This might come as a shock to some of you, but I’ve never read a Peter David ‘Hulk’ comic before. That shouldn’t be taken as an implicit criticism of him or his previous run, by the way, it’s just a fact.

As a fluffy holiday diversion, Marvel has published five ‘What If…’ one-shots, exploring alternate histories of familiar characters. The four reviewed here are strangely grim but lightweight, dealing with dark stories in a fluffy and inconsequential wa

While not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, the quickly-cancelled ‘Warlock’ is an OK title with some promise…

‘Blade Trinity’ is a natural development of what we’ve seen before in this series, but with a quirkier sensibility…

The Marvel universe is a busy, complicated place. This is clearly an attempt to create a fun, entry-level book to the wider Marvel universe for readers only really familiar with the big characters…

A number of recent Marvel revamps have clearly had one eye on the movie version. You can almost see Marvel editors handing them round a Hollywood pitch meeting and saying ‘how about this?’.

Big ideas, big action scenes and good human writing crash together in a technology and conspiracy heavy book each issue of which really needs a couple of read throughs before it all sinks in.

The notes in the back of the first issue by author, and former ‘Infinity Inc’ hero, Roy Thomas make clear the writer’s great pleasure in this comic book being the most faithful adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel in any medium.

So what if Robert Kirkman created the Marvel Universe?

I’m not one of the those people who derides ’spandex’. I love The Flash. I love Golden Age heroes. I have no difficulty looking at pages of people wearing big collars and capes. This, however, I have a problem with.

Hulk #75 finally answers the question of who is the mouth on the monitor screen manipulating events to try and get hold of the Hulk’s blood. The answer will underwhelm you…

I’ve only just been able to catch up with the most recent ‘X-Statix’ storyline, and to my great delight the title is back to its old self…

Sam Raimi’s first ‘Spider-Man’ movie was an almost perfect comic book movie. The sequel removes that niggling ‘almost’…

Robert Morales wrote ‘The Truth: Red, White and Black’ one of the very best mini-series of recent years and in it he demonstrated an ability to use Captain America in a complex, intelligent way.

I’m not sure what Marvel promise the big writers to take up the core X-Men team, but whatever it is, it’s worth it…

Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada returns to writing and drawing comics with this five-issue mini-series…

Well, here’s something unique – a Mark Millar book that’s better written than it is drawn. Which is not to say that this is a brilliant script, merely that the art is worse…

Marvel’s Epic experiment comes to an end with the last issue of John Jackson Miller’s ‘Crimson Dynamo’, a six-issue mini-series that has taken the old ‘Iron Man’ villain in a new direction…

Another week, another Marvel comic with Spidey on the cover but not in the actual story…

The trouble with Cap…

In comics, good titles don’t go unused for long – even if the concepts attached to them change. Back in the 1980s, ‘Secret Wars’ saw a few dozen Marvel superheroes and supervillains abducted from Earth for spurious reasons…

This is Grant Morrison’s last story arc writing ‘New X-Men’. Unsurprisingly, he isn’t going quietly…

One famous issue number, six revamps of old Marvel properties… and two sexy superspies soaring to stardom.

Ang Lee’s ‘Hulk’ comes to DVD with exactly the same strengths and weaknesses it had on its cinema release…

When ‘Alias’ launched a couple of years ago, I wasn’t terribly impressed…

Unluckily, he says, hitting cliche instantly, #13 shows, for the first time, ‘X-Statix’ dropping the ball.

If this issue had featured Princess Diana, as it was intended to, it would have gone down as one of the greatest, most audacious comic books in Marvel’s history.

This is what I hoped Epic comics would be like – esoteric, atypical Marvel product with decent talent behind it…

The peril of Cap in this modern world is that he invites moral absolutism. Stuck on that unfortunate line between self-pride and Nationalism as he is, he inspires both love and hatred and perhaps divides critics and readers more than any other character.

Just Imagine… Shakespeare creating the Marvel Universe.

Supreme Power’ #1 is not quite the stellar first issue one might expect from the man who has recently been setting the comics world afire with the brilliance of his ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ run, but it’s an arresting and accomplished beginning for an ongoing

Garth Ennis hasn’t ever been one of comics’ more unreliable writers when it comes to getting stuff out on deadline. Not for him the long delays between issues a la Kevin Smith, or the sudden appearance of fill-ins…

First things first – the beast is in good shape. ILM have created a Hulk that is convincing, and an effective amalgam of actor Eric Bana and the comic book character…

In what sense this Bendis scripted Spidey centric treat is ‘Ultimate X-Men’ rather than, as it seems, ‘Ultimate Marvel Team-Up Volume 2′, is so unclear as to be opaque.

Not since Tim Burton’s ‘Batman Returns’ has there been such a vast gap between the aims of a feature film and its portrayal via merchandise and spin-off products.

Seen ‘Hulk’? Need something to fill the yawning gap between now and the next Marvel movie, ‘The Punisher’, comes out next year?

Mark Millar has turned in something entirely untypical for Marvel, and in that sense it is a good opening statement for the Epic imprint. Unfortunately, in every other sense ‘Trouble’ is rubbish…

Marvel go where DC fear to tread these days, or so it often seems…

A bit of a disappointment, this, after Evan Dorkin’s recent ‘Agent X’ two-parter…

This new comic is so relentlessly masculine that I’ve had to hide the first issue from my weaker, more vulnerable colleagues, for the good of their health…

This isn’t a comic, it’s an opportunity.

There are people out there, mad and probably stupid, people, who believe that ‘Spider-Girl’ is an accessible, all-ages superhero title which will appeal to ‘the kids’.

This book has always been the lesser of the Spidey titles…

Film franchises shouldn’t function like television series, everyone knows that…

Less a triumphant return to power as a decline and fall, the recent ‘Return of the King’ storyline, spinning out of the risible ‘Ultimate War’ mini-series, represents an exciting new low…

While sister title ‘Uncanny X-Men’ has changed writers and haemorrhaged artists with alarming frequency in recent years ‘New’ has, despite its own artist-related troubles, pursued a steady course.

Well, they’ve gone and done it. This month the price of an issue of ‘X-Statix’ has gone up from $2.25 to a whopping $2.99…

‘X-Men 2′ has an overall dramatic tone which, like that of its predecessor, is exactly right. Neither cripplingly earnest nor floridly tongue-in-cheek, the movie imbues its fantasy elements and SF conventions with utter conviction.

As this title has been in creative flux for the last nine issues, it seems futile to try and analyse any trends…

I picked this up when Mark told me that Evan Dorkin was doing a run on it. I’m a big fan of Dorkin’s work – I’d buy a ‘Gambit’ mini-series if he was on scripting duties…