In a few weeks we’re going to be treated to the first issue of Heroes in Crisis, DC’s latest event series, which is being promoted as a “murder mystery.” Sanctuary -- a hidden location in the DCU where heroes can go to recover from traumatic ordeals, both physical and emotional -- is supposed to be a safe place for champions, so someone getting killed there is a shocking concept. And DC is doubling down on the shock value, with the latest issue of DC Nation magazine proclaiming “in 21 days, one of these characters DIES!” and giving us the six candidates for the victim that will kick things off. These days, though, comic book characters die and come back to life with such regularity that it’s almost impossible to get worked up about it. Heck, one of the potential victims -- Tim Drake -- has already “died” and came back since the Rebirth relaunch two years ago. So it’s really hard to believe that this death, whoever the corpse-to-be is, is going to stick.

But the more I think...

The Terrifics #5 (DC Comics)
By Doc Shaner, Jeff Lemire, Nathan Fairbairn & Tom Napolitano

From the first issue, everything about DC’s The Terrifics has been a delight. The concept behind the team is clever (thanks to the kind of energy accident that can only happen in comic books, the four heroes cannot go farther than a mile from one another), the characters feel true to themselves, and the story is pure fun. This issue, our four heroes each have to face an element of their past. Phantom Girl is lonesome for her home planet, Plastic Man tries to reconnect with someone he lost during his five years of “Egg Time,” Metamorpho wants to bring his past into the future, and an uncomfortable question makes Mr. Terrific evade something that’s clearly a sore subject.

What makes this issue stand out, though, is the way Doc Shaner and Jeff Lemire break it down visually. With four principles, pages are divided into quadrants, one for each of them. The four stories...

Comic conventions, new comic shops, flea markets, yard sales… There’s a certain thrill I feel any time I see bargain bins of comics. Old books for a buck? Fifty cents? A quarter? Stand back, because I’m in my natural habitat. Now this is not the place to go to find the first appearance of Wolverine. Heck, it’s not even the place to look for the first appearance of Wonder Wabbit. Bargain Bins are universally scattershot and incomplete, and usually disorganized to the point of no return. It’s impossible to look for something in a bargain bin. You just look.

It’s one of my favorite places in the world.

Last weekend, at the first New Orleans Comic-Con, there was a two for a dollar section bigger than certain comic shops I’ve visited. Among the various treasures I unearthed there was an entire six issue run of the original Star Trek: The Next Generation miniseries from 1988. Having read the issues, I can proudly declare that I more than got my three dollars’ worth...

The Flash #48 (DC Comics)
By Joshua Williamson, Howard Porter, Hi-Fi & Steve Wands

Superman is my favorite superhero. He has been for a very long time, and yet there’s something about the Flash family that connects with me on a deep, primal level. If I was falling off a cliff, I’d want Superman there to save me, but if I had to bet on which comic would move me to tears, I’d look at Barry Allen and Wally West’s reunion in DC Universe Rebirth #1 and everything that has happened to the characters since then. When I read that book, I felt like I had been reunited with an old friend I’d feared I would never see again. I felt it again when Jay Garrick appeared in the closing pages of The Button, when Wally and his Aunt Iris were reunited, and I would place money on Joshua Williamson doing it to me again before the Flash War storyline ends.

The Renegades -- peacekeepers of the future -- have been sent back in time to put Iris West on trial for the death of...

The Man of Steel (2018) #1 (DC Comics)
By Brian Michael Bendis, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Jay Fabok, Alex Sinclair, Cory Petit, Jessica Chen, Michael Cotton, Brian Cunningham)

Well, some 6 weeks after Action Comics #1000, and four weeks after DC Nation #0, we finally have a new, actual Superman comic. And in many ways, THE new Superman comic. (Sure, there was the Action Comics Special and the Superman Special...but as those seem to have been granted as ways to wrap up the individual runs of the prior creative teams without messing up the numbering for how DC wanted to start Bendis' stuff, those don't exactly count for me.) So...some weeks later, here we are...with the first issue proper of "The Bendis Era" on Superman.

First off, there's the cover. It's a bit generic to me--not a bad visual, and I believe this is part of a multi-part image that'll span the 6 issues of this weekly mini. I have a bit of a problem with it, though, as it shows Superman...