Justin Epps Comic Reviews

It seems only like yesterday that IDW Publishing announced IDW Dark, a horror-based imprint to capitalize on the booming popularity of horror comics. The imprint became the new home for books like IDWs hit series Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees, as well as licensed tie-in comics for series like The Twilight Zone and Event Horizon. Now, IDW Publishing is expanding its imprint with A Quiet Place: Storm Warning by Phil Hester (Swamp Thing, Green Arrow) and Ryan Kelly (Lucifer, Local). This tie-in story does a fantastic job adding to the universe while working as a gripping, original narrative.

To be fair, we did just get some major reveals with Decembers Absolute Batman #15, which gave us some shocking details about the Jokers perplexing history. And yet, when it comes to things like his shadowy Ark M project, weve mostly been left in the dark. Thankfully, Snyder has teamed up with Frank Tieri and Josh Hixon for a new one-shot that dives into the history of this worlds Arkham Asylum and sets up the dangers to come in the next exciting year of Absolute Batman.

It was four months ago that the series concluded its first major arc. Detective John Jones and his partner, a psychic entity known as the Martian, were caught up in a major battle with the Martians diametric opposite, the White Martian. The duo battled with White Martian and the unfortunate people it possessed, and thanks to John accessing his inner emotions, the Martian was able to push back against the White Martians influence with contagious empathy. But while things all seemed good, the White Martian lived on, now secretly inhabiting the body of Johns son, Tyler.

Absolute Wonder Woman was the first hero to make a public stand, protecting Gateway City from the potentially world-ending rampage of the Tetracide. Absolute Batman has similarly made a name for himself to the people of Gotham as one of the only crusaders against the corruption and exploitation killing his city. Bruce and Dianas actions have put huge targets on their back and the powers that be are doing everything they can to eliminate them. But Absolute Wonder Woman and Batmans first team-up is a shining example of why hope is possible, even in a seemingly hopeless world.

This special comes to us from Jeremy Adams, who has already written two DC K.O. tie-in issues (Green Lantern Galactic Slam and The Kids Are All Fight). And Adams is joined by a murderers row of amazing artists, including Ronan Cliquet, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Kieran McKeown, and Pablo M. Collar. This is certainly the most ambitious of all the DC K.O. tie-ins so far, and I really do give everyone here an A for effort. However, even for what was billed as a fun bonus stage, DC K.O.: Boss Battle #1 is more of a whiff than a knockout.

December is All Fight Month, a four-week-long initiative dedicated to showing the second round of DC K.O. with various one-shots and tie-in books giving fans all the one-on-one fights they were hoping to see in this tournament. After a few interesting rounds between characters like Superman and Captain Atom or Aquaman and Hawkman, were getting to see one Ive been most curious about: The battle between Harley Quinn and Zatanna. And I have to say, this has been the most impressive entry in All Fight Month Ive seen yet.

The previous crossover was made by writer Gerry Dugan and artist Javier Garrn, who are joined this time by Ig Guara. The duos last entry ended with Godzilla being transported off Earth to a desolate planet. Unfortunately, the beast was found by the God of the Symbiotes, Knull, who saw potential in the kaiju and decided to use him to help Knull conquer the Marvel Universe. That was just a few months ago, and thankfully, Marvel has gotten the follow-up out quickly. And yes, its just as fun, chaotic, and entertaining as the previous crossover, if not more so.

There are some larger elements to Superman Unlimited to help push the book forward. The Daily Planet has gone global, pushing the iconic paper into a new era. And Superman now has the ability to withstand kryptonite for up to 3 minutes. But there have been several new dangers, too. Thanks to a meteorite containing the radioactive material, kryptonite is positively ubiquitous on Earth, allowing villains to get creative when it comes to dealing with the Man of Steel. And Superman Unlimited #9 gives us the books most creative villain so far in another solid entry to the series

This story brings back the Ultimate Guardians of the Galaxy, who are going for broke as they try to save everything they can. But the truth is, theyre just as powerless to stop the inevitable as any of us. Now, dont think this is a story about hopelessness. On the contrary, the creative team behind this comic delivers an amazing tale about loss, acceptance, and why we press on in the face of inevitability.