Gastronogeek Anime Cookbook by Thibaud Villanova - Book Review

 

'40 recipes dedicated to anime and inspired by the greatest works of recent years, from Naruto to Attack on Titan , from chef and pop-culture expert, Thibaud Villanova, author of The Unofficial Zelda Cookbook and The Unofficial Ghibli Cookbook.

'Dive into an incredible gourmet universe of anime, from the great classics of the 80s to newcomers on the small screen.

'Re-discover the most essential and popular works of the moment in this collection in the most gourmet way possible, from the One Piece Sanji and Tajiro Curry to the Your Name Dream Souffle Pancakes!'

Finding the time or the energy to cook can be a hard thing thanks to the fast paced way of the world. With people having to work long hour, and sometimes multiple jobs, in order to get by finding the time to broaden your cooking horizons can be a challenge. People don't have the time or the energy to scour the internet looking for new recipes that might interest them, nor do most cookbooks excite them. One area that has been popular, however, is the geek inspired cookbooks.

These books have been popular with younger generations, as food seen in their favourite shows, games, and movies, are suddenly able to be made at home. If you want to relax for the night and throw on a show you love why not theme your dinner to match? And if you've got a group of friends coming over for a watch party you can impress them with a spread of food that ties into the movie. People who've never really been that interested in picking up a cookbook before have become inspired to try their hand at new things in the kitchen thanks to these geek inspired publications. And the Gastronogeek Anime Cookbook is trying to do just that.

The book is written by Thibaud Villanova, who is no stranger to bringing on screen delicacies to life, having produced other geek inspired cookery books like The Unofficial Zelda Cookbook, Disney Enchanted Recipes Cookbook, and Assassin's Creed: The Culinary Codex. This time round the focus is anime, with a collection of more than forty recipes inspired by shows such as Attack on Titan, Cowboy Bebop, and Naruto.

Having not watched as much anime as I used to back in my teens, a lot of the recipes in this book were brand new to me. Whilst I might have known the names of the shows these recipes were taken from, I'd never actually watched any of them. As such, when I first opened the book and started to flip through the recipes it felt like more of a journey of discovery than I was first expecting. Whilst the recipes here are all collected under the theme of anime, they vary a lot in what they offer, and a large part of the fun of the book was turning the pages, discovering what new culinary delight you'd find on the next page.

There is some consistency to things, however, as due to these recipes being inspired by animation that has come out of Japan, many of the recipes are very Japanese in nature. There are a lot of recipes that make use of seafood, particularly things like octopus, and mushrooms make quite a few appearances. For those who are perhaps not so much fans of these particular ingredients, however, there are enough recipes that either don't use them, or use them in small enough quantities that I'm sure you could either leave them out, or try substituting something else in instead.  

Before giving some of the recipes a try I spent some time planning ahead and reading through what would be needed. With limited income and finding shopping difficult due to my disability I had to pick which recipes I'd be trying with those conditions in mind, and unfortunately had to discount several dished that sounded great. I also found that certain ingredients were just completely unavailable in my local area, no matter how hard I looked. For those living in a big city, where you have more supermarket ranges, and can even find specialist markets for Japanese foods, I'm sure this will be less of a problem, but for small town folks you might need to order ingredients online in order to actually make some of the recipes here.

I found that the recipes in the Street Food section of the book were the easier ones to do on a whole, thanks in part to them being quick and simple. These were the kinds of dishes that, as the name would suggest, you'd expect to see a street vendor making, and make for great snacks, really good lunch options, or as a part of a larger meal. The recipes are all given a difficulty rating to begin with, which makes identifying which ones might be better for those just setting out in trying out new things. Even though I have experience with cooking I began with these easier recipes to slowly ease myself into the style of the book, and found them to be easy enough to follow and decently laid out for the most part.

The recipes also list the expected time, breaking them down in prep-time and cooking time. There were a few occasions that I found these times to be a bit off, with my cooking taking longer than what was listed here. However, this might be a case of it being my first time and not being used to the processes, along with my disability slowing me down, but it's worth noting for those trying this out for the first time to perhaps leave yourself a bit longer than the recipe says just in case; at least for the first time you try it.

There were a few things that I did find in the book that made some of the recipes a little harder, such as certain steps not really being covered in much detail. One recipe, Gin's Seafood Rice, lists one of the ingredients as 'two squid tentacles cooked in court bouillon stock'. The recipe, however, does not tell you how to cook this. It's also something that isn't explained in the book, and I had to google to find out what it was. Without knowing whether this is something that I'd have to buy separate, or if it comes precooked this way this became a recipe that I just couldn't do, as I didn't know how it wanted these ingredients made up. The fact that this recipe was a beginner one left me feeling a little dejected, as it resulted in a simple recipe feeling like it was beyond my grasp.

On a whole, I enjoyed reading and trying out the Gastronogeek Anime Cookbook, and whilst there were several recipes I didn't feel equipped to try out yet, what I did try went well, and left me feeling in a decent place to try out some of the others. This feels like one of those cookbooks that I'll be coming back to again and again in the future to try out new things and increase my skills, even if it's drawing from an area I'm not the most familiar with. 

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Ringu – Limited Edition 4K UHD Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

For many Ringu, sometimes called The Ring (and occasionally mispronounced Ring-u – the ‘u’ is silent) is often the first film people have experience with when it comes to Japanese Kaidan (ghost stories). Even if you’ve never seen Ringu yourself, you’re probably aware of the basic concept of a cursed VHS tape, and of a ghost girl climbing out of your TV to kill you a week later. Based around urban legends, the film itself has gone on to feel like it is one. Now, Arrow Video are offering a whole new way to experience the terror of Ringu in 4K Ultra-HD.

Originally crafted as a novel by Koji Suzuki, the original story of Ringu is quite different from what people who know the film would expect. Whilst some similarities would remain, such as the cursed VHS tape and the week to live, large portions of the narrative went in their own direction and took a more sci-fi approach rather than horror. As the book series progressed these differences would only continue to grow, with it eventually being revealed that the series takes place in a computer simulated environment similar to The Matrix. However, the book still grabbed attention, and was soon made into a television movie called Ring: The Complete Edition, which stuck close to the source material but incorporated more horror elements. The film, which starred soft-core porn actors, wasn’t well received.

It’s likely because of this that director Hideo Nakata funded part of the project himself, pushing to create an end product that was better than people were expecting. Nakata, along with screenwriter Hiroshi Takahashi, made substantial changes to the original story, and changed it from a science fiction story to a ghost story. Not only were these changes integral to the success of Ringu, but also helped to inspire a slew of new Kaidan movies in Japan, along with their subsequent American remakes.

Ringu focuses on an urban legend: a story of a video tape and television broadcast of strange images that when seen result in the viewer dying a week later. In some tellings of the story, the person who watches the video will also receive a strange phone call, confirming their seven day demise.  We learn of this through a pair of teens trying to frighten each other whilst home alone. However, one of them is disturbed to hear the story, as she’s living it. Afraid that there might be some truth in the tale, she’s unprepared for what comes next. When her parents return home they find her dead inside her closet, and her friend driven mad.

The girl’s aunt, Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima) is a journalist, and is working on a story about the ever spreading urban legend, little knowing that her niece has fallen victim to it. However, her research into the story means that she’s able to pick up on small pieces of information whilst at the funeral, and realises what has happened. Reiko begins investigating into what happened to her niece, and her search leads her to a holiday resort in the woods. Renting the same cabin that her niece and her friends stayed in, she finds a strange video tape. Upon watching it, the phone rings, and Reiko realises that she’s been cursed.

With only seven days in which to get to the bottom of the mystery, and to save her own life, Reiko recruits her ex-husband Ryūji (Hiroyuki Sanada) a medical student turned university professor to help her. Thanks to Ryūji’s psychic abilities, the two of them are able to learn more about the mysterious VHS tape; however, when their son Yōichi (Rikiya Ōtaka) watches the tape, their search for a solution becomes even more desperate.

Ringu is wonderful in its simple concept, and it’s been a large part of why the film has continued to stick around after twenty five years; as well as inspiring multiple sequels, remakes, manga adaptations, and video games. Whether or not you can remember having a VHS player in your home is sure to age you, but there was a time when TVs and VHS players were in every home. They were tech that everyone used, that everyone had, and the thought that something so innocuous as that could lead to your horrific death was one that people of the time were not expecting.

Thanks in part to the increase in both the torture porn genre of horror in the early 2000s, and self-referential slasher movies like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, the simple ghost story seemed to be a thing of the past. As such, when Ringu began to make its way outside of Japan in the years after its release it was quick to gain a cult following, and stories about the creepy Japanese horror film began to spread. Quite often foreign language movies tend to stay within their niche audiences, but Ringu was something a bit different, and much like the cursed tape in the film, it began to move around from person to person. Critics and film reviewers putting it on their top scariest moments lists for the end scenes of the film certainly helped with this.

The popularity of Ringu led to the American remake, The Ring, directed by Gore Verbinski. The remake did a similar thing to Nakata’s movie, taking some of the parts of the story that it liked, but bringing in new parts of the tale and changing things. Once again, this played into one of the central themes of the franchise of urban legends, as the narrative continued to evolve and change with each telling. The special features on this new release make an interesting point about the US version, in that it seems like a person’s preferred version tends to be whichever one they saw first. As someone who saw the US version first, I agree with this statement, though the original will always hold a special place thanks to the impact that it would have on cinema for several years.

This is one of the things that the new Ultra-HD release focuses on, with the disc being packed full of examinations of the movie from experts in the field. There are four new extras on the disc, each on of them spanning 30 minutes or more, as they examine the history of the film series, the impact that it had on audiences, and the way that it drew from existing Japanese horror mythology. With more than two hours of special features going into the film, it feels like one of the more in-depth and expansive home releases I’ve seen in a while, and that doesn’t even take into account the full length audio commentary, bringing things to over three and a half hours of special features and extra content.

Has Ringu lost some of its magic now that technology has moved on and VHS tapes are a thing of the past? Maybe, but this presentation of the movie is still a joy to watch. And whilst it might not feel the same as slipping a VHS tape into your TV, hoping that it doesn’t result in Sadako (Rie Inō) crawling out to get you, it’s still creepy and disturbing enough to entertain. Plus, considering the first time I watched the film I was at home alone at night and the phone rang at 2am after the film finished (thanks random fax calls!) missing out on that added extra horror might not be a bad thing!

Whether you’ve ever watched Ringu before or not, and whichever version of the story is your favourite, this new release is a perfect way to experience a piece of cinematic history; a small horror film that came out of Japan and changed global cinema.

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Nightwing #106 - Comic Review

 

After spending some time settling the Titans into their new home in Bludhaven, dealing with Blockbusters daughter, and having to deal with Knight Terrors Dick is finally able to deal with a little problem that's been hanging over his head. In issue #99 Dick learned that a mysterious package was waiting for him in The Hold, an almost mystical old pirate ship controlled by the Quatermaster. As this issue begins we learn that the package was in the possession of Ric Grayson (Dick when he had amnesia) and Ric didn't want to open it as he felt it wasn't for him. Leaving it with the Quatermaster, the package has been waiting for Nightwing to return for several months. 

Now that he feels he's got a moment to actually breathe he's finally getting round to the issue, though Barbara is having to do a little bit of encouragement to get him out of Titans tower. Unfortuanetle for Dick, The Heartless and Tony Zucco arrive at The Hold first, and kill the Quatermaster. Luckily, the mystical nature of The Hold kicks in, and the shp vanishes from inside its cave, transporting to its new master.

The rest of the issue gives us a fun ambulance chase where Nightwing gets to fight some fake EMT's, and a reveal of the new Captain of the ship that longer time readers of the series will get a kick out of; and that also feels accessible to newer readers who might not be as familiar with them.

There's not a huge amount that happens in this issue, and a lot of it feels like Taylor finally getting back to a story thread that should have been dealt with way before now. I'm enjoying this series, but some of the pacing does feel off at times. Some of it might be down to editorial, having to make room for Knight Terrors for example, and perhaps having to stop the story he was telling to establish the Titans in Nightwing to coincide with the end of Dark Crisis and the start of their title.

The book does also come with a back-up feature, a new one this time, written by Michael W. Conrad, with art by Serg Acuna and Adriano Lucas, that's really rather delightful. It follows Dick as he hangs out with Cass and Steph at the Batgirl loft; training with Cass, teaching her to make his patented pancakes, then hanging out to watch a movie with them. All while some shady guy is following Dick Grayson and spying on him for a mysterious figure. It's a lot of fun to see the characters just hanging out in their civilian identities, having fun and being a family. As someone who misses the Batgirls book it also scratches that itch too. Acuna's art also works really well for this.

That being said, this was an enjoyable read and I'm looking forward to seeing where this particular arc goes; especially with the pirate Nightwing on the next issue's cover.

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The Storm and the Minotaur by Lucy Strange - Book Review

 

'With his family struggling for money George has to go work with his dad in the local coal mine. It's a dangerous way to earn a living, and not long after he starts, a summer storm leads to flooding in the mine. Trapped down in the dark, George spots a shadowy figure that seems to be beckoning him. Can a ghost from the past lead him to safety or will George meet the same fate as his long lost uncle?'

Barrington Stoke have produced a number of excellent children's books that take place in historical settings that don't shy away from teaching young readers how much harder it was for children in the past. The Storm and the Minotaur is one of these titles, as even from the very first few pages it hammers home the awful situation that young George finds himself in; battling his fear at having to go deep underground in order to work in the local coal mine when he wants to do other things with his life.

Author Lucy Strange does a wonderful job at showing the internal struggle that George has, being afraid of having to work underground, but knowing that his family are struggling, and that an extra income will help them all out. George, unlike his father and his uncle, stayed on a bit longer in school, and has done well for himself with learning how to read and write, and definitely seems built for using his mind. But, opportunities to do so are few and far between in his home town, and the mine is the easiest way to bring money into the family home.

As George is preparing to start his first day in the mine he goes to his treasure stash, where he hides things that mean something to him, and discovers an old book hidden there decades before by his Uncle Mal, who died before George was born. The book is filled with stories about myth and legend, and George reads the story about the Minotaur. After that, once he begins working in the mine, George begins to feel like something down there is watching him, a shadowy figure always on the edge of his vision. After his father tells him a story about how his Uncle Mal died in the mines years before George becomes convinced that the figure is his uncle come back.

When a huge summer storm causes massive rainfall the mine ends up in danger, as the water floods down into the tunnels. George and a number of other children become trapped in one of the tunnels, with the water quickly rising. It's then that he sees the figure of the Minotaur once again. George decides that following the ghostly figure is the only chance they have for survival, and the children set off deeper into the mines.

One of the most surprising things about the book is that once you're done with the story there's a historical note, telling you that the narrative was partially inspired by a real historical event, the Huskar Pit disaster. As in the story, a summer storm caused flooding in the Huskar Pit mine in Yorkshire, unlike in the story though, the children did not make it out alive. The book contains a list of the twenty six children, ranging from the ages of seven and seventeen, who drowned in the mines that day. This note at the end of the book changes this kind of uplifting historical story into a book that leaves you feeling kind of sick.

Strange does a decent job at portraying how frightening the situation is, and there are times when the children in the book feel like they're in danger, but there's also this feeling that nothing truly bad is going to happen to them. This is a children's book after all, you can't just drown kids. I do wonder if there was a version of the story where there were deaths involved, but I think that the sudden shift from a happy ending to a note on the real world version actually hits a lot better than having a more realistic outcome. You've got this great high from seeing George and the other kids escape, which then comes crashing down. For parents reading this book to their children, I can see potentially skipping the last part, wanting to leave the book on a happy note, but I do think its also worth reading the historical note too.

This is what I meant earlier when I said that Barrington Stoke does a great job at showing children how much the world has improved, and how things for children especially have gotten better. The idea of having to go work down in a dark, dangerous mine all day every day might be shocking enough for a young reader, but then learning that children died doing such jobs makes it hit all the harder. I also think that books like this are a wonderful gateway into learning about history, and can easily spark your child's interest in the subject.

The book comes with a number of illustrations, by artist Pam Smy. Having seen Smy's work before on Thornhill, which I adored, I was excite to see what she'd bring to the project; and I wasn't disappointed. The illustrations are perfect for this kind of story, and the pictures showing what it's like in the mines are just the right level of dark and depressing. When George starts seeing the Minotaur in the mines the images start reflecting this, with some of them quite clearly showing the large creature standing in the shadows, but others requiring you to take a moment to try and spot them.

The Storm and the Minotaur is an engaging story with great characters that kids will enjoy reading about, and a setting that services the story brilliantly. Strange does a wonderful job at creating a story that feels oppressive and frightening, yet also filled with hope. A fantastic read.

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Wonder Woman #1 - Comic Review

 

The new run on Wonder Woman has finally begun, and this first issue is not an easy read. It's clear very quickly into this first issue that this run is going to be a heavy one, with some tough themes and stories that can prove challenging to certain readers. I say challenging to certain readers because I think that depending on who you are you can either look at this book as an interesting story, a fun thought exercise into the way King is taking the US's relationship to the Amazons, or it could be a very realistic glimpse into a world that feels frighteningly possible.

The story begins with an Amazon living in the US, who is sexually assaulted in a pool hall (yes, just grabbing someone's ass without permission is sexual assault). Amazons not being ones to just accept something like unwanted sexual touching, this woman attacks the men who did it to her, and then every man in the building. She kills nineteen men, leaving two women untouched. This, of course, sparks fear and anger in the population. We see news reports and interviews with people who begin to spin this as an attack against all men, who paint this one incident as indicative of what every single Amazon is like. 

After some discussions and debates the government passes the Amazon Safety Act, which makes all Amazons illegal in the US, and requires any living and working there to leave the country. Amazons are met with mistrust, pained as criminals, made out to be dangerous attacks against men waiting to happen. And of course, because the US is a patriarchal society with a different kind of government to the Amazons they then become an attack on the very American way of life. America takes a fascistic stance against the Amazons; and it's disgusting.

A special task force is created to enforce the new laws, as we see them gun down an Amazon, murdering her in front of her wife and daughter. Her wife, who's a US citizen, is still taken by the task force and made to leave the country, whilst their daughter is taken from them; the book makes a point of showing us that the government doesn't see them as her real parents because they adopted her, which also feels like an attack on queer families.

Its in this new, frightening world that Diana finds herself, and refuses to bow before it. Wonder Woman has been an ambassador for peace for her entire time off Themyscira, she has tried to champion peace and love, she's fought only when she has to, and she's campaigned for equality. And now she public enemy number one in a land where fear, hate, and lies rule supreme. And it is a place where lies rule, as the final scene of the book reveals something that is going to change the way the DC world works forever, and will reveal a hidden history.

One of the reasons why I said that this title will challenge some readers more than others is because I believe that for some people this book will be hard to get through. There were a few times when I wanted to put the book down and take a break from it. If you're in a minority group, if you've ever been victimised because of who you are, if you've ever seen your rights and existences threatened I think this story is going to hit different for you. I've seen people like myself demonised in the media, I've seen my rights to exist debated like a thought exercise, I've seen people campaign to change laws, I've seen people openly call for extermination, literally standing on the same side as Nazis. There are times where I quite truly fear for the future and my life. And this book made me think of that when reading it because to some this will feel like an extreme, impossible scenario, but for me it feels like a very real possibility.

Tom King has brought real world politics into the DC Universe in a way where a lot of readers will probably not even think that it's happening, but it's a harsh, brutal depiction of the world we're in now. The book shows how quickly social media, the press, and cruel people in positions of power can shape our world and make it into a worse place. This isn't a fun Wonder Woman adventure, this is likely to be the hardest, darkest story that gets told with her.

My one real criticism with the book, and with King's writing here, is one that I tried to ignore but just couldn't. I really dislike Diana's voice. She talks in an odd way, in sentences that feel oddly structured and out of character for her. I couldn't put my finger on why this was, but then I found out the reason. In an interview with the YouTube channel ComicPop!, King revealed that he based Diana's voice on Gal Gadot's version of Wonder Woman. Things then made more sense, and when read with her voice in mind the odd sentence structure makes more sense. 

This is a choice that I honestly really dislike. Gadot's voice is Gadot's accent, it's not Diana's voice. Diana has never really spoken like this before in anything that I've read with her, and it ended up being hugely distracting and made the scenes with her talking in them the worst ones of the book. I hope this is something that gets toned down in future issues, because I don't want to read what looks set to be a brilliant Wonder Woman story where I hate it every time she opens her mouth. As it is, I honestly couldn't give this book the perfect score I would normally have done because it was too jarring and too big a distraction that kept pulling me out of the book.

The books art, by Daniel Sampere and Tomeu Morey is absolutely gorgeous, and there are multiple moments in the book that are beautiful to look at. The scene in which Diana fights the anti-Amazon task force in a snow covered cemetery is so amazingly done, and so beautifully choreographed that I'm left excited to see what other action beats might be coming in future issues. The book also depicts the horrors of this situation shockingly well, and there are several moments in this book that are hard to look at. Balancing that mixture of beauty and brutality is a hard line to walk, but this art team does it well.

I've heard that the second issue of the series is where things get really interesting, with the first issue having the task of laying out a lot of groundwork. Whilst this first issue is a slower issue one than some people would probably be expecting it's doing a ton of set-up, and is changing the landscape of the DC Universe in some major ways. If you find this first issue hard to get through, but are still interested in the story it looks like the next issue might be what you're waiting for. If, however, you just can't get into the book, if you're one of these people angry at the politics, or feel like a certain side of the political spectrum is being attacked and made fun of here then it might be a series that's just not for you.

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Calling the Whales by Jasbinder Bilan - Book Review

 

'When Tulsi and her best friend Satchen spot something unusual in the sea near their home in Scotland, they decide to investigate. But little do they know how much danger they are putting themselves in. After rowing out to a nearby island, they become involved in a risky rescue mission and their boat capsizes in the storm. But just as they think all is lost, help arrives from an unexpected source...'

Calling the Whales is a beautiful new children's read from Barrington Stoke and author Jasbinder Bilan that teaches children the importance of conservation and campaigning for chance, all wrapped into a daring adventure story.

The book focuses on Tulsi and Satchen, two young tweens who are soon moving up to senior school, but are spending their days before hand hanging out, trying to raise awareness of the plight of whales, and playing out on the ocean in their small row boat. One evening, however, Tulsi thinks she sees something usual out in the sea, close to a nearby island. The next day the two of them head out on their boat, and discover a young whale tangled in some old fishing nets, trapped. 

The two kids take turns swimming under the waves, cutting away at the tangled nets with a penknife, trying desperately to help the whale before it dies from exhaustion. However, when a fierce storm comes rolling in the two of them are forced to head back to shore looking for help; but the storm proves to be too much for them, and the boat capsizes. How the two of them are the ones trapped in the sea, waiting for rescue.

Calling the Whales is the kind of book that might give some parents a harder time than younger readers. for kids reading this book is a wonderfully heartwarming story about two youngsters who go out and put their lives on the line to do the right thing, and end up making the world a better place. For older readers, however, it's a nightmare scenario where you're constantly worried about these children. 

The characters of Tulsi and Satchen are decent kids. They've got good hearts, they're aware of some of the awful qualities of the world, but are still hopeful and kind enough to want to challenge those bad things in order to leave the world a better place. They're inspiring in a lot of ways, and I think that younger readers will look at them as being heroic even, and could become inspired to go out and try and do good themselves. Just hopefully not rowing out into the sea all by themselves.

Jasbinder Bilan does a wonderful job at crafting a narrative that sucks you in. By the time the two kids discover the whale, which they name Angus, you're invested. You want to see them save the whale, you want them to succeed, and you're worried about what might happen to the two of them. For a book with a relatively short page count you end up become more invested than you might think, and it might be one of my favourite Barrington Stoke releases for this.

The book comes with illustrations, provided by Skylar White. The art is simple, yet effective at portraying important scenes in the narrative. The characters are all distinct and clearly identifiable, and there are some wonderful illustrations that show off how dynamic certain moments are, such as Tulsi swimming below the waves cutting Angus free, whilst Satchen mans the boat above, singing to the animal to calm it. Even though the images are presented in black and white it sells the mood of the book well in some ways, especially with the gloom of the stormy ocean.

Something that the book featured, which was a really pleasant surprise, was some acknowledgement of trans and non-binary identities. When discussing the whale, the kids wonder about his gender, ans ask it he could be 'a boy, a girl, or a they'. Aside from some slightly clunky delivery on the line it's a wonderful sentiment to find in the book. The normalisation of trans and non-binary identities, and pronouns outside of just he and she is amazing to see in a children's book. Something that was unheard of even a decade ago being normalised and included like this is delightful; especially at a time where rampant transphobia and hatred towards the LGBTQ+ community is on the rise.

Calling the Whales is a lovely book, one that has some great characters, an engaging story, beautiful art, and some very real danger to keep things interesting and engaging. The kind of book kids are going to love.

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Catwoman #57 - Comic Review

 

The Gotham War continues in the latest issue of Catwoman as we pick up where Batman left off, with Bruce having to deal with the fact that his family home is now officially lost to him. The immortal caveman Vandal Savage has bought Wayne Manor, and is the legal owner. This seems to push Bruce even further into a pit of despair, and leaves him lamenting his woes over the graves of his parents. This story really seems to be showing how important Alfred was to Bruce, because it seems like without his surrogate father figure there managing his real world affairs in the background Bruce, who's still rich, can't even manage his finances and affairs enough to keep his house. 

But this also seems to be something that's being pushed for the character right now, a breaking down on his reasoning and his ability to think clearly. The Zur En Arrh stuff seems to be Zdarsky's end goal, and any of the Batman titles that have a connection to his run are pushing Bruce closer and closer to a point where he's going to snap and Zur En Arrh will be let loose. That's why here, much like in Batman, he's acting crazed more than anything else; but other titles with him like Batman and Robin are depicting him as being perfectly normal. This issue also seems to walk back on what was a very important moment for Bruce early on in the Zdarsky run, where before he refused to see Tim and a soldier, calling him his son; but here he's referring to his family as being his soldiers. It's a shame to see a lack of consistency on this point.

Elsewhere in the issue, Catwoman's gang continue with their plan, having simply moved their base of operations to a new location after Batman wrecked the place. It also seems like Red Hood is taking a more active role now, taking part in training Selina's group in car thefts and joining them on a job. This leads to the perfect opportunity to show Batman fight a member of his family once again, as he and Jason clash across the city. One silver lining for this is that Batman at least seems a bit less vicious in this fight, thinking things through rather than jumping in and attacking his entire family without even trying to talk them down first. Here, he and Jason actually talk about stuff before it comes to blows, and Bruce gives him the chance to walk away.

The only other big thing that really happens this issue is a quite surprising reveal in the final pages. Skip ahead to the next paragraph to avoid spoilers. Earlier in the Catwoman run Selina made a bunch of friends in prison. Some of these were returning characters, like Lady Clayface, whilst most were new creations for the series. One of these, Marquise, is less new than we were first led to believe. This issue reveals that she is, in fact, Scandal Savage, daughter of Vandal Savage. As a fan of Secret Six I ended up leaving this issue with a huge smile on my face because her return has me genuinely excited to see what might be coming up next.

Aside from that reveal, and the personal excitement it brought for me, there's not a huge amount in this issue that's hugely exciting. It feels very similar to what came in the last part of the story, and right now it feels like this event might just be the same kind of confrontations over and over again until some kind of conclusion happens. Perhaps not though, maybe something a bit more interesting will happen over coming issues that will make this story feel worth it. Right now though, this issue feels like it's spinning its wheels somewhat.

The art on the book, by Nico Leon and Veronica Gandini is nicely done, with the action between Bruce and Jason feeling cool and dynamic, and the quieter moments such as Bruce visiting his parents grave in the rain feeling suitibly gloomy and dakly beautiful. Selina's outfit for the ballet is also a nice look, and the way that the gold o the page almost seems to glow is a neat affect that makes her pop on the page.

Gotham War is one of those events that feels like its not really going to be doing much, and that it will be little remembered in years to come. This might just be an early sages stumbling step, and maybe things will get better as it goes on, but right now this feels like an odd crossover for most of these characters, and it's turned the Catwoman title into a book where she doesn't feel like the focus at all. 

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Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Throwback 20

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Even before the purchase of Star Wars by Disney at the end of 2012 fans of the franchise would discuss how much a project would count in canon. Fans would go into debates about what is and isn’t canon (something that’s still done), and what level of canon it was.

The fact that there was a five tier ranking system for how much something counted, shows how wild stuff got towards the end. As such, when Disney took over and made anything that was a film or The Clone Wars series non-canon it made things easier. Of course, this upset many fans, and arguments then began of what should be remade canon. One thing that the vast majority of fans agree on, however, is that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic deserves to be.

Created by Bioware, the studio that would go on to create the hugely popular role-playing game series Mass Effect and Dragon Age, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is set four thousand years before the events of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. When work began on the game, Bioware were given two choices of setting from LucasArts, set around the events of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, or the Old Republic. Bioware opted to head into the past, a choice that allowed them huge creative freedom, and the opportunity to expand the Star Wars mythos in new and exciting ways.

The game begins during the early days of the Galactic Republic, a few years after the close of the Mandalorian Wars, a conflict that raged across the galaxy as the war-like Mandalorians fought against the Republic forces. The Republic were led by a pair of rogue Jedi Knight, Revan and Malak (Rafael Ferrer), who have since vanished into the Unknown Regions of space. The pair returned years later, leading a Sith armada, the two of them having fallen to the Dark Side. As the game begins, Revan has been killed by the Jedi in an assault on their forces, and Darth Malak has taken over.

Players get to choose their own character to play, with the game dropping you into the middle of a battle against Sith forces. You’re able to choose your gender, appearance, name, and which class you wish to play, with three options available to you. As the game progresses and you level up, you are given skill points that you can spend however you wish, further tailoring your character to best suit your play style. After a brief introduction in which your ship is under Sith attack, the game drops you onto a planet, and from there you’re pretty much left to go your own way. You’re able to discover missions by talking to people, which often have multiple ways to be solved, and you can recruit several new companions to your side even before leaving this first world.

As the game progresses you’re able to recruit more people to your side, ranging from droids, to bounty hunters, and even Jedi. You also learn that your character has latent but powerful Force abilities, and are able to become a Jedi yourself, at which point you get to pick a Jedi path to follow, unlocking even more skills and powers. Even though the game is twenty years old, I won’t be going too deep into the story, as it’s still one of the most engaging and creative narratives found in a Star Wars game, if not the entire franchise. The story of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic deserves to be experienced, rather than just having it told to you, so it’s one that I very much encourage you to go out and discover, if you’ve never played it before.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was released on both the PC and the Xbox, with the Xbox being chosen as the only console that Bioware felt would be able to run the game as well as PC. The Xbox version of the game would go on to sell more than 250,000 copies in the first four days of release, making it the highest selling game on the platform at that time. It’s reported that the game eventually sold more than 3.2 million copies during the Xbox’s lifetime. The game didn’t just do well in sales, however, and reviews for it were favourable from the outset. The majority of industry reviewers gave the game top marks, with it receiving near perfect scores. It would also go on to win numerous awards, including Game of the Year across a number of outlets. It is still ranked as one of the best games released on the Xbox, and as one of the highest rated Star Wars games ever.

The success meant that a sequel was all but guaranteed, and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords was released less than two years later, though it would not receive the same level of success as the first game. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic would later be released on other platforms, including in the Google Play Store, the Xbox One, and most recently on the Nintendo Switch. A remake was announced in 2021, which has many fans speculating that the new version will be bringing the events of the game into the Disney canon. This is something that has been touched upon in canon already, with references having been made to characters and locations in both animation and the Sequel Trilogy, as well as a scene featuring Darth Revan’s spirit having been removed from an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

With the game continuing to be released on modern consoles, with a remake in the works, and small pieces of the setting being scattered throughout the series like Easter-eggs it looks like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic might survive the old canon purge, even if it takes a while. Even if it doesn’t, it’s still a phenomenal game that any Star Wars fan, and anyone who loves a good RPG, will want to play.

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Loki #4 - Comic Review

 

The fourth issue of the Loki mini-series brings this story to a close; and perhaps the worst thing about that is that it means this rather delightful series has to end. Dan Watters has done a really good job at telling a Loki story that feels enjoyable, that has the former trickster god, now a god of stories, play around in this role where they're not quite good and not quite bad. Seeing the series go is a shame, as this has everything a book needs to make an excellent ongoing series.

With one last piece of the mystical ship Naglfar left to find, Loki heads to Earth, where it's fallen into the hands of the villain Bullseye. As with previous issues, the ship has formed itself into a powerful weapon for the murderous psychopath to use. However, this isn't the kind of weapon that you'd expect Bullseye to use. Yes, he's able to turn pretty much anything into a deadly weapon, but you still kind of expect something that actually looks like a weapon. Instead, the piece of Naglfar has transformed itself into a book.

The book contains truths, revelations that Bullseye is able to unleash upon his victims that can utterly destroy them. It seems even simple words can be changed into deadly weapons with Bullseye in control. Fortunately, Loki knows exactly the kind of person they are, and the truth does very little to them. The fight between the two is fun enough, but it's the dialogue and the interactions between them that stand out the most.

The books art, by Germán Peralta and Mike Spicer is great, and the book looks fantastic. I've really enjoyed the way that this series has looked, and the art team has managed to bring a ton of life and personality to Loki, in whatever body they've been in. They also manage to make Earth feel dirtier and grimier than some of the other places that Loki has visited this series, showing a nastier side to our world than we saw Loki enjoying in the first issue.

As I said before, it's a shame that this series is coming to a close as it was a really enjoyable book to read. I loved the way Loki was written here, and how the story was able to be varied and different across each issue yet felt like one cohesive whole. I also loved how Loki would take on different genered appearances from issue to issue for no other reason than because they wanted to. Gender fluid, constantly shifting Loki is great, and needs to be the standard whenever they turn up. Plus, the art team did a fantastic job at making both male and female Loki feel consistent, yet distinct enough so that you could tell which was which without any difficulty.

A great final issue to the series, and a four issue run that's worth going back and checking out if you missed it.

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Batman/Superman: World's Finest #19 - Comic Review

 

Mark Waid's new version of the first meeting between Batman and Superman comes to a conclusion in the latest issue of Batman/Superman: World's Finest which sees the two titular heroes dealing with a powerful prisoner of the Phantom Zone wreaking havoc on Earth.

As far as I'm aware, the last two official first meetings between the two characters have been fairly grim affairs, stories in which the two don't really like each other, where they don't get along, and where the friendship between the two of them is a long way off. John Byrne's Man of Steel series had Superman wanting to arrest Batman at the beginning, and thinking of his as a psychopath come the end. Rather than treat this old, pretty boring ground, Waid has asked a daring question 'what if they became friends pretty quickly?'.

One of the best things about this series has been how it's taken a lot of inspiration from the Silver Age; particularly the tone. The book is fairly light a lot of the time, even when things are going bad for the characters there's still a chance for some humour. I've really enjoyed this fine balance that the book has managed to make, where it's modernised old comic storytelling themes but managed to keep true to that happier, more hopeful feeling. As such, seeing that being done for these characters first meeting was a genuine delight.

The last issue pretty quickly put most of any animosity or distrust between the two characters to bed, with Batman revealing his secret identity to Superman early on as a sign of trust. In this issue, that trust continues, as two characters used to working alone have to really come together to beat Jax-Ur, the evil Kryptonian who managed to escape from the Phantom Zone.

Much like the Silver Age comics the book is emulating, there are a few parts of the book that feel like they're making some big allowances, where things just happen because the story needs them to, and characters manage to do things that most other books would see them struggle with. I've seen some people complain about this, but to me it fits the tone the book is going for. The book is showing a modern take on a different time in comics, and it's still nowhere near as weird and ridiculous as the books from that time. 

By working together, the two titular heroes are able to not only beat Jax-Ur, but are able to rescue everyone who's been lost in the Phantom Zone too. And it's done on trust. Superman allows Batman into the Fortress of Solitude, he willingly takes a beating from Jax-Ur in order to buy Batman the time he needs to enact the plan. The characters are in a situation where their hands have been forced slightly, and they have to make that leap to trusting each other; but it still works, and it helps to form a firm foundation for the strong friendship that's to come.

Travis Moore provides the art on this issue, taking over for Dan Mora, and does a fantastic job. Mora has quickly become one of (if not the) favourite artists around at the minute, and I come to each and every issue of this series excited to see what new thing he's going to be drawing. I love his modernisations of classic designs and silly characters, and it makes the Silver Age look feel more real than any other artist I've seen. Moore is very much doing the same here, and he feels like the prefect artist to work on the series whilst Mora isn't here. I really liked how in this story Batman literally has a dark piece on the front of his cowl, showing that the classic style of shading that was done back in the day was actually a darker part of his costume. It's small touches like that that make this book a stand out that makes Moore's work stand out. 

This is a really fin and enjoyable conclusion to this quick two part story. It might now be my favourite of the Batman Superman first meeting stories DC has given us, and I would love to see this creative team do this with more characters. With the return of Kingdom Come, and Boy Thunder, in the next issue, things are only going to get better with this series.

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