By Emlyn Roberts-Harry

For those unfortunate people out there who aren't reading it, Rat Queens is a recent series from Image about an all-women adventuring party in a comedic, Dungeons & Dragons-inspired world. It's smart, touching, genuinely hilarious, and one of the best new books out there. And it has a cast of awesome ladies who aren't subjected to any of the usual clichés of women in comics.

They're tough without being emotionless; attractive without being sexualised; and they get to wear clothes which are actually practical for dungeon crawling. Where almost all the women in superhero comics are exaggeratedly slim with disproportionately large breasts, here we actually have a variety of body types. There's a reason why this comic has cultivated such a huge and outspoken female fan base, and why so many people are cosplaying as these characters. It's because Rat Queens encourages female readers to see themselves in the characters by presenting as many different kinds of women as it can, rather than demanding that all women conform to the one generic standard of beauty we so often see.

by Gavin Foo

 STARLIGHT #2

Writer: Mark Millar
Art: Goran Parlov
Colours: Ive Svorcina
Letterer: Marko Šunjić
Cover: Bill Sienkiewicz
Variant Cover: Goran Parlov

Hopefully, you are one of those people last month who picked up the first issue - if not, you are missing out. Mark Millar has followed it up with an issue that is equally as spectacular.

Last month we saw the establishment of Duke McQueen, an American Air Force pilot who more than a few decades ago, was transported to another world and dimension, Tantalus - and promptly had adventures and saved that world. The issue though, was much about loss as he had just lost his wife, and reflecting upon where his life has taken him. Let it be said that he had a choice to stay but chose to return to his love on earth. 

by Jake Douglas

I'll be completely honest. I wasn't exactly sure on how to judge the first issue of The Fuse by Antony Johnston and Justin Greenwood.

I picked it up based on the idea that it was going to have everything I love in the one story, and that the potential was there to be the perfect blending of ideas. Then I read it, and was torn between wondering if this was indeed a brilliant and highly thought out story with major potential or just another sci-fi comic with a lot of promise based on the idea, but missing vital elements that could have made it better.

Was it excellent, or just OK? If it's just OK, is it because I am in a bad mood? Or is it because it is actually just OK and not excellent?

by Gavin Foo

 THE WAKE #6

Writer: Scott Snyder
Art: Sean Murphy
Colours: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Cover: Andrew Robinson

I gave up. I gave up trying to guess what could be in store with this issue - and I’m really glad I did, because this world has unfolded in a totally different manner that I could never have expected. 

We are now in the last half of this 10-part series, and now we are fully introduced to Leeward, our new protagonist. It is 200 years later, in a world and landscape changed beyond recognition. Snyder and Murphy have even created new colloquialisms for this new world, and new infrastructure. 

by Jake Douglas


Let's think about the big picture for a second.

The ocean that we swim in is home to over 230,000 different forms of life. Each one of those life forms has an individual history. Every year, thousands more are discovered as we venture deeper into the mysteries that the ocean has to offer.

It comes as no surprise that it's this unknown element of the planet that we live in, that has inspired countless creative minds over the course of human history.

With literature, we have Jules Verne, Arthur C. Clarke, and HP Lovecraft. In films, we have The Abyss, Deep Star Six, Jaws, Leviathan, and Deep Rising.

There also seems to have been a recent surge in the comics industry based around the wonders of the sea, with The Wake, Great Pacific, Gestalt Comics' The Deep, and now Undertow.

by Chris Davidson

Writer – J. Michael Straczynski  //  Artist – Sid Kotian

Straczynski may have been the man that created the amazing TV series Babylon 5 and he seems to have a very large list of accolades next to his name but this story was not very attention grabbing. Minis that are 5 or less issues generally do not have much room for the story and characters to breath. They tend to feel rushed or the pace is so slow you wonder how the book could possibly become exciting or engaging. This book encapsulates many of the problems attributed to minis.

We are introduced to Allison, a private investigator who specialises in stopping the world from ending; it’s a speciality that has been passed down for generations. Al is the first female in the lineage to take on this task, it would have been her brother but she never had one.

by Gavin Foo

ABE SAPIEN #10

Writers: Mike Mignola / Scott Allie
Art: Max Fiumara
Colours: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Clem Robins

Man or monster? In this issue, we follow Abe Sapien further into his journey of self-reflection since he awoke from a lengthy slumber and absence from the BPRD team. Still dealing with the events of his shooting, Abe has now stumbled upon the town of Payton, Arizona.

After befriending J.J., the town’s resident lawman, the second part of this current arc opens with flames, destroying a possible threat that emerged from a bunch of dead horses. What follows is a bit of a celebration of sorts, Abe and J.J. having a chat over drinks, in which they share some personal stories. A side of Abe we haven't really seen before, the shift in his demeanour possibly a front for the darker issues he is currently dealing with.

Meanwhile, the more sinister elements in this arc reveal themselves in the forms of one Gustav Strobl - a seemingly immortal figure who first appeared in the pages of Witchfinder, one revived Agent Vaughn from the previous arc… and a couple of zombies. 

The shifts in tone and mood are highlighted well by colourist extraordinaire, Dave Stewart - with his signature reds bleeding out of the paper, which includes creepy floating tadpole creatures whilst Max Fiumara moves the story along through well paced panel work.

The issue ends with a ritual performed by the youngsters that have been camping out at the Payton golf course from issue #9, and more curiously, the frog that was placed in a cooler in that same issue, reappears and is put into an open grave, the final resting place of their (latest?) victim. - 8/10

by Jade Lindley

Oh it's that time again where I get excited for the smell, and the look of pretty new comics! While I am more of a fan of trades, I will most definitely be picking up a copy of Batman #28, because well...it's written by Scott Snyder....enough said really! What is everyone else picking up this week? Leave us a pretty little Facebook comment below, the comic team would look to see what is pushing everyone else's button's this week! Reow!!! 

DARK HORSE COMICS

ABE SAPIEN #10 
CLOWN FATALE #4 
STAR WARS #14 2013 ONGOING 
X #10 

IDW PUBLISHING

CITY THE MIND IN THE MACHINE #1
MAXX MAXXIMIZED #4 
TRANSFORMERS ROBOTS IN DISGUISE #26 DARK CYBERTRON PART 9 
X-FILES SEASON 10 #9

by Lewis E. Ryan

East of West has now been running long enough for one trade to be issued and another one to be close at hand. So, with that in mind, now’s as good a time as any to delve into the intriguing world that writer Jonathan Hickman has crafted in his most recent creator-owned series.

East of West opens in ritual and rebirth as we find three eerie child-like creatures return to the world pondering the absence of their fourth.

We learn soon enough that they are three of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and that the one missing is Death. Like the denizens of Discworld in Terry Pratchett’s Soul Music they seem to have misplaced him, but that comparison is not to suggest that the tone here is light one. This is not Discworld and unlike the whimsical creatures that inhabit that place, the intent of War, Conquest and Famine is solemn and murderous. 

by Gavin Foo

Un-death. Pretty much sums up this series in a nutshell. Fortunately, it isn’t as simple as that - as it is as quirky and unusual as the term “un-death”. Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash), and Mike Norton brings us a tale that is neither a ghost story, zombie fest or an iteration of Twin Peaks… yet it is all of them all at once.

Revival unfolds in the little town of Wausau, Wisconsin; where sisters Dana and Martha (otherwise known as ‘Em’) Cypress face an event in which the dead start coming back to life. “This sounds familiar”, you ask, almost immediately thinking of zombies, yet these ‘Revivers’, as they are referenced as in the book, retain all their memories and there are only a handful of them. No one in the town can pinpoint the exact moment of when it all went down, but after the event, anyone who had died stayed dead. So why these select few, and what exactly is going on? 

Enter the CDC (Centres for Disease Control & Prevention), promptly declaring the town a quarantine zone, effectively trapping the citizens in with whatever horrors await them, also in turn keeping out any possible outside expertise and the media, some of which believe this is some sort of miracle, and others, a more sinister beginning.