A House With Good Bone by T. Kingfisher - Book Review

 

'In this ordinary North Carolina suburb, family secrets are always in bloom...

'Samantha Montgomery pulls into the driveway of her family home to find a massive black vulture perched on the mailbox, staring at the house. Inside, everything has changed. Gone is the eclectic warmth Sam expects; instead the walls are a sterile white. Now, it's very important to say grace before dinner, and her mother won't hear a word against Sam's long-dead grandmother, who was the first to put down roots in this small southern town. The longer Sam stays, the stranger things get. And every day, more vultures circle overhead...'

T. Kingfisher has quickly become one of my favourite writers over the last couple of years, her ability to turn ordinary, mundane settings into places filled with horror that gets under your skin has been superb; and I love that each of their horror stories has done something very different, and brought a new kind of horror to the table.

A House With Good Bones tells the story of Samantha 'Sam' Montgomery, a young archaeoentomologist who was ready to go and spend weeks on a new dig site identifying ancient insect specimens. However, when the dig is postponed Sam is left hundreds of miles from home, a home that she can't go back to thanks to having given up her lease for the dig. Faced with nowhere else to go, and wanting to spend some time with her mother after her brother giving her poor reports on her health, Sam heads to her childhood home in North Carolina.

A house that they inherited from Sam's grandmother, the house had been thoroughly claimed as their own over the years. The walls painted bright, cheerful colours, old photographs taken down in exchange for more enjoyable art, and a general happier atmosphere. But when Sam arrives her mother, Edith, has painted the house plain white, family pictures now hang on the wall, and her grandmother's pictures take centre place. As Sam observes her mother she sees other changes, Edith makes them pray before dinner, she tells Sam off for swearing, and she won't hear anything bad said about her deceased mother. Edith seems completely changed; not to mention the physical weight loss she seems to have gone through. Sam begins to worry.

But as she spends more time in the house she begins to think that something else might be wrong in her childhood home. Strange things start to happen. The garden is devoid of insects, but her room is swarmed by ladybugs in the middle of the night. Things seem to move and shift place on their own. And she begins to have strange dreams, vivid night terrors where a strange voice whispers in her ear, and something strokes her hair. Sam, ever the scientist, tries to find rational explanations for it all; but soon has to face the notion that perhaps her grandmother isn't really gone after all.

One of the best things about Kingfisher's work is that it takes time to build. You're allowed to spend some time getting to know the characters and the locations at first, seeing their ordinary lives and their mundane day to day activities, before the unusual begins to creep in. Small things start to happen that make you feel a little ill at ease, before she gives you a moment that absolutely makes your skin crawl and makes you say 'nope' over and over again. A House With Good Bones absolutely repeats this trick, as you spend a good portion of the book following Samantha, seeing her settle back into her childhood home, and watching her relationship with her mother.

We don't know this family, but through Sam it very quickly becomes clear that Edith isn't acting normally, and despite never having met the character before Sam's worry for her mother immediately sells to the reader how everything is off, how this isn't real. This undercurrent of things being wrong plays throughout the early parts of the book, so that even when we're spending time with Sam as she tries to do some of her work, or simply just watches TV and drinks wine it never quite feels normal. Then the really creepy shit starts and it makes your skin crawl all the more because this is a person that you've come to like, and because despite expecting something bad to happen you still aren't prepared for it.

This book definitely feels more in line with The Twisted Ones for me, as far as Kingfisher's other horror books go. It has that similar style where you're drawn into a fairly ordinary life, peppered with some unusual and interesting characters, and watch as your heroine tries to go about their life when these awful things start happening. That was the book that made me fall in love with this authors work, so revisiting that kind of feel, yet being absolutely its own thing, was wonderful.

The book also gives the reader a fat protagonist. So often you don't get that. There's a growing trend to have larger women take a leading role in books, though this often tends to be in romance novels from what I've seen. I'm not sure I've ever really seen a larger female protagonist in a horror book before; especially one who's smart, capable, and can kick arse when she needs to. And whilst there's no overt romance in the book, there's definitely every indication that she's won the handsome guy over and could have him if she wanted. She's smart, pretty, capable, fun, and fat; and that last one is something that we absolutely do not get enough of, and one that I love to see.

A House With Good Bones is an incredibly engaging and entertaining read. I quickly found myself sucked into the book, and kept reading because it was so hard to put down. And I know you should't judge books on appearance, but the hardback version of the book is a thing of beauty. The dust jacket has wonderful art on the cover, and the book beneath is a beautiful purple with a gold embossed cover. Even when you open it up you're treated to a gorgeous design on the inside covers. It's worth getting just for how pretty the book is; but, if you do crack it open and give it a read you're getting a phenomenal story too.

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The Basilisk Throne by Greg Keyes – Book Review

 

Originally published at Set The Tape

'For centuries those on the Basilisk Throne have ruled every continent, brutally enslaving the human inhabitants. But now, after endless wars, the three human empires of Ophion, Velesa, and Modjal have pushed the inhuman Drehhu back to their heartland and are united in one final, massive assault to defeat them forever. It’s been tried before, but the infernal weapons and dark magic of the Drehhu have always triumphed. Basilisk has never fallen.

'Commanding his merchant fleet in support of the human forces, Alastor Nevelon and his son Crespin set sail against the enemy—and this time they have their own secret weapons. The Drehhu, however, do not have a monopoly on deceit. or ambition. Alistor is forced to send his daughter Chrysanthe to the capitol city Ophion Magne as a "token" of his loyalty. He does so freely, for he is certain of treachery within the very empire he serves. After all, whomever controls the Basilisk Throne can control the world. He instructs Chrysanthe to use her considerable intellect to discover whatever plots may be afoot in the heart of Ophion. Chrysanthe agrees, knowing that in doing so she enters a dangerous place where courtly manners hide murderous intentions.

'While nations collide and the conflict explodes, the true key to defeating the Drehhu may lie in a remote mountain stronghold, a wild rogue known as Hound, and Ammolite, the young slave of a sorcerer more ancient than any nation and whose true loyalties are entirely unknown.'

Content warning: mention of child rape.

The Basilisk Throne is the first book in a new fantasy series by Titan Books that takes readers to a world at war, where the divided human empires have finally come together to destroy a dangerous, inhuman force that has enslaved their peoples, destroyed their lands, and ruled with fear. However, victory is a hard won thing, and for the several characters that we follow, treachery, double-dealings, and ancient secrets will stand in the way of survival or utter defeat.

The plot of The Basilisk Throne is not an easy one to get your head around at first, due in part to it following several different characters spread around the world that Greg Keyes has created, but also because the world that Greg Keyes has created is incredibly dense, and filled with tons of lore. For those that love to discover very well crafted worlds, filled with various peoples, nations, and politics, you’re going to get a lot out of this novel.

The story of The Basilisk Throne is split across a number of narratives, as the three human empires of Ophion, Velesa, and Modjal manage to put their differences aside to come together to deal with the Drehhu, a race of large, humanoid creatures that once ruled the whole world from the Basilisk Throne, but have slowly been driven back into smaller and smaller territory over the generations. The Drehhu are considered to be monstrous, and use powerful magics to propel their huge, metal ship across the ocean, spitting invisible magic at their victims that blow ships to pieces within moments. Those that they don’t kill they take as slaves, forced to work for the Drehhu’s powerful empire. But now the three human empires have decided to launch a final war against the Drehhu, with the aim to ending them once and for all.

The narrative follows a number of characters. The main characters are the Nevelon family. The patriarch, Alastor, recently promoted to Admiral in the merchant fleet, and who was once a slave of the Drehhu, is one of the first characters that we meet, but takes a back seat for the later parts of the book as his children start to lead the narrative. His son, Crespin, is a member of the navy, and is happy to see his people go to war with the Drehhu. However, thanks to his father’s new position as Admiral, he gets transferred from his military vessel to serve under his father. Resenting the transfer, and seeing it as a punishment, Crespin will not only have to learn to work with a new crew, but will have to come to terms with the kind of man he wants to be.

There’s also Chrysanthe, Alastor’s eldest daughter. Having grown up on her family estate she’s become a forthright young woman with a strong sense of right and wrong, and a sharp head on her shoulders. Expecting to take over the running of the estate when her father and brothers go to war, she’s surprised to learn that she’s being sent to the capital, Ophion Magna, as a political hostage. However, her father has charged her with a secretive mission: to use her wits and her intelligence to move within high society to try to uncover secret plots at play that could cause harm to the Nevelon family, or even risk the outcome of the war itself.

On the other side of the world we meet two other characters. There’s Hound, a native man who has been raised by some kind of forest witch or spirit, who is hired to lead a group of people through the dangerous woodland to a remote mountain. Their reasons for going there are kept secret, but it’s clear that their mission is one of great importance, with many lives in the balance. And there’s also Ammolite, a young woman who was sold into slavery at a young age and raised to her teens in isolation by a powerful magic user. Once she reached her sixteenth birthday the magician began to force her to drink a potion that would transform her into his lost love, and would then rape her. Having lived that way for years now, enduring assault after assault, Ammolite is desperate to find a way out.

The various plots in The Basilisk Throne seem fairly unconnected at first, but as the book progresses it becomes clearer that Keyes is playing a very long, calculated game here. The characters begin to meet, their stories begin to get connected, and a much larger narrative begins to form. Unfortunately, it can take a while for certain pieces of the puzzle to begin to appear, and there are times where characters will simply vanish from the narrative for a long while as everyone else’s stories get to a point where they’ve all caught up. It makes getting into The Basilisk Throne a bit more difficult than I was expecting.

The fact that one of the opening chapters also deals with the repeated sexual assault of a child is also something that makes starting the book quite hard. The book doesn’t contain any trigger warnings for this, and there are a number of times where characters are misogynistic and engage in sexual harassment and grossly sexualised thoughts about women, including main ‘heroic’ characters that often left an unpleasant taste in my mouth, and even had me putting the book down a time or two. Thanks to this, and the length and sheer density of the material, this is a book that took me much longer than normal to read, and there were times that I skipped it to read something else because the idea of going back to it wasn’t hugely appealing.

That being said, there is a lot of good to be found in The Basilisk Throne, and if you’re able to stick with it during the earlier stages of the book you’ll find some entertaining and engaging things in its pages. But, it’s a tough read at times. Hopefully, future parts of this series will either feature less content that deals with child rape (for instance), or will at least come with a warning.

The Basilisk Throne is an entertaining read, set in a very well realised and densely crafted world that the author has clearly spent a lot of time building. The characters are interesting, and their stories have moments of excitement, danger, and intrigue aplenty. For fans of huge fantasy epics filled with battles, court politics, and mystery, this is a book that you might want to try out.

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Batgirls #17 - Comic Review

 

Batgirls hasn't had the easiest of times. It was shown off as being a book about Steph and Cass before the book came out, and that got people excited. Barbara Gordon was going to be involved, but in a more support based role. Then the first story arc came out and it the younger Batgirls were somewhat sidelined in order to make it into a Babs story. That, along with art that some readers didn't really like, seemed to hurt the series as it took its first steps. Over time the book actually shifted to being about the girls, and Barbara is hardly involved anymore, and the book is what it was saying it was going to be; but those early missteps have resulted in the series being cancelled as the book finally finds its feet. Doubly a shame, this is easily the best issue of Batgirls yet, and it sucks knowing that this arc will be the final one.

Our story begins with Cass and Steph enjoying a day out at the Aparo Park Jubilee, where they get to eat food, meet with friends, and dance the day away. Having been through a lot lately (Steph has both died and become a bat monster in recent issues) they deserve something of a day off. As usual, whenever something's happening in The Hill, Grace O'Halloran is there to report on it, and to terrorise the locals in her own fun, lovable way.

During the party the power goes out on the dance floor, and gunshots ring out. The girls rush everyone inside one of the local stores for safety, but Grace reveals that her cameraman and friend Roky is missing, and still outside. Leaping into action, the girls don their costumes and head out to save him. They manage to find him, and Steph performs CPR on him, whilst Cass goes after the sniper. Whilst they're able to save Roky, who goes off to hospital in critical condition, the shooter manages to get away.

The girls are determined to try and track the shooter down, but Grace is having a rough time of it, trashing her apartment and staring at a bottle of alcohol. The issue makes a point earlier on that Grace has been struggling with drinking, and has been doing better, but her friend being in critical condition seems to be pushing her to a breaking point.

When the Batgirls head to a cemetery to break up gun sales that the local gang, The Hills Angels, are conducting, they come under attack once again as the sniper comes after them a second time. Whilst Steph runs interference Cass goes after the sniper, but finds only three bullets and a note saying 'One for each Batgirl' waiting for her.

This issue takes a step back from the weirdness of the last few issues, Man-Bat formula's and Lazarus Resin, to focus on a much more down to Earth issue; gun violence. This is always a tricky thing to tackle, especially in American media where any criticism of guns or the suggestion that the country has a gun problem can lead to huge arguments and drama; but it really seems to work well in this setting. The sudden shocking violence of a pleasant day out turning into hell when a shooter turns up is done subtly enough that the horror is clear, but it doesn't make it the focus. We get just enough of it before the girls have to head out go after the attacker.

The gun sale in the cemetery is also done well. There's the typical super hero stuff of Cass taking the gang out one by one from the shadows that's really fun and well done (I love that Steph is the distraction asking for them to make the right decision whilst Cass takes them down as it shows the two girls strengths), but its not the real focus here. The gang argue that they're doing a good thing, helping to arm people who are afraid, to give them a chance to defend themselves and feel safer. And indeed we see this in action, as their buyer is Grace, who seems more beaten down and afraid then we've ever seen her; and we saw her getting stabbed in the eye and fighting for her life before. This argument is countered by Steph saying that you don't need more untrained people with guns.

The book is bringing the real world arguments into the narrative, and whilst it seems to be taking a stance on which side is right by putting one in the mouth of the heroes, it doesn't preach or try to say that one point is clearly right. In one way I like this, because it's just showing the different approaches to the argument, and it's making the events of the book feel real; but it also seems to be trying to play it safe by not taking a hard stance. I'd like it if it did just turn around and say 'guns are bad', but I understand from a business point of view why DC wouldn't be able to do that, because the gun debate is incredibly toxic, and business interests always come first in big corporations like this. But the fact that the book is even drawing attention to this topic is appreciated.

It's not all gun violence and gloom, however, as the book also gives the girls some fantastic moments to shine, and they clearly have fun here too. The images of them letting loose and tearing up the dance floor together are great, and just makes me appreciate their friendship and connection. They also compliment each other well when out on mission, with the fore mentioned approach to the gang fight, and have some fun banter over their comms whilst doing stuff. 

One of the places in which this issue really shines is the art. This story look phenomenal, and Robbi Rodriguez and Rico Renzi work really well together here. The art is really crisp and clear, and Rodriguez makes every character feel full of energy and emotions. Every panel has something interesting going on, and you can see the emotions that characters are going through. Grace starts the book looking happy and confident, later we see her breaking down, barely holding it together, and by the end she seems small, frightened, and without hope. The art makes this so clear, and sells her emotional journey over the course of the issue in ways that previous artists on the book just haven't been able to capture. Renzi's colours work fantastically with Rodriguez's art, and the book brings in a lot of the colour schemes that the book has had since issue one, but still somehow makes it feel fresh and unique. There were a lot of panels in this issue that are my favourites of the series to date.

Batgirls might be coming to a close soon, but it seems like the book is prepared to go out on a high. This is already shaping up to be the best arc of the series; and maybe we could get lucky, and enough people start singing it's praises and the sale will go up enough to save the title, as I'd love to have more of these two characters together.

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The Tyrant Skies: A Marvel Untold Novel by David Annandale - Book Review

 

'The infamous Doctor Doom must face his deadliest enemy, the evil Red Skull, to save his people and himself in this thrilling Marvel: Untold novel.

'Victor Von Doom has many enemies, but he has a special loathing for the Red Skull. When the Red Skull creates a flying haven for the billionaire elite who share his deplorable values, Doom prepares himself for the worst. When Latveria is beset by a rash of terrorist attacks, his suspicions are confirmed: the Red Skull is coming for Doom’s homeland. Now he must infiltrate the shielded microstate drifting in the skies above Latveria to save his people from annihilation. But finding a way on board the floating city is just the first in a series of trials that will test Doctor Doom to the limits of his beliefs, his strength and his powers.'

The final part of the fantastic Doctor Doom trilogy from Aconyte Books and David Annandale is finally here, and after battling the forces of hell in The Harrowing of Doom, and battling vampire-like monsters in Reign of the Devourer, Doctor Doom is facing his most evil and disgusting enemy yet, Nazis.

The Tyrant Skies follows on some time from the events of the previous book, and Latveria has begun to return somewhat to normal following the events of the last book. Not a huge amount of time has passed, as we open with the heroes of Latveria receiving a parade in their honour, celebrating the actions that saved the country. Doctor Orloff, who went through a huge number of changes in the last book, in particular is held up as an example of what it means to be a citizen of Latveria, willing to step up and fight, and to follow Doom without question.

During all of this, Doom's attention is turned to the new island nation of Wolkenland, who are petitioning the United Nations for membership. A new nation built for the rich and powerful, and promised as a place where the wealthy elite can hide away from the rest of the world, it already seems somewhat dubious; but Doom suspects it harbours something even worse. When the UN grants it membership, a membership that Latveria voted against the island vanishes.

Deep within Wolkenland it's leader, the evil Red Skull, uses the power harnessed from the Cosmic Cube to make his island nation into a fortress. A flying fortress that hovers now over Latveria. And this begins a war with the fate of both nations hanging in the balance as the Red Skull begins launching terrorist attacks upon Latveria, before initiating all out war. As Doom flies up to Wolkenland to deal with the threat, his people are left to fight the invaders on their soil below. But when Doom is captured by the Skull things begin to look dire for Latveria.

One of the things that I've loved about this series since the first book, and that David Annandale does so well, is that it makes Doctor Doom into a character that you want to root for. He's a villain. He's a character that has done some truly awful things over the years, and is considered one of the worst villains in the Marvel universe. There are some villains that you can walk back a bit, some characters who can have their villainy not only justified, but also acceptable (Magneto was right!); but can Doom really be one of them? Not really, no. But in these books he' definitely the hero.

Part of this is down to the fact that the people of Latveria that we're shown seem to approve of Doom. He took power through force, and is a dictator, but the lives of the citizens of Latveria seem to be massively better than under their last brutal leader. It's not always palatable to think of, but there are people thriving in Doom's Latveria who would have probably have just been killed under the previous regime. Making one of the main characters, and one of Doom's top people that he seems to have respect for be a queer trans woman was a huge part of showing that he might be a villain, but he's not a monster. It also helps that he does fight monsters in these books.

The first book has Doom tackling the forces of Hell, the second has monsters that would kill or convert everyone in their path. This book needs a villain that's on that level, a group that is as disgusting as that, that you don't feel bad seeing die at all. Nazis more than fill that role. Any decent person will agree that Nazis are scum, that they're a stain on human history, and anyone who identifies as a Nazi today is worthy of scorn and contempt. The Nazis in this book revel in hurting people, they enslave, they kill, they torture. They're led by the Red Skull, an actual World War Two Nazi. There's no moral grey here. They're scum. As such, when Doom and his people start killing them you actually feel fine about it.

Annandale puts a human face on the villains for this entry in the trilogy, but it's one that's barely a human face. We see the horrors that they perform, with the rich and powerful of Wolkenland coming to watch slaves being worked to death whilst they sip champagne. We see the fear that the Skull and his people bring with them as Orloff realises that as a queer trans woman she will absolutely be put to death if the Skull wins. These might be people Doom is fighting, but they're the worst of humanity. And him standing against that makes him a heroic figure.

It's tough reading these books in some ways, because you shouldn't like Doom. You shouldn't be seeing a decent side to a villain that has invaded other countries, that has experimented on aliens, that has killed thousands, and has literally sent a child to hell before. He's not a good person, but he might be the person that Latveria needs the most. I imagine that there are a lot of writers who would make him either too heroic, or too villainous, but Annandale leaves him in this middle ground where you can put him in either category, and yet both feel wrong. It's a complexity that you don't often get with villains, and one that can be a lot of fun when you do.

The Tyrant Skies marks the end of this trio of books, and some of the best comic book prose novels around. I hope that we can get more from Annandale with this character in the future, though I'd also love to see what he could do with other characters in Marvel. Give him a Magneto book that allows him to go this dark and this morally ambiguous and it could be the best one yet.

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Batman/Superman: World's Finest #14 - Comic Review

 

Bruce Wayne has been accused of the murder of billionaire industrialist Simon Stagg, and now Metamopho is on the warpath to find out why. Can Superman and his new partner, Robin, get to the bottom of things in time?

The last issue of Batman/Superman: World's Finest ended on something of a surprise note, with Bruce on the front page of the Daily Planet, handcuffed and under arrest for the murder of a rival businessman. Thankfully, being incredibly rich and having the best lawyers that money can buy, Bruce is out on bail, and is able to return to the Batcave to try and figure out who's behind the crime. Unfortunately, he's also under heavy scrutiny and can't just vanish to go be Batman, so the actual legwork for the case is having to fall to Clark and Dick. I really enjoy Dick Grayson in this book, he's full of fun energy, and he works really well with Clark; so getting to see the two of them having some time together to work a case without Batman lurking around.

From here we follow Dick and Clark as they travel across the globe, looking for Rex Mason, Metamorpho. I love the image of Dick sitting on Clark's back as he flies, checking his tech for into and riding Clark like he's a form of transport. There are very few was for non-flying heroes to be flown around that doesn't feel odd, but this is just a funny image. It's also one that would probably feel a little disrespectful if it were anyone else, but because of the relationship these two have it just works.

The two of them eventually catch up with Metamorpho in Vensuela, where he's mashing up the robots of a local criminal in his search for answers. There's a great moment in this scene where a town gets set on fire during the fight and civilians are in danger. Metamorpho jumps into action, and keeps transforming into different things. The scene is accompanied by a commentary by Robin, who's explaining to the reader just what Rex is doing. It's really cool to see some of the versatility of the character, and the narration helps to make it clear what he's doing, and how his powers allows him to do it..

Whilst all of this is happening, Bruce recieves a cal from Oliver Queen, who's looking to work with Bruce on develoment of new AI tech. Ollie previously passed on this, and his sudden change of heart seems to surprise Bruce. Especially as he described some of Bruce's tech as fascistic; classic Ollie. This gets Bruce to look into other billionaire tech company leaders, and he begins to suspect that some people have been replaced. Clark uses his X-ray vision whilst at Stagg's funeral, and confirms that the man everyone saw die was in fact a sophisticated robot. After some investigation the heroes figure out that Professor Ivo is involved, and that he's likely forcing Will Magnus to help him.

Batman and Metamorpho head to Magnus' lab, where they find the Metal Men melted down into vats, somehow partially alive still, calling for help. Meanwhile Superman and Robin go looking for Ivo, and find a lab filled with half constructed robots, including an unfinished replacement for Bruce Wayne. The machines activate and begin to attack Robin, and Superman is unable to help him, as he comes under attack from a robot whose powers have been inspired by Metamopho, the Ultra-Morpho, who is able to turn its body into any element, including Kryptonite.

The final moments of this issue are fantastic stuff. You've got the horror of the Metal Men being melted down, their faces still visible in their vats, crying out for help, whilst Robin and Superman enter a room of robots in various stages of completion that look like a bunch of Terminators. And of course, Dan Mora has given us another fantastic new design in the form of the Ultre-Morpho. I've been a big fan of Mora's work ever since I saw him working on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and have loved seeing him work on DC's roster of characters; but there's something about the Ultra-Morpho that feels very tokusatsu inspired, and reminds me of that previous work. I love it.

Mora's art is incredible throughout, and the way he draws the shifting and altering nature of Metamopho's body is some of the best depictions of the character I've seen. Half of the panels he's in there's some part of him that's in motion, that's changing into something else, and it keeps the character feeling alive and interesting. The scene where he's saving the town by shifting into different things also looks fantastic. 

The next issue looks set to be pretty big, and it seems like the team are going to have their hands full dealing with this new enemy. But, if they can fix the Metal Men in time they'll at least have some extra allies. Plus, it'll be cool to see the Metal Men in action in this series. 

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Wonder Woman #798 - Comic Review

 

Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods is drawing closer to its conclusion, and the latest issue of Wonder Woman sees Diana and her allies clash with the forces of Olympus for the first time as the war kicks up a notch. 

A lot of this issue deals with the fight between Diana and Hera, so there isn't a huge amount to talk about. There's some stuff before the combat kicks off where the assembled heroes have to decide if they want Ares on their side, but they're so out gunned that they kind of have to take him on. There's a fantastic image of them all standing together, ready to face the forces of Olympus that's a really cool moment that I think will be one of the more memorable moments from the event; but this issue also has a couple of other moments like that too a it manages to pack a lot in.

Diana fights Hera one on one in order to settle things, hoping that she can spare her friends from having to get involved. The fight goes back and forth a couple of times, but it soon becomes clear that Diana just doesn't have the strength to stand up to the Queen of the Gods. Diana lays bloodied and broken, looking like this might be it for the brave Amazon; until Mary comes to her aid. Giving over her powers, she gives them to Diana, transforming her into a Shazam powered Amazon.

This is where things get a bit confusing for me if I'm being honest. The image of Diana with Shazam powers is pretty cool, but the other characters talk about it like it's never been seen before. Just a few months ago Black Adam gave everyone, including Diana, Shazam powers at the end of Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths so it kind of has been seen before. They also say that she's now become a god, but I thought that she'd already been made a god by Hera in the first issue of the event. Perhaps I've missed something, and that wasn't real, or she had her godhood taken back, but even so, why does the Shazam powers make her a god? Are Mary and Billy gods whenever they transform, or is this just a Diana thing, and if it is just a Diana thing, why? Either way, Diana is now powered up, has the Shazam abilities alongside her own powers, and is refreshed and healed enough to go into battle with Hera once again. 

That's where the main story ends, but the back-up feature gives us a little extra to the point where it's just the next part of the tale. After gaining her new powers Hera runs away from Diana in order to regroup with her forces and plan her next move. This gives the heroes a chance to have a bit of a breather, and for Diana to talk to Mary. Not only does she thank her for giving over he powers, but she tells her that when she did she got to see some of Mary's past, and how she's had a rough life. She tells Mary that coming through that like she did, and being such a kind, caring, heroic woman makes her a marvel.

She also gives Mary a gift from her Amazon sisters who Mary helped out in previous issues, equipping her with some tools that will give her flight, speed, and enhanced strength, so that she can stay in the fight. It's here, fighting alongside Diana, that Mary decides to give up the name Champion of Shazam, giving it over to Billy, instead declaring herself to be Mary Marvel. So, this is one of those moments I was talking about earlier that I think is going to stand out in this story. I still think of Shazam as Captain Marvel, I think it was a better name for him, and hate that the alternative name was just his magic word. I'd be more than happy to see the return of the Marvel family. So, Mary choosing to go by Mary Marvel, and picking that name because of how Diana described her as a person, is absolutely awesome to me. Mary went through a whole mini-series proving to herself and the audience that she's worthy to be the champion, to wield the powers, and now it feels like she's also forging a new path under a name unique to her.

This issue does a lot to move the story forward, and I honestly don't know how people who'd be reading the main event but not Wonder Woman would keep up with things, because this is some game changing stuff here. It feels like we're ready for the final push now, and that the next issue will absolutely put this war to bed. 

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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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