Check out Bruce Timm's kick ass tribute for Batman's 75th anniversary

Bruce Timm, Kevin Conroy and Batman, back together again! The best 3 minutes of your day today I guarantee.

Comic of the Week - Monster & Madman #1

Writer: Steve Niles

Artist: Damien Worm
Publisher: IDW
Release Date: March 13, 2014
Cover Price: $3.99

Steve Niles delivers another masterful tale of horror in his new 3 part series, Monster & Madman. An alternate take on two of two most famous horror characters from the past, Frankenstein's Monster and Jack the Ripper. 

The first issue tells the alternate version of events of Frankenstein's Monster. How he escapes the clutches of his master, and tries to escape his fate by starting his life anew. 

Rather than a standard story of horror or suspense, what we get here is a story of pain, suffering and misery, but ultimately hope for change. The Monster is torn with anguish, the pain of life, the pain of the past, and the pain of realising what he is, a monster. However, through the course of the journey which takes the Monster from the icy waters of Norway and onto the high seas, we come to find that monsters come in all forms, and looks can be deceiving.

The artwork by Damien Worm is absolutely masterful. Sketchy and bleak but beautiful and haunting, he sets the tone perfectly for a story told through the eyes of a monster. The ugliness of the world, of those that inhabit it, and of the monster himself is conveyed perfectly. 

The last page of this issue sets the story for the second character in the title, the Madman, Jack the Ripper. I'm curious to see how this will play out, but in a way I'm actually a bit sad we aren't getting an entire series dedicated to Frankenstein's Monster. I really like this take on the character and would definitely like to see more. Nevertheless, this is a great issue and very highly recommended.

Comic of the Week - Starlight #1

Writer: Mark Millar

Artist: Goran Parlov
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: March 6, 2014
Cover Price: $2.99

Mark Millar launches the all new Millarworld Universe with the debut of a new original series, Starlight. And just like that, he knocks it out of the park. This is an amazing first issue, and such a brilliant way to start off a new series.

Starlight introduces us to Captain Duke McQueen, All American square jawed fighter pilot, who made a little sojourn to another universe, saved the fate of an entire planet, and came home. Now those days are over, and with the passing of his wife, we see an empty man, struggling to lead a normal life while reflecting on the glory of the past, both from his intergalactic adventures, and of the memories of his wife.

The artwork from Goran Parlov is nothing short of breathtaking. Millar wasn't kidding when he said it almost hurt him to look at it. The panels are large, bright, and so simple yet so filled with emotion and gravitas. Much like Millar's writing. He doesn't fall into the trap of so many comic book writers, throwing in unnecessary plot lines, confusing dialogue, or a million ideas at once. He keeps it simple, but still manages to evoke such strength and weight in the storytelling. The constant juxtaposition between the space scenes that hark back to the Golden Age of comics, where chisel jawed men in bright spandex fought for the fate of the universe, the modern day scenes showing a shell of a man, going through life's motions, struggling to carry on, and the flashback's showing times spent with his wife really make this issue special.

This is such a great comic, I cannot recommend it highly enough. It's going to be interesting to see where things will go, and hopefully with this being a Millar title there will be a lot more interesting scenarios. Nevertheless, this issue is so good it can almost stand alone. Brilliant, brilliant stuff.

Comic of the week - The Remains #1

Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: A.C. Zamudio
Publisher: Monkeybrain Comics
Release Date: February 26, 2014
Cover Price: $0.99

The Remains is a new 4 part series for fans of horror and the supernatural. This issue really surprised with some excellent writing and artwork, and an interesting set up for the rest of the series to work with.

The story is told to us from the eyes of a young girl named Birdie, who along with her younger, mischievous sister Abigail, live and work on a farm with their mum and dad. Birdie tells the story of a stranger arriving at the farm looking for work and seemingly causing a series of events which is destined to change the farm and the lives of those living on it forever.

The storytelling, art and characterisation here is outstanding. We get a taste of the harsh reality of life on the farm, for the kids, the dad, even the poor dog which spends it's day chained up until it's let loose for it's one job on the farm, a gruesome scene of him killing rats. The two girls are both well rounded characters, with the older and wiser Birdie understanding the difficulty her dad faces running the farm and with his ailing health, and also her strong distrust of the new stranger, contrasted with the younger and childish Abigail, who would rather be playing with the dog than doing chores or forcing him to kill rats. 

The stranger is obviously cast as mysterious and potentially malicious, but so far all we have to go on that is Birdie, so it remains to be seen what role he has to play in this story as it unfolds. I'm already cannot wait for the next issue. If you're at all a fan of the mysterious, supernatural or horror this is a must read.

Captain's (Back) Log: Deadpool (PC)

Title: Deadpool

Platform: PC

Difficulty Played: Ultra-Violence!

Time Played: 15hrs

Achievements Earned: 35/50

Rating: 7/10




Well that certainly escalated. What was meant to be a short little time waster ended up with me still playing the game after beating it on the hardest difficulty to get more achievements. Make no mistake, this isn't a great game, or even a very good one, but if you're a fan of button mashers, or the Deadpool character, it's worth a look. 

The game provides a decent challenge on the hardest difficulty, so you'll at least get a little longevity out of it this way, if you just want to see Deadpool, breeze through it on easy. There's a few achievements which ask you to play levels in a certain way which also adds to the replay value but it's really gonna come down to how much of the combat you can stomach.

This is a button masher through and through, and not with a lot of depth. You get three melee weapons, four shooting weapons, a few types of grenades and four special moves which also differ depending which weapons you have equipped. It's easy to string together long combos that can be quite stylish, violent and fun to execute. However, you will quickly see everything and tire of the limited enemy types and bland environments. 

The boss battles can be a bit tense on the hardest difficulty, but the gameplay never differs from shooting and slicing all the time. The game has a few little glitches but is overall very solid in execution. Though my game did develop a glitch toward the end where it restarted itself after every few deaths which got a little annoying.

The Deadpool character himself is executed well. The voice acting is very good, the one-liners and humour is mostly decent, there's token appearances from X-Men like Cable, Wolverine and Rogue and overall it maintains the theme of the comic book character. 

The game is developed by High Moon who are gaining a reputation for solid licensed games after their two Transformers efforts and this is a decent title too. It lacks depth though and still has a little bit of cash-in feel. I feel this is more to do with the publisher than the developer but it certainly holds this title back.

Coming up Next: 

- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Ultimate Edition (PC)
- Call of Juarez Gunslinger (PC)
- Sleeping Dogs (PC)
- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PS3)

I'm leaning toward Call of Juarez since I heard it was short and sweet, but I've been wanting to play Castlevania for a long time now and the sequel will be out soon. Stay tuned....

The New 52 Review: Swamp Thing #1

I'm not your typical fanboy. I don't get up in arms about continuity. I just want awesome comics. So I'm open minded about things which I think is exactly what DC Comics wants, so let's give them a shot. How does the new Swamp Thing stand up?

I love the Alan Moore Swamp Thing. But that's been and gone, and I'm interested in seeing where else the character can go. The big news is that Swamp Thing is back in the DC Universe, although the appearance of Superman in this issue feels a little shoehorned just to emphasize the point.

We meet Alec Holland, developing memories of a Swamp Thing. Superman drops in on him to see what's going on and talk about it all. The dialogue here is very good and supplies a lot of depth to the narrative without feeling like it's all exposition. Meanwhile, there's the Swamp Thing side of things and here it's a story of some archeologists who run into a neck-snapping foe. It's not the best origin story but where writer Scott Snyder succeeds is by mixing the Alec Holland story with a side story This side story brings some much needed horror overtones to the comic.

It appears that Swamp Thing and Alec will be two separate characters, at least for a little while, and it's an interesting way to look at the character. If the darker tone is maintained this will be a fun book.

The artwork is again excellent. DC are delivering the goods art wise on a lot of these new issues and it's good to see. I'm definitely excited for the next one in this series,

The New 52 Review: Detective Comics #1

It doesn't look like much of a reboot for Batman so far. I haven't been keeping up with the mythos for a long time now but this seems like a well written Batman story plain and simple. Is it good? Even very good? Yes, but with all the excitement regarding the reboot the lack of surprise in this title is somewhat disappointing.

So what we have here is a a strong Batman story. The fact that it's also the origin story for the Batman taking on the Joker helps to enhance what may have otherwise been far more pedestrian Batman fare. This title tries to hark back to classic Batman tales of yesteryear and it pulls it off well, but it's a little more nostalgic than original. The problem here is that it's not that hard to write Batman well. The cliffhanger ending promises intrigue and I'm hoping it delivers.

Yep...that's Batman alright.

The artwork here is a little up and down, some beautiful gory and grimy scenes are contrasted with iffy panels throughout. The Joker just doesn't look right on a few pages. I'm interested to see where this goes, and this is the saving grace for this relaunch, the fact that people will be giving the books a while to settle in before deciding whether to stick with it or not.

The New 52 Review: Action Comics #1

Now this is more like it. After the somewhat underwhelming first issue of Justice League, Grant Morrison delivers an excellent first issue in an all new start for Superman. This is a character that despite epitomising the very essence of superhero just never captured a great deal of comic book fan's attention. And I must admit I'm one of them. Superman always seemed so dull to me.

But Grant Morrison embraces the challenge of The New 52 and brings us the best version of Superman yet.
Finally Superman is interesting. Instead of focusing on humanizing superman, Morrison hones in on the alien aspect of the story, and in turn succeeds in making Superman unpredictable and fascinating. What we see here is an alien visitor trying to be heroic but at the same time showing more than a little anger, resilience and righteousness.

Oh No! Superman is a Commie robot from outerspace! 

As Superman goes about his vigilante business, his path crosses with that of a couple of other characters who will feature in this series; Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and of course Lex Luthor. It's hard to write Luthor badly, and Morrison gets him just right. Immediately Lex is on the case of Superman, determined that he is a dangerous alien who must be stopped and at any cost. Yep, it's on between Supes and Luthor.

The alter ego in this story is Clark Kent, seemingly bottling up the rage inside of Superman and going about his mild-mannered business in a mild-mannered way. I'm not sure how Morrison has in mind for the Superman/Clark Kent aspect but it will be interesting. Morrison is a master and this is a brilliant way to start things off.

Clark Kent or Harry Potter turned bum.

The artwork is brilliant. Morales is such a classic artist, his work is so crisp and gorgeous to look at, and his pacing and story-telling skills are second-to-none. It complements the story and even enhances it. Beautiful work.

This is such a great first issue, I can't wait for the next one.

DC Comics - The new 52

Have no fear my friends! The reviews of the first wave of DC reboots will be up later today.  I've read a few early reviews and it looks like there might be some really good new titles so I'm excited to get my hands on them and give you the verdict. Stay tuned!

DC Comics reboot - JLA 1 Review

The much anticipated DC Comics reboot is finally upon us, and it all starts with Justice League of America 1 by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee. After all the hype and intrigue, I must say I'm more than a little underwhelmed. Here is the chance to start everything again, and what do we get? Standard superhero fare. Different, but really pretty much the same. As someone who hasn't read DC Comics for quite a while, and am completely out of the loop, I would guess I'm the exact type of reader DC Comics is targeting with this relaunch. And maybe I'm being a little harsh since this is the first issue out of 52 new first issues, and since we're starting 5 years in the past, there's a whole lot of story to unfold, but this is not the big bang I was expecting.

Things start of with Batman chasing down an unknown villain across rooftops in Gotham. The artwork is, as always by Jim Lee, simply brilliant. But the story telling is sub-par. The whole premise of everyone meets each other and they get off on the wrong foot but eventually they'll team up for the greater good just seems like the lazy way to kick off this whole universe.

What is it about the docks that continually attracts shady villain types? .

So Batman is chasing this villain, while himself being chased by the authorities, because we're in a world that fears and distrusts these new superheroes. How do we know? Because Batman tells us. Then Green Lantern shows up. Cue some witty banter and explosions galore and then it's off to meet Superman, who seems kind of pissed off, leading to the inevitable showdown between Bats and Supes in Issue 2. We're also slightly jarringly introduced to the would-be Cyborg and get some more lame exposition showing how the world is confused about these new emerging superheroes.

Green Lantern is such a douche...

It seems like DC have played it very safe here. I don't understand the point of rebooting an entire universe only to make it the same as before, but I'm willing to give this series the benefit of the doubt and see where it leads. If nothing else, Jim Lee's art is beautiful. Let's see what the rest of the titles have to offer.