Future State: Harley Quinn #2 - Comic Review

 

The first issue of Future State: Harley Quinn was one of my favourite Gotham based stories of Future State, not only was the writing just a joy to read, but the art was gorgeous, presenting one of the more pleasing reads in the entire Future State line. Sadly, the story comes to an end as the second and final issue hits shelves.

The first issue saw Harley being captured by the forces of the Magistrate, and the former villain Scarecrow, now seemingly having given up his masked persona and working for the private military group, trying to convince Harley to put her mind to the task of helping them capture the other rogues in Gotham City. Over the course of the book we saw her help with the capture of Proffessor Pyg and Firefly, winning herself some freedoms from the Magistrate in response. However, we learned that the the real target, the one that Professor Crane really wanted to get his hands on, was Black Mask.

This issue begins with Black Mask making an example of a local politician who was stealing money from him, funnelling it to the Magistrate instead of Black Mask. Obviously, Black Mask isn't a big fan of this and proceeds to make a brutal example of the man. This is where we then get to see Harley join Crane and the Magistrate forces on a hunt through the crime scene, trying to find anything that might lead them to the villain.

As with the first issue, it proves to be Harley's mind that's the best tool for the job here, and she not only figures out the best way to track down Black Mask, drawing upon her own experience with the Joker to do so, but also manages to get under Crane's skin in the process. When the Magistrate fail to capture Black Mask Crane seems to snap, and a final showdown ensues with Harley, Black Mask, and Scarecrow.

I loved the fact that all it took to break Crane in this issue, to draw him back to his masked persona, was a little bit of clever goading by Harley. She saw the cracks around Crane and knew exactly where to apply the pressure to bring out his villainous self. Despite the three villains of this issue all being pretty similar in strengths and abilities, they're all regular human beings for example, it's this intelligence that Harley has that ultimately allows her to come out on top, to be the one to walk away into the night whilst Crane and Black Mask end up being arrested by the Magistrate. 

If there's one thing that this book has done wonderfully it's show that under the bright outfits and the witty dialogue Harley Quinn is a character that's a lot more formidable than people give her credit for. Not because of any powers, not because of her fighting ability, but because she's smart. Shes's a character that plays down her intelligence, that relies on wackiness to make people thing she's an idiot, where in reality she's several moves ahead. It's a part of her character that often gets overlooked, but Stephanie Phillips seems to not just acknowledge, but make one of her defining attributes. It's something that I'm super excited to see her tackle more in Harley's ongoing series starting next month, a book that I'm confident will become a firm favourite of mine.

As with the first issue, the book has some absolutely gorgeous artwork inside it, with Toni Infante and Tamara Bonvillain creating easily the best looking book in Future State. Like I said in the issue one review the art at times looks more like stills from a gorgeous animated movie than a traditional comic, but it works oh so well here. The slightly more futuristic Gotham looks gorgeous, and the design for Black Mask is one of the best the character has had, with stunning gold highlights to his mask, and a big furry collar on his coat, he cuts a truly striking figure in a book filled with amazing looking characters.

I'm genuinely sad to see this series end, but it's got me eager to see what Stephanie Phillips does with the ongoing series.

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All The Tides of Fate by Adalyn Grace - Book Review

 

'Through blood and sacrifice, Amora Montara has conquered a rebellion and taken her rightful place as queen of Visidia. Now, with the islands in turmoil and the people questioning her authority, Amora cannot allow anyone to see her weaknesses.

'No one can know about the curse in her bloodline. No one can know that she’s lost her magic. No one can know the truth about the boy who holds the missing half of her soul.

'To save herself and Visidia, Amora embarks on a desperate quest for a mythical artefact that could fix everything―but it comes at a terrible cost. As she tries to balance her loyalty to her people, her crew, and the desires of her heart, Amora will soon discover that the power to rule might destroy her.'

All The Tides of Fate returns readers to the kingdom of Visidia in the exiting follow up to 2020's All The Stars And Teeth. 

The first book in this series was a sprawling adventure that saw Amora, the heir to the kingdom of Visidia, having to gather a small crew of allies and travel to a remote island to fight for her future against a warlord beset on destroying everything she held dear. It was grand, the stakes were huge, and it had a sense of being about more than just the characters we were spending time with, and more about the fate of the entire kingdom. Because of that I was somewhat taken by surprise when I started reading All The Tides of Fate and found that the second book seemed much smaller in scale, and focused more on the people involved than the adventure that they were going on. 

This book finds Amora now the queen of Visidia, following the events at the conclusion of the first book, and now in a position to try and make amends for the things that her family has done in the past, and to help those places in her kingdom she travelled to in the first book, the places that are struggling to survive. And on the whole, it seems like Amora is doing quite well. There are improvements being made across Visidia, and people have happily taken to being allowed to learn more than one type of magic.

Despite this, however, things aren't going well for Amora. Not only is she still suffering from post traumatic stress from the loss of her father, but her soul remains split in two, with part of it being cursed inside of Bastian. Not only does this mean that the two of them can't be too far apart from each other, but it also means that Amora can no longer use her soul magic. To make matters worse, some people within her kingdom have started to suspect that there might be something wrong with their new queen, and descent has begun.

In order to put a stop to the rumours spreading about her, and to try and win over the people, Amora agrees to go on a tour of the islands to find a suitor to marry. However, this is all pretence on her part, as she has learned of the existence of an artefact that might allow her to break the curse upon her, and is determined to track it down, using the bachelor tour as a cover.

One of the things that feels immediately different about this book is that there doesn't seem to be a sense of urgency to things like there was in the first book. In the first book Amora had a mission that took her across her kingdom and put her in danger, just like in this book, but it always felt like she was rushing from place to place then, whereas here hings seem to take a more leisurely pace. This isn't a bad thing, however, as it allows the characters more time to interact with each other, and the interpersonal relationships seem to be given more time in the spotlight, and seem to be a more important part of this journey. It's less about getting somewhere and finding something, and more about how this journey changes those involved.

As well as getting the old crew back together, Bastian the dashing rogue, Ferrick the loyal advisor and best friend, and Vatea the deadly mermaid, Amora is also joined by two new crew members, Casem and Shanty. These two new characters fit into the crew really easily, and it doesn't alter the existing dynamic too much, feeling instead like they should have always been a part of the adventure. Shanty in particular is a great addition, and her illusion magic makes her one of the more versatile members of the team, as well as a character with an interesting backstory that you want to learn more about. Much like the first book, however, the stand out is definitely Vatae, the deadly mermaid who has become friends with the humans and decided to stick around with them on their adventures. Other than Amora she's probably the character who goes on the biggest emotional journey in this book and I loved how she evolved over the course of the story; and just like with the first book by the time things come to a close I was sad that I wasn't going to get more time with her.

I mentioned earlier that Amora is suffering from PTSD, and this is something that comes up multiple times in the narrative, and informs much of her actions and decision making. Heroes of YA adventure stories tend to go through a lot of trauma, and are put into situations that most people could never imagine, but it's often stuff that gets pushed back to the background in favour of storytelling across the franchises they feature in. Instead of brushing it under the rug Adalyn Grace makes it an important part of the narrative, and shows that Amora is a very human protagonist, one who's not just haunted by their trauma but allows it to shape them and inform their actions. Amora coming to terms with her loss and moving forward from that are in a lot of ways more important than the magical artefact that she's searching for, or the fate of the kingdom, and it makes the entire narrative feel more grounded; which is saying something when it's a story about magic and monsters and gods. But that's the importance of addressing that kind of trauma, and I think anyone who's been through trauma themselves will be able to see how well Grace handles it here, and will identify with Amora a lot more.

There's a lot that happens in this book that I really liked, and there are parts of the story that I wasn't expecting that came as a pleasant surprise, but the one thing I think that probably bothered me most about the book was that despite how long it was it felt a little too short. There was so much time given over in the first half of the book where Amora was travelling through her kingdom and learning about what's going on that by the time the character really focused on getting the artefact she needed things felt a little rushed. Events unfolded at a pretty fast pace in the final section of the book, and whilst still being great I'd have loved it if we'd have been given another hundred pages or so, just so things could have been given more time. But that's just my personal view, and there's nothing really wrong with the book and I still loved it. Well, other than something that happens towards the end that almost made me cry, but I can't really go into that (spoilers!).

I know that this is the final part of this story, that this was billed as a duology when the first book came out, but if ever Adalyn Grace wants to return to this world in the future I'd be more than happy to see what happens next. Whether it's following Amora, one of her crew, new characters all together, or even going back in time and exploring some of the history of Visidia, I think Adalyn Grace has managed to craft a world that fans are going to want to come back to, a world that will keep drawing them in. Hopefully we'll get some more some day, but for now, this is the perfect ending to this story.

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Wolverine #9 - Comic Review

 

The new Wolverine series Logan once again donning his disguise of Patch, this time to infiltrate a criminal auction, the Legacy House, in order to gain a lead on the location of his old Team X colleague Maverick.

Where other X-Men titles have focused on the super heroics of the mutant heroes the Wolverine book has a much more grounded feel to it, taking more of a spy thriller angle to its stories, and this particular arc is a perfect example of why it works so well with the character. It doesn't take much rewriting to make Logan into a regular man in this story-line, remove his adamantium claws for example, and it would still work and be engaging, the story of a man who was brainwashed into being a killer who's looking to help his old friend. 

I think this is a large part of why this issue works so well, it's a very human story, a story that relies of the evil that people do to each other to be effective, rather than something grand like an alien warlord coming to conquer the world. It makes it more interesting because writer Benjamin Percy has to make it connect to Logan as a person more than anything else.

Percy has dropped in a number of flashbacks to Logan's time with Team X throughout the book, flashbacks that not just show some of the clandestine missions that the group were sent on, but that Logan and Maverick helped each other through their brainwashing, developing mnemonic techniques to break through the mental conditioning put upon them, which would not only eventually help them to get away from Team X itself, but also comes in handy later in the issue when Logan and Maverick come face to face in the present.

One of the more interesting parts of the book, however, is the Legacy House itself. An elite organisation for criminals, it offers the wealthy a chance to collect interesting artefacts related to heroes. For example, there's the mask that Captain America was wearing when he was frozen in ice during World War Two, the gravestone that Kraven the Hunter buried Spider-Man under in Kraven's Last Hunt, and even the severed hand of Wolverine himself; though there's little explanation as to how they have something like that.

I really liked the idea that criminals and shady folk would want to collect rare items like this, and there are a number of familiar faces wandering around the auction, the Kingpin probably being the most recognisable here and one who instantly stands out. With people in our own world who collect the strange and unique, from people who own pieces of sunken ships or Nazi memorabilia, it's not hard to imagine something similar taking place within the Marvel Universe.

The artwork, provided by Adam Kubert, has a much grittier feel than some of the other X-Men books, and when coupled with the colours of Frank Martin it makes for an issue that feels a lot grimier than most. It helps to show that this isn't a story about brightly costumed heroes, but about the grim underbelly of the Marvel universe, and how more often than not Wolverine has ended up in some nasty places throughout his life.

The issue ends without resolving much, leaving readers on a cliffhanger that promises more action and excitement to come in the next issue, and I for one am eager to see what comes next; and hopefully learn some more about the Legacy House whilst we're at it too.

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Little People, Big Dreams: Megan Rapinoe by Maria Sanchez Vegara - Book Review

 

'In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy best-selling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of Megan Rapinoe, the world record–breaking soccer player and activist.

'Growing up in Redding, California, Megan discovered her calling chasing a ball on the school playground. Even if she didn’t always fit in at school, she was a star on the field—and her teammates thought so too. Her passion, skill and leadership took Team USA to Olympic Gold and a World Cup victory, while she continues to champion women’s and LGBTQ+ rights and representation in sports, in the US and across the world. This inspiring book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the US co-captain’s life.'

I don't get the chance to read a whole lot of kids books, chiefly due to the fact that I don't have any children of my own, so whenever I do read books designed for kids they tend to be middle grade at the youngest. There are occasionally books for younger readers that jump out at me, either due to really beautiful art, or the subject matter that they're tackling.

This book definitely falls into that latter category, and I was immediately grabbed by the fact that they were going to be teaching young children about Megan Rapinoe. A lot of children's books cover themes like family and love, about caring for others, and occasionally learning to love yourself if you're different (books like the ugly Duckling spring to my mind from my own childhood). Whilst it's brilliant to teach children about these things, and important to helping to create a kind and caring future generation I think doing so in regards to non-fictional people is so much better than anything you could make up.

Megan Rapinoe is a great real life person to do this with. The book explores Megan's childhood, and shows children that you can achieve great things by being true to yourself, whether that's by loving a 'boys' sport like football, wearing clothes and hairstyles that make you comfortable, or by having the bravery to admit you love someone people don't expect you to.

The book shows children that if they dedicate their time and effort to something that they love they can become good at it, and it can go on to have great meaning and purpose not just for them, but others too. But more importantly, it shows children that having the bravery to be yourself, to love yourself, and to share that same kindness to others is the best way of living your life.

I can't have children, but if I did have them I'd read them this book in a heartbeat, to show that that these ideas about being kind to yourself and others, and chasing your dreams aren't just empty words that parents tell their children, but real ways that people live their lives by, ones that can bring so much joy and happiness. In short, this is the kind of book that I wish I'd have had as a kid, because it would have helped me learn to love myself a whole lot quicker.

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The Forever Sea by Joshua Phillip Johnson - Book Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

'The first book in a new environmental epic fantasy series set in a world where ships kept afloat by magical hearthfires sail an endless grass sea.

'On the never-ending, miles-high expanse of prairie grasses known as the Forever Sea, Kindred Greyreach, hearthfire keeper and sailor aboard harvesting vessel The Errant, is just beginning to fit in with the crew of her new ship when she receives devastating news. Her grandmother--The Marchess, legendary captain and hearthfire keeper--has stepped from her vessel and disappeared into the sea. But the note she leaves Kindred suggests this was not an act of suicide. Something waits in the depths, and the Marchess has set out to find it.

'To follow in her grandmother's footsteps, Kindred must embroil herself in conflicts bigger than she could imagine: a water war simmering below the surface of two cultures; the politics of a mythic pirate city floating beyond the edges of safe seas; battles against beasts of the deep, driven to the brink of madness; and the elusive promise of a world below the waves. Kindred finds that she will sacrifice almost everything--ship, crew, and a life sailing in the sun--to discover the truth of the darkness that waits below the Forever Sea.'

There are certain things that you come to expect from fantasy stories after you’ve read a few of them; tropes that not only become synonymous with the genre, but are something of a comfort; stuff that makes you feel at home when you read it. Even when books don’t include all of these there are usually some, and as such it feels like a really rare thing to come across a story that feels so fresh and original that it throws these tropes out of the window and creates something completely new. This is what The Forever Sea does, and it’s absolutely stunning because of it.

The story follows Kindred, a young woman who works on board a ship that travels across the Forever Sea. It’s her job to keep the magical fire on board the ship going, a fire with strange, multicoloured flames that uses enchanted bones to move the ship.

This is already different and strange enough, but then you learn about the Forever Sea itself, and it’s a thing of wonder. Instead of a regular, water filled sea, its made of grass. Grass and flowering plants make up this massive sea that stretches on seemingly forever, a sea that’s so deep that no one has ever seen the bottom. The ships that sail this sea use their magical fires to not just move across this sea, but to stay afloat, rather than sinking into the monster-filled depths below.

This set up is one of the most unique I’ve seen, and the Forever Sea itself makes for an amazing and wondrous location, with the scenes where our characters are traversing its infinite expanse some of the most compelling and engaging scenes I’ve read in a long time. However, unfortunately for Kindred and her crew they can’t just keep sailing the sea, gathering the unique plants to sell in town. When a local official sets into motion events that result in Kindred and her crew being wanted people, they are forced to flee into the Forever Sea, setting out to find the mysterious Once-City, a giant floating city out in the wild ‘Roughs’ of the sea, home to pirates and magics.

There’s a good portion of the book given over to this part of the story, where Kindred and her crew are forced to flee for their lives, and it ‘s full of a sense of wonder and excitement as they have to avoid the ships chasing them, dodge vicious pirate vessels, and even contend with the creatures that make the grasses of the Forever Sea their home. But it’s not all the book gives us. There’s a huge sense of mystery to the book, one that begins with the loss of Kindred’s grandmother, who stepped out into the Forever Sea and vanished, that accompanies the reader right up to the final pages. It’s a journey of faith, one where Kindred has to learn to follow her heart, to trust her instincts, and discover her place in the world.

There’s so much about this book that I want to talk about, about the amazing world building, the moments of beauty and wonder, as well as the moments of horror, about the amazing journeys the characters go through, about their entire views on the world changing, but I can’t, not without spoiling big portions of the story. I’m not going to do that, because I feel like I’ve said too much already, and this is very much a book where the journey through reading it, the things that the reader gets to see and discover along the way, makes up an important part of the experience.

The Forever Sea has a lot of excitement in it, lots of action and adventure, but it also has slower moments, times where its characters are allowed to take a breather, and given the room they need to grow and expand. No one is the same come the end of the book as they were when it started, the Forever Sea changes them, and I think it weirdly has a strange effect on the reader too. It gives you a sense of wonder and amazement unique to itself, and lets the beauty and strangeness of its setting really get under your skin. Despite being nearly 500 pages long, by the time it ended I wanted to stay in that world, I wanted to learn more about the mysteries it held, and to see what happens next to the characters; luckily this is the first in a series, but the wait for the next books is going to be one that really tests my patience.

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Little People, Big Dreams: Stevie Wonder by Maria Sanchez Vegara - Book Review

 

'In this book from the critically acclaimed, multi-million-copy best-selling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of Stevie Wonder, the genius behind some of the world’s best-loved songs.

'At just 8 years old, it was clear that Steveland Judkins was going to be a star. Renamed Stevie Wonder for his astonishing talent on the piano and other instruments, he wrote and performed some of the biggest hits of the 1970s. Stevie became known for his inventiveness, his soulful voice, and the social commentary in his lyrics. He is a UN Messenger of Peace and remains one of the music world’s most iconic figures. This inspiring book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the great musician’s life. '

I'm sure that mot of the people reading this will be aware of who Stevie Wonder is, even if you're knowledge is something as simple as 'he was a musician', but I suspect that like me, you may not know a whole lot about him. This edition of Little People, Big Dreams covers the major events in the life of Stevie Wonder, and makes it accessible to children.

Often times when children's books try to focus on people from history they go for the big figures, the people who made huge decisions, or who made world changing discoveries and advancements. Whilst this isn't a bad thing, and kids need to learn about those kinds of people too, there are so many figures from history that didn't make massive impacts but are still incredibly inspiring.

Stevie Wonder is definitely one of these figures. He didn't run a country, or discover something, but he did do a lot of good in his lifetime, and he showed millions of people that disability shouldn't have to hold you back, and that you can still dream big, and achieve those dreams, even when it doesn't seem possible.

This is the kind of story that children need to hear, one that tells them that they don't have to grow up to be world leaders or scientists and inventors in order to achieve great things, that they can do something as simple as pursuing love for music and still make a difference to a lot of people, and most importantly, find happiness doing so. I can't think of a more perfect message to inspire children.

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Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #9 - Comic Review

I'm going to be honest at the start of this review, I've found that Star Wars: Bounty Hunters has been my least favourite of the current Star Wars comics. I think it might be because a lot of what happens in this book doesn't seem to really connect much to the rest of the Star Wars universe, and other than featuring some bounty hunters fans will recognise it's kind of off doing its own thing. This isn't necessarily bad, as it's adding more to the universe and expanding things, but I prefer it when the comics connect to the bigger story, even in tiny ways.

But I think that's why I really actually enjoyed this issue, and found it to be the best one of the series so far, as Valance heads off to rescue a lost Rebellion convoy. It might not have any of the bi heroes on it, and it doesn't seem to be making reference to bigger events, but by him coming in and helping to save a group of the good guys it just instantly feels more like the Star Wars that I love.

The issue begins, much like the last one did, with a flashback to Valance during his time at the Imperial Academy, where he was training to become a TIE pilot. After being shot down his squad leaves him behind, and he's forced to try and survive in the ruins of this hostile world. Not only does this flashback further flesh out Valance, as well as giving further insight into why the Empire sucks, but it shows that he knows about camaraderie, and going against orders when the rest of his squad, including a young Han Solo, return to rescue him.

This is something that I think very much informs his actions during the rest of the issue, when he's putting himself in danger to help a group of people who really don't trust him. The rebels don't really want him around, and the commander even throws him in the brig, refusing to let the bounty hunter get them out of a no win situation. It would have been easy for Valance to simply give up, or just leave all together, but instead he keeps throwing himself in danger to do the right thing and help these people.

It's something we've seen from the character before, taking the much harder path because his conscience won't let him take the easy way out, but I think this is one of the better examples of it. It's easy to get a morally grey character to do the right thing when it's to protect a kid, as we'd seen in earlier issues, but when it's like this, when he's pushed back against and told no over and over, where he could walk away guilt free, it means something more for him to stand up and be a hero.

We also get some development with the villains of this issue too, as we see that the rebels are under attack from the Ohnaka Gang, though Hondo himself isn't around. Whilst it's great to see the Ohnaka Gang are still around and doing some dodgy things during the time of the Empire I'm glad that Sacks made the smart choice of not including Hondo here, instead having the pirates under the command of another Weequay, Skaag. Hondo has always walked a fine line of hero and villain, and his time on Star Wars: Rebels has definitely made him walk closer to the hero side of things, so I'm pleased that he's not here attacking the Rebellion as it would have felt a bit wrong for him. The pirates are also joined by Dengar, another iconic bounty hunter; which I think now means that all of the bounty hunters from The Empire Strikes Back have had a chance to feature in the book.

The issue also has a short interlude on Ruusan, where it's revealed that T'Onga, the bounty hunter from the first story arc of the series, didn't perish as we'd all been led to believe. Not only is this a good decision to bring her back because it allows her character another chance to shine, but also brings back one of the few openly queer Star Wars characters. At the time of her 'death' it felt like another slap in the face to queer Star Wars fans, especially after that pathetic 'first lesbian kiss' thing that happened with The Rise of Skywalker being overly hyped yet a 'blink and you miss it' moment that meant nothing. I'm hoping that this is perhaps a small way of making it up to the queer fans of the franchise.

Overall I really enjoyed this issue of Star Wars: Bounty Hunters, and thought that this was one of the better showings for Valance as both a decent person and a competent fighter, especially when he got to take an X-Wing out for a spin. Fingers crossed that this quality will continue through the rest of the story arc.

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Another 5 TV Shows Based On Books!

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

When I did research for 5 TV Shows Based On Books I ended up having enough for a second list. Well, it turns out I had even more, and needed to share with everyone else, so here’s the third entry in television shows that started life as books!

Fresh Off The Boat (2015 – 2020, ABC)

Fresh Off The Boat is an American sitcom series centred around the lives of a Taiwanese-American family. Loosely based on the life of chef and food personality Eddie Huang, the series takes inspiration from his autobiography of the same name. The show is set in the 1990s, and follows the Huang family as they relocate to Florida to start a new life and open a restaurant.

The series stars Randall Park and Constance Wu as Eddie Huang’s parents, with Hudson Yang playing Eddie. The cast was rounded out with two younger brothers and a grandmother, as well as Chelsey Crisp and Ray Wise as the family’s friendly neighbours. The series marked the first prime-time American sitcom with an all Asian main cast since 1994, and is the only series featuring an all Asian American cast to reach more than 100 episodes.

Hannibal (2013 – 2015, NBC)

It’s probably easy to tell from the name, but this series is based upon the Hannibal Lecter series of books, Red Dragon, Hannibal, and Hannibal Rising by crime author Thomas Harris. The series is focused on the relationship between FBI special investigator Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and forensic psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen).

Whilst Hannibal Lecter is a known criminal and killer in the novels and their film adaptations, the series has Lecter’s cannibal identity a secret, and instead focuses on his relationship with Graham as he tries to push him closer to becoming a killer himself. The series was well received with fans and critics. Despite this, the show was cancelled after three seasons. There have been a number of campaigns and petitions to revive the show, and series stars have said that they would be eager to return, but so far there is no sign that Hannibal will make it back to screens.

Sherlock (2010 – 2017, BBC)

Sherlock takes the classic Arthur Conan Doyle mystery novels from the 19th century and gives them a flashy, modern spin in this BBC series. Produced by Stephen Moffat and Mark Gatis, the series would go on to achieve huge acclaim with the public and make stars of series’ leads Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.

There’s a lot that can be said about this show, about how it takes different elements from the original stories and makes them almost unrecognisable, about how it seems to not understand any of the characters, or about how the show seemed to implode and lost most of its fans by the fourth series – but you can read that elsewhere on the site! Despite not being the best version of Sherlock Holmes by any means, the series did make the fictional detective popular with a whole new audience.

The Vampire Diaries (2009 – 2017, The CW)

Based upon the L.J. Smith series of the same name, The Vampire Diaries is set in the fictional town of Mystic Falls, a town full of supernatural history. It follows teen girl Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) as she falls in love with centuries old vampire Stefan (Paul Wesley). Over the course of the series viewers learn more about the mysterious past of the town and its inhabitants, as well as getting to see the heroes deal with other supernatural threats such as ghosts, witches, and werewolves.

Despite having the highest watched series premiere of all time on the CW (until Arrow took the title) the show didn’t do particularly well when it first aired, but ratings improved over time. The series was popular enough to last for eight seasons, and even received a spin-off series, The Originals, which would last for five seasons itself.

The Man In The High Castle (2015 – 2019, Amazon)

The Man In The High Castle premiered in 2015 to much fanfare among Amazon viewers. The show is based upon Philip K. Dick’s 1962 novel, where the allied powers lost World War 2, and the US is now under occupation of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan, who have divided the country in half.

The series follows members of the American Resistance as they fight against the fascist powers, when they discover old film reels that show an alternate history where the Allies won the war. The show diverged a fair bit from the original books, mainly due to lasting for 4 season. It still proved to be popular with fans of the original work, and received a number of award nominations across its run.

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Don Vega by Pierre Alary - Book Review

 

'The year is 1849, and the future state of California is under the control of former soldiers from the Mexican-American War. Their leader, General Gomez, is busy buying up the locals' land for pennies on the dollar, so that he and his cronies can maximize their profits from the coming gold rush. But he and his men are dogged by a series of masked, would-be avengers all calling themselves Zorro. They are an almost laughable annoyance, simple peasants living out the fantasy of a local legend. Until one man shows up and starts picking off Gomez's men one by one, as stealthy as a fox. He brandishes a sword which he uses to carve the letter Z into his victims' cheeks... Could this be the true Zorro?'

I feel like we don't get enough books featuring Zorro. He's one of the first masked superheroes, yet we don't get many stories with him. I remember growing up and occasionally seeing re-runs of the 1950's television series, and there were the films with Antonio Banderas in the late 90's and early 2000's, but other than that I never really got to experience much of the character, despite him seeming to be one of those pop culture figures that everyone knew.

Zorro seemed to be a figure bigger than his books or his films, where people who have never read or watched anything with the character know about him. They might not know who he is under the mask, or what motivates him, but they know he's a masked swordsman who cuts the letter Z into things as his symbol. So when I saw that Europe Comics were releasing a new book that would be telling a Zorro story I was extremely excited to get my hands on it.

Don Vega makes the smart decision to tell its own Zorro story, instead of directly trying to adapt the books written by Johnston McCulley, who seemed to take a rather slap-dash approach to the stories, where there were wild inconsistencies or contradiction between entries. Here, the story begins in 1849, where California is under the control of former soldiers from the Mexican-American War. The book begins with General Gomez having already stolen much of the land he can find, using his men to drive out the rightful owners, using the law to claim the land from the Mexican owners.

However, there's one piece of land he's desperate to own that he can't yet, that of the Don Vega family. The land contains a gold mine that the general is desperate to legally own, but because the Don Vega family are American citizens he can't just take it the way he has everything else. Instead, he's devised a plan to lure the son of the Vega family home from Spain, so that he can get him to sign the land over to him. Unfortunately, Gomez is also having to deal with rebellion from the locals, where the people have started to take on the mask of Zorro, a legendary figure, to fight back. Whilst these poor and weak people are no match for Gomez things take a turn when the real Zorro appears to arrive on the scene, and begins to challenge Gomez and his men.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about this book is the way that Zorro is a well know figure before the book even begins. With Gomez taking over everything and the people ground down under his boot ordinary citizens have begin to wear black masks, leaving painted symbols around, trying to use the idea of Zorro to instil fear in their oppressors. It's just a shame that none of them are a match for Gomez and his small army, so any time anyone does manage to stand against him it always ends in failure.

This is the place that the real Zorro finds himself, in a community that is close to breaking point, where people have been using his image as a way of striking back, but have almost lost their faith in the real Zorro ever coming to help them. 

I loved this set-up, not only because it shows how beloved a figure Zorro is, but made it feel weighty, that this isn't just someone putting on a mask to do good, but a statement of defiance, a legacy that needs to be earned by the man wearing the mask. To anyone who's familiar with the Zorro mythology it's obvious that this real Zorro is Don Vega, having returned to help his people and take his family home back from Gomez, but it still works so well, even knowing that. The book doesn't rely on having Zorro's identity a mystery, and instead makes it about Vega's journey. One of the best moments of the book was when he learns that his own father was the Zorro before him, and gets to put on his father's mask, the mask that is more familiar to Zorro fans; though I'd have liked this moment to have come earlier in the book so that we could have seen him take down the villain wearing his father's mask.

That's one of my biggest criticisms of the book, that I didn't get enough Zorro. The book is pretty short, and for what it is it's brilliant, and I loved every moment of it, but I wanted more. I would have been happy for the book to have been twice as long, for readers to be able to spend more time with Zorro, and Don Vega outside of the costume. 

The story moved at a decent pace, and we got time for some great action sequences, as well as character development. I just hope that this is a first book, and that we'll get more to come later because this book help me to remember just how amazing Zorro is, and I want more from the character now.

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Excalibur #17 - Comic Review

 

Following on from the events of X of Swords the Excalibur team are still left searching for Betsy, whilst in another reality Betsy finds herself as both Captain Britain and the Queen of England.

One of the best things that the Excalibur book has been giving readers is an X book that feels really different from the other parts of Dawn of X, without it feeling completely disconnected. Tini Howard has done a great job at merging together the new mutant status quo with the Captain Britain and Excalibur mythos to create something that feels fresh and new, whilst also connecting into things that longtime fans of the title will enjoy.

Now that Apocalypse has been taken off the board, thanks to the events of X of Swords we get to see how the Excalibur team are operating without him pulling the strings in the background, or him being able to step in when they're in trouble and bailing them out. This new, more dangerous time for the team is only compounded thanks to Betsy being lost somewhere in the multiverse. Not only because it means they're down their leader, but also because it's bringing them extra conflict.

The issue starts with Coven Akkaba learning that both Betsy and Brian are gone, and this seems to be driving their fear and hatred of mutants to new heights, as they decide that without a Braddock to stop them now is the perfect time to strike against Excalibur and take over the lighthouse, aiming to burn the Krakoan gate within. This means that Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, and Richtor, along with the help of Pete Wisdom, have to stay and protect the lighthouse, leaving Betsy to find her way home alone.

Thankfully, Betsy has actually ended up in a pretty good situation. After waking to find herself in a reality quite different from her own she learns that not only is she Captain Britain in this new world, but also the Queen. Luckily this means that not only has her counterpart prepared for any kind of dimensional mishaps that could result in this kind of body swap, but Betsy has allies on this world to help her out.

I liked how Howard lets the reader think that Betsy is going to get help from that worlds version of Angel, and that we get to see the two characters interacting together and Betsy dealing with her own history with Angel on Earth 616, but pulls the rug out from under us at the last minute by introducing another character who'll be helping Betsy get home; Kwannon.

For as long as I can remember reading X-Men books Betsy and Kwannon were one person, the mind of Betsy inside Kwannon's body in the form of the hero Psylocke. I never saw the two of them as separate beings, and due to a break in reading Marvel I only came back to reading X-Men comics after they were split again, so this is my first time seeing the two of them actually interacting with each other, and it's the content I didn't know I was waiting for. Yes, this might not be our version of Kwannon, but she makes for a perfect surrogate, and makes a good bridging step for Betsy, who is still working up the courage to really interact with the 616 version.

The scenes where the two of them are breaking into the facility that will get Betsy home are some of the best bits of the book, and the conversations that the two of them have are an important moment for Betsy, one that I can see driving her on to have these kind of conversations with the Kwannon in her home reality.

Excalibur continues to be a really enjoyable book, one that draws on the history of the title but manages to do new and exciting things with the characters. I'm not sure what's going to be coming in the next issue, but I'm sure whatever it is it's going to be an entertaining time.

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