Spoilers: I'm not going to be deliberately spoiling the endings of stories, but these reviews will contain some details of plots, especially for issues that begin multi-issue story arcs. As a rule of thumb, I won't be revealing anything I personally wouldn't want to know prior to reading an issue.

The Uniques #1 ~ Here's something which I hope will become a lot more common - a comic sold in digital form, with no online-reader software or annual membership or anything like that, you just pay your money (US99c per issue, since there's no need to pay for printing and shipping) and you download the comic, in PDF or CBZ form. In fact, in the case of issue #1, you don't have to pay anything - the entire issue (40 pages, 34 of them story) is available for free. Aside from being on a screen rather than on paper - and I read my comics in the same room as my PC, so it's no real change for me - this comic is in every way what you'd expect from a professional print comics: solid, intelligent writing, active and attractive art, good production values in general - actually it's a notch above the average. The story is about Hope, aka 'Telepath', a 'unique' (superhuman) and member of a prominent superhero team, along with several members of her family. Not long ago, Cold War tensions, exacerbated by superhumans being regarded as military resources on each side, nearly led to global war, but the crisis was averted thanks to the courage and integrity of the superheroes involved. Disaster strikes, though, when at a ceremony to honour the heroes, a rogue villain makes an apparent suicide attack, killing many superhumans - except Hope, who'd procrastinated on her way to the ceremony, and thus was saved while much of her family perished. The psychic shockwave of the mass superhuman killing sends her into a coma, which she awakes from years later to discover that the world has changed, superheroes aren't what she's used to, and - in a neat twist - regardless of the coma that stole several years of her life, she's lucky to be alive, since the shockwave killed every other telepath in the world, leaving her the only one with telepathic abilities. It's a compelling scenario, and the first issue covers a lot of ground, showing Hope's difficulty in reconnecting with surviving family and friends, of deciding what course to pursue with her life, and of figuring out who she can trust in the new, unfamiliar political landscape of superheroics as it now is. Given that issue #1 is free, I highly recommend you check it out here; I've already bought issue #2 on the strength of it (the purchase and download procedure went quite smoothly).

Dark Avengers #1 ~ This is just an impulse buy for me - I had no intention of continuing to read it, since although I recognise the quality of Thunderbolts I'm not much of a fan of any of them (I read comics for superheroes, not superantiheroes), and though I'm sure Bendis will do an interesting job, I'm not such a fan of his that I'll follow him anywhere either. Mind you, had it actually been Ultra Girl (in the retro Ms. Marvel outfit Carol Danvers gave her) there, I may have reconsidered - but it's not, since the whole 'Dark Avengers' team, aside from a couple of genuine recruits, is the Thunderbolts dressing up as popular heroes in order to look good for the media. It's an interesting idea - a very plausible one, too - but a bit of a jolt, since with faces differing according to artist, it's almost the costume that defines who a character is in comics. I guess that's part of the fun of this concept - but it does mean that there's no-one on the team I'm interested in reading about. But that's roughly what I expected. What I really bought this comic for were two scenes, one where the real Ms. Marvel tells Norman Osborn to go to hell, and the other where Maria Hill tells Norman Osborn to go to hell. They're both good scenes, but the Maria Hill one is just delicious - I'm totally in love with her now, she's awesome.

Birds of Prey #126 ~ If I had to point to a single major flaw in recent issues - and there have been several to choose from - it'd have to be that the villains, the 'Silicon Syndicate' or whatever they're called, suck. So what does DC do? Give us a whole issue devoted to them. Now I know what you're thinking, what about Calculator? He's more interesting than the pointless newbies, and true, he is - but the sole achievement of this issue is to turn him into just another silly goof-powered techno-villain, rather than leaving him as is and using good writing and clever plotting to explore that. Oh, and we get a glimpse of the aftermath of Final Crisis - apparently the internet's offline (hey DC, do you guys understand what a computer is?), and there was some rioting. And they said World War Hulk wrapped up too cleanly. The Birds of Prey themselves are only in this issue a couple of pages, and they don't do anything interesting. Next issue's the finale - and, sorry to say, it's probably just as well.

Hack/Slash #19 ~ Cassie's still taking time out with Margaret, and Vlad is deeply depressed, feeling abandoned - so it falls to Chris and Lisa to be the action storyline this issue. Or rather, it falls to their messed-up alien demon dog Pooch, which is the real star - its strange, quirkily-worded narration as it battles Kuma, the big demon lady sent to track down Pooch, and Cassie. I really have to respect Tim Seeley for making this one work - I haven't yet caught up on all the early Hack/Slash stories, including wherever it is Pooch came from, and to be honest I've never paid the demon dog much attention so far (I'm more of a cat person, really), but this is simply a good, exciting, dramatic story, well told. It spreads out to include Chris and Lisa more directly later on, while Cassie and Margaret have a beautiful sequence with terrific narration from Cassie - all in all, it's just a great comic. The running subplot of the psychic woman believing Cassie is a slasher herself, since she's always at all the scenes of slasher killings, continues in the background, and there's a cute one-page backup starring Lovebunny and Mr. Hell, who I've been hoping to see again since I found an old comic of theirs a while ago.

Guardians of the Galaxy #9 ~ More of the same from this title, but that's by no means a bad thing - like Justice Society of America there are a lot of characters and a fair few storylines going on, so this is one for the constant reader, not someone who just dips in and out for the occasional issue. But it's good storytelling, inventive and not always easy to predict, but conversant enough with the traditions of the genre (fantasy adventure, basically, regardless of the sci-fi setting) that it feels nice and familiar to a genre-fan like me. This month the main action is in the Negative Zone, where Blastaar's forces are laying siege to the '42' prison, whose guards and administrators have fled and sealed the portal back to Earth behind then, leaving the prisoners, a mix of supervillains and anti-registration heroes, to fend for themselves. Into this mess of a siege steps Star-Lord, wryly funny as always, while back at Knowhere the remnants of the Guardians of the Galaxy are trying to locate him and reach him. This issue also drops in on Quasar and Drax, on Saturn's moon Titan consulting Mentor of the Eternals about whether it's possible that Heather may still be alive (or near enough) after all - obviously I'm keen to see this storyline forwarded, so this is welcome. The main thing I noticed this month, though - I keep laughing. Not because the book is silly, but just because it's fun, and I get caught up in it an enjoy it very easily. Good work, then, and if there are any negative effects from me skipping War of Kings and reading just this, they're not apparent yet.

Mighty Avengers #21 ~ It's a new beginning for this title - and I'm not excited about it, to be honest. See, I liked the Mighty Avengers when they began - the character interplay, the thought bubbles, the mix of genuine fun with modern cynicism, it was something fresh and satisfying, and unique in its approach. This reinvention of the team post-Secret Invasion - it's really not the same book. The characters are different - a couple I'm interested in a bit, but no must-haves for me - the approach is different, the style is different, and although it's Slott writing, I find I'm not charmed by the story the way his work often does me. Honestly, though this issue has plenty of good points, I feel a bit like it's an old Avengers issue that's been dusted off and warmed up - it doesn't have that feeling that Bendis had in the Ultron arc of Mighty Avengers, the mix of old and new. The art's kind of in the same boat - it feels workmanlike, and while it does the job it's not exceptional, nor anything I'd really be tempted to come back for next month to get more of. Frank Cho - regardless of the delays his painstaking drawing style caused - produced amazing pages. Ultimately, it's all the same problem - I want more of those first six issues of Mighty Avengers and this isn't it, so I guess I'll be dropping this title.

Fathom #5 ~ Last issue the 'big picture' storyline sat things out, with Aspen and co. being kick-ass on a local level - this issue goes the other way, and very satisfying it is. Aspen, having busted her brother out of military prison, is lying low and trying not to be recaptured, but the meat of this issue is a confrontation between the US Navy, the Black - the ancient guys making giant masses of water hover over cities - and a squadron of Blue led by Cannon, who're intervening on humanity's behalf, since we're not really up to making a dent in the Black on our own. As earlier issues have promised, this delivers - what's interesting, and different from the norm, is that it's not just our heroes against the bad guys, with humanity ignorant and causing problems. The Navy tracks the battle, recognises that there are two factions, and throw in their lot with the Blue, since they're not shooting down Navy jets, but they are attacking the Black, who are the obvious threat. With every issue so far, my feeling has been the same: "I hope they don't back away from this." It's really interesting to see a story like this, where we get a treatment of humanity coming face to face with another race on Earth and having to deal with it, not with covert ops no-one ever knows about, but for real, in the public eye. The political and social implications are enormous, and full of possibility, and if Fathom isn't exactly the most intellectual comic out there... well, it's doing the storyline, which is more than a lot would have the balls to try. All in all, things are looking good.

Zero-G #4 ~ A good finale for this miniseries, wrapping up in exactly the same manner it's proceeded from issue one: fun, fast-paced, inventive and never afraid to just throw cool ideas into the mix to see what happens. What started out like a comic version of Armageddon - giant rock in space, astronauts go to giant rock, albeit to mine for minerals rather than destroy to save Earth - comes to its climax, ironically enough, with the giant rock having changed course so it'll hit the Earth after all, but so much other stuff has happened since the beginning that it's far from a retread of Bruce Willis's ground. Alien robots have been discovered, giant space worms have been busily eating virtually all of the supporting cast (including Hot Midriff NASA Astronaut, sadly), Atom and Eve have been infected with alien DNA and are manifesting otherworldly powers, and the whole thing finally comes together in a burst of sci-fi glee that's part Star Trek philosophical wonder, part Buck Rogers saved-at-the-last-minute fun. There'll be a 'graphic novel' (trade paperback, one assumes) out mid-2009, with the miniseries plus various bonus material including a promised new story - if you're a sci-fi fan, you'll want to check it out; zerog-book.com is the webpage to keep an eye on for further details.

Justice League of America #29 ~ DC seems determined to drive me away from this title. My first exposure to it was the JLA/JSA crossover in 'The Lightning Saga', which was a meanderingly pointless exercise in continuity-wanking - mind you, what associated with Countdown to Final Crisis wasn't? - and then, when I was lured in by new writer Dwayne McDuffie and his fun love-letter to Superfriends in his opening arc, DC followed that up with several months of McDuffie being relegated to back-up stories, with the main story running through those issues the dully written 'Sanctuary'. And now I give it another try last issue, since Zatanna's joined the cast - only for DC to again interfere with their silly 'Faces of Evil' mandate, which gives us this issue. It's not written by McDuffie, it's not drawn by Benes, and it seems only tangentially related to what's currently going on in JLA. Starbreaker, the focus of the issue, is a thoroughly forgettable villain, a kind of bottom-of-the-barrel Galactus, and the entire issue is a big flashback where he narrates - with often head-smackingly silly writing - his own defeats at the hands of the JLA, involving a concept copied from Ghostbusters 2 with plot holes a ten-year-old would spot a mile off. It's just a bad comic, that's all it is. And though this 'Faces of Evil' silliness isn't going to be ongoing, I still just don't know what to do with this book - I want to read it, but how many times am I going to have to buy an issue that DC's wrecked for some reason or another before it's time to just give up?

Frank Frazetta's Moon Maid ~ A one-shot - based solely on the artwork used for the cover, I think - and an enjoyable little fantasy romp. The titular Maid is a sheltered young woman, taught little by her caretakers, and thus when trouble erupts she knows no better than to just run away, straight into the hands of Charka, a centaur who claims to have been sent to protect her. But is he telling the truth, or were the Maid's 'attackers' actually the ones trying to keep her safe? The adventure moves quickly, dropping hints of culture behind its major players effectively enough, and arrives at the finale without enough weight behind it to be a satisfying - if not especially in-depth - story. And if it's eye candy you're looking for (I admit, it wasn't the centaur that caught my eye on the cover), in the interior art the Maid is given a bikini - Image aren't as willing to go with the flow nudity-wise as Broadsword, evidently - but there's plenty of her, and another similarly attired warrior character who turns up.

Giant-Size Grimm Fairy Tales ~ I picked this up on a whim - I know I said back when I reviewed Grimm Fairy Tales #33 that although I enjoyed it I didn't think it'd be something I'd get regularly, but since this one was giant-sized I thought I'd sample a longer-than-usual story - plus there's the Red Sonja-esque woman in a hot warrior bikini on the front, and a brief browse through the issue at the store proved that there was ample warrior woman eye candy art inside. So I'm shallow. The story is pretty simple and straight-forward, with Belinda being a kick-ass warrior who knows no fear - mostly it's just fighting and slaying of evil things (with Belinda looking great in a very fetching leather armour get-up), with enough of a fairy-tale concept built around it to make it come together in the end. The art is decent, with a focus on making Belinda look sexy in the appropriate sequences, and the writing, while not being anything extraordinary, has a storyteller's charm, and is easy to follow without criticising. At 46 pages (45 story plus one intro page) for US$5.99 it's decent value by today's standards, and - given the chance to satisfy myself that it contained enough material of interest (i.e. sexy women kicking ass) - I wouldn't mind taking a look at another such special issue should it come along, though as before I maintain that trade paperbacks will be my preferred way to get the regular series.