Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods #3 - Comic Review

 

Diana has been tricked and betrayed by the gods, and Billy Batson has had his powers corrupted by the cruel Wizard Shazam. All hope seems lost as the gods wreak vengance and fury across an Earth that has forgotten them. But it's when things look their darkest that hope returns, as the fight against the Gods gains some allies in Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods issue three.

This issue begins with Diana returning to Earth after escaping the gods, only to arrive in a Washington DC that's in flames thanks to the mythological creatures that have been tearing through the city. Reduced to tears at what has happened, and blaming herself to the destruction, she's met by Cheetah, who's the person to pick her back up and comfort her, spurring her on to get back into the fight. I have to be honest, I absolutely love seeing Cheetah not only as Diana's ally, but as a friend. The two of them work really, really well together, and the image of goddess Diana on her knees in the ruins of the city, barely stopping herself from crying, whilst Barbara wraps her arms around her and tries to make her feel better is fantastic, and I absolutely love it. I really, really hope that Cheetah gets to continue being an ally to Wonder Woman going forward, and that this is a relationship that continues to grow and evolve; rather than having her revert to being a villain again.

Back on Olympus, Billy is locked in a cell, and every time he calls upon the power of Shazam his transformed body becomes a withered, weak man. Hecete arrives to help him, however, and along with the help of Yara Flor, they're able to get Billy out of his cell. Using magic to disguise him as a priestess, they're able to meet up with Hippolyta, who grants Billy her power. This part of the book is interesting as it gives Billy the chance to see a bit more of what the Gods are like. His powers have come from the Gods, but he doesn't interact with them as much as a character like Wonder Woman, and doesn't really see them as the dicks that they are. This is an experience that gives him that perspective, that shows him that they're as petty, power hungry, and vindictive as humans. It's also fun to see Billy pretend to be a woman, and getting a bit weirded out by it (here's hoping it cracks an egg and we get a trans Shazam).

Back on Earth, an army of gods and monsters come after Diana, but she gets joined by her allies, Sigfried, Steve, and Etta, and Yara and a newly powered up Billy come along to help hold back Olympus' forces. As the battle rages, the mysterious hooded figure that's been skirting events the last few issues arrives on the scene, and reveals himself to be Ares, the god of war. And he seems ready to fight with the heroes against the other other gods. Ares has a pretty cool design here, and I'm sure that he's helping out for his own nefarious purposes, but it's cool to see him being an ally to Diana for this story, rather than an antagonist once again. It would have been an easy choice to put his with the other gods, but having him side with Diana is much more interesting.

The back-up feature takes us back to Theymscira, where we check in with Queen Nubia and her forces, fighting the armies of the underworld. Some of the key players, such as Nubia and Faruka have grabbed some magical artefacts to help hold back the undead, but things aren't going well for the Amazons, and they're losing troops. Whilst the fight is going on Phillipus has ran off to Hippolyta's statue, and is begging the Amazon Goddess for aid. Ready to take her life in order to pay the gods for help, she's stopped by her lover arriving from Olympus. Hippolyta isn't alone though, as she's been building a resistance amongst the gods, and is joined by Artemis, Hestia, Aphrodite, Demeter, and Athena. Now having six gods on their side, the Amazons mount a counter attack against Hades and his army.

The back-up is one of those stories that I wish had it's own book. The story we're getting here is so cool, and it has some fantastic character moments like Faruka slicing through the undead, or Nubia threatening to kill a god. I want more of stuff like this, and whilst what we get here is great, it's a shame it has so move at such a fast pace in order to fit into the back of the book.

Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods is proving to be a really fun, interesting little event. It's taking Wonder Woman and the characters from her books to some interesting places, and seems to be willing to change the status quo. Billy is getting a new experience with the gods, and I can't help but wonder if this is going to be a big part of his set-up for his new series, and a possible new outlook for him. Fans of Wonder Woman are really missing out if they're not picking this series up.

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Predator #2 - Comic Review

 

The new series of Predator has taken a different, yet familiar turn to the last series (also named Predator) by dumping us on an alien planet filled with soldiers and fighters for a trio of Yautja to stalk and hunt in order to hone their skills. Whilst the book is taking heavy inspiration from the Predators movie, it has added a neat little twist into the tale with this story, the humans dumped onto this remote hunting ground are from different times. It appears that the Yautja are keeping people in stasis, and letting them out to hunt. There's a mix of people here from the 1980's through to the 2050's. It does feel like an interesting new dimension to the scenario, though it would have been fun to have seen it pushed further; throw in a World War Two solider, or a samurai to mix things up a bit.

With the group of disparate fighters gathered together under the leadership of Theta, an experienced Yautja killer, it finally feels like the group might have a chance of survival. The humans begin a long trek through the alien jungle, following their new leader as she promises to lead them to safety. Unfortunately, Theta did kill one of the hunters, and now the other two have the groups scent, and an incentive to come after them even harder.

A good portion of the issue is given over to following the group as they follow Theta, giving the characters a chance to finally catch their breath and try to make sense of everything that's happened to them. Some of the characters start to form some early bonds, and a pair of soldiers from the 2020's seem desperately hoping that the Yautja have access to time travel so that they can get home, rather than it being stasis. The desperation that the two of them, a married couple, show makes me think that we're going to learn that they had family waiting for them back in 2020, probably a child.

When the group finally arrives at Theta and Paolo's ship, the Sandpiper, they come under attack from the alien hunters. One of the group rushes inside, and uses some tech they've got with them to take over the ship and fly it away, leaving everyone else stranded. Theta rushes into battle with one of the creatures to buy the others some time to escape, and loses an arm in the process. We last see Theta on her knees in front of the monster, it's weapon raised ready for a killing blow. Meanwhile, the other humans are suddenly swarmed by a bunch of the River Ghost aliens.

Things seem kind of hopeless for the humans right now, and the next issue could see a lot of casualties. However, I do think that it might be a bit of a misdirect, and I think that the River Ghosts are going to be a big part of that. I don't think that we're going to see them swarm and attack the humans, but go after the Yautja instead. They're prey too, and a group of them attacking one of the hunters together might give them the edge they need to take one down. I think that we might see them inadvertently come to the aid of Theta, giving her the time she needs to live. I don't think that she's going to be dying so quickly, not with her seeming to be the main focus of the Marvel Predator books. She may have lost an arm, but I think we're going to be seeing her getting another machine limb like her leg.

After a very hectic feeling first issue it's nice that this one has slowed down a little and given readers a chance to catch their breath. The character moments we get are decent enough, and a few strong personalities are starting to come through from some members of the group. There's the mystery of why a barman was taken along with a bunch of soldiers too, and I'm just hoping it's not the same kind of bad twist as the Topher Grace character in the movie. 

The art on the book, by Netho Diaz, Belardino Brabo, Roberto Poggi, and Erick Arciniega, looks good, and I prefer it to the previous Predator title. The environments look good, the rain effect that's throughout most of the issue adds atmosphere and gloom to an already gloomy situation. The characters are all distinct from each other and have a decent level of detail. But it's the aliens that really stand out here, with both the Yautja and River Ghosts looking superb. The final image of the book of the River Ghosts bursting out of the jungle and flying towards the humans is gorgeous and nightmarish at the same time.

I wasn't sure about this particular story with the first issue, as it felt like a lot of retread, and whilst I'm still not totally blown away by this arc, the second issue has definitely improved my opinions of it, and has gotten me interested in seeing what happens.

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Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow #1 - Comic Review

 

We're in a good time for fans of the Superman family. There's Action Comics big showcase of all of the characters, a new creative team on Superman, Jon has his own series, and Steelworks is coming soon. And now we also have Conner leading his own story in Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow.

Our story begins with Conner trying to help out the folks of Metropolis by stopping Doctor Polaris from causing chaos. But, When the two Supermen and Supergirl show up to handle things it doesn't really leave much for Conner to do, and he begins to feel a bit like he's not needed. Heading back to the Kent farm, he chats with Ma and Pa about trying to find his place in a world that was recreated without him (Crisis shenanigans never make it easy for our heroes), and Pa tells him that he just needs to find a place that needs him, to expand his horizons.

So, Conner heads to the Fortress of Solitude to scan the Earth for distress signals that he might be able to help with. But it looks like other heroes have things covered pretty well. That's when he gets the idea, what if he expands his horizons even more? Scanning the galaxy, Conner sees that there are thousands of distress calls out in space, and decides that maybe he can help people beyond Earth. Grabbing a teleport bracelet from storage, he transports to a world under attack from the Dominators; but finds himself going up against cloned super beings set on destroying an innocent world.

The story for Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow is really enjoyable, and one that feels natural too. There are a lot of heroes on Earth, and a lot of members of the Superman Family (just look at how many books there are for S-shield wearing heroes right now), so it makes sense for Conner to be unsure of where he fits in or what his role in the world is. He mentions about the world having been remade without him, about having existed, then not, then coming back, and it really highlights some of the downfalls of the Crises that have happened over the years. that DC's continuity is a bit of a mess at times. I love this universe, and the characters, but sometimes trying to keep track of what happened how and when can be a nightmare; and it looks like it's that way for the people living there too.

Conner feeling conflicted about who he is has always been a small part of his character, thanks to being part Luthor, but thanks to all of the reality changes it's come to the forefront for him. Wanting to get away, to start afresh, and to be a hero out on his own feels like the right step for his story. Thankfully, the universe is a huge place, with a lot of problems that need solving. 

The action on the alien planet are the real highlight of the book, and feature the best moments. Conner arrives on the other world and is immediately mistaken for another invader, and so decides to make it clear that hes a hero, tearing through enemy ships in an instant. Unfortunately, this means that the enemy has to unleash even worse foes for him to fight, and he gets attacked by a trio of super powered aliens. I really like the designs of these three, and there's some familiar design elements to them that's fun to try and pick out. One of the aliens looks like Despero, but has cybernetic parts to him, and another looks very much like they could be from the same species as Green Lantern R'amey Holl, but has a clear skull like the Fearsome Five villain Psimon.

The aliens are experiments made by a purple Dominator who seems keen on splicing powers from other beings together (probably explaining how his troops seem to be be combos of things we've seen before), and give Conner a pretty rough time of it. There's one moment where in order to deal with the bad guys he has to unleash a huge wave of power from his tactile telekinesis; and I loved this. This is one of the powers that's unique to Conner, but tends to be the power that a lot of people forget he has. It's hardly ever used, with him just becoming another standard Kryptonian, so it's great not just to see it, but to see it absolutely wrecking shit up.

The Dominator unleashes dozens of these powered troops to deal with Conner, and it looks like he's going to be completely overwhelmed; until help arrives in the form of three heroes, the Cosmoteers. This trio, consisting of someone who seems to have powers similar to Atom Smasher, a person with a big cybernetic gun arm, and a speedster, seem to be heroes, though killing is a line they're willing to cross. It looks like the Cosmoteers might be a group that Conner will be able to work with going forward; not least because they also rock around in cool leather jackets like him. As far as first issue set-ups go, this is a fantastic issue that moves with a hell of a pace, packs a load of stuff in, and puts Conner in a position where it feels like almost anything can come next.

Whilst the story is fantastic, I have to give some time to gush over the art, by Jahnoy Lindsay. The book looks absolutely gorgeous. Opening it up and flicking through the pages will absolutely grab people, because every location and character in this issue looks fantastic. Conner looks the best he ever has wearing this version of his costume. I've never been a big fan of his bodysuit and leather jacket, but Lindsay makes that look absolutely work for me. He looks cool and dynamic, but more than that he looks incredibly expressive. Lindsay makes Conner look young here, he's got a brightness to his face, with his big blue eyes and gentle features that sells that he's a teen. He has a vulnerability to him in some scenes that doesn't come from the writing, but the way he's drawn. Lindsay sells the emotional journey that Conner is going on in this book, and you can't help but feel for the kid.

I absolutely loved all of the designs we get when we hit space too. There are elements of the alien planet that reminded me of Namek from Dragonball Z. The way the environment looks, and the designs of the buildings could easily slip into that universe. And when the bad guys arrive their jump suits have a very Freiza Force look about them; and I'm pretty sure their boots are just the Saiyan boot design. These are either intentional nods from Lindsay, or subconscious design choices, but either way, I love it. It gives the book that same feel of going off on a space adventure against dangerous foes that that particular part of the Dragonball saga had. All of the Dominator creations look fantastic too, and I'm hoping that not all of those we saw here were killed by the Cosmoteers, as there were some fantastic designs amongst them. 

Another small detail that I loved is that all of Conner's internal monologue boxes were sewn on patches. The red and yellow, with the tiny lines that show stitching match the look of Conner on the front cover, and how he's stitched his S logos onto his jackets. It's a tiny touch, but it helps the book to stand out, and for Conner to feel different from every other narrator.

Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow proves to be a hugely engaging, creative, and beautiful book. It's easy to see how it won the Round Robin competition, as everything about it feels fresh and new, and I can't wait to read the next one.

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Ravencave by Marcus Sedgwick - Book Review

 

'A grim discovery brings disturbing revelations in this chilling ghost story from the late Marcus Sedgwick.

'While mucking about in the ruins of an old farm while on holiday in Yorkshire, James hears strange laughter echoing around the walls. The ghost of a young girl appears to him and urges James to follow her but at first he’s too afraid.

'When she appears again, this time James follows. But will he be able to face the terrible truth she reveals ...?'

Ravencave is a gloomy tale, one filled with atmosphere and emotion as a small family travels to Yorkshire to visit the home of their ancestors, in order to scatter the ashes of their grandmother. Rather than the trip bringing them together, however, it seems to be seeing them draw further apart. Young James has to watch on as the cracks begin to appear in his family, as his father deals with having just lost his job and worries about the future, how his mother is struggling with her writers block knowing that her work might be the only thing that can help them right now, and how his older brother Robbie seems to have turned into a sullen teen who doesn't even want to talk to him anymore.

There's a sense of gloom that hangs over this small family as they holiday in a place that only the year previous gave them a nice time. Their individual worries seem to gnaw at them, causing the rifts to grow wider, with James being the only one able to see that if they just took a moment and tried to be with each other that things might start to get better.

When exploring one of the areas where their family used to live generations ago, James hears a creepy laughter coming from one of the ruined buildings, and discovers the ghost of a young girl there waiting for him. She gives him a cryptic message, and James runs away from her. But as the holiday continues the girls words gnaw at him, and he soon becomes determined that if he sees her again he'll go with her to try to discover more.

Ravencave sounds like a ghostly tale, a story that might scare, but that's a clever bit of misdirection, it's the thing that might get you to pick up the book and give it a try. Instead, this book is about relationships, family, and grief. James' family are the focus here, their fractured lives and the ever growing distance between them the thing that's really driving the narrative. James comes across as something of an outsider, possibly due to his younger age keeping him sheltered somewhat from the pressures of the adult world. As such, he can has a somewhat innocent approach to things, and can suggest the idea of 'ignore it for now, just be happy together for a moment' that adults in the grips of worry would ignore.

But, his family don't seem to be listening to him; so wrapped up in their own worries they continue doing their own thing, not really paying him any attention, leaving him to his own devices. This is where I'm going to get into major spoiler territory, so if you've not read the book please jump ahead to the last paragraph. There's a moment that comes up, where James is lamenting how his family barely interact with him, where his mother talks to him, but in an odd way and doesn't look at him where it all suddenly clicked into place for me; and a revelation soon after confirmed it. James is dead. James has seen a ghost because he is one, and that's why is family is fracturing, why they seem to ignore him most of the time, and why whenever his parents speak to him its when they're on their own. James died in Yorkshire the year before, and the family have come to both scatter ashes, and to say goodbye to James. This is where the sense of grief hanging over everyone begins to make more sense.

From here the book suddenly opens up and becomes something much bigger. The ever pervading sense of something being wrong makes so much sense, they way the characters are interacting starts to feel more realistic. They're not a family pulled apart by the small worries and their own issues, they're a family fractured by the loss of one of their own. Once you realise what's going on you're able to look back at all of the times James has interacted with his family and it makes so much sense. They're not ignoring him, they can't hear him. They're not being distant and odd when they talk to him, it's people talking aloud to a lost loved one in moments of solitude. It becomes one of those things that feels ridiculously obvious, yet it takes a while before you even consider it as a possibility. 

The book taking this sharp pivot into a deeply upsetting story, of the untimely death of a young child, is shocking, but it also improves the book in a lot of ways. It takes the narrative in an interesting direction, and once James realises what's happened, and tries to help his family through his grief, it becomes incredibly touching and moving. Losing a beloved family member is one of the more painful experiences, especially in circumstances like in this book. Grief is not an easy journey, and it can take a very long while to get through, and this book shines a light on how hard grief is, how much is can hurt, and gives the message that things will ultimately be okay. And considering children do live through moments like that, it's good to see a book for kids conveying that message.

Ravencave was not the book I was expecting it to be. From the description I was expecting a spooky tale with ghosts. And whilst I didn't get that story, I got something better instead. Instead the book delivered an important story about grief, loss, and family that you don't often see tackled in books aimed at younger readers. Ravencave was an emotional journey, but one that I'll remember.

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Resident Evil 4 Remake – Game Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The Resident Evil series has long been held up as the pinnacle of the survival horror genre, and with it being one of the longest running and best selling series in that genre it’s hard to disagree with that statement. Fans of the series will often hold up Resident Evil 4 as the best of the series. Released in 2005, the game took the series into a new era, introducing more action elements, revamping the structure of the game, and introducing several quality of life improvements that would become staples of the series going forward. The game not only helped to redefine the Resident Evil series, but gaming in general (we have Resident Evil 4 to blame for all of the quick-time-events segments in games around this era).

With the remake of the original Resident Evil (now itself 20 years old) the original clunky game was given new life. It introduced new areas, new enemies, and a fantastic upgrade to graphics in what’s still possibly the best looking game on the Nintendo Gamecube. The recent release of updated remakes for Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 did much of the same, taking games with pretty poor graphics, stiff tank controls, and very basic game-play and gave them a huge revamp. But, with Resident Evil 4 being the entry in the series that revolutionised the modern Resident Evil era, is there much that can be done in remaking it? Is there any real point in this game? The answer to both, is absolutely yes.

Resident Evil 4 takes place in 2004, several years after the Raccoon City incident. Since surviving the destruction of the city and the monstrous hordes that plagued it, rookie cop Leon Kennedy (Nick Apostolides) has been recruited into special government training. When the daughter of the President, Ashley Graham (Genevieve Buechner), is kidnapped, Leon is sent to find her. Tracking her location down to rural Spain, Leon travels to a small village where he hopes to find clues to her whereabouts. What he finds instead is a community under the control of a mad cult leader who is using an ancient parasite to transform people into willing slaves and monsters. Leon will have to fight through hordes of cultists, mutants, and monsters in order to save Ashley and get home.

Upon beginning the game it’s clear that the remake has been given a huge face-lift. The drab orange and brown colour scheme of the original has been replaced with a darker, moodier tone that seems to have embraced the horror elements a bit more. Before you’ve even reached the main village where the first portion of the game takes place you discover mutilated offerings on shrines, creepy cabins, murder victims, and dangerous foes that force you to have to sneak past them. The original game opened with a bang, and whilst the remake does once you enter the main village, the steps getting there make a point to remind you that this is a horror series too.

And this is one of the things that has changed the game the most. The original Resident Evil 4 shifted more towards action, with Leon able to punch, kick, and suplex downed enemies (don’t worry, he can still do all of that), and there being enough ammo that you could plough your way through enemies. This would continue a trend across the next two games that saw the horror almost completely forgotten by the time the sixth game came out. Here, however, the game is tense throughout. It’s not just the first time that you encounter enemies that you have fear, as fairly standard foes in later segments of the game will still cause you to get worried as they swarm towards you, weapons raised.

A big part of the fear factor in the remake is down to resources. There’s simply not enough ammo lying around to get through the game. You cannot find enough bullets and shells to see you through. To deal with this the crafting system that was utilised well in Resident Evil: Village makes a return. Gathering resources and gunpowder allows Leon to craft ammo for his guns, as well as flashbangs and grenades. Whilst resources aren’t exactly abundant, finding and crafting will get you through the game. Though you may be finding yourself juggling inventory space to make room for your much needed resources, and considering carefully which ones to make.

The game also introduces what I’d describe as your new best friend, the bolt thrower. At first I was a bit unsure about this fancy crossbow because the big selling point was that you could reclaim spent ammo. Would this ruin the careful balance of resource management? No, if anything, it almost felt necessary to use to get through my first play-through. Whilst you can reclaim your bolts, it does depend on where you shoot them, and you can lose them, resulting in having to gather to craft more. It does lead to some tense moments as you’re pumping enemies full of shots, watching your ammo count go down, and realising you’re going to have to make a mad dash to grab some spent bolts to finish the horde. The bolt thrower quickly became my new favourite weapon, however, and the fact that it could be used for stealth purposes made it essential too.

Speaking of stealth, the game has introduced a new mechanic in the form of sneaking and silent take-downs. Leon is able to crouch-walk up behind enemies and take them out with a single knife attack that doesn’t alert nearby foes. You’re able to use this mechanic to sneak your way around the environments, trying to bring the horde down before they spot you and swarm at you. You can’t stealth your way through the entire game, and you will find yourself forced to fight openly more than not, but it is a cool addition to the game that opens up some extra choices for you.

Outside of game-play, the new remake has also altered the environments and level design a lot. The game feels very similar at first, with a tweaked but familiar path leading to a village that has pretty much the exact layout that long-time fans will remember. Pretty soon, however, it becomes apparent that the game will not allow existing fans to fall into a sense of ease as it starts to mess with the order of things. An early stage of the game flips things on you entirely, as you begin in the part of the level where you would have been heading to in the original, and makes you play the new environment backwards. There are other parts where the placement of locations have been moved around slightly in order to make a better flowing game, and some parts have been removed entirely.

The castle location is perhaps the most changed in the game, and will provide a number of nice surprises. There are segments in there that not only never appeared in the original, but may have even been impossible to do back then. For everything removed from the original design the team have added something new to replace it. Because of this, it never feels like you’re missing out on something that the original game had. Pretty much every enemy comes back, along with several new ones, and the only thing I can think of that didn’t make the return is a boss that felt kind of forced into the original anyway. The game also decided to take one of the scariest enemies from the original and made them worse by making them a lot faster this time round too, and I hate how it made them so much more frightening to go up against.

There’s also a new request system in the game. In the original game you got one request from the Merchant, to shoot a number of medallions to get a free handgun. This time round there are nineteen such challenges to undertake. This can range from shooting medallions to hunting rats, gathering eggs, or taking on dangerous enemies. These challenges will often get you to revisit areas in order to unlock them, and reward you with exclusive treasures that you can use to unlock extra items and resources. This, along with hunting down all of the treasures scattered across the maps, will lead to a lot of exploration and revisiting of areas.

All in all, the Resident Evil 4 Remake takes everything great about the original and improves upon it tenfold. All of the things about the original that feel kind of clunky and dated have been dealt with, and there have been improvements across the board, including game-play, story, and design. Having replayed through the original before the remake was released (literally finishing the night before) I can say that out of the two there’s one that I’ll hold up as one of the best made and most fun entries in the Resident Evil franchise, and it’s not the one that’s almost 20 years old.

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Martin (1977) – Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The name George A. Romero is incredibly well known within the horror world, and for good reason. Romero forever altered the zombie genre when he created Night of the Living Dead in 1968. Before he created that film, zombies were the results of voodoo and magic; they were slaves who did the bidding of the one who reanimated them. The zombies that we think of today, as an infection, as a horde of flesh-eating creatures, that’s down to him and his films. He’s unarguably the father of the modern zombie. So, with that in mind it might surprise some to learn that he also tried his hand at creating a vampire movie.

Created in the decade between Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, a period in which Romero failed to release another film that was as big a hit as his first, and a time in which he found himself struggling financially and almost facing bankruptcy, Martin was an attempt to create another hit in order to get out of financial difficulties. The fact that I’d never heard of this film, or that Romero had even made a vampire movie tipped me off before even watching this that it might not be the best that the director has to offer from his long and illustrious career.

Martin tells the story of a young man named Martin (John Amplas), who believes himself to be a vampire. The film begins with him on a train to Pittsburgh, where he attacks a young woman in her cabin, injecting her with a sedative. After stripping her down and sexually assaulting her, he slits her wrists with a razor and drinks her blood as she bleeds out over him. He then sets the place up to look like a suicide, and leaves. Upon arriving in Pittsburgh he’s met by an uncle, Cuda (Lincoln Maazel) who he’s supposed to be staying with. It seems that Cuda is aware that Martin is a vampire, and keeps referring to him as Nosferatu, as well as having set up rings of garlic and crosses in parts of the house. He tells Martin that he will save his soul, then destroy him.

Over the course of the film we learn that parts of Cuda and Martin’s family, highly religious and superstitious Lithuanian Catholics, believe that their family is cursed, and that over the generations several members have been born as vampires. Cuda’s granddaughter, Christina (Christine Forrest) rejects these superstitions, and comes to believe that Martin is just mentally ill. She’s upset to see that he believes this family superstitions, especially when he claims he’s more than eighty years old. As the film progresses, we watch as Martin begins to try to live a normal life in Pittsburgh, but his cravings for blood continue to plague him.

Martin isn’t a long movie, just under an hour and a half in length, but it feels a lot longer than that. Romero manages to pack a lot into the short runtime, and juggles chaotic scenes of Martin trying to claim victims, the banality of his everyday life working in Cuda’s store, and the lives of the people around him. With the amount that happens in the film, and the generally laid back pace the film has, it ends up feeling like a much longer movie, and I found myself checking the clock more than once.

Part of why the film feels so long is that there are numerous scenes where it feels like several moments, if not the entire scene itself, could have been cut down. In the extras we learn that the original cut of the film was close to three hours long (though it would probably feel closer to six if it still existed). As with many horror films of this decade, Martin is quite slow, and much of the movie lacks the feel of a horror film. It mostly feels like a family drama movie with some violent and horrific moments thrown in here and there. These moments are okay at best, and the scene in which Martin tries to take a victim and ends up chasing a couple of people around a house for ten minutes or more feels too long to be entertaining. Perhaps the best scenes of horror in the film comes right at the very beginning of the film, and right at the very last minute.

One thing that the film does well, however, is the presentation of Martin and his belief that he is a vampire. Martin states that he’s more than eighty years old, he says he is a vampire, yet he says several times in the film that magic isn’t real, and mocks his uncle with the fact that crucifixes and garlic do nothing to him. He seems to be in a constant state of contradiction, where he’s saying he’s this supernatural being in one scene, and mocking the notion in another. The film makes it quite clear that Martin is a young man with violent mental issues, and using modern parlance, is an incel who kills women because he’s too afraid to have sex (he manages to sleep with a woman at one point in the film and it does seem to change his outlook quite a bit). It seems that he believes he’s a vampire thanks to his family, and that their hard-line, almost violent approach to religion and their ‘old way’ beliefs have caused considerable damage to Martin. The film ends up being less a movie about a vampire, and more a film about what familial abuse can do to a person’s psyche.

The new Blu-ray release comes with a 4K scan and restoration from the original film negative, but compared to a lot of older films that have received similar treatment Martin comes away looking pretty rough. Perhaps it’s down to the film used at the time making it harder to create a cleaner, crisper image, but visually the movie looks pretty bad at times, and reminded me more of old VHS films than what I’ve come to expect from Blu-ray. It does come with a lot of extra features, however, including four separate commentary tracks. Two of these are from previous releases, and feature cast and crew including George A. Romero, John Amplas, and Tom Savini (who appears in the film in a minor role). There are also two brand new tracks recorded for this release, featuring film critic and writer Travis Crawford (who passed away late last year), and film critic Kat Ellinger. There is also a new feature length making of feature, an interview with the films composer, some trailers and TV spots, and a short film included on the extras.

Martin is an interesting movie, and an interesting release. Whilst the film itself failed to grab me, or entertain me much, the insights into this point in Romero’s career are interesting, and the extensive behind the scenes extras and the audio commentaries make for a more entertaining time than the actual film itself does. If there are any big fans of Martin out there I’m sure that they’re already eyeing up this new release, but for those who’ve never seen it and are thinking of taking a punt it might prove to be a bit of a let down.

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V/H/S/99 – Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The V/H/S/ series has been around for a few years now (eleven to be exact!) and in that time we’ve had six mainline entries, two spin-off movies, and even a television series. The anthology format means that whilst the title stays the content can be hugely different each time. Whilst this does mean that viewers are able to discover new names within the horror industry they may not have been aware of before, it also means you’re never quite sure what you’re going to get when you start a V/H/S/ film off.

The latest entry in the series, V/H/S/99 tries to stick to a theme, however, and it seems like there may be some kind of indication as to the types of movies you’re going to be getting. According to the blurb for the movie, the short stories presented here are set in the year 1999, centring on the final days of analogue, and the paranoia surrounding Y2K. That feels like a bit of an oversell, as other than one of the stories presented within being set on the eve of the millennium, there’s nothing here that necessarily needed them to be set in the times they are, and they only share a vague connection to the year 1999.

V/H/S/99 opens by perhaps putting its weakest foot forward, as the first segment in the movie is the least interesting of the five. ‘Shredding’, written and directed by Maggie Levin, follows a group of four teens who are trying to make both a band, and either a really odd documentary film about their band, or a Jackass style prank and stunt show; it’s not entirely clear what their deal is. The four teens head to an old building where a band called Bitch Cat died being trampled to death during a fire. Breaking into the condemned building, the teens discover that they might not be the only things inside.

‘Shredding’ is the opening act of the film, and it was my least favourite of the five presented. It takes a while to really get into things, and the constant antics from the teens, and the inter-cutting of footage from the band CKY, featuring Ryan Dunn, leads it to feeling very disjointed. By the time anything horrific actually starts to happen you’ve either failed to connect with the characters, or thoroughly dislike them. This segment does contain some pretty decent practical effects and make-up, but that alone doesn’t do much for it.

The second segment, ‘Suicide Bid’, by Johannes Roberts, tells the story of a college girl who’s desperate to join the most popular sorority on her campus. She makes a suicide bid, where she only applies to the one sorority, and it seems to pay off and the girls invite her out for a night of partying. It’s then that she gets hazed by them, as they tell her that she has to go through a specific ritual in order to join; she needs to spend the night buried in a coffin. She agrees to the challenge, but once the lid is sealed and the soil begins to drop she realises she’s made a terrible mistake.

Compared to the difficulty in connection with the characters in the first segment, ‘Suicide Bid’ instantly brings you onto the lead character’s side, and makes her to be a likable, if naive, character. The claustrophobia of being buried alive in a coffin is captured really well, and the tension starts to build even before the really horrific things begin. As to the more overt horror elements (not that being buried isn’t horror enough), the segment does a nice job at escalating the tension and the frights throughout, and does a couple of unexpected things too.

‘Ozzy’s Dungeon’, directed by Flying Lotus, is a short of two halves. In the first we see footage from a cheap and cheesy children’s challenge show where contestants compete to win their wish. No one has ever won Ozzy’s Dungeon before, and when one of the contestants is about to win, making her the first to ever do so, her leg is viciously broken on the assault course (and by broken I mean almost clean off!). From here we jump forward in time, to the show’s host waking up in his underwear in a cage in a dank basement. The girl’s family have taken him prisoner, and now intend to make him compete in their own version of his show, though one much more deadly.

This segment is pretty gross thanks to the fact that a lot of it feels very real, and very gritty. The horror of being taken prisoner, of being tortured for the pleasure of your captives is one that isn’t completely outside the realm of possibility. Because of that, and because everything that isn’t bright kids’ show is dirty and grimy, it feels gross and off-putting to watch. This segment contains several surprises that will keep you entertained, and manages to never stray completely into the real of gross-out torture porn.

‘The Gawkers’ is directed by Tyler MacIntyre, and follows a group of older teens as they use their video camera to try and spy on girls, even going so far as trying to upskirt them. When a beautiful young woman moves into the house opposite them they begin to obsess over her, desperate to get her naked on film. When the younger brother of one of the teens ends up talking to her, and gets invited round to help set up her tech, the group try to convince him to help them spy into the woman’s home.

This segment has a frankly ridiculous twist to it, but it’s one that’s delightfully fun so I can’t really hold it as a bad thing. There’s not a huge amount that can be said about this part of the film without giving too much away, but it’s a pretty decently made segment with some cool moments in it. The behind the scenes extras reveal some amazing practical effects used in this segment that sadly don’t quite translate to the final film, as it looks like these effects were enhanced with CGI that ended up making it look worse.

The final segment of the film is by far the best. ‘To Hell and Back’ is written and directed by Vanessa & Joseph Winter and is more of a horror comedy. The story follows a couple of documentary filmmakers who are tagging along with demon worshippers who are attempting to summon a demon into the body of a woman at midnight on New Year’s Eve 1999. When another entity creeps in on the ritual the witches send it back to Hell, but accidentally send the two filmmakers too. Stuck in Hell, and with only a few minutes before midnight, the two men try to find the demon that’s being summoned so that they can try to hitch a ride back home.

This segment feels like it could be part of the What We Do In The Shadows universe. It’s got a silly humour to it that finds the perfect tone to keep the ridiculous things that are happening constantly entertaining. Moments that could have come across as slightly too cheesy to be frightening are given enough of a comedic leaning to make them enjoyable, the dialogue is pretty witty, and there are several visual and dialogue based gags that will have you laughing out loud. Out of all of the segments on offer in this film, this is the one I would absolutely watch an entire, feature-length movie of.

The new physical release comes with several extras to make it stand apart from its standard Shudder release. There’s an audio commentary that features most of the different directors, who interact and talk about their sections. There’s also a couple of gag reels and blooper segments, some behind the scenes looks at how certain segments were made and their practical effects. There’s also a music video for Bitch Cat, camera tests, make-up tests, storyboards, location scouting videos, and more. There’s a surprising amount here, and it’s great to see behind the scenes into what goes into making a film like this.

Whilst there are some parts of the film that are genuinely fantastic, there are other parts that are borderline dull. Sadly, when some parts of an anthology piece fail to deliver, it can affect the overall quality of the piece. If you do pick this up and find yourself questioning why during some segments, try to stick with it until the end, as you might find some that you love.

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Batman #134 - Comic Review

 

Bruce Wayne is lost in the multiverse, trapped on a strange world where that version of Bruce is dead, and the city lies in the grips of the Red Mask, who rules Gotham from behind the scenes with his venom powered enforcers.

The issue begins with Bruce being led to the Arkham Tunnels, a vast underground network of sewers and cells where the Red Mask is keeping his prisoners, and conducting his experiments. Not only does he have regular people trapped, but even has some metahumans as his test subjects; such as an insane version of The Flash. After finally coming face to face with Red Mask, the villain reveals himself to be more than just Darwin Halliday, but a man who has been given a glimpse through the multiverse at other versions of himself, and discovered that he is The Joker. 

Halliday is experimenting with his subjects and the multiverse in order to try to glimpse backwards through time on another Earth to learn what makes The Joker become who he is, so that he can experience the same thing and become The Joker fully. Stepping up his plans, Halliday releases a gas into Gotham that will cause people to connect with their multiverse counterparts. Bruce heads off to stop it, but ends up encountering this worlds version of Ghostmaker, Ghostbreaker. 

The fight between the two of them goes on for several pages, and is really well structured. Despite being without most of his equipment and having been beaten around a lot lately Bruce is still a good match for Ghostbreaker. Their fight sees them trading blows, clashing with swords, and falling down chasms as they make their way through the tunnels. There's a ridiculously fun moment when a number of frees inmates comes after Bruce that includes this world's version of Clark. How does Bruce deal with Superman? He makes a creepy face, puts on a scary voice, and tells him that he's his nightmare. And it frightens Superman away. I'm sure that there will be some who roll their eyes at this, but this was too ridiculous to be anything other than fun. 

Bruce is forced to fight Ghostbreaker a second time at the controls for the deadly gas, and is able to shut the thing down, but loses his right hand in the fight. Sadly, this doesn't really slow Halliday down, as he releases a small army of Manbats that have the gas pouring out of tanks strapped to their backs.

After a slower start, where we got a chance to learn more about this version of Gotham and its inhabitants, and got to see Bruce figuring out how to navigate this strange new place, things really started to make a dash towards a big conclusion here. However, it still feels like there's a lot more to come with this story. We don't know yet how Bruce is going to stop the gas, how he could get to Halliday, or what he's going to do with his hand. This story could wrap up in an issue or two, but I could also see it going on for a lot longer than that too. And I love that this story has been structured and paced in a way that it doesn't feel obvious where it's going to be going, or what's going to be coming. 

The back-up feature continues the story of Tim trying to find Bruce and bring him home. However, before he heads out to find him we get a moment where we see what the heroes are doing about Gotham. They can't let the villains know that Batman is gone, otherwise there'll be absolute chaos instead of just mostly chaos. As such, someone is having to fill in for Bruce. And it's not a member of the Bat Family. Superman is making appearances around Gotham in a Batsuit. I love this, I love it every time Clark pretends to be Batman to help out. The moment where we suddenly see Batman take off into the sky genuinely made me yell 'what?!' before I twigged what was coming. I need more of Clark helping out like this, as it's always a fun time.

After chatting with Clark for a bit, Tim heads back to base where Mr Terrific and Toyman are working on the equipment that should take Tim to the world where Bruce is lost. All he has to do it think hard about Bruce, and the tech will get him to him. Tim gets a special new suit for the trip, one with a huge illuminated R on his chest. Unfortunately, Tim can't help but think of another person whilst travelling through the multiverse, and ends up on a world where his mother is still alive. The two of them meet, and she can tell that Tim isn't her Tim, but is still happy to meet him. The two of them talk for a while, and Tim tells her about his life. They have a really tender moment, and it gives Tim a chance to feel a sense of closure and peace. He then heads back into the multiverse to go find Bruce.

I've seen some folks say that they dislike Tim's suit here, and whilst it's not his best look it's certainly not my least favourite of his. I kind of love the big R as a symbol for Bruce to lock on to, and I'm loving the fact that Zdarsky's Batman run is giving us multiple costumes for Bruce and Tim. It's fun to see our characters get temporary suits sometimes, and this is just that; it's just enjoyable. The conversation between Tim and his mum is enjoyable too, and it feels like the character has absolutely earned that kind of moment. Though, I can't help but wonder if he didn't take that detour and chat with her for hours might he have gotten to Bruce in time to save his hand being cut off? 

The Zdarsky run on this title hasn't had a bad issue yet, it's been making some bold story choices, doing a lot of big, bombastic stuff that borders on ridiculous, but always manages to come off as extremely cool. This issue is no different; and is fun from start to finish. 

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Monkey Prince #12 - Comic Review

 

Originally published on Patreon

And thus another comic series come to an end, as the final issue of Monkey Prince arrives. However, things seem far from over for the young hero.

Acting as a kind of epilogue for Lazarus Planet (though nothing on the cover would indicate that), the book catches up with Monkey Prince as he helps Supergirl clean up the chaos in Metropolis with the help of Shifu Pigsy. However, King Fire Bull is freed from the magical prison he was put in at the end of Lazarus Planet and is coming to take Supergirl prisoner to steal her life force and re-power himself.

With an army of skeletons to fight, and some extra help in the form of Deep princess  Shellestriah, who claims she wants to learn under Pigsy too, Monkey Prince thinks he has things under control thanks to the new clone technique he learned from his father, the Monkey King. However, his plans at rescue are thrown for a loop when the villain reveals his true origin to him. It turns out MP isn't the son of Monkey King, but a hair clone that refused to disappear once his task was done. 

The news shatters his sense of self, and he's left reeling. Thankfully, with some guidance from his mentor he's able to break through this, and is able to save the day.

I like that Monkey Prince has gone from being an incredible annoyance for Supergirl, to the two of them having a kind of friendship, and seeing the young hero sticking around to do the clean-up and damage control that he normally skips out on is a nice treat. I even like that Shellestriah turns back up and the slightly antagonistic response MP has to her even though she seems to be completely honest about not being up to no good. The moments where she still calls him Tasty Monkey to tease him are kind of funny.

Where this issue falls a bit flat for me, however, is with the return of the villain. It took a lot to beat him at the end of Lazarus Planet and it took every single magic user, good and bad, working together to do it. And now he's immediately out. Yes, he's weak now so he's not really a threat and MP can friends can beat him, but it does make it feel like the end of the event, which was only a couple of weeks ago, was kind of a nothing thing. Maybe it's just me, but it felt like something about the whole situation was off.

Outside of that though, things worked pretty well here. The reveal of MP's actual origin was very cleverly done because we've known about the hair clones for a while now, and the Monkey King is the one who taught Monkey Prince how to master it, so we know he's got a lot of experience with it. The series has been telling us for a while that him being the son of Monkey King has been a lie, and this reveal at least makes a lot of sense in the established lore. It's also hugely open to exploration in the future if the character gets to come back again.

The book does end feeling like there's a lot left undone. We don't get long with the revelation, we've got a new student joining Pigsy and Monkey Prince, his adoptive parents are continuing their lifestyle of journeying around and getting into trouble. This feels like less of an end to the character, and more of a close to his first chapter. His character has been firmly established now, he's got some decent relationships with a few members of the superhero community. I hope that this is just the start for him, and that there will be further adventures with this interesting and enjoyable character.

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Waiqar: A Descent: Legends of the Dark Novel by Robbie MacNiven - Book Review

 

'Enter the extraordinary fantasy world of Descent: Legends in the Dark through the eyes of its most notorious necromancer as he begins his conquest of the realms of Terrinoth.

'Waiqar, Lord of the Mistlands, is a necromancer of supreme power, arrogance, and skill. Driven by his hunger for power, he has the whole of Terrinoth in his sights. But before he can raise his undead armies and march on the Baronies, his hold on the Mistlands must be complete. Waiqar’s court is rife with scheming and deception, from corrupt vampires with plans to usurp him, to an apprentice harboring dark ambition of his own. As his enemies vie for power, Waiqar’s own plans come to fruition. For power is hard won but easily lost, and this great necromancer has more to lose than anyone.'

My only real experience with Descent: Legends of the Dark are the books produced by Aconyte; it's a game that kind of slipped past me, and that I've never really had the chance to play. Each time I read one of the books though, such as Zachareth and The Raiders of Bloodwood, I find myself getting more and more interested in this world and its lore. I loved the deep dive of Zachareth, and the focus on a villainous character, and I thought that it was my favourite of the series, but writer Robbie MacNiven has blow it out of the water with his new villain focused book, Waiquar.

Waiquar begins by introducing readers to Tomaz, a student at Grayhaven (a place that will be familiar to those that read Zachareth). Tomaz has had an interest in necromancy for years, studying the dark magical art in secret for years, and since coming to Grayhaven found himself meeting like-minded students. This small death cult turns on Tomaz, however, and drags him from his bed in the middle of the night. Bound and gagged, Tomaz is taken far from Grayhaven, and is eventually brought to the dark and festering swamps of the Mistlands. It's here that he comes face to face with the undead for the first time, as he's taken by skeletal knights deeper into the territory of the living dead.

Tomaz is our entry character, as he's brought to Zorgas, the main seat of power in that dark and forsaken land. Here he's brought before the greatest necromancer in existence, the ancient and powerful Waiquar, who called upon the hidden servants and worshippers hidden throughout the world of the living to bring him a human student of Grayhaven. Tomaz is a gift to Waiquar's apprentice, Tristayne. He's ordered to keep Tomaz alive, to keep him safe. Now Tomaz finds himself as one of the only living creatures in the Mistlands, and whilst his physical safety seems assured by the will of powerful entities, he now faces a constant nightmare of death and horror around him.

Whilst this is happening, Waiquar is dealing with unrest within his kingdom. Waiting patiently for the perfect time to lead his forces of the dead against the rest of Terrinoth, some of his subjects have begun to speak out against their lord, mistaking his patience as a sign of weakness. When an outside, ancient, force begins to whisper in the ears of several members of the court plots begin to form to challenge Waiquar for power and rule. As open dissent begins to take root Waiquar will have to lead his forces into combat in order to maintain his grip upon his kingdom.

Waiquar is a book about fantasy politics and shady double-dealings. Secret alliances are made, oaths are broken, plots are formed, and full open warfare takes over the Mistlands as people make grabs for power. It's all of these interesting, engaging things, but with the undead. The book features necromancers, skeletal soldiers, vampires, spirits, and ghoulish beasts rather than people. Everything in the Mistlands is a horror of some kind, something from nightmares, yet they're not mindless monstrosities but thinking, calculating characters with more depth than you'd first think. This makes Waiquar one of the most enjoyable and engaging fantasy novels that I've read, as it's all a dark, twisted version of what you come to expect from high court drama fantasy.

Most fantasy stories, when dealing with the undead, fall into the trap of making everything into a monster. There might be a powerful figure or two that has some kind of personality and agency, but for the most part the undead are treated as mindless figures, or monsters. MacNiven goes the opposite route with this, and near every creature in this book has some kind of agency and personality. The skeleton soldiers that make up Waiquar's army aren't just mindless automatons, we get to know his key generals, understand their drives and motivations, and get inside their ancient heads. This shift away from the expected makes the book a lot more interesting, and means that you can never be sure exactly where loyalties lie.

Despite never really leaving the Mistlands, and even then staying mostly within a location or two when there, the book manages to pack an incredible amount of world building into the pages. As said earlier, I'm not a huge fan of the franchise, and my lore knowledge is relegated to a few books, but this book really expanded upon that. Thanks to the massive age of the characters involved the book is able to delve deep into the history, to take readers back to times long passed, as well as exploring what's happening in the world at the present. The book does a wonderful job at slowly giving you more and more information, of slowly expanding your knowledge without giving you huge info-dumps and lore drops that could cause you to become overwhelmed. The information you're given feels natural, it fits with the moments, and it allows you to feel like you have access to all of the key information to get everything you can out of the story.

Waiquar has everything that I love about fantasy stories, it has complex double dealings and betrayals, court politics, the outbreak of war and huge battles, dangerous monsters, deep history, and complex characters. The book is incredibly clever in that is gives you a lot of key information early on that explains the core story of the book, yet it's done so in so subtle a way that once it's revealed at the end you feel silly for having not realised before. MacNiven makes Waiquar look incredibly smart, not by pulling some obscure info out at the end or giving you a reveal that you could never see coming, but by allowing the audience to not realise that they've already been given everything they need. 

Come the end of the book I was honestly upset that the story was done, I'd come to love the world that MacNiven had created, and wanted to explore it further. There are a couple of characters that I'd come to really enjoy reading, and there's one in particular who goes through quite a big development that the end really feels like the start of the next chapter of their story; a chapter I really want to read. This book is up there with my favourite fantasy novels, it's got the scale and scope of an epic, and it feels like this could be the first entry in an amazing series dedicated to this character and his evil schemes. I really, really hope that we get more of Waiquar and his court, but if not, we've got a fantastic book that I'm going to be reading again and again. 

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