Author Archives: Darren Burr

A devoted follower of the comics industry and their characters since a child, Darren now plays in many media but always returns to characters in skin-tight costumes beating each other up on the page. Radio host, blogger, fanfic author and producer of You Tube content, Darren idles away his days until his digital conquest of the world is complete.

Raising Hell

by Darren Burr
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The King is dead, er, alive, er, dead. Long live the King!

Many people say, and I’m not one to argue, that what started as a brilliant franchise became watered down after a number of sequels that failed to reach the dizzy depths that were plumbed by the original Hellraiser. ‘Oh we have such sights to show you’ became a jaded phrase. Having said that, I seem to recall I really liked the eighth and final movie, and feel it was much maligned in later recollections. Or maybe it was the seventh. Anyway, moving on… We lived through Marvel’s abortive attempt at Clive Barker’s derived characters in the Razorline family of titles, which again contained a small number of gems but fell Read more »

Permanence

by Darren Burr
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Nor the Huntress we know. Or rather she is. But she isn't. I give up!

How permanent are our comic book universes? Even as I ask the question, I find myself wondering what that very word means. With DC’s recent announcement of the return of Earth 2 and the Shazam family of characters, we know the enduring characters and settings will return again and again. The recent (and thoroughly enjoyable) relaunch by Dark Horse of what’s become known as the Jim Shooter stable of characters only serves to prove the point. Dating back to short lived appearances in the Gold Key years Solar Man Of The Atom and Magnus, Robot Fighter et al have returned and again, under the labels of Valiant, Acclaim and then Read more »

Amazing Prophecy

by Darren Burr
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A new age for the Prophet begins

Regular readers of this column will be well aware of my conflicted opinions of Rob Liefeld early work for Image and the original cast of Extreme Studios characters. Great characters in the right hands, really good ideas that drove the plots, but some of the most terrible execution in their early days. Youngblood were indeed a good team with a diverse selection of members, motivations and histories, tied nicely to the Spawn continuity before the great split. Let’s not mention how they were also an obvious merging of the Teen Titans and the Avengers. However, Alan Moore’s treatment of Supreme and the excellent three issue Judgement Day demonstrated just how Read more »

Challenging The Status Quo

by Darren Burr
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A bold new era? Hopefully a fun read at the very least.

Taking the opportunity of the Christmas period to catch upon my comics reading (and supplementing this with fanfic when I reached the bottom of the stack), I must confess that I re-read Jonathon Hickman’s Fantastic Four and FF (Future Foundation) numerous times. Although I have raved bout this particular run of the FF numerous times already, and enthused about the quality of story-telling that has gone into the title, it is hardly a dramatic revamp of our favourite Foursome and their family. Cleverly weaving in all of the traditional facets of FF lore, I am finding myself wanting to know where Lyja is (considering the manner of Johnny’s resurrection), or Read more »

Fatal Hopes For New Readers?

by Darren Burr
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Fatal Hopes For New Readers?

So, are there any of the so-called ‘new readers’ out there reading this column? Anyone recently discovered the worlds of comics due to the movies or the DC relaunch and has been drawn into the accompanying universe of message boards and articles? Anyone? As more and more of the market turns to mail order or more importantly digital, it is increasingly hard for this fan to tell whether the Holy Grail of ‘New Readers’ being drawn into our cosy little world has been achieved or not. Is the new reader little more than a mythical beast? Certainly the sales figures would bear out that there is a strong possibility that Read more »

Indies Of The Year

by Darren Burr
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Indies Of The Year

Without a shadow of a doubt, the best offering of the smaller companies has to be Elric: The Balance Lost, produced by Boom, featuring not only the return of the title’s namesake, but an entire host of beings who all carry the position of the Eternal Champion. As a long-term science-fiction reader who has yet to actually read all of the dozens of Michal Moorcock books that the genius produced, this is a treat. Regular readers will know just how much I adore seeing long-lost characters returning to the fore (so hurry up Archie with your Mighty Crusaders relaunch), and unlike previous escapades into comics, this is a Moorcock tale Read more »

Hits Of The Year

by Darren Burr
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Uncanny X-Force #19 and meet teh newest hero on the block - Apocalypse!

So is it me, or have comics actually got better this last year? Despite having one week a month when I am not that excited about the shipping list, overall I have to confess that I think this has been one of the better years in recent memory. DC, after a dismal start with the entire Flashpoint event, but the DCnU started as a resounding success. Admittedly, at present all of the titles have a very similar feel to them, to a fault. Yet so did Valiant when it started, and some of the titles are really striking out well. Stormwatch for example. Marvel on the other hand have acquitted Read more »

Picks Of The Month

by Darren Burr
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Cable returns like we knew he would.

While preparations for the festive season no doubt eat into every spare moment, the opportunity to sit and read the weekly pull list becomes rather segmented. So this week, I thought I would review many of the titles being released this week, and maybe recommend some titles for those quiet moments once the festivities have died down and all that remains to do is digest the food. (Oh, and no doubt wash up, but that can wait.) The first of today’s shipping is Memoir #5. I have already written of how much I love this series, and now we are swiftly approaching the conclusion. It feels like it has been Read more »

Damaged Preconceptions

by Darren Burr
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Damaged #4

As much as I love my cops shows, devouring a steady diet of CSI (insert place name here) and NCIS (you can practically do the same here), and yearning for the halcyon days of Hill Street Blues, The Bill and even if I may exhibit my nationality, Juliet Bravo; I’ve never really taken to cop comics. Despite hearing good things, I sidestepped Gotham Central and the various other Gotham PD series. Stories with indepth plots and twists that involve organised crime and/or the various intelligence services of the world have always satisfied me… ….as long that there is the appropriate ration of spandex involved. John Ostrander’s Suicide Squad or even Read more »

Revolving Doors Of Heaven

by Darren Burr
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FF 12, the children go to save the day!

Well, now we have seen what we all knew to be the case, Johnny Storm the fabled Human Torch is alive and well. Not that we couldn’t see that coming, but I am pleasantly surprised as to how the youngest of the original Foursome was able to survive. Of course, if you have read Fantastic Four #600, then you will know that survived is a very strong term. If you haven’t, I won’t spoil it for you, except to say GO READ IT! I am pleased (and somewhat disappointed) to see that I was wrong, assuming that Lyja was going to pull Johnny’s fat out of the fire. (I’m sure Read more »