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  • Philip Portelli March 12, 2026 at 10:03pm

    I got the STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE OMNIBUS from IDW that collects three miniseries and several short stories.

    One is "Fool's Gold" where rumor has it that there's a treasure map hidden in the station. Mayhem for days! 

    Another is "Too Long a Sacrifice" where the horrors of the past still have consequences.

    One short story is "Only You Can Save Yourself" where Ezri Dax must save a medical station's personnel from Andorian terrorists using the strength and knowledge of her past selves.

    It reminded me about how upset I was when Erzi was there for DS9's last season, not Jadzia. Did I miss Jadzia or Terry Farrell? Hard to say but it was terrible how she was treated.

  • Jeff of Earth-J March 21, 2026 at 7:03am

    THE TWELVE:

    1118575.jpg

    I just finished reading J. Michael Straczynski's The Twelve in its entirety for the the first time. I was really enjoying it on a month-to-month basis back in 2008, but by #8 I realized I was "losing the story" so I decided to set it aside until I could read it all in a single sitting. I had no idea that would be 17 years later, but it's even better than I remember it. I have also been supplementing my reading of it with the characters' original appearances, those which have been reprinted, from Mystic Comics, Daring Mystery comics and elsewhere. Very satisfying. Recommended.

    • Captain Comics > Jeff of Earth-J March 31, 2026 at 1:52pm

      I also enjoyed The Twelve. I don't think JMS obviated much Golden Age history, nor did he re-invent these characters. He just took what was on the page in the '40s and extrapolated them into what they might have "really" been, and into something interesting for the modern reader. I particularly liked what he did with Black Widow and Rockman. And Master Mind Excello. And ... well, all of them, really. Who knew I'd come to appreciate the Phantom Reporter? 

      The brief Golden Age histories of these characters don't distract, I would think, even if you had never read the reprints. I had, but I didn't feel like it mattered. To me, the lengthy existence of these characters adds a layer of mystery and importance to the proceedings. Plus, there's the fish-out-of-water of people from the 1940s adjusting to the present. Plus the fearlessness of killing some of them. Plus a really good story.

  • ClarkKent_DC March 23, 2026 at 10:56pm

    Making a (very minor) dent in my to-be-read pile, I gave a read to:

    • Grayson: Agents of Spyral. This was a trade-paperback collection of the first four issues of Grayson, plus a couple other stories and supplemental material. It followed developments in which Nightwing is unmasked, and seemingly killed, and becomes a rookie agent for a black ops group called, well, Spyral. Helena Bertinelli works for them, too; she's his handler. Entertaining enough, but jarring to a guy like me who still (still!) can't get over Hawkeye taking a job as plant security for some company and letting them know his true name! Here, not only is Dick Grayson's identity not a secret, neither is Batman's! I understand all developments in this title were wiped away in one of DC's innumerable reboots.
    • 1/9. This was an indie comic that posited: What if the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on that day had succeded in overthrowing the federal government? From this depressing premise, the creators spin a tale about an oppressive regime that lauds its Dear Leader. It is countered by a spunky resistance movement -- that, of course, operates from the basement of Ben's Chili Bowl, a District of Columbia landmark (IYKYK). There's also a reporter who has a solid lead on a blockbuster story, but before he can get it on the air, jackbooted thugs shoot the TV station manager dead and immediately replace him with an anchor who smoothly spouts the now-current propaganda. Our reporter captures it all on his cellphone, slips away and uploads the video to the cloud. And that story he would have put on the air: The resistors have the actual ballot boxes from the Electoral College. Entertaining, but thinking about such an alternate universe makes my head hurt. And that wasn't even the most depressing comic I had read this go-round.
    • That would be The New History of the DC Universe: The Dakoka Incident. I think I will cite my reasons why I didn't like it in that the thread for that, when I can spare the time, but I definitely didn't like it.
    • The Bat-Man: Second Knight. A marvelous and well-crafted prestige three-issue miniseries that is a "realistic" look at a just-starting-out Bat-Man set in the 1930s, with the context of being a little more than a decade since The Great War and the stage being set for a sequel no one in their right mind really wants. Here, Bruce Wayne is a loner (there's no Robin, no Alfred, no Bat-family), Julie Madison is his lady love, and, heavens to Betsy, there's no Joker! (At least not yet.) The main villain here is the Scarecrow, and there is a spunky gal reporter from the Metropolis Daily Star sniffing around ... and where she goes, a certain strange visitor from another planet isn't far behind. Great, great stuff.

    I'm also reading Planet She-Hulk, Dick Tracy, The Twilight Zone, The Beauty, Fantastic Four, and Black Cat.

     

    • Jeff of Earth-J > ClarkKent_DC March 24, 2026 at 6:36am

      About Bat-Man: Second Knight: "What he said."

  • Richard Willis March 24, 2026 at 5:35pm

    The Bat-Man: Second Knight. A marvelous and well-crafted prestige three-issue miniseries that is a "realistic" look at a just-starting-out Bat-Man set in the 1930s.....

     

    Thanks for the review, Kelvin. I’m preordering the HC of this and am getting the First Knight HC from the same creators.

    • Captain Comics > Richard Willis March 31, 2026 at 1:41pm

      I also enjoyed First Knight, and am looking forward to the sequel. 

      I didn't post anything about First Knight, because I was late to the party, and Jeff and others had already said how good it was. I will say that one of the quirkier elements is the reliance on movie stills and head shots from the '30s and '40s as art reference. Which is approprite, especially since it automatically gets the hair styles and clothing right. The quirky aspect is that the artist isn't consistent on the reference. Bruce Wayne is sometimes recognizably Cary Grant, sometimes Errol Flynn, sometimes Robert Mitchum, etc. The ladies, too, jump around from actress to actress. It sounds sloppy, but I had a fun time guessing who was who in a given scene. 

  • Jeff of Earth-J March 31, 2026 at 7:20am

    NEW COMICS I HAVE READ TODAY THIS MONTH:

    • AHOY!: (No AHOY! That's odd.)
    • DC: Action Comics #1096, Supergirl #11, Wonder Woman #31
    • Image: Capes #5, Skinbreaker #7
    • Marvel: Fantastic Four/Planet of the Apes #2
    • Oni Press: Cruel Universe (v2) #8, Spirit of the Shadows #3
    • Mad Cave: I picked up one final Dick Tracy, the St. Patrick's Day Special. If I decide to go forward, I'll tradewait.
    • IDW: Twilight Zone #5

    ...plus Superman/Spider-Man #1, however you want to tally that.

    AROC OF ZENITH: After basically taking the month of February off, I buckled down and finished the strip in March: all 312 episodes! (I'd still like to see it collected on actual paper.)

  • The Baron April 1, 2026 at 1:52pm

    JSA #18: Having now read the entire "JSA: Year One" storyline, my verdict on this revised origin story for comicdom's first super-hero team is as follows: "It really wasn't all that good."

    • Captain Comics > The Baron April 3, 2026 at 11:04am

      Sadly, I agree. I'll have more to say in the JSA thread later.

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