Category: Comic review

I Feel Sick

i feel sick

I’m a strange individual. This is a comic book for strange individuals. This is a short review because well, it is literally on just a comic book. I don’t know much except it’s written by the creator of Invader Zim , a show I adored as a kid. It’s a dark comedy about the trails and tribulations of a girl obsessed with a painting she created of a doll. That being said, I never laughed so much while reading a comic book before. I absolutely fell in love with the grim, and often vulgar and bloody humor. As for the artwork, it is very reminiscent of Zim but kicked up to the next level on imagery. In such a short amount of time, I was intrigued by the strange story. I admit, this book isn’t for everyone. But I recommend it to my fellow weirdos out there. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Sandman: volume 1

sandman vol 1

Since I first came into the expansive world of comics, The Sandman’s reputation lingered as one of the best ever written. It took me a while, entrenched in the caverns of DC’s and Marvel’s heroes to expand my mind. Years later and I’m thrilled to say the praise is well deserved.

Sandman is a epic following Morpheus, the god of dreams, as he is  mistakenly captured and imprisoned by a madman for decades who originally wanted his sister, Death. After decades and lives of innocents ruined by his entrapment, he finds freedom and takes revenge on the sole surviving son of his captor, leaving Dream with a task: obtain what was pilfered from him. His pouch of sand, his helm, and his ruby derived from his essence. To retrieve these things he will walk amongst other worlds, coming across John Constantine and the psycho formerly known as Dr Destiny, challenge a denizen from hell, and travel through the world of reality, hell, and dreams as he must inevitably search for purpose after his revenge is done and his power restored…

This is one of those rare stories you can’t put down because you feel something original within it’s pages. Between Neil Gaimen’s fantastic writing and the talented artists, all of which put there hearts into this, are addictive to the eyes and heart. It is very abstract and the beginning is a bit vague so I can’t recommend this to people who want something action heavy or simple. I’d call this a thinking man’s kind of story. In the end, I will call Sandman one of the best pieces I’ve ever read and recommend giving it a shot. May the gaming gods bring you glory and sweet dreams.

5 of my favorite super teams

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You ever get a rush watching a climatic battle full of your favorite costumed badasses throw down against a huge army or indestructible foe? Well, like millions of other nerds, I do too. So here’s my list in order of my favorite super teams in order starting with

5. JLA- one of the classics and very first it’s hard not to get excited seeing Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, and Green Lantern getting together to kick some ass.

f4 4 4. Fantastic 4- Marvel’s first family and explorers into the strange and cosmic, despite the swarm of crappy movies, I always got love for Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and the Thing.

classic xmen 3. X Men- The Students of Xavier’s School helped start my descent into my love of Marvel. There has been tons of X Men over the years, so many I couldn’t list (near the next film I’ll get deeper into my favorites.) but they are awesome.

Teen Titans 2. Teen Titans- I can’t lie, this is strictly on the list because of how much I loved the early 2000’s series but damn near 20 years later the friendship between Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, and Beastboy stuck with me and that says volumes.

gotg 1. Guardians of the galaxy- I got introduced to the comics a year before the movie came out and fell in love with these flawed but cool characters. Starlord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket Raccon, and Groot with awesome guest Guardians throughout make them my favorite.

May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Batman: Under the Red Hood

batman under the red hood

If you caught my list of Top 5 badasses of DC or my Batman: Arkham Knight review, I touched on the badass of Red Hood.

The crime lords in Gotham begin getting hunted by a new vigilante calling himself The Red Hood. Killing the thugs of crimelord Black Mask, Batman notices the precision in which hood operates and the hood itself makes him recall Joker. Hood however is not the typical bad guy, taking control of the drug trade to help fund his murderous campaign, he has one rule- don’t sell to kids- which he strictly enforces. When the time comes for Batman and Red Hood to face off and the truth comes out about his identity, Batman must come to terms with the ultimate fate of his former ward, Jason Todd, and stop him before he murders Joker, proving the futility of Batman’s nonlethal methods…

I know the review maybe brief but there is a LOT to this story. As a story it is compelling and Red Hood is a badass. While Batman is awesome, Red Hood makes a damn convincing argument and steals the show with his gritty kill scenes and his interactions with his former mentor. If you plan on reading it, I do recommend reading Batman: Death in the Family before where you get the events that lead to Todd’s death. I enjoyed this book and say it’s worth checking out if you are a Batman fan. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Batman: Death in the family

batman death in fam

Of all comics I’ve experienced so far, no hero has had more classic tales over the years than the Dark Knight himself. One of his most darkest tragedies is the tale of Jason Todd, the second Robin.

We begin this story with Bruce and Todd’s relationship getting rocky. Todd, getting older is becoming rebellious and angry. Discovering that the mother he knew was not his biological mother, Todd ventures into the middle east to find her- trailed by a worried Batman. Batman and Robin become entangled in a dastardly affair involving nuclear weapons, Joker and Todd’s real mother. Taken by Joker, Todd is tortured and beaten nearly to death by a crowbar, dying with his mother after failing to save her from a bomb. Batman’s iconic failure to save is brilliantly captured as he cradles Jason’s body. Left torn inside, Batman is left to take Joker down, but at the risk of causing a war with the middle east…

The tragedy of Jason Todd is a story we saw referenced in Batman Vs Superman and Arkham Knight and many other stories. I found this to be a surprisingly epic story I found really intriguing as well as really tragic. For an older comic, I was surprised how graphic it was but I somehow found it more effective than the overly dark tone of say Killing Joke. I will say A Death in the Family is one of my favorite Batman stories and I highly recommend it to Batman fans. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

5 stories I’d love to see for a solo DCEU Batman movie

batman symbol 2017

Anyone else getting tired of the same old Batman films? If I have to watch Thomas and Martha Wayne get shot again I’m going to scream! In BVS and JLA we got Easter eggs for things that have happened to Batman in the DCEU, so here’s a quick list of Batman tales I’d love to see brought to life in the DCEU with no particular order, starting with:

new 52 batman 1

1. Court of Owls/ Night of the Owls- essentially Batman wrapped up in a tale of suspense and mystery as he discovers the true driving force of Gotham, the Court of Owls and there deadly assassins, the Talons stop at nothing to reclaim Gotham from the dark knight. It’d make a great thriller with bad ass fights and great secrets throughout.

arkham asylum book

2. Arkham Asylum- since the DCEU is pretty damn rushed as it is, a cool way to introduce a lot of the villains through the tale of Batman trying to survive a night in the infamous madhouse. Featuring such great villains as Two-Face, Mad Hatter, Scarecrow, Joker and Killer Croc it’d definitely would make for a cool tale.

riddler 3. A Riddler movie- Some of my favorite episodes of Batman the animated series and the show The Batman were the detective stories of Batman tracking down Riddler, I think being a welcomed change of pace from what we’ve gotten in recent years. I mean, imagine Seven with Batman answering riddles instead of observing the sins.

under the red hood

4. Under the Red Hood- BVS teased the shit out of this with the broken Robin suit tagged in Joker graffiti, so why the hell not follow through with it? Let Batman see the dark reflection of himself through the son he believed tested, see him pushed to the brink of sanity again and have to pull himself back again. Also, it wouldn’t be a bad way to introduce Nightwing and Mr. Freeze into the DCEU.

batman hush

5. Hush- another good tale for a R rated audience featuring a great who done it mystery, lots of great bad guys, and even a rematch with Superman, which I think we could all use.

Best of wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

 

Aquaman (new 52, volume 5) sea of storms

aquaman v5

My good friend Autobot was kind enough to loan me some Aquaman comics before Justice League came out, so thanks man.

We begin our stories with Arthur Curry dealing with his rule of the oceans and trying to protect those land. People are weary of him on the surface after Orm, the Ocean Master, nearly brought a massive flood on them. In Atlantis, people aren’t trusting him because he still tries to help the surface dwellers, who damn near kill themselves by accidentally uncovering a titanic Atlantean beast that causes further devastation on land, nearly kills Aquaman, and sours the favor of the Atlanteans even further because it was an ancient protector meant to serve the reigning king, not try to murder it. Arthur couldn’t stop it. A idiot named Daniels, who has been pursuing Arthur finds his trident and accidentally sets free a race of Giant-borns from a makeshift hell created by a past Atlantean king, which forces him to fight a crazed Hercules and team up with Wonder Woman to finish this, all while stressing over his high school reunion. While Mera is hunting some failed assassins who tried taking her life, Aquaman finds himself face to face with the fabled Swamp Thing in our last story.

Essentially the book is three stories in one and that was really cool. Of the three, the last was my favorite just because it was cool to see Swamp Thing kick his ass. Something I have to say for the series itself, the artwork always catches my eye and makes me take in the details and colors. There are a lot of great, epic fights and I was glad to get time with Wonder Woman and Swamp Thing, who neither I’ve experienced much. Overall, it’s a fun book to pick up in sections and definitely gorgeous to look at. Best wishes all, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

5 great stories from DC new 52

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The new 52 comic run brought us some cool new ideas as well as introduced me to a lot of new characters I feel in love with and even helped reshaped the way we viewed some of them. Working my way to number 1, here’s my list of 5 favorite DC new 52 stories starting with…

new 52 shazam 5. Shazam (volume 1)- I’m not a magic fan but I do love Black Adam, who stole every panel he appeared in for me. Menacing, intelligent, and powerful, he was a great way to start Shazam’s origin. After reading this, Adam became a favorite of mine.

new 52 suicide squad 4. Suicide Squad: Kicked in the teeth (volume 1)- I borrowed the first 3 volumes of the new 52 a year before the movie came out and absolutely devoured them. I loved a story based primarily of villains kicking ass and spouting dark 1 liners. Also, King Shark rules!

new 52 flash 3. Flash: Gorilla Warfare (volume 3)- I love Grodd. I love the Rogues. This book boils down to Flash and the Rogues teaming up to stop Grodd and his ape army. It’s badass and ends with a awesome fight and a Easter egg I loved.

new 52 aquaman 2. Aquaman: The Trench (volume 1)- Like many people, I never thought into Aquaman much. To quote Batman, “Arthur Curry, I hear you can talk to fish.) But the gorgeous artwork and epic fight got me on board instantly. 1 superhero vs a army of mutated piranha people, what’s not to love?

new 52 batman 1 1. Batman: Court of Owls/ Night of the owls (volumes 1 and 2)- It’s not everyday a great Batman story comes out that has nothing to do with Joker. In fact, this story brings the history we thought we knew deeply into question and not only is Batman and the Bat-family at match by these creepy, damn near unstoppable assassins but they truly test what Batman stands for and that is the sign of a great story.

Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Batman: Arkham Asylum

arkham asylum book

So to start off, yes this is the book that inspired the epic Arkham video games. If you’ve played the game as a fun fact, the Amadeus Arkham recordings from the game came from the book. Both are extremely good but the differences are pretty heavy, outside the fact one is a video game and one is a graphic novel.

So the graphic novel follows a night where Batman is called by Commissioner Gordon for a special problem: Joker is holding the orderlies of Arkham Asylum hostage and says the only person he will deliver demands to is the Batman. Against Gordon’s wishes, Batman ventures in, getting caught in Joker’s game. Game is simple, Batman has to survive a one night long game of hide and seek inside the asylum with the inmates loose, wanting a piece of the Caped Crusader that locked them away. As this story is being told, we recount the eerie, Poe like story of how the asylum’s founder Amadeus Arkham lost his mind and became twisted.

The game has a different touch to the plot. Batman captures Joker one night, taking him to the asylum, weary of how easy it was. Turns out Joker used Batman to get access to the asylum, where he has been having a new permutation of Bane’s serum Venom to be created, making goons into raging beasts. Alone it’s up to Batman to face the horde of crazed inmates, armed thugs, and villains and stop Joker from unleashing Titan on Gotham.

Either way you look at it, Arkham Asylum is an amazing story. The book is written extremely well by one of my favorite writers, Grant Morrison and the illustrations are freaky as hell and abstract. The book does well to draw tension. The game is one of the best games I’ve ever played with great graphics, addictive combat, and great returning voice performances by Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, arguably the definitive Batman and Joker.There are very tense, eerie moments in the game and Scarecrow’s part scared the hell out of me first time I played it. Overall, I highly recommend giving either or a read or play through. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

scarecrow

Cyborg: unplugged

cyborg unplugged

I’m going to admit, at first I was very pissed when it was announced Cyborg was going to be part of the JLA movie roster instead of Green Lantern. I liked Cyborg since my youth watching Teen Titans, but Green Lantern has been part of the team since the beginning. I searched for his solo comics on Amazon and was surprised at the lack of material he had; I wasn’t expecting a vast library for Cyborg but certainly more than I found. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised as a reader.

The story goes as such: The JLA are thrown into a fight with these creepy ass looking machine-creatures from the future. Vic Stone is with the rest of the league, fighting his heart off, but the things overpower him quite easily and seemingly kill Cyborg. Suddenly, he awakens after his tech goes through a mysterious but miraculous reboot that revives him but leaves him…different. Suddenly, some of his skin has returned while obtaining the mechanical features. We also begin to see people finding ways to implant cybernetics in themselves to either replace what is lost or enhance themselves. As Vic tries to discover what the hell is happening to him; the things that wrecked him have returned for his blood and the enhanced to stop a terrible fate..

I got really into this for one really good reason: Victor Stone as a character. He was was written with a lot of depth and relate able pain and issues but still had a wisecrack and a trademark BOOYAH while kicking ass- seriously if he doesn’t drop a BOOYAH in that damn JLA movie, I want my money back. The art was wonderful, both wondrous and creepy at times. I can’t say I was hugely invested in the story as a whole but the character of Cyborg kept me there for the run and now I’m wanting more. As always, thank you for reading and may the gaming gods be with you all.