So this happened.

When DC Comics rebooted its entire line of superhero titles last year, the publisher did away with Superman’s marriage to Lois Lane to pave the way for a new romance. Without further ado, EW can exclusively reveal that Superman’s new partner in love is no mere mortal, but a superhero icon in her own right: None other than Wonder Woman. herself.

So the first thoughts that went through my mind were outrage and disappointment… but after that, I started thinking a bit more about it, and these were the words that ran through my head:

“Oh, DC, are sales down? Are the higher-ups at Warner’s grumbling about how the company’s doing and what potential damage you’re doing to the trademarks? Are you jonesing hard for the oh-so-addictive thrills of getting the news media to pay attention to you and of randomly pissing off the fanboys who, for now, shell out the cash for your books? Too bad, guys, so sad.”

The sweaty, flailing, wheezing desperation for controversy-for-the-sake-of-controversy makes DC look increasingly weak and inept. I mean, really, they don’t even work to promote their books as good storytelling, good art, good writing — it’s all focused on manufacturing controversy, however they can get it.

I feel sad for the writers and artists who are trying to create good comics in the face of DiDio-Johns-Lee’s ham-fisted gropings into the world of marketing. Because they’ve made it pretty clear that they don’t care about making good comics, they just care about trolling the readers with badly thought-out ideas, trying harder and harder to piss off feminist comic fans, and getting interviewed by entertainment reporters. It’s a sad state of affairs for any good comic creator.

But for the company itself? For DiDio and Johns and Lee? I just want to laugh. They’re fooling fewer and fewer people by the minute, and I don’t know if they realize that.

Captain Marvel #1

The much-anticipated new series starring the former Ms. Marvel, Carol Danvers. She has a shorter haircut and a new costume that’s more similar to Marvel’s classic Captain Marvel character. After she and Captain America stop a rampage by the Absorbing Man, Cap persuades her that it’s time for her to take up the name Captain Marvel as a tribute to the original. After that, she spars with Spider-Man, takes a short flight into orbit, visits her old friend Tracy Burke, who is now apparently fighting cancer, and reminisces about her hero, Helen Cobb, a pioneering pilot.

Verdict: Thumbs up. A fairly low-key beginning for the new series — nice to see that every new comic doesn’t have to start with a giant cosmic crossover. We get some action, some downtime, some great character moments. Kelly Sue DeConnick writes a great issue here. The big surprise is Dexter Soy’s art — if you expected traditional comic art like what’s on the cover, Soy’s work isn’t what you thought you’d see. He’s more of a painter, and on first glance, his work looks a bit muddy. But you get adjusted fast, and Soy really shines when it comes to faces. It really is pretty beautiful stuff. Hope you’re going to give this one a try.

Batwoman #11

Sune has shapeshifted into a completely different person, Maro, with plans to kill Batwoman and take over the Medusa organization. Maro manages to escape with a bunch of kidnapped children, leaving Batwoman and Cameron Chase to escape from Killer Croc and Maria, the Weeping Woman. Meanwhile, it’s looking like Bette Kane may never wake back up, and the doctors are making plans to take her off life support. Is there anything Jacob Kane can do to save her?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Mainly, to be honest, for Jacob Kane and his niece Bette. The Batwoman stuff is fine, but it’s mostly slugfest stuff. Jacob and Bette have all the heart in this issue.

Wonder Woman #11

Hera has hired Apollo and Artemis, the gods of the sun and the moon, to abduct Zola, and only Wonder Woman, Hermes, and Lennox are available to stop them. And the good guys get absolutely stomped. With Lennox out of the picture and Zola in Hera’s fiendish clutches, can Diana and Hermes do anything to help?

Verdict: I think I’ll give it a thumbs up. It’s not a ton of fun to watch the heroes get effortlessly pulverized by the bad guys, but there’s some good character stuff in here, we get Hera scheming, we get our first looks at Artemis and Demeter, and we get more fun with Strife being a hilarious loon.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Holy cow, news about this shooting at the Denver theater showing the new Dark Knight movie is horrific. What is wrong with people?
• What this world needs is less corporate-sponsored, marketing-tested Olympics and a heck of a lot more of the awe-inspiring athletes of the Paralympics.
• How one superfan steered Batman away from the campiness of the ’60s to today’s Dark Knight.
• You wanna see ten minutes of the Punisher being awesome and violent and amazing? Yes, you do. Yes, you really, really do.
• Holy cow, Limbaugh was right! “The Dark Knight Rises” really is a slam on Mitt Romney!
• No, seriously! Bane totally equals Bain!

Wonder Woman #10

The wedding of Hades and Wonder Woman is about to begin — and Hades has Wonder Woman’s neck in a noose made of her own Golden Lasso, demanding that she tell him the truth of whether or not she loves him. She says yes — and it’s true! But the wedding’s still off, ’cause she’s pissed that he didn’t trust her and was willing to kill her because he was incapable of trust. Diana steals a horse, and there’s a great chase through Hell as Hades tries to corral or kill her. Can Wonder Woman escape the power of a god?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Good action, dialogue, art, characterization. Just about everyone gets their little moments to shine, but Wondy, of course, gets the best ones. And she’s still wearing that awesome wedding dress/suit of armor that she had last issue, too.

Batwoman #10

Another huge bucket of competing storyarcs — We get to see Killer Croc transformed from supervillain to monstrous urban legend; we see the Medusa organization strike a blow at the D.E.O.; we see Jacob Kane make a heartbreaking confession to his still-comatose niece Bette Kane; and we see Batwoman discover a terrible secret about one of her allies.

Verdict: Thumbs up. The art is still pretty much the best you’re going to see in any comic books today. The writing ain’t that bad either. To be honest, I’ve been enjoying Jacob Kane’s storyarc the most — it’s had a lot more resonance for me than any of the superhero punch-ups in the rest of the book. Although if we get to see some more spooky emphasis on Gotham’s other urban legends, I’ll be pretty happy with that, too.

The Unwritten #38

Fiction has disappeared as a concept from the human mind — with the exception of Tom Taylor, who is the only person left on the planet who can still channel stories. The police in Australia are on the hunt for a Tommy Taylor cult that’s causing disappearances, and Detective Sandra Patterson finds Daniel Armitage, a patsy she can send undercover into the cult’s hiding places to learn their secrets. And Daniel finds one doozy of a secret, too…

Verdict: Thumbs up. Still not seeing our main characters much, other than Savoy, but Det. Patterson makes a good protagonist in their stead. I’m also digging the slow buildup of details about how doomed the world is without stories, particularly the suicidal writer who can’t think of anything fictional anymore…

Atomic Robo Presents: Real Science Adventures #2

I got the first issue of this soooo late I didn’t even figure it was worth reviewing, but the second issue got here on time, so here ’tis. It’s a bunch of different stories about Atomic Robo, all written by Brian Clevinger, with art by different creators. Most of them are pretty short, and several are multi-parters, with a chapter each issue. We’ve got one story starring the Sparrow, British secret agent, during WWII; another with Robo in 1924 fighting off the ghost of Rasputin; another with Robo learning martial arts from Bruce Lee, and one more with Robo teaming up with, of all things, the characters from the “Team Fortress 2” computer game to capture the legendary Yonkers Devil.

Verdict: Thumbs up. I enjoyed everything — and got a nice surprise from the Team Fortress cameos. My only disappointment here was that there wasn’t another Dr. Dinosaur story, like there was in the first issue. Dr. Dinosaur is the greatest comic character ever.

Avengers Academy #30

During the “Avengers vs. X-Men” crossover, a lot of the X-students are rooming at Avengers Academy — supposedly to keep them safe, but the X-kids have strong suspicions that they’re actually prisoners at the school. Adding to the stress is the fact that Sebastian Shaw — longtime X-Men foe who has now been mindwiped — has escaped from custody and is likely to come gunning for everyone to get revenge on Emma Frost, the woman who he’s just recently learned is responsible for his amnesia. The teachers decide not to tell the students about Shaw’s escape, partly to avoid a panic and partly because they’re worried the X-students will side with him. While X-23 bonds with Hazmat and Finesse, Shaw is busy taking down all of the teachers. How will the tensions between the groups play out, and how will Shaw use those tensions to his advantage?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Good story, good action, good dialogue. Great characterization for everyone, but particularly X-23, Hazmat, and Finesse. This is definitely one of my favorite team comics — hope you’re buying it, ’cause we want to make sure good stories get fan support.

Wonder Woman #9

Diana is trapped in Hell, because she agreed to stay if Hades would let Zola go free. Hermes, Hephaestus, Eros, Lennox, and Zola make plans to return to Hell to rescue her, while Wonder Woman prepares for her wedding to Hades. But does Wonder Woman really love Hades, even after getting shot by Eros’ (ahem) love guns? Or is she faking it for Zola’s sake? And what test will Hades and Strife devise to determine her feelings?

Verdict: Thumbs up. This issue really shines in the small details and surprises: elderly, blood-splattered War; the revelation of Persephone; the introduction of Aphrodite; Hades’ bloody throne; and especially Wonder Woman’s wedding dress, part beautiful, part superheroic, part fetishistic, part gory.

Today’s Cool Links:

• “Community” is one of the best shows on TV. NBC just fired the show’s creator. NBC just stepped in something stinky.
• Dan DiDio thinks “Before Watchmen” is a love letter to Alan Moore? Dan DiDio can die in a fire.
• Holy cow, this is where I live!
• Worst marketing failures in the history of video games — and another reason to be relieved you don’t have to go through life as quasi-famous comedian Jamie Kennedy.

The Amazing Spider-Man #684

The Sinister Six has put the smackdown on the Avengers, but Silver Sable manages to rescue Spidey and the Black Widow. The crew from Horizon Labs calls in to offer assistance — their labs in NYC are shut down, but they’ve got a yacht out in international waters where Mayor Jameson can’t stop them. Spidey and the other heroes travel to a secret satellite factory in the Sahara, armed with a little of Horizon Labs’ tech, but they soon find themselves ambushed by the Sandman — now empowered by all the sand in the world’s largest desert. Can three people stand against that much power?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Wonderful writing and art, excellent twists and turns in the story, and outstanding dialogue and action. Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos are doing comics right.

Dark Horse Presents #11

This issue features the usual wide variety of stories and creators: Francesco Francavilla’s “The Black Beetle,” Evan Dorkin’s “House of Fun,” John Arcudi’s “The Creep,” a short story by Andrew Vachss with illustrations by Geof Darrow, Neal Adams’ “Blood,” Carla Speed McNeil’s “Finder: Third World,” and much more.

Verdict: Thumbs down. I hate to do this to a series that’s been awesome far, far more often than not, but other than McNeil’s “Finder” and Dorkin’s “Milk and Cheese” and various other funny mini-strips, very little of this was particularly good.

Wonder Woman #8

Preparing for her journey to Hell to rescue Zola from Hades, Wonder Woman gets kitted out by Hephaestus — swords, daggers, shields, and even Eros’ golden handguns. She and Hermes arrive in Hell to find it looks, at least for now, like London, seemingly deserted — but in fact, Hell is literally made of the souls trapped there, and they occasionally burst out of statues, bloody and dripping as freshly skinned corpses, to attack people at Hades’ whim. Soon enough, they locate Zola — and while it’s only been days since she was abducted, in Hell, months have passed, so it looks like she’s at least eight months along. But Hades isn’t about to let Zola go without a fight…

Verdict: Ehh, I wasn’t so fond of this one. Cliff Chiang’s art is as beautiful as ever, and the action and dialogue are pretty good. But I just found myself fairly bored with the whole issue. Sorry — they can’t all be winners.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Chris Roberson will land on his feet. And DC will continue to suck.
• Times are rough for everyone, but they’re especially hard for people who’ve made their careers in the arts.
• Mike Sterling has a pretty funny review of the newest “Ghost Rider” movie.
• Please, people, please, the word is spelled “cologne.”

Dark Horse Presents #10

Lots of stuff in this issue, including the conclusion of Alan Gordon and Thomas Yeates’ “The Once and Future Tarzan,” much-welcome “Milk and Cheese” and “The Murder Family” episodes by Evan Dorkin, a new chapter of Carla Speed McNeil’s “Finder: Third World,” a text story by Andrew Vachss with art by Geof Darrow, and much, much more.

Verdict: Thumbs up. There were a few stories I wasn’t real happy with — I thought the Tarzan tale, which ran very promisingly for the first two chapters, mostly fell apart in a maze of too many characters at the end (though I still think this would be grand as an ongoing comic), Colin Lorimer’s “UXB” was just too weird for me to take seriously, and I’ve never managed to enjoy any “Criminal Macabre” story. But aside from that, everything else rocked the house. M.J. Butler and Mark Wheatley’s “Skulltar” continues to be very funny, “Finder” and “The Massive” are always wonderful, Vachss’ “Dead Reliable” is a nice little study on growing old, feeling desperate, and embracing amorality, and new Dorkin “Milk and Cheese” and “Murder Family” stories are always worth celebrating.

Wonder Woman #7

Well, this one was just deeply problematic.

Wonder Woman, Hermes, and Lennox enlist the aid of gun-toting prettyboy Eros to help find the kidnapped Zola. Eros takes them to see the monstrous weapons-crafter Hephaestus to ask for weapons and passage to Hell to confront Hades. Diana learns that Hephaestus’ minions are all male children of the Amazons — and her decision to free her half-brothers leads to more surprises and revelations.

Verdict: Thumbs down. Most of the story is fine. The art is gorgeous. But what others have said about the revelations about the Amazons — that they periodically take to the seas to commandeer ships, rape and murder the crews, bear their children, and either kill the baby boys or sell them into slavery — is entirely correct — it turns the Amazons into despicable monsters and calls into question Wonder Woman’s intellect, as she was apparently unaware of this part of her homeland’s past. It pushes past my suspension of disbelief and just turns the Amazons into something they were never meant to be. It’s too bad, because most of this issue is fine — but this just ends up wrecking my ability to enjoy the story.

Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child #1

Here’s the first issue of a new Vertigo series written by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds and illustrated by Denys Cowan. It focuses on Dominique Laveau, an apparent descendant of legendary voodoo priestess Marie Laveau, who finds herself on the run from almost everyone in New Orleans, including gangsters, voodoo practitioners, magic gunmen, monsters, and even the loa themselves. Why is everyone after her, and what secret powers does she possess?

Verdict: Thumbs down. Sorry, but it bored me. Too much pointless running around, no significant character background for Dominique, too many supporting characters getting introduced and killed in the same panel, and just much too much passivity from the heroine. Why should I care about Dominique when all she can do is run away from everything? Why should I care about the setting when we get absolutely no background or explanations about what’s going on? I’ll probably give this another chance to impress me in the second issue — but it’s got a steep hill to climb.

Today’s Cool Links:

• I love this — a Kickstarter project dedicated to rescuing out-of-print sci-fi books for new readers.
• Some fans of “The Hunger Games” are just a leeeeetle bit racist.
• Yeah, I’m not holding my breath that cutesy controversy-monger Mark Millar is going to do much to make comics a more diverse place.

Daredevil #9

Someone has burgled a cemetery and stolen a lot of bodies, including the body of Fightin’ Jack Murdock, the father of blind New York lawyer Matt Murdock. So Daredevil goes on a trip deep underground, following the trail of the graverobbers. Turns out it’s a bunch of Moloids, the underground dwellers who serve the Mole Man. He has a few skirmishes with the Moloids and doesn’t even realize how close he gets to some of the Mole Man’s giant monsters. But the question remains — why is the Mole Man steal and desecrating corpses? And how is Daredevil going to stop him?

Verdict: Thumbs up. As always, beautiful art and writing. It’s neat to see Daredevil in an environment where he’s on an equal level, at least as far as senses go, with his opponents. The sideplot, with the Black Cat searching Matt’s apartment for the trinket he stole from the world’s major criminal organizations, is also pretty interesting.

Snarked #5

Wilburforce J. Walrus, Clyde McDunk, Queen Scarlett, and Prince Rusty have set sail on the Old Gertrude in search of the King — but they haven’t yet shared with the crew that the map to the King’s prison has mysteriously turned up blank. Or that they’re supposed to go to the dreaded Snark Island. That’s bad news, because the whole crew of the ship was been severely traumatized by a Snark-hunting incident years ago. And to add to the chaos, there’s a great big crocodile stalking the ship, determined to eat someone on board — and it’s just gobbled up Rusty! What are our heroes to do?!

Verdict: Thumbs up. Inspired and silly and glorious work here — even better than many of the previous issues. The threat of the crocodile, the flashback to the crew’s previous visits to Snark Island, the crewman who spends his whole life hiding inside a barrel — the whole thing is gloriously fun from beginning to end.

Wonder Woman #6

While Wonder Woman and Poseidon smack each other around, Lennox parleys with the wonderfully creepy Hades. After saving Zola from another pair of murderous centaurs, Wonder Woman reveals her plan to end the war to become Zeus’ replacement — by day, Heaven will be ruled by Poseidon, and by night, by Hades — and they’ll share Hera as the queen. Predictably, Hera is so infuriated at this suggestion that she shows up to confront everyone — and that’s when Wonder Woman’s new scheme against her goes into effect.

Verdict: Thumbs up — and a large part of that is how cool Hades looks: black-clad little tyke with a half dozen flaming candles on top of his head and fountains of melted wax covering half his face. It might be my favorite of Brian Azzarello’s reimaginings of the Greek pantheon.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Here’s a segment from the PBS show “History Detectives” about an obscure romance comic from the ’50s.
• I love it when John Scalzi hoists the black flag and declares war on ridiculously rich whiners.
• Not only does life not begin at conception, but the entire concept of “life begins at conception” is actually younger than I am.

Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #1

This new Lobster Johnson series starts off with a 1930s setting, a scalped cop, and a bunch of mobsters dressed up as ghostly Indians. They all get slaughtered by Lobster Johnson before they can kill anyone else, and the case attracts the attention of a newspaper reporter named Cindy Tynan, and while most of the locals refuse to talk to her, she’s able to get a lot of the backstory from Harry McTell, a black mechanic, who shares his theory that the mobsters are pulling a Scooby-Doo plot — scare off all the locals, then buy their homes for a song. But when the Mob finds out that Cindy is snooping into their business, they’re going to send a few goons out to give her a permanent deadline.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Excellent writing as ever from Mike Mignola and John Arcudi, with the excellent addition of Tonci Zonjic on art chores. Zonjic does a great job with action, facial expressions, and pretty much everything he works on, and I always love seeing his stuff.

Wonder Woman #5

While Wonder Woman, Hermes, and Zola hang around London, they meet up with a guy named Lennox, who claims to be the half-mortal son of one of the gods. He offers to help them out, and Wonder Woman gets to have a meeting with Poseidon, the very large and very fishy god of the sea. How will he react to Wondy’s request for an audience? And what kind of trouble is Lennox going to run into in London’s sewers?

Verdict: I’ll thumb this one up for the sake of Tony Akins’ art (which isn’t as good as Cliff Chiang’s, but is still pretty good) and for the always-fun visions of the modern-day Greek pantheon. But I don’t yet understand why anyone should care about Lennox, and the issue in general doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of story or action running through it.

Severed #6

Jack Garron is traveling to his father’s home in Mississippi with the traveling salesman, who he has recently discovered is a violent, murderous man who’s lied about his friend Sam deserting and robbing him. Jack gives the salesman the wrong address to his father’s home, then accompanies him to the “recording studio” — actually just a shack in the swamp. Jack tries to kill him with a switchblade, but the salesman has an axe — and his scary shark teeth. Jack wisely beats it outta there and steals the salesman’s car. Hoping he’s seen the last of the salesman, Jack heads for his father’s home, only to learn that both of his birth parents have been dead for almost a decade. So who’s been sending him letters all this time?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Great suspense and beautiful artwork. This one’s nearing the end, and I’m keen to see how it all works out.

The Unwritten #33

More and more people worldwide believe that Tom Taylor is the boy wizard Tommy Taylor, and as a result, Tom is hyper-charged with magical power. He plans to hit the Cabal’s headquarters as soon as possible so he’ll have enough magic to overwhelm their defenses, but he needs more information about where their HQ is located, which he manages to get by summoning and interrogating the ghost of the architect who created the building. But the Cabal knows he’s probably on the way. Pullman gives them a lecture on how consensus reality works and doesn’t work, and the Cabal’s masters work on a desperate gamble involving storytelling. Do they stand a chance of stopping Tom?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Good dialogue, plot development and twists, fun art. As always, a good, solid read.

Today’s Cool Links:

• The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has some tips for comics shop owners dealing with media attacks.
• Here’s a fun horror movie mashup. Ain’t horror movies grand?
• Volkswagen’s new commercial combines dogs and the Sith in an entertaining way.

Batman Inc.: Leviathan Strikes! #1

There is so much stuff going on in this comic, people. SO MUCH STUFF!

First things first: This is set before Flashpoint and before the DC Reboot! HUZZAH! It’s a Christmas miracle!

We get Stephanie Brown as Batgirl one more time, infiltrating a sinister finishing school where the students are trained to be assassins. We get Barbara Gordon as Oracle one more time, organizing all the Batmen all over the planet. We get Batman stuck in some kind of bizarre drug/time-travel hallucination as he tries to battle Otto Netz. We get betrayals and double-agents and sacrifices and mind-control and old friends and old enemies. And we find out who’s really running Leviathan. Is it Jezebel Jet? It’s Jezebel Jet, isn’t it?

Verdict: Thumbs up, people. Oh, mercy, just to see another glimpse of the pre-Reboot continuity. That alone is worth a thumbs up. Plus Stephanie Brown, Oracle, Dick Grayson as Batman, and a chance for even more next year? That’s solid gold, baby.

Daredevil #7

After the office Christmas party, Matt Murdock volunteers to escort some blind kids from a local school on a field trip. Unfortunately, there’s a crash in the middle of a blizzard, and Daredevil has to lead the kids to safety. Easy-peasy, right? Nope, all the snow messes with DD’s radar senses, and his injuries from the crash have got him in danger of bleeding out. Can a blind, injured superhero save a bunch of kids in a raging snowstorm when he has no idea where he is or where to find safe shelter?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Nicely tense storytelling, beautiful art, fun dialogue, and an unexpected challenge for the Man without Fear. If nothing else, this comic is worth getting for Matt Murdock at a Christmas party wearing an “I’m Not Daredevil” sweater.

Wonder Woman #4

While Wonder Woman soothes herself from abandoning Themyscira by taking in a London rock show, the gods plot against her, and Hera herself prepares to revenge herself upon the Amazons.

Verdict: Ehh, thumbs up. Not a lot happening here, really. But I enjoyed the idea of Ares as an old man hanging out in war zones. And Diana hanging out in a headbangers club was pretty cool, too. If I’ve got a serious disappointment, it’s that Hippolyta may now be written out of the series, and that’s just way too early for that to happen.

Tiny Titans #47

Bumblebee attends a meeting of the Team Nucleus club and is looking forward to getting her Babysitting Patch. Mrs. Atom offers to help out, so they volunteer to take Damien, Jason Toddler, Kid Devil, Arthur Jr., and Miss Martian on a trip to Metropolis. Too bad that they lose all the kids in the city almost immediately! Can Bumblebee and Miss Martian round up the rest of the kids? Or will Bee have to do without her new patch?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Much humor and lunacy and cuteness all over the place here. Y’all know why I love this series already, okay?!

Today’s Cool Links:

• Here’s an Ogden Nash Christmas poem you can read to your kids, or to anyone else who likes silly poetry.
• And for you grownups, here’s a darker but still humorous Christmas story by Charles Stross.
• Kalinara ponders the lack of passion in the Rebooted DCU.

Wonder Woman #3

The big secret is out — Diana wasn’t formed from clay by her mother and given life by the gods. She was created the old-fashioned way — by her mother, Hippolyta, and her father, Zeus. With many of the Amazons angry at her, with Hera lining the gods up against her, and with only a few allies remaining on Themyscira, what future does Wonder Woman have here?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Still not sure I like the new origin, but the art is beautiful, the dialogue and characterization are great, and I can’t see that much here I should feel unhappy about.

iZombie #19

In the aftermath of the zombie invasion, the National Guard is out, the Dead Presidents and the Fossor Corporation are hunting monsters, and everyone else is lying low. Gwen has Ellie seal her up inside a crypt to keep someone from shooting her in the head, despite the danger that she could go nuts whenever she needs to eat a brain. Spot has a date with Gwen’s hunky brother Gavin, and a new ghostly vigilante called the Phantasm is stalking the streets.

Verdict: Thumbs up. As always, Mike Allred’s art is fantastic, and Chris Roberson does a great job juggling the various professional and personal relationships — and the accompanying soap opera angst — going on here. Interesting to see that Spot is apparently bisexual — had no clue prior to this that he was anything other than an awkward straight geek, but maybe more was going on that I didn’t notice…

Today’s Cool Links:

• Yes, what the world really needs is a dark re-imagining of “The Munsters.” (shoots producers)
• Batman knows all about good customer service.