They had me at Vampires and Werewolves.

The new mini-series, Superman & Batman vs. Vampires & Werewolves created by Kevin VanHook, with art by Tom Mandrake is inspired by many of the great B movies and campy horror films of the late '60's and early '70's. VanHook has taken several supernatural and vampiristic tropes and turned them on their heads, in having The Dark Knight and The Man of Steel square off against these mythical and magical creatures. It's never meant to be taken seriously, but it's a fun ride all the same.

From the opening scene in Volume 1 when a body plunges off a rooftop in Gotham and Batman meets Marius Dimeter, the story grabs you and pulls you in. Batman, who has encountered magic before, believes he is facing it again as Dimeter disappears by walking through a brick wall. But when the World's Greatest Detective conducts a thorough autopsy in the cave, he begins to follow threads that lead him to the only possible conclusion. Not only vampires but werewolves are stalking the streets of his city.

Throughout the series VanHook uses other characters from the DC verse with great affect. Wonder Woman and Nightwing in particular. (And we here at the Informant are adamant in complaining when we feel characters are under used and Nightwing is a case in point.) Like any detective Batman follows the clues until he uncovers a Gotham City professor and researcher who had played with fate and of course his research has gone horribly awry. Experiments and research always goes awry. This is perhaps the weakest part of the story, but the action and the wolves and vamps make up for it.

The end result is a delicious tale of red herrings, mystery (what is the motive of this Dimeter guy anyway?) and suspense. It's a lot of fun watching Batman turn from non-believer to believer although, this also strains credulity as he's encounter magic and super-villains and aliens of every stripe. Why does he have such a hard time accepting the reality of werewolves and vampires?

Problem No. 1 with Superman & Batman vs. Vampires & Werewolves: The only major complaint is that despite being headlined in the series title, Big Blue doesn't show up until the third volume. Plus the whole Batman not believing in Vamps at first. But overlook that little hiccup and enjoy the ride.

What works: Vampires. Werewolves. 'nuff said. Plus my personal fave The Green Arrow.

Buy/No Buy: Definitely buy. I would recommend the single issues but feel free to wait for the trade paperback. But you'll definitely want to add this one off to your collection.

Dark Reign One-Shot, Dark Avengers 1-2

When House of M reverberated across the Marvel Universe, it became pretty obvious that Brian Michael Bendis was (and would remain) the star in Marvel's solar system. All the other writers would have to dovetail and orbit around Bendis's ultimate vision of the Marvel Universe: highly relevant Avengers, a more than cursory acknowledgment of the millions of mutants in existence, and a more consistent and consequential stage for characters like Namor, Luke Cage and Emma Frost.

Bendis should have penned Civil War, and the unfortunate reality that he did not will go down as one of the bigger mistakes in comics history, if only because the concept was so timely and perfect and, alas, not pulled off in the end (strike one: a cloned god (?); strike two, three, and evidence of steroid abuse: firefighters and policemen tackling Captain America).

Thankfully, solid hands helm Dark Reign, which is soothing because the premise seems a whole lot riskier than Civil War. The Green Goblin in charge of the world's foremost military agency? Tony Stark on the lam and wanted for - what, exactly? - idiocy and ineffectualness? It's puzzling that a distinctive run of "events" in the Marvel U could now end with a fizzle. All I can think: huh?

Still, the Dark Reign concept might require neural elasticity, but if anyone can quickly (and rightly) leave the Skrull Invasion behind and launch another event, it's the man who made the Avengers the number one selling comic in America. If only for the anti-Illuminati of Osborn, Doom, Emma Frost, Namor, the Hood, and Loki, I'm in...for now.

Problem one with Dark Reign as a whole: the experience/inclination, shared by Peter Parker, of "HUH?!?!?"

Problem two: I'm getting Sentry self-pity fatigue. When Bendis brought back the Sentry in New Avengers, I couldn't believe that the Superman character was working panel to panel, but he was. The Sentry indelibly made his presence felt every time Cap yelled those magic words. But times change, and the Sentry pity party feels stagnant.

What works: Venom was never meant to be a minor character, and Daken's weird personality mixture - American Indian, schizophrenic samurai, and bisexual - will prove to be a good addition to Wolverine's stockpile of issues.

Buy/no buy: Give it a skeptical shot, drop it at the first sign of trouble.

THOR Vol. 1-6

I've always felt that The Mighty Thor was one of the most underutilized heroes in the Marvel Verse. It was always troubling to me to see him, even during his Avenger days, take a backseat to other characters like Captain America or Iron Man. I mean, get a load of the giant winged helmet! He's the God of Thunder of crying out loud.

Then the Civil War and Initiative story lines came along and used the ridiculous Thor clone plot line. Sure, reading a comic book requires a suspension of disbelief. That's a given. But how do you clone a god exactly?

I'll admit it had been awhile since I had picked up a Thor comic. And it was with some trepidation that I purchased the Thor 1-6 trade paperback at New York Comic Con. But I'm happy to report that my worries were completely unjustified. This is a great book and a first rate story.

J. Michael Straczynski's writing is immediate and swift. As the creator of Babylon 5 and having written for many television shows, he has a gift for dialogue and it shows here. But he doesn't try to get by on snappy dialogue alone. There's a real story here. From the heartfelt discussions between Thor and his mortal alter-ego Donald Blake, to Thor's hilarious encounters with the local populace when he raises Asgard in the Middle of Nowhere, Oklahoma, this is a tale with depth.

And for me, the best part of the book is Thor's thorough ass-kicking of Iron Man. And let's face it, who doesn't need an ass-kicking more than Iron Man these days? The whole scene is fantastic fun. Iron Man just never learns. Rule number one in Super-Hero team relations, whether it's The Avengers or The Justice League : Never piss off the big guy.

Straczynski, accompanied by at times stunning artwork by Olivier Coipel, has brilliantly rebooted the Thor franchise. I can't wait to see what happens next.

Problem no. 1 with Thor vol. 1-6: There are no problems. This is a brilliant story, beautifully told.

Reason to buy no 1: See above. Run don't walk (or do us a favor and purchase through one of our advertisers) to your local comic shop and pick up a copy. You won't be disappointed.

THY KINGDOM COME Vols. 1 and 2

I've found that over the years a lot of comics fans have tended to discount the Justice Society as merely a poor man's JLA and a blatant attempt by DC to cash in by creating a 'parallel' earth to populate with more superheroes, thereby selling more books. Nice work if you can get it.

Most of the time, the Justice Society story lines have suffered from inferior characters and with the exception of Jay Garrick as the original Flash and Alan Scott as Green Lantern, somewhat secondary super-humans. Does anyone really believe that Power Girl isn't merely a rip off of Supergirl? And really Power Girl? They couldn't come up with a better name?

DC could also be given forty lashes for carrying the JLA Kingdom Come storyline to the JSA world. And if they had ended with the first volume that criticism would have been justified. But what starts off as a weak story in the first volume picks up and gives us a satisfying conclusion in volume two. Truthfully the story is never more interesting than when the original JLA members are on the page.

Problem 1 with Thy Kingdom Come: The Magog storyline is over done from the JLA version. Enough already.

Problem 2 with Thy Kingdom Come: The original cast of the JLA is not in on the story enough. I have a feeling it would have been much stronger had it been a 'cross over' book with both teams fully engaged throughout.

Reason to buy 1: The Alex Ross artwork.

Reason to buy 2: The emergence of Citizen Steel as a hero is very well done in the first volume.

Add to Library: Yes, but do yourself a favor, save a few pennies and wait until the trade paperbacks are published.

Batman: 8th Grader's Journal

Argument: Batman: Private Casebook is a good take on the Bat Detective, but essentially there is a lack, an empty space in what should be a classic. What could have been a defining moment in the Bat ouevre isn't as pulpy, noir, or definitive as the cover art suggests.

There is a lot of Bat-dross to navigate, and luckily Private Casebook doesn't fit the DC mold of outrageous plotlines. Dini understands the Batman, even if the ordinary and stage-managed plots won't release as much seratonin as the attractive title and excellent cover suggest.

Problem one with Private Casebook: Really, Paul Dini? Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum? In Red Hoodies that say "Dee" and "Dum"?

Problem two with Private Casebook: When I stumble across good bat product, I get all woozy and forget lesser moments in his written history, i.e. several JLA arcs. The Bat is at his best when he's humbled, on the edge of descending into an abyss of hatred and anger, and when he's not flirting with hot magicians. I understand the appeal of bringing together Batman's existentialism-to-the-extreme with Zatanna; opposites attract, etc., etc. One small problem here: Zatanna and Bruce have a history of frontal lobotomies, and if there's one thing that's pretty clear about Bruce Wayne, it's that he doesn't let things go.

Reason to buy 1: Ra's al Ghul makes an appearance.

Reason to buy 2: The Scarface plotline is pretty good. At least I think it's good. Then again, I've always had an unhealthy fear of ventriloquist dummies.

Add to library: yes.

The Beginning

To shed light on the opinions that will henceforth plague your mind, that will whisper to you in your darker, more disappointed excursions into the comics medium, I will cast aside the reviewer's curtain and reveal personal favorites. There will be no alternates, no maybes or apologies. This will be the only post of this type for as long as this blog shall live, so learn it well. 

Top 5 long-running series -

• Preacher | written by Garth Ennis
• Lucifer | written by Mike Carey
• Y the Last Man | written by Brian K Vaughn
• Fables | written by Bill Willingham
• The Punisher by Garth Ennis