Pandora's Longbox: A New 52 Podcast

Once again, we are back with Justice League Dark, speeding our way straight to a third volume. This time around, we get to find out where Zatanna and Tim Hunter disappeared off to last time and get hugely disappointed by the reveal of answers to that mystery, as well as finding out if its okay or not to leave your son because he has bad vibes. For two big arcs, we've got another big bumper tra...

We're halfway through the year, which means its the ideal time to get back to everyone's favourite cool 90s bandana man, Grifter. After such a bad first volume, surely a fresh creative team can only work out for the best, especially when its tying into the big picture for our boy Helspont. And yet... when you have the creative team of this book, maybe not so much - you'll just have to...

Frankenstein Fever is back and its sweeping the nation as we return to everyone's favourite Agent of S.H.A.D.E. doing his pulpy work right down to the end. This time his personal life is changing as he's confronting his relationships, he's confronting his organisation, he's confronting his dad, he's doing all the confronting you could imagine, and in big spy style to boot. Ther...

The Geoff Johns world tour continues this week with the mandated return to Aquaman, and now introducing his global friends The Others. Will we balk at another collection of new Johnsian spins at a team, or will we fall for his delightful new creations in spite of the nothingness of their team name? Only time, and listening to this week's episode, will tell as we dive into Aquaman vol 2: The Ot...

This week, we're returning to Metropolis with a new team on Superman for a minute. They've got secrets (how babygirl Helspont is) and they've got lies (not telling you how they stop making Helspont babygirl by the end of the trade) and a bunch of other little two-issue things in between. Come find out more as we read the good news of Superman vol 2, Secrets and Lies by Dan Jurgens, Kei...

Back into the teen mines for another check on what's happening after The Culling, this time with the Teen Titans. There's gonna be sexy dinosaurs, ancient Cambodian temples and a return to the character idea for Penance, so its a busy busy affair. Come and see the next steps for teenkind with us in Teen Titans vol 2, The Culling by Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza, Ig Guara, Brett Booth, Jorg...

This week, we're going back to our earliest days and the place where it all began, Justice League. Its time to finally reassess an old friend and see if it gets any better when its in the present day and building up a new villain and Jim Lee's scheduling is bringing in an infinite number of inkers, colourists and fill-in pencillers for pages at a time. But maybe it won't, and maybe it&...

Remember how last time we sat through all that build up about how Dick Grayson was fated to be a Talon for the Court of Owls, who were now gonna go wild on Gotham for an event? Well, don't worry too much about that, its time for his undead great grandpa's origin story while he lectures Nightwing. And also Nightwing is facing social revolutionaries who don't have any politics and gettin...

You know the thing Batman comics were missing up until now? That's right, villains going "we're not so different, you and I". Well, technically this one doesn't fulfill that because its a narrative conceit for the reader / something in Batman's head, but that doesn't matter really because the key thing is its time to ponder generational trauma with Scarecrow. Come lie...

Enjoyed hearing about the Culling but thought "boy, I sure wish I knew what was going to happen after this event immediately"? Well, that's perfect because its exactly what fate has given you, as we're back to the fridge to finish Legion Lost. Come for the depressing spiralling down of every member of the team coping with their dismal fates, stay for half of the cast of the Culli...

The Dark Harvest is here, its time for teens to be pitted against teens to see who can be a Ravager and who can't help make the future - its The Culling. Watch as teens from Superboy, Legion Lost and Teen Titans all get drafted into some sort of "battle royale" for the grand schemes of a villain we've barely met but that we'll get to know very well over the course of his aura...

The wheel has given in its own divine way this week as we've already come back round to Wonder Woman, giving us the top hitting books back to back. This time, we're meeting more children of Zeus, moving our old gods around the board and meeting a New God properly to boot, rich in melodrama and beautiful art and everything you're already coming to expect from this Wonder Woman run. So w...

We're free from the bad and back to the peak with Batwoman, and a return to her child-rescuing mission and her complicated trauma-processing happy-lesbian life. There's some new artists in for a rest arc, but we're still on the wild layouts, and now cutting between characters and timeframes to show off the writing skills instead. Dive with us into Batwoman vol 2, To Drown The World by...

The Shadow Lords really favoured us once again when they said "you should read the whole book that goes with that crossover from last week", and I say that in a very value neutral way. We're robbing Peter and Paul's writing to ponder the recreation of 90s and 00s comics and the Wildstorm ethos in the DC Universe, because sometimes you have to find things to talk about when the books go really fast...

Let noone say we have good luck because we've gone straight from Green Lantern right on back to bottom-of-the-barrel Red Lanterns, and its misleading title that gets everyone excited. Come for the promise of the Red Lanterns dying, stay for the marginally better treatment of characters and a pointless Stormwatch crossover. Get angry with us by reading Red Lanterns vol 2: Death of the Red Lante...

Green Lantern season is back again already with the head honcho Geoff Johns here to do his last real story arc before we get to his last run of crossovers, also starting from here. Its a time for reflection, reflection and spending a lot of time pondering Doug Mahnke's ability to draw the latent homoeroticism of Hal Jordan and Sinestro. Join our gay lantern corps' discussion of Green Lante...

We've not seen a change of creators really save a book yet, but maybe there's a first time for everything as we see the torch pass from a 90s Vertigo writer to a 90s Vertigo fanboy, and we see that fanboy pull in Neil Gaiman stories in a way that just feels weird in 2026 and live out his Constantine-writing dreams. Also there's an I, Vampire crossover to get through, lets not talk abou...

New 52 Jaime Reyes really did not make a good impression on us in his first trade and has only been souring more and more over the past year, so it'll be interesting to see quite how a second volume is going to land as he goes to New York, tries to find a superhero mentor while pretending to be Spider-Man and ends up in space somehow for some sort of conclusion. A lot to ponder in a lot of iss...

Feeling like there's a rot at the core of America and her institutions? Maybe its real and we have to work as activists to fight it, or maybe we just need Baron Winters and his ragtag squad of unwilling helpers. Night Force have been updated for a new millennium, and truly, what a difference 15 years makes between creation and reading. Come see what we mean in Night Force by Marv Wolfman and T...

We're back around with Wonder Woman so quickly, and now we get to see if the book can get even better than last time as Diana goes from the depths of Hell all the way to the heights of Mount Olympus and everyone in between with two pistols and a will to win. Come hang out with even more of your favourite gods and your favourite podcasters (we hope) as we read Wonder Woman vol 2: Guts by Brian...

What could be a greater adventure than this, reading a book noone knows anything about featuring two characters noone has ever heard of nestled away in the dark caves of the New 52? We're out here to do the lords work and preach the majesty of nanobot Robotman, Gotham's own Garbageman and galactic troublemaker Tanga and you better be ready to sit down and learn, with My Greatest Adventure...

Going back to the swamp for some more Swamp Thing, sure hope the Thing tastes better this time and its a bit less Swampy. Its certainly doing more Rotworld set up from big Scott Snyder, and maybe its even doing more actual plot momentum, who could say? Maybe pigs will even fly after we wade in on Swamp Thing vol 2: Family Tree by Scott Snyder, Yanick Paquette, Marco Rudy, Francesco Francavilla, Ka...

God's something-est soldier, the Phantom Stranger, is now here in the New 52 and ready to stun with his fashion sense, and we are so excited to see him. DC's editor-in-chief is working on his Judas Iscariot fanfic ideas, and every single one of them is gold - you won't need to know more than that up front. Fall to your knees, raise your hands in the air and come pray with Trinity of Si...

Buddy Baker's back at it and we're in the girlrot lifestyle right with him, its the return of Animal Man! The family's on a roadtrip, the grandma's giving out bad vibes, the Justice League Dark are here to make gentle suggestions - so much* is happening here. So much* is happening that I wouldn't even want to tell you more before the episode, so just strap in for Animal Man vol...

We are not going through a very lucky period still right now, so its time for another Rob Liefeld tome, but this time its with him on art as well for Deathstroke. Slade Wilson is 90s-maxxing with Lobo, he's sharing family time and hanging out with Hawkman to talk about nth metal, he's going on a world tour of ill-advised stereotypes, its all right here. Come listen to us having done the wo...