Catwoman- Crooked Little Town

Writer: Ed Brubaker
Main Story Pencils: Brad Rader
Main Story Inks: Cameron Stewart
Additional Art: Michael Avon Oeming, Rick Burchett,
Mike Manley, Eric Shanover and Michael Lark
Colourists: Matt Hollingsworth, Lee Loughridge and Tom McCraw
Letters: Sean Konot and Willie Schubert
Publisher: DC Comics

What’s It About?
Selina Kyle, Catwoman: sometime villain, sometime hero, she came from the gutter, stole a fortune and bought herself into high society. Now she’s back where she started: Gotham City’s rough east end, acting as its guardian angel with a little help from private eye Slam Bradley and former streetkid Holly Robinson. Its comic book noir complete with dirty cops, honest cops, gangsters, backstreet doctors, “respectable” figures playing the system and a few good-hearted people trying to make a difference. One of those good-hearted people just happens to be a costumed career criminal, that’s all…

Superman: Last Son

Writers: Geoff Johns and Richard Donner
Artist: Adam Kubert
Colorists: Dave Stewart and Edgar Delgado
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
This is what's known as a trade - a collection of 5 issues from the Action Comics title.  It's a fully self contained story arc, so you don't need to have read previous issues for it make sense.  This arc introduces a new Kryptonian to Earth. a little boy who crashlands into Metropolis one day.

Who is he?  How did he get here?  How did he survive Krypton's explosion?  And who are these strange people that showed up shortly after he did?

The book features lots of familiar faces: a now married Lois and Clark Kent, Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, Zod, Ursa and Non.

Superman: Secret Identity

 
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Art: Stuart Immonen
Lettering: Todd Klein
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
This is one of DC's Elseworld's titles.  The term Elseworlds refers to books where the characters are "taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places, some that have existed, and others that can't, couldn't or shouldn't exist".

This story is set on a world much like our own where superpowers are the stuff of comic books and fiction only.  A young lad brought up in a small Kansas town is named Clark Kent by his parents.  As he grows up he endures constant streams of Superman themed gifts and memorabilia, and Superman themed taunts and bullying from his schoolmates. Clark learns to love solitude and one night, whilst sleeping under the stars he awakes to discover he is flying and has all of Superman's powers!

The story is told in four parts, focusing on Clark's adolescence and early forays into saving people, his entry into the world of work and experience on blind dates, marriage, raising a family and old age.  Throughout all this he has to devise a way to keep his powers and identity a secret, both from curious journalists and the government who wish to control and exploit him.

This is a book about what an ordinary man would do if he were to gain powers, and is a thousand miles away from the traditional superhero comic book.

Spider-man Fairy Tales

Writer for all: C.B.Cebulski

Letterer for all: Artmonkeys' Dave Lanphear

Off the Beaten Path - Artist: Ricardo Tercio

The Spirits of Friendship - Artist: Niko Henrichon

Eclipse - Artist: Kei Kobayashi

              Colourist: Christina Strain

What you wish for: Co-Writer: Mindy Owens

                              Penciller: Nick Dragotta

                              Inker: Mike Allred

                             Colourist: Laura Allred
Publisher: Marvel

What's it about?
This retells four fairy tales and myths from around the world, using the cast of Spider-Man.  The blurb on the back states that it is' re-imagining the greatest Spider-Man stories through folktales, myths and fables from across the globe!'  As a casual Spider-Man fan I only spotted one specific Spider-Man story woven into these myths, so don't be put off by this text.

The book features four stories -

It's a Bird...

Writer: Steven T. Seagle
Artist: Teddy Kristiansen


What's it about?
Steven T. Seagle, professional comic writer, is offered a stint on the Superman book.  For most comics creators, this is the ultimate honour and indicates that they have 'made it', however, Seagle turns it down.  the reason he gives is that Superman doesn't resonate with him.  We discover that Seagle's first exposure to the Superman comics occurred in a hospital when he was five years old, and discovered his grandma had a rare degenerative and fatal disease, then named Huntington's Chorea.The rest of the book deals with Seagle's examination of what Superman means to him, what the spectre of Huntington's means for his future and his family.

Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade

Note: This picture is from #1 of the monthly series, but I believe that the trade will have the same artwork.

Writer: Landry Q. Walker
Art: Eric Jones
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
Simply put, this is a retelling of the Supergirl story.  It's aimed at younger readers but has been loved by many adults too.

Twelve year old Kara Zor-El crash lands in Metropolis, thwarting Lex Luthor's evil plans and meeting bumping into Superman at the same time.  Upon discovering little Kara is his cousin, Superman enrols her in Stanhope boarding school and gives her the secret identity of Linda Lee.  She must learn about earth ways, make friends and navigate her way through the eighth grade.

Along the way she encounters evil doppelgangers, duplicitous best friends, super intelligent feral cats, time travel, flying horses, meteor induced superpowers and the possible end of the world.

Batman: The Cat and the Bat

Warning: Because of some of the example art, this review is rated NQSFW (Not Quite Safe For Work). We’re not talking pornography here, just brevity of wardrobe…

Batman: The Cat and the Bat

Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Art: Kevin Maguire
Colours: I.L.L.
Letters: Sal Cipriano
Publisher: DC Comics

What’s It About?
Batman Confidential: a series exploring “famous firsts” in the Batman mythos that never really got around to happening but were just originally assumed to have done. In this case, the first meeting of Batgirl and Catwoman.

Batgirl: Barbara Gordon, daughter of Batman’s longtime ally Police Commissioner Jim Gordon. Too short for the police academy, she takes to fighting crime as Batgirl. At this point in her career she’s just starting out and won Batman’s respect a grand total of three weeks ago. She’s also stolen her father’s coded notebook to see what secrets it contains.

Catwoman: Selina Kyle, sometime hero (sort of), sometime criminal (definitely), Batman’s… well, that’s complicated, “adversarial love interest” is my best stab at describing it. She’s also stolen Jim Gordon’s notebook from Barbara and Barbara wants it back…