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!