Grovel

If you thought from the first volume of Scalped that the series was going to be about the book’s lead character Bad Horse, you’ll be surprised by this second volume. But then surprises are part of the joy of this superior ongoing story of life in a Native American reservation. Bad Horse certainly appears but [...]

According to the general rules of dark sci-fi, one of two things could happen in a post-apocalyptic world. The first is a Mad Max-like state of anarchy, where rival pockets of civilisation battle it out for decreasing resources. The other is the rise of a dictatorship, usually on the basis of national security, and backed [...]

Losing a child must be one of humanity’s worst nightmares. Although you can guess at it, the love a person feels for their offspring is beyond expectations – you simply can’t know what it’ll be like until you’ve experienced it yourself. Likewise, while parents can probably weep at the simple thought of losing a child, [...]

There used to be a time when superhero comics were aimed at children, before DVDs, computer games and teen-wizards finally swamped comics with their superior sales. As existing audiences grew up and new blood failed to appear, the themes and content of superhero comics cranked up to a more adult level.
Which is not to say [...]

Adaptations are a funny old business. If you were going to set a general rule, you’d probably argue that the original is almost always the best, so why bother converting one good thing into another average thing? The last time I can really remember a significant benefit to having a comic adaptation of a film [...]

It’s easy to dismiss Star Wars as a sci-fi fairy tale for kids. However, one of the wonderful things about the extended Star Wars universe is that there’s truly something for everyone. While the films were always intended for a family audience, there are elements outside the movies that have taken the spirit of the [...]

UPDATE: Now available in paperback
The kingdom of Faerie has featured regularly in Vertigo’s line of comics, since Neil Gaiman pretty much introduced it during the Sandman series. Sandman fans will remember the Shakespeare connection, where Dream gives Shakespeare his ideas in exchange for two plays, one of which is A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which gets [...]

Mixing history and folklore isn’t new ground for comics but this Korean twist on proceedings should certainly offer a different angle for Western readers. Guguryeo, a 2,000-year-old Korean kingdom, is in turmoil, as its king slowly loses his marbles and is seemingly involved in the suicides of his heirs. The latest in line to the [...]

Sebastian Faulks, Charlie Higson and Daniel Craig may be doing great things to keep the Bond character up to date, but sometimes only vintage Bond really hits the spot. This collection of two stories from the classic newspaper strips (The Paradise Plot and Deathmask) see James in a classic, womanising mood; while deadly assassins and [...]

One of the best things about reviewing comics is that it’s full of surprises. DreamKeepers Volume 1 was one of the surprise highlights of last year, coming out of the blue and knocking our socks off with its beautifully-realised talking animal fantasy.
Thankfully, David Lillie has now completed Volume 2. We’ll be writing a full review [...]

Garth Ennis may have helped put war stories back on the comics map, but he’s not the only one with Second World War tales to tell. This story is set in the last few days of the war, as America, Russia and the Allies jostle for control over Nazi secrets and territory. One unit of [...]

UPDATE: Volume 2 out now.
We could hardly be more happy to see that Vertical is continuing it’s plunder of the Osamu Tezuka archives with Dororo. More familiar to gamers as the inspiration behind PlayStation 2 game Blood Will Tell, this three volume classic is a fantasy story, set against the backdrop of Japanese mythology. A [...]

We’ve been spoilt in the last few months with the reprinting of Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez’s wonderful Love and Rockets books, in a convenient and affordable format. Amor Y Cohetes is the final volume in this collection, which gathers together all the stories that were published alongside Gilbert and Jaime’s Locas and Palomar epics, but [...]

Jessica Farm is an intruiging project from Josh Simmons. Simmons has devoted some of the next 42 years of his life to creating a 600-page graphic novel, which he’ll publish in 2050. Since January 2000 he’s been creating this work, one page per month, which he’ll make up as he goes along. Every time he [...]