The Pull List: 13 June 2018, Part 1

A 12 year-old boy who likes to call himself Remco gets taken by a bright light in the woods, and wakes up in the surreal Cloud Hotel, hidden in the sky and populated by other children. While Remco seems able to return back down to Earth and come back again, a girl named Emma seems trapped there forever.

Cloud Hotel is an original graphic novel from the award-winning writer and artist Julian Hanshaw. It is a distinctive and moving work, one soaked in surrealism and melancholy. Partly inspired by a childhood experience, Hanshaw tells a story that feels poetic, funny and weirdly unsettling. It's quite hard to put a finger on it, but it's a story that I like.

His distinctive art style certainly marks its territory as an independent work. There is a sense of the grotesque about his characters, all with deep-set haunted eyes and squared-off heads. His use of panel layout is exceptional, particularly in some of the book's particularly odd and inexplicable moments. It may feel like a bit of a puzzle in terms of narrative, but it has a superb handle on tone. (4/5)

Cloud Hotel. Top Shelf/IDW. Story and art by Julian Hanshaw.

Under the cut: reviews of Darth Vader, Hawkman, and The Man of Steel.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: "Apocalypse Rising"

It is 30 September 1996, and time for the Season 5 premiere of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

With Odo (Rene Auberjonois) confirming that Klingon Chancellor Gowron (Robert O'Reilly) is a changeling, he, Sisko (Avery Brooks), Worf (Michael Dorn) and O'Brien (Colm Meaney) head on a top secret mission to the heart of the Klingon Empire to reveal the infiltrator and potentially stop the Klingon-Federation War.

"Apocalypse Rising" is a high concept blockbuster of an episode - in its ideal sense, at least - and brings back Deep Space Nine for its fifth year in an energetic fashion. In practice it doesn't quite work as well as it should on paper, almost as if the production team elected to pull their punches. I have never managed to quit work out why.

The Pull List: 6 June 2018, Part 3

Scott Snyder kicks off a new ongoing DC series with Justice League, following on from the events of Dark Nights: Metal and No Justice, and truth be told it's pretty amazing.

I'm not sure if you were reading comics about 20 years ago when Grant Morrison and Howard Porter took over the Justice League comic book. It was relaunched as JLA with an all-star roster of heroes, and a deliberately big picture scope and 'widescreen' presentation. That's exactly what it feels like we're getting here: big-screen JLA all over again. The book puts the Martian Manhunter back at the centre of the League where he belongs, and surrounds him with the heroes you would expect to see. For enemies Snyder brings in the famous villains, and he ties it all together with a big apocalyptic and deeply ominous opening chapter. If the point of a first issue is to get readers to buy the second, then this is an unqualified success.

Jim Cheung and Mark Morales' artwork is excellent, and just distinctive enough from the current style of superhero comic to make a strong impact. With luck they will stick around to make as definitive a run here as Snyder managed with Capullo and Miki on Batman. Tomeu Morey's colours are wonderfully warm and nuanced. You couldn't want for a better-looking Justice League. (5/5)

Justice League #1. Written by Scott Snyder. Art by Jim Cheung and Mark Morales. Colours by Tomeu Morey.

Under the cut: reviews of Green Arrow, Isola, Prism Stalker, Sword Daughter, The Unexpected, and Vagrant Queen.

The Pull List: 6 June 2018, Part 2

Back in Marvel's crossover event Civil War II, Bruce Banner (aka the Incredible Hulk) died. Now he's back. How? Quite simply, he's the Hulk - and the Hulk is too powerful to die.

The Immortal Hulk brings back the original and best Hulk (apologies to recent stand-in Amadeus Cho) with a fresh coat of paint and a deliberate skew from superhero adventure to comic book horror. Writer Al Ewing takes what is - let's face it - a pretty lazy reason to bring the Hulk back, and transforms it into something genuinely horrible. When we first see Banner, he's about two pages away from a fatal gunshot wound to the head. No matter how many times that happens, however, night will fall, his body will rise and the Hulk will emerge. It's a nicely bleak set-up for this new volume.

Joe Bennett and Ruy Jose give the book a nice aesthetic, giving everything a slightly old-fashioned edge. Bennett's art comes into its own in one climactic moment - you'll know it when you turn the page. Between this and Doctor Strange's current sojourn into space, it seems Marvel is playing with fresh and innovative angles on its long-running characters. Hopefully they're successful enough to allow these new set-ups to play out in full. (4/5)

The Immortal Hulk #1. Marvel. Written by Al Ewing. Art by Joe Bennett and Ruy Jose. Colour by Paul Mounts.

Under the cut: reviews of Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, Giant Days, and The Man of Steel.

Star Trek: Voyager: Season 2 in review

What a difference a year makes. The second season of Star Trek: Voyager marked a significant step up from quality, particularly once it got away from the season's first messy episodes - hang-overs produced as part of the Season 1 shoot.

One key challenge that faced the series in its second year was how to extend its storytelling from a series of self-contained adventures to a more extended storyline that crossed over and developed from one episode to the next. It was a challenge because the core premise of the series is that the USS Voyager is always moving, by-and-large in the one direction, and that makes it very hard to believably bring back the same antagonists or alien civilizations. Voyager's solution? Bring those antagonists back anyway, and hope like crazy that audience doesn't interrogate things too much.

The Pull List: 6 June 2018, Part 1

In 1967 Australia, a crashed alien spacecraft is uncovered in the middle of the Maralinga nuclear test site. 60 years later, a satellite clean-up mission in Earth's orbit discovers another spacecraft drifting in space. What is inside that ship links both time periods, but it will take 1967's Group Captain Gilmore, Allison Williams and Professor Rachel Jensen - along with the Seventh Doctor and his companion Ace - to find out how and why.

Titan Comics' range of Doctor Who tie-in comics returns with revised trade dress and a new three-issue miniseries featuring Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor. Let us not beat around the bush: this is hands-down the single best issue of Doctor Who that Titan has published to date. It is smartly written by McCoy-era TV script editor Andrew Cartmel, giving it an immediate authenticity and pitch-perfect tone. It is being published in extra-length issues, allowing for more plot per issue - and that really helps. Christopher Jones' artwork is exceptional, and captures the TV characters perfectly - and it's more than just the Doctor and Ace, since Gilmore, Williams and Jensen all return from Ben Aaronovitch's 1988 TV serial "Remembrance of the Daleks". It's a welcome return: they always seemed like they should have returned on TV.

A back-up strip sees the Doctor and Ace revisit the Psychic Circus and the werewolf Mags - a strip made oddly special by the artist being Jessica Martin, the actress who play Mags on television in "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy". Her art is not outstanding, but it's a cute touch. It's all just a bonus, however; the core storyline is essential for any discerning Who enthusiast. (5/5)

Doctor Who: The Seventh Doctor #1. Titan Comics. Written by Andrew Cartmel. Art by Christopher Jones. Colours by Marko Lesko. Backup written by Richard Dinnick, art by Jessica Martin.

Under the cut: reviews of Batman, Doctor Strange, Scales & Scoundrels, and Star Wars Adventures.

Star Trek: Voyager: "Basics, Part I"

It is 20 May 1996, and time for the Season 2 finale of Star Trek: Voyager.

Chakotay (Robert Beltran) receives an emergency transmission from ex-lover and traitor Seska (Martha Hackett): she is about to give birth to their child, her new lover Cullah (Anthony De Longis) has discovered the baby is not his, and she fears for his life. Despite suspecting the entire message is a trap, Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) leads Voyager on an urgent rescue mission.

Star Trek history time: "Basics, Part I" is the final episode of Star Trek to be written by Michael Piller. Brought it as a writer and then as an executive producer on Star Trek: The Next Generation, it was Piller who aggressively shifted the series' narratives from a science fiction/action focus to one on characters and relationships. His effect on the franchise cannot be understated: not only did he effectively create 1990s Star Trek, he went on to co-develop both Deep Space Nine and Voyager. On the way he contributed some of the franchise's best-ever episodes, including "The Best of Both Worlds".

The Pull List: 30 May 2018, Part 2

Senior high schooler Julia Malliari gets dragged out to a rock concert by a girl named Tabitha - only to discover that Tabitha is the band's drummer. When Tabitha breaks with that band, she and Julia decide to form one of their own.

I have quite a soft spot for Black Mask, an independent publisher who seem prepared to take a punt on early career writers and artists and give them a major career break. It's a strategy that can lead to mixed results, but to the credit their books are always varied and interesting.

We Are the Danger comes from Fabian Lelay (Jade Street Protection Services) and is an engaging but superficial first issue. It certainly tells an amiable story, but beat by beat it feels too derivative to make a proper impact. Anybody who has read IDW's Jem and the Holograms revival will be on overly familiar territory. It is also annoyingly superficial: the potential for a proper indie rock comic series is huge, but so far Lelay simply isn't capturing it. Future issues may expand or change the story direction, but for now this is a little too unremarkable to get worked up over. Lelay's artwork still struggles a little as well, although Claudia Aguirre's colours bring it capably over the line. If you're after a pleasant comic book with female leads, check it out - but keep your expectations measured. (3/5)

We Are the Danger #1. Black Mask. Story and art by Fabian Lelay. Colours by Claudia Aguirre.

Under the cut: reviews of The Crow: Memento Mori, Doomsday Clock, Green Arrow, Harbinger Wars, and Vs.