Birthright #2

Writer – Joshua Williamson
Artist – Andrei Bressan
Colours – Adriano Lucas

Mikey has finally come home to his parents after having been missing for a number of years, but it is not the homecoming he expected.  For one, he is in jail, his parents have split up and nobody believes his story of just where he has been, possibly because he is now a full grown man when he should not be and his story includes being transported to a magical land.  It could also be due to the fact that he was carrying some weapons.  Lots of weapons.  Joshua Williamson continues his fantasy epic in the same vein as the first issue where part of the story takes place on Earth and partly in Terrenos and also features the lead character Mikey as a man and a boy.  In the current time, Williamson has Mikey sitting in an interrogation room, talking with his brother and trying to prove his identity while as a child, Mikey is following his comrades around as there is simply nothing else he can do at the moment.  The book has everything you could ever want like strange creatures, larger than life heroes, and epic quests and it is brought to vivid life by Andrei Bressan and Adriano Lucas.  Together they deliver some stunning artwork to accompany this story of a hero’s journey with some really incredible action sequences towards the end of the book when Mikey has finally had enough.  So far the story is off to a strong start, filled with wonder and imagination that brings together many of the best elements that fantasy has to offer. Fun, interesting and exciting, you can see this book lasting for a long time to come and hopefully it does.

4.5 out of 5

The New 52 Futures End #27

Writer – Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen
Artist – Aaron Lopresti
Inker – Art Thibert
Colours – Hi-Fi

Green Arrow, with Big Barda and the rest of his team is ready to set off and rescue the Earth 2 heroes on Cadmus Island, not knowing what it is that awaits them there.  Mister Miracle nearly gets captured by Brother Eye, Lois Lane decides to take a leap of faith and the Batman from Beyond and the Batman from now have a little meeting.  A much better issue this time around from the creative team that finally sees Green Arrow put his plan into motion, though what he thinks he can accomplish with such a small force remains to be seen.  Red Robin, or Cal Corcoran, is one of the more interesting characters in the book, even if he does very little.  While he does seem to take up a number of precious pages during most books, there must be something in mind for him, especially as we had been told recently that he does not make it into the future.  The same can be said of Lois Lane, what her ultimate purpose is remains to be seen, though parachuting into Cadmus Island does not spell good things.  From the first few issues of the series, it was always a question of just when Batman would confront Terry McGuinness and it looks like that time has finally arrived.  It would be nice if the writers devoted a good chunk of the book towards it, to really give it the space it needs and not delegate it to only a page here and there like most of the storylines that are usually featured.  At the end of the day this was a very decent issue, now we just have to see if the book can stay on track.

3.5 out of 5