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4.7 stars

Average score of 12 user reviews

As eventful and character-driven as the cover implies. 0

(Some spoilers below)This issue is classic Peter David. Then again so was the last issue, and the one before that, even though those two are as different as a barnstorming 90s-homage punch-up and a poignant look at guilt, religion and catharsis can be. #238 is something else again, a busy crossroads of plotlines and character moments. It's not every writer who can juggle such different modes of storytelling, or even wants to, but PAD clearly delights in this freedom of tone and focus and the who...

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

Spectacular art and strong Wildstorm backstory - excellent. 1

(SPOILERS)   Wow, the artwork in this issue. This is one of the most beautiful single comics I've ever seen; Brandon Badeaux could be an Eisner Award-level artist. Every panel is alive with detail, finely and lavishly drawn, with a textured intensity to the pencils that shines through the light inking and the gorgeous, jewel-like colours. The settings are lush and elaborate, and every character looks stunning, from Jenny Q. swaggering in hipster combats to the glorious fascist-chic alternate ver...

6 out of 6 found this review helpful.

Excellent team-building, as the new run hits its stride 0

Wow!   On its second issue, Bernardin, Freeman and Barrionuevo's Authority run is shaping up beautifully.   Right from the start the action is frenetic and splintered as the Carrier strikes out from Earth at lightning speed, under no-one's control; it's chaos on board, with floors shaking, civilians panicking and everybody grabbing things and yelling at each other in the best traditions of Star Trek warp malfunctions.   Gradually a few breathing spaces open up, in which the characters regroup a...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

All-new, cast-of-thousands WildCATS. Fun, old-fashioned mayhem! 0

This month sees new creative teams and story arcs for both WildCATs and Authority.   Far from rebooting its World's End concept, Wildstorm has grittily chosen to stick to its guns; although both titles show a change of pace and direction, they remain in direct continuity.   They're now very closely aligned; WildCATs #19 picks up where Authority #18 left off, in the wake of the Carrier's abrupt unplanned departure.   This dovetailing extends from the books' rosters (Apollo and Midnighter staying...

1 out of 2 found this review helpful.

The new creative team kicks off at breakneck speed 0

(Some spoilers)   This is the first issue by writing team Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman ('The Highwaymen'), drawn by Al Barrionuevo.   The close of DnA's 17-issue run saw the team still down two members (the Doctor and Jenny Quantum), but regaining strength and confidence aboard a partially repowered Carrier.   Here the Carrier takes centre stage, as a literal bolt from the blue sends it into full recovery.   Jack and the others have just a few pages to figure out what's happening, tell as ma...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

A typically quirky and soulful ending for DnA's underrated run 0

(Some spoilers)   This issue is the last for Abnett and Lanning, who've steered this neglected gem of a series through some choppy waters.  Their run took a lot of risks, stubbornly not giving readers the firepower and flippancy they've come to expect from an Authority outing, instead giving us a team ravaged by impotence and self-doubt, struggling with its ruinous failure to build Jenny Sparks' finer world.  They got precious little thanks for it in sales terms, but DnA did an outstanding job o...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

High school disco, Lovecraft style – the kids are not all right. 0

(SPOILERS)  Is it too early to say 'best limited series of 2009?'  North 40 is a total joy to read:  smart, quirky and original.   Working off a forbidden-book plot device, it takes traditional backwoods horror-film elements – beleagered sheriff, ragtag townsfolk, geographical isolation and supernatural excess – and applies a benignly slanted view to them.  Half the fun is in watching the story dodge expectations, such as the way the community reacts – or rather, doesn't – to the spontaneous mu...

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

Spoils of war. DnA's run continues to impress. 0

(SPOILERS)   When it's done this well, there's nothing more fun than the 'third reel' of a story arc kicking into gear.   Last issue saw the grounded Carrier at the mercy of Kaizen Gamorra, with Swift and Angie outgunned by Gamorran clones, Jack blindsided by Cybernary, and Midnighter nowhere to be seen after a dream visitation from the Doctors sends him 'north' to find a cure for Apollo.   Here in #14 the one-sided battle continues, in a classic sequence that mixes old-fashioned duelling and wi...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

Conover Country gets used to its weird new normal. 0

(A few SPOILERS)  North 40  is like an arthouse version of a 50s B-movie:  clever, freaky and loads of fun.  It's one of Wildstorm's new clutch of creator-driven titles, announced earlier this year – a welcome addition to the imprint beside the long-established Wildstorm Universe and the various licensed properties.  Following the fortunes of a small midwest county after two bored college kids expose it to a plague of magic and mutation, it's written by Aaron Williams (Nodwick, PS238) and drawn ...

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

What goes around comes around 0

(SPOILERS)   "They think there's no-one left to save the world..."   Ten years ago, Warren Ellis used this line to introduce the Authority – an aggressively idealistic bunch who were going to build a finer world by any means necessary.   We all know what the road to hell is paved with.   I've been consistently impressed and entertained by the way Abnett and Lanning have woven aspects of the Ellis series into this very different book, from the nod to that first line in their own issue #1 to thei...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

A messed-up sort of homecoming. 0

All things come to those who wait.  In the previous issue of Abnett & Lanning's excellent Authority run, we finally found out why Apollo's been MIA since being bitten by an Incubite in issue #5.  These creatures, misshapen human carriers of the Warhol Virus (15 minutes of rage and biting before self-destruct!), looked like a fun but shallow plot device when they appeared in issue #1, something to generate fight scenes and provide horror moments.  They've strayed into all the other World's En...

2 out of 2 found this review helpful.

The evolution of a virus. Excellent, unpredictable issue. 1

If there's a superhero comic at the moment that deserves the term 'criminally underrated', this is it. With little recognition, this Authority series by Abnett & Lanning has been doing something that doesn't happen often enough: taking a genuinely new approach to an iconic set of characters. Anyone who's heard of this run will know the key theme here is impotence, the humbling of a superstar team in a world it didn't save and can barely navigate. Are they still heroes without their godlike p...

2 out of 2 found this review helpful.