DCeased: War of the Undead Gods #7 - Comic Review

 

The last issue of DCeased: War of the Undead Gods is one that I think readers of the series are going to remember for a while; because it was pretty wild. We've had our heroes have to adapt over the course of the DCeased franchise run, changing into new versions of themselves or taking on new identities. Black Canary became a Green Lantern and is now Green Canary, Damian Wayne became Batman, Cassandra Cain gained the powers of Shazam. Things have taken some wild turns from the Earth-1 universe we all know and love. But perhaps the most unforeseen, and most surprising change came at the end of the last issue, where Alfred Pennyworth became the human host for the spirit of God's vengeance. Yes, Alfred became the Spectre!

This issue picks up where that one left off, with Earth-2 (the planet, not the universe) under attack from the assembled forces of Erebos and its infection. The New Gods, Thanagarians, the Sinestro Corps, and the Forces of Apocalypse, along with anyone else infected along the way, are laying siege to the human colony world. Things aren't going well, heroes are dying, allies are being lost, and it looks like the planet is about to fall. You'd think that this would be the moment when Alfred, now infused with the power of the Spectre, would lay the hurt down on the monsters coming for the people he loves. But no, after a plea from Damian, who's just lost his mind to the infection, to find another way, Alfred flies off into space; seemingly running away.

Following this, Jon Kent and Brainiac try to take down Darkseid, but the anti-life infection manages to get inside the Coluan and turn one of the best allies the heroes have against them. Rather than attacking the planet, however, he heads back to his ship, where he plans to destroy all of the bottle cities held within. This is where Cyborg is able to confront him, and overwhelms his systems. Cyborg takes the Brainiac powers and abilities into himself; giving us another new version of a hero. Using the knowledge that Cyborg has now gained, he heads to Earth-2, where he frees the inhabitants of the bottle city of Kandor, unleashing an army of Kryptonians to help fight against the forces of evil.

This is when Alfred returns, with masses of the cure in tow. The heroes begin to administer the cure to the infected, including Darkseid. Upon learning that he was being used as a puppet by an even more evil entity Darkseid joins out heroes in their mission to destroy Erebos. 

So, a lot happens this issue. This is perhaps one of my biggest concerns about this book. It feels like a lot of stuff is being crammed into a relatively short space. With only one issue left it seems like our heroes and their new allies are going to be taking the fight to the entity behind everything. But can that really be done in one issue? And on top of all that there's the fact that Darkseid is back, and how that's all going to work going forward. Things are either going to be hugely rushed in the final issue in order to put everything to bed, or this isn't going to get ended. 

I wouldn't be surprised if the final issue of this series is just setting the stage for another series in the DCeased franchise, one where it will deal with Erebos directly. I'm not against that idea, and if anything I'm more for that than the book trying to wrap everything up in one issue. I'd like the series to try to take its time rather than rushing for a conclusion that will probably not feel all that satisfying. Make the last issue of this series this new group forming their plan, have them dealing with the losses they've suffered, the changes some of these characters have gone through, and the forming of an uneasy alliance with Darkseid; but have the Erebos stuff happen in a new series please.

DCeased has always done wild stuff, and a big part of the appeal of the series is that fact that it can do things like kill Bruce Wayne, make Alfred the Spectre, and annihilate the Green Lantern Corps and it have consequences because it's not part of the main continuity. It doesn't matter if the events of this book break the world, because it's not our world. Tom Taylor seems to do really well with these out of continuity books, and his best stuff comes when he's told 'go wild, do whatever'. Hopefully the sales have been high enough that DC will continue to let this happen, and that we won't have to try and end it all in the next issue.

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Batman Incorporated #6 - Comic Review

 

Now that the first arc of Batman Incorporated has come to a close it feels like the series can settle in and start to have some fun; especially as Ghost Maker seems to have put to bed the majority of the issues the team has with him being a leader.

The second arc of the series begins by bringing the international team back to Gotham, a move that feels a bit odd as I thought the entire point was for them to be off in the world going places Batman normally doesn't, but it does mean that we get a few familiar faces turn up in this issue. Perhaps most exciting of all, however, it means we get to utilise one of Batman's scarier rogues as the main villain of this arc; Professor Pyg.

Pyg is one of the relatively newer villains in the Batman mythos, and one who's still largely unknown to casual comic fans who don't read a lot of books. That being said, he has been slowly introduced into the public consciousness through appearances in other media such as Arkham Kinght, Beware the Batman, and Gotham. Because there's been little done with Pyg since his first introduction there's still a lot of stories that can be told with the character, and a lot of things about him that still feel very fresh. Add on to this the fact that he's one of the creepier, more disturbing enemies that Batman has, and his inclusion in this series feels like it's a fantastic idea. 

Pyg is on the rampage in Gotham because someone has stolen something from him, and he's grabbing up every boss and costumed criminal he can to try and find out who has the item. We see this in the opening moments of the comic where he has Riddler tied up and is threatening him with a chainsaw. He later tells a room of captured criminals, including Killer Croc, Mr Freeze, Clayface, and even poor Kite Man that the person who tells him where his treasure is gets to live, whilst the others will be experimented on. He even threatens to make one of them his 'greatest work of art yet' (possibly hinting at some horrific dollotron version of a known character at some point maybe?).

Because of his rampage the Batman Inc team are being sent to deal with it and bring Pyg to justice. To be fair, with the amount of dollotrons that Pyg usually has going around with him a larger team isn't necessarily a bad idea. There is some internal issues going on in Batman Inc, however, as Clownhunter still doesn't seem to be quite cool with Ghostmaker, and is unwilling to follow his orders. We also get some background into Red Wing, and get to see a bit of his personal life too.

The scenes with the various team members are really enjoyable this issue, and it's cool to see them various interactions that take place as they split off to tackle various missions. Ghostmaker and El Gaucho seem to have put most of their differences to bed, and El Gaucho appears to be giving Ghostmaker more of a chance here, listening to him explain why he does what he does, and talking to him more as an equal rather than an authority figure to rebel against. Knight and Grey Wolf talk about being the newer members of the team, and how it's going for both of them. And we get a fun moment where Clownhunter calls Jiro and Red Wing, the two younger guys on the team, geezers; resulting in the line 'Wait, how old does he think we are?'

After the turbulence of the opening arc it's really nice to see a team actually beginning to form now, rather than just a collection of characters working together. Things aren't perfect yet, you can still see the cracks and the places where they still need to work their issues out, but for the most part they seem to have started to come together. This is more of what I wanted from this book, a team of odd characters that probably wouldn't be able to support a book of their own, but make for a really entertaining group book. The fact that that's also married with one of the creepier villains that they could have gone up against makes this, for me, the best issue of the series to date.

This issue also saw a change in artist, with Michele Bandini as artist, and Rex Lokus as colourist. The new art looks really nice, and it fits the story well. There's a ton of details on all of the characters, and the art really makes Pyg and his minions look creepy and disturbing on any page they're on. The change in art at this point also helps with the fact that the characters are changing and evolving into a team too. The personal changes feel like they have a visual indicator thanks to the new art.

This was a fantastic issue of Batman Incorporated, one that is bringing the team back to Gotham, yes, but doing so in a story that feels like it justifies it. I'm super excited to see what the book does with these characters now that they've finally become a team, and anything that it does with Pyg is sure to be a wonderfully disturbing time. 

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The House That Screamed (1969) – Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

When you think of the European Horror film industry, the chances are that you’ll consider things such as the Hammer Horror series, and the Italian supernatural horror and Giallo movies of directors like Dario Argento, or Mario Bava.

Spanish horror tends to be overlooked, despite it having produced some hugely influential pieces of cinema, such as [REC] in the early 2000s. One name that is less well known in Europe, but who helped to define the horror genre in the 1960s and 70s is Narciso Ibáñez Serrador.

Serrador would have a prolific career in television, producing an anthology horror series that has been brought back in recent years, as well as creating the gameshow Un, dos, tres… which ran on Spanish TV from 1972 to 2004 (the UK stole the format in the 80s and turned it into the show 3-2-1). But along with this, Serrador would also write and direct a pair of hugely popular horror films. And now Arrow Video are bringing Serrafor’s first film, The House That Screamed, to Blu-ray.

The House That Screamed is a Gothic horror tale set in a girls’ finishing school in the south of France during the late 19th century. The school is a home for ‘wayward’ girls; teens who have ‘brought shame’ upon their families by being disobedient, by having sex outside of marriage, or who are the children of ‘undesirable’ people. It’s here that Teresa (Cristina Galbó) finds herself being sent when her mother, a sex worker in Avignon, can no longer take care of her. Teresa is shown around the school by the headmistress, Señora Fourneau (Lilli Palmer), and all seems well at first.

However, Teresa soon learns that the beautiful building and well mannered young women are but a veneer hiding a darker underbelly. Fourneau rules the school with an iron fist, looking down upon her charges as dirty, wasteful, and irredeemable girls that she needs to keep from the outside world. With the help of Irene (Mary Maude), the head girl, and her small group of enforcers, Fourneau delivers swift punishment to anyone who disobeys her, including brutal whippings. Irene and her girls run the school under Fourneau, using their power to control the girls, deciding who gets in trouble, and who gets rewarded with sexual encounters with the local delivery man. Teresa is left to try and navigate all of the intricate webs of lies, power-plays, and deceptions within the school. But when a number of girls start to go missing it seems like something even more sinister might be happening.

For much of its run time The House That Screamed is not a horror film, and falls more into the realms of drama and mystery than anything else. Much of the film deals with the inner workings of the school, and the various characters that inhabit it. Even before we’ve been introduced to our principal lead, Teresa, we get a taste of what the school is like when Fourneau has to deal with a rebellious student in one of her classes. From here things only become more complex as the film introduces more layers, more characters, and more plots.

Despite this, it’s all pretty easy to follow. Each of the various characters have pretty easy to understand goals and desires. Fourneau wants to control the young women that she sees as evil and corrupted. She wants to remove them from a decent society because she sees them as lesser, and there are a number of times throughout the film where she makes it clear that despite running a school that’s supposed to make them better girls she really doesn’t see that as a possibility. A large part of her hate seems to come from the fact that she’s worried that her teenage son, Luis (John Moulder-Brown), will fall in with them, that he will be led astray by them and corrupted. There’s also an element of incestuousness to their relationship that makes her overbearing protectiveness take on a twisted and uncomfortable tone.

With the film being so focused on the inner workings of this prison-like school, and with the adult lead having a creepy, almost romantic relationship with her son, you’d think that The House That Screamed would be a lot more sexual, tantalising, or risque. But it’s not. Serrador, in part to appease the stringent censors that would not allow it, keeps the film quite chaste, only hinting at sexual moments via editing and the use of characters in other scenes to imply things.

Even the scene where the girls take their weekly shower, with Luis peeping on them from the vents, is kept quite de-sexualised, with the girls wearing their nightgowns whilst washing. This helps to further portray Fourneau’s hate of the girls and only seeing them as sexual beings, but also stops the scene from becoming used for titillation’s sake. The one girl who does remove her clothing does so as an act of defiance against Fourneau, and keeps her back to the audience; a back covered in the scars left there by Fourneau’s beatings. Instead of being a sexual moment it becomes an empowering one, that shows the cruelty of the headmistress, and the brave defiance the girls are capable of.

But the film doesn’t just stick in the realms of personal dramas and the inner workings of this school. There is a killer about. The moments of murder that happen on screen are kept mostly to a minimum, and Serrador plays with the audience in these moments. A scene where a girl thinks she’s sneaking out of the dormitory to meet her lover is accompanied by sweet music until the killer grabs her from behind and kills her, at which point the music drops completely, leaving you with silence. The viewer is left alone with the awful visual, having been lied to as to what was coming, or perhaps even having been inside the head of the young victim, hearing the music because that’s what she was hoping for; music that ends abruptly when her life is taken and her thoughts cease. Serrador uses trickery like this several times throughout the film, and it becomes very apparent that he’s using editing, camera angles, and music to tell a bigger story than is on display, expanding the moments we’re seeing into something else.

The film falls into horror in its final moments when the identity of the killer, and their motivations, are revealed to the audience. I won’t reveal who it is or why so as to keep the film unspoiled for you (good for you if you’ve avoided spoilers for 54 years), but it’s a shocking moment, one that leaves the film feeling a lot more twisted, gruesome, and horrific than the preceding ninety plus minutes would have you expect. The ending also leaves you wanting to go back and watch the film again, if only to see if there were hints that could have been missed along the way that would have revealed who the killer was. As well as to re-examine certain scenes from a new perspective now that we know the motivations of the killer.

Despite the age of the film, as well as the rather small following it’s had over the decades, the new release does manage to get quite a few extras together. There’s a new audio commentary by film critic and podcaster Anna Bogutskaya, who goes into the creation of the movie, as well as the broader historical context behind both the making of the movie and Spanish horror cinema of the time. There are also several interviews, including an interview with John Moulder-Brown, a segment of a talk with Mary Maude where she spoke about working on the film, and a new interview with the author of the book the film was based upon. 

The House That Screamed is a wonderfully different piece of European horror, one that you seems to draw from several other sources and inspirations, yet manages to be unique and interesting in its execution. It’s easy to see how Serrador would go on to be seen as a hugely influential figure (even dubbed the Hitchcock of Spain), and why the movie is held in such high regards. The new release is the perfect addition to the collection of long time fans, as well as the perfect gateway for new ones.

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Hel's Eight by Stark Holborn - Book Review

 

'Who controls the future, controls it all…

'Ten 'Doc' Low is a medic with a dark past, riding the wastes of the desert moon Factus, dispensing medicine to the needy and death to those who cross the laws of the mysterious Seekers. Cursed by otherworldly forces, she stays alone to keep herself safe, and to keep others safe from her… But when she experiences a terrifying vision of conflict, and foresees the deaths of those she once called friends, she must drag herself back to the land of living to stop a war before it begins.

'With a rebellion brewing, the Accord’s grip on the Outer Moons weakening and a sinister tycoon buying up all the land in sight, Ten must find allies where she can and face the past, in order to save the future. Even if the cost might be greater than she could ever have imagined…'

Ten Low was one of my favourite reads of 2021. It blended together dystopia, science fiction, western aesthetics, gritty action, and mystery into this wonderful creation that left you wanting more. Luckily, we now get more, as Stark Holborn takes readers back to the desolate moon of Factus as war is about to break out. 

It's been several years since the events of the first book, and Ten Low has been living away from society, on the Edge, where she can avoid people and try to make up for the things that she's done in her past. However, when a nearby settlement she's visiting comes under attack from a roving gang that is being backed by Lutho-Plex, a huge off-world corporation that's trying to take over the satellite. Having to give up on staying out of things, and taking several lives, Ten realises that she's not going to be able to wait out what's happening on Factus.

Meeting up with several of her friends from the first book, she takes part in the mission to try to save Factus from falling into the hands of the villainous Lutho Xoon. However, she soon starts to learn that there's more going on than she first realises, and that the Ifs are a big part of it. Delving into the history of Factus, Ten will learn ore than she ever imagined about the true nature of the Ifs, and the path that she will have to take.

Ten Low was a wonderful sci-fi western story with a grizzled older lead protecting a kid as they fought to get them through a dangerous area to a place of safety. It's a popular genre, and the book did it extremely well. It crafted an incredibly interesting setting in the form of Factus; and a large part of that was down to the otherworldly elements that it included. Factus isn't just a desert moon home to raiders, gangs, and outposts. It also holds a dark, unknowable form of life. The Ifs.

The Ifs weren't explained in any great detail in the first novel. They were this ghostly presence that almost bordered on cosmic horror. They were this thing that existed on the edges of the story, with rules that the reader would learn along the way, but we never found out much about them. Hel's Eight is the book where the spotlight very much shifts to focus on the Ifs. And it makes it such a good follow-up.

Holborn could have easily copied the style of the first book, could have focused on the human elements of Factus, the warring clans, the struggle to survive; and the book would have been great. But, rather than doing that, this time round we get a deep dive into the history of the moon, the first people that came to call it home, and those people's connections to the Ifs.  This shift away from the more grounded elements in order to lean into the fantastical makes this feel like more than just a simple sequel. Holborn isn't just retreading the same ground, but is instead creating whole new ground. This includes going backwards in time, and providing us with interesting and at times really creepy, history as we get diary entries from one of the moons first inhabitants, Esterhazy.

Hel's Eight manages to weave the stories from these two time periods very well, and both move at a decent pace, encouraging you to keep reading. The book has plenty of mystery, action, and character moments in each time period that both feel like fully realised, fleshed out stories in their own rights. Speaking of characters, the sections in the present does introduce a new character into the narrative that was particularly enjoyable to read. Rouf Cinque is a gang member that Ten picks up along the way. At first they're something of an antagonist, forced to work with our protagonist against their will; but over time they slowly start to integrate into the main team, and eventually feel like a part of it. They're also referred to with they/them pronouns, so it's great to have a gender non-conforming character as part of the core group.

I had a really good time with Hel's Eight, and it's a fantastic follow-up to the first novel. I'm excited to go back and read both of them again, and can't wait to see how well they work going straight from one to the other. Much like the first book, the ending does feel like an end. In a lot of ways it feels like Ten's character has been put to bed; but, I thought that come the end of book one, and then she came back in a new and exciting way. So, I guess I'm hoping that happens again, that perhaps we might get a trilogy or more out of this character and her story. But, if this is the end then it's a fantastic end.

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Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories #4 – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

There’s been a very small thread running through the first few issues of Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories that has been quite subtle, to the point where it could be easy to miss. Since appearing in the first issue, a small Wookie doll has been making its way across the galaxy, meeting up with various heroes from the Skywalker Saga. And now, it finally returns home to Kashyyyk in what ends up being a delightful end to these first four issues that feels like poetry; to use the words of George Lucas himself: “It’s like poetry, they rhyme.”

After a couple of issues by Cecil Castellucci, this one sees the return of writer Amanda Deitbert. Out of the previous three issues, the first was the one that I found to be the weakest, and as such I was slightly worried when I saw that Deitbert was returning to the book. However, not only was that fear unwarranted, but this ended up being the most enjoyable book of the series to date.

This issue sees Rey and Chewbacca travelling to the Wookie home-world of Kashyyyk, where the annual celebration Life Day is happening. Chewie wants to bring Rey with him so that she can meet him family, and take part in the celebration with them. However, a bounty hunter is following close behind them, and intends to try and take the Jedi into custody; even if it means wrecking the Wookie holiday in order to do it.

Life Day is one of those things that has become a pretty firm fan favourite over the years. Originally beginning life as part of the frankly horrifying Star Wars Holiday Special it first became popular because of how awful the Holiday Special was. But since the change in leadership behind the scenes and the introduction of the new canon, Life Day has been incorporated into Star Wars once again. Having first appeared in new canon in Star Wars Adventures: Tales of Villainy issue three, it’s since featured in its own special Life Day issue, as well as having been mentioned in the High Republic books, the kids’ game show Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge, and even the very first episode of The Mandalorian.

Here, Life Day is being used as an excuse to further develop the relationship between Rey and Chewie, and it works perfectly for that. In the sequel movies Rey very quickly starts to ingratiate herself with the Falcon crew, striking up a decent relationship with Han Solo, and over the other two movies she and Chewie start to become good friends; to the point where you can easily see the two of them going off and having adventures together. Here, Chewie is bringing her to his home, he’s introducing her to his family, and bringing her into an important part of her life. It’s lovely to see their relationship develop in this way, and it feels like the perfect next step for them.

But this issue isn’t all about them, as two other Wookie characters also get some of the spotlight. The first if Lumpawaroo, Chewbacca’s son. Like Life Day itself, Lumpy first appeared in the Holiday Special, and would have several EU appearances. This is one of the first times we’ve seen him since he was brought into canon with Star Wars Aftermath: Empire’s End, and he’s grown up a lot since then, appearing to be almost an adult himself now. We also see another Wookie who’s done a lot of growing up: Viiveenn. Viiveenn appeared in the first issue of the series, and was the little girl whose Wookie doll has been appearing throughout the series. This Viiveenn has matured a lot, and rather than being the scared child she was then, gets to be involved in the plot, and even has a moment that mirrors her father’s actions in that first issue (poetry, they rhyme).

The fact that this issue has brought things full circle, that these four issues, which make up the first volume of the graphic novels, begin and end with Wookies, that they’re about family, sacrifice, kindness, and bravery, makes it all feel planned out and worth it. The four unconnected stories weren’t completely unconnected, as they shared a lot of themes in common, and they all come to the forefront here.

This issue has art by Lucas Marangon, and Michael Atiyeh, and the book looks absolutely fantastic. Much like with previous issues, the book has a wonderfully cartoonish look to it that makes things easy to read and understand, and brings the characters to life in lovely ways. Rey and Chewie are instantly recognisable, and feel true to their established characters. The Wookies and their home all look amazing, and it’s brilliant to get to see a lot of different style and variety in the Wookie, with different shapes and sizes, and different decorations to their hair, rather than just being coloured differently.

Easily the best issue of the series yet, and the perfect end to this first run focusing on the heroes of the franchise. With the next four issues focusing on the bad guys, labelled as ‘Scum and Villainy’, I’ll be interested to see if it does the same thing again, with small pieces running throughout, culminating in one cleverly constructed tale.

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Tomb Raider (2013) – Throwback 10

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The Tomb Raider series has been around for a long while. Having been first introduced way back in 1996 on the Sega Saturn, it might not feel like Lara Croft is that much of an old character for ancient gamers like myself, but she has been around for almost thirty years now (writing that hurt a little). And as with any media franchise that’s been around for that long there comes a time when things start to feel a bit too bloated, a bit too convoluted, and a clean sweep is needed. That came in 2013, when Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix rebooted the franchise with the unimaginatively named Tomb Raider.

The tenth game in the franchise, by the time Tomb Raider went into production Lara Croft had fought dinosaurs, discovered the ancient kingdom of Atlantis, and has wielded both Excalibur and Mjolnir. Trying to keep track of all of the people she know, has worked with, and been betrayed by, along with shady organisations, evil cults, and ancient entities, requires a huge board and a lot of string. As such, starting from the beginning was one of the smartest moves that the team behind Tomb Raider could have made. and makes this a perfect jumping on point for new fans, and those who haven’t played a Tomb Raider game in years.

Tomb Raider sees the young Lara Croft (Camilla Luddington) setting out on her first ever expedition to the remote and mysterious island of Yamatai. The home to huge storms that have caused dozens of shipwrecks over the years, Lara hopes to find proof of the rumoured lost civilisation that’s said to exist there. Unsurprisingly, the expeditions ship is caught in one of these powerful storms and wrecked. Lara and a handful of the crew are able to make their way to the island, where they’re forced to try and survive.

However, Lara soon discovers that they’re not alone on Yamatai, as the island is also home to the Solarii, a dangerous cult that worships queen Hamiko, an ancient figure of myth that once ruled the island and is said to have mystical powers to control the storms. With the Solarii out for blood, Lara has to pick up a weapon and fight for her survival, leading to her discovering that she’s more than just an archaeology student, and that she has the ability to become a hero.

Tomb Raider opens strong, with the wrecking of the Endurance and Lara’s subsequent arrival on Yamatai being cinematic in scope with big moments, and breakneck sequences that throws the character from one peril to another. Before long Lara, and by extension the player, has very quickly learned that the island is not a safe place, and that you’re going to be battling the environment as much as you are the cultists that call it home. Luckily, the game manages to create an incredibly enjoyable and easy to use exploration and combat system, that makes clambering around obstacles whilst fighting for your life a joy to do rather than a chore.

One of the complaints about the earliest entries in the franchise was that Lara at times controlled like a tank. You’d think you were aiming at the place you wanted her to jump to, but your subsequent button press would see her leaping the wrong way and plummeting down a huge drop to her death, forcing you to replay several minutes in order to try the tricky leap another time. In comparison, this game is an absolute delight. Lara handles brilliantly, and there’s a ton of places to explore across Yamatai, so that you end up looking forward to finding the next area, and discovering hidden ledges to clamber up to.

The action was also vastly improved, with the clunky shooting of previous entries thrown aside for a more fluid approach. A big part of Tomb Raider is having Lara scavenge for supplies and weapons. Building a bow to start hunting for animals, and for silently dealing with cultists, is a huge amount of fun (and makes for one of the best weapons in the game). From there you’re able to take weapons from your enemies, giving you access to pistols, shotguns and more as you dash around the island, becoming a one woman army in your mission to free your friends and find a way home.

The game also takes some inspiration from the Uncharted series, and sees some big set pieces that Lara has to scale her way through in order to survive. Buildings burn around you as you climb your way to freedom, or you find yourself thrown off a cliff and sliding down a watery slope, dodging rocky outcrops. These moments are huge in scope, and are often used as transitions to new areas, such as Lara sliding down tunnels and finding herself trapped underground. These moments work well in the story, and help to further show the personal growth that Lara is going through, transforming from the scared young woman at the start of the game into the hardened heroine we all know her as.

These changes proved to be popular, and upon the game’s release it received a number of strong reviews and critical acclaim. The game was praised for its visual style that put Lara into more realistic settings, as well as giving her character enough attention that she actually felt like a well rounded and engaging person. The game did receive some criticism for how Lara in the story struggled with having to fight and kill, with her having a breakdown after the first time she kills a person, and the fact that the game allows players to engage in a number of killings. This is fair criticism, as this aspect of her character is sometimes at odds with the game-play, though it doesn’t detract too much from the overall quality.

After ten games, and more than fifteen years, Lara Croft was overdue a refresh, and Tomb Raider handled that in spectacular fashion. Not only was the game incredibly well received, but it would go on to spawn two more games as direct sequels, as well as heavily inspiring the next Lara Croft film outing. Tomb Raider was the revamp that the franchise needed, and will be well remembered by fans for a long time to come.

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Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods #1 - Comic Review

 

It looks like Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods, a spin-off of the recent Lazarus Planet event, is set to be bigger than the event it's a part of, both in number of issues and the length of time that it's going to be taking place over. Lazarus Planet ended up being two actual issues, with several one-shot tie-in's over a two month period that didn't effect the story, or really take much part in it, at all. The event didn't really feel like it did much, or even really mattered. However, this title seems to be doing some pretty big things, and could lead to some big shifts in the status quo; especially for the Amazons.

Our story begins when the gods start messing with humanity. It starts benignly enough, as Apollo fires magical arrow at people, giving them the gift of foresight. We see people coming to the realisation that their partners are about to have affairs, winning lottery numbers, and the time and method of their deaths. Elsewhere, other gods seem more focused on fear. In Egypt Sekhmet sends legions of cats after people, a giant god creates a massive wave to destroy Tokyo, and in Iceland the goddess Skaldi chases anything that moves, hunting them down with her bow.

Travelling to Mt Olympus, we see why this is happening, as the goddess Hera has allied herself with the wizard Shazam, and has deposed her husband; having killed Zeus in the process. Hera has told all of the gods that their time is coming to an end, that without the worship of the humans they're going to die; and as such the gods have decided to make humanity worship them the quickest way they know how, out of fear.

On Earth, Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, and Cheetah discuss options for tackling the rise in disasters around the world that the gods are causing. Whilst Cheetah proposes the idea of humanity fighting back against the gods, Diana volunteers to head to Olympus to talk to her mother, who recently ascended to godhood. Arriving there, Diana is confronted by Hera, who tells her that when the gods die the Amazons go with them, the two being so closely linked. Hera then gives Diana a powerful gift, transforming her into a god herself.

In the back-up feature a pair of video bloggers, both guys, travel to Themyscira, which has lost its magical protection thanks to the Lazarus rain. Queen Nubia discusses options with her council as the best course of action for dealing with the men, but when they arrive on the beach they find that they've already been killed by a mysterious hooded figure. The figure, who we saw stealing the severed hand of a god in the main story, tells the Amazons that they're in danger, and claims to be their ally.

Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods is actually already much better than the main Lazarus Planet title, and is much more interesting. It's clearly trying to do something a bit different, and it introduces a lot of cool concepts in this opening issue. There are elements that will have required readers to not only have read the Lazarus Planet: We Once Were Gods one-shot, but also several issues of Wonder Woman. This book is tied heavily to the Wonder Woman mythology, and it very much a continuation of what's been happening with the Amazons for the last couple of years. However, it doesn't feel like the book is written in a way that people are going to be lost if this is the first thing they've read in regards to Wonder Woman.

Those that picked this title up for Shazam stuff though, might be feeling a bit disappointed so far. The wizard in in a few scenes, but only has a couple of lines of dialogue, and Billy Batson is relegated to being background character in the opening pages. However, it's likely that the Sazam family will be making a larger appearance later on if the solicitations are to be believed (though DC can be pretty deceptive with their covers, featuring characters and situations that never appear in the book on occasion).

This really feels like the first issue of an event book, where there's a lot of set-up going on. Because of this G Willow Wilson keeps the story moving at a really brisk pace. There's just enough time to get quieter moments with some of the main characters, whilst also featuring some big scenes of the gods causing havoc, as well as moments of intrigue. Perhaps the biggest mystery so far is who the hooded figure is. In the main story they're pretty gender neutral for most of it, with their face covered or in shadows to keep the features out of sight, and baggy clothing that could hide any figure. The final panel of their face we see does look pretty masculine however. But in the back-up story they absolutely look feminine, plus the Amazons aren't immediately throwing them off the island, hinting that it's probably a woman. With even their gender being kept on the downlow, there's not really any indication of who this is going to be, and any guess right now is as good as another. 

Overall, this was a great start to the new series, one that does some interesting things, and could take the Amazons in a bold new direction.

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The Last of Us - TV Review

 

The Last of Us is one of those titles where if you're even vaguely into gaming you'll have heard of it. The hugely popular pair of games has been consistently talked about, recommended, and re-released ten years ago. Despite the popularity of it, and the constant talk about it, it's a game I've yet to play (mainly because I've not even turned my Playstation of for the last four years, let alone play any of the exclusive games it has). So when it was announced that the game was being adapted into a television show I was happy that I'd finally get to experience this story without having to dust off the console and wait a week for all of the updates to install.

As more news of the impending series was released I have to admit, it went from a show that I thought I might check out to one that I knew I was going to have to watch. The casting of Pedro Pascal as Joel felt perfect. He looked like the grizzled survivor, and having seen him in several other roles I knew that he had the range to be able to play a character who you're kind of supposed to love, but also think is a bit of an awful person too. When it was announced that Bella Ramsey was playing Ellie I was very intrigued. Having mostly experienced her as Mildred Hubble in the new adaptation of The Worst Witch I knew that she could bring child-like, playful energy to the role; and her small appearances in Game of Thrones showed that she could bring some maturity and anger when needed. I began to hope that the show would do well as soon as the casting was announced due in large part to the 'fans' of the game who began to complain at the casting. The complaints that Bella wasn't 'pretty' enough to play Ellie (a character who is literally a 14-year-old girl), and all of the horrible comments about her physical appearance made me determined to watch the series to give it some extra ratings just to piss off the man-babies who were getting all creepy and pedo about a fictional teenage girl.

Then the show arrived, and with the very first scene I knew that I was going to be hooked. The opening moments of the first episode bear no relevance on the plot of the show, it doesn't feature characters that have an impact on what's to come, it doesn't get mentioned again, or referenced. It's throw-away. But, listening to scientists on a talk show discuss what a cordyceps outbreak would mean, how it would be an unwinnable situation perfectly set up the tone of the series. The moment of stunned silence from the audience, the weight that John Hannah brings with his delivery absolutely sells the moment too. And this isn't the only time we get a moment like this. The second episode jumps forward in time with its opening flashback, to the days just before the outbreak. The reaction from the scientist there, who sees the cordyeps in a human, who knows what that means, and tells the military to bomb everyone and everything including them prepares you perfectly for what's to come.

And what's to come is some of the best television in a long while. The first half of the first episode deals with the chaos of the outbreak, but told through the eyes of one family. It's here that we meet Joel for the first time, as a happy single father doing his best for his teenage daughter. Even those who don't know the story of the game, but know the basic premise of the show being a Lone Wolf and Cub style series have to feel that this is not going to end well, that the family unit we're spending time with is doomed in some way. But even so, the tragic end of this family still hits hard, and is the first of many moments in this series where your heart is going to be broken.

That's perhaps the biggest take away I have from this series. Pain. This show spent a good portion of its episodes breaking the hearts of the audience. It drew you in time and time again, and hurt the characters on the screen that by the time it was doing it for the third or fourth time I was left watching it in a state of heightened tension knowing that something awful was to come. The episode in which we get the flashback to how Ellie was infected is the perfect example to this. When it begins we don't know that this is when Ellie gets infected, we're not told that, but as she and Riley spend more time together, as they have fun, as you can see the love that the two of them have for each other you know with absolute certainty that this is going to end in tragedy because the show has done it so many times before. I spent half of that episode loving seeing them together, but the other half on the edge of my seat because I was waiting for the hammer to drop, for the horror to come crashing in and take that happiness away.

It's impossible to talk about The Last of Us and heartbreak without talking about the episode that did that the most; the other episode that put a queer romance front and centre. The third episode of the season introduced us to the character of Bill, played by Nick Offerman, way back when the outbreak begins. Being a doomsday prepper who has no trust in the government, Bill avoids the evacuation, and turns his small neighbourhood into a safe haven complete with running water and electricity. He builds a decent life for himself. But it's not until he meets Frank that it becomes a perfect life. Frank, played by Murray Bartlet, literally falls into Bill's life, ending up in one of his traps. After a somewhat tense and unusual first encounter, the two men realise that there's an attraction between the two of them, and Frank is allowed to stay.

The episode checks us in with the two of them at various points throughout the next twenty years, letting us watch their love develop, seeing them become friends with Joel, and even fending off raiders. Eventually we arrive with them in the present, where Frank is suffering from an unnamed illness or degenerative condition. Telling Bill that he wants one last, perfect day, we watch as the two men get married, share a last meal together, then fall asleep never to wake up thanks to the drugs in their wine. I've seen some people complain that this episode falls into the 'bury your gays' trope because the two men die come the end. But that's not what this episode does. This episode centres a queer relationship completely. It tells a touching, well written, and beautifully acted love story that just so happen to be about two men.

This episode pissed off a lot of homophobes, people who complained that the show was 'pushing an agenda' or saying that it was unnecessary, or that it ruined the source material because now we miss out on Bill and Ellie making snarky comments at each other. Those complaints are frankly ridiculous. The Last of Us is a very queer story, Bill was gay in the game, Ellie is gay, and the sequel features more queer and trans characters. The series, rather than just having this be a background thing, chose to put this wonderful, heartbreaking love story front and centre. And what made it so amazing, what made it so wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time is that Bill and Frank won. They won the apocalypse. They got to live in relative peace, they got to love deeply, and they got to end it on their terms. When the apocalypse hit queer rights weren't great in the US (not that they're doing well right now), and Bill had to hide who he was, but in the apocalypse that didn't matter. They weren't judged, they weren't abused or degraded for who they were, they just got to love openly. If there is one episode from this series that I'd be willing to show people as an example of why this series is so good, of why its worthy of attention it's this one. In one episode the show made one of the best queer love stories put to film. And yes, it's a heartbreaking one, one that even now writing about it is making me want to cry all over again, but it's still an amazing one. 

That is far from the only amazing episode, or the only award worthy performance that the series has. The episodes that deal with the revolution in Kansas City makes you have to look at right and wrong, on how good and bad aren't clear distinct things. Do you side with the government that acts like fascist, or the rebels who perform public lynchings of their enemies when they win? Is Henry a bad person for turning in a man because it helped him to save his brother? The episode where Ellie is captured by David delivers the best performance from Bella Ramsey, and in my opinion shuts down any complaint or gripe about them being cast in the role. Ramsey delivers a performance that would be stunning from any actor, but from one who's only nineteen, it's becomes phenomenal. Ramsey is an actor that is going to get a lot of work after this series, and I can't wait to see what she does next and the kind of roles she gets, because this episode knocked it out of the park. And then there's the finale, the episode that already seems to have divided those watching it who didn't know where the story was going to go.

The series had been telling us, over and over, that Joel wasn't a good person. He'd done bad things in his past, he'd killed people, not all of them 'bad' people. But we'd grown close to him, we'd come to see him as a hero, we came to care about him because we were seeing him through Ellie's eyes. Then he goes on a rampage. I massively commend the decision to film it as they did, to muffle the sound, to drop the score, to not focus on the killings. It put us into Joel's head in that moment, into the tunnel vision he had when he went to save Ellie. I've already seen the debates and the discussions online, was Joel right to do that? Did he condemn the world in order to save one girl, and did he need to brutally slaughter everyone there to do it? There's no real answer to these questions. The show knows that this is a grey area, that Joel wasn't the hero in that moment. But his reaction is also one of those that I think many of us would have. If saving the world meant losing your world, the person you loved most, could you allow that, or would you burn the world down to save them? Pedro Pascal's performance in that episode was perfect for that moral quandary because he didn't go in angry, he didn't rage, he didn't act like he was the hero or the villain. He did what he did, and he seems to both regret it, and believe that it was the only course of action. People are going to be arguing over that episode for a long time to come.

The Last of Us wasn't just a show that was wonderfully written and acted though, it was also incredibly well shot. The series was able to make you believe that the world had fallen, and the visual effects of the ruined, ravaged cities reclaimed by nature sold you on the idea that the world we knew was gone. As the show progressed we were treated to different environments, with the snowbound episodes in particular looking wonderful. The cinematography of the series never let the audience down, and even the most awful, brutal locations ended up strangely beautiful.

The effects for the infected are also worth noting. The standard infected look different from what one would expect from a zombie; which is good, because despite being called a zombie story this isn't zombies at all. The fungus growing beneath the skin, the pieces sprouting through the flesh, looked fantastic, and made the infected look wonderfully disgusting. The ones that stand out though are the 'special' infected. The clickers, creatures whose heads are covered in fungal growth and can't see are absolutely horrific. It also helped that these were some of the first infected we get to interact with in the modern day, after it had been established how awful they were. The way they moved through the environment, hunting our heroes, was so creepy, and when they burst out of the shadows to throw themselves at their victims they look fantastic. The bloater who makes an appearance towards the end of the Kansas City arc is an incredible sight too, and if you can go check out the behind the scenes pictures of the suit, because it looks amazing when you can see the whole thing. I've seen some people complain that there's not enough infected in the series, but they sparse use of them, and the way that they are used in the story, makes them all the scarier for me. Having them as a looming horror rather than a constant threat makes them feel a lot more dangerous.

Despite not having played the game before watching the series I had a fantastic time with The Last of Us. The show very quickly draws you in thanks to the strong writing and the fantastic acting, and before you know it you'll be invested in these characters and their journey. I'm incredibly glad that the show has been renewed for a second season already, and can't wait to see what it does with the story of the sequel game. It's also given me the push to finally try out the first game, now that I've become a fan of the show. I expect that the series is going to be nominated for a lot of awards, and may well win some too, and that it's going to become a series that people talk about and recommend for years to come.

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Moriarty: Clockwork Empire #1 – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Moriarty: Clockwork Empire is the new series from Titan Comics, that takes the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes and places him into an ever-so-slightly steampunk-inspired London at the turn of the century, in order to investigate gambling automatons, and Doctor Henry Jekyll.

The book begins by setting up both of the stories well enough. In one we see the monstrous Mr Hyde being gunned down by police after he erupts into violence in a London opium den, whilst the other has Holmes breaking a gambling automaton that’s being used to fleece London high society of their money. As the book has been labelled a steampunk story, it comes as something of a surprise when in the very same scene that Holmes unmasks a spectacular poker player as being a secret clockwork robot everyone acts incredibly shocked by this thing’s existence. With so many stories that go in on the steampunk aesthetic, leaning hard into the genre, complete with mechanised servants and clockwork cyborgs everywhere, it’s something of a surprise that this title is kind of light on that front.

The machine that Holmes and Watson come across seems to be almost completely unheard of. This is a steampunk London that doesn’t have robots and automatons everywhere, where people aren’t covering their outfits in cog motifs, or using devices that seem a few steps away from magic. In fact, most of the book reads as no different from your average Sherlock Holmes tale set in a regular London, until the last few pages, where we see a few zeppelins in the air, and Watson rides in an automated steam-powered carriage.

Because of this, the setting feels kind of undefined. It’s not clear what kind of world the book is set in, if the spectacular is to be expected, and if so, just how common or normalised it is. So far nothing in this first issue would have been changed if this was set within the real world, so I’m left wondering why it’s gone for the steampunk genre other than to have readers not be surprised when the single, lone clockwork man arrives on page.

The book also incorporates Doctor Jekyll and his famous alter-ego, Mr Hyde, and this seems to be the main focus of the book. A friend of Jekyll is concerned that the doctor is being manipulated and coerced by his new acquaintance, and seeks out Holmes’ help to get to the bottom of things. This results in the beginnings of a mystery that seems to connect to the opium trade.

One of the things that this comic does, which almost every other version of Hyde does, is to get the character completely wrong. In the original novella, Robert Louis Stevenson described the man as “pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile…'”. The Hyde described in the original book is close to a normal man; a man who has something slightly off about him that makes people feel strange, but still very human. The Hyde here is a hulking monster of a man. He’s at least seven feet tall, is made of muscle, and has large tusk-like teeth. Not the pale and dwarfish man as originally written. The back page of the book seems to be depicting Hyde in an upcoming issue, as a huge, Hulk-like monster battling a giant mecha. Moriarty: Clockwork Empire isn’t the first adaptation to get the character completely wrong, but that doesn’t lessen how bad it is.

The two mysteries that we’re presented with in this first issue begin interestingly enough, but quickly begin to peter out. There’s not a huge amount here to grab the reader, and much of the book is given over to long conversations that seem to go on for far too long to be really that entertaining. The story has very little energy to it, and this is somewhat reflected in the art, which is fine, but that’s about it really. There’s nothing in the book that particularly stands out, nothing that makes you pause whilst reading to spend time looking at the page, and nothing that feels very noteworthy. The drab and dull colours don’t help with this either, and by halfway through you’ll be looking away from the page to just try and experience something vivid for a moment.

Moriarty: Clockwork Empire might be a good story, it might do some interesting things and go to some unusual places, but we don’t really get to see any of that this issue. There’s nothing here that really excites, the characters feel kind of dull, and the story just kind of fizzles out at the end with nothing that makes you excited to pick up the next issue. Even hardcore fans of Sherlock Holmes might find it hard to get through this one.

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Batgirls #15 - Comic Review

 

Originally published on Patreon

In the previous, silent, issue of Batgirls Cass set out to find a way of tracking down Stephanie and her father, using a few clues left behind in police records, and Steph's letters. After having a run in with the League of Assassins, Cass is finally on the way to the remote cabin where Cluemaster has his daughter held prisoner.

Unfortunately for Steph, her father seems to have lost it a bit since he came back from the dead, and has an elaborate game set up to torment her with. Forcing her to confront her feelings about him, about her past, and the path that she's on, he starts to torture her if she doesn't.

This story began with some fun as both of the Batgirls swapped bodies, allowing for the characters and the audience to get to know them in new and different ways. Since then we've had a focus on Cassandra, and now Stephanie is getting the spotlight. It's been a really well crafted and interesting journey to get to this point; and it's brought something new to the series that we've not really had so far.

The focus on Stephanie this issue is trying to deal with the abuse of her past, the cruelty that her father put upon her, and the effect that it may have had. Her father takes the viewpoint that the path that she's on is because of him, that his decisions and actions brought her here; whilst Stephanie feels the opposite, that she's doing everything in spite of him, to be better than he was and forge her own path. It's an interesting argument that forms between them, and shows how people can have radically different views on the same thing based upon their preexisting expectations.

This is one of my only real experiences actually reading a book with Cluemaster in it. I've read a lot of Steph's stories, but not really any that feature her father. As such, I was excited to see what he'd actually be like. And the book did a good job at presenting him as very broken and twisted. The writing makes it clear that his death and return have left him mentally damaged and confused, whilst the art often has him with a crazed, almost manic look upon his face. The ever shifting way he acts, his changes between violent, angry outbursts, and this desperate attempt to be proven right make him a character that's both frightening and fascinating.

Perhaps the worst part of this issue for me, however, was in the big shocking death of Stephanie Brown. Gunned down by her father, she dies in Cassandra's arms. For a page. Then, via the use of Lazarus Resin she's brought back. The moment of her death was shocking, and I was genuinely worried that she might have been gone; but her resurrection happened so quick with so little fanfare or care that it felt kind of nothing. If this is going to be explored in later issues, if Steph is going to go through some kind of emotional journey because of dying and coming back than I might be able to get back on board; but if this ends up being nothing big, if it's kind of forgotten and never brought up it feels like a cheap trick to try and shock the audience without having to commit to it.

This issue was almost brilliant, but thanks to the strange ending, the way it wanted to have the 'oh no she died!' moment, yet undid it within a few panels, led to a conclusion that feels kind of a let down.

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