Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,

Its out tomorrow and ive got my tickets booked!

The Flash: Rebirth

Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Ethan Van Sciver
Publisher: DC Comics

Back in May when I went to the Bristol Comic Expo, I attended a DC comics panel that was being hosted by Dan DiDio. In the panel Dan asked the audience to ask questions about any of their characters and he would try answer them as best he could, so I asked a question about the Flash and why the 60s version (Barry Allen) was recently resurrected as I felt there was no need to do this. Dan informed the audience and myself there was/is a purpose to him coming back and that I should check out the series to see what it is. So recently I picked up the issues of the series to see why but before I get into that let me just have a quick recap as to how the Flash died originally.

In 1986 DC Comic decided to have a massive comic event that would unify all of their super hero comic lines into one universe rather than having stories set in different universes. This event was called Crisis of the Infinite Earth's and as the story progressed quite a few characters died and were not seen again most notable was the Flash (Barry Allen) and to make it worst when he did die, he died alone saving the Earth and he literally ran him self to death.
When the rest of the super heroes did discover that Barry Allen had died, the mantle of the Flash was handed down to his side kick Kid Flash(Wally West). This new Flash(Wally West) went on to become just as heroic as his predecessor if not better and he has now been the flash for the last 20 years. But for the last few years it has appeared that DC Comics don't know what to do with the character and this has resulted with Barry Allen some how being resurrected. Although it turns out his resurrection might just result in the death of other characters, as Barry Allen has come back as the Black Flash, bringer of death.

Barry Allen has returned to the DC Comic Universe but this time he seems to have taken the role of Death. The reason he has become death?No body knows at this point in time but it seems to involve the evil and twisted Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash. Barry Allen cant seem to touch any one or have any one touch him at this point as it results in the persons death. The series features many of the DC super heroes and issue 3 features a rather nice conversation piece between Superman and Barry Allen where, Superman reveals that he wont let Barry die again as they have lost far to many heroes recently.

Whilst the series is enjoyable there are a lot of characters in this series and I really do think DC should take a leaf out of Marvels and 2000ad comics and have a page at the start of every issue informing the reader who a lot of the characters in the book are. Also even though I am enjoying the series I still cant say that I am really bothered that Barry Allen is back as I dont find him that interesting as a character. The Flash I grew up reading was the Wally West version of the character and return of Barry feels like its 15 years too late. I still don't see the point in resurrecting the character other than to make him Death in the DC universe. All I keep thinking is that this series might be tied into the current story line going through Green Lantern(Where the dead are going to be joining the black/dead Lanterns).
The artwork in this series is great and very detailed. I know that some people can find Ethan Van Sciver's work a bit mush at times but I really enjoyed looking at it and seeing how much detail he put in to every page.

The series might be a bit much for new readers of the character as the book ties heavily into the DC comic continuity although through out there are a lot of flash back sequences to past events. I think this series is worth a try for dyslexic readers as it is very well written although I would say bear in mind there are a lot of references to DC continuity so this might be better suited to some one who is quite up to date with DC Comics. A enjoyable read and I'm intrigued to see where it will go next.

Bad Company: Goodbye, Krool World

Writer:Peter Milligan
Illustrators:Brett Ewins, Jim McCarthy, Steve Dillon
Publisher: 2000AD - Rebellion

I picked up this book back when I went to the Bristol Comic Expo. I really did not know anything about the series prior to picking this up but from the summary on the back of the book I thought it sounded quite interesting.

The story is told from the point of view of Danny Franks a young soldier who is fighting a war against the evil Krool who seem hell-bent on taking over the universe and experimenting on mankind. Danny ends up being part of a unit called Bad Company, which seems to be populated by a collection of misfits and monsters led by the mysterious Kano and who all were seemingly created by the Krool. Danny and Bad Company are pushed to their limits and you can never be sure who will make it to the end of the book as it seems no one is safe.

Now to me the book sounds very interesting. Its essentially a war story in space with monsters on the good side. Problem is a lot of the characters are just so unlikeable that the reader cant connect with any one in the book so that when they are killed off or injured you really not that bothered. I really wanted to enjoy this book but I just could not get into it at all. The first story just seemed to drag on in a lot of places and when the end finally came I was glad because I was bored in all honesty. The second story was not much better. Danny the character from the first story goes about setting up the next incarnation of Bad Company but now he's kind of looking a bit more "tough" and he gets another bunch of monsters together to go on a suicide mission to stop a rampaging monster. As before this group are just as bad as the last bunch and not a lot of them make it out to the end.
Another thing I found annoying about the book was the constant close up's on characters faces. I did not see the need for it and thought it was a bit boring. Otherwise the art work in the book was very good and there were some nice action sequences in the book.

I do believe there is a second volume to this book and at this point I am not sure whether I will make the effort to pick it up. I was a bit down that the book was not as good as what I hoped it would be. This does not mean that the book was bad, it just was not for me.

Batman And Robin Issue 1

Writer: Grant Morrison
Illustrator: Frank Quietly
Publisher: DC Comics

Last week saw the release of the new Batman and Robin comic series from DC Comics.I am sure there are quite a lot of reviews all over the internet of this comic but I wanted to review it too as Grant Morrison's take on Batman was quite interesting and controversial. If you don't know much about Morrison's run on Batman, really all you need to know is that Batman (Bruce Wayne) was pushed beyond his limits and the climax of the story resulted in his Death (Sort of). Morrison's entire run on Batman seems to be held in high regard by most but sadly I cant say the same. For me I have found his entire run very forgettable, especially the final part of his run called Batman: R.I.P. which I found incredibly confusing and once the story was complete I felt incredibly relived as the story was over. This does not mean the run/stories were bad, just that they were not Batman stories for me. It could be because of my dyslexia that I did not fully understand what was going on in the of comics. There seemed to be an infinite amount of information and references to many Batman stories from the silver age or possibly the golden age of comics. I would advise other dyslexics to avoid reading Morrison's run on Batman because of this as I have often just found the information with in the book too intense. This does not mean I struggle with every thing that Grant Morrison has written though, I thoroughly enjoyed his run on the JLA back in the 90s as well as his run on New X-men and I cant recommend those titles enough, both of which are being collected in trade paperback formats currently.

Now on to Batman and Robin. I have not read a Batman comic since the Batman: R.I.P. story line, so I have gone into the issue knowing that Bruce Wayne, the original Batman is now deceased. Dick Grayson the original Robin - The boy Wonder and former Nightwing has taken up the mantle of Batman and he has a new Robin with him called Damien Wayne (Bruce's son), who just happens to of be trained by the League of assassins and raised by his insane/villainous mother Talia al ghul.
The story starts out with a car chase where a character styled like Toad from Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows, is on the run from the Batmobile, which has now been upgraded to fly through the streets of Gotham City. It seems that since the city thought Batman was dead, crime has been on the increase and has started to attract a new batch weird criminals. The most interesting character seems to be the new crime boss called PYG, who seems to be incredibly brutal and totally on crazy.

The relationship dynamic between the New Batman and Robin seems very interesting. Where in the past Robin always seemed to look up to Batman, this Robin seems to be a very rude and arrogant young man who thinks he is ready to become Batman right now. Although Robin is very cocky he also seems to have a vast intellect which in time could surpass his father's. Robin also seems to have no respect for his elders as he is constantly dismissing Alfred and wants Dick to step aside as soon as possible.
Dick seems to of taken over the role of Batman with ease, although he does mention to Alfred that he knew one day he would have to step into the role of Batman but he did not want to face up to it.

This comic was good. Real good in fact and very easy to understand. I was able to go into this comic with out having read the back story as how the new Batman and Robin came to be and just enjoy their adventures from this issue. There are numerous changes to the Batman mythos which might seem off putting to some old time Batman fans but near enough all the changes are explained through out the issue. If you want to check out a decent Batman comic, this is probably one of the best in the last few years. Check it out!

The Complete Ro-Busters

Writers: Pat Mills and Alan Moore

Illustrators: Kevin O'Neill, Dave Gibbons, Mike McMahon and Mike Dorey

Publisher: 2000AD - Rebellion

Back at the Bristol Comic Expo I was able to pick this book up for £10 and it was pretty much the only book I came looking for at the show. The book had been recommended to me by quite a few people all of whom seemed to hold the book is very high regard. The only character I knew of from the series was one of the main characters called Hammerstein. Back in the 90s when I had been reading 2000ad Hammerstein had been featured in a strip called A.B.C. Warriors, which I remembered enjoying.

Moving on to Ro-Busters when I first opened the book I was expecting to see the character Hammerstein but in this book he looked vastly different from how I remembered him. Any way the series is about two robots called Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws who are old robots waiting to be sold at a second hand used robots lot. Essentially Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws are C3PO(But double hard and has a back bone) and R2D2 (Except a lot more offensive and twisted) and they are brought by a cyborg called Mr Ten Percent, who then inducts them in to his rescue team Ro-Busters. Which is very similar to Gerry Andersons Thunderbirds. Ro-busters is a collection of old robots that are deployed to emergencies all over the world and a lot of the time most of the supporting are killed as soon as they are introduced.
Through out the book MR Ten Percent seems adamant to see the destruction Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws in each story although luckily they seem to escape destruction every time. The book follows there adventures through out with the exception of one story which features a division of Ro-Busters called the Terra-Meks, where for a change the Ro-Busters are actually the bad guys and are taken on by a gigantic robot called Charley defender of the people. Whilst this story is good, I do not want to talk about to much as a lot of other reviews seem to focus quite a lot in this story.

Through out the book the one character who I thought was fantastic and I undoubtedly now have a Robot-Crush on is Ro-Jaws. Never in my life have I read a character who is so offensive yet attempts to be charming at the same time. As soon as I saw him up to something in one of the stories, I could always tell its going to end badly! Ro-Jaws is with out a doubt the ugliest, most offensive but funny character that I have read about in years.

I really enjoyed reading this book and was glad that there is only 1 volume collecting the stories as it is with out a doubt one of the best omnibus/collections that I have on my shelves. I would even be willing to say it's probably the best 2000ad collection I have read yet. The stories were easy to follow and understand and I know I'm new to Pat Mills writing but I really enjoyed his story telling. The pacing of the stories was great and I really felt that the characters were developing through out the book. The first few stories in the book were very short but as the stories progress there is more of a back story being built up. The Artwork in the book is great but with the creative talent involved its not a shock. Although I'm sure at the time the comics were originally produced none of the artists knew that their work would be collected in a massive collection. Also I am sure each artist makes poor Ro-Jaws uglier when ever they came onto the book.

A great book and a real investment. If you have not checked out this volume yet then you really should as it really offers a great collection of comic strips by a lot of now well known creators and two of the best characters I have ever been introduced too.

Judge Dredd VS Aliens

Writers: John Wagner & Andy Diggle
Artist: Henry Flint
Publisher: 2000AD - Rebellion

I am not and never will be a big fan of crossover books. Back when I was a teenager I loved them and thought they were great. There was Aliens VS Predator, Robocop VS Terminator, Marvel VS DC and the weirdest one of all Punisher and Archie. I thought they were great cause they were over the top and featured battles comic fans had always wanted to see and always out of continuity. Truth be told though, when ever I look back at some of these crossovers, they just don't stand the test of time. A lot of the time they feature a plot that could of been conceived by a 4 year old and the artists who work on the books don't always appear to be putting in a lot of effort. There has been a couple of notable exceptions though, the first Aliens VS Predator book is very entertaining and even reading it some 20 years after it was first published, it still reads really well. The second crossover book that stands out as really well done is Wild C.A.T.S. VS Aliens, which is about a superhero team (Storm watch) being wiped out by the Aliens on a space station, with another team of superheroes(Wild C.A.T.S.) attempting to rescue any survivors. By the end of the issue Storm Watch are pretty much dead and the story actually happened in continuity, which had hardly ever been done at that point. This then lead to the launch of the Authority but that's a review for another time.

My biggest problems with crossovers now though is the fact the suffer from poor characterisation. Take any Aliens crossover and I guarantee who ever is writing it will try and emulate the story of James Cameron's Aliens and the Aliens essentially become redundant and in effect are no longer the terrifying presence they once were.
It's a shame but it just seems that the Aliens are used to make other characters they are crossing over with look more heroic and the aliens seem to be so easily defeated from then on.I remember the first time I saw Ridley Scott's Alien and I was truly terrified that of it. In the film there is one Alien and it slowly annihilates the crew of the Nostromo, the spaceship that it is on. Eventually the Alien is defeated but only after 90% of the crew are killed and one woman (and her cat) are left. Aliens the sequel is just as good but the horror genre takes second place to make way for a more action based story. Whilst it is a good story it has been copied and referenced so many times that I can no longer be bothered to read comic with Aliens in it as I know it is going to be a carbon copy of the film.

Until now. Recently I had been speaking to the hosts of "It all comes back to 2000AD" podcast and Flint one of the presenters had recommended Judge Dredd VS Aliens as it was a crossover that actually happened in continuity. So recently I picked it up to read and I was dubious to see what it had to offer.

The story starts of with a odd looking guy doing a runner from his car in a traffic jam and soon enough it becomes painfully obvious that this guy has an Alien inside him. Luckily for him, he near a hospital and whilst trying to treat him the Alien bursts through his chest and escapes into the Hospitals air vent system. Soon enough it becomes clear that the Alien is a very big and real threat to all in the hospital. Whilst this is going on Judge Dredd and a team of other judges engage another Alien and it does not take long for Dredd to realise these Aliens and incredibly lethal but only after a Judge is impregnated by a Face-huger(part of the Aliens evolutionary process)and few other Judges are severely wounded and killed.
The first part of the book is about the Judges encountering the Aliens and trying to come up with a way to exterminate them with out injuring or killing any one. It takes Judge Dredd a gargantuan effort just to defeat one of them!The Second Part of the book deals discovering where the Aliens came from and to ensure they don't overrun the Mega City One. Whilst discussing what they should do the Hall of Justice (Judge's headquarters) is invaded from the Undercity below and the all out war breaks out between the Judges and the Aliens. The Judges are struggling to to beat the Aliens and the quick thinking of Judge Giant helps turn the tide by using Mechanismo Droids (Robot Judges) to fight the Aliens so there is no more casualties. Its not long before the Aliens are returning to the Undercity but they have also taken the young Judge Sanchez and Dredd goes after her only to be captured by the Aliens. It's not long until to we see Judges Dredd and Sanchez again, but this time they have been impregnated. How will it all end?
I went into this book being very weary of what the story was like but I am quite pleased to say, it's probably the best Crossover book that I have read in years, if not the best all round. The Aliens in the book really are scary and through out the book I really did doubt whether some of the established characters would actually make it through the story. Even when Judge Dredd was infected I really did wonder if he would make it to the end of the book. I really like the fact that although the Judges did have weapons they had to be careful using the them otherwise they would be splashed with the Alien's acidic blood. This book was extremely well written and illustrated, both the Judges and the Aliens characterisation was spot on in my opinion. Even if no one has read a Judge Dredd or Aliens story before, they could read this book and get a very good indication of what both Characters are like, so if your dyslexic and want to check this out go for it.

A very good read and the best Judge Dredd story i've read since The Pit. Worth the read and every penny!

Does everything come back to 2000AD?

This year I have rediscovered my appreciation for 2000AD. It also seems that there are quite a few other people who are getting back into the comic. The reason I have got back into 2000AD is because I have been reading quite a few of the trade paperback collections, most notably the Strontium Dog Case files and Judge Dredd: The Pit. I had never read the early stories of Strontium Dog and The Pit story I read back when I was 15 and after a good 12 years I think the story still holds up very well. Also Since August 2008 I have been purchasing the Judge Dredd Megazine every month. The Megazine (That's not a typo) is out once a month and comes with a free "Graphic Novel"(it's a comic) each issue. Whenever I pick up an issue it always takes me a couple of days to read it as there is a lot of interesting comic strips and articles in it.

With reading the collections and the megazine I have been kinda curious to check out more collections of older material as well as the current issues of 2000AD. To top it off there has also been a new 2000AD podcast that has been released by Richard McAuliffe and Steven Reid which is quite entertaining and incredibly informative.

So 2 weeks ago I picked up 2000AD for the first time in a while and so far I am enjoyin it quite a lot. The first issue, sorry I mean Prog I picked up was 1633 Which featured strips of Judge Dredd, Savage 1984, Zombo,Nikolai Dante and a new story called Cradlegrave. With the exception of Cradlegrave which started this issue, all of the other strips had started in previous strips were fairly easy to get into.Prog 1634 featured more of the same strips and was still entertaing.The Nikolai Dante strip wraped up this prog and this means there will a new strip in the next week. The quality of the strips is really good and even though I feel like I have come in the middle of some of the stories they are very easy to follow, as there are summaries to each story at the start of each prog.

Prog 1635 features a new comic strip staring Slaine called the Gong Beater. I really dont know much about the character but it's written by Pat Mills and features the superb artwork by Clint Langley.
Out of all the strips in the Prog's I felt that the Judge Dredd stories were the weakest, which is a shame. My favourite strip so far has to be Savage:1984 which features a character similar to the Punisher taking on Invading forces in the UK. It seems that some sort of bomb has wiped out most of the technology, similar to a EMP. Cradlegrave seems like it could be an interesting story although I think it's to early to tell as so far not much has happened. Zombo Seems to be a horror story that features a Zombie that can be controled and used to protect people. It reminds me a bit of Doctor Who really, where I spend half the time working out which character will be killed off next.
All in all I am really enjoying reading 2000AD again and I cant wait to see how a few of the strips develop. With my dyslexia, it does make reading some strips difficult cause there is a lot going on in each issue, but the summaries at the start of each issue are a great help and makes it easy to follow. I think I will stick with 2000AD for the foreseeable future and I have a massive stack of 200oAD trades to get through.

So if you have not read an issue of 2000AD recently, it might be worth picking it up again. Does everything come back to 2000AD? Ultimately yes it does.