Nightwing #103 - Comic Review

 

The Titans are going to hell! With the plan hatched last issue that the best way to get Olivia out of the contract with Neron is to do a hell heist Nighting, Raven, Beastboy, and Cyborg head to the underworld whilst Donna Troy, Starfire, Batgirl, and Bitewing take Olivia to Themyscira for some training.

The adventure in Hell is quite enjoyable to read, it features a surprise appearance from Blaze, who gets into it with Neron, but most of the fun comes from watching the guys try to find Olivia's contract in Neron's palace. There are some decent jokes mixed into things, such as Cyborg being horrified by the amount of icons on the computer desktop, the pop-ups, and phishing scams that keep bombarding him. I love that Cyborgs hell would be outdated software, bad PC management, and viruses that he just couldn't avoid. This part of hell wasn't designed for him, but it does feel like somewhere where he could get sent to drive him a little mad.

Whilst in Hell we also discover that Olivia's mother is Jezebel Jet, a character who Nightwing has some familiarity with thanks to her dating Bruce at one point. I like the small nods back to Morrison's Batman run, and the events of Batman R.I.P. that Nightwing drops here. The characters also acknowledging that Bruce definitely has a type, and that type is seriously unhealthy, is very much appreciated as someone who has to read about his terrible relationship attempts.

Whilst all of this is happening, the women take Olivia to Themyscira, and start teaching the super powered girl how to take care of herself. I love that this isn't just a 'kids need protecting, take them somewhere safe' story, but that they're helping the girl to learn that she can also take care of herself and doesn't have to bee the damsel in distress. I also really like the fact that Babs and Kory get along, and appreciate each others strengths. Too many shippers who pair them up with Nightwing seem to want the two women to hate each other because of Dick, but it makes a lot more sense that they'd get along. They don't have to be best friends, but they'd certainly be adults about things. 

Unfortunately, Nero sends more folks who owe him favours to try and get Olivia, and the Grinning Man, Doctor Polaris, and Gorilla Grodd attack the island. Much like with the last issue, the Grinning Man uses his abilities to get close to Olivia, appearing as Wonder Woman this time, and manages to land a hit on the kid, kicking her off the page. Between that and him just throwing her through the air last issue it's becoming something of a running gag of him just knocking this indestructible child around. 

Towards the end of the issue, when the rest of the team head off to help with the fight, Dick gets confronted by Neron as he figures out a loophole in the contract. Only one of Olivia's parents signed. So Dick has Bludhaven council make him her foster parent, and he refuses permission. Knowing that he's about to lose the contract, Nero tries another gambit, of making a deal with Nightwing. And so the issue ends with Nightwing becoming Superwing, in a fancy new suit. Will he be tempted by super powers and agree to send a child to hell? Yeah, that's absolutely not going to happen, so there's no tension in this ending; but the new design is pretty fancy looking at least.

The backup feature continues the story of Nightwing training Jon Kent how to be a detective, and we find out who cut the rope that led to the circus accident. The sudden revelation that the last panel from the issue before was a red-herring makes the actual perpetrator kind of obvious, but the story doesn't rely on the who to get you invested here, but the why. Yes, it's an absolutely ridiculous plan that could have gotten people killed, but that's the kind of thing a kid would do without thinking things through. So I kind of believe that that would happen. I also really like how Dick can see that kids point of view, even though his experience with the circus was completely different.

This story has done a good job at connecting to Dicks past in a thematic way, rather than having it happen at his circus, or involve people he knows. It relates to him, but doesn't tie to him, and that's one of the best approaches for this. And I enjoy the way that Jon is learning from him, and how it's making him feel like he can be a different kind of Superman than his father. Though, there's still the question of who planted the bomb; which we might find out next time. 

The new Nightwing era continues to be an enjoyable one, one that features the Titans in heavy roles, yet still manages to keep a lot of the focus on Dick and the characters from his book. He's still leading things, he's driving the story, and Olivia is connected to one of his villains. It's managing to walk a fine line between being a Nightwing story with a large extended cast, and being a Nightwing focused Titans story.

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The Flash #797 - Comic Review

 

For those who loved 'One Minute War' and were eager to see what comes next, you're going to have to wait another issue I'm afraid, as this time we get treated to a story set during the events of The Flash annual, that focus on Ace looking after Irey, Jai, and Maxine; and the adventure that they get dragged into.

Picking the kids up after school after agreeing to watch them for Wally, Ace watches on helplessly as the three of them are pulled out of reality. The kids are dragged to another time and place, where a group of villains from their futures have gathered together to eliminate them thanks to the power of a magical stone that makes peoples wishes into reality. There's an odd mix of villains here, some that we'll probably never actually see in regular continuity, which is a shame as I'd absolutely love to see more of Reverse Grodd.

The three of them have some help, however, as an alternate universe version of Jon Kent and Damian Wayne, the Super Sons, arrive to bail them out. The five kids are able to get away from the villains, and come up with a plan to try and take them down and return home. Meanwhile, Wallace goes to Mr Terrific for some help in tracking the missing children down and bringing them back.

This is a bit of an odd issue in the sense that it's a lot of fun, but there isn't much here in regards for stakes. This is set during the events of another story, we know what comes after it, so we know that there's not going to be anything earth shattering or status quo changing; however, it is a lot of fun so you do have a good time with it. The inclusion of the Super Sons makes this very enjoyable too. 

The Super Sons are a popular duo, and the choice to age Jon up has upset a lot of fans over the years as people feel like the dynamic has been changed a lot. Even Damian has grown up a lot since those days and matured. But here we get to turn back the clock a bit and enjoy the two of them being fun kids again. And whilst these two might not be our version of Damian and Jon, it does showcase their relationship and friendship in a wonderful way. Damian is being a bit of a dick, as he does, and Irey doesn't like him. But, she gets a bit of a talking to from Jon, who explains the life Damian has had, growing up trained to kill, choosing to turn his back on that and to be a hero instead, and describes Damian as 'the strongest person I know'. The strongest he knows. His dad is Superman! Stuff like this is why I adore Jon and Damian.

The book also looks fantastic thanks to art from Serg Acuña and Tom Derenick. The two styles don't really mesh, and are quite different from each other; but they're both enjoyable and bring something different to the table. Out of the two I prefer the art from Acuña, and love the sharp lines and flair that he brings to the characters, and it's lovely to see characters like Damian and Jon drawn in that style.

Overall, this felt like a bit of a throwaway adventure, and in most series an issue that didn't really do much or have much impact on the world would feel like an issue wasted; but this is Jeremy Adams' run on The Flash, where every issue, even those that feel like one-off's are an absolute joy to read.

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DCeased: War of the Undead Gods #8 - Comic Review

 

And thus, the DCeased universe comes to an end. At least for now. The journey to this point has been long, beloved characters have been lost along the way, new heroes have been born, legacies continues, and enemies become allies as the fight for life itself has torn the galaxy to pieces.

At the end of the last issue a cure for the anti-life infection was administered to the attacking forces, led by the twisted New Gods. Along with this, our heroes had gained some powerful new allies in the form of a thousand newly freed Kryptonians, and a new host for the Spectre. Even Darkseid, the man who caused all of this, ends up coming over to the side of the angels (for now at least) in order to get revenge on the thing that made him a puppet; Erebos.

With only a single issue left to wrap everything up I was hoping that this might be an indication that the series was going to continue, that we'd get another mini-series that would deal with taking the fight to Erebos and putting an end to things once and for all. But, it seems like a single issue is all that was needed to do this. And surprisingly, it didn't feel rushed at all. The pacing was decent, with enough time to give us some smaller character moments, time to outline the plan in a clear way, to go up against Erebos, and to say goodbye to one last hero.

In order to beat Erebos, Damian consults with the Black Racer and Cyborg, and comes up with a plan to use a Life Equation to fight the Anti-Life Equation. It's a bit complex, and the story does kind of gloss over some of the details; but all that we need to know is that Damian is smart enough to figure stuff out, and is able to put the key to beating Erebos inside himself. As the rest of the allied warriors, including Ares and Darkseid, take on Erebos in his realm of death, Damian takes Warworld inside the massive monster and allows the power inside him to detonate.

And this is where the main gut punch of the book comes in. Damian has to sacrifice himself to do this. It becomes clear that this is his plan earlier on in the book, when he and Cassie have a goodbye, and when in a moment when Jon tells him 'We're going to win tomorrow, and we're coming back' Damian simply agrees 'Yeah. We're going to win tomorrow.' Before is even happens I knew it was coming, but it doesn't stop it from hitting hard. Especially as it calls back to those very first few issues of DCeased. 

As the heroes try to talk Damian down from his sacrifice play over the radio Damian reminds Ollie what he said to Bruce the day he died, 'Batman isn't going to be taken out by a virus. You're not going to get sick and fade away. You're going to sacrifice yourself for the galaxy outwitting an evil as old as the stars or something.' Is this a happy coincidence, or did Tom Taylor know all the way back then what the final ending was going to be? Either way, this moment shows just how much this version of Damian has grown into the mantle, and how whilst he's his own version of Batman, he is very much still Batman. But, this isn't the only heartbreaking nod to the beginning. Jon comes to be with Damian in his last moments, able to survive and escape what's about to happen. He doesn't try to stop his friend though, he just sits beside him and tells him 'I thought I'd just sit here. So you're not alone.' the same thing that he did for Damian when Bruce died. 

It's these character moments that make this ending work. Would I have liked longer with this story? Yes, absolutely, but if this stuff is what we get instead it's a decent trade. We also get Alfred visiting the universe that Damian's sacrifice makes, watching out over a galaxy shaped like a bat. And there's possibly my favourite Guy Gardner moment in years when he mocks Darkseid, gets knocked down by Omega beams as a punishment and responds with 'Poking fun at Darkseid was a level of stupid that even I'm self-aware enough to realise.' 

This was a fitting end to this series, a series that's about death and destruction on a galactic scale, where beloved heroes have died, where you've been made to fall in love with villains only to lose them too, where humanity has come to the brink of destruction again and again; and in this issue it's an act of sscrifice, one death given willingly, that brings peace and life to the universe. That's better than any huge super hero battle could have given us.

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Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Season Two) – TV Review

 

Originally published at Set The Tape

The first season of Star Wars: The Bad Batch was something of a bitter-sweet thing. For many fans of Star Wars: The Clone Wars it felt like both a continuation of the series we loved, and the sign that it had come to an end.

Yes, we’d seen the final moments of the war play out in the series’ seventh season, but the opening episode of The Bad Batch beginning with the series’ logo burning its way through The Clone Wars logo made it clear that despite featuring some characters from the previous show, and being done in the same art style, this was not really a continuation, because there was no more Clone Wars. Instead of following galaxy-wide war, this new series shifted focus to a small group of clones gone rogue, the titular Bad Batch (all voiced by Dee Bradley Baker). Across the first season we watched as the team became a family, adopted a girl to protect, lost a brother, and fought for a place to exist within a galaxy that didn’t want them.

The second season of The Bad Batch begins much the same way, with the team simply trying to get by the best they can. Some time has passed between seasons, with the Batch having customised their armour a bit more to further step away from the Empire, and Omega (Michelle Ang) having gown her hair out a little and progressed in her training. The team seems to have fallen into a more relaxed way of working with each other, and it really does start to feel like they’re less of a squad, and more of a family.

Over the first several episodes we spend some time focusing on each member of the group, and the series almost seems to be teasing ways in which the team could be finding their own interests, and places where they could one day settle down, whether that’s Tech finding out he makes a pretty good racing pilot, or Wrecker making friends with the Wookiees. We even spend some time away from the team to check in with their wayward brother, Crosshair, as he undertakes missions for the Empire. For the early parts of the season it’s this look at Crosshair that’s the most impressive, both visually and from a storytelling point of view. We begin to see the real divide forming inside the Empire between the old army and the new. Stormtroopers are replacing the clones, and the clones are being used as expendable assets to be thrown into danger instead of as living beings.

Whilst the early episodes that focused on the main team fell into what could be described as an ‘adventure of the week’ pattern, we get interrupted from our adventures at the halfway point in the season with a two-part story that further explores the lives of the clones in a wider way. We get to see how the Empire as a whole is changing, moving further away from the Republic, how it’s affecting every clone, and what the wider galaxy thinks about it. With the first of these two episodes not even featuring any of our series stars, it becomes the first hint that the series is not operating in a vacuum, that despite wanting to find a quiet life for themselves the Batch will never be able to escape the ever encroaching nature of the Empire.

The final six episodes of the season mark one of the best runs in Star Wars animation as the show brings back The Clone Wars threads that have been left hanging for 13 years (I screamed at my TV at this), pushed members of the team like never before in emotionally impactful stories, and gave us what is best described as their Empire Strikes Back moment of despair and an ending that leaves you feeling shaken. If the show doesn’t come back for a third season after this I will not be forgiving Star Wars.

The first season of The Bad Batch was a really entertaining show, but that almost felt like all it was, just entertaining. I had no major criticisms of it, but it never felt like essential Star Wars viewing for me. And at first the second season felt similar. It was telling good stories, but nothing that wowed me.

But it feels like the show-makers knew that, that they wanted viewers to think that season two would give them much more of the same as the first before it pulled the rug out from under them. This season tells the best stories this group of characters have ever been used in, and much like Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, the show seems to have taken a while to find its feet and figure out what kind of show it’s going to be. If The Bad Batch carries on being what it is in the final stretch of this season for upcoming ones then it’s going to be one of the best Star Wars projects for TV.

This series not only marked an improvement in writing, but in animation too. There are a number of episodes where the show looks absolutely gorgeous, and this style of Star Wars has never looked better than it does here. There are several episodes that seem to not only have improved upon the style of animation, but pushed it in new ways. Atmosphere physics and tiny details that make the worlds we visit feel real and alive turn interesting moments into ones that make you stop and say wow. Comparing the very first times we saw this style of Star Wars animation to now, it’ incredible how far it has come, and how gorgeous The Bad Batch gets to look.

If you’re a fan of this group of characters there’s a lot to enjoy with this new season. Things have never been more exciting for the Batch, and the costs of their adventures have never been higher. This season will make you gasp out loud at some of the twists and turns it makes, you’ll laugh along with our heroes as they get to have fun and let their hair down, and you’ll cry too. This season does not play around. It has big plans that are tying into some major things happening in Star Wars right now, and it feels like this is only just the beginning of where this story is going to go.

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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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