A new start for DC, and for Buffy too

Everything has started over from scratch - Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the lot.

What that means is new costumes, new stories of how they came to dress up in masks and capes before fighting crime, and probably a few new problems and villains too.

This month we’re looking at the all-new JUSTICE LEAGUE series. It opens with Batman, and as it’s a new beginning he seems to be just starting out on his crimefighting career.

He meets the Green Lantern and Superman for the first time (and lets be honest - it makes sense to play it this way rather than spin it out for ages), plus there’s a new villain for them to collectively tackle.

It’s a balls-y move by DC, because if the re-launch goes wrong then there’s no going back. But they seem to have brought their A-game, and the main heroes all seem decently suspicious of each other’s abilities and motivations.

Batman is the main focus of the issue, Superman appears a lot more bad ass than usual, and the Green Lantern gets the best line of the first issue: “You’re not just some guy in a bat costume are you?”

As I say, the whole DC stable has been re-launched, so feel free to check out brand new individual titles of Batman, Superman, et al. If you’re looking for a handle on what’s going on overall though, this is a top place to start.

> IF you’re a 90s kid like me then you’ll remember BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER as a Thursday tea time staple, and possibly you went out with a girl who had a picture of Angel above her bed. She’s now back - or rather, she never went away.

After the TV series finished, series 8 was run in comic book form. That story arc came to an end, and season 9 has just begun.

It is exactly as you’d expect in most respects. There’s pithy banter between your favourite characters, there’s young adult angst, and this being the first issue there is a looming evil that is only obliquely hinted at.

If I’ve one small gripe, it’s that I’m not crazy about the artwork. Then again, if the TV series was still running I’d probably be far more horrified by the increasingly desperate efforts to keep the actors looking far younger than they actually are.

The TV series ended on a high, this comic is a worthy successor, and Sarah Michelle Gellar is still married to Freddie Prinze Jr. I score that last sentence as two out of three.

All titles supplied by Close Encounters in Midland Road, Bedford.