Ranting: Help starting out

RANTING! Help starting out


I hope this blog is useful for all level's of comic book reader, but for this post I'd like to give some advice to those who are completely new and wanting to start reading comics. Now this may seem like an odd thing to give advice on but it's very quick to get bogged down and give up, hopefully this can help prevent it.

The first thing you should do is a bit of research, you'll need to refine on what you think you're into, although the proprietor of a comic book shop will be there to help you, they may not be an expert on everything, every little bit you can do to help them help you. Websites such as Comics Alliance (https://comicsalliance.com/) or the Grand Comic Database (https://www.comics.org/) are a brilliant start to get some basic information. Some things to look at would be artist's, writers and some back story, if you're interested in your traditional hero's there's a lot of story, for example Batman has been going for 80 years. For this reason may I suggest starting with a more recent storyline, preferably something that's just started, this way your straight into the same point as everybody else. Then once you have got an appetite for comics you can go back in time, it will be very easy to get bogged down or loose interest if you pick up something that is dated. One of the big things to look up is the RRP of the books you are looking at, this isn't the cheapest hobby so please be prepared with the appropriate funds. Make some notes of your research to take with you, and once you’ve found some basic information, it’ll be time to find a comic book shop!

Now you may find a comic book shop a little bit daunting, there's no need, and if you're worried about what people may think to see you walking into a comic book shop, well, I can't help you with that, I think you need to worry less about what people think. If you're not up for asking for help immediately it is fine to browse, but don't go getting every single comic book out. I would suggest looking at the graphic novels, (the complete works of a storyline in hardback or trade-paper, rather than your traditional comic book) they're more robust, the whole story is there and it's easier to look at the stems for what you're looking at/for. I would, even if you don't need it, ask for assistance, after all it's their job, there is no need to be intimidated by the "comic book guy". They will be able to first of all help you and hopefully make your reading and future visits more enjoyable. If you are however met with any intimidation or mockery for lack of knowledge just walk away and name and shame them in the comments so we can sort it out.           

I know this isn't a definitive how to guide, I apologies for that, but I can't accommodate for everybody's taste, if you do have any specific questions though please leave them in the comments and I'll try and answer them, or I'll get someone who can. Hopefully this has been somewhat helpful and you have a new addiction!   

#8 Batman and Superman

#8 Batman and Superman


The year of the villain has brought back one my favourite bad guys, The Batman Who Laughs. An alternate universe version of Batman that's crossed with the chaos of the Joker (For the whole back story read Dark Days: The Casting and The Batman Who Laughs). All this insanity and intelligence is pitted against the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel in this six part story.   

Until fairly recently I've been very anti-Superman, he always seemed too clean, too good to be defeated and just too much of a goody two-shoes. This is one of the stories that has swayed my opinion. Now although he is all those things, The Batman Who Laughs sets to pull apart both of the hero's insecurities and fears. Hero's from the DC universe are infected with a virus which makes them think like the Batman Who Laughs, and like drinking too much at a work's Christmas party, someone is going to tell the boss exactly what they think, just with some added Psychosis. Hero's such as Shazam, Supergirl and Commissioner Gordon start speaking some home truths. This unravels the secrets and lies of DC's biggest hero's and humanises them.

It's all a story of wit's and delving into the psyche that is cleverly written by Joshua Williamson. I would thoroughly recommend this story, it has however added another two sub stories to my 'to read' list, this is only a problem for my bank account, I also don't fully understand where the end of this story is heading but that will also be revealed with more reading, again not a real criticism it's just not a quick stand alone story as I thought it was going to be.

         













As always Support your local comic book store HERE!

#7 Guardians Of The Galaxy 2020 #1

#3 Guardians Of The Galaxy #1

I do not intend to review each issue as it comes but I believe the start needs a quick "review" for a couple of reasons.

So following the cult religion from the 2019 story, the Guardians are enjoying a retirement and spending quality time as a messed up family, but we all know that wasn't going to last! Nova (Richard Rider) turns up looking to recruit the Guardians, Olympus has fallen, and it's blowing up planets. Now the first reason I want to cover this issue on it's own, is that it's mentioned that the Guardians are the only ones that can help, that everyone else is resting. The full reason/back story will be covered in the Annihilation books; Beta Ray Bill, Silver Surfer and Omega. Not that it's vital but if you're anything like me you'll want to go back and read those books before the next issue of GOTG, or hopefully before reading this one. Reason two, to give everyone a kick up the arse to read this book.

It continues the same pace it left 2019 with, the writing by Al Ewing is absolutely on point. We left last year with the religion and we're started this year with a war on the Gods. Looks like it'll be a good 2020.

 

Pre Order GOTG HERE!

#6 Silver Surfer Black

#6 Silver Surfer Black

Silver Surfer has always been something of an icon from the Marvel universe, ever since his first appearance with the Fantastic Four in 1966, the Surfer has caught the imagination of many, comic book fans or not. As mentioned in a previous review (#2 Guardians of the Galaxy), Silver Surfer Black is a side story coming from Guardians of the Galaxy 2019. After leaving the Guardians storyline helping a lost group of hero's through a black hole, the Surfer exhausts his energy and sinks into the black, where part of the darkness start's consumes him like a cancer.

The growing Black takes the Surfer on a brief history of the hero and the darkness that grows within, visiting main plot points and characters such as Ego and Galactus from the Surfers days gone by. This is obviously an introduction to Silver Surfer storyline, and as that, it is perfect. 

Now the main thing I'd like to say about this story, is the artwork is absolutely amazing! Artist Tradd Moore (The Strange Talent of Luther Strode, Venom) and colourist Dave Stewart have created a masterpiece, each page is a psychedelic trip through the storyline. The five piece story is perfect as a taster of the Silver Surfer which anyone could get on with.

Ranting: Paper Vs Plastic

RANTING!!!!!

Paper Vs Plastic

This one has been racking my brain recently, do I continue to read comic books the way I always have, or do I convert and move to the screen. I've been running over the pro's and con's in my head but what has really started to pile on the pressure is Marvel's latest deal, a full year of comics for $60 (£45.89), $5 (£3.82) per calendar month! Now I know that's only one comic book distributor but that's a lot of reading for what I usually spend on a singular comic! I have not signed up to this deal so I can't in all honesty tell you exactly what it entails, but the offer does boast twenty five thousand plus comics available, now I don't think I need to tell you I don't have access to that amount of reading material on a daily basis. The deal also includes some exclusive loot but that doesn't exactly sway me, but I've gotta say I'm tempted.

Now for someone who ends each post with SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL COMIC STORE, it's incredibly hypocritical for me to be talking about this. And this is one of the biggest contributing factors, the amount of times I've been stood in the store looking at a title I would love to start reading but it's wallet over heart that win's occasionally, and let's be honest, this is not a cheap hobby. For those of you who might not know, trips to the comic book shop normally cost me about £50 (nobody tell my wife), and I'm not saying how often I go into the store, now a singular visit could be my yearly subscription paid! But I've also removed all human interaction from this avocation, may not be the worst thing in the world for some people but I enjoy that part of it, being part of a community and giving back into it.

Let's say one does decide to go digital, now the main thing you're going to need is a tablet or a laptop, and lets be honest you're going to want to get a good screen to be able to see the artwork properly. So let's say you get an iPad a very quick Google search gives a 7th gen iPad at £269 ($351.72), a laptop even more than that, so your not going to see saving immediately. Now when I first got my tablet a few years ago, I did have a look at what was free to view on the Marvel website. These are singular issues, obviously designed as a teaser, but I did go through as many as I could, I mean it's free why the hell not (see for yourself HERE). Now the advantages that I found are many but the big ones are; you can read in the rain, you don't accidentally see what's on a page you are are yet to read and spoil the book for yourself, and there's a lot less clutter around the house. Now I would not call a comic book collection clutter, but I can guarantee that anyone reading this has someone in their house that does. Now that has gone away with the digital world, no collection however, no pride.       

I know it's ridiculous to have pride in a collection, as it's only stuff you've paid for, but one does. you have something that you can hold in your hands and show people, "look what I own". You don't have signed first edition if it's all online, and it takes away a bit of the spark if everyone else does too. Remember some comics can fetch millions of pounds.

Now what a digital world at your fingertips does do is level the playing field for those who really need it, the people most of these stories are actually written for, kids. As I'd mentioned before this is not a cheap hobby, I started as a kid with the Beano which cost me fifty five pence a week, it's not exactly that cheap now. For the almost the same monthly cost of those Beano's I could have almost every Marvel title, now I don't have to tell the parents out there that's a lot of quiet time a lot of reading and a lot of expanding a child's imagination!

It does not however improve anyone's screen time. I think that is the main reason why I never delved deeper than the free issues back when I first tried it, it's just not the same reading on a screen all the time. To paraphrase a quote and to be slightly crude (I apologise if you're offended), t*t's are great to look at on a screen, but they're even better in your hands, now I don't remember who said that but it's true, depending on your preferred genitalia of course. Without physical comics there isn't the comic book shop, and without comic book shops many people loose dream jobs of working there. We would also loose comic book conventions to forums and livestreams. I think online does have some massive advantages and I'm still not one hundred percent sure I won't trial it sometime in the future, but for now I'll stick to the physical.   


See Marvel online deal HERE / DC HERE
and forever the hypocrite SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL COMIC BOOK SHOP HERE.

#5 Batman Last Knight on Earth

#5 Batman Last Knight on Earth

The highly anticipated three book release by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo was released on the on the DC Black Label in 2019. The Black Label started in 2018 and has since included some of the grittier, darker storylines such as Batman Damned and The Curse of the White Knight. This has set a standard of very good books that are all set for older audiences under stand alone storylines.

Last Knight on Earth is set at the end of time and the end of Batman as we know it, or does it, who knows? The Last Knight on Earth is a dream set in a multiverse along a alternative timeline. In short it's confusing. It begins with a reenactment of a familiar story in Crime Alley, we then twist through the realities till we join Batman carrying the still animated head of the Joker in a lantern through the desert. More DC hero's then appear to then set some of the story straight, armageddon caused by man, and a new Batman with no memory. The real enemy is final introduced in the form of the Omega; very similar character to Arkham Knight from the video game, with all of the original villains in tow.

There is some very cool moments within this storyline, the biggest being the relationship between Batman and the Joker at the end of it all. The artwork and reimagining of character designs is exquisite from Capullo Scarecrow and Wonder Woman being favourites of mine, however the story did let it down upon the first reading. I did find myself looking back through the storyline to remind myself what was happening, but that's partially down to the gap between the issues releases (July issue two December issue three). I would recommend this as a holiday read, sometime when you have enough time to read it in one go, I enjoyed it much more on the second reading. The ending could have been more dramatic, considering how clever Snyder has been to set everything up I think it ended rather suddenly. I would defiantly recommend keeping an eye on future Black Label releases HERE, including what I'm going to read next Wonder Woman Dead Earth.       

#4 Tank Girl Forever

#4 Tank Girl Forever

If you've never read Tank Girl before then what have you been doing with your life, created by Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett (Gorrilaz) in 1988, Tank Girl has produced some absolutely mental stories, and was also one of the first comic book characters to get a live action film back in 1995. If you have been living under a rock for the last thirty years then Tank Girl  shouldn’t take a lot of explanation, it’s set in Australia, there’s a talking Kangaroo (Booga, Tank Girls other half) also a misogynistic drug taking koala (Camp Koala) and the rest of the main characters have their job titles in their names!

The team become actual super hero's for once, swearing and drug taking rough around the edges super heroes, but super heroes nonetheless. How they got these powers and where they’ll go after this four part story wasn’t explained, but that’s nothing new for Tank Girl, and I think that’s the most important thing for reading Tank Girl don’t question, just roll with it.

Tank Girl has always been good but in recent years it's been on fire, and this is no exception, an entertaining story that I couldn’t put down, nothing too heavy just easy reading, with a guest appearance from deceased Rolling Stone Brian Jones?! A massive but odd highlight of this release was the old paper that it was printed on that gave the artwork a sepia filter, but also smelled amazing (sorry that is odd), it reminded me of The Beano in the 90’s. If you are new to comics and Tank Girl I would recommend starting with any of the new stories for the last five years and then go back to the older stories, which are being rereleased regularly in colour.

As always SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL COMIC BOOK SHOP! AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, it wouldn't be fair to talk about Australia's biggest ass kicker without offering some support to Australia and their wildlife, please give what you can to THE ANIMALS here. Thank you.

#3 TMNT Batman 3

#3 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Batman 3

As the title would suggest this is the 3rd outing for the TMNT and Batman crossover, I will be touching on the previous two but it's not essential to read them in order to understand what is happening with this plot. Plus, let's be honest almost all TMNT and Batman stories follow the same backbone origin, TMNT being the mutation of the turtles and Batman being the death of Bruce Wanes' parents in Crime Alley (Originally called Park Row). This multiverse tale has allowed a combination of the two origin stories, which is interesting but nothing we haven’t seen a million times before. The third collaboration see’s focus move to the villainous big guns being released, Joker, Harley Quinn and Krang.

Krang, in an attempt to control the multiverse has torn the timelines apart and combined the two, while confusing the memories of all involved. This has resulted in appearances from the black and white Turtles, which is a nod of nostalgia to the very first TMNT books, and more importantly full on ninja versions of the Batman and Joker. Which we haven’t seen since the Batman Ninja film (if you haven’t seen that yet, watch it now! It’s on Netflix).


The character designs and artwork are fantastic but the crossover is getting a little bit stale at this point, particularly in the opening two issues, everything that happens has already been done in the previous two outings with Ra's Al Ghul/Shredder in the first and Bane in the second instalment's, but the target audience is probably not thirty year old men! I would recommend all three storylines,  it's fun and has some brilliant action in it, but just don't go in expecting Stephen King, and leave a larger gap in between each series than I maybe did. That being said if they go for a forth I'll still be buying it.


SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL COMIC BOOK STORE!

#2 Guardians of the Galaxy 2019

#2 Guardians of the Galaxy 2019

Now this is a much longer haul than my previous review, twelve issues are included within the 2019 storyline but with a few spin-off storylines and and there is much more of the story before this starting point. So if you're looking for a short story this may not be for you, also the expense is also more so you may want to opt for the graphic novel rather than the issue by issue; but that's an argument for another time!

This part of the story written by Donny Cates is set after the Infinity Wars and after Thano's death, the galaxy is in disarray with 'a hundred worlds at war' , but even in death, Thano's has a massive trick up his sleeve. Every hero known to the Guardians universe is gathered for the funeral where via hologram Thano's revels his final masterpiece, to live on through another vessel, "I have taken measures to have my consciousness uploaded and implanted into the mind of another upon my untimely demise" (Thano's issue #1). But who, his plot isn't only to continue to live but to have the hero's pull themselves apart in the process.

 
The angry mob of hero's decide that Gamora is the obvious choice for Thano's new brain, with her being Thano's adopted daughter and the fact she has gone into hiding! This is what drags the Guardians as we know them into the mix through the love sick puppy of Star lord and the loyalty of Groot, the only two Guardians (particularly as we know them in the MCU) in the group for the start of this story. The cast changes many times throughout the story twisting and turning with many sub plots running throughout. Guardians of the Galaxy Annual that comes between issues 7 and 8 which itself includes three side stories that take you into Silver Surfer Black (see separate review) which in itself is a five issue series on it's own!

If you're expecting something exactly like the MCU Guardians you may be disappointed, because like all book to film adaptations this is slightly different. My only major criticism is that a pretty big part of the ending is the old 'anti shark spray' style get out clause, but that being said this has been my favourite run of 2019 the artwork by Geoff Shaw, and Cory Smith is fantastic throughout and each issue keeps you hooked and excited for the next release day, which is exactly what comic reading should be about!

As mentioned before there is a lot to catch up on before it continues in 2020; as the release for Guardians 2020 #1 (see below) is set for January 22nd, there is a lot that comes before the 2019 story and I suspect a hell of a lot more to follow. So if you are looking for a quick fix then this may not be for you but if you're looking for the deep addictive storyline then look no further.

   Pre-order here OR AS EVER SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL COMIC BOOK STORE!

#1 DCeased

DCeased

So, my first review and where better to start than one of DC’s biggest titles of 2019, DCeased. The six part story comes from the brain of Tom Taylor (All New Wolverine, Justice League/Power Rangers) with Trevor Hairsine, Stefano Gaudiano and James Harren bringing it to life. The artwork is kept to a modern retro feel that keeps the story flowing nicely but stops you in your tracks when it wants. The stand alone series has allowed for completely open writing with the whole DC universe at its disposal, and the bravery to undo what previous storylines have done.

Taylor's storytelling offers a fresh look at the ever popular zombie story telling, by bringing it into the twenty first century, by the virus being spread virally as well as through your usual zombie bites or scratches. This brings real thought into how small the world has become and allows the threat to excel incredibly quickly, keeping the flow constant and keeping the reader hooked on every move. By the end of the first issue it's revealed that no character is safe from being killed off no matter how big they are, as Batman is zombified; spoilers I know but it is the variant cover of issue one by Francesco Mattian (pictured). The adrenaline of the storyline only increases constantly as hero's are turned into uncontrollable killing machines. With the virus spreading so rapidly and violently the action is taken to every corner of the globe and many of the DC big settings such as Themyscira (Wonder Woman), Gotham (Batman) Smallville and the Fortress of Solitude (Superman). 

With this being a starting point/stand alone storyline this allows a brilliant beginning point for those who are new to comics or wanting to take up reading. With appearances from so many of the main DC characters enhances the introduction to the universe, while a deep knowledge of each characters backstory is not needed to enjoy this story, like it may with some books. If you are, or where new before reading DCeased and have enjoyed it, the storyline goes deeper in DCeased A Good Day To Die (also written by Tom Taylor), this brings in many of the less familiar hero's such as Mr. Terrific and John Constantine into the after story (out now), and just when you thought it couldn't get any darker, DCeased: Unkillables will be released 19/02/2020! both DCeased and DCeased:Unkillables Pre-order available HERE

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