I first saw the second book in the To Hell and Back trilogy (Costume Not Included) and thought it looked interesting, but decided to wait and read the first book, Damned Busters, instead (since I hate starting in the middle of series). And I’m glad I did. Matthew Hughes has written a funny, subversive wish-fulfillment story about a man who got a chance to be a superhero and what it entailed. The story is quite funny, with wonderful characters and deserves a much wider audience. Let’s check out what happened.
Category Archives: Comics
Baby’s in Black by Arne Bellstorf
It’s a subject that’s been covered numerous times, most notably in the 1994 movie Backbeat. The Beatles (I’m sure you’ve heard of them) spent several months playing in Hamburg, Germany. While there, they not only honed their musical ability and stage presence, but they also lost a member of the band and gained a new look. Arne Bellstorf’s new graphic novel Baby’s in Black, covers this same material, but it really only focuses on German photography student Astrid Kirchherr who falls in love with the music and with art-student-turned-bass-player Stu Sutcliffe. So, let’s see what’s different about Baby’s in Black.
Wolverine by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller
I’ve never been much of an X-Men fan. I’ve read some of the classic storylines and see a couple of the movies, but I never was much of a fan. And, back in the 1980s, Wolverine always seemed like a perfect Marvel character. His lack of background and powers could be used to fit him into any storyline. But there was rarely any stories that explored his character. So, Chris Claremont and Frank Miller had a discussion when they shared a car ride back from the San Diego Comic Convention and came up with a new definitive (for the time) Wolverine storyline in the four issue mini-series aptly named Wolverine. Without changing the character or giving a backstory (or origin), they set a new direction for the character that made him a lot more interesting than a wild animal of a man. Let’s see what happened.
The Dark Knight Rises review
As you can tell, I’m about a week (or two) behind in reviewing movies. As I get older, it gets harder to co-ordinate seeing movies with friends on opening weekends. So I finally pulled my friend out of packing for his move so that we could see The Dark Knight Rises. Overall I kind of liked it, but not as much as The Dark Knight (and I disliked Batman Begins). But I had a number of problems with the film. So let’s check it out. WARNING: Spoilers ahoy.
The Amazing Spider-Man movie review
It was with a certain amount of trepidation that I approached the new reboot of the Spider-Man franchise, The Amazing Spider-Man. For the most part, I had enjoyed the Tobey Maguire movies (except for the horrible 3rd film), so I was a bit ambivalent about the reboot. Clearly the third movie showed that the previous creative team had lost their way, but did we really need to see the origin story again? So I finally broke down and went to go see the movie. Overall I was disappointed, but there were some good parts that make it likely that I might enjoy a sequel. Let’s see what it was about.
Batman Earth One
After the disastrous book that was Superman Earth One (my review), I was reluctant to read Batman Earth One, but then I read some very positive reviews. And Geoff Johns does a much better job with Batman, than Straczynski did with Superman. It’s not a perfect but, but a decent one. So, let’s check out what’s going on with Batman.
Prepare to Die by Paul Tobin
Paul Tobin has spent many years writing comic books. When looking over his bibliography, I was surprised to find that he had been writing comics since the early 1990s. But he’s best known for his Marvel work in the late 2000s. His first novel, Prepare to Die, is a superhero novel, however, it’s not like any superhero story I’ve read before. Tobin has taken the basic superhero concept and used those characters for a returning home novel. It’s an interesting story that Tobin has done a great job with. So, let’s check out what happens when you return home to settle your affairs.
1985 by Mark Millar and Tommy Lee Edwards
I really need to stop reading Mark Millar comics. I never enjoy them and am always left thinking that it should have been much better. The reason I keep getting sucked in is that Millar has such wonderful ideas. But he can’t execute them worth a damn. In Marvel 1985, Millar has a great idea about a boy of divorced parents who gets into comics and then notices that the strange abandoned house down the street is being occupied by Marvel super-villains.
But the story moves in fits and spurts. The setup is annoying and the climax is fairly silly. There are plot threads left all over the place (where did Hulk go after his fight with Juggernaut) and the characters are too predictable. And once again I’m left with a sense of longing for a better story to go along with this idea.
Tommy Lee Edward’s art is good.
The characters are well drawn, the backgrounds are good, the pacing serves the story well. But, it’s a good effort on a losing story. Not Recommended.
Avengers review
Well, that was something. I’ll briefly touch on the plot of the movie, since judging by the box office everyone’s already seen the movie. After this weekend’s box office, I’m pretty sure Whedon could name any project and any budget and he’ll get it. The only director who has more power than Whedon right now is probably James Cameron (a $2 BILLION movie get’s you a lot of respect). So, I’m pretty curious what Whedon will want to do next. So, Avengers Assemble, I mean let’s get to the review.
Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks
I’m always on the lookout for interesting comics and because of that, my comics reading has a much wider genre circle than the rest of my fiction reading. Case in point, Faith Erin Hicks comic Friends With Boys. If it wasn’t a graphic novel, then it wouldn’t be anything I’d be interested in. Then again, I’m not sure it’s the type of thing I’d be reading going forward. It’s not that the book is bad (since it’s not), but I really wasn’t interested in the book that much. So let’s see what it was about.