Tank Girl: King Tank Girl – Graphic Novel Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Tank Girl is one of those characters that can be used for pretty much anything, where any kind of story works with her. Want to tell a weird story where she goes to space and fights alien bug creatures? Sure, that’ll work. Want her to stop a robot uprising that’s using pop music to infiltrate society? I can see that. Want her to travel to England in search of a rare action figure and accidentally become king? Well, that you can actually read right now.

The latest Tank Girl graphic novel release from Titan Comics begins with that whacky premise, as Tank Girl laments her inability to finish her Rangers of the Universe (a nice Masters of the Universe knock off) range of toys because the rare Groil Seeker figure was recalled and destroyed after just a single day of sales when the spring loaded head caused injuries to children. Luckily for her, Booga used to have one, having bought it on holiday in Cornwall years ago, burying it in the garden of the house he was staying at. Determined to complete her collection, Tank Girl and her crew head off to England.

However, when she arrives in town she finds a tourist spot showing off the fabled Sword in the Stone (misnamed Excalibur in this book when they’re actually two different swords). Using her skills with a tank, she manages to free it from the stone by blowing the stone apart. This loophole technically makes her the King of England, and she ends up on the throne. But it turns out that running the country is a lot of work, and Tank Girl ends up having to deal with peasant revolts, as well as a rival for the throne.

The book doesn’t just contain this story though, as there are also some shorts, and a couple of other stories scattered throughout. Readers also get an adventure where Tank Girl and her friends are being chased by a hitman and his team, and use a magical talisman to escape him by wishing themselves to 1960s Califormia surfer territory. There’s also a story about how Tank Girl, Sub Girl, and Jet Girl met, and got their nickname of Third Day Commandos.

As you’d expect from a Tank Girl graphic novel the stories here are silly and weird, and the book never once really takes itself too seriously. One of the things that isn’t so good about it though is the fact that the humour in the book just doesn’t feel as good as the original stories. The recently released Tank Girl: Colour Classics Trilogy showed the series at its best, with some twisted and weirdly surreal humour. Whilst this book tries to continue that tradition, and certainly throws the characters into some odd situations, it just doesn’t seem to land as well. There’s a heavy reliance on pun names and silly one-liners that start to grate after a while.

It also doesn’t help that the multiple stories in the book are split apart. It looks like the graphic novel collects the individual comics how they were originally printed, with the stores in parts spread throughout the book, rather than presenting each story all together. One part of the King Tank Girl story is followed by a silly couple of pages, with the part of the time travel story, then another King Tank Girl chapter, and so on. It makes the book a bit more of a slog to read, as you’re jumping from story to story, rather than just enjoying it tale by tale. Presenting the stories together, with the small interludes between them would have helped the book flow a lot better, and would have increased the overall enjoyment a lot.

The artwork on the book is by Brett Parson, and it might be some of the better artwork on a Tank Girl comic that I’ve seen. I found his art style really enjoyable and very pretty to look at. Everything was clear and concise, and even though they were able to capture the dirtiness of the characters, Tank Girl, Barney, Sub Girl, and Jet Girl all looked really cute, and there were moments when they’re acting like kids that the art style really makes them seem more adorable than anything else, and you kind of want to let them get away with their wild shit.

Tank Girl: King Tank Girl is an enjoyable series of adventures that take our titular star and her friends across time, around the world, and to some bizarre places. Whilst the format of the book does lessen the enjoyment somewhat it’s still a fun read, and one that I’m sure Tank Girl fans will love.

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Shock Shop #4 – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The latest issue of the Dark Horse horror anthology series Shock Shop not only brings the two stories contained within the pages to a close, but the series as a whole. With two different stories left to wrap up, the book has to not only make sure it ends on a satisfying note, but that it does so twice.

The first story in the book, ‘Something In The Woods, In The Dark’ returns us to our group of friends out on a camping trip, who’ve found their weekend getaway turned into a nightmare as two horrific monsters slowly stalk and kill them from the shadows. After learning that the monsters are out there, the group have been trying to escape the woods and make it back to reality; but the monsters keep on coming, and they’re not just down to three.

This issue opens with our three lone survivors trapped between both of the hulking beasts, with the two monsters ready to tear them apart. Willa and Clark, the two leads of the story, are the focus this issue, and Willa seems to come to a realisation about the monsters, claiming that she and her husband somehow made them, and that they’re some kind of manifestations of their issues. We got hints that something was wrong with their relationship in an earlier issue, but learn here that whilst Clark was in prison Willa slept with someone else. The resentment, anger, and guilt between them has turned into these creatures, and are killing the people they care about. According to Willa anyway.

And this is perhaps my biggest problem with this chapter of this story, and why this conclusion doesn’t really land well for me. We’ve only gotten hints at their issues until now, and the sudden revelation as to what went on in their past at the last moment doesn’t really land well. There’s not enough time to think about it, not enough time to reflect on how this has made them act with each other throughout the series. It feels like a last-minute revelation, rather than the basis for their entire story here. Especially if it is the reason for the monsters existing.

And it is a big part of that. This is presented purely as a hypothetical. It’s one possibility. I’m not against writers keeping some mysteries, or allowing their audiences to come to their own decisions and make their own interpretations, but knowing where these things come from, why they’re doing what they’re doing, and if they are in fact a part of the relationship breakdown between the two leads feels like important information. Not learning the answers to that does leave the story feeling unfinished for me, and leads to a somewhat deflated ending.

The artwork on this particular story, by Danny Luckert is still wonderful to look at. The monsters are genuinely horrific, and the level of twisted detail and attention that’s been given to them makes them the standout visual pieces of the entire book. The monsters make you feel uncomfortable whenever they’re on the page, not because of what they are and what they do, but because of how Luckert has brought them to life.

The second story, ‘Familiars’, fares a little better than the first when it comes to wrap-up. Readers very quickly get given answers as to what the mysterious invisible creatures have been, and why they’ve been doing what they’re doing. They’re not the focus of this chapter, with the relationship that Trevor has with his children and ex-wife being the centre of the story.

Out of the two stories in this series this has always been the one that’s more character focused, and that’s true here at the end too. Everything that happens, happens around Trevor, because of Trevor, and the final part of the story really pushes that theme. It’s because of his actions, even unknowingly, that people have died, and that his family are fighting for their lives against invisible monsters. The book doesn’t forget this, and keeps the theme going, with Trevor’s decisions dictating who will live or die come the end.

In previous issue this has been the half of the book that I’ve been least excited to read, but in this final issue it definitely sticks the landing better than its counterpart, and the result is that it ends up being the more satisfactory story out of the two. As with previous issues, the art is decent, and looks good, and Leila Lez and Bill Crabtree have done a good job, even if there are no moments that jump out as being spectacular or that will stick in my memory.

Shock Shop is a decent idea for a series, an anthology collection of horror tales introduced by a notable icon of the series. It’s a format that works, and has been done before multiple times with franchises like Tale From The Crypt and characters like Elvira. And it absolutely works in comic form. However, with this being the end of the series, with the book ending with both of its premier stories, it feels like a wasted format. I’d have liked to have seen it go on a bit more, with at least another story or two. It’s a shame that it ends up feeling like a series that was only given four issues instead of eight, so the stories were stripped down and thrown in together, rather than a true anthology title. Hopefully the series will return at some point in the future, and we’ll get more stories from it.

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Dark Crisis: The Dark Army #1 - Comic Review

 

Originally published on Patreon

Dark Crisis is almost wrapped up, so it feels like an odd time for another one-shot comic to come out, but as we wait for the final issues of the event to come out we get to see what Damian Wayne has been up to during the final battle, as he sneaks off with a specialist team on a secret mission.

Damian, along with Doctor Light, Power Girl, Sideways, and Red Canary, head off into the multiverse looking for clues and insight that will give them the chance to destroy the Dark Army, hoping to break the chains that are enslaving people to Pariah's will. Damian wanted a bigger team, but gets told to take the bare minimum, picking out those he thinks will get the job done. He also accidentally brings Red Canary along with him when he saves her; giving readers the first real chance to get to know her.

Red Canary has been built up for months now, and now that we get to see her for real, there's not really much about her that's too impressive. She sees to be a fairly normal vigilante hero, with no powers or abilities, and other than a couple of fancy sticks she grabbed during the battle, she doesn't even seem to have much training or skills. Whilst this isn't a bad thing, and there's always room to improve and build, there's nothing to her that sets her apart from dozens of other vigilantes; other than her inexperience. She feels like a bit of a strange character, especially included here.

Over the course of this one shot the team will travel to different worlds, with a different writer and art team handling each one, and ultimately end up freeing the Justice League Incarnate from Pariah's control, giving them some powerful new allies. They also manage to power-up Doctor Light, giving her a cool new outfit and the ability to destroy the dark chains. I'm guessing her now power will be coming into play in the final issue of the event, probably to stop Deathstroke in some way, but if not this does feel kind of pointless.

One of the biggest problems with the issue is the different creative teams working together. Damian Wayne is a great character, and when given to a writer who knows what t do with him he's fantastic (his recent solo title shows this in spades), but there are writers who don't seem to understand him, who only see him as arrogant ass-hole; and we get some of those writers here. The result is a Damian that's thoroughly unlikable, rude, and condescending. It doesn't fit with any of the other current depictions of him, and feels like people who don't care about the character were writing him. The art style also changes dramatically too, and in one part of the book he's the short, lithe Damian who looks to be in his mid teens, and the next page he's a 6ft tall muscled adult. If he looked that way through the entire book it'd be bad, but the fact that there's no consistency in the same issue is laughable and insulting. Please put people who care about the characters they're working on on these books DC.

How the main title ends, and if anything that happens here really matters, will determine how this book goes. It could end up being an important, yet flawed, issue of the event; but it might also be pointless nonsense that added nothing. Time will tell I guess.

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Harley Quinn #24 - Comic Review

 

Originally published on Patreon

After the bit of a muddle in the last issue, things seem to be back on track for issue twenty four, as Harley sets out to discover who shot and killed her. Knowing that there's a pretty long list of people in Gotham who's be happy to see her dead, Harley goes to one person who can give her some insight, and who she knows didn't kill her. Victor Szasz.

Sending her new cult of followers out to capture the serial killer, they grab him off the streets as he's about to kill an innocent person, and he ends up tied to a chair on Harley's ferry. At first he's glad to see the old Harley back, seeing how crazed and dangerous Harley is at the moment, but when he realises that this isn't the Harley Quinn he's used to he agrees to give her some information in exchange for his freedom. 

However, Harley is a tricky little liar, and she ends up taking the tied up Szasz with her in her investigations. When the two of them encounter a mysterious cloaked figure who starts shooting at them, Harley springs into action, recognising the person who shot her.

Now, there were a couple of moments in this fight that gave hints at the big reveal at the end, the pale arm poking through the cloak, and the coloured glove they were wearing all pointed towards this being another version of Harley. This made sense with the person's line in the previous issue about always killing Harleys, and the whole theme of Harley facing her darker impulses. It seemed like Harley from another universe was the best contender here. However, I was not expecting the particular version of Harley it turned out to be. The Harley Who Laughs.

I'm not a big fan of the whole Dark Knights Metal stuff that went on. I read the entire event and found it to be quite confusing and awful if I'm being honest. Another one of the things that kept me from reading DC as much back then. However, I will admit that the Batman Who Laughs was a cool design, and can see why he's as popular as he is. And here we have a Harley Quinn version of him.

I was unsure how I felt about this arc in the last issue, and thought that the reveal of whoever was behind the killing would be an important deciding factor as to whether or not I enjoy the book. Now that I know who it was I am certainly more intrigued, and am looking forward to seeing what happens next. This might be one of the more interesting things the series has done yet, and a Harley vs Harley showdown, particularly with this version of her, could be good.

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DC vs Vampires #11 - Comic Review

 

Originally published on Patreon

It really feels like we're approaching the end of the series now, as with only one issue left to go it's become a mad dash to reach the end for all of our groups. The team in Gotham are trying to fight their way through a literal army of vampires in order to get to Dick Grayson, Green Arrow and his new allies are arming themselves for an uprising, and Supergirl and her team are facing some of the most powerful beings on the planet as they desperately try to save the world.

The thing with this series is that from the very first issue it's been incredibly grim, and absolutely tense. You've never known who's going to live, you're never left feeling like any characters are safe through plot armour, and we've seen very well put together plans fall apart in the final moments. As such, we're one issue away from the end and I don't know if any of these people are going to live or not. The whole thing could end with all three teams being wiped out and it wouldn't surprise me.

The stuff in Gotham is pretty much what you'd expect from this point in the story, our heroes fighting through whatever stands in their way in order to get to their goal. The plan feels kind of flimsy, and there are times it seems like there isn't even much of a plan at all; but it kind of makes sense that Babs couldn't make too complex a plan. If you've got a big scheme that relies on perfect timing or certain people being there at certain times that can quickly fall apart if you lose someone. Having a more fluid plan, where the end goal remains the same but the bits in the middle can shift around, kind of works better.

It seems like Ollie had a pretty good plan though, and my prediction in the last issue that he'd be getting Swamp Thing to grow him a bow and arrow proved right. The visual, however, is pretty freaking cool, and the masses of wooden stakes and spikes growing out of the plant monster, and the weapons he makes his team, are one of the more memorable images in a series packed with striking moments. Out of the three teams this is the one that feels like they have the better chance of living.

What's most interesting about this issue, however, is what we learn in Australia. Earth is a pretty busy planet in the grand scheme of the galaxy, with a lot of alien visitors and invasions going on. As such, Earth wants to remain neutral in the galaxy as a whole, so Grayson has agreed to allow aliens who want to leave to return home, and Australia is being used as a staging ground to essentially ferry refugees off Earth.

It's here that Supergirl is heading, and her team finds some help in the form of Lobo, who helps them fight of Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian whilst Kara gets onto a rocket and heads above the clouds. She manages to see sunlight, but then the ship exploded. Whether or not she survived, and if she can soak up some sunlight and regain her powers is yet to be seen, but it feels like there's at least a slim chance.

The one thing that the alien situation does, however, is raise the question about the galaxy in a wider context. Alien worlds know that Earth has fallen to vampires. so what does the Green Lantern Corps think of that? Have they refused to step in and do something about it because vampires are an Earth thing, so they don't want to interfere? If the vamps decided to head into space would they get involved then? I'd have liked a little explanation about the GL's to just cover that, but the book still works fine without it.

The big finale is coming next month, and it's going to be a shame to see the series end as it's had some absolutely fantastic moments.

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Star Wars: Yoda #1 - Comic Review

 

Originally published on Patreon

Yoda might be one of the most versatile characters that Star Wars has. With the exception of everything post The Empire Strikes Back he can be used in pretty much every other setting there is. Want prequel stuff? Easy. Reign of the empire? Can do. High Republic? Absolutely. His long life means he can pop up in most places and you don't really think much about out. And it seems like Cavan Scott is going to be making the most of that versatility in the new comic series focused on the tiny Jedi Grand Master.

The new ten part series begins with an elderly Yoda on Dagobah, where  familiar voice calls out to him from through the Force. It's not revealed here whose voice it is, though it is one that Yoda is familiar with. The most obvious candidate would e that it's Obi-Wan, and that this is set soon after Ob-Wan's death; but there are several other possibilities as to who might be speaking to him, and the issue plays that pretty close to its chest.

The bulk of the issue seems to be set during the High Republic times, if the clothing on the Jedi Council we see is anything to go by. On the peaceful planet of Turrak, on the outer rim, a coastal village comes under attack from pirates. One of the village children manages to get to an old ship, and uses the communications systems to send out a message for help; one that finds its way to Coruscant and the Jedi Temple.

Whilst the members of the Council argue that there's not much that can be done, and that these people are pretty much on their own, Yoda informs them that he will be travelling there himself. Arriving on Turrak in the nick of time, he manages to repel the pirates, and decides to stay on the planet to make sure that the people are safe.

This issue is a really fun showcase for those who like seeing Yoda in action (who doesn't though right?) as he arrives on Turrak in the middle of the raid, and cleans the clock of several pirates, with his saber in one hand and a massive axe three times his size in the other. It's super cool to see him doing the stuff he does here, and the art team of Nico Leon and Dono Sáchez-Almara do an amazing job at making things look dynamic, action packed, and cool.

The quieter moments in the issue are also done really well, and Turrak before the pirates arrive looks like a lovely place to be. The aliens that call it home seem like really nice people, and I absolutely loved the designs for them, and am glad that it seems like we're getting more than one issue of them so that I can see more of them.

Overall, this was a really good start to the series, it's showing us something new with Yoda straight away, and the team here seem more than capable of giving us the Yoda we know, as well as delivering new and interesting things too.

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Star Wars Revelations #1 - Comic Review

 

Originally published on Patreon

Star Wars Revelations feels like one of those comics you get every now and then that's there to grab people's attention, to give them a taste of the things to come and give a peek at upcoming stories in hopes of grabbing new readers. As such, there's a lot of promise in this book, lots of hints, and lots of things that 'could' happen. I say could, because the majority of the issue is told through Force visions, and we know how the Force can be misinterpreted, manipulated, or just flt out wrong. The fun is definitely going to be in seeing how much here comes to pass.

The book focuses on Darth Vader as he visits the Eye of Webbish Bog, who tells him that something terrible is coming, something that could end the Force, and the galaxy as a whole. Through a series of visions readers are given sneak peaks at what this means, and how each of the Star Wars books will theoretically tie into this story, and how it all began.

We get hints at what's to come with Sabe, including some fancy new armour she seems to be getting for working with the Empire. We see the origin of an ancient droid that led an uprising against organics, and how the Jedi of the High Republic essentially killed them all. We get hints at how Luke and his friends will come up against that droid, reborn in a new body. Valance seems to be on the verge of falling victim to it too, tossed aside by Vader and turning against his hold friends. And we check in on Aphra and her situation with the ancient being currently in control of her.

And we get more information about what Qi'ra is ultimately trying to do in the Hidden Empire event that's about to kick off, utilising ancient Sith artefacts against the Emperor.

There's a lot of tease and set-up in this issue, and if you're already reading all of the Star Wars books it's going to get you excited for what's to come. But I'm not sure how much it's going to be getting new people involved. If you've picked up this book hoping to get a look at what the Star Wars comics are like to see if maybe you want to try them it might leave you feeling a bit left behind. As such, I kind of don't know who this is for, other than existing readers wanting a tease of future stories.

The book has several artists working on it, and whilst some of the sections look great there are others that are less fun to look at. The segments dealing with Valance were pretty poor, to the point where I thought Vader was getting a new helmet design because he looked so weird. The segments with Luke also didn't look great, and it often looked like Luke's face was melting off. I get that it was a bigger issue and they needed more artists, but it felt incredibly inconsistent. 

Overall, the issue was fine, and it was nice to get some teases of the things to come, but it also felt like a lot of this info could have been revealed in comic previews. Is it an attempt to sell an extra book? Maybe. I wouldn't put it past Marvel to try and make a buck off what's essentially an announcement preview.

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Action Comics #1049 - Comic Review

 

Originally published on Patreon

The previous issue of Action Comics was perhaps one of my least favourites, and definitely the worst entry in the 'Kal-El Returns' story arc. Sadly, this issue has many similar problems, and has left me waiting anxiously for the end of this particular arc.

The main bulk of the story picks up where the last issue left off, with Superman fighting New Gods at Metropolis Zoo in order to protect the Phalosian kids from them. The New Gods want the Fire of Olgrun, and aren't above hurting a child to get it. Whilst Superman fights Kalibak and Orion, the kids help Bibbo to save some civilians, having been inspired to help regular folk by Superman. However, when Desaad tries to pull the power out of him Osul unleashes waves of power that shows he might be more powerful than the New Gods.

The alien gods eventually leave, though they make it clear that their desire to take the power hasn't ended and that they will return at some point. And I don't really understand what the point of this story was. Other than introducing the idea that the New Gods have an interest in Osul, it feels kind of pointless. Nothing much really happens, the action is very uninspiring, and the art looks really bad in several places. The character proportions shift and change from panel to panel, and there are points where they look like their bodies are twisted and broken, their faces wracked in pain or twisted into weird shapes.  Is it possible that better art would have made the story better? Probably not, but there were times the art was so off-putting that it definitely made the entire experience less enjoyable.

The rest of the story focuses on Lex and his plans. He manages to bring Metallo onto his side this issue, by having had his sister framed for murder. Metallo is forced to do what Lex wants in order for his sister to not go to prison, which shows how despicable Lex is, and humanises Metallo a lot more and makes him joining the bad guys feel a lot more realistic.

The final pages also show that Lex has been manipulating Manchester Black, even as far back as his time on Warworld, and that Black is the reason why Lex was able to find the things he took from Warworld. Unfortunately for Black, Lex isn't willing to play nice, and knocks the hero out. It's not clear what Lex is up to, other than his usual thing of trying to kill Superman, and the specifics of his plan are still hidden away. The idea that he was working on this even during the Warworld saga feels a bit retcon-ish, but I'll reserve judgement until I see exactly what he tries to do.

The back-up feature also felt a but of a let down, as it rushes to conclude the story. The fight is incredibly quick, and the whole thing seems to have been done simply to maneuver Chaytly into a position where he can be recruited by another villain. At least the art on this part of the book isn't as terrible at least.

Overall, Action Comics has really started to slip into an un-enjoyable territory for me, and it's starting to feel like this story arc is slowing things down a lot. Hopefully the upcoming big revamp following issue 1050, and the new status-quo for the Superman family will lead to better stuff.

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Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors – All Hail The King #3 – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

It’s hard to say if there’s a more iconic a nemesis for Godzilla than the tree headed dragon (wyvern actually, as pointed out in this issue) King Ghidorah. There’s a reason why whenever he turns up in the films it takes several monsters to take him down, whether that’s in the original movies, the US versions of them, or even in comics where it takes costumed heroes in giant robots to help. Godzilla seems to rarely go it alone against the golden Goliath, but this issue of Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors – All Hail The King gives readers the first round of the fight, and lets him do just that.

A lot happens in this issue, and there’s a great deal of time-skipping that takes place. In order to help facilitate this the issue gets broke down into segments where we get a brief introduction from Cederic on his MeToob channel, giving us the pertinent information that we need for each part. For example, the book opens with him telling his viewers (and us the readers) that people around the world have been having strange dreams over the last few weeks. Everyone is dreaming about the same name over and over again: Ghidorah. This acts as a nice segue into us catching up with the Xillians, who are digging deeper towards the slumbering monster. The dreams are happening because the beast is getting ready to wake up, and the Xillians are putting their plan into action.

This kind of structure is utilised more than once, when the next MeToob catch-up lets us know that Ghidorah has been appearing in major cities around the world, causing destruction, then flying away. This issue is covering a lot of ground when it comes to time, and using time jumps in this way is actually a really good way of doing it. We get Cedric telling his audience about what’s been happening in a way that feels natural and true to an internet vlogger, and it means we don’t have to sit through clunky dialogue scenes where characters awkwardly talk through information that they’d already know. It’s not only easy on the reader, but it makes the jumps in time feel natural and even worthwhile, as we don’t have to get bogged down in the less important stuff.

So Ghidorah’s been rampaging across the world – ‘But what about Godzilla?’ I hear you ask. Well, this is addressed quite well in the book as the kids talk about something that tends to happen in almost every Godzilla story but isn’t always pointed out: Godzilla is pretty lazy when it comes to fighting monsters. The monster can be destroying a city, killing thousands, but if it’s on the other side of the world why should he care? Yes, this is different in the Monsterverse movies where he goes out after threats, but here he’s happy to sit back and do nothing until Ghidorah gets up in his business. This also allows for the kids to talk more about the mysterious Kaiju that Karen has a connection with, and how those connections work.

But Ghidorah does come where he probably shouldn’t, and Godzilla takes a dislike to that. A good portion of the issue is given over to the fight that breaks out between them, and this is where the art team of Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado really shine. The entire book looks great and has tons of personality, but the monster fights are what we’re here to see, and this one is really rather good. The two monsters feel like they’re a challenge for the other, and there’s a decent sense that this isn’t something that Godzilla could easily handle on his own; opening the door for the other Kaiju to arrive next issue.

Speaking of upcoming things, there’s a preview of the next issue cover at the back of the book that gives us a tantalising tease of who the new monster is going to be. I’m not going to say that my prediction in the last issue was correct, but I will say I’m looking forward to seeing it. With only two more issues left the series is looking to be building towards a pretty exciting finale.

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Stargirl: The Lost Children #1 - Comic Review

 

Originally published on Patreon

I've been a big fan of the JSA, and Johns' run on the series, for more than a decade. I love those classic, golden age characters (and the newer heroes they picked up over the years) and how they fit into the modern DC universe. And their exclusion was one of the big parts of why I dropped off from DC for a few years after the New 52 essentially erased them. So I'm actually really excited to see Johns returning to these characters, and deciding to do more with the Golden Age.

Stargirl: The Lost Children focuses on one of the more popular modern additions to the Justice Society, Stargirl, as she and Red Arrow work a mission to try and find out what happened to a bunch of missing sidekicks from the Golden Age who seem to have been forgotten by the world. Those who read Flashpoint: Beyond will be familiar with some of the names mentioned in this issue, and will probably have a good idea of why they vanished and why people don't remember them; but that's info that Courtney doesn't have.

Instead, we see Courtney trying to juggle her new mission, one no one really believes in, with her personal life as her mother grounds her and tries to stop her from working with Emiko any more. But, Courtney is nothing if not stubborn, and she and her friend head out to the home of a former kid sidekick, Dyna-Mite, whose hero was the first to be killed years ago.

Dyna-Mite has assembled quite the conspiracy theory board full of info on the missing kids, and this gives the two young heroes the information they need to begin the next stage of their journey; heading out into the middle of the ocean where a disappearance happened years before. They're not the only ones heading out there though, as Dyna-Mite has been sailing to the spot. When his boat is destroyed in the storm he swims ashore on an island that shouldn't be there, and finds himself transformed from an old men into a kid once again. But someone on the island attacks him.

The rest of the issue includes some interesting flashbacks to Dyna-Mite and his hero partner, TNT, in the golden age, and shows what life was like for young heroes back in that era. It captures a lot of the fun and feel of the comics from that time, and also shows why the older Dyna-Mite still cares so much, and puts himself in as much danger as he does.

If you're coming to this issue having read the stuff building up to it, hoping that you're going to get some answers, sorry that's not happening. However, this issue does do an excellent job at establishing the mystery for new readers, as well as setting up the kind of tone the book is going to have. It wonderfully captures a lot of the fun and energy of the Golden Age books, and has some fun with the more modern characters. 

The art on the book, by Todd Nauck and Matt Herms, looks great, and the opening pages set in the golden age look really dynamic and colourful, and instantly draw the reader in. The panels where the young heroes go to investigate Dyna-Mite's home are packed full of details, with interesting stuff in there to keep an eye out for. The entire book looks good, and the art style really seems to suit this story.

If you're a fan of Stargirl and golden age books in general this series looks set to be one that's going to be a lot of fun.

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