Batman eternal #1

Just another day in Gotham

The First day on the job is always strange most of the time you’re thrown into fray with no idea of what to do or how to do. All the training you’ve gone through is supposed prepare you to for this moment but does it? Most of the times you’re shit out of luck, maybe on your first day you have to achieve the impossible, or pretend you’re an expert on something you’ve never heard of, or maybe you have to arrest your boss. First days always sucks.

Batman eternal is a weekly series produced by some of the best writers and artists DC has to offer Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Jason Fabok, and Dustin Nguyen to name a few. Are story jumps forward to “The End” showing a beaten and bloodied batman tied up on his own bat-signal, while a mysterious villain narrates saying that he has defeated the batman. Then we jump back to the present as a new officer joins the Gotham P.D, on his first day he sees the Bat, Professor Pyg , and lots of destruction just another day in Gotham.

The Good

Batman eternal is a fast paced balls to the wall book, as if we were thrown into the middle of an action movie with almost no time to take the breath from all the destruction and intense chases. Some of my favorite moments include pigs with machine guns, batman in an armored suit from the court of owls story line, and batman saving one of his best friends. The art is so fluid and it helps with the fast pasted nature of the story. The art is indicative of the DC house style but it is enough of its own thing to keep me interested. As for the writing it is top notch and all the characters fell and sound like they should which makes for a compelling about friendship, mystery, and tragedy. 

 my favorite panel

The Bad

(spoilers!)

I have very few gripes with the book one of my problems is that in one scene Gordon gets arrested because he shot at a suspect who was unarmed and caused trains to crash into each other by hitting the electrical system. The problem I have with this is that they are so quickly to place the blame on Gordon even though there are hundreds of super villains in Gotham and they don’t do any investigation to see if it was Gordon who caused the crash they just assume. Also all the people in the book look to pretty I wish there were more variation in the way the people looked, ugly people wouldn’t hurt. 

The score: 4/5

Batman Eternal is a great start to a new series that sets up a bunch of question for a compelling story. With fluid art and cohesive writing by great writers I’m hooked.

Uncanny X-men The Complete Collection By Matt Fraction Vol.1

Why haven’t you read an x-men title? Maybe because it’s always been hard to follow, if you haven’t been reading since the Chris Claremont days. The title x-men has suffered so much from continuity it’s hard to tell a story without having to refer to a dozen other stories for an explanation and for a while there were so many mutants that they didn’t seem so much of a minority anymore then m day happened a took away most of the mutants on earth. Leaving only a couple hundred x-men left after the events of this Cyclops the leader of the x-men decides to move out to San Francisco in hopes of protecting the last of the mutant population and that’s where the fun begins!

The Good

This book begins matt fractions run on Uncanny X-men. Most x men books are full of continuity and for that reason most x books are impenetrable by the typical comic reader. In Fractions run there really is no need for a lot of pre knowledge of the x-men because it’s all explained and explained well at that it’s not boring and the explanation of characters you don’t know are short and sweet. The X men were always seen as outcast but as the years went on there was more and more mutants so they weren’t such a minority anymore, after m day they became a minority again and where do minorities go? San Francisco of course! It is really great seeing a super hero team in the west coast since most of the marvel universe it based in New York this gives the X-men much needed room to breathe away from the rest of the universe.  In that room they grow stronger as a team because since they are in a new land there are new bigots like the hell fire cult who threaten to kill the rest of the living X-men. In dealing with the new evils that face them the story becomes more of a fight for civil rights and equality and this story comes with a great message that everyone despite who they are or what powers they use to or do have, everyone should be treated equally. As for the writing its Fraction at his best he makes every character in the marvel universe unique and different whether its Namor, Cyclops, Emma Frost, or the first human torch none of these characters ever feel boring or the same, This also applies to the female characters since he is a male writer most male writers have problems writing women and if there are many women their personalities  tend to be exactly the same thus making most female characters boring, fraction doesn’t have this problem. Fraction weaves many stories in this book in too a  pretty little bow such as Pixies troubles with racism, colossus dealing with losing kitty pryde , Cyclops dealing with the X-men's move across the country, and beast forming a rag tag group to try and kick start the mutant race all and all this is a great read for the story alone. As for the Art it remains consistent between the three artists.

The Bad

This book suffers from the most clichéd things that happen to the x-men the first is one of Cyclops X wives comes back to life and the other is a character that is thought to be dead returns to life. These are the two parts of the story that left a bad taste in my mouth.

The Score 7/10

If you enjoy Matt Fraction and want to read an x-men book this is where you should start. Matt Fraction does a great job of using many characters of the marvel universe far and wide and makes a breathe taking story.

 

 

Batman: The Black Glove Deluxe Edition Review

Who is your Batman? Is it the Adam West, Michael Keaton, or Christian Bale Batman? Or do you prefer the writings of Denny O’Neil, Frank Miller, and Jeph Loeb? Also what about animated movies and Cartoons from the 90s? Who is your Batman? Grant Morrison takes all batmen from all times neglecting none of his stories in the past seventy years and throws them into a magical caldron mixing them with masterful writing, philosophy, great art, and imagination. Making one the best batman stories of the century; showing that you should respect all batmen from all times no matter the silliness. This is why it’s so great.

The Good

The book begins like an old comic from the fifties with batman and joker going at it. There’s a flying joker copter and batman fighting with swords man bat assassins it’s a hell of a lot of fun! In this book we are introduced to a brand new character Damien Wayne and it turns out that he is the son of Talia al ghul daughter to the league of shadows leader Ras al ghul.  Honestly I believe Damien is one of the better batman characters to be created in the past couple of decades. He is different from all the members of the bat family and the way he treats Tim Drake is awesome, he is a cocky little shit and is every way different from his father but in some many ways he is just like his dad for example he is a great detective and a good fighter and deep down he wants to do right. In this book there is a one shot story about Damien being batman in the future and its great he is even more dark and gritty batman then his father plus he has a trench coat and uses guns! After the batman and son arc is over it begins the black glove half of the story it deals with the three ghosts of batman and the club of heroes. Batman’s three ghosts are cops that have been trained and driven insane by Dr. Hurt in an attempt to kill batman. The club of heroes which was my favorite part in the book is a story where batman and robin are invited for a reunion of the club of heroes. It’s basically a justice league with all batmen from different countries. It happens to be that they were all invited to be ambushed and killed by the black glove but the batmen and sidekicks foil the plan and escape. I loved all of these stories because they took parts from all of batman’s old continuity use them in interesting new ways that have never been done before in a batman comic, such as the club of heroes which was in a comic from the 50s and Damien comes from the story batman son of the demon where Bruce and Talia get it on, but it doesn’t end there are lots of references to old batman stories in here. This is a story that will be remembered for ages to come and it’s just the beginning of Grant Morrison’s critically acclaimed run on batman. As for the art Andy Kubert does a great off drawing batman and the more silly things that happens like this

he is masterfully in every way. The other artist J.H Williams draws the club of heroes story which is awesome if you loved his Batwomen then you’ll enjoy seeing him draw other members of the bat family his art and style is on a whole another level. There is so much to enjoy from this book if you love batman like I do it is a must read.

The Bad

There is not a lot of bad in this book just a couple gripes I had such as in the middle of the book there is a short story with computer generated images, for me it was off putting so I skipped it. Also the changes in the art might bug some people but perfectly fine since there great artist. And finally it might take more than one read to understand fully what grant Morrison is trying to say, there are very complex ideas in this book so don’t be afraid to read more than once for a full understanding and to catch stuff you missed. 

THE SCORE: 8/10

If you love batmen of all shapes and sizes, then you’ll love this great tale of the batmen as we go through some forgotten parts of his history. It’s a great read and if you want to start Grant Morrison’s epic run on Batman this is the place to start

The Invincible Iron Man Vol.1 by Matt Fraction Review

What do you think about Iron Man? Since the 90s Iron Man has been written as a villainous character for example he killed a multiple people in the 90s, He forced superhuman registration and helped make a prison in the negative zone to keep his friends, and all the other villainous stuff he did in the illuminati like send the hulk into outer space against his will. The reason iron man was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby was to see if they could make a weapons dealer a likeable character and they succeeded but in recent years he has been less heroic. Matt Fraction takes IRON MAN back to his roots literally in this book (trade collects the invincible Iron Man 1-19.) and make him a real hero once more.

The Good

The story begins before secret invasion with Tony Stark still the director of shield. The first arc is Tony’s five nightmares it’s a great call back to the iron monger story from the 90s, In this story the iron mongers son (Ezekiel Stane) is seeking revenge on Iron Man for the death of his Dad he is plotting his revenge much like his father by stealing Starks technology and trying to use it against him.  Stane has reversed engineered Tony’s iron man technology and has created suicide bombers and a whole new suit just for himself just like his old dad. This teaches tony a much need lesson in humility. What follows after this story is an iron man spider man team up it’s a great self-contained story but after what tony has done to make parkers life worse I’m surprised he would want to be near him. the next arc is when shit really hits the fan, the story picks up after secret invasion at the beginning of dark reign where tony is fired from shield and Norman Osborne takes his place as director of shield the first thing tony does is destroy all his important information he had left behind when Osborne finds this out he claims tony is guilty of treason and begins a man hunt too find stark. Stark knows that if he is captured all the secrets he poses that are implanted into his brain would be at the disposal of Osborne, so he does the unthinkable and deletes his memory! This cause Tony to slowly lose his memory like a super hero with Alzheimer’s causing him to revert back to the older iron man suits because they are less complex this  Force iron man to as the Beatles say “get back to wear you once belonged “. Matt Fraction has created an amazing snake eating his tail type of story, his writing is impeccable and he makes every character feel unique and different from the last, the banter between Norman and Tony is hilarious it’s great  to see tony on the other side of the coin. As for the Art Salvador Larroca draws Iron Man and all fasciitis of the marvel universe realistic and believable seeing him draw every ironman suit is a really treat his art is like watching a well-directed movie, the colors are also fantastic it really helps the book come to life.

The Bad

The idea of tony deleting his memory is very impractical if you think about it if he heads a hard drive and he was slow deleting his memory why was it selective? Why did he forget the little things first? There Is also a strange love triangle between Tony, Peeper Pots(Tony’s assistant), and Maria Hill(agent of shield) that I don’t even know was happening until Tony and Maria Hill had sex but shortly after Tony says Pepper is the only girl for him. Why does tony have sex with his coworker Maria Hill that’s her boss I didn’t think there  relationship was that romantic like that or is that just a common thing in comic books.

The Score 8/10

If you love Iron man but don’t know where to start this is the best place. This was the first Iron Man solo book that I have ever read and its great read with strong protagonist and great supporting characters that you’ll actually care about. A great Iron Man book that doesn’t make him look like a uber-fascist.

Why The Dark Knight Strikes Again Doesnt Suck!(that much)

What’s that old quote? “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” How does this apply to Frank Miller? In the 80s Miller was a profound comic book writer and illustrator with his critically acclaimed work on daredevil and later changed comics forever with The Dark Knight Returns. Then Miller Continued to make ground breaking indie books like sin city, Martha goes to Washington, 300 etc. And now what do people think of him? Nowadays people regard Mr. Miller as a fallen hero considering most of his work in the last ten years (the dark knight strikes again, all-star batman and robin, holy terror, the spirit) mediocre at best. I find it truly ironic that the character that made him popular a has-been Bruce Wayne is what he embodies in the eye of the public now I believe that just like in his stories he wrote all those years ago, he needs to return or even strike back to his former glory. But for now There are still good things to say about his writing one of his books I enjoy that over people hate is The dark Knight strikes again and his is why it doesn’t suck that much.

How It Began

After the dark knight returns for years many fans speculated and asked for a sequel, for many years Miller said he was not interested.  Until about 2000 Miller in an interview with CBR Miller said” I came up with some ideas and got the itch to play with DC's toys.” And what followed was hated by critics and fans alike. TDKSA was written and draw by Frank Miller with Lynn Varley coloring. The story was spread out into three issues the first came out on November 2001, then January 2002, and the last September 2002. When it came out it was regarded as trash for its strange art and its story.

Why it’s awesome!

Have the political climates of today have you bummed out do you wish that real change would come to the world in its time of need? Are you sick and tired of big corporations running our lives and treating us as Jimmy Olson said it “well paid slaves” Do you wish and hope for revolution that one day things would be set right? How about a revolution led by Batman and his new justice league? That’s what this book is the revolution of the superheroes!

Dissecting the Dark Knight 

The story picks up 3 years after TDKR. It starts much like the previous book with different media outlets commenting on society mostly Jimmy Olson who is speaking angrily against the president claiming that we are well paid slaves and that the heroes that protected us are gone. He asks “where have our heroes gone?” It turns out that all the old Heroes have either been killed or black mailed by the government so that they would not interfere with their plans. In TDKR the U.S President is Ronald Reagan in the comic it’s obvious that he is just a puppet, working for some higher evil it’s the same in this story but in the future they have done away with the puppets now it’s just a computer generated image that is shown on TV. While the computer generated president is giving a speech he starts glitching and people notice, Jimmy Olsen responds” the president of the united states is a computer animated image!” It is then reveled that Lex Luthor and Brainiac are the ones pulling the strings and have been since the TDKR using Kandor as blackmail to keep superman in line with what they want. .” I'll have Superman who's in a very compromised position, to say the least. You'll finally understand why he was playing along all that time in the first Dark Knight.”-Frank Miler not only did they blackmail superman after they gained control of the government they also blackmailed the flash saying that they would kill Iris if he didn’t run on a hamster wheel that would give the electricity to a third of the country, they also cut off green arrow arm, imprisoned the atom in a Petridis, killed the hawks, jailed plastic man in Arkham, put Nano bots inside Martian man hunter head to control him cause him to become a sad drunk. So what happens after the events of TDKR batman wants to get the band back together to free the world from tyranny. So he starts to free his former league members including the flash, the atom, plastic man   and elongated man who wasn’t prisoned he was just selling boner pills and with what after identity crisis the book where his wife is murdered and raped this makes sense for this character. Superman and the remaining members of the old justice league (Wonder women and Captain Marvel) have a meeting to discuss the break out but are interrupted by Luthor yelling at them saying that they need to find out what was going on. So Superman goes to have a talk with Bats and gets the crap beat out of him by the newly formed justice league! Then batman says  After they give Supes a beating they fly the bat wing into Lex Luthor building which is strange considering it came out right after 911 and it has a four page spread of a plane flying into a building. So batman beats up Luthor and marks him with a z for Zorro the movie he saw right before his parents died. In this story Superman and wonder woman are together and have a daughter that they raised in secret fearing that she would become a slave to brainiac, which is crazy because in the new 52 they are also an item.  Shortly after this Superman is called into fight an alien invasion but just a ruse by brainiac saying “Were going to nip this little fad in the  bud with a big splashy spectacle a show stopper if you will…were cashing you in Kent!” Supes replies. Brainiac then destroys metropolis making it look like ground zero.

Bruce and The flash have a conversation and Bruce lets him know how things have changed.  

In the midst in the destruction of metropolis Superman’s daughter comes to save the day and fights Brainiac back she proclaims “father you are wrong this time is ours, this world is ours, the power is ours, the power has always been our". This a response what superman told wonder woman.   After Brainiac is defeated he and Luthor decide to bring the hammer down at the Superchix concert. The Superchix a play on the over sexualized society we live in millers also states this concept with all the news anchor having them be half naked women basically saying that they are nothing more that distraction from the real problems people face. During the Superchix concert Luthor And Brainiac’s plot is foiled by the newly formed justice league and batman say this shortly after batman convince Superman to join his cause So Supergirl and the atom go to kill Brainiac and save Kandor. The atom then frees the kryptonians and they all kill Brainiac. Meanwhile Batman sets up Luthor and has him killed by the son of Hawkman who wants retribution for Luthor killing his parents. While this is happening he convinces Hal Jordan to destroy all the weapons they built in outer space.    After all the bad guys are dead the world is free from tyranny once more thanks to the new Justice League! In final panel batman says this to Catgirl while he is seeing his cave die.

9/11 influenced this book greatly there are many scenes from the book that directly from news casts and famous pictures. I could imagine this is one of the reasons the second and third books were delayed. But honestly this was the best time for this book to come out.

MY Favorite Parts:

What went wrong? The art and the coloring is what this book is hated for the coloring is computer generated and everyone looks like caricaturas of the real thing and there is Also the Joker it was out of left field and executed poorly plus no backgrounds in most of the panels.. It’s like read a dc acid trip about how corrupt and evil our government is and we are too distracted to see it.

What was he trying to say? In every art there Is a message some are right in front of you and others you have to look hard for but there is always a message what I believe miller was trying to say is what happen to freedom? Where are our rights going? When will all human beings be on even playing fields? When will we recognize tyranny for what it is? When will we stop being well paid slaves and gain our freedom once more!

 

Walking Dead:Book One Review

What makes a great story? Is it great characters, a cohesive plot, with an intriguing setting, and a theme that ties everything in a nice bow? There is no one way to make a great story. But that’s what I enjoy and look for in the stories I read. The Walking Dead is by all means a perfect story and I’m going to tell you why.

 
THE GOOD

Where do I start? The first time I heard the words walking dead was on a preview for the upcoming AMC TV show. At first I thought cool an ongoing zombie TV show that takes the material seriously. So that Halloween night after a long night of trick or- treating I came home late and as soon as I was about to hit the hay AMC replayed the series premier and I was hooked, so was the world. The tv show is one of the best of my generation, so when I heard it was based on a comic book it knew it had a lot to live up too. I have finally came around to reading the trade and here are my thoughts I loved every second I spent reading it. Any preconceived notions I got from the TV show were thrown out the window when I began reading I didn’t think I would like it more than the show but I do; its better paced and the decisions they make in the book are more thought provoking, scary, and honestly reflects how society would react if a zombie apocalypse were to happen. For example in the show there are episode where nothing really happens this is never the case in the book something is always happening and it always a turn for the worst. I really liked how the characters coped with their situation like how Shane honestly believes that it will all pass and the government will save him, that’s what keeps him sane and when people pull on the strings that hold his sanity together he goes crazy and the way that it is resolved is more than shocking, it’s something that couldn’t be shown on TV. That is what makes the comic better is that there is no time limit and no restraints. The book covers the first two seasons of the show and where I lost interest in the show was the complete opposite with the book. I read it in one sitting it’s a real page turner. Another thing I found intriguing was that there is no narration or thought boxes. It’s all dialog, which is great because this book is more show than tell. That’s why it plays more like a movie than a comic book. Overall the art is fantastic it definitely has its roots in a comic book style but it goes for a very realistic approach with the characters. Which means everyone looks like real people! Not some muscly archetype of a person. If you like zombies, good story telling, and great art this is the book for you.

 

THE BAD

The only bad part is that it ends.

 

The Score:10/10

If you have never read a comic I highly recommend it because it’s a great place to start, it is a well told story that will captivate you form beginning to end, and makes you question what would you do in a zombie apocalypse?

 

 

Neonomicon Review

What does it mean to push the envelope?  The envelope is what people are uncomfortable with seeing in a form of art. To push the envelope would be to convey freighting and uncomfortable ideas in a form of art.  In other words it is to show things that would be taboo. Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows do all that and much more.

THE GOOD

The words dark, disturbing, and fucked up do not do this book justice. The book is a journey through a dark and evil world that is nearing a pivotal moment in its history. What happens to these characters and the world they live in is not only extremely shocking it will take you by surprise. It might also make you a little squeamish. If you love horror, Alan Moore’s writing, great art, and H.P Lovecraft stop reading this review and go to your local comic shop and get a copy. For example Moore’s writing is superb whether he is just writing dialog or describing the world they live in, he can shift the mood of the book in a snap and he always knows how to create tension and suspense. Jacen is very detailed in his drawing even when you don’t want him to be (read the book! haha). His art looks more real world then comic book style, which is a good thing because the people he draws have natural proportions not extremely giant muscles and huge boobs. As for the story itself it is broken up into main two parts, the first being The Courtyard which is the prelude and then Neonomicon proper. The story takes place in Red Hook where a government agent is investigating some gruesome murders which seem to be linked to the occult. On his journey to discover the truth he goes undercover and finds out that what he thought was right was wrong and this new revelation changes him and makes him commit the same type of murders which he was investigating, that brings us to the second part where two new government agents take on the case that’s when they find the truth and boy is the truth frightening!

THE BAD

If you’re not familiar with H.P Lovecraft (which I am not) the story might get confusing, you should be able to follow along though. If this story was written by anyone else it would be like reading b-movie garbage, but with the wizard writer Alan Moore is he somehow pulls it off. There are very many shocking moments in the book, which sometimes feel like they’re there just for the sake of being dark and twisted if you are sensitive to any think don’t even bother reading,  just dig a hole and put your head into the sand. Read the first page if you can’t stomach that it only gets more fucked up from there.

SCORE:8/10

If you love horror, Alan Moore’s writing, great art, and Cthullu this is a great read for you. The story has its flawless and is a little hard to comprehend at first if you don’t know H.P love craft. But rest a sure Moore does a good job of guiding you through it and you’ll understand when the time is right. Not a perfect story but a brilliant one worth reading.