Beware Spoilers Ahead!

My reviews do contain spoilers about the main stories but I do attempt to keep them at a minimum. I will not reveal any major plot points or twists unless stated at the beginning of a review.

Friday 26 June 2015

My Top 10 Convention Tips

With Oz Comic Con coming up this weekend I'm getting really excited and after a my first few conventions I came up with a bit of a guide to make the convention experience run a little smoother.

1) Buy a two day ticket: I find that going both days is the best way to enjoy a convention allowing you to spend the first day looking around at the stalls, going to panels and enjoying the cosplay.


2) Take your money with you: There are always long lines at ATMs so it is much easier to stop on the way there to grab your cash but don't worry you can always line up for the ATM if you forget or run out of money.

3) Set a budget: It is easy to get a little overwhelmed and spend all your money in the first 15 minutes so to prevent this set yourself a budget and stick to it, remember you need to eat for the rest of the week.
Remember you need food to live

4) Appropriate behaviour: I've spoken about the dos and don'ts before but the basic rule is "if you wouldn't like it done to you, don't do it to others".

5) Have a plan: Have a rough idea of what you'd like to do each day.

6) Be flexible: Sometimes plans just don't work out so be flexible and don't get too upset if it doesn't run like clockwork.
Let's wing it

7) Token Purchase: If you decide you want to get a photo with or an autograph of one of the guests at the convention you will need to purchase a token. If you can purchase the tokens earlier online then that is the best way to go but if not then your next best option is to purchase your tokens at the end of the first day to use on the second day. Unfortunately some conventions have a purchase on the day only and if that's the case you'll just need to line up.




8) Check guest/panel times: If there is a panel you want to attend or a photo/autograph session with a guest make sure you check your times. The last thing you want to do is purchase a guest token and then miss the time completely.

9) Be patient: The lines will be long, everybody has to wait, be patient and your turn will come. If you really don't want to wait you can purchase a priority ticket that gets you first access to photo and autograph sessions.

I know it feels like this but I promise it isn't,
10)  Take a water bottle: I can't stress this enough, you're going to get thirsty, it will happen faster than you think and I don't want to pay $5 for a bottle of water.
This is usually after just the first 2 hours


Monday 22 June 2015

Dark Engine - Whats going on?

Dark Engine #1

Dark Engine is written by Ryan Burton, art by John Bivens, letters by Crank! and published by Image Comics. I picked up Dark Engine because the cover is just awesome, I was expecting a bad-ass, barbarian woman kicking ass with a huge bone sword but what I got was demons, dinosaurs, something about spores, time travel and exploding hippos. needless to say I was confused.

Dark Engine begins with grotesque creatures, called sporedevils, waiting for the "one that birthed their world" suddenly cut to a woman exploding out of a T-rex taking one of its ribs as a sword, suddenly she then proceeds to slaughter numerous dinosaurs. We learn that the woman's name is Sym and that she was created and sent back in time using "obscene magic" to stop the world from being overtaken by the sporland in a conversation between a man named Paul and his concubine(?). Paul then suddenly leaps from his tower to his death.



The art uses thick outlines going for a grotesque look that it does very well but seemingly the only colour used in this comic are red because almost every page has some sort of blood soaked imagery. I have no problem with violence or blood but having the main character randomly slaughtering dinosaurs for 9 pages of a 23 page comic really just seems like a bit much. It strikes me that the inspiration for Dark Engine was somebodies sketchbook with a story shaped around the art rather than the art shaped around the story.

In issue #1 there has been no chance to find out anything about the characters including Sym who all we know was created to be a killing machine. This back story is given to us by a character who immediately commits suicide after delivering the little information the reader gets, so lets hope he wasn't important.
Boom!
Usually you need to give a new series two or three issues before you can make a solid judgement on a comic and yes I will probably pick up the trade but I was rather underwhelmed by #1. Dark Engine has a fantastic cover that just looks like it will tell an epic tale but so far we've had slaughtered dinosaurs and a woman urinating in the woods.
Maybe the artist just really hates dinosaurs?
I give Dark Engine 2 out of 5 bone swords.

Find out more about Dark Engine here.

Saturday 20 June 2015

New Comic Book Day Swag Bag 20/0602015


Swag Bag 20/06/2015


Unfortunately I've been really busy with my real life job the last month but on the bright side that means I had lots of comic books to pick up at All Star Comics this week.


The Autumnlands Tooth & Claw #6: Will the Great Champion's plan work or will it be the undoing of the survivors?

Gotham Academy #7: What is Damian Wayne doing at Gotham Academy?

God Hates Astronauts #9: I'm really behind on my GHA reading I need to catch up.

Bill & Ted's Most Triumphant Return #3: Excellent! *Air guitar*.

Colder Volume 2 - Bad Seed: What happens to Declan and Reece after Nimble Jack? More insanity of course!

Morning Glories #46: Just give me some answers damn it!!

Battle World: Runaways #1: OMFG MORE RUNAWAYS!!!

Battle World: Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps #1: I love the cover of this one.

Battle World: Thors #1: Thor more Thor merrier.

Battle World: Marvel Zombies #1: Yay zombies!

Princess Leia #4: Starting to get a little worried about that mole they've got there.

1602 Witch Hunter Angela #1: I kind of wanted to see what happened when Angela went to Hel but sure this is cool too I guess.

Revival #30: Rounding up a bunch of possible immortals against their will doesn't sound like a great idea.

Ghost World: This is the July book for All Star Women's Comic Book Club.

Feathers #6: The final issue of feathers.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #6: If you're not reading Squirrel Girl you should be.

Harrow County #2: I loved #1 this is very quickly becoming a favourite of mine.

Saga #29: I'm sure this will be a happy issue right? Right guys?

Rachel Rising #34: Rachel sets out to find out more about her possible murderer.

Big Man Plans #3: More violent violence!

Archie VS Predator #3: I just don't think I can explain how fun this mini series is.



Monday 15 June 2015

Terrible Lizard - I Love Dinosaurs!

Terrible Lizard Volume #1

Terrible Lizard is an all ages, five part miniseries written by Cullen Bunn, illustrated by Drew Moss, Coloured by Ryan Hill, lettered by Crank! and published by Oni Press. I love dinosaurs and anything that plays to my fantasy of riding a friendly dinosaur I'm down with so when I saw he cover of Terrible Lizard #1 on free comic book day I had to grab one for my stack.

YEAH RIDING DINOSAURS!!
The story begins with a classic monster movie opening of a giant monster attacking a city as people flea in terror while the narrator tells us that this isn't the first or the last time giant monsters have attacked and that this is not where the story begins. We are then taken to a flash back of our main character, Jess, a week earlier. A lonely Jess decides to visit her father, Dr. Jefferson Anders, at his workplace, Cosmo Labs, where he is working on a temporal displacement experiment. As the experiment begins things start to go wrong, accidentally bringing back a giant T-Rex. The first thing the confused T-Rex spots is an unsuspecting Jess.
This isn't the first time?
The art of Terrible Lizard is nice and colourful, with well drawn characters and expressive faces but the real star of the show is the T-Rex who can look both threatening and fierce one panel and then happy and cuddly in the next.

Issue #1 really has very little in the way of looking into the characters themselves, which is not uncommon for a first issue, but so far we are given the impression that Jess is your typical lonely 14 year old with a parent too focused on work. While this is nothing new it can be done well so I'm going to cross my fingers that the characters will show a little more depth than that in the coming issues.

Issue #1 of Terrible Lizard is entirely set up but the first page does promise giant monster fights in later issues and it's really the premise of the series that will make you continue reading. Being an all ages comic there isn't much in the way of blood and guts so if you are looking for gore try Spread but if you are looking for a sweet tale about friendship you will probably enjoy Terrible Lizard.

I give Terrible Lizard a hopeful 3 out of 5 T-Rex kisses

Find out more about Terrible Lizard here.

If you could have any dinosaur as a pet which one would you choose? Let me know in the comments.

Monday 8 June 2015

Spread - Really Gross & Really Touching

Spread Volume #1 - No Hope

Spread is written by Justin Jordan, art by Kyle Strahm, colours by Felipe Sobreiro, letters by Crank! and published by Image Comics. Spread is not normally the sort of comic that I would pick up, with it's gory cover I would usually have lumped it together with comics like Crossed that are probably a one trick pony of graphic violent images but it was recommended by Nerd Burger so I thought I would give it a go and fortunately it ended up being a fantastic read that I really enjoyed and have added to my regular pull list.


Spread is set in a post apocalyptic world where everything is overtaken by the Spread, a
red, mold like creature that infects everything around it from land to animals to people and can't be destroyed. The story follows No, one of the few Spread immune, after he finds a woman dying in the snow who pleads with him to rescue the baby she was caring for calling her hope. No rescues the baby from a group of raiders but is immediately attacked by the Spread, as all looks lost one of the baby's tears falls on the Spread completely destroying it. No calls the baby Hope. No is luckily comes across some slavers transporting a lactating woman called Molly, or as most people call her Crazy Molly. After rescuing Molly she quickly becomes a mother to Hope as they head towards a small camp that passes for civilisation to gather supplies. As soon as they enter the town No senses that something is not quite right with the camp's leader, Fat Jack.


The art of Spread is disgusting, there is blood, pus, tentacles, decapitation, broken bones and vomit just to name a few but it actually works really well. The blood and gore is so over the top that while being gruesome and effective it falls short of being disturbing.

The characters are absolutely captivating and you desperately want them to be able to stick together and make it through this violent world. No is just trying to do the right thing in a world where the lines between right and wrong are no longer clear as he takes care of Hope and Molly just doing his best to make sure they are safe when there are no safe places. I find Molly by far the most sympathetic character as we know she has already experienced such a great loss after the death of her own baby but her instant love and desperate protection of Hope is just heartwarming.
Feels
Spread has such a well rounded story and interesting characters that during my first read through I actually forgot how gruesome the story was until my second read through. People that aren't usually fans of post-apocalyptic will probably still enjoy Spread because of the incredible story and post-apocalyptic fans will enjoy it because it is a great example of post-apocalyptic.

I give Spread 4.5 out of 5 Nos.

Find out more about Spread here.

Monday 1 June 2015

A-Force - Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves

A-Force #1

A-Force is written by Marguerite Bennet and G. Willow Wilson, penciled by Jorge Molina, Inked by Jorge Molina and Craig Yeung, coloured by Laura Martin and Matt Milla, lettered by VC's Cory Petit and published by Marvel. A-Force is the first all female Avengers team and is part of the Secret Wars special event. During the Secret Wars event several Marvel universes are combined into one patchwork planet called Battle World, with each section being run by a Baron or Baroness but all is under control of the world's leader Victor Von Doom. Read more about Secret Wars here.

The story takes place on the island of Arcadia, a paradise compared to the other horrors of Battle World, that is inhabited by civilians and mostly female super heroes with She-Hulk as the leader of both the A-Force team and Baroness of Arcadia. The A-Force work together to keep it's people and it's boarders safe. The peace of Arcadia is shattered when a meglodon suddenly begins attacking endangering both the heroes and civilians. During the fight with the meglodon Ms. America, aka America Chavez, throws the creature over the boarders of Arcadia into the Deadlands below causing damage to The Shield (the wall surrounding each area) in the progress. Those who damage the wall and breach the boarders of Battle World are sentenced to defend The Shield for the remainder of their days. Issue #1 ends with a mysterious woman crash landing in Arcadia and being found by Nico Minoru.

The art of A-Force is your classic Marvel style with well drawn backgrounds and highly detailed characters. Many of the characters are sporting their classic looks and I just love the cover of this one.


GIANT SHARK ATTACK!
A-Force has some of the most popular heroines of the Marvel universe including She-Hulk, Medusa, Dazzler, Loki (female Loki), Phoenix, Captain Marvel, Ms. America, Nico Minoru and many more. I'm especially excited to see Nico Minoru from the Runaways as I am a big Runaways fan and its nice to see this character in another comic.

When a comic is being hailed for something before it even hits the shelves it often sets the bar extremely high before anybody has even the opened the first page which was very much the case with A-Force. As the first all female Avengers team people were expecting great things and were going to be extremely critical of both the story and the characters from issue #1 but fortunately A-Force seems to have basically ignored the characters genders, they have not been written as women but as people. So far I'm extremely impressed with A-Force and I hope that it continues.
I'm loving the variant covers coming out

I give A-Force #1 3.5 out of 5 She-Hulks.

Find out more about A-Force here.

What character are you most excited about in A-Force? Did it live up to your expectations? Let me know in the comments section.