Quickfire-Combo Reviews: "Poe Dameron" #6 / "Batgirl & The Birds of Prey" #2 / "All-Star Batman" #2

"Poe Dameron" #6: The galactic mouse hunt between Poe Dameron and Agent Terex continues to be a highly entertaining affair, and one of Marvel's best Star Wars comics to date. It's light, fun, and perfectly captures the Poe Dameron established in The Force Awakens.

8/10

"Batgirl & The Birds of Prey" #2: Neither Batman nor her father can convince Barbara Gordon to accept any help here, and the comic is all the better for it. Batgirl, Huntress and Black Canary wonderfully click in this series, with a plot that retains a clear focus on where its headed altogether.

8/10

"All-Star Batman" #2: 2016 has not been short of great Batman series, and one almost has to feel sorry for Tom King, whose excellent new take on the Dark Knight in the main series gets overshadowed by this beast of a comic book. The artistic freedom Snyder enjoys here makes All-Star Batman truly excel in every aspect, and one of DC Comics' highlight series of the year.

9/10

Quickfire Combo-Reviews: "Daredevil" #10 / "Black Panther" #5 / "All Star Batman" #1

"Daredevil" #10: It takes a while for this new story arc to get out of the gates, but once in full swing, it is a thoroughly strong statement, artistically and narratively, from Soule and Garney.

8/10

"Black Panther" #5: Not quite the action yet promised after #4, but the interconnectedness and complexity of the comic's themes and motifs still makes this a must-read of 2016.

8/10

All Star Batman #1: Its theme of the potential evil which lurks in every common citizen and just needs to be triggered is nothing new in Snyder's Batman lore (just think of the "Mr. Bloom" story line). However, everything else here isn't, as Snyder, Romita and Shalvey go crazy with what Batman can be in 2016. 

10/10

Comic of the Day 8/5: "Star Wars: Droids" #1

Celebrating "Star Wars Day" 2016, Marvel has reprinted this 1986 inaugural issue of the relatively short-lived "Droids", based on the relatively short-lived TV show of the same name. Although not overly convincing, as it proves that writers and artists often confuse "for children" with "less effort needed", it certainly does its job as a children's comic or a 1980's nostalgia trip it.

Written by Dave Manak and somewhat surprisingly drawn by industry legend John Romita, many things about it look and feel like a generic 80's cartoon, bearing only occasionally resemblance to the Star Wars universe with your odd blaster or spaceship. Its innocent slapstick humor is largely based on C-3PO and R2-D2 constantly falling over each other; but at least both sound true to their movie counterparts.

But it was "Star Wars Day", and I don't want to go too hard on a comic that might not have a lot of pure quality, but definitely some charm and joy going for it. For younger readers, it can still serve as an ideal entry into the larger Star Wars universe.

5/10

Further links:

"Star Wars: C-3PO" #1