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.

Sunday 31 July 2016

Big Trouble In Little China Volume #1



Big Trouble In Little China (BTILC) volume #1 contains issue 1-4 is written by Eric Powell & John Carpenter, art by Brian Churilla, colours by Michael Garland, letters by Ed Dukeshire and published by Boom! studios. Big Trouble In Little China was originally a John Carpenter movie staring Kurt Russell released in 1986 and it is one of those terribly cheesy so-bad-its-good kind of movies, seriously if you haven't seen it go watch it, right now, this is a blog you can come back anytime, I'll wait. I was so excited when Big Trouble In Little China was announced as a comic the first thing I did was sit down and watch the movie. Fortunately the first volume does not disappoint.


I would strongly recommend seeing the movie before reading the comic as it introduces all the characters and, as the comic picks up almost immediately after the movie ends, makes the story much easier to understand. The story begins with Jack Burton finding the monster from the final scene stowed away in his truck, the Pork Chop Express. Jack learns that this monster is now bound to him as he killed its last master Lo Pan and names him Pete. Jack decides he will figure out what to do with Pete later as he is heading back to China Town for the wedding of  his friends Wang and Mao Yin and to seek the advice of the wise Egg Shen. Jack arrives just in time for the ceremony before it is interrupted by the Wing Kong (the rival gang from the movie) and their current leader Qiang Wu, a servant of the movie villain  Lo Pan, who kidnaps Wang. Jack, Egg Shen and the monster Pete have to journey through the "midnight road", one of the many Chinese hells, to retrieve the souls of the three storms and return them to Qiang Wu in exchange for Wang's life.


The comic perfectly captures the personality of the good old Jack Burton as though he was pulled straight out of the movie and pasted onto the page. He is the same arrogant, goofy, naive, lovable idiot that he is in the movie and still constantly refers to himself in the third person. The comic gives a little more background into the character of Jack revealing pieces of his past giving the character more depth without taking away the lovable fool aspect. Egg Shen is still the wise mentor who seems to be the only one with any real idea of what is going on. All of the different characters they come across in hell are both bizarre and hilarious keeping with the light hearted tone of the comic.



The art has a very grungy look with almost a rushed unfinished look to it with a lot of backgrounds missing details or missing entirely with just colours and no detail at all. I wouldn't classify the art as bad by any means, I expected a little more detail.  Despite my criticisms on the lack of detail the art still is enjoyable and the characters are clearly recognisable as the actors from the movie. Although one thing that does annoy me is Jack's disappearing and reappearing facial hair this for me is a little similar to changing eye colour and bothers me more than it should.


Big Trouble In Little China keeps all the fun and silliness of the movie and tells a new and interesting chapter that fits perfectly with the existing story. If you liked the movie then you will love the comic and the wider world and story it provides.

I give Big Trouble In Little China 4 out of 5 Pete kisses

Find out more about Big Trouble In Little China here.

Sunday 17 July 2016

In The Local Pocket #7 - 5 Seconds


5 Seconds


5 Seconds is written by Sydney local Stephen Kok, illustrated by P.R. Dedelis, colours by Peyton Freeman and self published through Kickstarter. As a child I always wanted time travel powers, more than any other super power, but I wasn't greedy about it. I only wanted to be able to rewind or see into the future by about 10 seconds so I could change my answer to a question or change the outcome of an awkward situations. So when I read the concept for 5 seconds I was pretty interested, being able to see five seconds into the future could be an incredibly useful super power.


5 Seconds begins with our two main characters, Ellie and Jake, on the phone as Jake reveals his newly discovered talent, he can see five seconds into the future. Jake, rather adorkably, asks Ellie on a date so he can demonstrate his new found powers to her. During their coffee date Ellie tests Jake's new talent with a deck of cards discovering that he can see exactly five seconds into the future. Jake decides that the local casino may be the perfect place to test exactly how well his powers work despite Ellie's concerns of running into a "Joe Pesci" type character and possible repercussions from the casino. Unfortunately for Ellie and Jake they should have been more concerned about the criminal in a tough spot who overheard their conversation and thinks that perhaps he may also be able to cash in on Jake's new ability and follows them to the casino to see the proof for himself.


The three main characters are Ellie, Jake and Lucas the criminal. Ellie and Jake interact really well together as they explore Jake's newly discovered precognitive powers. Often character's in comics (and most stories in general) immediately accept unbelievable claims that are placed before them and its refreshing to see a character actually test their friend's power as Ellie does in 5 Seconds. After Jake proves his power Ellie plays the part of a great supportive friend. Lucas is in no way a good guy but he does actually have some motivation as to why he decides to go after Ellie and Jake as he is in a desperate situation and in trouble with even worse people. It's refreshing to see a bad guy written with more motivation than "is a bad guy" and makes the reader feel at least a little sorry for them or gives some explanation as to why they are doing the things they do.



5 Seconds incorporates a very interesting art style to show past, present and future explained in a foreword by Ellie and Jake. Sepia is used for past, regular colours for present and a whitewash kind of style for the future, this is a creative and practical way to easily tell the time periods apart including clearly showing a vision of the future that happens in the past that sounds like it would be complicated but with this system is easily understandable. The art of 5 Seconds is bright, colourful and seems to have a bit of an anime influence with clear facial expressions that are emotive and easy to read.



A lot of comics waste time with an origin story of the protagonist's powers but 5 Seconds has none of that and decides to just skip any reason for the powers and just cut straight to the story. Skipping a power origin actually works in this case but 5 Seconds is still an origin story as Jake learns to control and use his powers and I'm already excited for the sequel that has been confirmed and you can keep track of here.

I give 5 Seconds 3.5 Decks of cards


Find out more about 5 Seconds here.