I Feel Love – Book Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

I Feel Love is a new graphic novel filled with short stories about, you probably guessed it, love. However, this isn’t a book that explores cute and fluffy feeling of falling in love, or about how wonderful it is spending your life with someone. I Feel Love explores the darker side of what is one of the most powerful emotions, and offers what is at times a pretty disturbing anthology. The book contains six stories, written by a variety of authors, each of which comes with its own unique voice and very different and varying art styles.

‘Teen Swamp Monster’ is written and drawn by Benjamin Marra, and follows the exploits of Ronny, a young man who’s being sent off to experience a weekend of college life by his family. Ronny hardly speaks throughout the book, and it’s pretty clear from the start that he’s a nervous young man who’s easily dominated by those around him.

Arriving on campus he’s desperate for female attention, but is completely unsure of how to go about getting it. When he buys some items from a local store, some synthetic weed and a collection of weird totems and crystals, he goes out into the swamp to get high, where he’s transformed into a strange swamp monster that’s able to seduce women with his pheromones.

The story is odd to say the least, and it really focuses on the isolation and social anxiety that Ronny faces. Ronny doesn’t even really share the panel with people, and hardly speaks throughout, and it’s not until his transformation into a horrific monster that he’s able to achieve his goals of being intimate with a woman. It’s a story where I’m not sure what the message is, whether it’s encouraging people to open up more and be more outgoing lest you become so isolated, or if it’s trying to say that an obsession with wanting companionship will turn you into a monster, as some kind of commentary on incels. Whatever the underlying message is it makes for a strange first entry in the book.

‘I Want To Watch’ by Julian Hanshaw is about a middle-aged man and his wife. The story begins with the man travelling on the underground, seemingly getting himself worked up over going and asking another man something. We don’t know what that is yet, though it becomes apparent later in the story what he was trying to do.

Soon after this, he and his wife, Anna, travel abroad for a holiday. After unsuccessfully trying to encourage his wife to go topless we discover the man has a fetish for wanting to watch his wife sleep with another man, which he decides to bring up with her, proposing they use their holiday as the perfect opportunity to do so. The ending of the story sees the man left broken and dejected, and seems to be making a point about having to be careful when discussing your fetishes with your partner, and about making clear boundaries and distinctions or you could risk harming your relationship, yet doesn’t really make this clear enough or come out with a solid conclusion.

These are only two of the stories in the collection, but the two that were the clearest to understand, yet even then I wasn’t entirely sure what I was supposed to think, or what the creators were trying to say about love or its destructive qualities. Other stories in the book are even more abstract, and even out and out bizarre, with ‘Black Balloon’ seeming to make no sense whatsoever to me. I wouldn’t even have been able to tell you that most of these stories were about love if they weren’t in this collection.

If you’re looking for a book that’s going to examine love, how it can be a dark emotion that is destructive, as well as something that most people crave and want then I wouldn’t really recommend this book. However, if you’re looking for bizarre and twisted horror tales that don’t always have to make sense or explain everything this might just be worth checking out.

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Boom Bandits – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Boom Bandits is a new, self-contained one-shot comic from writer and artist Bruno Stahl, that depicts a grim and gritty future where the elderly get to live forever in their huge city, whilst the young are forced to eke out a life in the ruins of the old world.

The book is chiefly about divides, how different generations and classes view the others, and how conflict between these groups is not only common but almost expected. The story isn’t so much as a thinly veiled allegory, but an out and out depiction of the conflict between Boomers and Millenials, and the book proudly shouts that throughout.

I’m sure even if you never pick up a tabloid paper, or visit their websites, you’ll be aware of the articles that proclaim Millenials are killing one industry or another, how their unwillingness to spend money that they don’t have is killing the diamond industry, or if they just went without their damn avocados they could afford a house that’s out of their budget. People from older generations, who are normally the ones responsible for the state of the economy, are very quick to blame the younger generations for the problems out of their control, and this sets these generations at odds; and this is precisely what Bruno Stahl seems to be trying to address here.

In Boom Bandits the Boomer generation have all of the comforts that they could ever want. They get pandered to in their entertainment, they get to live in luxury, and get to literally live forever; whilst the Millenials are left to sit in the ruins left behind by the Boomers and fight over what little they can find. But, as is often the case in oppressive regimes, eventually there comes a point where enough is enough, and this is what the book focuses on. There’s an event that sparks what can only be described as a revolution, and it seems pretty clear that this is in part Stahl venting his frustrations at being unable to challenge the inequalities in the real world, as most people probably feel.

One of the things that really jumped out at me about the book was the look and feel of it. Presented in black and white illustrations, the book reminded me a lot of 2000AD, and the grim and gritty comics they have produced over the years. Much like with 2000AD, Boom Bandits is heavy on the political commentary, and the similarity in art style really makes it feel like someone has just lifted a story from that book and presented it here – which is not a criticism in any way.

You can come to Boom Bandits without any knowledge of what the creator is commenting on and you’ll see an engaging story about one group of people fighting for their freedom and rights against another and you’ll probably enjoy it; but if you’re aware of the intentions you’ll get a little more out of it, and will see that it’s not just a fun one-off tale, but is trying to make a point on a generational divide that is often used to politicise and police people in the real world.

Boom Bandits is a strong comic, one that manages to be entertaining, engaging, and evocative. It has a bold and vivid art style that really complements the tone of the story, and provides the reader with plenty to look at as you scour through every panel looking for interesting things in the backgrounds. Not only would I recommend this book, I’m interested in seeing what the creator does next.

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The Loop by Jeremy Robert Johnson - Book Review

 

'Stranger Things meets World War Z in this heart-racing conspiracy thriller as a lonely young woman teams up with a group of fellow outcasts to survive the night in a town overcome by a science experiment gone wrong.

'Turner Falls is a small tourist town nestled in the hills of western Oregon, the kind of town you escape to for a vacation. When an inexplicable outbreak rapidly develops, this idyllic town becomes the epicentre of an epidemic of violence as the teenaged children of several executives from the local biotech firm become ill and aggressively murderous. Suddenly the town is on edge, and Lucy and her friends must do everything it takes just to fight through the night.'

Do big corporations in fiction ever actually do anything to help people? It seems like they don't, and they certainly don't in The Loop as a dangerous infective organism makes its way through a small American town, causing untold death and destruction. 

The Loop tells the story of Lucy, a teen living in Turner Falls, Oregon. A small town that does good business as a ski-resort in the winter, the place has started to change in recent years thanks to some big corporations moving into the area. One of these is IMTECH, and they're one of the chief employers in the town, but like so many evil corporations before them, they're up to no good.

Things begin to go bad when Lucy and her classmates witness something awful in their maths class one day. One of their fellow students begins to act strange, convulsing and saying weird things, before turning horribly violent, blinding another student in one eye and viciously beating their teacher to death. Despite the awfulness of the event the town is trying to act like it was just a single horrible tragedy, but other strange things are going on too.

Luckily, Lucy is far enough removed from the popular kids to avoid much of this, instead hanging out with her best friend Bucket at the local record store, or driving around buying baked goods. Lucy and Bucket are something of outsiders, and are treated differently to most of the other people in their age group, mostly due to them being two of the only non-white kids in their school. Lucy is from Peru, but after a tragic accident that saw her lose both her parents she was adopted by a white couple in Turner Falls; whilst Bucket is originally from India, but moved to the US following a tragic event in his past.

In a setting where everyone else was white, in the kind of YA action horror setting where most protagonists would be pretty bland dark haired Caucasian kids who think of themselves as an outsider but are probably actually quite well liked it's great to see some diversity in the leads. This story could have easily been written with white leads, and other than changing some details that don't hugely effect the narrative it would probably have played out very similar, but Jeremy Robert Johnson went out of his way to not just include some diversity, but put it centre stage.

Whilst things begin fairly slowly, spending time establishing the world of Turner Falls and giving you a chance to get to know it's main characters, when things really begin in earnest it changes the whole tone and pace of the book. It goes from a slowly unfolding mystery centred around these teens to a non-stop fight for survival, and there are few chances for the characters or readers to stop and catch their breath once the terrible events of the night start.

Jeremy Robert Johnson doesn't have an easy job with this book, not only does he have to make you care for the characters, even the ones we don't meet until later in the book, but he has to do all that whilst keeping the pace going and piling on the tension. I don't often like using this term to describe books, but it really does feel like a roller-coaster ride. There's the slow build, the ramping up of tension, and once you reach a certain point it hits the high speed, it throws you around and scares you, throwing shocks and jolts at you along the way, before coming in for an ending that will leave you stunned and breathless. 

The book is also pretty violent, and has some intense scenes that I know horror fans are going to enjoy, along with the body horror that pervades the whole thing. There are moments that feel incredibly brutal, and Jeremy Robert Johnson doesn't shy away from the brutality of having ti fight for your survival. The book doesn't make action scenes into something designed to wow you, it's not the kind of story where people are taking punches and are able to to keep going. Instead, it's a book that demonstrates how brutal violence can be, and how fragile the human body is. Sadly, this does mean that people die throughout the book, and you're going to end up seeing characters that you care about suffer and even die. As such, it's not a book I'd reccomend to the faint of heart, and if you need to take some breaks to get through it all that's completely understandable; because it's a pretty intense ride.

The Loop is a book that I think is going to take a lot of people by surprise, because it's a lot of very different things. If you come to the book wanting a funny coming-of-age story you're going to get that, but you're also going to get heart pounding tension. If you're looking for edge of your seat thrills and shocking horror moments that's definitely here, but there's also a lot of heart, and moments of social commentary around things like race and class. It's a book that fits into so many different genre's, that draws elements from such a broad spectrum that it feels unique and new. In a world where so many YA books seem to deliver variations on the same kinds of settings and characters it's so refreshing to get something so completely different.

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The Little Sleep / No Sleep Till Wonderland Omnibus by Paul Tremblay - Book Review

 

'Award-winning Paul Tremblay's debut noir novels back in print after a decade, for fans of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, Raymond Carver and Dashiell Hammett. This omnibus brings Paul Tremblay's debut novels - classic noirs, The Little Sleep and No Sleep Till Wonderland back in to print for the first time in over 10 years. Darkly comedic and carrying all the hallmarks of Tremblay's later work, they introduce Mark Genevich, a narcoleptic detective operating out of his mom's apartment in South Boston

'In THE LITTLE SLEEP, Genevich is hired to identify the girl in a couple of photos except the girl looks a lot like the reality TV star and DA's daughter, and he can't remember who gave him the job because he was asleep at the time. Wrangling deception, intrigue, cataleptic hallucinations and a body that could fall asleep at any moment Genevich follows the trail that leads him into his own family history, and his memories of his dear departed father.

'NO SLEEP TILL WONDERLAND sees Genevich dropping out, forced into group therapy by his landlord mother or face eviction. His new friend, Gus, finds out he's a PI and asks him to help find a local suit's lover. But soon Genevich is pulled into events over his head rescuing a child from a burning house, maybe?; drug deals with a local bouncer and dealer; possibly getting a girlfriend. But solving mysteries is what Genevich does, starting with the mystery of what happened to him whilst he was asleep.'

Before reading this omnibus collection I'd only read one Paul Trembaly book, and it was one of his horror titles; as such I had no idea what to expect from his noir mystery novels. One of the things that quickly became apparent, however, is that Tremblay is really, really good at writing a mystery where you have no idea what you can trust, and where reality seems to bend around the edges.

That last sentence might make you think that there's something weird or supernatural going on in these books, but that's not the case. Instead, Tremblay uses an unreliable narrator to mess with readers heads, to make it so that you're unsure whether what you're reading is actually happening; and even on occasion having you doubt the things you were convinced were real actually were. This is down to the lead character, Mark Genevich. 

Mark seems to be a fairly unique protagonist, or at least one unlike any others I've come across before. Mark is a private investigator who leans into the noir aesthetic, complete with fedora and chain-smoking, but what makes him very different is that he suffers from narcolepsy. Due to an accident in his past Mark struggles with this debilitating condition, one that has cost him friendships, strained his relationship with his family to breaking point, and makes his everyday life a struggle. Not only does he have to contend with the possibility of falling asleep at any moment, along with paralysis, but it also means that his dreams and reality can get mixed up inside his head. Mark can believe something has happened, truly remember an event, yet it's not real, or at least a very altered version of reality. As you can imagine this makes being a PI quite difficult, but it also means that us readers need to question everything we read; because we never know if we're experiencing his altered reality or not.

The first book in this collection, The Little Sleep, is Tremblay's first published novel; but you'd be hard pressed to think that from the text as it's better than some writers work decades into their career. The story sees Mark finding himself in possession of some photos of a young woman who looks a lot like the daughter of the local District Attorney, a young woman currently in the limelight thanks to her appearance on a television talent show. At first Mark believes that the woman herself hired him for the job, but when she seems to have no idea who he is, or what the photos are Mark realises he has no knowledge of who actually hired him, or why. Now he has to not only seek out answers, but he has to figure out what the question was too.

I really enjoyed The Little Sleep, and thought that it was the stronger of the two books, mainly because the case really put Mark in the middle of a big mystery. Without giving too much away, it's a case that has a lot of history to it, one where it soon becomes apparent he's going to be having to dig up the past. Thanks to a family connection to the DA and his daughter it also becomes something of a personal case, and one that goes into the Genevich family and their secrets.

I liked that the book wasn't your typical mystery, that like Mark the reader has no idea what he's even supposed to be solving. Is this a missing person case? Is it a blackmail case? Mark genuinely doesn't know, and going along with him whilst he's trying to piece together the puzzle is a lot of fun.

There's also a lot of time in this first book to get to know Mark, and his mother, as he navigates his way through this case. The reader will learn a lot about narcolepsy, and how it can effect someones's life; and we get to see that in Mark and the way that he's struggling. It's used not just to make the mystery more difficult to figure out, but really wins you over to Mark and makes you like him a lot more; which is important as he's a bit of a dick. But, we learn why he's a bit of a dick, about how much he suffers, and we see that his lashing out is as much a coping mechanism as anything else. The relationship he has with his mother is a big insight into this too, and something that I really enjoyed. And it's something I felt the second book in the collection was definitely slightly weaker for due to her absence from the narrative.

No Sleep Till Wonderland is the second part of this collection, and picks up a year or more after the events of the first book, and we get to join Mark as he continues to try and form a coherent life living with his condition. As previously mentioned, this book lacks the presence of his mother, but introduces some other characters for Mark to connect with.

Having been forced into group therapy by his mother, Mark meets Gus, a fun loving and outgoing guy who seems to enjoy Mark's gruff exterior and insists that they should become friends. After going out for drinks with the guy Mark actually seems to enjoy his company, and the lack of judgement he feels Gus gives him definitely seems to help with his own issues of self image and esteem. When Gus asks to hire Mark to follow one of his friends home, to keep an eye on her and protect her from a potential stalker Mark soon finds himself being drawn into events that are way over his head.

After trying to save a child from a burning building Mark finds himself in the sights of a local drug dealer, questioned by the cops, and may even be beginning a relationship with a woman. All things that are sure to add stress on anyone; but when Gus also disappears Mark begins to suspect that there's something bigger going on and starts investigating.

The second book takes a less personal approach than the first one did, and makes Mark more of an outsider in this mystery. The first book had him squarely in the middle when he found himself in possession of the mystery pictures, and with the family connections; but No Sleep Till Woderland has Mark on the outside. Here the mystery involves people he hardly knows, and it's a situation where he definitely feels like an outsider. No one's even hired him to look into anything here. Despite that, Mark's own sense of ethics makes him look into things, even if it's only to get answers for himself.

The collection of new characters that surround Mark in this book are an interesting bunch, and are definitely more varied than those in the first. I also enjoyed the fact that we get to see more of what makes Mark tick here too; and I don't mean the narcolepsy. Thanks to the group therapy sessions we learn a lot about Mark's emotional state and how his mind works. It reveals even more about the man than we thought we knew, and makes him an even more sympathetic character.

One of the most important things about this book, though, is that Mark is not only a disabled lead character, but his narcolepsy is never used for laughs. The only times I can remember seeing the condition used in fictional stories it's always thrown in for comedy, for characters whose falling asleep is done for the audience to laugh. But Mark is never treated as a punchline. Tremblay shows him respect, he shows the readers how this condition can negatively affect someone's life, and gives it a level of care that other writers never seem to bother with.

Overall I really enjoyed this collection, and it definitely reignited my desire to read more of Tremblay's work. I also find myself hoping that we get to see more from the narcoleptic PI in the future, as he makes for one of the most interesting and compelling investigators around.

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Adler: Volume One by Lavie Tidhar - Book Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

'It's the League of Extraordinary Gentlewomen, as Irene Adler teams up with a host of famous female faces from science, history and literature to defeat the greatest criminal mastermind of all time!

'At the start of the 20th Century, Jane Eyre returns home to Britain after serving as a nurse during the Boer War. Grieving the loss of her sweetheart and left traumatized by the fighting, she finds her world upended when she is introduced to Irene Adler - and is propelled into a world of intrigue, espionage and murder! The duo is soon racing to stop the radioactive secrets of Marie Curie, intended for good, being turned into weapons of mass destruction!'

Adler is billed as ‘the League of Extraordinary Gentlewomen’, seeing the Sherlock Holmes character Irene Adler teaming up with other characters from Victorian literature, such as Jane Eyre, and Miss Havisham, as well as some historical figures, to stop an Amazon queen who’s planning to turn Marie Curie’s research into a weapon of mass destruction.

As soon as I heard this description I was very excited for this book. Not only do I have a soft spot for literature of this period, but I absolutely adore Sherlock Holmes fiction, so seeing Irene Adler leading a team of strong female characters seemed to be written for me. Unfortunately, the book seemed to be unable to live up to any of this promise, and was hampered by some very off-putting issues.

First of all, Irene herself is, I think, completely wrong here in every way. The Irene that was present in the original story (and it was only the one she was in) was a capable woman, one who not only outsmarted Holmes, but altered his views on women and taught him to not underestimate them. Over the decades since her appearance her use in various pastiches or re-imaginings has cast her as Sherlock’s greatest love (there was no love story between them), an adventurer to rival Holmes, and even a Kung Fu dominatrix. The Irene presented here is just Sherlock Holmes.

The first time we meet Irene is when she’s introduced to Jane Eyre, our other lead protagonist. Jane has just returned from the Boer War where she served as a nurse, and is looking for lodgings. Through a mutual acquaintance, Miss Havisham, she’s introduced to Irene. Irene immediately deduces that Jane was a medic in the war, is overly rude to her, and then the two of them move into a flat together where Irene mulls away her time practising her music, wearing a dressing gown, and getting into mystery adventures. It’s a complete copy of the Holmes and Watson dynamic, which if not bad enough in itself, is made even worse by the acknowledgement that Holmes and Watson exist in the world too. It feels like a lazy attempt to show how she’s like Sherlock by just making her exactly the same, which doesn’t actually give her any character of her own and leads to her feeling like a bad rip-off.

This was only in the first issue, and I was hoping that it would get better from there, but it didn’t. The main antagonist for the book is Queen Ayesha, a woman whose kingdom in South America was destroyed by the British Empire, so she’s come to London to exact her revenge. Whilst this is fine motivation, her character, much like Irene’s, has a lot wrong with it. First up is the way she’s dressed. The book dresses Ayesha, and all her warriors, in next to nothing. Their clothing seems to be nipple covers and loin cloths, with the occasional cape thrown in. Their designs, much like Irene and her allies, seem designed purely to titillate and arouse, drawn for a male gaze where seeing a woman’s breasts almost falling out is paramount above practicality or comfort.

Unfortunately, the issues with the Amazons don’t end there. Despite coming from South America, every single one of them is the palest white, with bright blonde hair. Any design that feels like it could be true to people from that region of the world seems to have been thrown out in favour of what can only be described as Norwegian super-models playing dress-up. I can’t think of a single reason why these aren’t women of colour, why they don’t represent the peoples of South America. It’s incredibly jarring, and kind of insulting.

Despite copying the origins of Sherlock Holmes, dressing its female characters like dominatrixes, and having some serious issue with race and colourism, the book tries to tell a compelling story, and is interesting in parts; but these moments are few and far between. Instead, readers have to contend with action scenes that feel ridiculously over-the-top or incredibly dull, and not even the inclusion of some of the most notable characters in literature can help them.

I don’t know how the book failed as much as it did, how it took such a good idea and did it so wrong, but I would like to hazard a theory. The book is about female characters, it’s about women doing amazing things and being just as competent as men; yet it appears that not a single person on the creative team is a woman. From the writer, to the artist, and even the letterer, they’re all men. I’m not saying that men can’t write good women, but why was this project not given to a female writer, someone who could point out the cliched dialogue and the sexist designs? I’m not saying it would have solved all the issues with the book, but I can’t help but think it would have at least stopped it being painful to read.

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Shadecraft #1 - Comic Review

 

Shadecraft is a new series by Image Comics, written by Joe Henderson and drawn by Lee Garbett, the creative team behind the Eisner-nominated Skyward.

The book centres on Zadie Lu, a high-school student who seems to be dealing with a lot of issues. At the start of the book Zadie makes allusions to things having 'gotten back to normal' when her friend, Josh, is walking her home one night. Zadie insists he doesn't have to, as she's not scared of the dark, but he tells her he has an ulterior motive for doing so.

Queue some teen misunderstanding drama and Zadie assumes Josh is hitting on her and kisses him; which to be fair seemed reasonable the way he was talking. But no, he in fact wanted to walk her home to pick up his Switch. Alas, Zadie feels that she has made a fool of herself and this just adds to the pressure she's under. 

Over the course of the comic things just seem to get worse for poor Zadie. After a weird incident where a shadow seems to come to life and attack her she becomes the focus of mock and ridicule. And all this is on top of her brother being in a coma for the last year. Overall, things aren't the best for Zadie.

After an argument with her mother Zadie runs out of the house one night and flees into the forest. However, she soon comes under attack from this strange shadow entity once again. But this time someone comes to her aid, another shadow being that Zadie at first thinks is her own shadow come to life. Zadie's wrong though, it's not her shadow, it's her brother Ricky who's somehow in a shadow form. 

As far as first issues go it certainly manages to pack a lot into it. It's able to establish a handful of central characters that seem like they're going to be important parts of the story, as well as giving enough insight into Zadie's life to make her a compelling and engaging protagonist. The book also manages to pace out the mystery of the weird shadows well, and although we don't get any kind of answers at to what's going on in this issue it manages to tease out tiny hints at a great pace.

One of the things that really stood out about the book, however, was the gorgeous artwork by Lee Garbett. There's an Afterword at the back of the issue where writer Joe Henderson talks about the amount of time it took to produce the book, and how part of that was because of the effort Lee put into it; especially in regards to creating the shadow entities. And this is something that really shows in the book. The panels with the shadow creatures are some of the most interesting, as they look so different to everything else. They feel alive, like if this was film they'd be in constant motion. Garbett really manages to make darkness look like a living, moving thing in completely static images, and that's something that you don't often see.

There's a lot to enjoy in Shadecraft issue one, and it seems like there's a lot of mystery and strangeness to be explored as the series continues. I'm definitely interested in seeing where this leads.

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Hardears by Matthew Clarke - Book Review

'Hardears is an Afro-Caribbean fantasy-adventure graphic novel by Matthew Clarke and Nigel Lynch. The story takes place in an alternative world on Jouvert Island; a magical analogue of the island of Barbados and begins when a super-storm of unprecedented strength obliterates the island, leaving it totally defenceless.

'As the island reels from the devastation, Mr. Harding, the head of the Merchant Guild, charges in and promises to rebuild the economy of the island by creating jobs in his giant corporation. However, it’s soon discovered that Harding is a parasite and is capturing people from the island and using their life essence or vibes to feed his factories.

'Bolo, a local hero, saves his love Zahrah from Hardin and cronies but the lovers are then framed as rebels against the state. The state has been compromised by the factories and the workers who know the truth about Harding must go into hiding. If Bolo, Zahrah, and their allies don’t take down Harding and the corrupt government, all will be lost. Together, they must find the strength of their island and ancestors to fight the evil forces that have taken over their homeland.'

Hardears is a new graphic novel from Megascope Comics that breaks away from expected comic norms and instead brings readers a world created around the myths and legends of Carribean folktales to create a new fantasy world unlike anything you'll have seen before.

Set on the Jouvert Islands, the story follows several characters, including Bolo, a local hero who has the power to increase his size and strength, something that has made him a champion farmer who can easily outpace any new farming machine. When a mega storm hits the island Bolo springs into action, saving the young woman he has a crush on, Zaharah.

With the island devastated by the storms a local businessman, Mr Harding, steps in to assist the population rebuild, and thanks to his amazing machines the destruction is quickly repaired. However, it appears that there is more to Mr Harding than first appears, and he soon starts taking over the island, forcing the population into working in his giant factories, and putting down any rebellion with swift force. When they discover that Mr Harding is draining the essence from people to stay young and strong Bolo and Zaharah flee. Together with some new allies they begin the hard process of building a resistance that can stand against the dangerous Mr Harding.

The story of Hardears felt a little overwhelming at first, due in some part to the fact that the first few dozens of pages of the book were given over to a small guide about the world, where places and people were laid out to readers, and long paragraphs given over to the various supernatural and fantastical entities and phenomena we'd be encountering. It felt like learning  a lot before even getting the chance to begin; and even then when it came to the book some of these things didn't really come up much. I occasionally wondered why I'd had to read a long description of a certain creature if it was only appearing in a couple of panels.

Despite this, the story is pretty simple, it's about people fighting for their freedom and their lives, which is a story that everyone can understand and get behind. It meant that the heroes felt larger than life, people fighting to save everyone and everything they've ever know; whilst the bad guys just want to consume and destroy, leaving nothing in their wake. It's big and grand, and that definitely works in the books favour.

There is a large section in the middle of the book that shifts focus away from Bolo and the events happening on the island, instead following the crew of a ship that gets lost and has to fight their way through a four way pirate war to be able to get back home to Jouvert Islamd. This section is okay, but its the one that interested me the least, and at times felt like it was padding the book a bit. These characters arrive towards the conclusion of the book, and prove to be a decisive factor in the finale, but they could have still served the same purpose without us having to see what they were doing whilst everything else was going on.

I can't say too much about the art for the book, as sadly the preview version was released in black and white rather than full colour, something that the final book will be in. I think having the book in colour would definitely have changed the enjoyment of the book for me, as there were quite a few times that the book felt dull and oppressive, where the limited colour pallet definitely changed how I processed certain parts of the book.

Overall I enjoyed Hardears, despite not loving everything  about it. It offered me a fantasy story that felt so different from anything I'd read before, and it definitely feels unique to itself. I'm looking forward to reading it again when its released in full colour, to see if perhaps that allows me to enjoy the book full.

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Save It For Later: Promises, Parenthood, and the Urgency of Protest by Nate Powell - Book Review

'In this anthology of seven comics essays, author and graphic novelist Nate Powell addresses living in an era of what he calls “necessary protest.” Save It for Later: Promises, Protest, and the Urgency of Protest is Powell’s reflection on witnessing the collapse of discourse in real time while drawing the award-winning trilogy March, written by Congressman John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, this generation’s preeminent historical account of nonviolent revolution in the civil rights movement. Powell highlights both the danger of normalised paramilitary presence symbols in consumer pop culture, and the roles we play individually as we interact with our communities, families, and society at large.

'Each essay tracks Powell’s journey from the night of the election—promising his four-year-old daughter that Trump will never win, to the reality of the Republican presidency, protesting the administration’s policies, and navigating the complications of teaching his children how to raise their own voices in a world that is becoming increasingly dangerous and more and more polarised. While six of the seven essays are new, unpublished work, Powell has also included “About Face,” a comics essay first published by Popula Online that swiftly went viral and inspired him to expand his work on Save It for Later. The seventh and final essay will contextualise the myriad events of 2020 with the previous four years—from the COVID-19 pandemic to global protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder to the 2020 presidential election itself—highlighting both the consistencies and inversions of widely shared experiences and observations amidst a massive social upheaval.

'As Powell moves between subjective and objective experiences raising his children—depicted in their childhood innocence as imaginary anthropomorphic animals—he reveals the electrifying sense of trust and connection with neighbours and strangers in protest. He also explores how to equip young people with tools to best make their own noise as they grow up and help shape the direction and future of this country.'

This book was my first experience reading something that Nate Powell had worked on, and I'm sorry to say I'd never heard of March, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this read. I'd never read a graphic novel that was trying to present essay work before, and didn't know how such a thing would work, especially given the nature of the content that Powell was going to be tackling.

Save It For Later has several sections, each of which tackles a different subject, yet they all manage to feel connected, like they're tackling smaller parts of the bigger whole, because they're all talking in some way about the changing nature of the world; especially the United States over the last several years.

It may seem an extreme thing to say to some, and I could get a bit of backlash for saying this, but as someone who is outside the US watching what's been happening in the country over the last few years, it's a country that has become more and more right wing. The US is a place that I sadly now associate with hatred and violence, a place where the loud and the angry feel free reign to do and say whatever they like, where minorities are a constant target. This book focuses on a lot of these ideas, on the rise of open displays of fascist iconography, on the militarisation of the police and those who want to imitate the military to feel big, on the injustices taking place.

The book doesn't just talk about these things in an abstract, however, but many of these points are painted through the experiences of Powell himself, how it touched and affected him. He talks about reassuring his young daughter that 'the bad man' would never win, that she would wake up the next morning to the first female president, then having to break the news to her that a bully was in the White House. He tells readers how he taught her about racial inequality as a child, even though it was something that she would never have to face, and how important it is to try and do the right thing, to stand up for those who needed help. 

These personal stories help to ground conversations that could otherwise feel too big and too nebulous, it helps readers to see how these wider issues intersect with their lives, especially if they're, like Powell, not the obvious targets of hate and oppression. The book acknowledges that as a straight white man he will never truly know how it feels to be targeted for your race, religion, or sexuality to name just a few, yet how it still changes the world he lives in. Powell shows readers that inaction doesn't help, it doesn't do anything to change things, and that even if you don;t feel that you're the target of right wing hate it will still make your world a worse place, so you have to do something about it.

There's a message in this book, about how doing something, anything, to help and try and make a change is a good thing. Whether it's raising awareness, volunteering, or marching in protest, it's everyone's duty to try and do something so that we can have a fair and just world; one that people won't be ashamed to leave to their children.

I was expecting the book to leave me feeling depressed, to talk about these awful issues and reinforce how hopeless things seem. Instead, it left me feeling a spark of hope, hope that even if things seem bad, not everyone is okay with that. Things already seem like they're getting better, but then I'm writing this review a few weeks after the 2020 election, so I honestly don't know if hope is still winning, or if Trump has instigated a full violent civil war to keep the presidency. I hope that that's not what's happened in the months since, and I hope that this is the beginning of decent change to make the world a better place.

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The Flash #768 - Comic Review

 

Wally West was my Flash growing up. Barry had long given up his life to save all of creation and Wally had stepped in to fill his boots. After decades in the role, across hundreds of comics, games, and animated shows, Wally was The Flash to most people; but then Barry came back and honestly, it seemed like DC didn't know what to do with Wally anymore. He's been removed from existence, rebooted, and made into a killer. To say that Wally has been crapped on over the last few years has been an understatement.

With that in mind I was a little nervous about going into The Flash #768, I was worried about what Jeremy Adams might have planned for the character. Luckily, it seems like things might be turning around for the character.

The issue sees Wally coming to the League to tell them that he feels he's been through too much, and done enough bad, that he can't be a hero anymore; and wants to have his connection to the Speed Force cut off. Despite being reluctant to do this Barry sees that this is what Wally needs to begin healing, so the two of them set off to run into the Speed Force and cut off Wally's connection. However, things don't exactly go as planned.

Not only does Wally vanish into the Speed Force, but Barry seems to have lost his speed; as has the other members of the Flash Family. With the help of Mister Terrific, Barry thinks that the Speed Force might be in trouble, and has taken Wally to help fix things. Meanwhile, Wally wakes up in the body of a prehistoric cave man, somehow jumping into his body like Quantum Leap. Now Wally has to try and figure out what's happened and find a way home, all whilst dodging dinosaurs with super speed.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about this book was that Wally was actually allowed to have some fun. After so much awfulness that he'd been through over recent years it was so good to see him actually finding some fun, even in such an extreme circumstance. I mean, who doesn't love Wally doing a 'yabba-dabba-doo' down a Diplodocus in super-speed?

The issue manages to set up a lot of mystery too. Why is Wally jumping through time into other speedsters' bodies, and what is wrong with the Speed Force? It's a story that has a lot of potential to go to some interesting places, and times. The end of this particular issue promises some interesting stuff as Wally finds himself in the body of Bart Allen in the future, and we get the return of Gold Beetle.

Despite all the fun and wonder that come with this story there's also a lot heart to it too, as those left behind in modern day have to face up to the fact that they've let Wally down in their past actions, and that it's down to them to make sure he gets home safely now. It seems like Jeremy Adams wants to make this a story about healing, about Wally finding some joy in his life, and those around him coming to terms with how they've let their friends down and doing better now.

Hopefully things will continue on this path going forward, and that this ends up being the start of a brighter future for Wally West.

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Power Rangers Unlimited: Heir To Darkness #1 - Comic Review

 

Astronema, the main villain for Power Rangers in Space is easily one of the most popular villains/heroes in the entire Power Rangers franchise. First introduced as the heir to the big bad, Dark Spectre, viewers learnt that she was actually the long lost sister of Red Ranger Andros, saw her try to go good, watched as she was reprogrammed into a villain, and even saw her to go on to become a Ranger in Power Rangers Lost Galaxy. Her journey was one of the more complex and varied the franchise has ever done. Yet despite that, there's still a lot about her that we don't know.

This is something that Power Rangers Unlimited: Heir To Darkness aims to put right by delving into the character's past, and showing a little of what happened to her after she was kidnapped as a child, but before she becomes the 'Princess of Evil'.

One of the biggest revelations in the book is that Karone wasn't the only child kidnapped by Dark Spectre's forces, and that there appears to have been others who went through the same experience. We see three other children like this in this book, children who were also taught that their families were killed by the Power Rangers, who were moulded into weapons by the forces of evil. These children seem to be the apprentices of each of Dark Spectre's generals, and we learn that Karone was raised by Ecliptor, something that was mentioned in the show but we never got the details of.

In this comic we get to see some of the relationship between these two, and what makes them so special. Despite being a fierce warrior, a girl with strength and abilities that would put most to shame, Karone struggles to go that extra mile and be the best that she can. After learning that this is because she doesn't feel a connection to the family that she lost, the one the villains are trying to exploit to turn her into a weapon, Ecliptor actually shows her some kindness. This does a lot for the relationship we see in the show, one that was already clearly a father/daughter dynamic.

I think that this relationship is something a lot of fans will be coming to this book hoping to see more of, and writer L.L. McKinney certainly delivers on this. We get to see the care that Ecliptor has for Karone, and how he values her as a person rather than just a potential weapon; something that Darkonda clearly doesn't feel towards his own apprentice.

Despite this relationship with Ecliptor, Karone is manipulated towards the side of the villains, and the book is as much about her earning her title of Astronema and becoming Dark Spetre's heir as anything else; and as such she has to do some pretty nasty things over the course of the book; including killing a team of Power Rangers. The fact that Hasbro keep including older Sentai teams as other teams of Rangers that are out in the universe is really cool, and something that I hope they continue to do in the future.

The art, provided by Simone Ragazzoni, looks spectacular throughout, and gives the book a look and feel that's unique to itself, yet definitely feels like its part of the ever expanding Power Rangers comics universe. The redesigns for the characters are great, and it was fun seeing what Karone and Ecliptor looked like in years past.

It's a shame that this was just a single issue story, and not a mini-series or its own graphic novel, but that being said, the issue ends with Astronema and Ecliptor heading off for the planet Onyx, the same place the Omega Rangers are heading in their next issue. I'm sure this means we're going to get these two groups meeting up and interacting, and after reading this issue I'm even more excited for that than I already was.

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