Addition to an earlier review

We have added an extra link into the Questionable Content review.  It takes you through to a post at Deeply Problematic discussing the representation of disability within the webcomic, and is well worth a read.

The next couple of posts are likely to be a Warren Ellis extravaganza, stay tuned!

Laika

Writer and artist: Nick Abadzis
Publisher: First Second
 
What's it about?
This is the story of the Russian fight to win the space race and the little dog they sent into orbit, Laika.  All events are centred around Laika, but it is not told from the perspective of Laika, or Kudryavka as she is named by various carers.  It's part fiction, part fact.

The story is narrated chiefly by three people, Korolev, Chief Designer of the space rockets, Yelena, dog handler for the programme, and fictionalised families that have cared for Kudryavka in her early years.

By using these different viewpoints Abadzis walks us through many aspects of Soviet life and we bear witness to the diffiuclties and contradictions facing everyday people, as well as the joys.  We learn about the cruelty of the ruling party, the ambition of your average Soviet citizen, the transition from Stalin's regime to Khruschev's, and we get an inkling of the effect that life in the gulags had on those poor souls sent there.

The Flash: Terminal Velocity

Writer: Mark Waid
Penciller: Salvadore Larocca, Carlos Pachecos and Oscar Jiminez
Layouts: Carlos Pachecos
Inker: Jose Marzan and Sergio Borgas
Colourer: Gina Going and Tom McCraw
Letterer: gaspar and Kevin Cunningham
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
Wally West (seen previously in Teen Titans: Year One) is a speedster.  Dressed in scarlet and gold he is the second man to take the title of the Flash.  This book opens with his return from a previous adventure where he became stranded in time.  On his way back to the present day he sees a terrible vision of the future and, with the aid of all other speedsters, Wally decides to do all he can to prevent his vision occurring.

Supergirl: Many Happy Returns

Writer: Peter David
Pencils: Ed Benes
Inks: Alex Lei
Colours: Brad Anderson
Letters: Comicraft 
Publisher: DC Comics


What's it about?
In short, two Supergirls collide, potentially causing the end of all existence.
In long, it's a bit more complicated.

We have one Supergirl, Linda Danvers (in the white top).  She is not Kryptonian, or Superman's cousin or anything like that.  She does have invulnerability, super strength, the ability to fly and a form of psychic telekinesis.  Linda is brash, has a dirty mind, is straight talking and cynical.  She got her powers through some sort of miracle and earned the right to wear the Superman colours.

The Complete Peanuts series

Written and drawn by Charles M. Schulz
Publisher: Canongate Books

What’s It About?
Peanuts was a four-panel American newspaper comic strip that ran from 1950 to 2000. It starred a large cast of children as they enjoyed both the innocence and cruelties of childhood. Central to the cast were luckless, wishy-washy Charlie Brown, fussy Lucy, naïve Linus, Beethoven obsessed Schroeder and Charlie Brown’s frankly bizarre dog Snoopy alongside an eclectic supporting cast of other boys and girls. In the world of Peanuts, adults were conspicuous by their absence.

One of the longest running and most widely read “funny strips” in the world, the complete canon is currently being collected in a mammoth twenty-five book hardcover series by Fantagraphics, each volume containing two years worth of the daily strips.

Secret Six - 6 Degrees of Devastation

Writer: Gail Simone
Penciller: Brad Walker
Inker: Jimmy Palmiotti
Colourist: Paul Mounts
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
"Take half a dirty dozen...and you get the Secret Six"
Six villains in the DC Universe have ostracised themselves from the greater community.  In so doing, they've made rather a lot of powerful enemies.  Does this bother them? Not in the slightest.  They know their skills, they know they can fight and they won't go down easily.

The book starts with the team carrying out a hit contract which takes them to the concentration camps of North Korea (in all their twisted nature), but soon changes to become a violent mystery story as each member of the team finds themselves attacked and then strive to discover who is behind it all.  Betrayal, passion and fights ensue.

The Witching Hour

Writers: Jeph Loeb and Chris Bachalo
Pencils: Chris Bachalo
Inks: Art Thibert
Colours: Grant Goleash
Letterer: Richard Starkings
Publisher: Vertigo

featuring an introduction by Gene Simmons

What’s It About?
There are five witches: elegant Miss White, “combustible” Red, fatherly Gray, silent Blue and young Black who speaks in quotations. They move through the mortal world of New York seeking to do good and enact some justice in the world. They intrude on mortal lives for a moment, offering a precious second chance, a single wish, what a person does with that chance is up to them.