Ultimate Comics “New Ultimates: Thor Reborn” (Marvel)

Writer: Jeph Loeb | Artist: Frank Cho | Colorist: Jason Keith, w. Brad Anderson & Matt Millla

The devastating events of Ultimatum robbed the world of some of its most courageous heroes. Now, it’s up to Iron Man to gather those that survived to become the New Ultimates.

With the Odinson trapped in Valhalla, the team stand little chance when Loki unleashed the worst of Asgard upon the Earth. Their only hope of survival lies with Thor. But in order to escape from the land of the dead, he must be prepared to make a deal with the darkest of forces.

Collects: Ultimate Comics: New Ultimates #1-5

Another book in Marvel’s “Ultimate” line, this tells of an alternative timeline to Marvel’s “main” titles. The Ultimate initiative was basically that “anything goes”. Characters that die, will not come back in this setting. Which makes a nice change. This book, while beautifully rendered (if in an exaggerated manner), did not live up to my expectations. There’s certainly some very good content, but the story was let down by some flaws that I hadn’t expected form veteran writer Loeb.

“Batman: Earth One” (DC)

Writer: Geoff Johns | Artist: Gary Frank | Inks: Jonathan Sibal | Colours: Brad Anderson

Batman is not a hero.

He is just a man.

Fallible, vulnerable, and angry.

In a Gotham City where friend and foe are indistinguishable, Bruce Wayne’s path toward becoming the Dark Knight is riddled with more obstacles than ever before. Focused on punishing his parents’ true killers, and the corrupt police that allowed them to go free, Bruce Wayne’s thirst for vengeance fuels his mad crusade and no one, not even Alfred, can stop him.

Following on from the huge success of Superman: Earth One (both volumes of which have been New York Times bestsellers), Geoff Johns and Gary Frank bring us a new take on the origin of the Dark Knight. It’s an interesting and bold move, actually, given how well the origin story has been re-visited in the New 52 Batman titles. That being said, the Earth One books are meant to be taken as completely separate entities, which is just as well: this is quite excellent.