Art: Steve Epting, Michael Lark, Mike Perkins

Colours: Frank D'Armata

Volume 1 of 'Winter Soldier' finished with the excellent tangent story 'The Lonesome Death of Jack Munroe.' We find out that Munroe has been framed with the assassination of the Red Skull and the bombing in Philadelphia. And then there's the new Ruskie scoundrel on the block, Aleksander Lukin, whose possession of the Cosmic Cube appears to be rapidly diminishing his sanity.

As with much of his mainstream superhero work, I often get the feeling that Ed Brubaker would rather write something a little more risqué and less genre specific. He's definitely more in his element when conceiving ways for the sociopathic Crossbones to kill faceless G.I.'s than writing the dialogue between Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter. His decision to combine the Cosmic Cube, an old Marvel plot-device which grants its bearer God-like powers and is therefore the Golden Fleece for all respectable supervillains, with a darker and more grounded World War II plot.

2008, IDW

Story: Joss Whedon, Brian Lynch

Script: Brian Lynch

Pencils: Franco Urru

Colours: Jason Jensen, Art Lyon, Ilaria Traversi

Though the Buffyverse’s resurrection in comic form began with a pleasing enough bang courtesy of Dark Horse, there was definitely a sense that even Joss Whedon was unsure where the iconic vampire slayer was heading. Sure, Season 8 had a new big bad, an army of slayers and a giant-size Dawn, but it all felt a little safe and formulaic. If anything, Season 8 only emphasised the fact that Buffy The Vampire Slayer had reached its natural conclusion on television; as far as TV finales go, Buffy’s is still pretty much unrivalled.

Buffy’s Vampiric plaything Angel, however, was not so lucky. Though ‘Not fade away’ was an awesome swansong for the Los Angeles detective and his crew, few viewers who caught those final minutes of Lord of the Rings inspired hell-on-Earth were entirely satisfied with the show's sudden demise. Those invested in Angel may be interested in IDW's approach to the show's continuation, with a plot based on the material that was already planned by Whedon and company before Fox pulled the plug. Those who've read up on the possible future of the series via the interviews with Whedon and anticipated the Spike movie that (alas) never was won't find any real surprise here; After the Fall follows what was disclosed of the planned six series pretty faithfully. Los Angeles has been relocated to Hell, Gunn is now a vampire, and a deceased Wesley has discovered that his contract with Wolfram and Hart goes beyond the grave.

With this in mind, however, it's even more unfortunate that After the Fall fails to live up to its potential in any way. Perhaps more surprising than the direction Whedon and scripter Brian Lynch have taken each character is the manner in which the story unfolds, commencing several weeks after the climatic battle that we never got to see. The original issues of After the Fall were published alongside character-centric back-story books, which revealed what had happened to each member of Angel's demon busting posse between the Season 5 finale and this series. Those will be published in a second hardback, but sadly their omission here makes this volume excruciatingly perplexing on first read.

Written/Illustrated by: Lise Myrhe

At first glance Lise Myrhe's Norwegian comic icon Nemi Montoya appears to have been designed specifically for the licensing of T-Shirts, bags and whatever the kids of today are buying. UK readers may be familiar with the Nemi strip, or at least its English translation, from the Metro newspaper, though the Goth demographic will remember its former home in Terrorizer magazine, wherein Nemi was presented as the answer to Kerrang!'s smuttier, coarser but less amusing Pandora Peroxide.

Fortunately, both the strip and its monochromic protagonist have mellowed with widespread distribution, and the result is a far more amiable read. The obscure heavy metal references have been toned down, with Myrhe still stabbing at pop culture and the letdowns of twenty-something life. There an impressive diversity of humour in here too, from the clichéd (dating, dieting, drinking) to the irreverently literate (Lord of the Rings, Edgar Allan Poe, literary and junk culture references aplenty) and the bizarre (Nemi's Legolas obsession bordering on disturbing).

But if there is one thing Nemi has, its heart, albeit a cold and presumably black one. The strip is often funny for its honesty and rarely trips itself up with pretensions to be anything deeper. Like Jim Davis's feline creation Garfield (and to an even greater extent Jon Arbuckle) perhaps Nemi's greatest appeal is her range of expressions and personal minutiae. Her expressions are often worth a dozen speech bubbles. Like Harvey Pekar's self-facsimile curmudgeon, she's a partial observer whose sardonic responses to the absurdity of everyday life will connect with any "individual" possessing half a conscience.

2006, Marvel

Writer: Peter David

Penciller: Pablo Raimondi

Inker: Drew Hennessy

Colourist: Brian Reber

One question I'm frequently asked by friends who've been bitten by the comic book bug, typically via movie adaptations, is "what's your favourite superhero?" Despite my best efforts to, firstly, explain that I generally choose the books I read on the creative talent involved and, secondly, explain who and what Cerberus the Aardvark is, the response to my answer is always met with bafflement. Surely my favourite comic book character/license would be Batman, Superman, Spider-man or the Hulk?

But I guess I've always been a sucker for the underdog, in popularity and comic sales if not necessarily fictional status. Which is one reason why I for one preferred Peter David's 90s run on X-Factor, and his quintet of B-listers far more than the original Cyclops led line-up. David's X-Factor was the definitive also-ran roster – they were led by Cyclops's wiener brother Havok, for crying out loud. What teenage geek couldn't identify with that?

Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man, was one such loser. Blessed with a bizarre but novel ability – he produces duplicates of himself when struck – he was the sort of irreverent character that would never receive a movie or cartoon series, but his exploits were usually far more appealing than a big green guy wrestling tanks for the hundredth time.

2007, Marvel

Writers: J. Michael Straczynski, Peter David

Pencils: Ron Garney, Todd Nauck, Ronan Cliquet, Colleen Doran

Inks: Bill Reinhold, Rob Stull, Robert Campanella

Colours: Matt Milla, John Kalisz, Jose Villarrubia

Spider-man has been yanked in some questionable directions over the last few years, which is why Back in Black, a refreshingly simple revenge tale, has the potential to work so well. With Aunt May left comatose from the bullet that was intended for Parker, the webslinger has been pushed into a compromising position, with his code of conduct preventing the level of retribution his emotions demand. Of course, we all know that, despite Peter Parker's darker direction – he's even dusted off the black costume to show how serious he is – he will never resort to murder. It'd be as preposterously uncharacteristic as Iron Man leading some anti-superpowers Nazi registration act. So the whole exercise is a little empty.

Still, Parker's eventual confrontation with the then incarcerated Kingpin, a villain usually more effective when pulling the strings from afar, is so tightly scripted that we can almost forget the two of them have been at it for decades now. Were it not for Straczynski's writing in this scene alone, the entire Black in Black storyline would have been a waste of time; instead, J.M. presents us an emotionally charged battle that is epic despite its small scale, and will remain one of the finest moments for both characters.

With so many Spidey-titles circulating at the moment, Marvel seems content on cramming as many different, disparate plots into each trade paperback volume. And though not nearly as severely a case as with Back in Black volume 2, this book is far too inconsistent. Straczynski's main plot, which has a more grounded, motion picture feel, is let down by Peter David's effort in which Max Borne, the Spider-man of the future, pays contemporary New York a visit.

By: Robert Crumb

Though the debate over whether Crumb's work is juvenile pornography or inventive, sexually-charged satire has hopefully been left behind with the seventies, it is difficult to believe that the "nasty, negative, misanthropic sex pervert" – as Crumb himself describes his public image in this book's introduction – has a sweeter side. But in this collection of his less depraved, frustrated illustrations, we do see a somewhat serener element of the underground comix pioneer.

Many of the images here are simple still life illustrations and sketches of Crumb's family and interests, specifically blues musicians and old celebrities. For those who have seen the documentary Crumb – I can only assume that anyone who would buy a book like this has – which concluded with Crumb and his family migrating to France, it is interesting to see how his work has mellowed. The tranquil Gallic landscapes and balloon discourses between Robert and his daughter and wife depict someone who has found happiness… or as much as someone such as Crumb could. Or maybe that's just because this book excludes his naughtier stuff.