The Comic Cave – Superman: Up In The Sky

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The Comic Cave is a bi-weekly feature where we spin the Wheel of Comics and see what graphic novel story it brings up for us to deep dive into! This week we take a look at Superman: Up In The Sky, a book that puts a writer famous for his Batman stories onto DC’s other iconic hero.

In a previous entry of The Comic Cave we took at look at Batman Universe, a book that was originally published in twelve parts across issue of the Walmart exclusive book Batman Giant. This was a decision by DC to try to grab new readers; those who might not normally walk into a comic book shop, but have a passing interest in the characters. A similar thing is done here in the UK, where the easiest place to pick up select Marvel and DC comics is in supermarkets, where they’re reprinted in extra-sized books that collect two or three issues of whatever hero the book is for. But this is something rarely done in the US, so when DC tried it they tried it with their big two heroes, Batman and Superman. The story we’re looking at today was, much like Batman Universe, a completely new and original story for the book.

When I spoke about Batman Universe I mentioned how Brian Michael Bendis, the writer of that story, was working on both Superman and Action Comics at the time, and that he was swapped over to Batman for the Walmart book. The opposite was done for Superman, with Batman writer Tom King being put onto Superman Giant. Whether this was an experiment from DC, something that the writers wanted to do, or some kind of odd marketing idea, the result is two writers whose main books are not looked upon that favourably creating two of the most popular and well received Superman and Batman books in recent years.

Superman: Up In The Sky begins with Superman receiving a call from Batman, who tells him about a family that were murdered in Gotham. The parents and two of the children were killed, a third child was shot and is in hospital, and the fourth kid is missing. He tells Superman to go and talk to the little girl. Arriving at the hospital, Superman speaks to the girl, who tells her about her foster sister, Alice. The two of them were playing with their superhero toys in the basement. Alice took her Superman toy because Superman is her favourite, even though it’s not her toy. When the shooting started they ran out into the garden and hid in the bushes. The injured girl tells him about being shot, and as she lay there bleeding suddenly a man in a space suit appeared and took Alice. Took her “up, in the sky”.

Over the next few days Superman wrestles with what to do. He wants to raise awareness of what happened using the Daily Planet, but his boss doesn’t think there’s much of a story there. He asks Green Lantern to help, and Hal sends the girl’s details to the rest of the Corps, but doesn’t hold out much hope in finding her. Batman tells Superman that he might have a clue as to the next piece of the puzzle, the planet Rann, but Superman feels like he can’t just leave Earth for one girl.

He goes to see his father and explains everything, and Jonathan Kent agrees that it would be tough to find her, and says that she might never be found. He also tells him that because she’s a kid she’ll be hoping she will be found; that her faith in Superman won’t let her give in. When Batman delivers the news that the girl in the hospital died of her injuries, Superman takes to the skies and flies into space. He’s going to bring Alice home.

This begins various trial for Superman to overcome, and the subsequent twelve parts of the series deal with snapshots of his journey across the universe to try to save this one little girl. His first stop is the planet Rann, where they have data that might be able to track where the teleportation beam that took Alice went. Unfortunately, they tell Superman that the best computer in the universe tried to figure out the date, and it killed it. Superman plugs his mind into the machine, and has them put the data into his head, sending him into a strange dream reality. In this reality a boy puts on a Superman costume and jumps off his roof, killing himself. Superman believes his example led to this death, and quits being a superhero. He then meets this young girl, and the two of them talk on a park bench, where she mentions going to the Bode’s galaxy. He asks her her name, and it’s Alice. Superman snaps out of the dream, with the knowledge of where Alice is, having survived the impossible to do so.

The next stage of his journey sees Superman in a boxing ring, fighting against an alien named Mighto. Mighto knows where the kidnappers went, but won’t tell Superman unless he beats him in a fight. The two battle for round after round, with Superman being brutalised. He refuses to give in though, no matter how much Mighto tells him to. When Mighto realises that Superman is never going to stop, that he’ll keep finding the strength to go on, he falls and is counted out.

From here we find Superman drifting in space, close to death from some unseen foe. His body is found by an alien ship and he’s brought aboard. The ships healer tries to fix him, but discovers that doing so will cost his own life, as he heals by transferring life essence. But the bond he made with Superman shows him all of the things that Superman has done, the lives, and planets he’s saved, and that he will always fight for a better tomorrow. The healer knows that he can’t let a man like Superman die, and so gives his life to save him. The issue ends with Superman visiting the healer’s family, delivering his last message, and then mourning with them.

The next stage in his journey is one that will test his patience, as he waits in line to make a call back home to Earth. Stuck in a huge, busy alien communications centre, Superman is forced to wait for hours, going from window to window, talking to bureaucrats in an effort to just call home and talk to his wife. All the while he’s imagining the awful things that could have happened to Lois while gone. Eventually he manages to get to talk to his wife, just for a moment, and it gives him the energy he needs to go on in his search.

Following this, Superman is pulled through a crack in time, and ends up in World War II with amnesia. Found by Sergeant Rock and Easy Company, ‘Kansas’, as they call him, is with them as they try to capture a Nazi-controlled church. When a grenade lands in the middle of the group he grabs it to throw it away, and it explodes in his hand. The explosion jolts his memory, and he fights alongside Easy Company as Superman, helping them take the church, before returning to his own time.

Then we’re told a story by Alice, of the time that Superman and The Flash had a race for charity. Billions was raised all across the world, and whilst people were excited for the race no one thought Superman would win; no one except Alice. During the race Lex Luthor promises to match whatever money is raised, if Superman wins. He believes that Superman will fail, and wants him to find out after that he lost money for charity. But Superman is always listening in on Lex, and hears the promise. And so Superman, somehow impossibly, pushes himself harder and harder, and wins. That’s why Alice knows Superman will find her, why he’ll keep coming. We see that Alice is chained up, surrounded by other prisoners, some dead, still clutching her Superman toy.

After making it back from the past, Superman is hit by a strange lightning, that splits him into both Superman and Clark Kent. Clark is the decent, human side of the hero, whilst Superman is cold and calculated in his approach. The new Superman thinks going off to save one girl is ridiculous when he could be saving more, whilst the fragile, human refuses to give in. The two have a long back and forth, but eventually agree to fly back up together, hoping that another lightning strike will return them to one man.

The final stage of his journey to find Alice takes Superman to one of the worst places in the universe: the home of Darkseid. The evil god promises to tell Superman where Alice is, if Superman agrees to kill an innocent person. With no other way to find the girl, Superman agrees. He eventually comes to a world where an old alien is sick. His mind is failing him, and great pain is coming. He wants his life to end, but doesn’t have the strength to take it himself. He thinks that Superman is an angel come to help him.

Superman goes with the alien, he takes the knife, and we see him struggle to find the strength to do what he must, pulled back and forth on what’s right. We then see Superman leave the alien’s home, the light now extinguished. Coming back to Darkseid he tells him that the deed is done. Darkseid doesn’t believe him, to which Superman responds “If that is a lie, then I have broken my word. And if it’s the truth… then I’ve broken my word. Either way Darkseid, I have fallen. Either way Darkseid. You win.” And so Darkseid tells him where Alice is.

Superman finds the world where Alice has been taken, but is taken prisoner. Chained in indestructable metal, the aliens make him an offer: give up, leave them be, and they will bring him peace on Earth. They show him his perfect day, a world where he can take his time, where there’s no crime to worry about, where the worst he has to deal with is helping a cat out of a tree. He refuses, and breaks the bonds holding him. Meanwhile, on Earth, the aliens have sent an army of robotic warriors to conquer the planet, and the Earth’s heroes are falling to them.

On the aliens’ world we learn that they took Alice to study, to better prepare their forces to fight humans. They took a girl that no one would miss, that no one would care about. Superman destroys their controls, disables their army, and breaks Alice free from her chains. He then puts her in a tiny space suit, and flies her back to Earth, answering all of her questions along the way. Along the way they stop at the home of the alien Superman was supposed to kill, and we learn that instead he found a way to cure him of his illness. When they eventually make it back home she tells him that there’s one question that she didn’t need to ask him, why he came for her, because she already knows the answer: because he’s Superman.

Superman: Up In The Sky isn’t a long story, it’s only six issues, but thanks to Superman Giant breaking the story into twelve parts, King uses this to structure it in such a way that it feels like it packs a lot in. King makes the most of the space he’s been given, and never really wastes a moment as each of the parts of his story takes an impressively deep dive into what makes Superman who he is. Whether it’s seeing him fighting against the urge to go save Alice at the beginning of the book, refusing to be beaten over and over again, or doing the impossible, the story makes a point of explaining each and every act of heroism as ‘because he’s Superman’. It seems like Tom King understands Superman in a way that not every writer does, that it’s not his strength and powers that make him special, but his force of will, and his refusal to let evil win out that does.

There are several amazing moments in this story, moments that very quickly became some of my favourite for Superman. His refusal to fall for Mighto, with his face more battered and bruised then when he literally died fighting Doomsday. The moment he comes to the healer’s family and delivers his last message o them, knowing that someone gave their life for him (something he’s never asked anyone to do). And the whole segment with Darkseid and Superman contemplating killing a man. There’s a misconception amongst some people that Superman needs to be violent, that he solves all of his problems by fighting and hitting things. This tends to be people who don’t read a whole lot of Superman, or people who are only passingly familiar with the character thanks to film and TV. But that’s not really who he is. And this book showcases that wonderfully.

The art on the book, by Andy Kubert, with colours by Brad Anderson, looks fantastic. Kubert is part of a comic legacy, and the entire family is hugely talented, and his work here shows why. Superman looks amazing throughout, you can feel his emotions, can see the struggle on his face each story, whether that be the grief at what’s happened, the determination, or the utter sense of powerlessness and borderline rage he feels being stuck in line. Kubert portrays the character wonderfully, and the art is a big reason for the story being so well crafted here. Kubert also does a brilliant job at filling the universe that Superman is travelling through, making it a weird and wonderful place.

There are a few books that people always seem to bring up when talking about the best Superman stories. Things like All-Star Superman, The Death of Superman, Superman Red Son, and Whatever Happened To The Man of Tomorrow. But Superman: Up In The Sky very much deserves to be on those lists too. It’s an amazing example of the character, of how creative you can be with Superman, and why there’s a reason he’s not just the first superhero, but the best superhero.

Superman: Up In The Sky was originally published in Superman: Giant from September 2019 to February 2020 by DC Comics.

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Disney Infinity – Throwback 10

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Mega corporations own a lot of stuff, and Disney is no exception. It’s not too surprising when looking at their various franchises and characters that places like Disneyland is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world; after all, who wouldn’t want to hug Mickey Mouse, meet an Avenger, and fly the Millennium Falcon all in one day? And thanks to the magic of video games you’re able to bring a little of that to your own home in the form of Disney Infinity, a game series that combines some of the most popular Disney and Pixar animated properties with Marvel Comics, and Star Wars. But before all of Disney’s toys were all in one box, things started off a bit simpler in the original release, which has just turned ten years old.

In 2011, the Spyro franchise got a huge refresh when it released Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure. This game may not have introduced the world to the ‘toys-to-life’ video game concept (the first being made way back in 1987 with Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future) but it’s the one that kicked off a whole new love for the form, and made it big business over the next several years. The concept is simple: you buy a base game that comes with a couple of toys, that when placed onto a special sensor brings those characters to life in the game. Players can purchase extra characters by going out and buying more toys. It’s like buying DLC or extra content, except that you actually have a physical thing on your shelf at the end of it.

There is absolutely a conversation to be had about whether or not this is a predatory form of gaming, and you can easily see how charging per character and getting the target audience (mostly kids in this case) to want to complete the set and collect them all can lead from a single video game purchase to hundreds of pounds being spent on a single gaming experience. The fact that you’re buying a real object rather than just data does take the edge off to a large degree, and parents seemed happy to purchase extra toys for kids. And this absolutely got the attention of multiple developers and companies, who saw a whole new way to make more and more money. Thus the resurgence in toys-to-life games began.

Amiibo, Pokémon Rumble U, Beyblade Burst, Telepods, Lightseekers: Awakening, Hero Plug and Play, Sick Bricks, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, and Lego Dimensions all jumped onto the bandwagon, and a few (such as Lego) did very well for themselves. But one that was popular even before it was released, with excitement building up months in advance, was Disney Infinity. One of the better of the toys-to-life products, Disney Infinity offered larger toys that were akin to statuettes. These figures featured stylised versions of multiple Disney and Pixar characters, and were big attention grabbers in stores.

The base game came with Sully from Monsters University, Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean, and Mr Incredible from The Incredibles, along with the story missions for each of those franchises. This allowed new players to play through three sets of story missions with the main characters of each, though there are sections and missions that would require additional characters to fully complete. Alongside the story settings, there’s also the Toy Box, one of the bigger draws for the game. In the Toy Box characters from any set can interact and be on screen together, and players are able to create their own worlds and environments from pieces unlocked by playing.

The Toy Box offered extensive customisation options, and it quickly became a showcase for players creativity and ingenuity. The fact that the game rewarded payers with more pieces for the Toy Box through play encouraged players to keep playing, and in order to keep playing and unlock everything you’d have to go out and buy those extra characters. Additional characters were sold individually, along with a few double and triple packs, such as a triple pack that offered an additional character for each of the base set’s levels. More story levels were also introduced in their own sets, which included Cars, Toy Story, and The Lone Ranger. To appeal to those ‘hard-core’ collectors, there were also special game pieces that were released in lower quantities, which were made in clear plastic, called the Crystal Series.

Disney Infinity received positive reviews upon release, with critics and the public praising it for both the enjoyable game play, and the quality of the figures. Thanks to that success, further additions to the game were made in the form of sequels. The first of these new releases would introduce Marvel characters to the franchise, with play sets for The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Spider-Man, and the third game bringing in Star Wars, with story packs for The Clone Wars, the original trilogy, and The Force Awakens, alongside Inside Out, Finding Dory, and Marvel Battlegrounds. Each new version would also include more characters that did not come with their own levels that could be used in the Toy Box. With each game being backwards compatible it meant that earlier characters could be used in later games, but in order to play new releases players would need each new starter set as they came out.

Despite the popularity of the franchise, the series ended in 2016, with no real reason given from Disney as to why. After the cancellation of the series, designs and concept art was released for what would have been additional character and story releases, including Doctor Strange, Spider-Gwen, and a Moana playset. Disney have adapted the style of the games figures for actual toy releases though, giving those that miss the franchise the chance to recreate it with an actual toy box. Despite not lasting long, Disney Infinity was a lot of fun whilst it was here, and as someone with every single figure released for it, it’s still great to get it out and have a play with it a decade on.

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Godzilla: War for Humanity #1 – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

One of the best things about the Godzilla universe is that there’s so much of it that there’s something for everyone. Whatever you’re after, there’s something here for you. If you want the darker, more horrific side of things, the original Godzilla is there for you (with the upcoming Godzilla Minus One looking set to be scarier too!). If you want something that’s big, bombastic, and all about the fights and destruction there’s stuff like Godzilla: Final Wars or Godzilla: King of the Monsters. There’s even plenty of Kaiju action that’s aimed squarely at the younger audience, with films like All Monsters Attack and comics like Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors.

Godzilla: War for Humanity, the latest release from IDW Publishing, falls into that latter category it seems, thanks to wonderfully bright and deceptively simple looking art that stands out as something that younger readers would love. However, this also seems like a series that could appeal to older readers too, with enough character and story scattered throughout to get you wanting to come back for the second issue.

The book opens with a flashback to when our lead character, Yuko Honda, was just ten years old, and was out playing in the woods with her friend. Their idyllic day is changed when the monster Hedorah starts attacking the area, trying to cause fires and destruction so that it can feed off the smoke and pollutants it causes. Thankfully, Godzilla arrives on the scene, and engages with Hedorah, stopping his rampage and directing it elsewhere. Thus began a lifelong interest in Kaiju, and a lifelong belief that Godzilla is more of a protector than a destroyer.

Yuko is delivering a lecture about Godzilla when she’s approached by a douchey tech-bro named Phazon Fullchech, who wants to recruit her to help with a mission. He shows her footage of a new monster that emerges from the earth, attacks peaceful Kaiju, and turns them into rampaging monsters. Working for a clandestine, military funded group, Yuko is asked to lend her expertise into stopping this new monster, dubbed Zoospora, before it’s too late.

Godzilla: War for Humanity does something that I’ve not seen in many Godzilla books: it gives us something new. Yes, a lot of this feels like things that we’ve seen before –  monsters going berserk, a group of soldiers and scientists trying to stop them, the deployment of a man-made Kaiju fighting machine (M.O.G.U.E.R.A. in this case). But it balances out these familiar elements with a brand new monster. Often the comics will recycle old creatures, giving us new origins, or changing up some aspect of them to give them a fresh take, but this might be the first time I can remember reading a Godzilla comic with a completely new big bad. And it’s kind of refreshing.

The new monster, a bipedal fungus creature, bears some similarity to monsters like Hedorah and Biolante, but still has features completely unique to itself. The similarities to some existing monsters isn’t a criticism either, as it makes it feel somewhat connected to what’s come before, and means that it doesn’t feel out of place in this world. The art style also helps with this, as all of the monsters have a much simpler, almost exaggerated look to them that this new monster doesn’t need to look super realistic.

The art on the book, by Jake Smith, is a big draw for this book, and I can see a lot of people picking it up because of the way it looks. Smith not only provides the pencils, but colours the work too, and chooses bright, contrasting colours at times that gives each scene its own feel. The opening forest scene is bright and beautiful, filled with lush colours, whilst the secret base Yuko gets taken to is very cool blues and greens that not only makes the characters pop on page, but feels beautifully retro to look at. The art on the book reminds me of the big, bright style art found in the Criterion Collection Godzilla: The Showa Era Blu-ray set, a box set presented as an art book filled with new poster art for several movies. I adored looking through that set, and the art in this book would feel right at home in those pages.

This seems to be an interesting start to a new story; one that’s trying to do something new and adding to the world its set in. With us only having briefly seen this new monster, however, we’re yet to know how big of a foe it’s going to be to our heroic Kaiju.

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G'nort's Illustrated Swimsuit Edition #1 - Comic Review

 

I count the Green Lanterns amongst my favourite comics, I love the characters, the mythology, and operatic space adventures, it's all my jam. But I also love G'nort. I've got a soft spot for the weird dog man. I cheered when he arrived in the final issue of the Johns GL run, and I've got a sweet G'nort action figure on my shelf that I bought the second I saw it without any hesitation. As such, I was delighted when G'nort's Illustrated Swimsuit Edition was announced. I needed more G'nort in my life.

Sadly, from that perspective, the issue is something of a let down, as the character barely features in it. Most of the issue is given over to scantily clad heroes in their beach wear in sexy pin-up style images that look fantastic and feature some great artists. There are however, two stories included in the book.

The first of the stories, 'Baewatch' is written by Julie Benson and Shawna Benson, and features art from Meghan Hetrick and Marissa Louise, and features Poison Ivy, Black Canary, Huntress, Vixen, and Batgirl pretending to be having a fun day at the beach, whilst secretly on the lookout for Penguin, who's there to get revenge that his private beach was opened to the public. The villain tries to destroy an underwater pipeline, and ladies set out to stop him. The story is decent enough, has a sense of fun to it, has a cute look to it, and it feels like the kind of thing you'd get from an all ages cartoon rather than something in main continuity; yet remains enjoyable. 

The second story is 'Out There' by Steve Orlando, which sees Midnighter and Apollo hanging out and relaxing on the beach when they pick up a call for help out at sea. Springing into action, they find the gorilla terrorist Monsieur Mallah attacking a ship, trying to free his lover, The Brain, from Imprisonment. The heroes defeat the villains, but having seen that they just want to be together, arrange for them to be put in adjoining cells whilst in prison. 

The issue also includes a page of text interview with G'nort, where he discusses taking pin-up pictures for the special. And that's about it, that's all you get in the issue. Several sexy pictures, two stories that vaguely involve the beach, and a fake interview. 

As someone who picked this up to add it to my Green Lantern collection because G'nort was in the title and on the cover I do feel quite let down by it, especially with the price tag too. This could have been a lot better, especially as many of the images inside the book have already been shared around online before the book's release, with only a handful of pages feeling like new material.

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Savage Squad 6 #2 – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Dark Horse‘s grim post-apocalypse action series Savage Squad 6 returns for its second issue, taking the series in a different direction than expected as things get very weird in the irradiated Pripyat, as our all-female team of soldiers try to steal fuel rods from the ruins of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor.

The opening issue of the series spent some time getting readers caught up on the world of Savage Squad 6, a future less than 15 years from now, but one where the world has fallen into ruin and darkness at the hands of an evil regime that slaughters anyone different for their own amusement. It’s here that we meet the titular Savage Squad, a group of young women who’ve had to step up and become warriors in order to protect the remnants of their home. Their newest member, medic Nat, has joined the team on their latest mission, preparing them to head into one of the most dangerous places on the planet.

Unfortunately, the group came under attack last issue, and a member of the team, Shells, was lost. The group are left thinking that it was the mutant bear that attacked camp, or that perhaps it’s a member of the evil Scourge who might have taken her. But as we saw at the end of the last issue, there are even more monsters out there waiting for them. Unable to stop and mourn for their friend, or try to find her body, the team continue on with their mission to the reactor. As the others head deeper into the irradiated zone, team sniper Mags take up position high in the famous Pripyat Ferris wheel. But as the team head into danger Mags is hunted by something much worse than the Scourge.

So, the first issue of the series kept things relatively grounded to a degree. Yes, it’s a futuristic setting with one foot in science fiction, but it still kept things fairly realistic. This issue, however, seems to fully embrace the more over-the-top elements to the point where it is actually quite surprising how wild things get here.

There is also what feels like a slight inconsistency with the first book. The final page reveal of the first issue showed readers that the Savage Squad were being hunted by a large mutant wolf. With glowing veins, two heads, and multiple eyes, the creature stood atop two ruined cars. The wolf is large, and looks to be maybe 15-20 feet in length. In the second issue, however, one of these wolves is shown standing up against the Ferris wheel, coming up to half the height. This is a lot bigger than the previous issue made out. The Pripyat Ferris wheel is 85ft tall and the wolf is at least half that (maybe a bit more), so this animal is at least 40ft long. It’s not just a large monster, it’s now in Kaiju territory. I’m not against giant monsters by any means, but the reveal of its true height was so surprising that it did kind of jolt me out of the book for a moment.

If the first issue was establishing the team that we’re following, this one is setting up the threat that they have to face. There’s a moment when the Scourge make an appearance, only to be shown as less scary, and less threatening than the monstrous mega-wolves that have made Pripyat their home. This sets the stall nicely for the book, and establishes a threat that is going to test the team to breaking point (they’ve already experienced losses), but we’re now at the half way point in the story and it feels like quite a lot of time has been spent on the set-up. With the team being up against such overwhelming odds perhaps the series is going to use the short length to further emphasise how deadly the wolves are; perhaps they don’t need more than an issue to kill off most of the team. The next two issues definitely feel like the ones that will make or break the story, and now that the shit has hit the fan and everything’s gone to hell it’s going to be how it all wraps up from here that matters.

The art team do a decent job here, with the same creators as on issue one. There are some times where, thanks to the roughness of the art and the somewhat messy quality, a panel or two feel like they’re a bit rushed in places, which is the biggest downside of this style of art. When it looks good it’s great, but when it’s not firing on all cylinders it can feel like perhaps some corners were cut in order to meet deadlines. There are some really solid moments though, such as the big reveal of the mega-wolf standing up against the Ferris wheel, howling up at its prey. It’s likely to be the one image from the series that people will remember the most, and it absolutely stands out for how well executed and cool the moment is. Though the preview for the cover image for the third issue is ridiculously impressive too.

This very much felt like a mixed issue, one where the more realistic and ridiculous tones came together in such a way that the shift into the wilder stuff felt a little more jarring than was probably intended. That being said, it was still a decent and enjoyable read. It’s likely that things from here are going to move a lot faster, and will be going a bit more over-the-top, and I’m interested to see how it all turns out.

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Blade #2 - Comic Review

 

The first issue of this new volume of Blade saw the titular vampire hunter coming to the aid of a young woman being hunted by supernatural forces. Her boyfriend was murdered, she was forced to flee her home, and a mystical assassin was chasing her. Luckily, Blade saved her life and killed the assassin. Unfortunately, it turned out that the whole thing was a set-up, that the assassin was a good guy, and that Blade killed the only person able to stop her. Revealing herself to be an ancient evil entity called the Adana, she leaves Blade with the knowledge that he may have just doomed the Earth.

This issue sees Blade trying to put things right, seeking out a weapon that might be able to put Adana down for good. His search takes him to Japan, where he arrives just in time to save supernatural arms dealer Tulip from being killed. Thanks to their previous relationship, Tulip agrees to help Blade find a weapon that will help to stop the Adana. However, before they can do much towards finding such a weapon Tulip is kidnapped by the forces of Lord Daido. Now Blade sets out to save Tulip a second time, even though it will put him up against another ancient supernatural being.

If the first issue in this series was set-up, this one feels like the first stage in a fetch-quest. Blade has his mission, but in order to get the things he needs in order to complete it he's going to have to jump through a few hoops along the way; the first of which being keeping Tulip alive long enough to help him. There are plenty of people who deride this kind of storytelling, who complain that it's padding or stretching things out, but a simple situation ending up becoming more complex and dangerous than you first think is a classic piece of story-telling, and if Blade ends up going on lots of side-quests along the way I'm all for that. 

It helps that despite this feeling like we've veered away from the main plot even in the second issue the book remains really entertaining. I've not read a whole lot of Blade before, so don't really know what he's like in comics outside of a few guest appearances here and there, but I really enjoy the way he's written in this series so far. He has a coldness to him, a desire to try and keep people at arms length, yet he never comes across as a dick. He shows consideration for others, and even talks kindly and shows compassion at times. I enjoy seeing him interact with the different characters this series has given him, and those relationships have been a fun part of the narrative.

Of course, the book also features some action set pieces, and they're put together really well. Blade jumping into a helicopter, shooting enemies with a magic gun before jumping back into the skyscraper before the vehicle drops to the ground and explodes is a seriously cool moment, and the art team do a fantastic job as visualising the unnatural way that Blade moves around an environment without you getting lost or confused. 

It's still very early days for this series, and it seems like the book is going to be offering a decent amount of variety for readers. If it continues with the level of quality characterisation, and the art remains as good as it is this may just end up being one of the more stand out titles for the character. 

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Saints Row IV – Throwback 10

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

When the first game in the Saints Row series came out it was very quickly labelled as a Grand Theft Auto clone, and it’s not hard to see why those comparisons were made. It put players in the role of a criminal gang member, and you undertook missions to further your standing amongst your peers as you changed the criminal world around you.

The game play was similar enough that it had a double edged effect of drawing in some GTA fans, whilst also stopping others from picking it up, thinking it was just a knock-off. As such, as the series went on the developers would take pains to make sure their games stood out as different; and boy does Saints Row IV do its own thing.

At the end of the previous game the leaders of the Third Street Saints had taken control of the city of Steelport, and had declared it its own independent nation, seceding from the United States. The fourth game opens with the Saints and their leadership coming to the aid of the US government, stopping a terrorist attack that would wipe out Washington D.C.. This sets the Saints up as heroes, and skipping ahead to five years later the leader of the Saints has been elected President of the United States. This seems to set up the new status quo of the Saints being in charge of the whole nation, ready to cause chaos as you play as the President. But then the game gets weird.

Aliens invade. Aliens from space come to Earth and capture the President, along with their inner cabinet (all of the previous Saints, along with the actor Keith David, who plays himself). Then the world is blown up – before you’ve even had much chance to do anything in the game. From here your character is dropped into a simulation of Steelport, which you have to find your way out of, making the new game’s setting a post apocalypse Matrix simulation controlled by aliens. No one can say they’re copying Grand Theft Auto anymore.

Much like the opening of Saints Row IV, the development of the game is a hell of a weird journey. After the release of the third entry in the series, development on a fourth game, Saints Row: Part Four, was started. It was set to be similar to the previous entry, with the player taking control of a new character in a new city other than Steelport. It was during the development that a joke DLC for the third game was announced, Enter the Dominatrix, which would be set in a computer simulation made by aliens. The joke was so well received that the developers thought ‘Why not?’ and actually started to create it.

However, when THQ began to tighten the strings and told their various developers to cut down costs, the team at Volition decided that the DLC idea was the more fun of the two, and so scrapped the original sequel and upgraded the DLC to the fourth entry in the franchise.

The game played similarly to previous entries, with the player in control of a customisable character in a third person perspective, taking them through the city of Steelport, completing missions, capturing objectives, or simply exploring. But the game does offer some ridiculous new additions. Thanks to being in a computer simulation there’s very little that’s off the table, and your character gets to have very over-the-top powers and abilities. The weapons also don’t have to make sense or stick to real world logic, and you get set loose with laser guns, weapons that suck things up, and even a sword shaped like a dildo. In many ways Saints Row IV takes the very basic start of the series and takes it to its most ludicrous extremes.

Even the DLC for the game would do this, with a stand alone expansion called Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell taking the players to Hell, where they’d fight demons, monsters, and various mythological and biblical beings as the player flies around with angel wings. And this is perhaps the biggest problem with the game: it goes too far. It’s no surprise that following this the next entry in the series is a remake of the first game, because when you’ve blown up the Earth and been to Hell where else can the series go?

If you’re looking for an open world game that’s ridiculous, lets you do pretty much anything you want, and never for a moment takes itself too seriously, then Saints Row IV is the game for you, especially if you’ve burned out on the same old approach of each entry in the Grand Theft Auto series. But if silly humour and fart jokes aren’t your thing then you might struggle with this one. But with the game having just turned ten years old you can find a copy super cheap, and even the updated versions with all of the extras can be found for a good price. It’s even come to the Switch, so you can murder aliens with a dildo sword anywhere.

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Action Comics Presents: Doomsday Special #1 - Comic Review

 

Doomsday is one of those characters that has struggles every time he's appeared in comics. His first appearance was beating the Justice League with one hand tied behind his back, then murdering Superman. Once you've done that what else can you do with the character? Doomsday peaked early, and it takes a lot of creativity to make him interesting now. Luckily, Dan Watters has a new twist in this monstrous villains tail for readers.

Supergirl and Martian Manhunter take centre stage in this new special, as Kara experiences a nightmare about Doomsday. It turns out that it was a psychic message sent to her by J'onn, one that he needed a Kryptonian to help decipher, but didn't want to involve the man Doomsday beat to death lest it cause some trauma. After having dealt with a psychic ghost of Doomsday in the recent Lazarus Planet, J'onn is worried that the monster might be trying to com back yet again. The two of them decide to try and get to the bottom of things, and when they join their minds in a psychic link the two of them are teleported away from Earth into the very pits of hell itself.

The afterlife has always been a thing in DC, with character appearing as ghosts, and people coming back from the dead on a somewhat regular basis. The Spectre, one of the oldest heroes, is quite literally God's vengeance, and there's been an angel on the JLA at one point. Despite that, Kara is somewhat surprised that a christian hell exists. We're given an explanation for this, one that actually becomes super important to the plot of this story; humans belief in an afterlife, and in hell, make it real. And the reason they've been brought to hell by the literal devil? Doomsday is there, and he's causing trouble. 

The unstoppable beast has been tearing through the demons of hell, and the doomed souls, and hell have started to believe that he's able to do anything. Thanks to the souls of hell believing in the power of Doomsday he's becoming stronger and stronger, and will soon have enough power to break apart hell's doorway, allowing him to return to Earth. Kara and J'onn know that Doomsday can't be allowed to return to the world of the living, and so agree to take the fight to him there. Supergirl engages the monster in combat, wearing the devil's own armour, whilst J'onn tries to shape the hearts and minds of the damned.

Superman has always been connected to science fiction, he's an alien after all. Even the most fantastical parts of his mythology, like the reality bending powers of Mr Mxyzptlk aren't explained as magic, but advanced science from another dimension. As such, seeing Doomsday in the literal biblical hell is a shocking and jarring decision; but it's one that works really, really well. Doomsday has never looked more threatening than he does here, marching over a sea of fire and the skeletal terrain of hell. It helps to hammer home the danger of this thing, the kind of threat that he brings to the table. And when the devil is afraid of the thing you know it's bad.

I can't also help but feel that this comic is in some ways a counter to stories such as the Supergirl arc in Superman/Batman, where an army of Doomsday clones swarm Themyscira and are all quickly killed. There haven't been many Doomsday stories, but those we have have started to make the monster into less and less of a threat. This issue is going out of its way to do the exact opposite. It's all hype. And when you reach the end and realise that this has been laying the groundwork for a Doomsday story that's going to be taking place across both Superman and Action Comics that makes a lot of sense.

The art works really well for this story too, featuring the work of Eddie Barrows, Eber Ferriera, and Adriano Lucas. The art is dark, and it helps in creating the atmosphere that the book needs to work as well as it does. The opening page alone, showing Doomsday in hell, is both gorgeous and terrifying, and sets the stage for the rest of the book wonderfully. There are times when the art looks grim, dirty, and disturbing, and for a story set in hell fighting the worst monster DC has at its disposal it's a perfect fit.

This Doomsday story isn't the only thing on offer in this issue, as we also pick up on a plot thread already mentioned, the Doomsday story in Lazarus Planet. During that event Doomsday almost returned through psychic energy, and it was only via the efforts of Martian Manhunter, and the sacrifice of the new character Raphael Arce. The backup feature reveals that Raphael went to hell when he died, and that his spirit now finds itself in one of the lower levels of the pit, where he's accosted by the demons that call it home. 

But Raphael isn't defenceless in hell, as he took some powers from Martian Manhunter when they were connected, and transforms himself into the hero Bloodwynd in order to fight the demons of hell and free the damned souls. Bloodwynd, having previously been an alter-ego for J'onn at the time when Doomsday first appeared, it's kind of cool to see the character return as his own hero, separate from J'onn and doing his own thing. This back-up is written really interestingly, and there are some twists and surprises in the tail that not only make it an interesting read, but something that you want to see more of.

With the promise of more thins to come from the character in the future, Action Comics Presents: Doomsday Special feels like it's setting up something big and exciting. Doomsday has returned a number of times over the years, but this is one of the few times where it actually feels like that return is something to look forward to.

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Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons #2 – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Throwing together modern pop culture with historical settings has long been something that has entertained people, whether it’s things like putting alien hunters in the 1700s in Prey, or putting characters like Wonder Woman into World War I or the 1980s, folks love a good mash-up. It’s not even a modern thing: Mark Twain did it with A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court in 1889! Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons is just following on in this proud tradition, but setting a Godzilla story in the 1500s.

The first issue of the series introduced readers to the pirate Mr Hull, who is about to be hung for his crimes in the Caribbean. However, before he heads to the gallows he’s managed to convince his jailers to hold off on his execution by telling them a story about Sir Francis Drake, and a mysterious mission to an island in search of lost treasure. The mission was so secret that the public was told that he was circumnavigating the globe, whilst the real goal was to reach Monster Island.

In this issue Hull continues the story, beginning with what happened when he and his crew came face to face with the greatest monster of all, Godzilla, as well as what happened when the Spanish navy decided that they could take down the towering titan. One of the more enjoyable aspects of most Godzilla stories is watching giant monsters destroy stuff, and military might has always fallen short against such creatures without some kind of fantastical device or plan. So, it’s a pretty foregone conclusion what would happen to sailing ships trying to kill a kaiju with canons, but it doesn’t make the sequence any less cool to read nor the spectacle any less amazing. The art team really excel here, and it’s easily the best looking part of the issue.

Most of the issue pertains to the pirates’ first few hours on the island, and the things that they find waiting for them. And it feels like a fun excuse to let the art team throw some cool visuals and interesting moments at the reader. It also feels like the book is slowly drawing us into the more bizarre elements (minus the first meeting with Godzilla himself of course) as the more outlandish creatures from this world are yet to rear their heads, allowing some new, more mundane monstrosities to have a go first. This feels like a good decision, as it’s not only giving the reader something that feels a bit new, but it also raises the tension somewhat as you know that the pirates have barely scratched the surface of what’s to be found on the island.

Compared to the first issue, the art feels a lot more mundane here. That’s not to say that it isn’t good as it has some fantastic moments and looks great throughout, but some of the best pages in the first issue were when the art got a big more creative, and gave us interesting visuals such as panels being broken up by Godzilla’s tail. This issue doesn’t really do that, and looks much more like what you expect from a comic. Whilst this isn’t bad, I do hope that future issues will give us a little bit more flair, as it was a genuine delight last time.

Overall, this is a really strong second issue, though perhaps not quite as solid as the first. The story continues to be interesting, and there are some fun character and story moments to be found here that are sometimes lacking in other Godzilla comics that choose to focus on monsters fighting over decent storytelling. This is still the Godzilla comic I’m most excited for each month, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

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Matango – Throwback 60

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

A group of people stranded, looking for a way to survive; a deadly fungal infection; people changed into fungus-encrusted monsters hunting them. No, this isn’t The Last of Us, this is the plot of 1963’s Matango, a surprisingly dark horror movie from Ishirō Honda, director of films such as Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan.

Based upon the short story The Voice in the Night by English writer William Hope Hodgson, Matango was a stark departure from the previous work in Honda’s career, and leaned much more into the horror elements of his story than even something like the original Godzilla would. It would be Matango, not Godzilla, that would almost become banned for being too horrific, and for having characters that resembled the victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Due to the lack of giant monsters that would go on to join the same universe as Godzilla, Matango often gets overlooked when talking about Honda’s career; yet it remains one of his best works.

Matango begins in a hospital in Tokyo, where a university professor named Kenji Murai (Akira Kubo) is being questioned about what happened to his group of missing friends. From here we go back in time, to see Kenji and several of his friends setting out on a day trip on a fancy yacht. The group includes rich socialites, a famous writer, and a popular singer. Whilst out sailing a vicious storm rolls in and causes damage to the boat that causes it to drift without control. The boat eventually drifts its way to a ghostly island deserted of all life.

The group abandon their yacht and begin exploring the island, hoping for a way to either fix the boat, or leave another way. They discover another ship washed up upon the beach, a ship covered in a strange mushroom-like growth. The group discover that cleaning product kills the fungus, and set to work trying to remove it from the ship so that they can use it to leave. As the days pass, the group’s supplies run low, and one of the group decides to try eating the bizarre mushrooms growing across the island. Those that eat the mushrooms begin to become more and more erratic. As the mushrooms begin to take effect on the group, their bodies slowly begin to change and mutate, turning them into the monstrous mushroom men that stalk the islands forest.

Matango makes for a rather dark entry in both the work of Honda, and the Toho catalogue. Made at a time when monster movies were more adventure films than horror, Matango was something very different, and marked a departure from the kind of monster movies that Honda had helped to create. Instead of relying on spectacle, Matango was a more grounded and human led drama, with the breaking of relationships and the loss of sanity amongst the small group of friends being the main driving force of the film.

In a lot of ways, Matango feels similar to a zombie movie. There’s the group of people trapped and needing to find a way to escape, the mounting paranoia, the risk of infection, and the obligatory fights that break out amongst the survivors. There’s even the looming threat of the mushroom people that stand in for the zombies lurking outside the safety of whatever stronghold the survivors have made for themselves. It’s also not hard to see how this went on to be used as a basis for the drama in The Last of Us, (though I’m not suggesting that the creators of the game stole their ideas from Matango).

That being said, there are times where Matango refuses to make it clear exactly what’s happening or how this situation began in a way that works to the film’s benefit. There’s a point in the movie where the friends, upon discovering the ship covered in mould, postulate that it was caught in a nearby nuclear test, and that the radioactive fallout may have been responsible for the strange mutations. This isn’t too bad a theory, and it fits well with the well established tropes and themes that were used in Japanese cinema at the time.

With it still being less than two decades since the barbarism that was enacted on Japan at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, these incidents were still being heavily explored in their art. This wouldn’t even be the first time that Honda had done so. But, there are some wrinkles to this explanation, as at one point in the story one of the mushroom men literally vanishes into thin air, and the group witness a ghost ship earlier in the movie. The suggestion that there could be a paranormal reason for things makes the movie stand out amongst its contemporaries as something a bit different.

The filming for Matango was something of a rushed affair, with the studio editing the movie together whilst parts were still being filmed. There are some accounts that claim that the production was so rushed that the island location for the movie wasn’t properly scouted or cleared, and as such the cast and crew had to contend with venomous snakes and large centipedes more than once. The filming didn’t stop until the 28th July, with the editing carrying on for another week right up to the release date. Despite the film being made so close to the wire, it works incredibly well, and ended up being one of the more stand out movies of the era.

Matango was well received in Japan by fans of the horror and monster genres, but critics at the time didn’t know what to make of the film, and it received mixed reviews in the media. The film would receive a television distribution deal in the USA, where it would air multiple times during the 1960s and 70s. It was during this time that American film director Steven Soderberg would watch the film as a child. He tried to remake the movie later in life, saying that it ‘scared the shit’ out of him as a kid and that it was due to being unable to make a deal with Toho that led to him abandoning the project.

Matango is something of a black sheep of a movie. It doesn’t quite fit into the other monster movies of the time, but thanks to some interesting ideas, some great atmosphere, and themes that would catch the imagination and be used again and again even until today, it’s a film that will stand the test of time, and is worth checking out if you can find it.

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