Inferno Girl Red Book 2 - Erica D'Urso Interview

 

2021 saw the beginnings of a new tokusatsu inspired super hero comic, Inferno Girl Red. Funded through Kickstarter, the first volume was an immediate success, and was quickly reaching its goals. The book, featuring script from Matt Groom, and art from Erica D'Urso and Igor Monti, combined the best parts of teen high school drama and character driven story with the action, adventure, and excitement of Japanese tokusatsu entertainment. And this year the first book made its way to comic shops, giving an even larger audience a chance to enjoy the series.

And now it's time for the second book in the Inferno Girl Red series. As previously, Matt Groom has offered fans the opportunity to back the book via Kickstarter, complete with the chance to own an exclusive version of the book, along with a host of other extras such as art prints, and the opportunity to be in the book itself.

I got the chance to chat with Erica about working on the series, and co-creating these amazing new characters.

How did you get involved with Inferno Girl Red?

It was thanks to Francesco Manna, who was already working with Mat and Kyle on Ultraman at the time. He suggested my name and they reached out, I’m really happy we found the right chemistry to work along!

What was the initial process like of creating IGR with Matt? The first volume graphic novel shows some of the design work to creating the characters, was this a long process or were there certain areas that you found came pretty quickly?

I have to be sincere, there were some designs where I had already in mind a specific idea, drawn it, and even the team was like “this is it!”, Cassia and Thomas for example are one of these cases. Instead there were some points where I’ve been stuck for some time but nothing that a good brainstorm couldn’t fix!

Were you a fan of tokusatsu characters before this, and if not did you do any research into the looks and styles of the genre as part of the creation process?

Honestly, I didn’t know much and I’m a little embarrassed about it because many of my generation grew up with a lot of tokusatsu titles. I was aware of some of the biggest characters like Super Sentai or Kaiju monsters, but I didn’t have a precedent visual baggage to draw from. At the time of the creation process I needed to create a “mood board”, that’s usually in my head with my visual and reading experiences, with tons of images researched and sometimes also with the help of some more knowledgeable person than me. After finished Inferno Girl Red I started to look more into tokusatsu and I’m slowly catching up with Godzilla and Kamen Rider!

I absolutely love the monsters that feature in the book, and the style you’ve chosen for them is fantastic. What was it like coming up with them, and with them seeming to vary quite a bit each time they appear are there any particular things you’re looking forward to doing with the designs?

When I read Mat’s description about the Entropy monsters, I was thinking to that smoky stuff they’re made of, but I wanted to give them a magic effect, so the bones and the glow effects. I’ve also been inspired from some Salvador Dalì artworks and I tried to give them the long, quite-insectoid legs. I’ve never drawn much “horror” stuff before and maybe they’re still not scary like I wanted, but my goal was to make them the representation of the void and how the concept can be both ephemeral and concrete at the same time. The reason they’re always different, is because I thought of them as many shapes, every shape is close to an animal and they have different targets. I hope to draw more of them and be able to make them more scary!

The world of IGR has some fantastic looks to it, and Apex is always interesting to see. Some of the images released for the new Kickstarter have revealed even more of the city, with buildings built into trees. What’s it like coming up with the environment, is there an overarching theme that you’re sticking to, or are you being a bit more experimental with it?

Apex is an ideal city that works with green energy. Me and Mat worked a lot on it, he suggested some ideas providing references and I re-imagined it. I didn’t want to go too much into the future/sci-fi, but giving the reader the feeling that Apex could be a reachable possibility. For example I took photos in Milan, my city, where some buildings looks the same that are in Apex! I imagined how my city could appear with more of these flats and structures, without going too far into future, and Apex is the result! Also the Helix campus is based on a big park in Milan, Parco Sempione. It doesn’t seem because it’s filled with school facilities, but I’ve used the park map as a base for it!

The new book is introducing some new characters into the mix, including some new villains for Casia and her friends to have to deal with. Is there any particular character that’s been the most enjoyable for you to create and to make the art for that you get excited for whenever they turn up on the page?

Oh yes, I have to say that I can’t wait to draw the two twins. They’re two new characters introduced in book two, you can have a sneak on their study on our Kickstarter page. I love to design clothes and I was looking into tech wear from a while, but none of the characters I designed so far would have fit well with that aesthetic. When Mat made me read the first draft of the new book I was finally “Twins? You got me”. I was already thinking ‘bout them in tech wear and with both a yin-yang theme or with highlighter colors. They’re also some intriguing figures, I hope you’ll like them as much I do!

Aside from the fantastical creatures and the super heroes, who’s been your favourite human character to help to create?

I think Thomas is my favorite. It’s hard to choose because somehow they’re all “my kids”, you know? But Thomas is a guy I enjoy drawing a lot. Moreover, I like the chemistry between him and Càssia and I hope to show more of them in this book!

The first volume of IGR did very well on Kickstarter, and since then it has been released via Image Comics as well. What has that process been like for you, and is it different to working with some of the other publishers you’ve been with in the past?

The biggest difference between Image and other publishers, is that we have some control. I’m able to present my own characters and ask my timings that, due to my poor health, is a plus. I had to decline some nice gigs from other publishers because I couldn’t afford to work on a regular issues in their timings. It’s something that I miss, but I’m also learning new experiences in this market that teaches me other ways to do comics.

In my interview with Matt he spoke really highly of your work, and he said how the opening pages of the book, with Inferno Girl flying through the air reflected on buildings as she goes past them made him gasp out loud. What’s been something in the series that you’ve looked back at and thought ‘yeah, that was amazing’?

(Thanks Mat, you’re too kind!) He knows I have some difficulties to see my work as “a good work”. I think of myself as an ambitious person, so I tend to confront my work to who I admire the most, ending to see my art always improvable, always “not enough”. Adding how often I get sick, I feel even more inadequate looking how much work other artists are able to do.

But I have to admit, that looking at the previous Kickstarter, the messages received when I was feeling bad, and the result of the book after all we went thought, that time I thought “Yeah, it’s amazing. I did something I’m proud of”.

Is there anything in particular that you’re looking forward to people seeing in the upcoming book?

I hope they’ll see the growth of our characters and as well, the growth of us as persons. And I can’t wait for them to see the news we’re preparing for them!

And finally, if you had to sum up the second book in one sentence to get people to pick it up, what would that be?

Inferno Ignite!

If you're interested in backing Inferno Girl Red Book Two make sure to check out the Kickstarter!

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Inferno Girl Red Book 2 - Matt Groom Interview

 

2021 saw the beginnings of a new tokusatsu inspired super hero comic, Inferno Girl Red. Funded through Kickstarter, the first volume was an immediate success, and was quickly reaching its goals. The book, featuring script from Matt Groom, and art from Erica D'Urso and Igor Monti, combined the best parts of teen high school drama and character driven story with the action, adventure, and excitement of Japanese tokusatsu entertainment. And this year the first book made its way to comic shops, giving an even larger audience a chance to enjoy the series.

And now it's time for the second book in the Inferno Girl Red series. As previously, Matt Groom has offered fans the opportunity to back the book via Kickstarter, complete with the chance to own an exclusive version of the book, along with a host of other extras such as art prints, and the opportunity to be in the book itself.

I got the chance to chat with Matt about the new Kickstarter, and book two.

Thank you for taking the time to chat about Inferno Girl Red book two, and the Kickstarter.

Of course! It’s always a delight to chat with you, Amy!

The first Inferno Girl Red book launched to huge success, your Kickstarter went really well, and it went on to have an Image Comics release. Did that inspire confidence going into the second book, or did it create a feeling of pressure of having to live up to the first book?

It probably should have inspired some level of confidence? Maybe I’m just not wired that way, though.

The community response from our first Kickstarter was really overwhelming, people who have read the first book have reached out to say just the nicest things, it felt very validating and rewarding to have the physical books in my hands… but I’m also very aware of the (sometimes harsh) realities of publishing, marketing and… well, life.

So while I’m extremely confident in the book, and always have been– I believe wholeheartedly in the story we’re telling, and I’m constantly amazed at the talent of my collaborators– I never take any wins for granted or take any next steps as assumed. At least at this stage, we’re still very much at point where any success is hard won and reliant on at least some good fortune. So yeah, I feel the pressure, I worry. But I also believe it’s a journey worth embarking on. (Again.)

The first IGR book did a fantastic job at creating the world and establishing a history for the characters, have you already planned out a lot of the history for the IGR universe, and if so will readers be learning more about it this time round?

Well, thank you! Yes, I had a lot of the world-building stuff figured out (beyond what is textually in Book One) very early. I think it’s important to work that way, to have lore and logic constructed a few layers deeper than you actually need in the moment, so you have the strongest story foundations for later.

And yes, readers will absolutely discover more in Book Two! It’s a careful balance, we don’t want to bury readers in lore and background details immediately after the introductory book, but I also think a key ingredient of the series is keeping Cássia on the back foot a lot of the time. So just when she feels like she’s getting a handle on things, there’s more to learn, more to reckon with, more to challenge her. So Cássia and readers alike will learn a bit more about her allies, and the legacy of the Inferno Girl– but also more about the forces aligned against her and her friends.

Cássia is new to being a hero in the first book, and is very much discovering her powers and skills. Will she have improved much by the time book two starts, or is she still very much figuring things out? And if so what made you choose to focus on an inexperienced hero?

I guess tying into that last question a bit, Cássia will undoubtedly be a bit more experienced, and bit more confident – but she will very quickly be coming up against challenges that throw all of that into question.

In some ways, like many of coming-of-age stories, there’s an allegory for becoming an adult here– in your teens you have to master so many things so quickly, but the new things pile on as fast (or faster) than you can reasonably deal with them. And I think Cássia’s story doesn’t just represent a stereotypical teenage experience, but what it’s like to come of age now– when it feels like the whole world is coming apart at the seams, and prior generations (who largely created the world-threatening problems) are looking to you to fix them.

So, yes, Cássia will continue to be inexperienced, in the sense that we’re all inexperienced when we’re thrust towards new challenges. But each new challenges will shape her development and build her sense of self.

The first book introduced The Griffin for Cássia to go up against, a more human and intelligent leader for the monsters attacking the city. Will she be getting a new ‘boss’ type adversary in the new book, and if so are you able to tease any details about them?

I can tease a little, sure! So we won’t be getting a new human antagonist in Book Two– we’ll be getting two! And they’re twins!

Specifically, a brother/sister team, around Cássia’s age, who– until very recently– attended Cássia’s school. But how much trouble could two teenage siblings cause, right?

Well, they’re going to turn Cássia’s world upside down, and put Apex through a reign of terror like never before…

The first book gave Cássia the beginnings of a decent support group around her, helping her in her mission. Do you prefer to have larger casts of characters, even if they’re not heroes in the field, over something like a lone character?

I always love a supporting cast. Even my first creator-owned work, SELF/MADE, which had exactly three recurring characters in the book (including the antagonist!) was built around the relationship between the protagonist and the deuteragonist.

I think it’s because… in some ways, we’re only what we are to each other, you know? What we mean to each other, what we do to each other, what we owe to each other. And as much as I understand that it’s important to maintaining our healthy sense of self, I do think our perception of ourselves as individuals is something of an illusion. In ways grand and small, at societal, communal and personal levels, we’re so shaped by each other (and so powerfully shape each other) that I think it’s more honest to look at ourselves as fuzzy nodes in a profoundly-complex, layered series of interlocking systems… and the points at which I stop and you begin is much more nebulous than we like to pretend.

So a strong, fleshed out supporting cast is simply my preference, but I also think it’s the only way to authentically represent our humanity in storytelling.

Are there any themes and ideas that you’re looking to explore with the series that come into play in the second book? Some fans picked out some subtle hints at LGBTQ+ representation and romance with some of the characters, for example.

Absolutely. There’s a whole lot to our cast, our storytelling objectives and our world’s history that we only subtly planted tiny seeds for in the first book, so as to not overwhelm readers in the first volume. But all of that will unfurl as we continue.

As much as INFERNO GIRL RED has a background of oppressive darkness, Apex and our heroes are the contrast to that– an optimistic vision of what we can be as the best version of ourselves. And it’s our firm belief that the most optimistic version of our future is a diverse and inclusive future. And a future with a bit of romance, of course!

You and Erica have created a really cool, incredibly designed world, and I love how the Helix campus looks and it feels like a place you’d want to live; and the monster designs are both frightening and beautiful. What’s the creative process like between the two of you, and was it different working together a second time round?

Particularly in terms of design, it’s very free form and it’s very Erica-led. I’ll speak to her about the story importance of the character, setting or element in question– what I think it means and how I think it should feel– and then Erica takes that and does something incredible with it. Sometimes we’ll go back-and-forth a bit to finalize the design, but that’s always about feeling out a subtle nuance of direction, because every design I’ve ever seen her do is genuinely incredible. 

We’ve (thankfully) always had a very easy collaborative dynamic, so I don’t think too much has changed, except that maybe we know each other better, which saves some time– I have a better idea on how to write to Erica’s exceptional strengths, and I suspect she finds it easier to understand what I’m trying to express now.

Is there anything new that you feel Erica really knocked it out of the park with and are excited for readers to see?

Oh, so much! Most of which I can’t bring myself to spoil. But honestly, every new page is a delight. Like, on the very first page, I wrote as a small detail that Inferno Girl Red flies close to a building, and we see her mirrored back by the reflection on the glass. A tiny, unremarkable thing, right? But Erica (and our colorist Igor Monti!) made it look so damn cool that I genuinely gasped a little when I saw it.

But in Book Two there are some big things, some very-important-to-the-lore things and some iconic locations that we’ll see for the first time, and I can’t wait for you all to see how Erica brings them to life.

IGR has appeared outside of her own book in the first Supermassive, are there any more plans for her to pop up in other places, or are you concentrating more on her own title at the moment?

It’s a balance. Our mission with IGR was that it always remained excessively straightforward and self-contained– to get Cássia’s story, you never have to do anything more than read Book One, Book Two, and so on.

But having a connection to the Massive-Verse allows us to do additional things with Cássia that are really fun, like having her appear in Supermassives or having her (and the Griffin!) be playable characters in the upcoming Massive-Verse card game. So as long as those things never feel mandatory and never derail the core story, we absolutely plan on continuing that. It’s just too much fun not to!

If the Kickstarter goes well are there plans for further volumes of the series?

We’d absolutely love to continue, yes. Tying into what I said at the start, we never want to take it for granted or assume it’s going to happen– but it’s our intention to continue if we’re able. We have a large, overarching story in mind, with a lot of exciting destinations we’d love to reach one day.

Finally, if you had to sum up the second book in one sentence to convince people to back it, how would you describe it?

Oooh, okay. One sentence. Let’s see. I’d probably go with “It’s about finding hope when you can’t succeed, finding romance when you’re not looking for it, and finding compassion when it feels like there’s none left – all wrapped up a blistering, action-packed, explosive and expressive superhero epic.”

I hope it’s not cheating to use that much punctuation. >.>

If you're interested in backing Inferno Girl Red Book Two make sure to check out the Kickstarter!

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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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