(This review may contain spoilers).

In comparison to the Peter Quill of the Guardians of the Galaxy book, I really didn’t like the Peter Quill portrayed in the first of these comics. While the style choice of black and white was a good change, I couldn’t see Quill as a hero; or even an anti-hero.

Even though the second comic was in the same style as the first, I found Quill to be a much more likable character. It was good to not only be able to see his relationship with the Ship, but also to see that he did care about the people who were being enslaved. However, I did feel that the romance between the two secondary characters moved way too fast and didn’t feel easy or natural.

I liked being able to learn more of Quill’s past and why his mother’s husband was so willing to believe she’d been unfaithful to him. However, I didn’t get the chance to see much of Quill’s life, as there was too much exposition, which might have been why I found it so hard to connect emotionally with him as a character.

I did like the main set of comics… even though there wasn’t a whole lot of background provided. I would have liked to see a bit more detail about how Quill had come to the terrible decision… and I found myself quite confused by who the real enemy was.

I liked seeing Quill working with the others, although Mantis made me think of an NPC from a video game who just tells the player random information. While I thought the details about her were interesting, I wasn’t sure why she was imprisoned compared to the rest of them.

I thought it was good to see that Quill was affected by what he’d done and I especially liked Rocket… though I was completely confused by why Groot was so eloquent. I didn’t like him as much as I did in his other appearances, although I did really like his appearance… and the information about his race.

It was interesting to learn bits and pieces of the rest of the characters, particularly about the Shi’ar… though I felt the one that was part of the group was far too unstable to be a real hero. And I did really like learning about the universal power. I also really liked Gabe’s character.

In the future, I would really like to read more about Peter Quill, but as part of the Guardians of the Galaxy storylines… rather than the much more unlikable version of him.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I hadn’t really known much about Jessica Jones, other than seeing her briefly in a previous comic and also a different version of her on Netflix.

I was a bit disappointed not to have the chance to see Jessica in one of her first appearances, even though I did enjoy seeing her romance with Luke Cage. I was a bit disappointed that her personality seemed so at odds with the way her personality was described beforehand. I didn’t really see any of the hangups she was supposed to have had.

It was good to see Jessica offered a job at the Bugle, even though I really didn’t like Jameson’s attitude towards her and the other superheroes. The person I felt the most sympathy for, however, was Terri. I felt that her actions were a direct result of how she’d been treated by her boss… and even though I wasn’t really able to learn much about her, she struck me as being quite a tenacious person.

It was good to see and have the opportunity to learn a bit more about Ben Ulrich. The only chance I had to see him was in the Daredevil television series, so even though he was mentioned in other comics I read, I liked being able to see him in person.

It was also really good to see Spider-Man. While Peter showed some of his trademark humour, I liked seeing the more serious side to him. And it was sad to be reminded of Gwen’s death.

It was interesting to have a glimpse into the two sides of Osborne’s personality. I was quite taken aback by how quickly he shifted into the Green Goblin persona.

There were some really good elements of tension in the first set of comics, particularly when it came to Jessica’s worry about her baby. And I thought her dream about having a girl was really sweet; even if I did think Luke could have been a bit more understanding.

I did particularly like the final comic, as it was sweet to see Jessica and Luke as a family with their baby. And even though the first scene was a bit sad and creepy, I liked that the comic ended on a hopeful note.

Even though it was good to see the other Avengers, I was somewhat confused by the exact timeline in relation to the rest I was reading.

I did like the elements of humour and also the hints of a deeper storyline involving a potential double agent. At some point in the future, I would like to see the origins of Jessica Jones.

(This review may contain spoilers).

Having seen bits and pieces of this storyline in other comics, I was really quite eager to see the full story of the Skrull invasion.

It was interesting to see the effects of Earth’s mightiest heroes not being able to trust each other, although I think it would have been less easy if there hadn’t been so much conflict generated by the Superhero Registration Act.

One thing I found particularly interesting was the implication that some of the Skrulls went native. I would have liked a bit more background about how the Skrulls’ shapeshifting ability worked, however, as they seemed able to change at will with no ill-effects.

Despite the conflicts in the superhero community, it was good to see them fighting alongside each other, though I found most of the fight scenes to be quite confusing.

I particularly enjoyed the banter between the two Spider-Mans, even without knowing which one was the real Peter Parker. I would have liked to see a bit more of two identical superheroes having to face off against each other, though, particularly with the implications that some of the Skrull didn’t know that was what they were.

I thought it was interesting to see the Skrull side of things, even though it was clear that they were doing entirely the wrong thing. There were some implications that things weren’t quite as simple as them wanting to conquer a planet just because they could.

I particularly felt for Tony, not only with the virus hitting him hard, but also with what was said to him. It was understandable that he began questioning everything and even though there was still obvious conflict between him and Thor, at least, I did have some hope that things might eventually get better.

I also really liked seeing the Young Avengers, though I would have preferred seeing a bit more of Teddy’s and Billy’s relationship, along with perhaps some greater detail about Teddy perhaps struggling with his own heritage.

I liked seeing the different heroes make an appearance and it was pretty cool to see Maria Hill facing off against one of the Skrull impostors, though I found myself a bit confused there.

It was good to see Beast and Wonder Man working together when neither of them were sure they could trust the other, but I would have liked to see a better resolution. It also would have been good to see a bit of background to the crashed ship.

While the dossiers on the Skrulls were informative to read, I would have liked to have those a bit less dry and engage me more as a reader.

I still enjoy reading the Marvel universe and in the future, I’d like to see more of the fallout from these events and the Superhero Registration Act.

(This review may contain spoilers).

Bucky is one of Marvel’s characters who I have a slight obsession with in all his forms… thought that did start with the movie version of the character. However, the redemption arc storyline (my favourite type) seemed more prevalent in the comic book world.

That having been said, even though I would have preferred to see more of Bucky after he was no longer a lethal puppet, I did find the main story a really informative read.

It was interesting to see a mix of paranormal in with the action, though I was at a loss about who of the enemies were allied with each other and who was working alone.

I did like seeing brief glimpses of banter between Nick Fury and his comrades and it was also good to see something of the technology utilised by SHIELD.

I particularly liked seeing the glimmers of memory come through as Bucky tried to carry out his mission as the Winter Soldier. Although those were few and far between, it afforded a glimpse into Bucky’s past and something of his relationship with Steve as his friend and mentor.

It was interesting to note the differences in Bucky as the Winter Soldier and Bucky with his previous memory returned, especially as my previous experience with him made it clear there was nothing of Steve’s Bucky left… not until the Cube became involved.

I thought it made sense that Ran was distrustful of Bucky, but it was good to see the two of them fighting alongside each other, Ran forced to trust Bucky to have his back while convinced he was being played.

I liked seeing the relationship form between Ran and Mila, even though it was a bit cliched. While the ending was kind of sad, I could appreciate the irony.

There was a lot of bloodshed in this particular set of comics, but the creepiest thing was what the main villain could do. I wasn’t quite sure how Bucky was able to shake it off, but I suppose it did a good job of showcasing his survival instinct.

Although I had read the first comic before, it was interesting to note the differences in style and the atmosphere of the world. The first comic was visually dark, while the second was set more during the day, even though they both dealt with very dark subject matter.

Reading this comic book only served to make me like Bucky’s character even more. I would definitely seek out more of him in future comics.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I’d probably ideally give this book 3.5 stars out of 5. While I thought the concept of a new generation of mutants was a really good one, I found it much harder to connect emotionally to this team… even though I had seen Jubilee in other areas of this ‘verse.

Probably the biggest problem I had was with Emma Frost. I couldn’t see her as empathic towards the students and even though there were some intriguing interactions between her and Monet, I found myself waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Out of the Generation X group, I found Penance to be the most interesting character. It was good to see the others trying to engage with her, but she came across as very much something of a wild creature. I would have liked to see more of her, as there was very little detail about her history… or even really a personality, save for a few glimmers.

While I did enjoy seeing the snarky side of Jubilee, I didn’t really get the feeling she’d grown up very much. I couldn’t remember what she was supposed to be able to do, but I did think Monet seemed to be highly over-powered. I didn’t find her very interesting, though, as she seemed to come across as a typical rich girl.

I did like seeing some of the different other powers. Husk, especially, I would have liked to see a bit more background of what she could do. It was very confusing to see her suddenly able to change her form to be virtually indestructible, though it was good to see that she was affected by the wounds she’d received.

The Christmas story was a bit of a jarring change, particularly since the villain from the previous comics had just vanished. I felt there was a lot of potential during the Christmas story, but I as disappointed to see a lack of acceptance on both the humans’ and the mutants’ sides. Not only did the story come to a conclusion that was anything but satisfactory, but it left a sour taste in my mouth by the end.

I did prefer Banshee to Emma, as I had the impression he really did care about the students.

I felt that the final story could have been a good way of showing how Generation X, or at least some of the members, might have been able to work together. However, although there were conflicts, there was very little in the way of any of the members attempting to work together.

Many of the individual team members were characters I would have liked to see separate. I just couldn’t see them ever being able to work together.

One other good part about this was being able to see a brief interaction between Logan and Jubilee. I enjoyed the father-daughter aspect and it would have been good to see more of the family feels in general.

I don’t think I’d seek out more comics about Generation X, but I wouldn’t mind seeing more of those like Penance and Husk in the future.

(I received a free copy of this book, through NetGalley, in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I thought the concept of this comic was a really intriguing one. I liked seeing the conflict in the relationship between Kenton and his father, though I would have liked to see more of Kenton’s relationship with his siblings and also with various other members of his people. It was quite hard to care about what happened to them, as it was hard to differentiate between the different characters.

There was a bit of confusion when the Duchess and her entourage had appeared, as the Duchess in particular seemed to be wearing clothes that had a more Earth-feel to them.

I did find the ability of the Sand Masters to be really interesting to see, even though I would have liked to see a bit more of their background. For instance, were the Sand Masters only men? I couldn’t tell if there were any women in the ranks.

Although I was a bit disorientated with the other random plot that cropped up, it didn’t take long to realise how the characters involved related to the others in the main storyline. And I liked meeting Ais, as she seemed to come across as quite a strong person.

It was interesting to see something of the politics in the city and how the other leaders viewed the Sand Masters. While I did think there was a bit too much exposition, especially at the beginning, it was good to see Kenton having to argue for the survival of his people. However, apart from one other survivor, who was suspected of being a traitor, there were very few members of the Sand Masters I was able to get to know. And although there were hints of those with less power being looked down upon, that didn’t really crop up very much.

The artwork was really good and I liked the visual representation of the abilities. I was a bit confused by the history of the tensions between the two different peoples and I would have liked to see a bit of history: shown, instead of just talked about.

Even though there were some problems and I didn’t quite feel this comic lived up to my expectations, it was easy to read and I did enjoy learning about the world and the characters. I felt this was more of an introduction to the world and that there was a lot still to be explored.

In the future, if given the opportunity, I would probably read further issues of this series.

(I received a free copy of this book, through NetGalley, in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

While I haven’t heard of Vampirella, I have seen most of the movies in the Alien franchise. It was an interesting take, to see a vampire having to deal with the devastation caused by the aliens.

I would have liked to see a bit more background to Vampirella and perhaps something of the background of the characters on Mars. I would have liked to see a bit more in the way of character interactions, since even though the horror elements were good, there was too much in the way of characters I didn’t really care about getting hurt or killed.

It was interesting to see the prejudices people had towards Vampirella’s kind. I was also intrigued by the ancient civilisation that was found… and it was even more interesting that they had the chance to meet one of the members; though I didn’t really much like him at first. I was a bit thrown by how he kept on referring to humans as cattle… but that did make sense, as the attitudes of his kind were clearly very different to how Vampirella viewed humans.

I was a bit confused by the random garden area that the aliens were able to attack and the characters who had been killed. It was good to see Vampirella able to grow her own wings and I thought they looked really pretty. I also thought that it was good she had weaknesses and that she couldn’t just fight; she had to run and shelter. Even though it might have been cool to see an alien and a vampire battle it out, I appreciated the fact that it was as realistic as it could be, considering the supernatural/science fiction elements.

I liked the artwork and I felt the aliens’ scary appearance were portrayed particularly well. I knew what was coming several times, which made me tense up… especially in the scene with the face-huggers.

There were some nice human elements and while I didn’t get to know the secondary characters well, I had little trouble with the main characters. I’d be interested in seeing more of Vampirella in other comics.

(I received a free copy of this book, through NetGalley, in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

When I saw the cover and blurb for this comic book, I was immediately intrigued, considering I enjoy reading books with modern-day paranormal aspects to them. And I like comic books, too, so this was particularly good.

Although the plot of having a police officer involved in paranormal crimes wasn’t a unique one, I did think that having a witch as the police officer was an intriguing idea. And although I would have liked to know a bit more of Rowan’s background, I did like the fact she was a tough person and I had the impression she could take care of herself.

I was a bit confused about what the rules of the world were and I would have liked some more detail about who knew about Rowan’s ‘other’ life and who didn’t. For instance, it seemed like at least one of her fellow officers knew… but her partner didn’t.

I thought it was interesting to see something of Rowan’s friendship with the leader (priestess?) of her coven, but I didn’t see much in the way of conflict between her two lives. I did find it interesting to see something of how her magic worked, but I would have liked to get a bit more detail about how her and the priestess were different to Wiccans. I also would have liked to see a bit more of the other Coven members.

There was a lot of tension in this comic, especially towards the end… which was really quite creepy, even though I didn’t really know what was going on. And I wasn’t really sure how Rowan had known what was going on. I kind of felt very much like I’d been thrown into the middle of a storyline… and because it didn’t really let up, I wasn’t given much of a chance to get to know the background and characters well enough to empathise with them. But I did really like the fact that there were strong female characters. And it was pretty cool to see the priestess interacting with someone from the church.

I’d like to get a bit more background to this world… but I’d probably read other comics in this series in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

It was especially intriguing to see Batman realise he had a son… and considering he had a playboy reputation, I was a little surprised he didn’t have more illegitimate children.

I thought it was particularly interesting to see how Batman was interacting with Tim. I really didn’t like Damien, even though I did feel a bit of sympathy for him and I would have liked the opportunity to see a bit more of his past and interactions with his mother and parents.

I did feel sorry for Tim at points in this book and I thought that Batman didn’t seem to act like much of a guardian towards him. I would have liked to see a bit more of Tim and Damien’s interactions… without Damien trying to kill everyone close to Batman, even though it was somewhat sad to see how desperate he was to prove himself to his father. However, I wasn’t sure if he really wanted to help Batman… even though I would have really liked to see him spend more time with Batman and the others and learn a different way of life. It was disappointing that Batman didn’t really say much to him about hurting Tim… almost like Bruce didn’t think Damien was able to be saved.

I was intrigued by the differences between Talia in the first set of comics and her personality in the final one. It was interesting to see her introduction… but she seemed like a much tamer person in her first appearance. I would have liked to see if that was just because different writers changed her… or if she changed due to things that happened. It would have been good to see something of her motivations, though.

I thought that there was a lot of tension in the first set of comics, but not as much in the second comic. I did find the storyline easy to follow and it was really good to see Bruce interacting with Alfred and having to act to make sure his reputation remained intact. While there wasn’t a lot in the way of the contradictions in Bruce’s personality, there was enough that I was very interested in seeing the different aspects of his personality.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I don’t really remember at what point I was introduced to Batman. I vividly remember watching an older film that had Catwoman and the Penguin in it, but I couldn’t pinpoint exactly when I became aware of the Caped Crusader.

This wasn’t the first comic book in the collection, but it was the one I read first, due to the blurb. I was very intrigued by the potential issues of trust and betrayal in the mains set of comics.

It was very interesting to see Batman unable to trust even those who were supposed to be his allies. I did feel a bit of sympathy for him, as I think not being able to trust is a lonely existence… but even if he had reasons for keeping files on the JLA, I didn’t think he should have gone as far as he did.

It was heartbreaking to see how badly affected the members of the JLA were by the traps utilised against them. While Superman was the only other hero I knew particularly well, I thought that the traps showed their weaknesses really well… and while I was confused about some of the switches between the characters and who was grouped with who, I thought this was a really good way to allow me to get to know some of the members of the JLA.

Even though I didn’t know all of the members that well, it was good that I was able to get some details about them in the first set of comics, at least. I liked being able to learn things about the characters, such as the Green Lantern being really artistic… and it was awful to have him lose his sight. And I couldn’t help feeling sympathy for Aqua Man, as even though they all went through awful things, forcing Aqua Man to fear what he needed to survive.

The most awful thing to see was Superman’s weakness, even though I wasn’t completely sure how it had affected him without outright killing him. And it was interesting to see how Wonder Woman’s weakness seemed to be as much about her being unable to surrender. But I could definitely understand why they took a vote at the end of the comic.

The second set of comics were intriguing, though they were very different in style. It was good to see the JLA having to battle alongside each other against an early threat.