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The Flash Vol 3 Rogues Reloaded review by Raphael Borg

Comics, ReviewsMay 23, 20220Comments

A hero is as good as their villains. This is very true of the Flash, the villains around whom I find criminally underrated, and none more so than Captain Cold and his Rogues. Joshua Williamson proves very much in touch with who these people are, how their brokenness pulling them together in such a way that they…

The Flash : Vol 1 Lightning Strikes Twice review by Raphael Borg

Comics, ReviewsMay 17, 20220Comments

The great rebirth-era Flash reread starts here! And it starts off pretty well in spite of treading ground that is a little too familiar, with the trope of the (not-do) secret identity speedster villain front and center. While the New 52 volume ended on a low-key but ironically high note and this does offer a continuation…

Dark Nights Metal review by Raphael Borg

Comics, ReviewsMay 9, 20220Comments

Scott Snyder is an acquired taste. He seeks to write as in a sub-textually meaningful way as Geoff Johns and Alan Moore with the cosmic scale of Grant Morrison, but more often than not just about missing the mark in being a little too ambitious and overt with his plans. Dark Nights: Metal is one such…

Green Lantern review by Raphael Borg

Comics, ReviewsMarch 3, 20220Comments

I was not very enthusiastic to take up the latest Green Lantern book. See I am a HUGE Hal Jordan fan. It was through Geoff Johns' run that I got into Green Lantern and later to his supporting cast. While I love all of the Green Lantern Corps (my favorites being Kilowog, Mogo and Isamot Kol),…

The Other History of the DC Universe review by Raphael Borg

Comics, ReviewsMarch 1, 20220Comments

What a beautiful, beautiful book. I have not said this about a book for a long time. I read good books; I read fun books, sure. But a beautiful one? Not since the Alex Ross books. And like Alex Ross and Kurt Busiek's Marvels, The Other History of the DC Universe seeks to make the history of…

The Flash: Savage Velocity – review by Raphael Borg

Comics, ReviewsJanuary 8, 20220Comments

It is very important, I find, that one maintains a critical distance between what they like and themselves in order to accept that their object of content is not infallible. With this frame of mind, I read through Mike Baron, Jackson Guice and William Moesssner-Loebs' Savage Velocity. Hot off the heels of Barry Allen's death in…

Wonder Woman by William Moessner-Loebs reviewed by Raphael Borg

Comics, ReviewsNovember 2, 20210Comments

This is a weird book. I really wanted to like this book. Wonder Woman, I find, has had an....interesting.... history in DC Comics. Unlike Batman and Superman, there have only been a handful of iconic stories from her entire bibliography. Sadly, it can easily be seen here why. William Moessner-Loebs gives Diana plenty of personality, as…

Ben Percy’s Green Arrow review by Raphael Borg

Comics, ReviewsAugust 5, 20210Comments

The greatest Green Arrow stories are those in which he is treated like a modern-day Robin Hood, both a loudmouth political windbag with a gritty manner of dispensing justice as well as a cynical, flamboyant, swashbuckling hero. In an effort for revitalising the character in DC rebirth, Ben Percy and his team try for a…

Shazam: The Seven Magic Lands reviewed by Raphael Borg

Comics, ReviewsJuly 20, 20210Comments

No-one reinvents mythologies like Geoff Johns; to me, by now, it is a given. Out of all of his books, however, the writing in Shazam: The Seven Magic Lands does slip into being blatant in what is being said rather than complex character writing. It does, however, in my opinion, serve the narrative, as it…

Batman: Earth One reviewed by Raphael Borg

Comics, ReviewsJuly 12, 20210Comments

How do you reinvent a legend? While the origins of Batman have been told ad nauseam with varying degrees of success, Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's take on Batman's lore in Batman: Earth One is perhaps the most "real" of more recent takes, highlighting how much of a journey Bruce Wayne had to undertake to shift…

Superman For All Seasons review by Raphael Borg

Comics, ReviewsJune 15, 20210Comments

Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's "Superman For All Seasons" is best described, I believe, as a simple masterpiece. It doesn't try to be a grand story with sprawling action scenes or a mind-boggling thriller or a deconstruction of the Man of Steel. It is a simple retelling of a life, Clark Kent's early life as Superman…

Wonder Woman: Earth One Volume 1-3 review by Raphael Borg

Comics, ReviewsMarch 22, 20210Comments

While I normally find Grant Morrison's work thoroughly thought-provoking and compelling (and often migraine inducing), the three volumes of Wonder Woman: Earth One proved a much more of a slog to get through, ironically enough. That is not to say it is bad per se - by any extent of the imagination, it is would…