still manages to imbue the figure with a su ..read more

HORROR COMICS No. 30, November 2023 Described by its San Antonio-based publisher as a “time-travelling horror” story containing “science-spawned monsters”, Dino Caruso and Shawn Richison’s narrative for “Origin Point” is arguably as good as such frightening fiction can get. Sure, it may take readers a moment or two to acclimatise themselves to colorist Paul Little’s dark-hued palette. But once they’ve become accustomed to the disconcertingly dreary surroundings of Doctor Liebrandt’s out-of-the-way lock-up and realise the struck-off surgeon is ferrying human corpses about on a trolley ..read more

DAREDEVIL No. 5, November 2022 For those readers simply dipping into this ongoing series to witness its titular character completely ‘clean the clock’ of the ever- egotistical U.S. Agent, Chip Zdarsky’s script for Issue Five of “Daredevil” should have quite quickly brought them up to speed with Matt Murdock’s present-day life. Indeed, the Canadian author rather succinctly shows the Man Without Fear to have utterly embraced both his marriage to Elektra Natchios, as well as his seemingly formidable mission to establish “a new world order” as The Fist’s king. Of course such bizarre cameo ..read more

THE INCREDIBLE HULK No. 10, May 2024 Considering just utterly enthralling Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s narrative is for this second instalment to his “Frozen Charlotte” storyline, it’s hard to imagine many Hulk-heads arguing with a fan’s Letters Page declaration that the title “is a consistent measuring stick for high quality”. Indeed, this twenty-page periodical’s superbly-penned sub-plot depicting a ghost detective’s life-long “noir hunt for a serial killer set in 1850s New Orleans” will probably cause many a bibliophile to hope that “Marvel Worldwide” actually gives Inspector Francis ..read more

BLADE No. 9, May 2024 Considering Bryan Hill’s storyline for this twenty-page periodical depicts Blade nonchalantly massacring the entirety of the Archives of the Second World without so much as getting a hair out of place, it’s probably crystal clear just why this is the penultimate issue of a title originally much-hyped as an “all-new ongoing solo series” which would dawn a “new age of vampire hunting”. True, the comic does contain a modicum of pulse-pounding action during its opening, when the werewolf Tanaka unsuccessfully attempts to evade capture from the Dhampir he was warned n ..read more

MOON KNIGHT No. 25, September 2023 Having arguably stuck to a somewhat ‘realistic’ modern-day world for this super-sized edition’s opening half, Jed MacKay’s writing certainly seems to lean in to the Marvel Universe’s more super-powered inhabitants for its second. In fact, even the Karnak Cowboy’s fantastically fast-paced flight from Alexandria somewhat surprisingly introduces their understandably-feared foes to be the paramilitary terrorist organization Hydra, and matches Marc Spector’s grounded mercenary team against a team of green-garbed, neo-fascist operatives in a flying automob ..read more

BEWARE THE PLANET OF THE APES No. 3, May 2024 Desperately trying to depict the shock of Cornelius and Zira discovering they are no longer “alone in this world [as] the only sentient creatures left”, Marc Guggenheim’s penmanship for Issue Three of “Beware The Planet Of The Apes” disappointingly falls frustratingly flat on account of the Long Island-born novelist employing a number of contrivances to keep his story moving. Indeed, the entire twenty-page periodical’s central plot appears to incorporate so many manufactured moments, not least of which is Nova mentally wandering down the Y ..read more

TERRORWAR No. 9, February 2024 Arguably ending well before its allotted twenty-one-page count, Saladin Ahmed’s narrative for Issue Nine of “Terrorwar” seemingly smacks of a storyteller who simply has nothing more to give despite desperately needing to pen something for his (suddenly relabelled) mini-series’ “jaw-dropping conclusion!” Admittedly, that still doesn’t stop the American author from depicting a rather satisfying smackdown of Blue City’s selfish military elite, courtesy of a colourfully-coordinated action sequence which is disconcertingly reminiscent of something from Saban ..read more

MOON KNIGHT No. 25, September 2023 Cramming an incredible amount of dialogue-driven intrigue, nerve-wracking tension, and a genuinely enthralling flashback to a time when Marc Spector lead a mercenary crew known as the Karnak Cowboys, Jed MacKay’s script for this oversized epic’s opening half must surely have had most within the comic’s audience on the edge of their seats within the space of a few pages. Indeed, despite most of the action at this stage being largely reliant upon the titular character’s “last ride” in the Arab Republic of Egypt some twelve years past, the numerous twis ..read more