Saturday, August 9, 2025

Terrificon!


When you read this I will have got through Friday 8/8 at Terrificon ... the 'heavy lifting' day of con attendance.

Now it is day 2 where I much more leisurely stroll through and enjoy the ambience.

I'll be in a Supergirl T-shirt and a Red Sox hat if you're looking for me!




Friday, August 8, 2025

Review: Justice League Vs Godzilla Vs Kong 2 #3


Justice League Vs Godzilla Vs Kong 2 #3 came out this week and continues to be a fun mashup of the Monarch Universe and the DCU. The first series was a hoot and this one is just as fun, a high action adventure with heroes, villains, and monsters.

Writer Brian Buccellato continues to weave a good story of a villainous Suicide Squad trying to obtain power and technology from the Monarch Earth. Setting the series on that Earth has led to some fun wrinkles, like our Kryptonian heroes not utilizing this yellow sun to peak efficiency and powering down. But it is the dual villainous leads of Lex Luthor and Colonel Shaw that I find most interesting. Who will backstab who first? As always, Supergirl continues to play a decent role in the book which makes me happy. Seeing her team up with Wonder Woman is always a treat and it is here as well.

Christian Duce remains on solo art and continues to give us a gorgeous book. This issue is more human machinations than kaiju mayhem. But there are a couple of panels that I will point out where you see just how great his art is.

And we end on a cliffhanger which I am going to guess how it turns out within the review. This time I'm right!

On to the book. 

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Review: Kal-El-Fornia Love Special


It truly is the Summer of Superman!

With a 'fifth week' in July, DC decided to not let the Superman express train slow down and released a fun little seasonal issue, DC's Kal-El-fornia Love #1. Much like other seasonal books, usually based around a holiday, this is an anthology book but this time it is focused on the Superman Family. And like many of these anthologies, I only recognize a couple of the creators. These feel like a sort of try-out sort of platform for new writers and artists. 

At first I thought given the title that this was going to be a romance sort of book. But instead, I think it is more a summer or beach book than anything else. The Kal-El-Fornia bit being more important than the love. 

There are eight stories in this book which means we see a lot of the Superman team. But I'll be concentrating on the Supergirl story for a full review. I'll touch on a couple of the other stories. And I loved this variant cover by Marcio Takara with a ponytail and sunglasses Supergirl ready to hit the beach.

Most of the stories were fun making the $9.99 price tag a little bit easier to take. 

On to the book.

Monday, August 4, 2025

DC Comics Solicits October 2025

The October 2025 DC Comics solicits came out a while back and there is a lot to mull over. If you want to peruse them all, you can head here:
https://aiptcomics.com/2025/07/18/october-2025-dc-comics-solicitations/

The big news is the latest big event - DC K.O - a hero versus hero tournament to find out who can handle the Omega Energy and fight Darkseid. I thought Darkseid was dead? I don't know how a beatdown of a friend can determine who is best to hold the energy? And who decides who fights who? I thought I heard somewhere it is a true bracket style tournament. 

But there is plenty of Supergirl fun this month!

On to the books.

DC K.O. #1
Written by SCOTT SNYDER
Art and acetate cover by JAVI FERNÁNDEZ
Variant covers by JIM LEE, DANIEL WARREN JOHNSON,FRANK CHO, SCOTT KOBLISH, JAE LEE, and MIKE DEL MUNDO
Face-off variant cover by BEN OLIVER
1:25 variant cover by NOOBOVICH
Bracket variant cover by DAN MORA
Darkseid variant cover by MARK SPEARS
Foil variant cover by JAVI FERNÁNDEZ
AEW Cameo variant cover by DAN MORA

The Heart of Apokolips has transformed Earth into a hellscape in preparation for the return of Darkseid! The end of the DC Universe is here!
The Justice League’s only chance to defeat Darkseid is to enter a deadly tournament, an epic and over-the-top battle royale that will surprise you! The World’s Greatest Heroes fight to become the champion to enter the ring against Darkseid, but there’s a catch…the closer you get to the Heart of Apokolips, the more it corrupts you, changes you into something dangerous.
Which DC character has what it takes to make it to the end?
Who is willing to do what it takes to win it all, even if it means taking down their friends and family?
You want to get nuts? Let’s get nuts!


This sort of explains it all. 

Any early guesses who hits the top of the pile? I'm not particularly excited about all this.

But now onto the fun stuff.

Friday, August 1, 2025

Bullet Review: New History Of The DC Universe #2


When The New History of the DC Universe was announced, I figured I would be covering some bits of it. When I read the solicits for The New History of the DC Universe #2 and saw it would cover the Crisis, I figured there would be some pieces in it worth a spot here.

So far writer Mark Waid has been rolling out the timeline in a rather straightforward way. This isn't a story after all, There isn't a plot that needs to be resolved. These are events which have happened. Waid is just trying to make sense of it all.

And frankly I am trying to make sense of it all. Because it is hard to put it all together in my mind.

Some of it reads like there has always been just one universe. At times it reads like there is a multiverse that became a universe. Sometimes the timeline feels condensed as the arrival of characters and major events unfolding seem a bit strange.

But if we are creating one timeline out of the many MANY DC universes and reboots, I shouldn't have been surprised. So, for example, Cyborg was part of an early JLA that fought Darkseid (that's new 52 JLA) but then was put into some stasis for years until he re-arrives to be part of the New Teen Titans? Strange. And that early fight with Darkseid? That is just an early manifestation of the JLA. The Appelax meteor story is still considered the first JLA adventure. 

Got it? Maybe?

Anyways, let's see how Supergirl fares.

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Review: Superman #28


Last month I talked about how Joshua Williamson seemed to be wrapping up a bunch of plots that have been running through the Superman title since its launch. No more Lex. No more Supercorp. No more Superwoman. No more Red K poisoning. 

Williamson doesn't waste any time in getting on to the next thing. Superman #28 came out last week, the first part of Legion of Darkseid, and was a fast-paced, engaging, and very entertaining opening chapter. We are heading to some Darkseid-centric event and this sets the stage. 

Now I am a huge Legion of Super-Heroes fan so seeing only a dark version of them recently has been a bit of a let-down. I can only hope we are heading to a relaunch. But if you want to see how brutal and powerful the original trio of Legionnaires could be, this issue will open your eyes. This isn't your dad's Legion. 

I have already said how somehow Williamson has made both The Time Trapper and Doomsday be interesting to me. No small feat (perhaps smushing them together has been multiplicative not additive). But perhaps the most incredulous thing Williamson has done is made me intrigued about a character that appears on the last page ... a character I have wished I would never see again. That is truly an epic accomplishment.

Add to all this Dan Mora's standard impeccable art and you have a complete winner. No Supergirl here but a lot of pizzazz nonetheless.

Everyone should dive in right here. On to the book. 

Monday, July 28, 2025

Review: Justice League Unlimited #9


I was unsure if I was going to review Justice League Unlimited #9, an epilogue to the We Are Tomorrow arc. But it is clear that DC is building on something here. There is a lot happening here, weaving nicely with this week's Superman #28 and pulling the eventual clash with the Absolute Universe and Darkseid that much closer. Throw in a killer Supergirl moment and it was a no-brainer.

Writer Mark Waid brings this arc to a high-energy close by bringing in some old villains, peppering in time-tossed (and reality-tossed) DC characters, and giving us a subtle cliffhanger that left me wondering what is next. I wonder if Waid is taking advantage of his writing the New History of the DC Universe to remind him of character variations to try to showcase here. And he and Joshua Williamson are making me like this Time Trapper Doomsday, no small feat. 

Dan Mora is on art here as well as Superman #28 which makes these two issues read like a mini-event or double sized Annual. And Mora gets to have fun as he is also allowed to pepper in these character variants. He draws everybody so well so whenever he spotlights a favorite of mine, I smile. 

I will say it was luck that I read this before Superman #28 because it sort of reads better that way. Interesting they came out on the same week with this being a 5 Wednesday month.

On to the book.