Star Wars Adventures: Tales of Villainy #11 – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The latest issue of Star Wars Adventures: Tales of Villainy features two stories that couldn’t feel further apart if they tried.

The first story in the issue, ‘Squad Goals, Part One’ is written by Cavan Scott, and features artwork by Manuele Bracchi and Bracardi Curry, and follows the adventures of the famed Rebel Alliance pilots Rogue Squadron. Rogue Squadron was a name that has been around for many years, and the team has been the focus of a number of novels and video games, and whilst much of that was made into ‘Legends’ by the Disney acquisition of the franchise it’s good to see that Rogue Squadron have started to make more canon appearances ahead of the upcoming movie.

This story follows the five members of the team: Luke Skywalker, Wedge Antilles, Lyle Kullan, Ibti Myrak, and Isla Mantara, as they engage with Imperial forces whilst on a mission to destroy an Imperial shipyard. There to support and protect some B-Wings, things don’t go well for the team when their newest member, Ibti, decides that her ways are better, and doesn’t follow orders. Over the course of the story we see Ibti and the other members of Rogue Squadron knock heads more than once.

Making a space battle feel fun and exciting is easy when it’s in a medium where you can see the action. With ships flying around and shooting at each other, making near misses and pulling off wild manoeuvres, it’s not hard to get the audience feeling pumped; but when it’s just static images on a page like in a comic it’s a lot harder. Luckily, Cavan Scott seems to understand that another way to make these moments feel exciting an engaging is to inject character drama into it.

As such, this feels like one of the better comic book space battles that I’ve read in a long while. Thanks to the interpersonal issues, to Ibti showboating and going rogue (no pun intended), it makes things feel tense because you’re waiting for her decision to come back to haunt, either leading to a mission failure or an avoidable death. Despite only knowing two of these characters before coming to this issue I found myself quickly becoming absorbed in the drama, and wanting to see more of this team.

The art on this story is some of the best I’ve seen in a Star Wars Adventures story too. The line work by Manuel Bracchi is very nice, and he’s able to put a load of detail into the panels. It really brings the ships and the characters to life, and it feels like a lot of care and attention to detail has been given to making this look as crisp and accurate as possible. Isla Mantara’s colours are very well done too, and feel very natural and depict more what you’d expect to see on the screen, rather than being overly stylised or cartoonish.

The second story is ‘Done Dirty’, written by Anne Toole, with art by Nick Brokenshire, and it feels very different to the first. Instead of being focused on the battle between right and wrong, and spending time in the vastness of space we come down to the more rundown parts of the Star Wars universe as we head to Tattooine to follow a lowly Gran working for Jabba the Hutt, tasked with looking after Jabba’s pet, Bubo. However, Bubo has gone missing somewhere on Jabba’s Sail Barge and Jabba is prepared to quite literally throw the poor man off for losing track of Bubo. Luckily, the Gran is able to convince Jabba that a better punishment would be to clean the entire ship, which would also allow him to search everywhere for the little critter. Thus begins a journey through the parts of this well known vessel that we’ve never seen before as the man tries his best to find the missing animal before his last chance runs out.

Whilst the first story is focused on the large fight for the galaxy, this feels about as down to earth as you can get in Star Wars. It’s simply about one guy doing whatever he can to not get killed, even if it means crawling through the filth on Jabba’s ship. It’s an entertaining enough story, and whilst it offers a fun insight into a place we only see briefly in the films, and gives more depth to Jabba’s character (I was shocked to learn he would be concerned for a tiny creature) it doesn’t feel like the story does a great deal. It’s a throwaway story yes, but at least it’s an enjoyable one.

The art on the story is provided by Nick Brokenshire, who does both the line work and the colours, and it looks very different to the first story in this issue.The colours are much more muted, and even in the darker parts of the ship everything feels pretty light. There are no hard shadows or thick lines, and the end result is an art style that feels quite delicate and even fragile at times. A strange style to go for for a story set around Jabba the Hutt, but one that works really well.

Thanks to a great first part story with a genuinely good cliffhanger, and some good silly fun on Tattooine, the latest issue of Star Wars Adventures: Tales of Villainy has a lot to enjoy.

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Grand Theft Auto III – Throwback 20

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Today if you were to say the name Grand Theft Auto you’d be conjuring images of detailed cities, fast cars, crime and destruction, all rendered in 3D that your character is able to run around in to your heart’s content. But that’s not how the series started. When it first came out, Grand Theft Auto was a simple two dimensional top down game that saw the payer driving around town causing havoc. Whilst the spirit of the series was there, the things people think of now were still absent.

This all changed in 2001, however, when Grand Theft Auto III arrived on the Playstation 2. To say that the game is a game changer is something of an understatement. The innovations introduced in this title would not only change the Grand Theft Auto franchise forever, but would influence other open world games to do similar things. It is perhaps not too much hyperbole to claim that Grand Theft Auto III quickly became one of the most influential video games ever made.

Set in the fictional location of Liberty City, loosely based upon New York, players take control of Claude, a career criminal who is betrayed by his girlfriend and left for dead during a robbery. After being arrested, Claude is able to escape police custody during a prison transfer; releasing him onto the streets of Liberty City to try and rebuild his life. By befriending and working with different criminals across the city the player is able to transform Claude from a nobody into one of the biggest criminals in the city.

Thanks in part to the new freedoms allowed by the technical improvements of the Playstiation 2, the development team were able to push the game further than any previous entry in the series. Not only were they able to create large, interactive environments for the players to engage with, but they were able to incorporate thousands of lines of dialogue,, not just in pre-animated cut scenes, but across the game world where pedestrians would wander freely and interact with the player. Whilst pretty basic by today’s standards it was groundbreaking at the time, and the game soon won critical and public acclaim for the level of detail and care that developers had given it.

Unfortunately, the game wasn’t loved by all, and thanks to the player freedoms to go wherever they wanted and to do whatever they wanted, the game was criticised for promoting violence and criminal tendencies. Even before the game hit shelves there were media outlets condemning its existence. Game Spy reportedly gave the game an award for being the ‘Most Offensive Game of the Year’, and claimed that it was not only ‘reprehensible’, but questioned if it deserved a place within the games industry. They weren’t the only ones, as complaints about the game found their way into several publications, including The Boston Globe, and The New York Times.

The outcry against the game didn’t hurt the sales of the game largely, and if anything it brought more attention to it and helped with sales. However, after initially being released in Australia the game was soon banned after being reevaluated, and Rockstar were forced to remove all copies from the continent. A more sanitised version was released there the following year, with the ability to sleep with sex workers being one of the key features removed. The original and unaltered game wouldn’t be released in Australia again until 2019.

Despite all of these issues the game sold well upon release, and quickly became the highest selling game of 2001, and the second highest selling game of the next year, losing out to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Within a year of its release it had sold more than six million copies and made over $250 million. Grand Theft Auto was firmly established as a series to watch, and Grand Theft Auto III received numerous game of the year awards.

Two decades on it’s easy to see the influence the game went on to have on other open world games, and to find a lot of the criticism against it laughable, but when it first came out it was still a huge gamble for the developers; but a gamble that paid off. Now the game sits firmly on many lists of greatest games of all time, and recently it was announced that it was getting yet another re-release, this time as part of a remastered celebration of it’s 20th anniversary. Despite being an older game now, Grand Theft Auto III is one that’s going to be with us for many more years to come.

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Doctor Who: The Halloween Apocalypse - TV Review

 

After almost two years away, and with very little advertisement or fanfare Doctor Who finally returns to the screens with the first of a six part series long story that, despite seeming to really try to do a lot, feels like a rushed, jumbled mess of parts with no clear connections so far.

This isn't the first time that there have been bigger stories in the Doctor Who universe. Even if you discounted the fact that every story before the revamp in 2005 was a multi-part story, there were things like 'The Key To Time', and more recently the third and fourth series of Torchwood were longer form storytelling. Of these mentioned examples the one that's easily my favourite is Torchwood: Children of Earth, a five part series that I think is still some of the most emotional and affecting things in the entire shared universe of Doctor Who. 

One of the ways that series worked so well is that it didn't rush with it's storytelling, yet managed to cram a lot into its five episodes. By the end of the first episode there was indications that big things were coming, that there was a threat on the horizon, there were new characters added, developments made with existing ones, a few mystery threads left hanging, and an explosive cliffhanger. The first episode of Doctor Who: Flux is very much not this, however. There are some similarities between the two, there's a threat established, a new character added, and a cliffhanger ending, but despite that this new episode feels very messy and confusing in comparison.

Now, I'm sure there are already going to be people yelling that this is only a first part, and that a lot, if not all of this, can get resolved in future episodes; and I very much hope that that's the case. I want this to be looked at as the set-up of a great series long story that is not only well received but lets Jodie end her tenure with a huge bang. But as something that I've watched without those other episodes yet, as something that I've experienced on it's own and have had to watch as a single episode I feel kind of dejected by the whole thing.

For starters, The Doctor didn't seem particularly good in this episode. There were times where there is clearly, obviously something bothering her, yet she never allows herself to open up to Yaz about it. There's the moment when the Tardis seems to be breaking down, leaking some kind of fluid and she just goes 'It's nothing, it's fine', or the few times where she experiences a psychic connection with one of the many villains of the piece yet won't talk about it even when prompted. Now, I understand that The Doctor doesn't always tell their companion everything, that sometimes they hide things so as not to seem like things are hopeless, or that they occasionally don't know answers, but it happened so often this episode that it felt like The Doctor either dislikes Yaz or didn't trust her. Even a simple 'I'm not sure' would have sufficed in response rather than acting like Yaz was some kind of child asking stupid questions.

Dan, the new companion for the series, was definitely the one cast member of the main three who actually felt like he got any kind of care or attention given over to him. His introduction was nice, and the scenes where he's helping out at the food bank and giving out sweets to trick or treaters were great because they showed he's a deeply kind and warm sort of person. He has a kindness to him that shows he's a decent and caring person, one that might be needed if The Doctor and Yaz continue to have this semi-antagonistic relationship develop over the course of the series.

Outside of Dan there are a number of other characters introduced. There's Claire, a woman who appears seemingly at random to tell The Doctor that they're going to meet in the past, then goes off and gets sent back in time by a Weeping Angel. The scene where the Angel appears is pretty good, but like much of the episode it feels like this inclusion is a scene where we're going to be waiting for it to mean anything. There's also another woman from Earth who's supposed to be meeting Dan for a date and gets grabbed by one of the villains for the series.

As for the villains, there's the already mentioned Weeping Angel, who appears for one scene, some Sontarans who make a few appearances setting up their inclusion in the next episode, a strange being who appears to have been  prisoner of 'the division' of millennia but escapes and causes havoc, as well as his sister who was posing as a human woman living in a house in the Arctic circle with a human man; she may have been under some kind of chameloen circuit, but no answer to that has been given yet. And there's a kind of but not really villain in the form of a dog alien who kidnaps Dan. All of this on top of the giant energy wave thingy that's tearing the universe apart that may or may not be connected to some of the other villains in the show. 

It's  lot of stuff, most of which isn't explained in the episode, and adds to the sense that things feel bloated and crammed in. Surely some of it could have been saved for later; like the Sontarans. Did we need to see them in episode one for their appearance in episode two to make sense? The flashback towards the beginning of the episode that shows construction in 1820's Liverpool will probably be important at a later time, but again, did we need that established here for it to work later?

I'm really hoping that the series goes well, and there's a lot of promise here, there are small parts that I found genuinely enjoyable and intriguing; but I'm just not completely sold on it yet. Let's hope that episode two helps to improve things. Though I will say, the line 'You look nothing like four bears' might be one of the best things in the Chibnall era.

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Star Wars Adventures: Ghosts of Vader’s Castle #5 – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

It’s a shame that the final issue of Star Wars Adventures: Ghosts of Vader’s Castle has already arrived. On the one hand, this has been a wonderfully fun and creepy series that has made the Halloween month great for Star Wars fans, but on the other it’s finally come to a close. Thankfully, this final issue manages to retain the amazing quality that we’ve had already, and perfectly sticks the landing.

The issue picks up where the last one left off, with our group of ragtag heroes on the volcanic planet of Mustafar, literally standing on the doorstep of Castle Vader. With Lina’s brother Milo having been kidnapped by the twisted villain Vanee, it’s down to them to come to his rescue, but returning to the frightening halls of the place where they’d previously barely survived is a big challenge for them.

There’s a genuine amount of tension as the book starts. We don’t know what’s inside the castle waiting for our heroes; we’re on just as much a back foot as they are. Vanee could be working alone, but the halls could also be filled with Imperial remnant waiting to hurt them. Or there could even be the spirit of Vader himself waiting to do something awful.

Now, having watched Return of the Jedi I know that after he died Anakin Skywalker became a Force Ghost. I know that he was somewhat redeemed and ceased to be Vader. I also know that there has been no hint or mention of a ghostly Darth Vader or a resurrected Darth Vader in other Star Wars canon set after his death. However, Cavan Scott genuinely had me wondering throughout whether something bad could really happen here. Part of me was thinking that this must be some kind of delusion by Vanee, or some other kind of entity behind it all, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling that Vader might come back, if even just briefly. The fact that he had me thinking a pretty impossible idea could be possible speaks to the strength of the writing of this book, and how much the theme of fear and horror had permeated the story.

I’m not going to say how the story ends because you definitely need to read it for yourself, but I will say that we do get a definitive answer by the time it comes to a close. That Scott does give us a conclusion that feels well earned and makes sense, whilst also being tense right up to the last moments. And speaking of last moments, I can’t tell you what it is, but the last page of the book gave me a genuinely wonderful reaction. I adored how this story wrapped up, and think that it makes a worthy addition to the canon.

Because this book doesn’t feature any of the weird dream sequences as has previously appeared in the other issues there’s only the one artist on this book, Francesco Francavilla. Francavilla has worked on the other four issues, providing the artwork for the sections set in the real world that bookend the spooky stories, but here they provide the art for the entire issue and it works really well. Their art style is perfect for a horror story, and the thick dark lines and heavy shadows, coupled with darker colours, really helps to improve the spooky atmosphere of the book.

Where some of the other Star Wars Adventures titles can sometimes lead to a mixed bag, Star Wars Adventures: Ghosts of Vader’s Castle has been the most consistently strong series so far, with quality writing and art throughout. If you’ve never picked up any of these titles before because you’ve dismissed them as being for younger readers you’ve definitely done yourself a disservice, and you’ll want to rectify that immediately by grabbing this title.

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Truth of the Divine by Lindsay Ellis - Book Review

 

'The human race is at a crossroads; we know that we are not alone, but details about the alien presence on Earth are still being withheld from the public. As the political climate grows more unstable, the world is forced to consider the ramifications of granting human rights to nonhuman persons. How do you define “person” in the first place?

'Cora Sabino not only serves as the full-time communication intermediary between the alien entity Ampersand and his government chaperones but also shares a mysterious bond with him that is both painful and intimate in ways neither of them could have anticipated. Despite this, Ampersand is still keen on keeping secrets, even from Cora, which backfires on them both when investigative journalist Kaveh Mazandarani, a close colleague of Cora’s unscrupulous estranged father, witnesses far more of Ampersand’s machinations than anyone was meant to see.

'Since Cora has no choice but to trust Kaveh, the two must work together to prove to a fearful world that intelligent, conscious beings should be considered persons, no matter how horrifying, powerful, or malicious they may seem. Making this case is hard enough when the public doesn’t know what it’s dealing with—and it will only become harder when a mysterious flash illuminates the sky, marking the arrival of an agent of chaos that will light an already-unstable world on fire.'

I absolutely adored the first book in this series, Axiom's End was an absolutely wonderful read, and I loved talking to Lindsay about it last year. As such, I was super excited when I was accidentally sent my gorgeous hardback, sprayed edged, signed edition almost two weeks early. Yes, I went for the swankiest version I could find and I did not regret it. I had to get a couple of books out the way before getting into it, but couldn't wait to devour this book and have the review up as fast as I can. So if I'd gotten it early, why is the review coming out so long after release? Well, I could give you some excuses, but the real answer is that whilst I read the first book in a few days this one was a lot longer a read for me, but not because of the physical size of the book, but because it hurt to read it at times.

To clarify, I'm not saying it hurt to read because it was bad; it's not one of those books where it's so badly written that it feel like it's a pain to get through. This book hurt to read because of the content, and how well Lindsay was able to portray post traumatic stress, panic attacks, and trauma. It hurt to read because it so accurately captured what it's like to live with trauma, it reminded me of those kind of feelings, and it hurt.

Before the book even begins there's a small introduction that informs the readers that the book was going to be dealing with hard issues, that it include things that could be upsetting to some readers, but despite that I was hopeful that there would be a lot in this book to enjoy, that the wonderful story of Cora and Ampersand would continue on from the first book, and those hopeful, heartwarming final moments of Axiom's End would continue on. And at first we got this, the book picks up a few months later, and whilst Cora is dealing with a lot of trauma from the events of the first book Ampersand is there to help her through it. He's there to comfort her and care for her, he watches over her as she sleeps to keep the nightmares away. It was so wonderfully kind and sweet, and you very much felt like you were watching real love developing between these two.

Sadly, this doesn't last, as very quickly into the story a new player is introduced in the form of Enola Gay, another of Ampersand's race who has come to Earth. There's a lot about Enola that readers will find surprising, and he goes through a lot of complex changes across the course of the book that means he's not just a replacement antagonist for Obilus; if anything I'd struggle to really call him an antagonist even if his presence does spur pain and hardship for our main couple.

After Enolas arrival things change for Cora and Ampersand, and those moments in the early stages of the book where we see Cora struggling through her trauma with Ampersands help begin to pale in comparison compared to the pain that is to come. Pain that effects both of them. There are large portions of this book where I was genuinely afraid for both of them, especially Ampersand. I was worried that the things they were going through, the trauma that they were processing was going to be too much for them. I rarely find myself worrying about characters dying in books during big action scenes or dramatic moments, but a long, slow progression into more and more psychological pain that could at best leave the character forever changed, and at worst lead to their death? That was a threat that felt so real so often over the course of this story.

Thankfully, it isn't all a painful journey, thanks in part to Enola Gay and the new energy he brings to the book, but also thanks to the new human protagonist, Kaveh. An investigative journalist and writer, Kaveh is more mature and has more world experience than Cora, and is able to bring his experiences with some of the harder parts of life to Cora's struggle and help her through her trauma. 

Honestly, at first I wasn't sure what Kaveh was going to bring into the mix, and I was more than a bit suspicious of him and his motivations. Part of me was waiting for him to show his true colours and betray Cora and do something awful, but he was honestly one of the best, most engaging, and most wholesome characters in the book. I quickly came to like him, and I loved how much he just wanted to help his new friends and wanted to make sure that they were okay.

Outside of the character developments Truth of the Divine begins to explore this new world in some very big and very important ways. In videos on her Youtube, and in the interview I had with her, Lindsay has said that this is the book that made her want to write this story, and that in some ways the first book was what she had to get through in order to write the stuff that really interested her. And I can see why she was eager to explore this. 

The book begins with a world that's now well aware of alien life existing. And whilst they humanity as a whole might not have seen what these creatures are like, they understand that their mere existence is going to change the world. There are people who are open to accepting these aliens, to seeing them as people deserving of rights, whilst others believe that human rights should be restricted to humans only, and a new form of rights given to them instead. This opens the door to conversations about what it means to be a person, what defines us as humans, and how trying to categorise certain types of beings being allowed certain rights is a very dangerous, slippery slope that could see people falling into these categories, and these arguments being used to deny human rights to some.

It's heavy stuff for sure, and its intentionally reflective of the world we live in now, as well as our own history. With the book being set in the early 2000's the more direct focus of how these questions of rights and categories can be used against people in a world of heightened fear and hatred following the September 11th attacks, and the increase in Islamophobia and hatred of people from the middle east. But, this is something that you can see parallels to with other groups in the past, such as with people of colour, the Jewish community, women's right, the gay rights movement; as well as the attack on trans rights that's happening today. This may have been another factor that played into the feelings I had when reading this book, that the world that was being created here was is so frighteningly realistic and reminiscent of the fight for my own rights that's happening now that it made the already depressing feel of the book worse for me. But these are the kind of conversations that are important, and these themes are so incredibly relevant that they need to be discussed, even if it's in the form of our entertainment.

I don't want anyone to come away from this review thinking that I didn't like this book, or that it was a bad read because of how much I've focused on the more 'depressing' elements. This was a book that I loved. It took a story and characters that I absolutely adored and did some brave things with them, it pushed them in challenging directions and treated them in a realistic way. Was it always easy to read? No, but life isn't always easy. Sometimes you've got to fight through so awfully dark things in order to reach moments of true happiness and self acceptance. And this is what's happening here. It's an important part of Cora and Ampersand's journey. A journey that better involve them doing it in book three. You know we all want it Lindsay.

Truth of the Divine is easily one of the best books I've read this year, it's a fantastic follow-up to one of my favourite novels. If you enjoyed the first book I'm sure you're going to love this; but be prepared for one rocky journey.

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Yokai Monsters Collection – Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

I love Tokusatsu. Whether it’s television shows like Super Sentai and Ultra-Man, or films like Godzilla, there’s something about the Tokusatsu genre that just grabs me as being wonderfully weird and delightful in ways that other special effects projects don’t. One series that I’ve been eager to watch for a number of years, but have never been able to find outside of Japan, are the Yokai Monsters films. A trilogy of movies from the end of the 1960s, these period pieces see monsters from Japanese myth and legend punishing evildoers. Luckily for me, and everyone, Arrow Video have brought these hard to find gems to Blu-ray.

The first film, Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters (1968), sees a corrupt land owner plotting to tear down a local shrine and halfway house; a plan that will see people down on their luck thrown out onto the street. Even worse, he intends to build a brothel on the site of the shrine to increase profits. To celebrate his plot, and to attract a powerful ally and investor, the land owner holds a Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai ceremony, where tales are told about various monsters. However, he fails to perform the proper cleansing ceremony at the end, allowing the monsters to come to life. Angered that the land owner is hurting people, and that he intends to desecrate a temple, the Yokai set out to punish him.

Despite the title of the film indicating that the movie is about monsters it’s actually a very human-centric film, with a major focus on the wickedness that people are capable of, and how far evil men are willing to go for power and wealth. The Yokai, for the most part, are a minor part of the film, and don’t appear that often. The first time we see them is as part of the Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai ceremony as we get to see the stories that are being told. However, once they do start to appear they’re treated as frightening entities, there to haunt and punish those doing wrong. Although there is one umbrella monster who befriends the landowners son and treats him well too.

The second film, Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare (1968), is a very different type of movie.If the first film is a horror story this is more of an adventure film, and at times feels like it borders on having been made with a younger audience in mind. The story begins with the accidental release of the monster known as Daimon, a creature from ancient Babylon. Upon arriving in Japan, Daimon comes across a local lord, who he kills. Having drank his blood, Daimon is able to transform into the lord, and uses his power and position to begin terrorising the area. Fortunately, the local Yokai become aware of what’s happening, and decide to band together to combat the demon.

The first film almost treats the Yokai as a supernatural force of nature, there to punish humans doing wrong, but the sequel sees them as entities that exist alongside humanity, who will come together to help defend people if the need arises. Because of this the Yokai get a much bigger focus, get to develop personalities, and are the real heroes of the story. This is a big part of why the film feels like it’s been geared more towards children, and the brightly coloured and strangely designed monsters feel like friends of humanity, more than something to be feared.

The third film, Yokai Monsters: Along With Ghosts (1969), is much more in line with the first film, with the titular monsters going back to being a vengeful force that barely appear in the film. The plot focuses on a young girl whose grandfather is killed by a local gangster. Having been told to seek out her father in another town the girl sets out to find him, but is persued by the criminals who believe she may have taken a document that could implicate them. Along the way the girl is aided by a wandering samurai, as well the occasional ghostly Yokai, who target the criminals.

This film feel like an odd entry in the trilogy, in part because it seems to take a few steps backwards by being more like the original and making the monsters a small part of the narrative; but also because all of the creatures that appeared in the previous two films are absent. The film doesn’t have the visually distinct creatures like the Kappa, Kasa-Obake, or the Rokurokubi. Instead, the Yokai in this film look like wizened, half decomposed people. It’s creepy, yes, but it doesn’t feel like the films that came before it.

Whilst that might be the end of the Yokai Monsters trilogy, it’s not the last film offered in this collection, as Arrow have also included 2005’s The Great Yokai War, directed by Takashi Miike. Billed as being a loose remake of the second film from the trilogy, it’s very much its own thing and feels more like a fourth entry in the series rather than a retread of what came before; especially as it also draws from the GeGeGe no Kitarō manga as well.

It centres on a young boy named Tadashi (Ryunosuke Kamiki), who discovers that the world of Yokai not only exists, but that he is the Kirin Rider, a chosen warrior who can help to stand against the evil demonic force that is changing Yokai into mechanical monsters , and who plans on destroying the human world. Teaming up with a group of Yokai, including the Kappa and a beautiful water spirit, Tadashi sets out to save the world from the demon.

The Great Yokai War is very much an early 2000s Japanese fantasy movie. It has a big, world destroying villain, brightly coloured costumes and people in monster makeup, and slightly awful looking CGI that stays charming enough to not be completely off-putting. Much like the film it’s taking inspiration from, this feels much more geared towards an audience with younger viewers in mind, both because of the child hero and because of the odd humour that happens throughout. Whilst it might not be the best of the four films on offer here it is one of the most charming, and has a lot about it to enjoy.

As well as the four movies, the new set comes with a specially filmed documentary called ‘Hiding in Plain Sight’, which goes into the history and culture of Yokai and features some experts on the topic. There are also original trailers for the trilogy included too. The most extras come with the fourth film, due in part to it being the most recent. There’s a full length commentary track by Japanese cinema expert Tom Mes, as well as various shorts and behind the scenes interviews and event appearances from the cast and crew. Whilst I’d have liked to have seen commentaries included for the original trilogy as well, their absence doesn’t detract from the overall quality. There’s also a 60 page collector’s book with writing about the film, some postcards featuring brand new art, and a fold-out poster guide to the monsters.

If like myself this is a genre that you enjoy, and a series you’ve wanted to see for a while, this box set is an absolute must get. Packed full of wonderful moments, laughs, and some fantastic effects, it’s the perfect set for any Yokai fan.

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Batman: Arkham City – Throwback 10

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Before Batman: Arkham Asylum, superhero video games were pretty disappointing on the whole. There were some good games to be found sure – we’re mainly looking at you here Spider-Man games – but on a whole they weren’t great. And whilst he’d always been a hugely popular character across other mediums Batman failed to make an impact in the gaming world.

But Batman: Arkham Asylum changed all that. It was a game that made you feel like you were Batman, able to take down a room full of thugs, battle with super criminals, solve riddles, and fly through the air gliding with his cape. It was astounding; so a sequel to that would have a lot to live up to.

Released just two years after the first game, Batman: Arkham City took everything the first instalment did but went bigger in scope and scale in every way. Rather than setting another story inside the cramped corridors and strange grounds of Arkham Asylum, the story moved to an entire section of Gotham City that had recently been walled off to make a giant prison. Instead of running through halls past cells the player was given the freedom to explore the streets of Gotham, scale buildings, and glide from rooftop to rooftop.

This also meant that the designers were able to include a lot of interesting areas and variety to the game, as well as some iconic locations from Batman’s lore. There’s an old Maxie Zeus casino, a GCPD building complete with bat-signal on the roof, a courthouse decked up by Two-Face, the Penguin’s Icerberg Lounge, Ace Chemicals, and even the Monarch Theatre and Crime Alley, the place where Batman was born as Thomas and Martha Wayne were murdered. The game felt expansive and huge despite the limitations still placed on it by the technology because of all of these areas and inclusions.

It wasn’t just the game world that got an overhaul though, as the story was much bigger in scope and scale than what had come before. Paul Dini, often celebrated as one of the best Batman writers of all time, came back to contribute to the story, and along with Paul Crocker and Sefton Hill, the three of them were able to craft a story that would take players to several memorable locations, and present a mystery that would hold a number of genuine surprises (even though like all good mysteries there are a lot of hints early on that you’ll kick yourself for not having gotten first time round). If the first game felt like a small, six issue story, Batman: Arkham City felt like a sprawling year long Batman epic across multiple titles. It was the video game equivalent of an event comic, and fans lapped it up.

Another way in which the game was a vast improvement over the first was the boss fights. As good as the first game was the encounters with the iconic villains were a bit lacklustre at times. A lot of the fights relied on the player having to perform the same actions over and over again, and were some of the weakest parts of the game; especially the final fight with the Joker.

This was majorly overhauled in the sequel. Instead of dodging enemies so that they ran into walls you’d be fighting an electrified zombie under the city; instead of throwing batarangs at a big plant until it fell down and you could hit it you’d be stalking Mr Freeze through the GCPD, laying traps for him as he learns from what you’re doing and takes out your hiding places. Suddenly you had to think about how you approached situations instead of just being able to run in and fight like you could the first game, and it was so much better for it.

Upon release the game gained critical acclaim across several publications, with either perfect or near perfect scores from the vast majority of reviewers. It was called ‘the best licensed video game ever made’ by Game Informer, whilst it was held up as a standard for other games to meet by other reviewers. Thanks to the constant praise around the game, as well as excitement generated through a huge marketing campaign across multiple platforms, meant that when the game came out it became one of the fastest selling games in history. It topped the charts on every platform it was released on, and outsold the original in a matter of weeks.

Due in large part to the sales and the constant praise, but also to the somewhat less favourable reaction to the other games that would come after it, Batman: Arkham City is without a doubt the peak of the franchise, and one of the best superhero games that will ever be made.

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Dark Avengers, The Patriot List: A Marvel Untold Novel by David Guymer - Book Review

 

'S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone, the Avengers have fallen. All that stands in defence of the world are its greatest villains, the Dark Avengers, in this high-octane adventure from the Marvel Untold line

'Under Norman Osborn’s jurisdiction, the Avengers have been secretly re-formed with a cabal of deadly super villains. This is Osborn’s chance to finally put the Green Goblin behind him and become the Iron Patriot the world needs him to be. But villains aren’t easy to wrangle into the place of heroes – doing damage control for his new line-up constantly puts his empire at risk. When S.H.I.E.L.D. loyalists break into Avengers Tower and steal the secret list of replacements for his team of maniacs, the threat to his reign becomes intolerable.  Osborn unleashes the worst of the worst to crush those responsible… It’s hard to be a hero!'

When I first started getting into comic books properly, having always been something of a fan of the genre since being a little kid, I remember walking into my local comic shop (an absolute amazing thing for my tiny, backwards town) and seeing posters for The Dark Avengers. Secret Invasion had just happened and now Norman Osborne, the man behind the mask of the Green Goblin, was put in charge of protecting the world with his own team of Avengers. I remember the excitement and intrigue around the event, especially as people were trying to put together who was going to be on his team thanks to the small clues Marvel were giving out.

Whilst I only dipped my toes in and out of this series thanks to spending a lot of time in that shop, and eventually coming to work there, I got to see most of the bog moments such as the murder of Frank Castle, and the eventual Siege finale. Over the years I've gone back and read up on bits of this era that I missed at the time, and have really enjoyed it. It was a wonderfully different time, to see the bad guys in control, yet having to pretend to be heroes, and the real heroes on the run. It felt different and unique to other eras in Marvel, and I wish it could have had more stories.

Luckily for me, and everyone else, Aconyte Books have just released their first novel set within this time period, Dark Avengers, The Patriot List. The book takes place well within the Dark Reign, with Norman having been in charge of HAMMER for some time now and his Dark Avengers having gotten used to their roles; with some early members of the team having left by this point.

The story begins with Norman having been contacted by an investigative journalist who claims to have something that could be damaging to him; having chosen to approach Norman for a quote on the incident before running the story. This moment of journalistic integrity gives Norman the heads-up he needs, and he sends several of his Avengers to steal the sensitive information from the newspaper offices in the dead of night. Unfortunately, they're not the only people there, and an armed group starts a fight with the 'heroes' that leads to destruction across the city.

Dealing with the fallout of the previous operation, Norman leaves Avengers Tower open to infiltration, and the same mystery group breaks in and steals some highly classified documents; including a list of potential candidates to replace his Avengers if the need arises. Knowing that most of his dirty secrets are close to being laid out in the open, Norman has to use his team to try and stop their opponents and retake the information. All without the Dark Avengers finding out what's on the list.

One of the best things about Dark Avengers, The Patriot List is just how well David Guymer manages to capture the characters from the comics in such vivid ways. The people who make up the Dark Avengers aren't your average group of heroes; they're not heroes at all. They all deeply flawed, awful people who snipe at each other, mock each other, put their own agendas and interests first, yet somehow manage to form a competent team; and Guymer brings that wonderful energy from the comics into the book.

A lot of the times with comics people will say that they love the action, that they're there to see the costumed heroes and villains fight in over the top and explosive ways; and whilst there's nothing wrong with liking that, and this book does deliver that, the real highlight of this novel is the smaller character moments. Instead of looking forward to seeing Ares throw someone through a wall I was eager to see what sly moves Daken was going to pull, instead of wanting to see the Sentry unleash his amazing powers I wanted to see how petty and weird Bullseye was going to be. Some of the best moments of this book are the scenes where several of the Dark Avengers are forced to be in the same room together just interacting. It was pure chaos and bitchy drama and I loved every moment of it.

The book also dove into some of the characters in ways that I can't really remember seeing in the comics, and led to some wonderful new insight into their motivations that changed the way I thought about them. The two biggest examples of this are Moonstone and Venom. Moonstone is a very complex character right from the start; we see her working with the Sentry as a psychologist, using the things from her past to try and help him, and we learn more about what drove her to become a villain. As the book progresses we see that despite being a villain, and a murderer, this is very much not what she wants to be, and there are several moments where her desire to do good, to be better, shine through and push her to do genuinely decent things that put her life on the line.

Equally, Venom has similar moments across the course of the book, though these are a bit more complex. Venom is already a harder character to understand due to him essentially being two different entities in the same body, and the influence that the symbiote has over the host changing the way the host thinks. At the start of the book Mac Gargan is fighting against eh symbiote's influence, trying not to eat people and the such. Over the course of the book Venom goes through some trauma and some changes, and the lines between the two personalities blur a little; but towards the end we see Gargan fighting back and fighting to be better, to do better, and this gives us a glimpse into the man he was before he even became Scorpion, let alone Venom, and how he wants to try and be better once again.

Possibly the stand out star, however, is Norman Osborne. How could it be anyone else? As fans of the comics will know, Norman isn't the most stable of people, and his shift into crazy towards the end of Dark Reign is some great stuff, and Guymer brings some moments of this to the book. The small glimpses we see at the deeply unwell man under his professional veneer are actually quite frightening at times, an the moments when he begins to slip into a mania that's close to the Green Goblin make for some wonderfully tense, stand out moments in the book. I could have spent so much longer following Norman like this, and I really hope that this won't be the last time Guymer gets to write the character.

Dark Avengers, The Patriot List is an action packed, dark, and wonderfully fun book that takes readers back to a unique time in the Marvel universe. It has reignited my desire to read more of this period, and to delve into some of these characters again. Whether you have read anything from the Dark Reign or not, I'm sure that a lot of readers are going to love this latest addition to the Marvel Untold line.

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Star Wars Adventures: Ghosts of Vader’s Castle #4 – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

One of the things I’ve been loving about Star Wars Adventures: Ghosts of Vader’s Castle is seeing what horror tropes each issue is going to be using. Thanks to both the regular and variant covers for this issue it didn’t take long to see that in issue four were going to be tackling another classic that doesn’t see a whole lot of use nowadays, the ‘creepy kid’ genre. That’s right, it’s time for little Anakin Skywalker to go full on Omen.

With how the rest of the series has operated I should have twigged that something was wrong straight away, as the first pages of the book were not drawn by Francesco Francavilla, who has been doing the non-nightmare sections of the book. This should have been a huge tip off that what I was seeing wasn’t real, but I’ll admit, I wasn’t quick enough to pick up on things, so once events began to shift into more horrific themes it was a genuine surprise.

The issue begins with Lina Graf and her rag-tag team of allies trying to break their way through a small Imperial blockade so that they can reach Mustafar, where they believe her brother Milo has been taken. It all starts normally enough, with Jaxxon trying his best to get past the enemy TIE-fighters whilst arguing with the team, but things take a sudden shift when everyone but Lina seems to vanish. Not only that, but the Imperial attack stops too. Alone on the eerily quiet ship, Lina begins to worry that something awful is happening.

Little does she know how right she is, as the pilot’s chair turns to face her, revealing little Anakin Skywalker as seen in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. If the sudden appearance of a strange child wasn’t unsettling enough, he comes complete with yellow Sith eyes and creepy voice. From here the little Anakin chases Lina through the ship, tormenting her with her fears, throwing things at her with the Force. It’s a lot of fun.

A lot of the other nightmare sections in the series so far have failed to really go into much around the characters who are having them. They get to live through these awful events, and get pretty shaken by them, but for the most part they just seem to be things that they’re having to live through with no real impact upon them other than leaving them feeling freaked out. This issue, however, seems to tie it into who Lina is a lot more, and a lot of her fears and insecurities are dragged to the fore as young Anakin uses them against her. It makes it feel like of those we’ve seen so far this is definitely the more important of these nightmare sequences, and one that may have a lasting effect.

As in previous issues the non-nightmare sections are provided by Francesco Francavilla, and their art is great here as always, with the Rabbit’s Foot interior coming off as creepy as Mustafar, showing that the horror of what’s going on has already begun to get to our characters and make them afraid and on edge no matter where they are. The rest of the art on the issue is provided by Chris Fenoglio, who has previously worked on a Star Wars horror story on Cavan Scott’s previous series Star Wars Adventures: Tales From Vader’s Castle. Fenoglio has a very different style to Francavilla, and his work is much neater and more cartoonish, which worked surprisingly well considering how creepy the evil Anakin was in this issue. I did like that they went for a more cartoon-like style for the nightmare featuring children too, as it felt like a good narrative fit.

Now that our heroes are finally on Mustafar we’re all set for an exciting conclusion, and this issue gives us some hints as to what might be coming. Fingers crossed the good guys will all get out of this one alright.

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Sherlock Holmes & The Three Winter Terrors by James Lovegrove - Book Review

 

'1889. The First Terror. At a boys’ prep school in the Kent marshes, a pupil is found drowned in a pond. Could this be the fulfilment of a witch’s curse from four hundred years earlier?

'1890. The Second Terror. A wealthy man dies of a heart attack at his London townhouse. Was he really frightened to death by ghosts?

'1894. The Third Terror. A body is discovered at a Surrey country manor, hideously ravaged. Is the culprit a cannibal, as the evidence suggests?

'These three linked crimes test Sherlock Holmes’s deductive powers, and his scepticism about the supernatural, to the limit.'

Eagerly waiting for the new James Lovegrove Sherlock Holmes book each winter has started to become a tradition of mine, as for three years now readers have been treated to a wonderfully told wintery tale staring the world's greatest detective and his ever present companion; though this year is slightly different. We don't just get one mystery to keep up entertained, we get three.

Sherlock Holmes & The Three Winter Terrors is set across several years, where Holmes and Watson are called in to investigate three cases that have ended in death. The first one, set in 1889, sees Watson returning to his past as he and Holmes travel to the school he used to attend, where a young student was found drowned in the lake on the grounds. Whilst everyone else thinks that this was simply a tragic accident, that the boy went swimming and met a horrible end, one of the teachers, an old friend of Watson's, believes that there may be a more nefarious answer.

The second case, set just a year later in 1890, sees Holmes being approached by a wealthy businessman who wants to hire him to look into strange, ghostly appearances that have been happening in his home. He claims that sooty footprints have been found, hand prints left in strange places, ghostly flames that suddenly vanish, and mysterious smoke that seems to have no source. Not convinced that there's much of a mystery here to investigate, and rather put off by the man's rudeness, Holmes agrees to at least check into it. However, when he arrives at the family home the next day he's shocked to learn that his client is now dead. Suddenly sure that there's more going on that there appears, Holmes sets out so solve what he believes may be a murder.

The final case, set four years later in 1894, after Holmes' miraculous return from the dead, Holmes and Watson are approached to look into the murder of an academic who was found dead on the edge of the forest that surrounds his country home. Whilst everyone thinks it was the result of an animal attack the doctor who examined the body claims to have found human teeth marks on the corpse, leading people to suspect a strange man living deep in the woods with a tragic history may be responsible. Holmes sets out to find out the real answer, before a potentially innocent man falls victim to mob justice.

On the surface there's not much to connect these three cases, except the fact they all take place over the winter months. One is set in a school and sees Holmes investigating an accident. Another is set in the heart of London and may involve ghosts. And the last took place in a quiet country village and might have been committed by a cannibal. You'd be forgiven for thinking that this is nothing more than a collection of three stories without much in common, and that would still be a perfectly fine book; but Lovegrove does something great to tie these cases together. They all keep involving the same family. This isn't just three random cases, but one family's continued misfortune over the years.

It's a great conceit, and one that make this more than just three random stories. We've seen Holmes and Watson meeting people more than once over the years, and there have been sequels to certain of the original stories that see characters and ideas returning; but this might be one of the few times where the two investigators keep coming back to the same family time and time again. This alone makes the book an interesting addition to the ever expanding Holmes canon; but the cases themselves as so wonderfully good too.

James Lovegrove does an excellent job of giving the reader enough clues to be able to figure out everything we need to get to the same answers as Holmes, and there were times that I began to piece things together alongside the detective. However, there's always that moment where I'd thought I'd gotten the answer but found that I'd gone down the wrong line of thought, not because of some hidden detail that I wasn't aware of or some last minute revelation, but because I'd overlooked something or judge something wrong. Whenever this happened and Holmes gave the correct answer I couldn't help but shake my head at my own conclusions and marvel at the answers I was given.

This is a large part of why I really enjoyed this book, why I enjoy all of Lovegrove's Holmes stories. He just knows how to write the perfect mysteries. It doesn't feel like someone trying to emulate the original stories, it simply feels part of that world. He also knows how to make the characters feel more than just caricatures or impressions of the originals. They have personality and charm that feels real, that's true to the source material. James Lovegrove is easily one of my favourite Holmes writers.

This is the third year in a row that I've gotten to sit down in the darker, colder months of the year with a wonderful Sherlock Holmes book. It's something that I look forward to, and this year hasn't spoilt that experience at all; if anything it's been an absolutely wonderful one. I can't wait to see what we get next.

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