Reviews

In Hedging Your Bets, I attempt to get up to speed on Sonic the Hedgehog, challenging the odds to hopefully make it all the way to the finish line. This week, here comes a new challenger!

When it comes to Marvel Legends, Spider-Man is about as bankable a hero you can find. As the centerpiece for numerous lines in a given year, Spider-Man's action figure waves have been among the most diverse and impressive in Hasbro's Marvel Legends catalog. The latest Spider-Man series, which features the Sandman as a build-a-figure, is a prime example of everything Hasbro has gotten right with Legends, even if it also includes a few figures that fail to impress.

The Strong Female Character trope is in some ways as damaging as the Damsel in Distress; an archetype that rejects the feminine, and thus presents new limits to what a woman can be. Alison Green, the actual protagonist of Strong Female Protagonist, is indeed physically strong --- the strongest on Earth --- but she transcends the trope. She’s just a girl, standing in front of a world, asking it to let her live a normal life.

This week, the mysterious ship that’s looking for Mon-El arrives, and everyone has got some explaining to do! Also, we learn that Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” was on display in National City… until it was stolen! “Star Crossed” was directed by John Medlen from a script by Katie Rose Rogers and Jess Kardos.

He's young. He's handsome. He's fast. And he can't possibly be beat. Such was the opponent Superman had to face to save humanity in the classic 1978 DC Comic that pit the "Last Son of Krypton" against the original "People's Champ," aka "The Louisville Lip," aka "The Greatest," aka Muhammad Ali. Now on the verge of the 40th anniversary of the one-shot comic Superman vs. Muhammad Ali, NECA has chosen to honor one of history's greatest boxing bouts with a deluxe action figure set that captures Neal Adams' style of the icons about as perfectly as possible.

I don't want to oversell it or anything, but Kim Newman's Anno Dracula novels are pretty much everything I want out of literature. They're set in a world where Dracula's victory doesn't just have the immediate effect of leading the Count to control over Britain, but leads vampirism out of the shadows and into everyday life, transforming Dracula into the driving force of the 20th century. He's rarely seen himself, but his influence is everywhere, manifesting in thrilling and compelling ways. But really, that's only half of the appeal. The novels take place in a world where Dracula isn't the only source, a literary mashup with everything from classic literature to The Rockford Files to Blacula to Jack Kirby's Fourth World. And honestly, that's what made me a little nervous about experiencing it as a comic.

Who is Sticks Angelica? According to no less an authority than Stick Angelica herself, she is a 49-year-old former Olympian, poet, scholar, sculptor, minister, activist, and all-around hyphenate celebrity who has left the public eye after a scandal involving her politician father, and moved into the Monterey National Park in Ontario. She is also the title character of Sticks Angelica, Folk Hero, a comic strip-turned-graphic novel by Michael DeForge.

Menage a 3 is a webcomic about the lives of three roommates --- the nerdy, cute Gary; the punk rock Zii; and the beautiful, gorgeous DiDi --- and all of their relationship misadventures. Imagine a sitcom, but cuter and sexier than anything on TV.

On this week’s episode, Oliver learns the truth about Prometheus, Felicity is forced to do hacking that is somehow more illegal than normal, and Russian mobsters hang out at a hockey rink! “Checkmate” was directed Ken Shane and written by Beth Schwartz and Sarah Tarkoff.

Today sees the launch of the new Batwoman solo ongoing series, scripted by Marguerite Bennett, co-plotted by Bennett and James Tynion IV, with art by Steve Epting and colors by Jeremy Cox. At least I'm counting this as the launch, even though Batwoman Rebirth came out last month. That book was a great prologue to this series, but it's immediately clear that the new book is where the story really gets moving.