The Riddler: Year One #3 by Paul Dano & Stevan Subic

Another excellent chapter in The Riddler Year One series. Paul Dano is doing a fantastic job writing this book. It reminds me of the good old days of Vertigo. Stevan Subic’s art is perfect for this book. Parts of this comic could’ve been pulled straight out of the Matt Reeves BATMAN film.

The Riddler Year One Chapter 3: I Know What I Must Become

We open with an envelope being left at the Gotham City Police Department. It’s addressed to The Police Commissioner in scratchy red writing and there is a USB taped to it. A question mark is penciled on the USB.

“Can barely breathe.”

“What’s this?” The desk officer objects.

“Hey man, I’m just dropping this off for a guy, y’know? Said his name was Patrick Parker…”

Superman issue #1 (2023) by Joshua Williamson & Jamal Campbell

DC Comics has just launched a new Superman comic book series as part of their year-long “Dawn of DC” initiative. It is written by Joshua Williamson with art by Jamal Campbell. You get 32 pages of story for the higher-than-usual retail price of $4.99. (I don’t know if this price point is just for the first issue or not.) The story’s title is “Chapter One: Voices in Your Head” and the good news is Superman #1 is a great opening issue. It’s a bright, hopeful and optimistic comic book, a refreshing change from some of the more recent fare from DC Comics.

Thankfully there is only a brief nod to Superman’s origin story and we jump straight into the action. The man of steel is fighting Livewire–a villain first introduced in the Superman: The Animated Series episode “Livewire” back in 1997. During the fight, he can hear Lex Luthor’s voice advising him on how to defeat Livewire. I wasn’t quite sure how Luthor was able to see the fight from prison, probably on the Live News. But what is revealed is that Clark can listen to any voice he chooses to. As you can probably guess, Luthor’s advice is brutal and lacks any kind of compassion. Superman ignores him and the fight is quickly over.

The FLASH issue #790 (Jan 10, 2023) | Comic Review

Writer: Jeremy Adams
Artist: Roger Cruz
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: January 10, 2023
Cover Price: $3.99

I’ve never read The Flash comic before, but I kept hearing how good this latest run by writer Jeremy Adams is. Words like ‘bright’, ‘fun’, ‘positive’, and ‘hopeful’ were being used in regards to this series. Also, the strong focus on family, which refreshingly delivers a very positive depiction of what we used to call the “nuclear family.” You know, husbad, wife, a couple of kids plus a pet or two. And they love and care for each other. Incredible, right?!