It’s always a pleasant surprise when I find a superhero comic I enjoy these days. It’s mostly my fault — I’ve read so many of them, and I find many of the expectations of the genre (mostly the idea that anything can be solved by punching) no longer to my taste. But Captain Carter #1 does many things I like. It stars a woman, for one thing, and one who’s allowed to be physical, instead of having vague point and […]

I’m not crazy about the concept behind The Death of Doctor Strange #1, a five-issue miniseries written by Jed MacKay and illustrated by Lee Garbett. The more events promote a morbid ending that readers already know won’t stick, the less it means, and the cheaper the gimmick becomes. Admittedly, this is one of the characters, given all the magic, that is more reasonable to take the approach with. (With the slim possibility that Disney, Marvel’s owners, won’t pay off Steve […]

Marvel has relaunched Doctor Strange with a new #1 subtitled Surgeon Supreme. After events of the previous series, and a deal with a demon, Dr. Strange has the use of his hands back, so that he can resume his previous life as “the world’s greatest neurosurgeon”. He clarifies, early on, that he won’t combine his magic and his medicine, as “spellcraft requires total concentration” and he can’t multitask while operating. (Although his unique vision does allow for some impressively gnarly […]

The Unstoppable Wasp #5 is a Very Special issue that explores bipolar disorder. Nadia, the new Wasp, in a manic episode, doesn’t realize that her compulsion to protect her friends is actually hurting them. It’s written by Jeremy Whitley with art by Gurihiru. I’ve been fascinated by a similar idea since Hal Jordan became Parallax in Zero Hour. Superheroes are vigilantes, which means by definition, they rely on their own judgement of what’s right and wrong without an established structure […]

It is so great to have a new series launching in connection with a big-screen movie that is so very readable and approachable! I knew that would be the case, though, since it’s written by Kelly Thompson (Jem and the Holograms, Nancy Drew, A-Force), who does a wonderful job modernizing concepts, particularly those revolving around female friendship. And that’s what won me over here, that the opening fight, against a sea monster, teams up Captain Marvel with Jessica Drew, Spider-Woman. […]

I know why many comic publishers aren’t very good at selling books to movie fans. There are a whole variety of reasons, ranging from selfishness (“I want comics like I read when I was a kid!”) to idiocy (“why would we want more women and other people reading comics?”) to simple inertia (“the way we’ve always done things is good enough”) and fanboyishness (“we’ve already told that story so let’s do something unusual!”) and greed (“why have one comic title […]