ANIMOSITY #19

After the fall of the walled city last issue, both the animals and the humans take stock of not only what they have, but who they are in this new world.

It’s a deep issue, this one, with parallel discussions amongst the animals on one side and the humans on the other, each trying to decide what they’re going to become. There are no easy answers as they’re dealing with big questions but the sense I get is that the past doesn’t define you. While this is a quiet issue in terms of plot, the series as a whole has been damn good.

DARK ARK #15

Shrae’s journey comes to an end as his daughter Khalee makes a deal with the dark lords as her father had before her, in order to face up against their captors who are revealed as the Fallen, those first angels who fell but landed on Earth rather than in Hell. But as with every deal made with devils, there’s a price to pay.

This issue finishes with a big “END” on the last panel, but there’s clearly more story to be told. Whether there’ll be a DARK ARK Book Two or a follow on series under a different name is yet to be seen.

HAWKMAN #10

The Deathbringers are trashing London and despite his best efforts, Hawkman can only do so much to stop them – he is, after all, just one man. Or is he? Having spent the last nine issues travelling through time and space meeting his previous incarnations, he now manages to summon them to the present day to fight the Deathbringers . . . just before he’s stabbed.

It’s all been leading to this, the final confrontation between the two armies, one of which is made up of different incarnations of the same man. The two page spread showing all the different Hawkmen is nice, though it would have been good to see some throwbacks to previous versions of the character as Easter eggs if nothing else. Still, a good read.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #9

The JL Dark face off against the new Lords of Order who have co-opted magic users to act as their hosts while they invade Myrra; Man-Bat learns from Khalid about Dr Fate having gone off the deep end; and Wonder Woman and Zatanna contact Circe to find out who’s behind all of this.

Once again, and I know I’m repeating myself, but this is really my favourite Justice League book, and still for the same reasons I’ve been saying for the last couple of months – it’s gorgeous to look at, and the dialogue is just spot on.