Final Crisis: Revelations

Writer: Greg Rucka
Pencils: Philip Tan
Inks: Jonathan Glapion, Jeff de los Santos, Walden Wong
Color: Ian Hannin, Nei Rufino
Letters: John J. Hill
Publisher: DC

What's it about?
The world is in the midst of a Crisis.  The New Gods are coming to earth, the anti life equation is spreading among humanity claiming civilians and superheros alike.  It heralds the arrival of Darkseid and his subordinates, dedicated to evil, corruption and violence.

Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge

Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencils and inks: Scott Kolins
Colours: Dave McCaig
Letterer: Nick J Napolitano
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
The Rogues have been on the run for a year.  Longtime enemies of anyone wearing the Flash mantle, they were tricked into killing the latest Flash by another villain, Inertia.  In so doing, they broke the unspoken and fundamental rule - never kill a Flash - and so brought the wrath of all other speedsters down on them.

Now back to mete our revenge to Inertia, a much bigger Crisis is coming...

Superman: Sacrifice

Publisher: DC
For full credits see the other information section at the end of this post.

What's it about?
This is a dark time in the DC Universe.  Heroes have been murdered.  Trust is being lost.  Civilians can't be saved.  Is it any wonder that tempers are frayed?  Against this background, Superman sees his arch enemies going after Lois, killing her.  Lois is the love of his life, so when he sees her dead body, he can't cope and he vows to destroy the murderer.

But things are not what they seem, and in his fury he has really taken down one of his closest friends, Batman, and nearly killed him.  It is revealed that he is hallucinating the murder sprees, and Wonder Woman is the only one that can stop him.  How will she do it?  What will the consequences be?

Smallville - the other teams and some history

Anybody who has been watching Smallville over the last few years will have seen a host of DC's characters imported from the comics world to the glossy, highly polished world of Smallville.  You may be wondering about the origins of these characters, what they were like originally and how their stories changed in the leap from comic to small screen.  And that's where we come in!  This  the last in a series of five posts on Smallville's characters cast of heroes, villains and sidekicks, and the original characters that inspired them.
Today, the other teams from the Smallville universe and a little bit of comic history.

Smallville: the Villains

Anybody who has been watching Smallville over the last few years will have seen a host of DC's characters imported from the comics world to the glossy, highly polished world of Smallville.  You may be wondering about the origins of these characters, what they were like originally and how their stories changed in the leap from comic to small screen.  And that's where we come in!  This will be the fourth in a series of posts on Smallville's characters cast of heroes, villains and sidekicks, and the original characters that inspired them.

Today, the villains!

Jack Kirby's Mr Miracle

Welcome to our latest guest reviewer, Simon Amphlett.  Simon describes himself as "Erstwhile English Teacher, lover of all the comics, friend to the oppressed and eater of all the foods".  Sadly, he does not have an online home.

Created, written, drawn and edited by Jack Kirby

Inked by Vince Colletta and Mike Royer

Published by DC 

What's it about?

This collection contains issues 1-10 of comic legend Jack Kirby's 1971-2 DC series Mr Miracle.  Conceived as part of an interlocking, ambitious collection of stories woven around the 'Fourth World' theme of Kirby's 'New Gods,' Mister Miracle concerns the master escapologist Scott Free's attempts to outfox the forces of ‘Evil God’ Darkseid, as they seek to punish him for escaping from their nightmarish home world of Apokolips.

Superman/Batman: Supergirl

Writer: Jeph Loeb
Artist: Michael Turner
Colours: Peter Steigerwald
Letterer: Richard Starkings
Publisher: DC

What's it about?
Most of you will have heard of Supergirl - Kara Zor-El, cousin to Superman, only other survivor of the planet Krypton.  You will probably have an image of her in your head, it may be this:

or this: