Rob Irwin Comic Reviews

This is the most intriguing comic I am reading at present. Not only because of the plot itself, but reading outside the book and seeing comments from Garth Ennis along the lines of not being sure where the storyline was sometimes taking him during the writing process. This book is either heading for greatness or a very messy and confused ending.

The best I can say is that there seems to be a story struggling to get out here, and as future issues roll on, things might improve. Maybe this first issue should have been a double edition, just to give the reader a better taste of where the series might be going beyond the introduction. Still, thats academic at this stage - and the best I can give this issue is . Approach with caution.

This is really great, independent storytelling right here. If you like war comics and/or horror stories, youre going to find a curious mix of the two here. Support these guys. Please.

Ex Machina is a fine read, although I often find the skipping between timeframes in every issue a little disconcerting. One minute, Mitchell Hundred is Mayor of New York. Next minute, he's not. One minute, it's pre-9/11. Next minute, it's not... and so on. This issue is better than most on this count, beginning in 2001, then flashing forward to 2002 - and staying there - and I think this more linear approach improves the quality of the storyline.

Josie (thinking): Thank goodness the dead mans half-eaten cheeseburger told me!

Funnily enough, so far it's only the name "Keystone Kops" that I don't like about this story. What's with that? I haven't seen any of the boys in blue falling off ladders, engaging in pratfalls or using extraordinarily small cars... and there's the misspelling, too... here's hoping there's some relevance in the next issue!

All told, however, I can't recommend this one. Perhaps future issues will bring things around, but I can't see a lot of room for the writers to maneuver and do something unexpected with just two issues left to flesh out and finish the tale.

Between Diggle's smart stories and Jock's vibrant art, reading The Losers is like watching a big-budget action movie with a genuine plot. Every issue delivers. Period. If you aren't reading it, the best advice I can give you is to pick up the first trade paperback and as many back issues as you can. Readers of The Losers are on a complete trip - and you're invited.

I'm genuinely very pleased to say that the previous issue has proven to be the exception, rather than the rule, when it comes to the overall quality of this series. To say that there has only been one issue to really bug me in the past 21 outings is a hit/miss ratio higher than just about any comic I've ever read. I will admit, however, I'm looking forward to Jock's return to the interior artwork. For some reason, Ben Oliver's pencils looked a little less Jock-like this issue.

Although designed for children, I think any fan of the Muppets would get a kick out of reading this at least once and I've accordingly elevated its score as above-average children's fare.

I'm notorious for calling Rex Mundi the greatest comic book in the world, and I'm not going to stop with this review. It looks smart, it's intelligent and I must say, after so many months away, it was a beautiful thing to see on comic book shelves again when I visited my local store this week. If you aren't reading it, you really need to flick through what you are reading instead, and ask youself why because frankly, it doesn't get any better than this.

Hawks of Outremer is undoubtedly one of the highlights of my recent readings.

Marz has developed a good premise here, but the long section without dialogue and some looseness in the concept, as touched on in the review, ultimately pull this one back. For a Boba Fett fan, however, this issue of Star Wars: Empire will no doubt go down like a cold beer on a hot day and would probably gain another silver bullet for its trouble.

I'm loving this concept - and I can't wait to see where Andrews takes it. There's one small alarm bell in the back of my mind that five issues might be a bit much to stretch out this story (to my mind, this story will essentially be about whether Luke can redeem the Skywalker name... or not), so hopefully Andrews has some interesting twists in mind.

I'm not obsessed with Obsession at this stage, but the story is still slightly above average. Knowing that these are also the last few comics with the Obi-Wan/Anakin combo in action before the events of Episode III change everything certainly adds a sense of pathos that I don't believe Blackman is working with, but which is almost palpable for a fan.

This is a brave issue of Star Wars: Republic. There's no Obi-Wan, no Anakin, no Yoda, no Mace... indeed, besides a brief cameo by Count Dooku and some minor characters from the movies such as Aayla Secura and Dex (that strange looking alien who Obi-Wan visits at the retro diner in Attack of the Clones), this issue tries to stand on the strength of characters we don't often read about. Does it work? To some degree, yes. Would I like to see more issues like this? Short answer, no. Longer answer, I think these issues are necessary to give us a break from the Big Names and it seems that the next issue might be in a similar vein. With Star Wars: Republic rapidly racing towards the events in the next movie release, however, I'm hoping that not too much more Clone Wars time is "wasted" with stories about characters who only enjoy a cult following, if that.

I like this issue of Republic more than the last because we finally seem to be getting somewhere. Naturally, as a fan with a major interest in Episode III, I can also sense where the plot is going and can probably take a decent stab at which characters might not be around for much longer, to boot. This sort of stifles the storyline, but half the fun is getting there, or so they say. So roll on the next few issues as we come closer and closer to a segue with the next Star Wars movie. It's still going to be interesting to see how the writers of Republic (and the spin-off miniseries Obsession, for that matter), elect to pull this off.

The Losers has been very good to me these past 20 issues, and I've always felt that it's delivered and, sometimes, even gone beyond that. This is the first issue where I feel the book hasn't come through, and I hope it's just a temporary blip on the radar, rather than the start of a downhill decline. If you haven't got the message yet, I think it was poor to set up such a huge cliffhanger and not address it - and I think it's just plain bizarre that Aisha is now banging Clay. A disappointing issue, to be sure. Fingers crossed for #21 and hopefully some real fireworks.

Objectively, this is pretty much average fare for the children's genre of comics but any young ones who love Toy Story won't notice that fact at all. They will eat this up and ask for seconds next month.

Until this issue of Wanted, the basic storyline could have gone anywhere - literally anywhere - which was an extraordinarily thrilling notion. Unfortunately, a few pages into the issue, I had a feeling where things were heading and, apart from the deliberate (and almost literal) F-You ending from Millar (which I challenge anyone to have seen coming), I was right. Not quite where I thought things might go, prior to opening the issue. What a severely disappointing let-down to what had the potential to be one of the best miniseries of all time.