In continuing my theme from last month, with my focus on Elseworlds Superman stories, this month I will be reviewing Superman: Speeding Bullets. The premise of the story should make any Superman or Batman fan salivate with its endless possibilities, as the plot twines itself around the notion that the Wayne parents find Kal-El’s rocket, resulting in the Last Son of Krypton becoming Bruce Wayne, not Clark Kent; thus, Kal-El becomes the Batman, the ultimate-powered superhero crossed with perhaps the smartest hero (in this ’verse, anyway). I was thoroughly primed and motivated to read this book.

Now all I had to do was hunt down a copy. That should be easy enough, or so I thought. I remember fondly flipping through copies of Superman: Speeding Bullets at the local Border’s Bookstore when I was in middle school. Ten years later, it was out of print, which was the reason why Amazon did not stock it in their warehouse, though they had third-party sellers schilling it for $18.99. OUCH! That was too rich for my blood. Next, I hopped on Ebay, only to snooze through the first auction and lose it for around twelve bucks. I was pretty pissed about that. As luck would have it, I won a copy of it and Gotham by Gaslight for around nine bucks, including shipping. Sweet! About a week after the auction, my envelope arrived from Texas with my eagerly awaited books. As I took Speeding Bullets from its packaging, I was let down by how slim it was; it was only 50 pages and as I flipped through it, it didn’t look as dense as, say, Superman: Red Son, which I reviewed last month. However, after reading through it, it is pretty good, I must say. Continue reading “Superman: Speeding Bullets”

If you’re the kind of person who thinks comic books are for kids, you’re like most people who missed one of the most significant literary releases of the 1980’s.

Alan Moore’s Watchmen is a classic among graphic novels. Originally published in 12 issues from 1986 to 1987 by DC Comics, it’s now available in its entirety as a trade paperback.

The story revolves around a group of superheroes who have (mostly) retired from heroics and find themselves dealing with life without the mask while the world crumbles around them. Watchmen takes place in the fall of 1985, although it is a 1985 with a partially different past. In the world that Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons have created, superheroes first show up after World War II. That’s where things start to get a little different. In their world of superheroes the Vietnam War is won due to their influence, and technology takes a leap forward due to the advanced mind of one of these heroes. Continue reading “Watchmen: Superheroes in Dystopia”