Paperback in Action

The Death of Superman (1993) It's no secret that when a superhero dies, they aren't going to stay dead. The Death of Superman shook the world in 1993, but not even a year later, the Man of Steel was back and as healthy as ever. Even characters that were dead for much longer have been resurrected - for example, Final Crisis brought speedster Barry Allen back to life over 20 years after he died saving the multiverse. So, surely all a superhero's death means is that they won't appear in the books for a while, right? Not necessarily. To understand death in comic books, you need to understand the nature of comic book characters. The biggest comics on western shelves mostly star stock characters: heroes and villains who are passed from writer to writer over the years. If a " Death of... " storyline were permanent, it would mean nobody could ever write new stories for that character ever again. The Dark Phoenix Saga (1980) Therefore, it seems as if the

"Batman always comes back, bigger and better, shiny and new. Batman never dies. It never ends. It probably never will." But if there ever was an ultimate Batman story, this would be it. Grant Morrison's legendary Batman saga ties all facets of the beloved Caped Crusader into a single tale, producing a piece of modern-day mythology that will define Gotham's protector for generations. Morrison's Batman tale ran for seven years in total, but its many nods to Gotham's past and hints towards its future make it feel like a comprehensive record of the Wayne legacy. When writing this epic, Morrison declared that all prior Batman stories did indeed happen, with his run being the focal point of them all. The adventure begins in Batman and Son , which throws us straight into the madness with a scene of a trigger-happy Batman attempting to kill the Joker, only to be stopped by...Batman? This introduces us to a central theme of the series: the bat used as a s

Art by J.H. Williams III Batwoman has had quite a bit of exposure on social media since her upcoming TV series was announced, and it seems likely that the producers will be drawing on the work of Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III for inspiration. Published in 2009, their story Elegy defined the modern version of the character, and is where you need to look if you want to get to know her. Elegy is a four-part story about the link between Batwoman and a cult known as the Religion of Crime. This is her own case - Batman makes an appearance as you'd expect, but you learn why she's the caped crusader for the job. Writer Greg Rucka, who has a history of writing powerful women, easily makes you a fan of both the vigilante and her alter-ego Kate Kane. Kate Kane and her father, Jake Kate isn't just a gender-swapped Bruce Wayne. Her crime-fighting style more strongly resembles that of a soldier, and as a civilian she has to deal with a whole new batch of issues such as

What Scorch Comics currently looks like As if I were following the trail of Wonder Woman artist Liam Sharp , I recently travelled from Derby to Eastbourne on holiday. My home city is a comic book desert - you can find trade paperbacks in bookstores, but single issues are nowhere to be seen. So, like Goku using the Dragon Ball Radar, I checked for nearby comic stores upon arrival and was thrilled to find Scorch Comics within proximity. What first caught my eye in the cosy shop were the rows of back issues, encompassing Marvel, DC, Star Wars and more. I was spoiled for choice browsing the treasures I had found, but had no Simpsons-esque owner pressuring me to make a purchase with his heat-vision eyes. Some of the comics I came home with At one point I had to leave the shop whilst the owner attended a meeting - I waited for his return, and my commitment to comics was rewarded with a generous wad of freebies. On top of this I found an issue of World's Finest Comics from t

Art by Brett Booth and Bruno Furlani One of Superman's greatest opponents is one he will never actually meet: Dragon Ball protagonist Son Goku. The outcome of this dream match-up has been hotly debated by fans of both manga and Western comics, with no concrete answer being universally agreed upon. In fact, the argument is so divisive that it is now banned from most comic book forums. Despite being a big fan of both characters, I've never been able to confidently bet on one hero over the other - until now. Perhaps the main reason why the debate continues to this day is that, by nature, each character keeps displaying new feats that could tip the scales. This is because of their alien physiology - Superman is Kryptonian and Goku is Saiyan, meaning they each have powers that put them at the very top of their respective fictional universes. Thus, the only way to truly end this mighty clash is not to focus solely on these heroes, but to look at the differences between each ex

Writing Justice League comics is one hell of a task. Think of all of the planning that went into making the Avengers movies congruent with the heroes' solo outings - for team-up comics, writers have to do that every month. This would have been particularly hard in the 1990s, when it was a trend for characters to go through radical changes. While  JLA was on the stands, Superman transformed into a being of pure energy, Wonder Woman died in battle, and Flash was briefly replaced by his counterpart from an alternate timeline - events all occurring in the pages of other books. Luckily, comic legend Grant Morrison and talented guest writers like Mark Waid were at the helm of JLA during this era, embracing it to craft what is perhaps the definitive edition of the team. The first thing Morrison did on JLA  was restore the team to its original Silver-Age line-up. Prior to this the League had featured lesser-known characters, but now it consisted of the biggest names in DC. These sev

Today, the greatest manga magazine in the world turns 50 years old. Weekly Shonen Jump began as an anthology book aimed at young males in Japan, but has since turned into a whole line of comics that dominate the market worldwide, outselling even Marvel and DC. Over the past five decades, Jump comics and anime have influenced masses of people, including myself.  My earliest memories of Jump are of watching anime on TV when I was younger. These memories aren't very vivid - Dragon Ball Z , One Piece , Yu-Gi-Oh!  and Ultimate Muscle were on occasionally, but they disappeared in favour of cartoons that were more popular in the UK. It wasn't until I was 11 that I rediscovered the world of Jump in the way many fans do: through Naruto . Ninjas were all the range in 2011. Cartoons, games, toys and more featured heroes clad in the traditional "pyjama" look, which lead me to a breed of ninjas that were much cooler. Naruto and his friends had awesome character de