Last month's issue ended with Benjamin discovering that his father was a tyrannical despot who ruled the universe with quite literally, an iron fist. He was sheltered away from the oncoming hordes all wanting to kill the heir to the throne he never knew existed. On Earth his enemies were hunting down alien artifacts and had found something that wasn’t quite right.

This issue continues the story and reveals some back story for Benjamin’s shape shifting protector Tara (whom he fancies). Her past is quite nasty and you do feel some sympathy for the way in which she now acts.

Read more »

StarBorn #6

Written by Chris Roberson

Art by Khary Randolph & Matteo Scalera (Deadpool Merc with a Mouth)

OK, so, last issue introduced some interesting new developments for both Benjamin, who is now in space, and for his would be captors, who are still on earth. This issue slows things down, but not a lot. Ben fights some aliens, gets himself into trouble, and makes a rather disturbing discovery; which leads to the funniest last line of a comic in a long time.

Read more »

First up is Starborn #5 and, as previously stated it’s written by Chris Roberson (Superman, Cinderella: A Fable Tale) and illustrated by Khary Randolph (Hellboy, Teen Titans).

This issue continues Ben’s journey, this time taking him into space, which is drawn brilliantly. This book contains everything a sci-fi/fantasy fan could want, as it now contains a spaceship, that is like a dragon, and a huge interstellar fight. We have a back history explaining how Ben came to be living on Earth and why he was able to create all these characters.

Meanwhile, Ben’s enemies make a shocking discovery on Earth that leaves them very bemused and predates Ben’s mother’s exile to Earth.

Eventually, Ben and his companions arrive on an alien planet, and its here that Ben begins to suspect that his family may not have been the nicest folk in the universe. Overall I’m loving this series and can’t wait to get into further developments.

Read more »

In a follow up to our previous reviews of Stan Lee's The Traveler we present the other BOOM! Studios 'Stan Lee' books:

STARBORN issues 1-4

Characters created by Stan “the man” Lee
Written by Chris Roberson (Superman, Cinderella: a fable tale)
Illustrated by Khary Randolph (Hellboy, Teen Titans)

The story centres around frustrated writer (aren’t we all) Benjamin Warner, who since childhood has dreamt of a fantasy realm called the human civilization. Benjamin has written a book about this and our story begins as he is waiting for a reply from a publisher. Things start to go a bit crazy when it turns out that Ben’s fictional story isn’t quite as fictional as it seems. Maybe being stuck in his office wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

Read more »

So…Stan Lee’s The Traveler. Let’s get it out of the way, this is Stan Lee’s the same way all those books they sell to miserable, retarded housewives and twentysomethings in Tescos are by Katie Price. To be fair the book is down as written by Mark Waid so they are only really saying Stan Lee came up with the basic idea and let them plaster his name all over it, but still. Anyone buying this expecting Stan to have had more than a passing involvement will probably be disappointed.

Anyway the latest issue of this title is number five which kicks off the second arc.

Read more »

I love Hellraiser.

I can quote the first movie from start to finish.... Hell, I can even quote a bunch of lines from the iffy sequels. I bought the first dozen or so of the prestige format comics from Epic back around 1990 and I’ve also read Clive Barker’s original Books of Blood collection more times than is probably advisable.

Read more »

Link: http://www.sidekickcomicsuk.com/comics/Hellraiser_Prelude.pdf

The First Hellraiser comic from BOOM! Studios is released today as written by the maestro of horror Clive Barker and to celebrate this momentous occasion you can download a totally new self contained Hellraiser story from this very site.

To get your copy of Hellraiser: At the Tolling of The Bell please click the link after the jump:

Read more »

In what I'm now calling BOOM! Wednesday (you'll see why a little later), BOOM! Studios announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Avatar Press to distribute their graphic novels to the book trade. This agreement will see BOOM! distributing Avatar in the United States via BOOM!’s existing relationship with Simon & Schuster and Canadian distribution through BOOM!’s existing relationship with HarperCollins Canada.

Read more »

Okay, slight admission from me, don't tell anyone but I'm not a huge horror fan, especially all this new-fangled torture porn people keep telling me is horror. I am a fan of the horror I grew up with, which would be stuff like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween and HellRaiser. So I was pretty excited to see this new HellRaiser series coming from the mind of the man that started it all; Clive Barker. Those Tim Bradstreet and Nick Percival covers are just beautiful examples of what you can do, even with a licensed product.

Read more »

Link: http://www.boom-studios.net/

Effective immediately, the no longer evil Mark Waid is stepping down from the responsibility of Chief Creative Officer at BOOM! Studios. Waid will continue his run on Irredeemable and Incorruptible and his brand new break-out hit collaboration with Stan Lee, The Traveller.

Mark Waid has been an inspiration at BOOM!, during his tenure at the publisher we have seen a small time operation grow into a successful, critically acclaimed and comercially viable comic book company. I'm not saying it is completely all down to Mark but it cannot be denied that he has been the guiding light, always leading from the front with good comics and a sense of fun. Not too long ago Mark commented that he would be giving up reading superhero comics, is this the next step in the talented creator changing the direction and focus of his work? I hope not but whatever he chooses to do next, I'll be along for the ride.

Read more »