Hannibal Tabu is a writer, journalist, DJ, poet and designer living in south Los Angeles with his wife and children. He's a winner of the 2012 Top Cow Talent Hunt, winner of the 2018-2019 Cultural Trailblazer award from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, his weekly comic book review column THE BUY PILE can be found on iHeartRadio's Nerd-O-Rama podcast, his reviews can be found on BleedingCool.com, and more information can be found at his website, www.hannibaltabu.com.
Plus, get free weekly web comics on the Operative Network at http://bit.ly/combatshaman.
With a huge plan for a heist that could literally change the fate of the world, in Black Cat #2, Felicia Hardy has her signature bravado and relentless daring in hand as she dives face-first into the King In Black crossover. The elements specific to her current incarnation and crew are stellar, but unfortunately, the […]
With a throughline of sacrifice and misinformation at its center, this issue answers some questions about (aptly enough) whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow as the second generations of the Fourth World and stars from Wildstorm play in the periphery. Balancing out the other half of the set up from Future State: Superman of Metropolis, […]
A mystery brews that threatens other-dimensional spaces, and Danny Rand — with a little help from his friends — is faced with saving heaven itself from this well-resourced, clandestine enemy. With the skillful hand of a legend writing the tale and superb production values, Iron Fist: Heart Of The Dragon #1 does a lot of […]
The wolves are at the gate, and the secrets are in danger, with the people charged with protecting them between a rock and a hard place. This amazing issue does the impossible: taking the brilliance of this already epic series and kicking it up into a wholly unseen and unexpected level. The Order that protects […]
Wow. This innovative, heady, thoughtful issue is unlike any other superhero comic around. A team of five very specific heroes from disparate worlds makes a discovery about the work they do that shakes them all to their foundations, and it is a mind-blower. The facts are these: Four people who were all history-making personalities on […]
Future State: Green Lantern #1 is a book that takes the term "future state" very seriously; things have gone outrageously wrong for the 7,200 members of the intergalactic law enforcement organization. In the very near future, the central power battery that gives the Green Lanterns their light … goes dark. Not for a few minutes, […]
There is a long-honored trope in fiction about "the man on the wall," one charged with the defense of all that matters who has to make impossible choices and do unthinkable things, in S.W.O.R.D. #2, the mutant nation of Krakoa has decided that they want Abigail Brand as that person, heading a complex and potentially […]
One of the challenges with the newly canonical comic books is the need to balance the menace and mastery of Darth Vader against the desire to deepen his sense of loss and, in some ways, justify his failures. Star Wars: Darth Vader #9 is one of the rare ones that perfectly balances the struggle between […]
Shows like The Blacklist or movies like Silence of the Lambs have played with the tropes of "using a monster to catch monsters." Future State: Harley Quinn #1 is a rather clever manipulation of pop culture concepts casts "daddy's little monster" as Red Reddington in a brilliant manipulation of things that only a criminal/psychologist could […]
With a number of wonderful twists and turns to its intricate post-apocalyptic plot, this thrilling opening salvo posits a harrowing question of identity. How good is the message if you're not sure you can trust the messenger? Two hundred and eighty-six years after a nuclear armageddon, a group of young people called Ranger Scouts follow […]
Strap in because it gets very real, very fast in Big Girls #6, closing down the initial story arc and making a big shift for the cast members here. Jason Howard can apparently aptly call himself "writer," "artist," and "genius" after this superb performance. The original status quo was that some pre-adolescent boys would get […]
With an irreverent approach, a team of unlikely extrahuman entities must be quickly assembled to overcome a threat that could wipe out the whole world. With lots of shenanigans, this team is assembled with some kind of agenda hidden from even their members. With a pedigree that likely has as much to do with The Awesomes and […]
With the power of myth being juggled between existing continuity and new questions, one of the Marvel universe's most enigmatic properties returns to comics in a splashy manner. While Eternals #1 has gorgeous visuals and intriguing "exclusions" offer teases to pull the reader in, unfortunate thematic parallels will inevitably create concerns of similarity. In the "what […]
Much like the worry faced by Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi, this issue posits the idea that the legacy of the Batman is hubris and failure. Much like what happened on the Batwoman TV show, a private security company has essentially supplanted law enforcement in Gotham City, establishing a new status quo that has outlawed masks […]
With a neatly tied up done-in-one, the heroic scion of a problematic property updates the wild west aesthetic with modern sensibilities and some of the wide-eyed wonder of the likes of Stargirl. Unfortunate circumstances lead to equally unfortunate decisions as people's inability to change makes problems through decades and finally find some kind of closure […]
In a creative effort that is both insultingly bad and morbidly humorous, King In Black: Iron Man/Doom #1 is a crossover fueled one-shot that teams up two of the Marvel Universe's brightest minds in one of its stupidest moments. The sky is darkened as the god of symbiotes, a monochromatic and singularly dull entity called […]
Set just before the opening shots of the Cybertronian Civil War, stalwart warrior Ultra Magnus has a laser focus on rescuing his mentor Alpha Trion. Once again, the straight-laced Magnus shows fierce determination in the face of overwhelming odds as he struggles with the unknown. Writer Brandon M. Easton throws everything, including the kitchen sink, […]
In the second issue of this new regulated era, the four Power siblings struggle with the law, getting so much more room to talk than Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, Nova, or Ironheart got under the exact same circumstances. Along the way, they make a new friend and get some ideas on how to operate within the rules, […]
This series's premise relies heavily on the existence of "gods" — humanoids the size of a city, inert upon discovery, with minerals and resources that can be mined to fuel human industry. One was discovered in the last issue, still alive as the end of a grim chase between two people with old business and […]
Whenever you have a large cast and a huge fictional continuity, there are always tales between the tales we know. These small frame moments provide context to the larger sweeping plot elements we consider on an ordinary basis. This issue takes aim at the aftermath of a Cobra invasion of G.I. Joe's desert headquarters and […]
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