Comic review: Green Lantern Annual #3 (Godhead Finale)- Accountability is for the poor

Writer: Robert Venditti
Artist: Billy Tan
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 24th December 2014



There was something about the ending of DC Comic’s ‘Godhead’ arc that reminded me very much of its real world parallel in this post 9/11 world of western governments/corporate wars of aggression. It was just a moment, at the conclusion of the tale, but a moment that says a lot about what is happening in the real world today.

That moment came when the man responsible for all of the death and destruction that has been happening in the Godhead arc, the dictatorial ‘Highfather’ admitted that he was wrong, and that all of the violence he had unleashed upon the universe had inevitably come back upon his own people. It was a moment of admittance that ‘blow-back’ is inevitable, that when you put violence into the world, violence is what you get back from it.

Highfather admits that he was wrong, thanks the heroic Green Lanterns for their help, they leave, and he is left to rebuild the planet that he has completely messed up due to his wars of aggression, wars that were waged under justification of the greater good. There is no punishment for Highfather. No criminal investigations, no jail time, no trials, nothing. He admits he was wrong, and he gets to stay in power.

The only difference I can see between Highfather and western imperial powers (hiding under the illusion of ‘democracy’ where puppet spokesmen and women are replaced every five years or so) is that Highfather actually admits he was wrong. Our leaders don’t even have to do that. Consequences for their actions do not exist. They burn down a city, and then pay themselves to rebuild it.

Our real-world political leaders are handsomely rewarded for the mistakes that they make, and unlike Highfather they don’t even have to admit that they made mistakes in the first place. After their political (puppet) careers are over they are financially rewarded by the banks, corporations and arms manufacturers who they helped whilst in political ‘power.’ They then spend the rest of their lives being treated like Kings and Queens whilst being guarded 24/7 by men with guns, just to make sure that they will never see any consequences for their actions.

We are now living in an age of centralised democracy, an age where there is no dictator to blame. If you are looking for somebody to blame you will find that person in the street. The everyday man and women who votes for unaccountabable centralised corporate owned and controlled ‘democracy.’ A system where war is encouraged, and consequences for your actions do not exist. That is what we have today. That is our world. That is what you support when you vote.

As is usual in my reviews I have barely discussed the actual book itself. If you are new to my reviews then that’s pretty much what I always do. I take a comic book, use it as a platform, and then use that platform to launch into a self-indulgent rant on issues and ideas that currently occupy my mind. I realise that reviews are not supposed to do that, but these are not meant to be boring old comic book reviews, they are meant to be something more than that. But for those just interested in the entertainment factor and the comic itself, here’s a quick summary of the Godhead arc:

It was largely enjoyable, mostly okay, sometimes rotten, sometimes very good. That is what you get in long arcs, written by different writers and drawn by different artists. I’ve already reviewed a lot of the Godhead books here on my blog, so if you want more details than check out those individual reviews.

Green Lantern Annual #3 was the finale to the arc, and to me it was a satisfying ending, and I enjoyed reading it. I particularly enjoyed the four page source wall artwork by artist Billy Tan, and the narrative itself was satisfying, putting a traditionally loose full stop on events, and then concluding with a new threat, as you should do in a genre that never really ends. The old threat should be conclusively defeated, but something new should bridge from that defeated threat. That is what happens here, and it is done in an interesting way that will keep me reading the Green Lantern comic book.

I disliked some of the quippy dialogue in this final issue, as to me it made light of what was supposed to be a serious end to a serious galaxy wide threat, but the conclusion had elements that I really enjoyed. I particularly enjoyed the moment when a man getting off on the power of nihilism and death was stopped in his sociopathic ways. His moment of defeat was a symbolic moment, illustrating how the illusory power of darkness and death always crumbles and flees when faced with the power of life, light and truth.

The larger agenda behind a crossover event such as the ‘Godhead’ arc, aside from selling the event issues themselves, is to hook the reader into buying new books on a monthly basis when the event itself has concluded.  There are plenty of books in the Green Lantern universe, and before this event began I was buying two of them per month, those books being Green Lantern and Sinestro. That will not change now that the event has concluded, but that doesn’t mean that I disliked the other books.

Broadly speaking, I enjoyed reading the event, and the money and time that I spent on it does not feel wasted. I leave the arc feeling entertained, satisfied and grateful to all of the writers and artists that contributed to the project. I didn’t agree with a lot of the ideological or socio-political assumptions that were made, but just by putting them out there the writers gave me a tremendous amount of valuable material to think on, consider, and react to, here on my blog. So here’s a big, sincere thank-you from myself to every single inker, colourist, writer, letterer, cover artist and editor that worked so hard on the entire project. Thanks guys, it was fun. Now back to Christmas. I hope you are having a good one. Be nice to each other, and I hope you enjoy the remainder of the holidays.

Rating for Green Lantern Annual #3- Godhead Finale: 7.5/10

Rating for Green Lantern ‘Godhead’ arc: 7/10

Comic review: Conan the Avenger #9- Have a Happy Conan Christmas

Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: Brian Ching
Publisher: Dark Horse comics
Released: 24th December 2014


On this cold Christmas morning of 2014 what better way to spend my time than reviewing the latest Conan the Avenger book? Is that a bit sad? Probably, but hey, I’m a comic book reader, so sad is what I am.

Don’t worry, I’ll keep the review short. It’s Christmas day and I have a bucket load of calorie intensive food to eat and bad television to watch, just like everybody else.

So, the book is pretty bloody good. Conan is young in this one. He is scheming, helping an invading army, but with his eyes set not on conquest, but a ‘fabled treasure.’ Throw in some gorgeous blonde sisters for him to rescue and impress and you have a pretty good Conan book.

The one thing that was missing from the book was a devious wizard. Without spoilers, the last panel of this book delivers big time, and it left me punching the air in delight as the final panel reveal unfolded before my delighted, geeky Conan fanboy eyes.

Conan the Avenger #9 is a very welcome addition to the mythos. The art is a bit too cutesy for some, but I like it. Conan has a snarl and youthful arrogance about him, and it’s just as I envision the ambitious, cocky, cunning, yet still learning from practical experience young Conan to be. The narrative can be a little complex, difficult to follow, but a couple of reads clarify the events, and as its such an enjoyable book, reading it two or three times over is pure pleasure anyway.

So, finally to end the review. Have a happy Conan Christmas, now lets eat some food, drink some ale and have a bloody good time.

Rating: 8/10

Comic review: They’re Not Like Us #1- Depressed teen joins cult

Story: Eric Stephenson
Art: Simon Gane
Colours: Jordie Bellaire
Publisher: Image comics
Released: 24th December 2014



I’m a huge fan (cult member) of what is commonly referred to as the Richey Manic era of the Welsh pop/rock band Manic Street Preachers, so plastering ‘From Despair to Where’ on the front page of your comic book is guaranteed to get my attention.

This phrase/question ‘From Despair to Where?’ refers to a MSP’s single from their second studio album ‘Gold Against the Soul.’

The song itself is a depressing dirge about a young man finding himself lost and alone in an indifferent adult world of empty routines and blank, indifferent faces:

‘Outside open mouthed crowds 
Pass each other as if they're drugged.’

The song offers no hope, no redemption, no meaning, just a repeated question:

‘From despair to where?’

‘From despair to where?’

‘From despair to where?’

The answer, for the writer at least, was in all probability, suicide. That message of hopelessness, of defeat, is the perfect starting point to a comic book narrative that begins with a suicide attempt. But after the attempt fails, where does the story go?

From despair, to where?

In ‘They’re Not Like Us #1’ it goes into a generic cult story that comes off as more X-Men and the school of mutants rather than as anything genuinely subversive or threatening. The main protagonist (a pretty young blonde) is the perfect stand-in for a confused young mutant with special powers, but rather than being taken in by Wolverine or Professor X she is taken in by a scruffy looking bloke with mind reading powers and a hatred for society.

This cult leader bloke (The Voice) is a generic comic book cult leader villain, the exact type of guy that you would expect to see in a comic book leading the vulnerable young and suicidal protagonist astray. He saves her life, offers her a new home, but wants her to do a terrible thing to prove her loyalty. It’s pretty standard cult leader stuff, and not very interesting at all.

The Manic Street Preacher tie-in extends to the cover, and back-cover quotation. The actual book itself has no ‘lipstick’ traces of the ideas expressed by the band whatsoever. The song title is used as a launching pad only, a depressing song for a depressed protagonist.

The artwork is fine, but the story isn’t really doing anything for me. It’s a sad girl joins cult book. I can’t see anything else going on here, and so, off I go. One issue and off for me. I enjoyed the Manics references, but that’s not enough for me. It’s not a terrible book, but I don’t really want to spend my time reading yet another book about a depressed teen joining a team of evil cult followers. Where’s Professor X when you need him?

Rating: 5/10


Click link for the MSP's song (From Despair to where?) referenced in this review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCd8iHAVahQ

Comic review: Green Lantern New Guardians #37-( Godhead Act 3, Part 3) Cheap cologne meets wet lettuce

Writer: Justin Jordan
Artists: Diogenes Neves & Rooney Buchemi
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 17th December 2014


The facial characterisations of the main feminine character in this book looked absolutely gorgeous. Seriously, the girl named ‘Carol’ in this book was drawn as the prettiest girl in all of human history.

The Carol character herself was your typical third wave feminist. Bossing around the feminised male lead (the completely ineffectual White Lantern) this very pretty girl took charge both physically and emotionally. That’s kind of a given in most mainstream comic books today where women are in charge and men are little more than accessories, cute handbag dogs, unable to do anything other than obey or get scolded for yapping.

Green Lantern New Guardians #37, more than any other comic book that I’ve read recently, reminded me of just why I stopped reading most of my mainstream comic book titles in the first place. It’s not bad, it’s well drawn, and the narrative of the ‘Godhead’ arc is nicely developed. The problem with it (at least the problem that I have with it personally), is that it’s not really saying anything.  It reminded me of a pleasant, but inexpensive, not very long-lasting cologne. On an initial application it seems perfectly okay, but the scent rapidly disappears, leaving little more than a synthetic, bland soapy residue remaining as a reminder of its presence.

Breaking it down the book is standard comic book fare. You get quips, good guys fighting bad guys, evil dictators being arrogant and err, evil, kind of, but not really, and just when it looks like the good guys are getting the upper hand, the main villain beats them down again and the fight continues. That’s it, it’s a ‘hope’ spot in a pro wrestling match where a beaten down good guy gets a brief flurry of offence before the bad guy punches him in the gut and continues to beat him down. This process continues until the eventual ending of the match where the heroic good guy wins at the last moment against all odds and to huge cheers from the crowd.

Yes, I understand that comic books are supposed to work to that formula, just as wrestling matches work to that formula. And yes, I understand that super hero comic books in particular always work to that formula, but when you give me nothing else but that narrative formula I tend to zone out. It’s an age thing. As a 12-year-old I can follow the pro wrestling match/comic book, but as a grown adult male I need a little more than the basics to keep me interested.

This book isn’t terrible, so don’t go away from my review thinking that I hated it, because I didn’t. It’s a cheap, bland cologne, and it smells okay for a bit, and it does the job. The facials look really pretty and it has those big exciting action scenes that everybody loves, but to me it didn’t offer anything other than surface thrills and pretty faces. The bossy, in-charge female was annoying, but she’s a standard these days, so I can’t complain really can I? If I buy comic books she’s going to be there, manipulating the wimpy men and telling them what to do, a bit like the real world actually. That’s all I have to say about the book. It’s okay, but okay isn’t enough for me these days. I’m a vegetarian, but I still need something to get my teeth into, and unfortunately I couldn’t get much out of this particular wet lettuce of a book.

Rating: 4/10 (for the facials)

Comic review: Alex + Ada #11- Golden rule, or base instincts?

Story and script: Jonathan Luna & Sarah Vaughn
Illustrations: Jonathan Luna
Publisher: Image comics
Released: 17th December 2014


I’ve already written quite a few words on my blog about the general excellence of this title, and how it’s subtly exploring the nature of human consciousness. The question it’s posing is a vital one, that being- ‘What is it that makes us a human being?’

I say ‘vital’ because we still live in a world largely dominated by order following android humans. Men and women who unquestioningly follow orders rather than basing their actions on universal moral truths, in particular the golden moral rule, well known in the west now thanks to Christianity, that rule being the following:

One should treat others, as one would like others to treat oneself.

Order followers disregard this golden rule. They act like androids, and thus, we have the inevitable consequences that follow when you break that rule. We get the world as it is today. A world ran by states, by control systems, by control freaks, by sociopaths, all held in place by order following humans who consciously ignore the golden rule.

Alex + Ada #11 continues this exploration of human consciousness and moral rights and wrongs by introducing the new idea of an android experiencing dreams. What does it mean? Is Ada developing a human soul? After her recent awakening the android Ada is now capable of basing her actions on morality, so why wouldn’t she have a soul?

A soul is your connection to the universal oneness, a reminder that you are not an individual meat puppet, but a spiritual being experiencing a manifestation of consciousness in a flesh and blood vehicle. As you develop moral culpability the soul that is always hidden within becomes more apparent, and thus in this comic book the soul of the ‘android’ Ada becomes more apparent to her as she continues along her path of awakening.

Apart from this further development of the long running thematic sub-text of the narrative there is a moment of questioning in this book that I felt was much needed. A moment where everything is questioned, the textual assumptions are called out, and the reader is made to think about what s/he is reading here. That moment came when a jealous ex of the Alex character called him out on his developing relationship with the eternally youthful Ada:

‘She could be a model. She’ll always be available for sex. She’ll never gain weight. She’ll still look twenty-four when you’re seventy-seven. Sounds like a great deal to me. Who needs a real woman when you can have every man’s fantasy?’

The text really needed this questioning, as what is being postulated here is largely true. Is Alex a good guy after all, or merely a shallow and selfish bloke who just wants a pretty girlfriend who will never age? That question hadn’t yet been asked, and to see it being asked here was jolting to me as a reader, yet when it happened I just knew that yes, this had to be asked. What motivates the actions of this man? A desire for emancipation and the raising of spiritual consciousness, or merely base, perhaps even subconsciously, hidden desires?

The book closes this month with a new threat to the status quo, and an ominous looking teaser cover for next month. This narrative development keeps the story on a knife edge, making it not only intellectually stimulating, but exciting on a pure narrative, story-telling front as well.

Alex + Ada is a jugganaut of consistency, and this month’s instalment is just as good as it’s predecessors. This book has yet to dip, yet to sag, yet to sink into a comfortable middle ground of routine or predictability. Eleven issues in and it continue to explore new territory, to pose new questions to its readers.  It’s an excellent book, it really is, and long may it continue.

Rating: 9/10


Click link below for a quick explanation of the Golden rule:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule

Review: The Sandman Overture #4- Nothing is happening here

Writer: Neil Gaiman
Artist: J.H. Williams III
Publisher: Vertigo (DC)
Released: 17th December 2014


I could never completely lose myself in this new version of the Sandman, mainly because the allegorical/metaphorical wall being created by writer Neil Gaiman is a little too thin, too flimsy, too see-through to allow any real emotional engagement or exploration of deeper spiritual/moral truths.

The problem here is that writer Neil Gaiman’s meaning is all too clear, and it’s not very interesting at all. In ‘The Sandman Overture #4 the writer looks at what he has created, at the doors it has opened for him, talks about access to ‘stars’ and decides that his creation will not be killed off, rather he will put it into permanent stasis.

This means that Neil Gaiman is going to write other stuff, and leave his Sandman book in the past, where it probably, and most certainly safely, belongs. There is no deeper meaning here. There are no deeper spiritual or moral truths being explored. This is a book about a writing career. It really is as self-indulgent as that.

Issue #4 of this six issue series feels like the end. It’s strange, because there’s two issues left. If Neil Gaiman is trying to make his readers lose interest in the Sandman character and the universe he inhabits then he’s doing a great job here.

Perhaps that’s the entire point? Perhaps he’s just fed up of it, and this book is a final squeeze of the lemon before a final discard?

It hasn’t been as bad as those instantly forgettable Watchmen prequels of 2012, but after reading this particular issue I got pretty much the same feeling. It’s a book that’s tapping into old memories, but not creating new ones of it’s own.

Give it a few years and Sandman Overture will be regarded as a needless full stop to something that had already ended. It's not bad, but it’s not particularly good either. It’s that awful middle, the lukewarm curse of the world called indifference. If you are new to the Sandman universe then don’t start here. Read and enjoy the old books. Nothing is happening here.

Rating: 4/10

Comic review: Green Lantern Corps #37 (Godhead Act 3, Part 2)- Democracy is an empty lie

Writer: Van Jensen
Artists: Bernard Chang & Mirko Colak
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 10th December 2014


Without the illusion of democracy the US and all of the other western countries attached, limpet like to the new imperial empire of planet Earth, would have no moral legitimacy whatsoever. Their wars for corporate profit would be naked, displayed as the murderous, anti-human resource and money making schemes that they actually are. Why am I mentioning this at the beginning of a comic book review? I’ll explain.

The evil dictator

The main villain in the ‘Godhead’ arc is a character called ‘Highfather.’ He is portrayed as a tyrant because he is waging a war against various planets in order to defeat a greater evil, that evil being a villain called ‘Darkseid.’ In other words, it’s a preventative war. He’s subjugating people for their own good, at least that’s the way that he sees it, but he’s a villain, remember that. He’s a tyrant, a bad guy.

Now, think about reality for a second. What did the US do in 2003? They invaded a country for preventative reasons. They claimed that the country had secret weapons (they didn’t) and so they destroyed it, murdering hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, stole it’s resources and gave them to it’s multi -national corporations. They did all of this for good reasons, of course. Ask Tony Blair and George Bush, they defend those reasons still to this very day. That is not a controversial thing for me to say. It might annoy people when I say it, but it is fact.

Here’s my question. What does the average comic book reader think when he reads a comic book like the ‘Godhead’ arc where the main villain is doing exactly (and probably less violently) what the US, UK and many other western countries have done, and continue to do today? The character in this Green Lantern Corps comic book is a bad guy, right? So what the Hell does that make our own western governments? Think about it. Think about what is going on here.

And this is where the illusion of democracy comes into play. Without that illusion, that we are different because we get to choose our leaders, the truth is very naked, don’t you think? A very dangerous assumption is at work here, that being the assumption that evil only comes from a dictator (like Highfather in this comic book), not from a ‘free’ democracy. Safe in the knowledge that evil cannot exist in his own ‘democratic’ country, the average comic book reader can read this comic without seeing any irony in it whatsoever.

And here comes the heroic resistance fighters

So when the US gets ready for it’s next corporate election between the Bush and Clinton families, remember what I said here. The illusion of democracy gives moral cover for the actions of the tiny number of ‘elite’ families who own and control the west. No crazy dictator is needed when the political system is owned and controlled by a few corporate and banking interests. Crazy dictators are for comic books and mainstream news networks. That’s the truth, like it or not.

Oh yeah, the comic book review. Sorry, this is a review isn’t it? Green Lantern Corps #37 (Godhead Act 3, Part 2) does the usual crazy dictator thing, that I’ve just discussed, puts the lanterns in position as the heroic resistance, one of the Highfather’s goon’s gets a kicking, and it’s fight back time for the good guys.

All of this comic book action is played out with the usual lack of awareness of the real world reality where US corporate imperialism (backed up by the most expensive military/war machine that the world has ever seen) is fighting real resistance movements all over the world. Funny stuff really. You have to laugh, you really do.

Rating: 6/10 (Decent art and some narrative advancement)

Comic review: Winterworld #5- Guest appearance by a sex-starved Conan

Writer: Chuck Dixon
Artist: Tomas Giorello
Publisher: IDW
Released: 10th December 2014

There were a lot faces in Winter World #5 that reminded me of the eponymous hero in artist Tomas Giorello’s work in Dark Horse’s (excellent) King Conan title. One of those faces in particular looked identical to Conan himself, so it was really funny to see that the actual character was a sex obsessed violent simpleton. I enjoyed the joke, and I enjoyed this book as well.

Glorious artwork in this book

The narrative itself extends the Winter World landscape by focussing on the individual plight of another twosome, the opposite to the main protagonists in that there is an older female and a younger male, as opposed to the elder male Scully and younger female Wynn.

A meeting, coming together and proxy family situation seems inevitable, but although that is predictable the characters themselves are interesting enough for me to care about what happens to them in the mean time. Issue #5 is a simple book with the foursome facing moments of danger before the inevitable meet up.

Like the previous book I reviewed this week on my blog (The October Faction #3) the artwork is the undisputed star of the show here. Tomas Giorello doing snowy landscapes and Polar bears is amazing. He is a very pretty artist, but when it needs to get intense he’s extremely adapt with sudden dramatic moments of extreme, bloody violence and battle scenes, as anybody lucky enough to own his work on the King Conan title will be well aware of.

Winterworld #5 is a bit formulaic, and most readers will be able to guess exactly where it’s going until a dramatic reveal on the final panel shakes things up a bit. That’s not a big problem though. Sometimes the script has to be linear and a bit predictable to get you where you need to go, and anyway the ride is so much fun this month because of the luxuriously detailed wow factor artwork. Yes, some of the faces are probably a bit too statuesquely similar, but the nod/joke to Conan was extremely funny, and the ridiculously high standard of the artwork throughout makes it a must buy book.

Rating: 7/10

Comic review: The October Faction #3- Waiting for Buffy to make a special guest appearance

Writer: Steve Niles
Artist: Damien Worm
Publisher: IDW 
Released: 10th December 2014


It’s the tone of this comic book that is probably stopping me from enjoying it as much as I want to. It’s that comedy, throw-away, nothing really matters and lets have a laugh at everything in a wishy-washy politically correct, feminist, liberal, oops, is it okay if I say that, kind of way.

If you’ve read any of my previous reviews you’ll know where I’m coming from here. I want my comic books to say something, and I don’t want to see this endless obsession with gender and sexuality politics being played out again and again, where men are weak and indecisive, bordering on silly and effeminate, whilst the women are strong independent ass kicking warriors. That used to be a powerful statement, but it’s the norm now. It’s boring; it’s the consensus, stop telling me the same stories over and over again. Give me something new that doesn’t remind of cultural Marxism and Frankfurt school theories from my college days. I learnt that stuff, but its theories, it's not reality, and it’s old theories now. It doesn’t represent the current state of affairs in a post 9/11, post NSA surveillance, post Iraq, post Edward Snowden, almost post Obama (fake hope and change) landscape.

What I’m trying to say, in a ham fisted way (my bloody computer re-started just after I finished this review, deleting everything, so this is me trying to re-capture the essence of that deleted version in an angry typing kind of way) is that the tone of the narrative in ‘The October Faction,’ is a bit too mainstream, a bit too safe, and a bit too familiar for my liking. It’s saying the same old stuff, and it’s not connecting with me, not doing anything more your average Marvel X-Men book would do. If you like that kind of adolescent stuff then you’ll like this. It’s okay, it’s warm and fluffy and giggly and the old television school-hall stereotypes are thrown in there as well.

In other words, it’s doing the same old Buffy the Vampire Slayer stuff quite well. If you like Buffy or the X-Men Academy, or Wolverine Academy, or anything else that deals with teenagers on the cusp of leaving school and trying to find meaning in their lives then you'll love it.  I just want something more than it has to offer. I’m old. School was a long, long time ago for me, and I don’t particularly want to remember anything about it either.

There are two standout narrative moments in this book, firstly a scene where a tormented bully is shown surrounded by resentful Ghosts of his guilty past, and the end panel with its shocking moment of extreme…. well, I won’t spoil it. These two moments are made all the more dramatic by the stunningly atmospheric artwork and colouring from artist Damien Worm. If you want modern Goth in comic book form, then Damien Worm is your man. He has a way with shading, with bleak, dark colouring, and his grim depictions of lean, desiccated horror are an absolute joy for anybody interested in all things that could loosely be collected up within the Gothic horror genre.

The October Faction is horror in an Adams family, or Munster’s tradition. The characters are not really threatening, they are silly and you know that whatever happens doesn’t really mean anything. This tone, of soft playfulness is broken with the final narrative development at the close of the book, but because that tone of unthreatening silliness has already been so firmly established I cannot get too excited about what happens next in a narrative context. Instead, I am just going to enjoy the wonderfully evocative art, the use of the colour blue was particularly memorable in this issue, and I’ll let the story wash over me. Get this book for the art. The story is a backdrop; the art is the main attraction in this one.

Rating: 7/10 (Rating for the art alone)

Comic review: Green Lantern #37- Godhead, Act 3, Part 1: Ranting away about sofa geek culture

Writer: Robert Venditti
Artist: Francis Portela
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 3rd December 2014


I had something like six or seven back episodes of Gotham (the new television show about a young Bruce Wayne) to watch on my futuristic surveillance device/television, but yesterday I deleted them all.

I did this after watching half an hour of an episode that was focussed on the young Penguin character. He’s the best thing about the show, but as I was watching his violent and manipulative adventures something dawned upon me. It was the realisation that this man on my television set, a murdering psychopath, was being portrayed as a strong willed hero, a man that we should be looking up to as a role model. The television viewer was being manipulated into feeling admiration and empathy for the man. Everything the Penguin was doing was made to look cool and empowering. I could almost here a voice coming from my television set saying:

‘Hey comic book geeks, isn’t it cool to be a psychopath? Don’t you just want to be a psychopath as well?’ 

Okay, so I’m exaggerating to make my point, but I hope you understand what I’m getting at here. I keep seeing this glorification of illness, with diseased, feeble, broken cowards made to look like the coolest guy in the room. It’s the Dexter effect, the Breaking Bad effect, the Game of Thrones effect, the Joker tormenting Batman with his own face held on by rubber bands behind his ears. It’s this sense of joy at embracing the worst elements of humanity. A celebration, a glorification of inhumanity towards your fellow man, but all dressed up in this soft voyeurism that screams suburbs and smart bombs and drone attacks and pathetic, lame, flabby cowardice.

Is this a 2014 trend, or was it always there, lurking in the back of sofa geek culture? I call it ‘sofa geek’ culture for a good reason. It’s a flabby watching but not getting involved culture that isn’t really a culture at all. It’s the reason why I don’t attend comic-cons, even though I’m sure I’d pick up some good rare books there. It’s this feeling that my comic book hobby reflects the worst aspects of myself. It turns me into something that I don’t want to be. A lazy, silent watcher, an audience member, an anonymous face in the braying idiot crowd, a man who thinks that violence is cool, but has never been in a real fist-fight in his entire life.

Why I am bringing up this unappealing sense of weakness and the revelling in disease and violence from a distance that is indelibly imprinted upon the sofa geek culture? Why am I mentioning the Penguin character and my deleting back episodes of the Gotham television programme? It’s because there’s a character in Green Lantern #37 who encapsulates every sick aspect that I’ve just been railing against. That character is another sofa geek hero/psychopath called, ‘Black Hand.’

Black Hand sadly laments, ‘I was born after all the good wars.’ No you weren’t mate. You are living in a period of never-ending war right now. If he really is supposed to be some creature that gets off on war then he would know that, but no, he’s that curious mainstream media murder junky that can’t see reality past his television set.

This Black Hand character dominates the narrative of Green Lantern #37. He’s seen revelling in the worst aspects of humanity. He loves war and death, but he’s strangely stuck on the History channel version of war and death, and doesn’t appear to recognise that war didn’t end after the Nazi’s were ‘defeated’ in 1945.

His character reminds me of somebody who sees war as a story told in a history book, not something that is happening all around him right now. Not something that he himself funds through quiet acquiescence to the unaccountable state apparatus of slavery, torture, incompetence, misery and death.

War is Hitler isn’t it? War is a dusty history book, a black and white television documentary, a DVD box set? It’s that kind of mentality, that kind of wilful ignorance about the world as it is today that I see again and again in my comic books and it bugs the Hell out of me.

It really does sicken me, and for the rest of the book this death obsessed, but out of touch sofa geek is portrayed as a grim reaper with cool factor. He’s a child with suburban serial killer fantasies, but with access to power that backs up what he’s saying, making him look far more important and impressive than Hal Jordan, the character in this book who is supposed to be the hero that the audience identifies with.

I’m getting the sense here that writer Robert Venditti actually admires the Black Hand. The Black Hand is soooo kewl, and Green Lantern is so lame after all. I can’t stand it, and that voice is talking to me again, it’s saying again and again:

‘Hey comic book geeks, isn’t it cool to be a psychopath? Isn’t it cool to be a psychopath? Isn't it cool to be a psychopath?

ENOUGH!!!!!!!

It is not cool to be a psychopath. It is not cool to obsess over death and stamping on your neighbour’s face forever. Torture is not cool. Drones are not cool. War is not cool. Death is not cool. These things are a symbol of weakness, not strength. Celebrating these aspects of humanity makes you spindly, feeble, enslaved, stupid, weak and ugly. You are a drone pilot with a jumbo carton of Pepsi diet poison, medals on his chest, flabby gut hanging out, press fire on the console, wedding party destroyed, time for more medals and football. Oh, a kid just shot up a school again? How did that happen? We better ban guns now, eh? War is peace, ignorance is strength, I’m voting for Bush/Clinton again.

That is the image I get when I see the Black Hand, or the Joker or the Penguin or whatever new psycho of the week portrayed as a sofa geek hero. It bother’s the Hell out of me, because it’s a symptom of the underlying disease that runs through the comic book industry, and the entire mainstream media as a whole.

It’s ugliness, celebrated, lauded and then put up against Batman, the Green Lantern, Commissioner Gordon, all of these statist control freaks who are there to restore order and protect the poor innocent victims/civilians. It’s a con game, a simplistic light and dark show for simpletons where the light are uniformed order followers and the dark are celebrated sofa geek cool psychopaths.

It’s a slaughterhouse psychological operation targeting the collective mind of the corporate media consuming slave public. They are telling you that it’s cool to be a psychopath, but at the same time they are telling you that the state must prevail to protect you against the very thing that is being pushed as cool and desirable. I’m not saying it’s deliberate. I’m not saying it’s a ‘conspiracy,' but it’s there, a disease that is messing with us all. That’s a mind trip, don’t you think?

I need to explore this celebration of psychopathy and it’s duel aspect the control system of the state a bit deeper, but for now I’ll finish this up as it’s already far too long. Hopefully I’ve managed to convey something in this review, something more than you’ll get in your typical comic book review anyway. That’s the entire point here. That is why I am doing these ‘reviews.’ They are not really ‘reviews’ at all, but you knew that, right? Thanks for reading. Hopefully I managed to say something here, and yes, this train of thought will continue on my blog, writing, as I do, free from corporate constraint, and free to say whatever the Hell I want to say.

It’s not about comics, it’s not about getting myself a job on a stupid keep your mouth shut and get re-tweets corporate comic book web-site. It’s about saying whatever is on my mind. Comic books and the other media that I consume feed my mind, and stimulate a response. I’m a big-mouthed annoying guy, and when I read something I like to tell people all about it. I say things that people don’t want to hear, but sod it. I’d rather say it than keep it to myself. That’s why I’m here, that’s why I’m writing on this blog. 

Rating: 5/10 (for the narrative progression that is keeping me interested in the arc)

Planet Terror: A bad review of a movie that I couldn’t be bothered to watch.

Released:  April 2007

Directors/Producers: Quentin and his mate Rob

Stars: Josh Brolin, Bruce Willis and Rose McGowan

For more info on this cinematic masterpiece (if you care) Click link below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Terror



I tried. I really did, but I could only make it into the twentieth minute of this movie before I was so bored that I couldn’t stand watching another second of it.

I know that the politically correct feminist liberal geek crowd (who hate me anyway) will dismiss everything that I say about this movie, but what can I do? I try things out, but if they completely and utterly suck how do you expect me to react?

Ho-hum

Am I supposed to waste two plus hours of my life and squirm, yawn and sleep throughout the entire movie? Am I supposed to treat it like a bloody film school project and write an essay about it? What’s the point?

You might not believe this about me, but I actually have a completely worthless BA in film studies from some crappy UK university, so I know all about sitting through boring movies in order to write essays about them. Battleship Potemkin and the stupid bloody steps anyone? Anybody up for a marathon session of Hitchcock analysis focused on his creepy obsession with blondes and his seagull metaphors? Thought not. I’ve been there, and let me tell you this sad truth- the boredom factor that comes with analysing what has already been analysed to death is only matched by the abyss inducing pointlessness of it all.

Anyway, talking about useless film degrees and yawning middle-class students, let’s get back to the world of Quentin. Twenty minutes of fake grainy movie, deliberately bad acting, testicles being crushed up and a crying stripper is too much for me in 2014. I can’t even be bothered to talk about Quentin film student boy and his references to references to references. Yes, we know, he liked crappy old movies from the 70’s. Yes Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs were really cool when they first came out, much like Fatty Smith and his Clerks stuff. I’m boring myself now by even referencing these things, and that’s the problem. It’s just references to dead things, references to a dead past, there’s no connection to what is happening now.

I noticed that one of the characters in Planet Terror was doing something on the Internet. It looked weird, out of place, like the director had stuck it in there by mistake. It was like seeing a digital watch in a movie about Roman gladiators. It takes you out of the moment, you remember it’s just a silly movie, and the magic is gone. I thought this was set in the 70’s? Oh, it’s not? Why does it look like it was set in the 70’s then? This is confusing, and silly, and worthless, and why am I wasting my time here?

There was something painfully fake about the movie as well, and yes I know it’s supposed to be fake, but where’s the enjoyment in watching gross out scenes and bad acting, but all done with a Hollywood budget of millions of wasted dollars?  There’s something depressing and grotesque about the whole vanity project, because that’s what it is, a vanity project from an already comfortably successful man.

I like Bruce

The whole feel of the project was just too jarringly inane for me to enjoy. If I were some kind of stumbling comatose old drunk, then perhaps it would be watchable, but I don’t drink. Why the Hell would I want to watch a purposefully bad homage to low budget movies that some guy has overly romanticised from the distance of his uninteresting suburban childhood?

I’ve heard that Tarrantino is going to retire after his next movie and I don’t blame him. He must have a big mountain of cash by now, so why stay on the stage when you have run out of material, when you have nothing left to say? I give him credit for that; at least he knows that it’s time to go.

But as for Planet Terror, I can’t sit through this movie. It made me so sad to see Bruce Willis in it. Oh dear, that’s not cool, or retro, or whatever, it’s just sad. I don’t want to watch something that is just going to make me feel sad, and not a good sad in a Bambi or Bicycle Thief kind of way, just sad in a politician lying to get us into their latest corporate war kind of way.

I warned you that this would be a bad review, and I wasn’t lying was I? And yes I know that Robert Rodriguez was credited as director, but this movie has Quentin’s sweaty paw prints all over it. And yes I know that this review was terrible. I give myself a lazy and low 2:2 for it. I’m sorry, but I can’t put the effort in to actually watch, and then do a proper movie review of something as pointless as Planet Terror. There’s no fun to be had here, no fun at all.

Movie rating: N/A 

Sinestro #7- Godhead Act 2, Part 5- Enjoyable stuff from the talented Mr. Bunn

Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Ethan Van Sciver and Geraldo Borges
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 3rd December 2014


Sinestro #7 is a good old fashioned comic book with a conniving and calculating villain temporarily working with the good guys in order to defeat a greater threat, but all the time looking for openings, for opportunities that will benefit his own cause when the current conflict is settled.

I particularly enjoyed some of the dialogue from Sinestro himself in this book. Writer Cullen Bunn is doing an excellent job with the character of Sinestro and it’s the complexity that is imbued within his characterisation of the man that makes this comic book such a consistently enjoyable read. Nothing changes during this crossover. Sinestro is the name on the cover, and that is what you get within. This is a book about Sinestro, not just a half assed and resentful add on to the main Godhead arc.

As with any character based narrative there has to be a strong supporting cast of characters to back-up the main protagonist. Bunn’s Sinestro title has two such characters. A conflicted daughter who has joined the Green Lantern corps and is struggling with her duties versus family loyalties and a new leader trying to prove himself a capable replacement for a man (Hal Jordan) that Sinestro has great admiration for.

With this strong foundation of well-drawn (figuratively and literally) characters the narrative doesn’t have to do all of the heavy lifting. It is almost a passenger, subservient to the bigger picture, and when things do happen it’s the reaction of the characters themselves that is of most interest, rather than just the narrative development itself.

That is a great position for a comic book to find itself in, so when at the close of this book a huge narrative development takes place it’s merely the cherry on top of an already very delicious creamy concoction.

This Godhead arc from DC Comics is the only thing that I am reading from Marvel and DC at the moment. I’ve given up on Marvel completely, and until they reboot their entire line of books and writers I have no interest whatsoever in what they are doing. DC has almost lost me as well, but it’s the sci-fi element in the Green Lantern universe that is keeping me hooked in there.

Within the sci-fi genre you can deal with contemporary issues and socio-political concerns under cover of different universes and fictional characters. Clever and aware writers can get away with revealing a lot of truth that might not be allowable in this age of corporate statism and dumbed down media monopolies. When I get that in my comics it is reflected in my ratings here on my blog.

Sinestro #7 doesn’t say anything about the military industrial complex, false flag terrorism or mainstream media manipulation designed to justify the latest wars of empire and conquest. It doesn’t really say anything about our times, about the society that we live in. What it does do however is look into the individual, underlying motivational mechanisms that drive human actions and interactions. It also drives the Godhead arc forward with a fantastic old school denouement/reveal on the final page that makes the reader salivate at what is going to happen next in the crossover series.

Cullen Bunn has, to use a simple metaphor, dribbled the ball with great skill, dodging potential tacklers along the way, and nicely laid off the perfect pass for his team-mate to continue the progression of the move. That move continues in this week’s Green Lantern #37, a book that I’m now very much looking forward to reading and reviewing due to the excellent work done here in Sinestro #7 by a very much on top of his game Mr. Cullen Bunn.

Rating: 8/10

Comic review: Intersect #1- Drug trip with water colours

Writer and artist: Ray Fawkes
Publisher: Image Comics
Released: 19th November 2014


There wasn’t that many decent comic books out this week, and as I’m learning my lesson about taking a chance on Marvel and the rest of the corporate Police state comic books (why waste my money on something that is guaranteed to disapoint?) I instead decided to check out a strange book, a book that has confused people, even though the art is apparently quite decent.

That book is Intersect #1 by Ray Fawkes. I recognise the name from some of the old DC titles that I’ve stopped reading over the past year or so. I remember him as an occasionally thoughtful writer, but just another guy on the assembly line who churns out blah comics a bit too frequently for me to become a fan of his work. He’s the writer and artist in this book, and for a guy known for his writing I found it a bit surprising that the art was probably the best thing about the book.

That art is messy, blurry, confusing and it’s difficult to get a handle on the characters, what they look like, their gender, their age and even where they are as they speak their vague and confusing dialogue. Despite the confusion though I did like the watercolour/abstract quality of it all. It has an experimental studenty feel to it, a freedom that is outside of commercial considerations, and although it’s a big confusing mess it’s a very pretty big confusing mess, and the freedom that it brings is quite refreshing to see in a comic book today.

The problem of course is that the story itself is probably even more confusing than the art. It is very, very, very self-indulgent. It’s confusing just for the sake of being confusing. There’s no consideration given for readability or narrative enjoyment here, at all. It’s a puzzle, something to do with bodies blending into each other, personalities being confused and there’s a bit of a chase going on as well. No context is given, and you don’t know who the characters are. How can you identify with a blur? It’s impossible, and Ray Fawkes isn’t really trying to help us out here.

It’s a difficult book, and I can’t see too many people looking forward to reading issue #2. It’s too confusing, too experimental, too self-indulgent and simply put, not enough fun for most comic book readers to be bothering with. I’m sure that Ray Fawkes is saying something here about the nature of mind, body, identity and society, but it’s almost completely incomprehensible and lacks a strong narrative or characters to identify with. I’m going to file this book away as something that was quite nice to look at, but it’s ultimately not worth following just in the hope that in six months time it will all start to make some kind of sense. That’s not enough for me. I like intelligent books, but being deliberately vague and confusing without readability is taking things just a little bit too far.

Rating: 4/10

Comic review: Criminal Macabre- The Third Child #3- Getting to grips with the character of Cal McDonald

Writer: Steve Niles
Artist: Christopher Mitten
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Released: 26th November 2014


I always attempt to get to grips with the underlying societal assumptions and fears that are sitting just underneath the narrative content in my comic books. I find it interesting; informative is probably a better word for it. If I can understand where the writer is coming from I can use the review as a tool, as a platform to discuss bigger issues than just comic books.

To put it simply, I try to look at the bigger picture. What is this comic book saying about the world that I live in? That is why I am writing these reviews in the first place.

I couldn’t really get to grips with Steve Nile’s character of Cal McDonald, but after reading this latest issue of Criminal Macabre- ‘The Third Child’ #3, I’m pretty comfortable with who he is, and what he represents now.

Looking back at it now I can see that the character was a bit fuzzy to me because he was always portrayed as a rebel, but whenever I read what he actually did he didn’t come across as even slightly rebellious to me. It was all surface rebellion, drink and drugs and a poseur cool air of aloofness, but what he was actually doing was acting like a television programme Police detective, helping the poor defenceless people against various monsters and what not.

So here is Cal McDonald, a rebel, but not really a rebel. A pretend rebel, a poseur hipster rebel with a fantastic haircut. A man very much a part of the system, working for it, but pretending even possibly to himself, that he is an outsider, when evidentially he isn’t.

In this particular comic he comes across as just another typical order following statist control freak little boy with daddy issues who thinks that the world is chaotic, and that you need people in uniforms and with badges to stop the stupid masses from descending into riots and chaos. I’m not going to use the ‘anarchy’ word, because statist types often misuse it. Anarchy means freedom from rulers, freedom from slavery, freedom from state control. Anarchy is a philosophy of freedom, and the enemy of all poseur rebels who at heart are just scared little boys and girls with parental abandonment issues, much like the character of Cal McDonald in Criminal Macabre.

If Cal McDonald was a real life person he’d be wearing a black uniform and working for the state. He would be living a life of fear, believing that he was a fascinatingly complex rebellious man because he had daddy issues and took drugs and drank too much whiskey. This kind of man is not a hero, he is an establishment tool, to be used, abused and spat out when no longer useful to his controllers. He is, to briefly quote Morrissey, ‘the soldier who won’t get much older.’

And now I understand why I had problems with the character in the first place. Cal McDonald is a fake rebel, a man who has made the world what it is today by joining the corporate control system, trying to work through his abandonment issues by using violence against those who are truly rebellious and fighting against it.

In other words, he's a drugged up, alcoholic cop. Not a hero, just another corporate yes man pretending to be a rebel. In this book he is pushed as a leader, a special man who will stop the chaos, stop the street riots and maintain the status quo of societal slavery. Of course he is going to be pushed as a role model, as a leader, because that’s what he is. That is what he represents. Cal McDonald is a poster boy for police state control freaks.

Look at the front cover on this book. Cal McDonald, a black uniformed angelic cop with a baseball bat, surrounding by protesters (portrayed as monsters) fed up with the corporate state, he is going to defend it to the death with violence.

Police state poster boy

Drink up Cal. Take some pills. The state needs fake rebels just like you. You prop it up. You are the backbone of world state controlled slavery.

Without people like Cal McDonald the slavery system collapses. They take drugs and drink too much because thinking with clarity would make them realise that they are not the solution, they are the problem.

If I wanted to sell a lot of copies of Criminal Macabre do you what I’d do? I’d set up a stall just outside a Police station and give a special ‘Heroes’ discount to all Policemen, soldiers, social workers, parole officers, court wardens, judges and administrators and everybody else who gets their wages from the corporate police state. They’d love this book. They wouldn’t know why, but they’d get a huge kick out of it.

Here's a truth. Government employees are messed up people, and I am not one of them. I don’t want to join their weird control freak cult of government worship. Cults are for crazy, lost, messed up people, and just because they are state sanctioned cults that doesn't mean that they are any better for you than some bloke in the mountains who thinks that he is Jesus.  It’s time I said goodbye to Cal McDonald. I’m a real-life rebellious guy. I'm into individuality and freedom, and there's nothing happening here for me.

Rating: 5/10 (It made me think, and the art/colour is very good)