Comic review: Red Lanterns #36 (Godhead Act 2, Part 4)- A decent shift by Mr. Soule

Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: J. Calafiore
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 26th November 2014


This is the second time that writer Charles Soule has written a part of the ‘Godhead’ arc, and it’s a lot more enjoyable than his first effort in Red Lantern #35.

That first effort was terrible. His characters came across as American idiots, completely unaware of what was happening in the world. That was because the backdrop to the story was the real country of Dubai. In Soule’s story the country was portrayed as a luxury holiday resort where the heroes go to have a bit of a break. The real-world reality of a country owned by one billionaire dictatorship family that uses slave labour and has no regards for human rights was not mentioned, probably because that family is western friendly (to the banks and corporations that own the west that is), much like other western backed human rights violators like Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Witnessing one of DC’s superheroes sunbathing in Dubai and enjoying an alcoholic drink was a stark reminder that to American eyes some dictators are good, and that some dictatorships are not even seen as dictatorships at all. It was depressing, and the story that Soule attached to it was brief, lazy, uninteresting and no fun at all.

There is no mention of western friendly dictatorships, or human rights violators in Red Lanterns #36, so already it’s better than Soule’s first attempt on the Godhead arc. If you can’t be honest about the real world, then leave it alone. That’s what he does here, constructing a story about the personalities rather than anything that is going to insult the intelligence of the reader. The story is chunkier as well. More effort has been put in, and as a reader it felt less throwaway, less inconsequential.

As far as story progression goes, it’s not exactly a must buy book, however, something fairly important happens, and you see why it happened, from beginning to end. I also understand the motivations and personalities of the two main characters a lot more than I did before reading this book. It’s probably also the first time that I’ve seen a verse of the Quran used in a comic book. It’s a fairly uncontroversial verse, but I do appreciate the fact that Charles Soule was brave enough to use it in a mainstream comic book in the first place. In a world where mainstream comic book writers are usually in career mode it’s nice to see somebody stick his neck out, even if it’s only a little bit.

I also have to mention, and applaud, another line put into the mouth of one of the characters in this book. That line being, ‘There are no truly good rulers.’ That says it all. That’s why the human race is in the position that it is today. We voluntarily give away our power and freedom to rulers who don’t give a damn about us. They care about our votes, but once they have them, they serve the agendas of the real behind the scenes (corporate and banking) rulers of this planet. When we stop giving our power away to these puppet rulers things will change. Until then, the human slavery business will continue as usual. Charles Soule puts it out there in this book that all rulers are bad. I like that. I noticed it. I appreciated it, and I just want to thank him here for doing so.

So another review where I don’t even talk about the art? Yeah, that’s how I do it. I always put up a couple of samples next to the review though, so at least you’ll know what you get if you buy the book. I had no problem with the art, but I’m not an artist, so I’ll leave detailed analysis of art in comic books to people who actually know what they are talking about.

Red Lantern #36, or Act 2, Part 4 of the Godhead arc, is a character based book that has some moments of interest, story development and a couple of jokes as well. I enjoyed it. There’s quite a lot in there, no mention of western backed dictatorships like Soule’s previous Godhead book, and as a whole I give it a big old anarchist thumbs up. It’s not great, but it’s a lot better than I thought it would be, with writer Charles Soule putting a good shift in, and largely succeeding in creating an interesting and readable comic book experience.

Rating: 7/10

Comic book review: Sheltered #13- Explosions in the Hollywood sky

Artist: Johnnie Christmas
Writer: Ed Brisson
Publisher: Image Comics
Released: 26th November 2014


Sheltered has been a clever comic book. Clever, not because it has been doing anything original, but clever because it has kept me reading it for thirteen issues now.

Why has it hooked me? Why has it tempted me to spend my time, energy and money on it? Probably because it hints at doing something more than it actually does. It gives you the impression that something is being kept until the end of the story, something that will make it all seem worthwhile.

Looking at it subjectively it’s been a very formulaic cult leader story so far. It’s about prepper (survivalist) kids, and religion plays no part in the narrative. It's usually religion that fuels real life cults such as this one, so the decision to eliminate that aspect of the story has limited the scope of the book. It doesn’t appear to have any ideological foundation. It’s Lord of the Flies, but not as good.

As the months have progressed the story has become more about personalities and hooking the reader with quick, startling moments of graphic and intense violence rather than trying to say something or to provoke any intellectual response from the reader. The more I read, the less it says to me.

Because it has been relying on action, violence and personality conflicts to keep things interesting, it’s become the comic-book version of a Hollywood blockbuster movie. It doesn’t appear to have anything to say, and when things start to get a bit dull it just blows something up instead.

In issue #13 something gets blown up, and nothing is really said. Cops are surrounding the compound now, and it’s Waco, but with kids, and no religion. The only thing that can save the book is a twist at the end. Will the volcano really blow? Will the end of the world really happen? Perhaps there is something else going on? At the moment it seems unlikely.

The narrative appears played out. Do I care if the government order followers massacre all of the kids, much like they did at Waco? I should care, but the good guys have already escaped, and all that’s left is a bunch of whooping cult followers and their charismatically cliched leader Lucas. I can’t feel any connection to them, not because I hate cult followers, but because they don’t really feel real to me. They are just cartoon/action-movie characters, not real people at all. If they end up getting slaughtered then I would feel as much empathy for them as I would for the villainous characters in a bad action movie. There’s no connection there, and I just don’t care. Just get this over and sacrifice them for a cool looking explosion. That’s where I am with this book right now.

I’ve been reading about these characters for thirteen long issues now, but I don’t care about any of them. I’m glad that it’s all over next month, because I’m running out of things to say about this book. If it has a spectacular twist at the end then that might justify the time and money that I’ve spent on it, but at the moment it’s looking like I made a bad decision to invest in this one.

Rating: 4/10

Comic review: Conan the Avenger #8- Individualism versus corporate collectivism

Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: Brian Ching
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Released: 26th November 2014


I always go back to my old Conan comics, reading them again and again to remind myself that comics can be good, if done properly. I need the reassurance every now and then, especially after reading bloody awful, intelligence insulting mainstream comic books that obsess over race, sexuality and gender politics, whilst deliberately ignoring the important issues of our times.

Break down their centres of control

You know what I’m talking about here, right? I’m talking about corporate/banking criminality, endless wars against media generated villains, a lack of political representation for the 99% of ordinary people, unthinking statism and the worship of order following abusers in positions of lawless state authority. These are the pressing concerns of today, not skin colour, race, religion or sexuality. These are the issues that comic books should be addressing. They are not doing so, and you don’t have to be a genius to understand why.

A good Conan comic is about individuality, and standing up for yourself whilst sticking to a strict set of moral codes, punishing the corrupt and being kind to the weak. Conan is not a government agent; he’s not an uniformed enforcer, he’s not an order follower, he’s not a good corporate slave. He would be completely out of place in the Marvel comic book universe of 2014 where order following state slaves are portrayed as heroes and true individual, independent masculine heroes no longer exist. It’s not a ‘conspiracy,’ it’s a corporate thing.

Marvel/Disney is a corporation that relies on consumer slave culture, and so it pumps out consumer slave heroes. It’s only natural for them to do so. They can turn Captain America black, or turn Thor into a woman because that is perfectly allowable within a corporate culture that sees humans not as individuals, but as passive consumers. How do you double your consumers? You get women to buy your crap as well as the men. Marvel doesn’t turn Thor into a woman because it cares about women’s rights. They turn Thor into a woman because they care about female consumers. It’s not about morality. It’s about business. What Marvel cannot do is push stories where the hero is an individual; a man who works outside of the collectivised, government sponsored Avenger/Corporate status quo. Pushing individualism is bad business for a corporation that relies on herd mentality consumer repeaters.

Conan the Avenger #8 is a good old fashioned Conan tale. It’s lacking an element of magic and sorcery at the moment, but it has political intrigue, a gorgeous slave girl for our hero to rescue and a despicable villain who is suppressing the people through threats of violence. It’s what all villains do. Threatening people with order following goons and bureaucrats is at the heart of what government is all about. It’s what your government is doing to you and your family right now. It’s what all governments do, and that’s why we need to get rid of them, all of them.

Conan ends up as King Conan at the end of his life, so he’s not perfect. But he’s always a sad King, a reluctant King who doesn’t really enjoy the position that he has attained. He’s not the power tripping type. He’s melancholic, a bit confused, and a bit in need of a book about anarchy if you ask me, because that’s what all of his adventures are about. They are about fighting against control systems, against kings, governments, wizards and every other kind of scumbag who has set himself up in a big White House on the hill. That’s why I like him, and that’s why he’s my comic book hero.

This particular Conan book is very well drawn, it has some gruesome battle scenes, it has a good villain and it closes on a cliff-hanger where Conan is staring down a wall of archers. Oh no, he looks in trouble this time. How is he going to get out of this one? I like that in my comics. Give me a cliff-hanger, give me a reason to look forward to the next issue, don’t rush things and have some fun with it all.

So far Conan the Avenger is a pretty decent Conan book. Conan is young, he’s not that talkative, he’s taking things in, learning and strategizing as the adventure progresses. It’s good stuff, far better than the cops and government agent crap you get from DC and Marvel. If like myself you get fed up with corporate Police state propaganda then you’ll get a kick out of it. Conan is still Conan in Dark Horse comics. They haven’t turned him into a girl. Not yet anyway.  He’s still fighting against control systems, and he’s still the main man, the number one hero in the comic book world of 2014, just as he was in the 70’s and 80’s and 90’s and 2000’s. All hail King Conan, the melancholic, anarchist hero who doesn’t want to be a King.

Rating: 8/10

Comic review: Gotham by Midnight #1- Stupid cop show in comic book form

Writer: Ray Fawkes
Artist: Ben Templesmith
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 26th November 2014



I haven’t read a Batman book in over six months, but I noticed that Ben Templesmith was the artist on this one so decided to dip back in, and see what was going on. I shouldn’t have bothered.

I forgot why I stopped reading these stupid comics in the first place, but was quickly reminded on the first page, and fourth panel of the book where the often repeated lie that is the background to all Police dramas was repeated.

That lie is that the Police are there to protect you. I’m sorry, but the Police are not there to protect you. That is not their job. Their job is to control you, to intimidate you, to protect the moneyed classes and to maintain the status quo whilst stifling all dissent from the enslaved masses. That is the role of the Police, and when they are portrayed as heroes in the mainstream media it always makes me wince.

I couldn’t enjoy this book from that fourth panel on, as all it is doing is following cops around as they mess around with ‘supernatural cases.’ I didn’t care for the characters involved, at all. It’s not that I hate cops, because I don’t. I just feel sorry for them, as I do for any duped person, but the characters in this book bare no resemblance to real life cops. They are television cops, television characters, television lies. I can’t read this stuff. I’m not stupid enough, not childish enough, and not ignorant enough either. I like reality, it interests me, and this book is not reality, it’s television.  I can’t get any enjoyment out of the story here. Narratively, thematically and intellectually there’s nothing here for me to grab a hold of, there’s nothing there for me at all.

I think I might get the scissors out on this one, as some of the large panels by artist Ben Templesmith have this creepy gothic feel to them that I really like. He’s a great artist is Mr Templesmith. His work always looks so distinctive. He has this knack of creating an atmosphere that can transcend the banality of the actual story itself. Yeah, I think that I will get the scissors out. This comic book story is completely boring, but the art doesn’t deserve to be shut away at the bottom of my ‘bad comic’ file. I guess the book wasn’t completely worthless then, and it’s a good reminder to myself of just why it was that I stopped reading so many mainstream comic books in the first place.

So, to sum it up. Gotham by Midnight #1 is a stupid ‘supernatural’ cop show in comic book form. Batman hangs around in the background whilst the cops defend the poor innocent civilians from Ghosts. No, they can’t help themselves, don’t be stupid. People helping themselves? We can’t have that in our comic books now, can we? After all, if people looked after themselves what role would the ‘authorities’ have in their lives? I’ll tell you what role. The role they should have. No role whatsoever. Is the book worth checking out for the art alone? Nah, not really. You might be tempted to read the book whilst you look at it, and trust me, you don’t want to be doing that.

Rating: 2/10 (for the art)

Book review: The Leaderless Revolution- ‘How Ordinary People Will Take Power and Change Politics in the 21st Century’

Author: Carne Ross
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Release Date: June 2012

Official book website:
http://theleaderlessrevolution.com/



Books aren’t what they used to be. People still read, but they do so for enjoyment, not to gain knowledge. So what gets read in depressingly large numbers is a shade of perversity, or teenage vampires or boy wizards, or ghost written celebrity memoirs. Not books of worth, but books of banality.

I don’t read banality. I don’t read Marvel comics and I don’t read books that are meant to titillate rather than educate. I read books that tell me something, books that have something to say. That’s why I read books like ‘The Leaderless Revolution’ by former British diplomat Carne Ross. This guy worked for the establishment, building his life by serving the agenda of unaccountable elite’s. It was his job to keep rolling the boulder up the hill, to make it look like things were getting done, when in reality the boulder never progresses, never even moves, and at the end of his shift it goes back to the start again.

He was rewarded monetarily, and in terms of social status. Women, apartments and the uniformed order followers saluting him like he was a big deal, a good man who was doing his duty for his country.

The reality was that Carne Ross was an ambitious, overgrown schoolboy, taking a dream job because of ego and selfish careerism. He wanted to be a fighter pilot, but his eyesight wasn’t good enough, so he became a diplomat instead. Rather than bombing people from the air he spent his time justifying the bombing from the ground.

His life as a diplomat involved drinking too much, popping anti-depressants, doing what he was told, engaging in morality free group think, ignoring reality, and giving politicians diplomatic cover in order to invade Iraq. A country that they all knew had no weapons of mass destruction, had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks, and had nothing to do with the so-called ‘war on terror.’

Carne Ross was a willing tool of the establishment. Morality was not a factor in what he did. He did what was expected of him, and he did it very well. He knew that the organisations he worked for were boulder pushers, but he had a career, he had status, so he just went along with it all. He was not a brave man. He had a chance to stand up and say no, but he didn’t do so. He went along with the lies, retiring quietly when all of the damage had already been done, when one of his best friends (Dr David Kelly) had committed suicide for showing some backbone and trying to expose the lies of the globalist war machine.

Carne Ross was a coward, and he lives with that guilt today. After he quietly ended his career as an establishment yes man he set up a group called ‘Independent Diplomat.’ This group now acts as a facilitator, helping people to talk to each other, away from the deliberate boulder pushing of official channels of communication. Carne Ross is fully aware that what he used to do was wrong, and he is now trying to make up for it.

His political philosophy has changed dramatically. No longer is he a government-worshipping schoolboy, a diplomat who wanted to be a fighter pilot. Today he is an anarchist, a man who knows that government is a useless vehicle for human advancement because he used to be a part of it.

His book is an easy read with a simple message. That message is to do things for yourself, to stop relying on government, to talk to each other on a one to one basis, to stop relying on government to protect you, to stop living a life based on fear. That is all that ‘anarchy’ really is. It’s not riots or masks, or chaos. It’s talking to your neighbours to sort out your problems. It’s sorting things out away from the useless control system of government. This book concludes with the following quotation:

‘Our dream of safety has to disappear.’ 

That’s the message. Government relies on fear to control you. Abandon fear, and change is inevitable.

Rating: 9/10 (A revealing glimpse into the world of international diplomacy by a man that has been there, and seen that things can only change when we rid ourselves of the control system that is government, and start to do things for ourselves). 


Independent Diplomat official website: 
http://www.independentdiplomat.org/about-us/our-staff/carne-ross

Comic review: Green Lantern-New Guardians #36 (Godhead Act 2, Part 3)- Weak sauce

Writer: Justin Jordan
Artist: Diogenes Neves
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 19th November 2014


I didn’t know too much about Kyle Rayner, the legendary White Lantern of the Lantern universe before reading this book. All I knew was what I had been reading in this Godhead arc, so I had this idea that he was a super powerful character who had bridged the very boundaries of reality itself. Pretty impressive, and more so when you consider that not only had he gone through these barriers of realty, but he had returned as well, more powerful than ever.

Crazed dictator alert

In Green Lantern-New Guardians #36 this mighty, powerful, reality changing character voluntarily gives all of his power away to a cartoon villain who walks around with a big neon sign above his head flashing:

*******CRAZED DICTATOR***********
*******CRAZED DICTATOR***********
*******CRAZED DICTATOR***********
*******CRAZED DICTATOR***********

Errrrrr, why did the great White Lantern do that? Why did he give his ring away? That kind of makes no sense. And now he’s moaning about it, saying that he’s made a stupid mistake. Well, no s*** Sherlock. What the Hell was going on here?

This is coming across like one of those occasions where story progression forces characters to act like idiots. It comes across as very soap opera, and not very believable at all. Kyle Rayner is either stupid, gullible, or both. He’s also a bit of a whining b***h as well. With heroes like this it’s no wonder that the villains are having such an easy time of it in the Godhead arc right now.

Very rushed and unimpressive artwork here

I’m not sure if the White Lantern was always this lame, but wow, what a useless, clueless twerp he turned out to be.

As for the artwork in this book, it looks rushed and unfinished. It’s noticeably lacking in detail and colour, and it appears to have been hurried out on a strict deadline. There’s one panel that needs to be good, the panel where the White Lantern is introduced to the new Genesis. His reaction is amazement at how awesome it all is, but in this comic book the art shows a half-page of beige coloured and roughly sketched sand dunes, not impressive at all.

That’s it for this week in the Godhead arc. A moaning White Lantern who voluntarily gives his power away to the most obvious villain since Ming the Merciless, some rushed looking art, and that’s it, the end. It’s a massive fail, and in comparison to last week’s impressive outing by writer Van Jensen and artist Bernard Chang (I gave that issue of Green Lantern Corps #36 a very well deserved 9/10) it’s chalk and cheese.

I guess that’s what you are going to get in these long crossover arcs with different artists and different writers working on the same story week to week. Sometimes it will be good, and sometimes it will be bad. This week, it’s bad. Oh well, let’s hope it’s swings and roundabouts and next week it’s gets good again.

Rating: 2/10 (and I’m being generous with that rating)

Comic book review: Winterwold #4- Decent comic book to be made into a television show shocker

Writer: Chuck Dixon
Artist: Bruce Guice
Publisher: IDW
Released: 19th November 2014


Winterworld is to be made into a television show. I find that a bit surprising really, as the book is good, and most television programmes are, well to point out the bloody obvious, they are usually bad, very bad.

I’m a bit shocked that a book about an independent, self-sufficient, decent man is going to be allowed on television in 2014. The mainstream media continuously pumps out anti man/anti-family programming that portrays men as order following statists, psychopaths, criminals, fools, losers, geeks, metro-sexuals, flaming best friends or juvenile weaklings dominated by bossy women, so this surprises me. Yeah, it’s very surprising, but in a good way for a change. I wait with frosty Winterworld breath to see how they mess it up. Nah, only joking. I’m sure it will be great. After all, if they follow the excellent comic they can’t really go too far wrong.

Issue #4 sees the end of the first arc. It features a determinedly unintimidated Wynn (the young ‘charge’ of the main protagonist Scully) versus a bunch of Al (Abraham) Gore worshipping fanatics and their new god, a killer whale. Will she become the latest sacrificial offering to the eco-friendly fish god who is silently stalking her through the frozen sea? I won’t spoil the outcome, but I approve. It’s good, and this month’s front cover of the killer whale preparing to gobble up our daring young heroine is the best cover of the series so far.

Tomas Giorello takes over as the artist for next month’s arc, and I couldn’t be happier. Bruce Guice has been very good, but with Giorello taking over it’s going to get even better. Giorello’s work on King Conan for Dark Horse comics was absolutely stunning, and in my eyes he’s one of the very best artists working in the comic book industry today.  Excited? You bet I am. I can’t wait to see what he does with the icy landscapes of Winterworld.

Winterworld is a rare comic book. Simple, yet good, with no underlying statism and characters that I can relate to and care about. There’s a refreshing absence of wagging fingers telling you to bow down to uniformed ‘heroes’ and watch what you say less you might upset the feminist liberal thought Police. It’s just a good old-fashioned comic book. Hopefully it will make a good old-fashioned television show as well. God knows we need something decent to watch on the lying box these days.

Rating: 8/10

Comic review: Justice League #36- Superman and Batman battle the Ebola virus

Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Jason Fabok
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 19th November 2014


I don’t read too many mainstream comic books these days. I used to read a whole lot of them, but a wilful ignorance of contemporary societal concerns by the mainstream comic book writers has gradually worn me down, and now I only pick up a couple of titles per month.

In Justice League the civilians are either criminals or victims

Marvel has completely disappeared from my pull-list and Geoff John’s Justice League is one of the few remaining DC books that I still bother to read. I read it to stay in touch with my old heroes, but I have to be honest here. Most of the times it’s not particularly good. I get the occasional chuckle out of it, some of the characters are interesting, but the huge assumptions that it makes about the helplessness of ordinary people always bothers me. At the moment it’s narrative is centred on something called the ‘Amazo virus,’ a story that has obvious parallels to the real world Ebola crisis.

I use these occasional reviews of mainstream comic books as a measuring stick of how conscious or wilfully ignorant the comic book landscape currently is. The popular stories of our times act as a window into our collective consciousness. It’s a good exercise for me, letting me know if humanity is progressing, or falling deeper into the Orwellian war is peace, ignorance is strength totalitarianism that is currently being drilled into us by the collective might of the mainstream media mind programmers. So is Geoff John’s going with the corporate flow, or is he bravely speaking out and telling the unpopular truth that needs to be told?

First off, the narrative in JL#36 is very simple and a bit thrown together. A virus has broken out (it’s a bit interesting because it gives normal people temporary super powers) and the heroes need to find ‘Patient Zero’ in order to come up with a cure. Superman and Wonderwoman haven’t succumbed to the virus because they are not human, Batman is in a special suit (as you might expect) and the lesser members of the JL are laid up in bed, suffering from the effects of the virus, but comically enough still wearing their silly superhero costumes and capes. The origin of the virus has something to do with the intrigues and machinations of good old Lex Luthor, but that’s pretty much a given really. All of the JL problems usually involve Luthor. That’s his narrative role. He causes problems, the JL sort them out.

Geoff Johns usually throws in a few jokes, a kind of wink and nod to the reader that we probably shouldn’t be taking any of this silliness seriously. The underlying assumptions of his narratives however are very corporate, statist and backing up the mainstream socio-economic norms and accepted ideologies and mutually accepted lies of our times. He doesn’t question the nature or legitimacy of authority figures or government at all. Experts and government officials are there to protect the helpless civilians who would surely fall into anarchy (meaning violence, not freedom) if it weren’t for the government special agents known as the Justice League.

Here come the authority figures

In issue #36 the government has set up interment camps for those affected by the virus. The Justice League act as cops in capes, rounding up the sick and lawless people who predictably fall into anarchy without their guidance. The experts discuss what to do, then act. Individual civilians have no voice, no power, and no role in their own lives other than victim or law-breaker.

In that way it’s a very corporate American comic. Advocating learnt helplessness, dependency on government and heroes (that would be the Police and military) and living life as a bystander, a face in the crowd, a spectator at a football match. Drink the GM beer, eat from the Susan G. Komen cancer bucket, support the troops and salute the flag. It’s America baby, you are free because we tell you that you are free. Keep voting, and keep sitting on the sidelines.

The art is good, as you might expect from a big mainstream comic, but the story is not particularly exciting this month. It reads like a rush job, capitalising on the Ebola scare that the mainstream media are currently pushing. I couldn’t get that much out of it. The Amazo virus was unleashed due to a mystery villain’s attempts at killing Lex Luthor. That story will continue when this brief interlude into the Ebola/Amazo territory is concluded. This issue doesn’t appear to be particularly essential to the bigger story, and it isn’t that much fun to read either.  It offers a very funny panel of costumed superheroes lying in hospital beds (was it intentionally funny, or not?) but apart from that, and apart from the usual authority and statism worship, there’s nothing else to say about the book. The staid and insular comic book websites will give it their usual eight out of ten as they always do, but in reality Justice League #36 is just another blah mainstream comic book. There’s nothing in it to get too excited about, and there’s nothing in it that will offend anybody. I guess that’s the whole point, right? Another month, another unit sold.

Rating: 4/10

Book review: War God- Return of the Plumed Serpent- Unrelentingly brutal

Author: Graham Hancock
Publisher: Coronet
Release Date: 9th October 2014

Website:
http://www.grahamhancock.com/wargod/vol2-synopsis.php

Graham Hancock on the Joe Rogan Experience (Highly recommended)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygWxXphYRos

***Spoilers in review***

‘War God II- Return of the Plumed Serpent’ is a difficult book to read, but not because it isn’t very well written, and not because it isn’t very cleverly structured. It is in fact extremely well written, expertly structured, tightly edited and extensively researched. It also has helpful summaries of previous events that nudge the reader’s memory, making it easier for him/her to understand what is happening in the relevant context.

The book is very good, but I didn’t enjoy reading it, and when I came to the final page I felt a wave of relief come over me. It was a relief that I would no longer have to read about disgusting, self-serving, avaricious sociopathic leaders instructing their order following subservients to carry out acts of inhumanity that they were very obviously revelling in.

Graham Hancock

This is not the fault of the author, as what he is doing in this book is using fiction to tell the real-life story of the Spanish conquest of the modern day Mexico. The problem is that we know how the story ends, and it’s difficult to see anybody in a positive light, not just the Spaniards, but the sacrifice crazed Mexica as well.

Author Graham Hancock understands that this is going to be a huge problem, and he does his best to surmount it, but I feel that the task is impossible. There are no heroes in this story, just sides.

A young girl named Tozi is introduced (in the first book) as a potential sacrificial victim to the wicked Mexica. She ends up as a servant of the wicked Spanish, as does her best friend Malinal, an attractive translator who sleeps with the psychopathic Cortez, helping him to deceive, manipulate, butcher and conquer the native people. A brave warrior name Shikotenka ends up utterly defeated and emasculated by the Spanish war machine. He doesn’t sleep with Cortez, but he might as well do. He finishes the book as little more than another concubine/vassal to the psychopathic Spanish leader. A good hearted and innocent young boy named Pepillo is taught how to kill, as is his pet dog Melchior. Innocence corrupted, incorporated and made into a tool to be used by the blood and gold thirsty Spaniards.

All of the characters that I could relate to, all of the individuals that I could empathise with in the first book have now joined the Spanish war machine of death and conquest.

Hernan Cortez himself is disgusting. He orders massacres, the burning of villages and the killing of civilians for tactical reasons. The individual human lives are not important to him. He is complex and cunning, but that does not interest me. He is simply disgusting, as is his rival Moctezuma. The former delights in getting his hands bloody on a one to one basis, whilst the latter is a coward, but both men revolt me. I don’t like reading about them, I just don’t.

UK book cover

The novel contains detailed accounts of massacres where the heavily armoured Spanish use their superior technology to slaughter the local tribes whilst having a whale of a time doing so. I could take no enjoyment from what I was reading here. This is a narrative for fans of splatter movies and serial killer books. They’ll love the descriptions of hand to hand butchery, the piled up human bodies, the torture, the stench of rotting flesh, the pulled out fingernails, the disemboweled wailing victims, the skin torn off screaming bodies.

To me it was unrelentingly brutal. It is historical fact, but there is no redeeming message here. Its just humanity at it’s worse. Order following, greed, deception, butchery, war and death. The gods look on, revelling in the bloodshed, but I don’t.

War God II- Return of the Plumed Serpent is a harrowing book to read. The young heroines and brave warriors of the first book are now just vassals of the Spanish Conquistadors. The streets are lined with rotting corpses and rivers of blood as Cortez the butcher enjoys the prettiest girl in town whilst dreaming of wealth and power.

History is harsh, it can leave you feeling hopelessly depressed that this is what our modern civilisation and cultures have been built upon. Graham Hancock has woven a brutal account of some terrible times here, but it just left me feeling cold. As Hancock himself puts it in the amendments of his book:

‘It is a historical fact that within fifty years of the Spanish conquest, the indigenous population of Mexico had been reduced through war, famine and introduced diseases from thirty million to just one million.’ 

There was no happy ending in Mexico. The gods of war enjoyed themselves, and the humans suffered. This brutal book tells the awful truth.

Rating: 9/10

Comic review: Green Lantern Corps #36- Godhead Act 2, Part 2: The Power of Love

Writer: Van Jensen
Artist: Bernard Chang
Colourist: Marcelo Maiolo
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 12th November 2014

I’ve been very disappointed with this ‘Godhead’ arc over the last few weeks. The writing has lacked ideas, it has been treading water narratively speaking, and has been reading like the writers are not fully behind the crossover. It’s like this is something that they have to do, contractually speaking, and they have done it half-heartedly, with no passion, no intensity, no conviction and no love for the story.

I’m happy to report that writer Van Jensen has bucked that trend. He’s taken the time here to construct an emotionally engaging story with character development and heart.

I say ‘heart’ because that’s what is key here. His main character, Lantern John Stewart, has been emotionally damaged. He thought that he was loved, but he feels conned by it now. He feels that the love wasn’t real, that it was a construct designed to deceive and control him. Green Lantern Corps #36 develops his feelings of emotional betrayal, and takes them to a place with deeper meaning, not just on a narrative level, but on a ‘heart’ level as well.

This theme ties into the power of the main protagonists; a group of space aliens called the ‘Star Sapphires.’ This race of beings gets their strength through love, not violence. That’s one Hell of a deep message for a comic book, and I appreciate it, because it is true. Violence begets more violence, and its usage cannot lead to true spiritual strength. Whatever you use on your enemy rebounds upon yourself, so violence can never be the key to solving any of our problems. That’s how it works, it is a deep, moral, spiritual truth that is so often lost in this world today with our perpetual wars, done now under the deception of a propagandised word called ‘humanitarian intervention.’ That’s not how things work. It’s a lie, and that is why this world is in the mess it is in today.

Artist Bernard Chang and colourist Marcelo Maiolo have tapped into the undercurrent of deep spiritual and moral truth that is flowing through the narrative of this book and have constructed panels that perfectly compliment the story that is being told. It’s the panel variation that is key here, the use of colour, shadow, of hinting at what is taking place without letting it get too graphic, too bloody. It’s subtle, clever and always very, very interesting to the eye.

Green Lantern #36, or Godhead Act 2, Part 2, takes what was a wavering crossover arc and injects new life and passion into it. The character of John Stewart has never felt more alive, more real, and a story that was beginning to bore me has been giving an injection of love into it’s veins, giving it renewed momentum, new passion and new hope. This was achieved through the collaboration between a writer who knew his characters, knew the story and had something that he wanted to say, and an artist and colourist who were in perfect synch with what he was trying to achieve.

This issue of the Godhead arc is a great success all around. I really enjoyed the book and although they probably will never read this review I just want to put it out there and say a big thank you to writer Van Jensen, artist Bernard Chang and colourist Marcelo Maiolo. I’ve been very negative about mainstream comic books this week, but this one was extremely good, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading every single page of it.

Rating: 9/10

Comic review: Alex + Ada #10- Clarifying what it is that makes us human

Creators: Jonathan Luna, Sarah Vaughn
Publisher: Image comics
Released: 12th November 2014



I’ve always interpreted the ‘androids’ in Alex + Ada to be a commentary on the state of human moral consciousness, and whether or not we are living in accordance with universal moral laws.

Put simply, some of the humans in this story are androids, and some of the androids are humans. The difference is actions, not physical form. Again, put simply, if you do what is morally right you are a human, and if you do what is morally wrong then you an android.

The idea is further clarified in issue #10 of Alex + Ada where a human (Teji) with an android leg acts in accordance with moral law, helping a vulnerable and distressed Ada (technically an android, but morally a human). The futuristic television in this book is telling people to act outside of moral law, but Teji ignores the media disinformation and instead acts in accordance with moral law. A conscious, sentient life form is in trouble, and he helps her. This is what you are supposed to do, no matter what the television is saying.

The television is not meant to inform you on matters of moral law. The role of mainstream television in modern society is to distract, pacify, lie, and control the enslaved masses. It is indifferent to issues of morality, but the propaganda emanating from it is strong. Teji manages to break free from that media propaganda and acts in accordance with moral law. Moral law is the only law, not the law of a corrupt and wicked top down control system, no matter what the television is telling you.

Teji is rewarded in the story by having his android leg replaced with a human flesh and blood version. The part android has become fully human again, not because he is getting a new leg, but because he has ignored the mainstream programming and acted in accordance with moral law.

Writers Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn are making their point very clear here. Act in accordance with moral law and you are human, go against moral law and you are an android. This isn’t just a sci-fi story about the future; it’s a story about how moral law works in the real world today.

Follow orders, obey the mainstream programming and do what is morally wrong and you are voluntarily giving away what makes you a human being. That is what is being said here, and that is why Alex + Ada is a very important comic.

Yes, it’s slow paced, yes it’s not action packed, yes the art is very linear, but that’s the whole point. The art is static, and the humans often appear motionless, robotic even, because what is being explored here is what makes us truly human. It’s morality, that’s what makes us humans, and to not act with morality as the guiding light in our lives rids us of this humanity.

Without strong moral principles we become cannon fodder for the control systems of the world, the control systems that seek to diminish our humanity and to turn us into order following androids in order to control, and enslave us. That is why morality is so important. It is what makes us human beings. Without it we are marching uniforms, marching once again to another war that enriches the rich, and kills the poor.

As for the narrative of this issue, it progresses. The protagonist’s personal relationship is taken to a natural new level and a new threat to their happiness is established. It really is a fantastic comic book. It has an enthralling narrative, empathic characters that you can really relate to, and that essential moral underpinning as the solid backbone to the narrative.

What else do you need to know? You don’t need action scenes, muscles and cleavage to tell a good story. You don’t need a toy box full of Team America World Police action heroes. You don’t need subscriber edition variant covers, and you certainly don’t need celebrity guest writers (CM Punk) to sell your books. All you need is a good story, likeable characters and a strong moral underpinning.

That’s what you get in Alex + Ada, a book with the flash and gimmicks taken out, and with writers who have something to say about human morality. This book is not Spiderman or the Avengers, or Batman or Wolverine in space or whatever gimmicks the big two dinosaurs are relying on this month. Alex + Ada is that strange beast, a rare comic book that has something to say. That shouldn’t be the exception to the norm, but sadly, it is. Buy it, support it, and let’s get more of these good comic books out there.

If you keep buying mediocre then they’ll keep putting out mediocre. Like everything in life, it’s all down to us. The world will not change, unless we force it to. It works the same in comic books as it does in politics. You keep buying what they are selling and they’ll keep on selling it to you. Why wouldn’t they? So put down that mediocre crossover event book. You know it’s not going to be very good, deep down you know, and instead of feeding the machine of mediocrity take a punt on something different. Alex + Ada would be a great place to start, so if you haven’t already had the pleasure, take a chance on it. You’ll love it, I do.

Rating: 10/10

Comic review: Sherlock Holmes Vs. Harry Houdini #2: Breaking from the tried and tested formula

Writers: Anthony Del Col & Conor McCreery
Artist: Carlos Furuzono
Publisher: Dynamite Comics
Released: 12th November 2014


***Warning!! Plot spoiler in review***

The majority of this book is taken up with action/buddy movie panels of Houdini and Holmes trying to outdo each other, only to fall into inevitable mutual respect. You know how that routine works right? We’ve seen it so, so many times before. It’s not original, it’s a formula, but it’s okay, it’s kind of fun.

The rest of the book is a murder mystery tale with a final reveal that probably gives away a bit too much of the plot, leaving you with the unsatisfying feeling that you have already solved the mystery before the great detective.

Mystery/detective books aren’t supposed to work like that. You are supposed to hook the reader by dragging out the reveal until the end of the book. That's how it works, that's how it always works.

But not here.

The very obvious enjoyment to be had in reading what can loosely be described as the ‘murder mystery’ genre is to try to guess who did it, with the writer dropping clues throughout, but with these clues only making sense come the final reveal.

That’s exactly what happens in every single Sherlock Holmes story written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and that's what makes them so much fun to read. Holmes is the great detective, so naturally it is (usually) him who delivers the final denouement at the conclusion to the mystery narrative, but can you uncover the mystery before he reveals it? That's the hook that keeps you reading, that keeps you on the look-out for the clue that will unlock the puzzle, and that's why it is so enjoyable.

Why writers Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery are breaking from this formula so early on in the story (it’s only issue #2) is the biggest mystery of the book so far.

Hopefully there’s something else going on in this story, because if this is just a plot about a wronged rival trying to cause Houdini some irreparable career problems then, well, that isn’t exactly a lot of fun, is it? Plus we know Houdini’s real-life story already, and his career went pretty well throughout his entire life.

What we are left with is a buddy movie, in comic book form. That’s okay, but I need something a bit more than that in my comic books.  I’ll give this book one more issue, see if it offers anything else, but if it doesn't then I’ll have to give it up. The art is only average, and although I like the alternative covers that isn’t enough reason for me to hang on until the end of the story. I ain’t rich you know, and I have a growing chocolate and fragrance addiction that needs feeding. Keep the reveal to the end. Giving it to us already in issue #2 is a very strange thing to do, hopefully it makes sense in issue #3, but at the moment I don't understand that decision at all.

Rating: 5/10

Why do people deliberately avoid the truth? – Epic rant on a rant blog.

‘People like to lie to themselves. Facing the truth is uncomfortable for many. Admitting wrong is very hard for some people to do. They will do anything but that, they will perform mental gymnastics, defensive rationalisation, avoidance of the issue, denial, rejection, refusal to acknowledge, and simply plain old ignore what they do not want to admit to.’ (Kris Nelson)



I always say that people don't want to hear the truth. I say a lot of things, but there's a simple reason for people not wanting to hear about the truth. If they understand truth then they have the moral responsibility to act like a decent human being. By deliberately avoiding truth they give themselves an excuse, a get out clause that justifies their actions, or inaction's. It's not my fault, they will say. I was ignorant. I didn't know. I was obeying orders. I was just doing what I was told. I was a cog in the machine. I didn't understand the bigger picture.

This of course is a lie, but without the lie people have to take personal responsibility. Sadly enough, it appears that the last thing people want to do is to take personal responsibility. So when anything goes wrong, and when truth is exposed (Jimmy Saville scandal, Banks doing whatever the Hell they like, MP's expenses scandal, weapons of mass destruction, child abuse in government 'care' homes, recent wars for corporate profit, the deliberate creation of ISIS, etc, etc, etc) the people personally responsible for these horrible situations always have that moral get out clause. They didn't know. They were just doing their jobs. Lessons will be learnt, lets move on.

These people are always surprised, and sometimes even horrified when the truth that they were deliberately avoiding is revealed to them. The same thing happened after WW2 when allied soldiers forced the local civilian populations to visit the Nazi death camps. They knew, of course they knew. A lot of their family members were working there. A lot of them were working there as well. They just preferred not to know because it was easier for them not to know.

People are very skilled at lying to themselves, but deep down, they know. They know perfectly well how and why terrible things have happened. The terrible things happened because people didn't want to engage with truth. They preferred an easy life, a good 'career,’ no accountability and an in-built get out clause that washes them clean of all moral responsibility for their self-serving actions.

The deliberate avoidance of truth is a lot like the Catholic confessional, and you don’t even have to be a Catholic to use it. Just plead ignorance, and pretend that you are sorry. Works every time, except it really doesn’t.

The eternal moral laws of the universe don't work that way. Moral laws have often been compared to the laws of gravity. If you ignore the laws of gravity and jump off a 200 foot building without a parachute then you will splat on the ground below, like it or not. Laws are laws, and there are consequences for breaking them. The moral laws of the universe act in exactly the same way as the laws of gravity. You might not like them, but if you ignore them then you will face the consequences. These consequences are apparent everywhere we look. The world is the way it is today because that is the world that we deserve. We have broken the moral laws of the universe. We deliberately ignored truth, so this is what we get.

This world is full of people who don’t know the truth, not because they are stupid and they can’t understand the truth, but because THEY DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH. They couldn’t care less about the truth, and they don’t want it. Knowing the truth would mean that they would have to take personal, moral responsibility for their actions. They don’t want that. It would be too difficult, and so they spend their entire lives deliberately avoiding the truth.

We can change the world, but not until we take personal moral responsibility for the results of our own actions. It's not the 'Illuminati,' it's not the 'globalists,' it's not the 'new world order,' it's us.

We create our own shackles, the elite’s benefit, but we are the ones on the ground, day by day laying the bricks of deliberate ignorance that create the prison that we are all living in. If you want to change the world then truth is the key. Engage with truth and things have to change. Avoid truth and endless slavery and human suffering is inevitable. That’s how the moral laws of the universe work, like it or not, we get what we deserve. Ha, epic rant over. Sorry about that. Lessons will be learnt.  It wasn't my fault. I blame the coffee :)




Click link for more details on truth, expressed with far more erudition and eloquence than I could ever hope to muster: (All photographs in my barely articulate rant are taking from this far superior article)
http://evolveconsciousness.org/truth-love/




Summary (of linked article, by Kris Nelson):

‘Do you want to placate, walk on eggshells, keep-the-peace, don’t make waves, don’t get hassled, don’t rock the boat, sugar coat and lie to someone to continue to make them feel comfortable and “good” about themselves (and maintain your relationship, attachment, “loyalty”, etc.) so they don’t have to change, do any work and face themselves and what they do? Or do you want to speak the truth that may hurt or be uncomfortable due to their choice to deny Truth and align with lies, deceptions, illusions and bullshit? Do you want to help them face themselves to improve their lives and the lives of everyone else? If you didn’t care about someone, would you bother to try to help them by having them face the things they don’t want to face? Of course not, you would just let them wallow in ignorance, and not care. Once you understand the importance of Truth, letting people ignore the shadow aspects of themselves that are causing harm to other beings in what they do in daily life, is not Care/”love” for them or others. That is enabling them to perpetuate bullshit, lies, deceptions and illusions as manifestation of action and behaviour to continue the collective self-inflicted suffering, harm, wrong, immorality, etc. that we co-create.’

Lucha Underground: Short review + links to Episodes One & Two

No spoilers here, just a quick summary/review with links to both episodes.

Lucha Underground is a pro wrestling show that is shot like a television drama.  It has historical context, a television style plot, characters that you can relate to and an easy to hate villain. The in-ring action is tied into the overreaching narrative of the show and the overall feel is of a television show with some wrestling in it, rather than a pro-wrestling show with some bad television in it, and yes I am referring to WWE programming here.

The show looks great, is professionally produced, very tight and shot like a Mexican version of Fight Club. It doesn’t look like a wrestling show. Instead it looks like a crime drama television show. It’s 43 minutes long, and who wins and loses the wrestling matches actually matters to the plot of the show.

This is not three long hours of WWE filler matches. It’s tight, interesting and narrative based. There are old stars, and new, and the wrestler being pushed as the most important part of the show (Prince Puma) is young, athletic and exciting to watch.

If you enjoy pro wrestling, but are fed up with long WWE shows that increasingly feel like a chore to sit through, then you’ll want to watch Lucha Underground. It’s short, interesting, produced like a quality television programme and easily the most exciting new wrestling show that I’ve seen in a very long time. Review over, click the links below, and enjoy.

Episode One:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/kSwGNMsxsJfXX39cJy4?start=41

Episode Two:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x29fcv6_lucha-underground-s01e02-2014-nov-05-hdtvx264_shortfilms

Facebook page: 
https://www.facebook.com/LuchaUnderground/timeline

Comic review-The Superannuated Man #4: Deviation from the norm

Written by: Ted McKeever
Art by: Ted McKeever
Published by: Image Comics
Release Date: November 5th 2014



I stopped reading many of my long-time favourite Marvel and DC superhero books out of apathy, out of the growing realisation that they were beginning to flow over me. Week by week I was reading my Avengers and Batman books, but they were having less and less impact, culminating in a point where I could read the book, put it down, and forget about it entirely.

Was the art any good? Was the story any good? Were the themes topical? Did I enjoy it? Did it say anything about the world? When the answer wasn’t a clear no, it was a middling, indifferent empty (as the kids say) ‘whatever.’

So I stopped reading them.

Today the only mainstream superhero book that I am still reading on a regular basis is Green Lantern, specifically the ‘Godhead’ arc. I do it to keep in touch with that old feeling. The feeling I had when I didn’t think about what I was reading, I just read it, enjoying the feel of it.

Those days are long gone. I think about what I’m reading these days, and what I get from mainstream comic books is production line apathy. I get compliance, a lack of questioning, a going with the flow for selfish careerism. There is regurgitation of old ideas, a lack of connectivity to a changed world, no imagination, and no deviation from the norms of what is expected from a good little neo-liberal consumer slave in 2014.

I can’t read books like that anymore, but I try to stay in touch.

The Green Lantern Godhead arc has been okay so far. It’s average, sometimes horrible (as it is this week in Green Lantern #36) but I know what I’ll get. So when I read a comic book that is in a completely different league, an excellent book like ‘The Superannuated Man’ I’m immediately reminded of why I stopped reading so many average comic books in the first place.

Why read average when excellent is available at the same price? Why read about government agents saving the planet from stale villains that have been around for so long that they have lost all relevance in this post 9/11 world? To keep in touch with happy old memories I guess. That’s why I buy the occasional Marvel and DC book. I know it’s going to be average, not worth my time, but it contains a childhood memory, and if I consume an extremely small dose of their ignorant statism, corporate compliance, apathy and unit shifter product it's not so bad.

Plus, it makes me appreciate quality books like this one so much more. The Superannuated Man #4 is not just better than your average Batman or Green Lantern book. To even compare the two would be like comparing a CIA produced Hollywood movie to the greatest works of Italian neo-realist cinema. Zero Dark Thirty compared to Bicycle Thieves would be an apt comparison. It’s ridiculous to even go there at all, so I won’t.

Sometimes you don’t appreciate just how delicious the freshly made cheesy mushroom, pepper and onion encrusted pizza is until you have spent a month eating bland tinned soup, and so the wheels of the comic book industry continue to turn. Average tinned blandness dominates, but delicious cheesy excellence is there, if you want it.

Rating: 9/10

Myrkur, by Myrkur- Album review- Elemental feminine black metal

Bandcamp page:
https://myrkur.bandcamp.com/

Music video (Watch it NOW): 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32KB0epn21E



I’ve been listening to this album for a few weeks now, but for some reason I’ve been delaying my review. That’s not like me at all. Anybody who has had a brief chat with me will know that I am a very opinionated man, a man who doesn’t really care if expressing his opinions is going to damage him in a social setting. I just don’t care. Take your bland niceness and stick it. We ain’t here forever, so let’s talk about interesting things, things that actually matter.

If I have something to say, I say it. Hence, this blog. An outlet for my overly opinionated rants about everything under the sun, all done under the ‘review’ platform, where I can launch into discussing whatever the hell I like.

So why the delay in reviewing this album?

A very talented lady

It’s not because it leaves me feeling indifferent, because it doesn’t do that at all. If I were indifferent about it then I’d listen to it for a couple of days, give it a scathing review, and then never listen to it ever again. Myrkur has been burning its way into my consciousness for weeks now and I can’t get enough of it. I love it. It’s the number one album on my car stereo as I navigate my way through the traffic jams of school run, keep my head down, support the troops, vote for slavery repeaters all around me.

So why have I been purposefully delaying this review? The truth of the matter is that I know that it’s going to be difficult for me to succinctly capture the feel of the album in just a few words on my rant happy blog. Go to the top of this little review now and click on the YouTube link, listen to the song and hopefully you’ll get what I’m trying to say here.

Myrkur has been labelled as ‘Black metal’ and it kind of is, but not really. There are screams, blast beat drums and furiously riffing guitars, but there’s a lot more going on here. There is a feminine feel to it all that’s new to me. It’s not the old beauty and beast thing, with male and female vocals contrasting with each other to create an effect, instead it is pure femininity, with choir like vocals, screams and anger, but not the tear you apart anger that Black metal usually consists of. It’s self-contained, yet expansive. A lone female voice crying out to the mountains. You can feel an elemental, eternal longing in the music, but there is no despair. It feels strong, yet soft, powerful, confident, alone but not alone, all that you need is within, and that within is connected to what is outside.

The standout track is ‘Nattens Barn’ the song I’ve linked to at the top of the review. It starts with the female choir, then progresses through a labyrinth of soundscapes that represent the feel of the album very well as a whole. Listen to it, if you like it buy the album. I also want to mention Dybt/Skoven, a track that is a trip to somewhere strange, but so beautiful, mesmerising and elemental, as I mentioned above.

I’m not sure that I did the music credit here, but that’s why I was delaying the review. I can’t capture it in words; the music is beyond that. I’m a huge Black metal fan, but this is music that transcends that limited genre categorisation. This is a debut album, and there’s more to come. How fantastic is that? Something is beginning here, jump on board and let’s see where the ride takes us.

Rating: 10/10

Comic review: The Humans #1- From the back-pages of a very old school book

Writer: Keenan Marshal Keller
Artist: Tom Neely
Publisher: Image Comics
Released: 5th November 2014

How do you rate a comic book that is deliberately trying to be silly, childish, dated, irrelevant, amateurish, and just very, very stupid? After all, when those objectives are achieved doesn’t that make it the perfect book?

Deliberately bad art?

Writer Keenan Marshal has done exactly what he intended to do here, so all criticisms are kind of pointless. It would be like criticising a Jackson Pollock painting as a load of silly squirts and squiggles haphazardly thrown onto a canvas by a raging drunk. Err yes, that’s exactly what it is. That’s what’s it’s supposed to be. It’s a big drunken mess, and therefore, it’s art.

How then to review a comic book about a 1970’s monkey biker gang? A comic book where the art is basic, amateurish, like it was put together by a fourteen year old boy, but then again it’s perfect for the book because the entire story also reads like it was put together by a fourteen year old boy, well a fourteen year old boy living out a beer, fights, girls and motorbike gang fantasy in the 1970’s.

The narrative content is funeral of deceased gang member; a fight with a rival gang and a closing revelation designed to hook us into buying the next issue.  There are no zombies yet, but give it time. A couple of the characters are introduced. They read like something a kid would dream up in the back of his maths book. That’s not a criticism, as that’s what writer Keenan Marshall is going for. The question then, why?

It's all very school-boy

I’m not sure why. Is it a nostalgia thing for a childhood of drawing monkey biker gangs back at school in the 1970’s? Probably, so does it work? I’m a 1980’s school-kid, all grown up, and still reading comics, for some reason, and I can see one of my old schoolmates putting together this comic after watching the planet of the apes and a 70’s biker/drugs movie. They would think it was all very adult and cool. I would just think it was a bit silly.

I don’t really understand who the audience for this book is supposed to be? Is it guys over the age of fifty who want a bit of schoolboy nostalgia, perhaps? Could it be the dreaded ‘hipster’ who is into ‘retro’ 1970’s stuff in a Quentin Tarantino way? I guess so. Is that a big audience in 2014?

I read the book in five minutes, had a bit of a laugh at how deliberately stupid it all was, and that’s it for me. I’m not going to keep on reading. Why should I? It’s just a case of, oh so that was daft then, next. No deeper thoughts come to mind. It’s a stupid book, but it’s supposed to be a stupid book. Do you want to read a deliberately stupid retro book for hipsters? If so, this will be something you’ll want to check out. For the rest of us however, it offers a momentary giggle, and no reason to buy issue #2.

Rating: 6/10 (for the laugh factor)