Morning Glories Volume 1

Writer: Nick Spencer

Art: Joe Eisner

Colours: Alex Sollazzo

Letters: Johnny Lowe

Design: Tim Daniel

Publisher: Image

What’s it about?

Come walk with us into the halls of Morning Glory Academy.  We join six new students about to start at this impressive private school for the rich and talented.  However things seem a little odd.  The book’s opening chapter begins with a booby trapped exploding blackboard and ends the scene with a mysterious transparent hand feeding off a student’s head…

Oh yeah, Morning Glory is not your usual school.  The teachers have an agenda, the other students seem to be in on the plot and the six new attendees are soon fighting for their lives.

Suicide Squad – Trial by Fire

Writer: John Ostrander
Artists: Luke McDonnell, Bob Lewis, Karl Kesel, Dave Hunt

Colourist: Carl Gifford

Letterers: Todd Klein, Albert Deguzman

Publisher: DC

What’s it about?

The Suicide Squad are a motley bunch of (mostly) supervillains looking for a chance to get a government pardon by joining a secret government group, more formally named Task Force X.  Task Force X was first established in World War 2, the members names themselves Suicide Squad once they realised the sort of work they were being asked to do.  It’s not pretty, it’s not glamorous and it sure as hell isn’t safe.

Now, with a brand new roster, the Squad is sent on dangerous, politically sensitive and unpopular missions to deal with superpowered threats.  Members are utterly disposable and utterly deniable.  The formidable Amanda Waller, otherwise known as ‘The Wall’, controls the group, and she makes sure people do what she wants, when she wants, as she wants.

Air: Letters from Lost Countries

Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: M. K. Perker
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher 
Colors: Chris Chuckry
Publisher: Vertigo Comics

What’s it about?
The story of Air follows Blythe, a young woman who's afraid of heights but didn't let that stop her from becoming an airline stewardess.  As the story progress, we're introduced to a large colorful cast of characters and intrigues that might just turn a bit more dangerous than the skies itself:

Quickly, Blythe meets a very strange mysterious man, named Zayn (or is it..?), finds herself in the middle of terrorism plots lead by the Etesians, sky pirates/vigilantes and witnesses the discovery of the hyperpraxis, a new science, a revolution that might just change humanity's relation to technology itself.

Air is all about its characters and their relationships, all sorts of relationships!  It covers the relations we have with technology, and also the relations we form with myths, our world, pictures and words.
Air is all about the all encompassing air we share, the very space of it and the different sort of things that occupy it. Time. Memories.

Simply put, Air is a modern tale of myths and legends. As the story goes, the supernatural occupies more and more of the scene, fantasy elements enter and alongside this our main characters develop and grow.

Glossary of comic book jargon

Comic - a book containing sequential art that can be printed in a number of ways.  Ongoing titles appear as monthly issues of 22 pages and are sold in specialist comic shops and online.  Monthly issues are also referred to as magazines, floppies and pamphlets.  These ongoing titles can be collected into trade paperbacks, graphic novels and collected editions.  They can also appear as original graphic novels, having never been sold as monthly issues.  Comics can be about any type of story or any genre.  They are not limited to superhero stories. 

At long last, we present to you the glossary of comic book terms!  Listed in alphabetical order, this glossary will provide you with an explanation for comic book jargon.  If you feel something is missing or you want further explanation, please let us know.

Words in bold will have their own definition elsewhere in the glossary.

All Star Superman

  

Today's review is brought to you by guest blogger naswho, who describes himself thusly: Student. Writer. Tutor. My role model is a fictional character, just like Yours. If you're reading this, you're reading my mind.

You can find Nas on twitter, here.

All Star Superman

Writer: Grant Morrison
Art: Frank Quitely
Colourist and Inker: Jamie Grant
Letterer: Phil Balsam and Travis Lanham
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
The Superman myth is a well known and popular aspect of modern comic culture. He’s the granddaddy of all superheroes, and is constantly being reinterpreted by writers and artists of various eras to suit the times. All Star Superman is writer Grant Morrison’s attempt to tell a timeless Superman story, one that exists within a continuity he’s created from across the varied eras of Superman’s publishing history and is both easily accessible to new readers and rewarding for anyone who already loves the Man of Steel. 

I usually end up describing it as “What if Superman were God, except cooler?”

The basic thrust of the plot is that Superman, after rescuing scientist Leo Quintum from a failed mission to land on the sun, finds himself overloaded with solar energy. He’s reached the peak of his potential in his current form and is now dying. With only a year to go, the Man of Tomorrow sets out to try and save the world one last time, completing the adventures that will become known as his 12 Labors in the far future, and come face to face one final time with his archenemy, Lex Luthor.

The story’s a whimsical homage to every era of Superman, with a hefty dose of Silver Age charm and excitement thrown in for good measure.

Madame Xanadu

Today's review comes courtesy of Alexander Lyons.  Alex is a UK-based feminist theorist with a speciality in identity politics and poststructuralism in comics. He's got a weak-spot for Greg Rucka, Wonder Woman, and the obscure ramblings of Helene Cixous. You can find his own ramblings on Twitter. He has very curly hair.

Writer: Matt Wagner

Pencils: Amy Reeder Hadley, Michael Wm Kaluta, Joelle Jones, Marley Zarcone, Lauren McCubbin, Chrissie Zullo, Celia Calle and Marian Churchland

Inkers: Amy Reeder Hadley, Richard Friend, David Hahn

Colorists: Guy Major, Dave Stewart, Lee Loughridge

Letterer: Jared K Fletcher

Publisher: Vertigo (DC)

What’s it about?

“There is a pattern in everything. Even the humblest speck of dust was once a mighty mountain. Seeing unlocks the patterns. And the tools of seeing are many…”

Madame Xanadu tells the story of Nimue; ancient and immortal daughter of the homo magi - a magical race of fairy living alongside mankind. She is the youngest of three sisters, and rival to her middle sister, Morgana, with whom she develops a conflict that spans centuries. Nimue is blessed with, among other things, the magical gift of divination, and uses her skills to predict and intervene in the fate of mankind. As the series proceeds, Nimue learns to use her powers to aid people in need, becoming a sort of supernatural heroine for people with extraordinary problems.

Gear

Created, Written and Drawn by: Doug TenNapel
Colorists: Joe Potter and Katherine Garner
Publisher: Fireman Press Ltd (issues)/Image Comics (tpb)

What’s it about?
Gear is a fantasy/scifi tale done by the very talented famous cartoonist Doug TenNapel.

Now, in case you haven't been introduced to TenNapel before, let me do it for you;
Doug TenNapel is an American cartoonist best known as the creator of the video game and cartoon character Earthworm Jim, which has now been turned into a very popular franchise. He has worked on various mediums over the years including cartoons, comics and games. He designed the look of the adventure game The Neverhood and worked on the Nickelodeon cartoon Catscratch, which was very loosely based on this very comic.
And most recently he worked on the internet live mini-series Go Sukashi! and Sockbaby.

Gear takes place in a very unique fantasy world where there lives a lot of anthropomorphic animals.
There, the various factions (species) are in wars over their borders. The cats in the south are trying to expand their land, while the dogs in the north are turning their defenses into offensive forces. Meanwhile an army of insects is preparing to invade both.

The story follows a group of four cat "soldiers". Waffle, Mr. Black, Simon and Gordon. They aren't the smartest bunch of the cat troops but they've got heart and good intentions.  One time they happen to high-jack one of the Guardians - mysterious robotic totems in the forms of either cats or dogs.
But when things seemed to be going fine everything starts falling apart quickly... The troops are launched, the insects attack and our team gets caught in-between.

There's also a mysterious artifact everyone seems to be after called "gear" which seems to have strange powers over the Guardians and our cats befriend one of the insects, Chee.