My sixth consecutive year where I’m doing a quick and dirty look back at the comics and trade paperbacks I bought in the previous year. Anyone remember when I used to do weekly reviews of my purchases? Nah, me neither. What follows are an issue per month that I either really enjoyed or possibly made me think what the hell? along with a trade I bought.
January
GEIGER #10
This continues to be a well done series by Geoff Johns with absolutely spot on art by Gary Frank, set in a post-apocalypse world with bizarre characters – think Atomic Knights meets Mad Max and you’re on the right track. And in this issue, Junkyard Joe returns! I know Johns was often a divise figure while he was at DC and not everything he did worked (I’m looking at you, FOREVER EVIL) but his Ghost Machine imprint at Image is firing on all cylinders for me.
DC FINEST EVENTS: ZERO HOUR PART ONE
Like CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS (see below) I obviously don’t have enough versions of ZERO HOUR, do I? I mean I have the original series, the trade paperback, the hardback anniversary edition and the massive omnibus complete with all crossover issues. So of course I needed to pick up this new collection in paperback which also has the crossover issues. The DC Finest collections are really nice and you’ll see a few of them in this list, and this is no exception.
February
BLOOD SQUAD SEVEN #6
The 90s are back, my friends, with Joe Casey and the wonderful art of Paul Fry bringing not-Youngblood into the modern age. I probably said this in last year’s round-up, but I wasn’t a reader of the Image explosion in the 90s and have only picked up a few collections in later years so I’m probably missing many of the references, but BLOOD SQUAD SEVEN stands on its own regardless and is still enjoyable.
JUDGE DREDD: A BETTER WORLD
Amidst the over the top violence and black humour, Judge Dredd has long been used to hold up a satirical mirror to the real world and A BETTER WORLD does so wonderfully. Judge Maitland, an accountant, runs some figures and presents data to the Chief Judge that if the city spent the money they currently spend on policing and weaponry, and instead put it into education and social programmes, crime reduces. There’s resistance from within the system (of course) but Maitland is given a single sector and a year to experiment with and show results. It’s a damn fine story which shows change isn’t always bad.
March
BLACK HAMMER: SPIRAL CITY #4
Irony – last year’s round up for March also had a BLACK HAMMER title and I finished the section with “There have been one or two mis-steps in the Black Hammer universe but on the whole, it’s been consistently good fun.” Well, SPIRAL CITY put paid to that, delivering one of the bleakest, most depressing stories I’ve read in a long while. It’s well written, of course, but with its unavoidable parallels to modern American politics, it does not make a fun read.
JUDGE DREDD: THE COMPLETE CASE FILES #46
The chronological retelling of Judge Dredd and his adventures in Mega-City One and beyond continue, with the usual mix of humour, violence and satire that’s made the character such an enduring one. The writers – John Wagner chief among them – have never been afraid to mix things up as well, with this collection picking up on the ramifications of changing the anti-mutant laws and allowing mutants to become citizens, something the “norm” citizens don’t like.
April
ROGUE SUN #25
It’s sort of traditional that if a series hits #25 there’s some sort of change to the status quo and here we get Aurie, the half-sister of the main character, becoming a new Rogue Sun alongside the existing one. This series is good, a mix of magic and sci-fi grounded in a real world setting; I guess my only complaint is that they seem to introduce new big bad villains almost every other issue so that it feels rushed on occasion.
SAVAGE DRAGON ULTIMATE COLLECTION #3
I mentioned above when talking about BLOOD SQUAD SEVEN that I missed the original 90s Image explosion when it was happening because I was such a DC fan-boy. Over the last year or two, I’ve picked up these lovely collections of SAVAGE DRAGON by Erik Larsen and have really enjoyed the nutso, full on, bombastic story telling he uses. Having grown up on Judge Dredd and 2000AD, I also like the fact that Dragon ages in real time, a rare event in US comics. Looking forward to getting the next collection soon.
May
THE ROCKETFELLERS #5
Another Ghost Machine imprint title, this one from Peter Tomasi whose work I enjoyed back in the day when he was part of the GREEN LANTERN camp around the time of BLACKEST NIGHT. This series is a family from the future seeking refuge in their past (our present) and on the run from the authorities and all that entails. Obviously a very heavy sci-fi basis, there’s a surprising undercurrent of body horror running through it.
DR FATE COLLECTION
The complete run of DR FATE by JM DeMatteis including the 4 issue miniseries with Keith Giffen and the full series (mostly) illustrated by Shawn McManus from the late 80s. This series introduced Eric and Linda Strauss as Fate, along with the very confusing situation of Nabu, the Lord of Order, inhabiting the dead body of Kent Nelson, the previous Dr Fate, so no-one knew what to call him. I was reading JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA at the time so was aware of the female Dr Fate but only had one or two issues of the series itself. Picking this up was a good decisions as the story in full makes for a great read.
June
COLD WITCH #1
The latest in Charles Soule’s run of connected miniseries around a magical society called the Shrouded College. The art by Will Sliney is gorgeous throughout and the story, while a complete tale in itself, definitely brings in new elements for the larger world Soule has created. The next series will be out in 2026 and I’ll definitely be picking it up.
DC VERSUS MARVEL THE AMALGAM AGE OMNIBUS
This turned up way later than originally planned and I had to source a new copy from one of the shops on eBay but it was worth it. Another whopping omnibus of around 1,000 pages, collecting the DC VERSUS MARVEL miniseries and then all of the Amalgam titles that spun out of that, along with the other Access-centric minis and Amalgam titles. I had the trade paperbacks collecting most of the one-shots but it was great having them all together in this massive hardback.
July
BLACK HAMMER: SPIRAL CITY #7
The finale of the mini series that, for me, has soured the BLACK HAMMER universe due to it’s despair-filled overtones and storyline. Sure (no surprises here) the good guys mostly come out on top and the bad guys mostly get their come-uppance, but the portrayal of the world of Spiral City and its people – how easily they were led to hating the heroes, to discriminating against them, to brutalising them – just didn’t make for an easy read. I don’t know if there’s any plans for a new BLACK HAMMER series in 2026 or beyond but for the first time since the original series, I don’t think I’ll bother. Such a disappointing way to end it all.
SUPERMAN: THE TRIANGLE ERA VOLUME 1
Yet another omnibus, this time collecting the start of the Triangle Era of interconnected Superman titles from the 1990s. It’s again a gorgeous collection and while I’d read some of the stories in trade paperback or with some crossover issues I’d picked up, most of this was new to me and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. This was definitely my era of Superman (even though I didn’t pick up any of the titles at the time) and at the time of writing this, I have Volume 2 on my to-be-read pile.
August
HYDE STREET #8
Another of the Ghost Machine titles, again written by Geoff Johns. What almost felt like a “monster of the month” title when it started has slowly and naturally started mixing the characters together, bringing them into conflict with each other and revealing their different motivations and how they either compliment or clash with the others. All this ably assisted by the art of Ivan Reis and this is another damn fine title.
DC FINEST: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: THE RETURN
Regular readers will know of my affection for the Justice League Detroit so won’t be surprised to find I picked up this collection. However, I was surprised because the solicitation stated “This DC Finest volume collects the beginning of the Detroit Era issues” but actually starts about a third of the way into it. The Detroit League are already formed and go up against Amazo, missing out the first ten or so issues of the run. That said, it’s nice to see these stories collected.
September
THE ROCKETFELLERS #8
Another issue of this title as we get to see an origin story of sorts and learn why the family had to flee from the future back to our present. It’s nicely done, showing a version of the future that on the face of it looks vaguely utopian but there’s enough of an undercurrent shown through the dialogue that makes you realise not everything is perfect.
JSA COLLECTION #1
For the first time in forever, when a new JSA title (and Justice League title) were launched following the Absolute Power event, I didn’t bother getting the ongoing series. I knew I’d get the inevitable collection, though, and it’s an okay read – there are some new villains (at least new to me) and the ending of this collection shows a long-time hero being killed which was something of a shock, but it doesn’t make me want to get the ongoing. I’ll get the next collection, though.
October
DC FINEST EVENTS: CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS PART ONE
As I mentioned above about the ZERO HOUR DC Finest paperback, I already have this in multiple versions – but this is the first time the crossover issues have been included amongst the original story in reading order. They’ve been collected before in multiple collections, but not interwoven with the main story. That sounds like me justifying why I bought this . . . but I think we all know I’d have bought it anyway.
No individual issues bought in October and I’ll explain why in a day or two.
November
GHOST COMPENDIUM VOLUME 1
Dark Horse’s attempt to get their own shared/sort-of superhero universe up and running back in the 90s had a modicum of success here and there, with titles like BARB WIRE and X but probably the most successful was GHOST helped in no small part, I have no doubt, by the art of Adam Hughes in the earliest issues. He may not have stayed long, but his character design stuck and while that might make the book look like a 90s bad girl comic full of heaving alabaster bosoms and gunfights (and there are a lot of both, to be fair) that’s not all the title is. This compendium collects the first two series; the first written by Eric Luke who explored themes of feminism, abusive relationships, sexuality, and the like, while the second series written by Chris Warner and then Mike Kennedy went in a slightly different direction, introducing a wider world for Ghost to explore. The series had its ups and downs but I’m looking forward to re-reading it in this huge book.
Again, no individual issues bought this month.
December
And nothing at all bought in December.
Crisis on Earth-Prime 
All fine selections honestly
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