Comic book reviews: Justice Inc #6 & Winterworld #7- ‘Policedar’ special

The following two reviews are ‘Policedar’ reviews. That is a term invented by myself, and invented just one minute ago. A ‘Policedar’ review is a review that will expose any subtle Police state message that is hiding within an entertainment (music/television/movie/comic book) text. I don’t hate the Police, but you have to understand the reality that the Police are always the actual, physical, flesh and blood people who enact new world order/globalist policies that enslave us all. The order following boys and girls in uniform create the global Police state, not the be-suited politicians and the shadowy cabals that operate behind the scenes to manipulate society. It’s the Police who actually build the prison, so ‘Policedar’ is the word that I will be using, and yes, it’s a take on the word ‘Gaydar,’ a word very much in the popular vernacular right now. These reviews will briefly discuss the artwork, narrative and other aspects of the text, but their main concerns will be any Police state issues within that text.



Policedar review no 1- Justice Inc #6 (Dynamite Comics)

This book concludes the end of a very confusing run where month by month it was almost impossible to understand what was going on. The script was incredibly convoluted with far too many characters and organisational names and time travel shenanigans going on, and if you read it on a monthly basis without reference to the previous books then you would be hopelessly lost and confused with what was happening. This is annoying, very annoying, and so I’m not going to miss the book. The art was a bit static, and the characters (apart from The Shadow) blended into each other far too much, making it even more confusing.

The villains were the Nazi’s, and the heroes were independent, wealthy men. This ties into the myth that the rich are there to help the poor innocent, helpless civilian-suspects, and that capitalism is your friend, not your enemy, so in that sense it’s an old fashioned, right-leaning book, not one for the Collectivist, Socialist, Marxists who tend to write most of the mainstream comic books these days. One thing to note is that despite it being a time travel book the latest event that it dealt with was one small panel of the exploding towers on 9/11. Nothing post that event in 2001 (that is over thirteen years ago now) was discussed. In that sense it was another book playing it very, very safe and making sure that it didn’t do anything to upset the current corporate/banking/permanent war status quo of the elite’s that control the political system and mainstream media in 2015. I enjoyed the cover-art, and I appreciated that the Shadow was singled out as the most interesting character in the book, but the plot as a whole was far too intricate, it didn’t deal with contemporary concerns, and it left very little impact on me as a whole. Rating: 3/10


Policed review no 2- WinterWorld #7 (IDW Comics)

This book comes from the ‘right-wing’ point of view, as far as socio-political commentary goes, but it focuses on independent ‘normal’ people rather than rich industrialists like Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark or all of the heroes in Justice Inc. The main protagonists don’t rely on the state, and they are not a part of the corporate status quo/control system because in this post-apocalyptic freezing cold world there is no state, and no corporate elite’s to belong to. I classify them as ‘right-wing’ because they are independent people who do not belong, and do not want to join a collectivist/leftist commune of deluded Animal farm hippie types. They are tough, self-sufficient, independent and free, and that is why I like them.

This issue is the end of a run, and the last time we’ll see the amazing artwork of artist Tomas Giorello on the title. The title returns in February and March 2015 with two prequel books that feature the main two protagonist’s early days, before they met, and before Winterworld became what it is today. Hopefully they won’t be as bad as those never to be mentioned Star Wars prequels, because this has been a good book, with strong male and female characters, and no Police state nonsense to spoil it all. This issue featured a fight, a team-up, and the action will continue. It was good, the message of independence and self-sufficiency was just what we need to see more of in comics, and the art, by the wonderfully talented Mr Giorello was fantastic. If I see the name ‘Chuck Dixon’ on a title I’ll buy the book, not because I know that he’ll write fascinating characters and a well crafted, exciting story, but because he doesn’t do the feminist liberal nonsense that has contaminated most of the other comic book writers working in the industry today. Rating: 8/10

Comic review: Conan the Avenger #10- Sit-up, stand-up, don’t be a slave

Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: Brian Ching
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Released: 28th January 2015


Writer Fred Van Lente gives us some good old fashioned manly action in this month’s Conan the Avenger, and it continues to have everything that you could ask for in a Conan story.

Issue #10 features a pretty girl on the back of Conan’s horse, Conan himself having a far from friendly cuddle with a giant reptile, and a devious wizard doing what devious wizard’s do.

It features superb panel construction from artist Brian Ching, who builds up the narrative tension before giving the reader superb full page panels of artwork when the action or narrative development peaks in terms of excitement/peril for our brave hero.

Two panels stand-out, but I won’t spoil them. Get the book for yourself and I guarantee that you’ll have just as much fun with them as I did.

The book is a lot of fun, but it’s not perfect. It has a weak ending, and some of the dialogue is a bit too cute, a bit too self-aware and a bit too annoying in a way that you’ll find in a lot of mainstream comic books today.

You know how it goes? Everything is a joke, and the exchanges read more like a writer trying to be clever rather than two believable people having a genuine conversation. Some people like that, but it gets on my nerves. Lets get away from Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarrantino and move on to more realistic dialogue. I like realism, not cleverness.

Apart from that point on the ‘too cool for school’ nature of some of the dialogue I have no hesitation in recommending this exciting, well drawn, expertly constructed slice of good old fashioned swords and scorcery, damsel in distress, lizards and wizards action.

Conan the Avenger #10 is an enjoyable book, there’s no Police state worshipping about it, and Conan himself is an archetype, a hero who still resonates strongly today. In these collectivised, authority
worshipping times Conan reminds us that we have to be responsible for ourselves, and if we rely on authority to protect us we’ll end up living in a prison of our own design.

Don’t sit down, don’t watch, and don’t give away your power to those who would control you. If you want something, then do it for yourself. Be like Conan. Sit-up, stand-up, and don’t be a slave.


Rating: 8/10

Comic book review: Sinestro #9- Evil Christians, drugs, police and dictators

Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Brad Walker
Colourist: Jason Wright
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 28th January 2015



For the first time in it’s nine issue run this comic book, as written by Cullen Bunn, reads like just another matrix dwelling mainstream slice of deception and disinformation.

It’s a shame, because I expected better than this, but after reading this new direction (after the New Gods crossover books) all I can do is call it out for what it is, and unfortunately it’s extremely derivative stuff.

The book begins with an attack on religion. Not the religions that are actually causing all of the troubles in the world today, but the religion that it’s politically safe to attack, that being good old Christianity.

I can envision people arguing that ‘The Pale Vicars’ or ‘The Sallow Priests’ are not Christians, they are ‘aliens’ but let’s be honest here. A vicar? A priest? It’s Christianity, so let’s stop pretending.

I don’t see any Rabbi’s or Imams being referenced in mainstream comic books, it’s always religious leaders that are connected to Christianity.

Comic book writers do this because they are allowed to criticise Christianity. If they criticise Islam or Judaism then they’ll lose their jobs. In other words, they are cowards who only criticise the religious organisations that they are allowed to criticise. I don’t respect that, at all. If you are going to criticise religion then criticise them all, and if you are too afraid to do that, if you value your career more than your integrity then I’m not going to read your comic books anymore.

After Sinestro #9 lamely attacks Christianity it goes on to tell the readers that drugs are bad, and that we have to rely on a third party (the Police) to save us from the evil people who want to give us poor helpless suspect-civilians something that is bad for us. Wow, the book really is scraping the barrel this month. Christians baaaaaaad. Drugs baaaaaad. World Police goooooood. What’s next, a power crazed dictator who wants to get revenge on Sinestro?

Yep, that’s exactly what we get next. The good old power crazed dictator. A mainstream media generated villain, and the perfect justification for another ‘humanitarian intervention,’ another bombing campaign, another war waged for resources where the lives of innocent human beings count for absolutely nothing.

Forget about the reality on planet Earth 2015 where western ‘democracies’ have been waging war, raping, pillaging and torturing all over the planet for over a decade now (and that’s just recent history). I can’t believe that people living in 2015 are still pushing this fairytale that the number one threat to world peace is power crazed dictators, and not the centralised, top-down, corporate/banking interests that control western governments.

I’m standing back now, looking at what is on offer here in this comic book, and I just can’t read it anymore. It’s too simplistic, too lazy, too ignorant of reality, and it’s just not making any sort of connection to the real world realities that have taken place in the world post September 2001.

I can’t be buying this book and pointing out this stuff every month on my blog. I don’t enjoy it you know. It bugs me, annoying me big time that I’ve wasted so much of my time (and money) on a book that has given me absolutely nothing.

Writer Cullen Bunn has revealed himself here, and his mindset is worryingly stuck in generations passed. If he thinks that the most important issues in 2015 are Christian fanatics, dictators and the need for a Police state to save citizen-suspects from the evil of drugs then he is just the right kind of ignorant that the comic book industry wants. And when I say ignorant I don’t mean that he is stupid. I mean that he has chosen to ignore the world, and to push out a mainstream media version of reality that in no way whatsoever corresponds with what is actually going on in the world today.

I feel terrible now. I don’t want to put up these reviews where all I do is complain, insult the poor writer and go on about the mainstream media, the corporate matrix, etc, etc, etc, but what can I do? I buy a book, it insults me, and so I have to call it out. Sinestro is off my pull-list, so no more reviews of the book here on my blog. My search for awakened, independent, free-thinking writers working in the mainstream comic book industry continues. Wish me luck, it’s a bloody desert out there.

Rating: 3/10 (I enjoyed the colouring by Jason Wright)

Comic review: Alex + Ada #12- Breaking free from the lying box

Created by: Sarah Vaughn & Jonathan Luna
Publisher: Image Comics
Released: 28th January 2015


Alex + Ada #12 is an excellent book, but if you have read any of the previous issues you already know that.

I’ve already done quite a few reviews of the previous issues of this book, so please check them out if you think that I say anything interesting during this particular review. I'm a bit of a ranter, but I do occasionally stumble onto moments of truth, and this particular comic book gives me the opportunity to discuss some of the more pressing matters and concerns of our times.

On to issue #12 then, because as a stand-alone book it offers some very interesting new developments that I want to talk about. It begins with a fascinating case study that demonstrates the contrasts between a mainstream media narrative and the real world reality behind that narrative.

In short, a man who has been ‘programmed’ to think one way by the dominant mainstream media of his time comes across the reality behind that programming. After experiencing that reality his strongly held (but not properly examined) belief system crumbles. Real world experience breaks the programming, and he is already on his own personal journey of awakened reality.

That’s an important thing to discuss in a comic, especially when you look at what is happening in our real world reality of 2015.

At the current time the dominant mind programmers of the world are what can be collectively termed the ‘corporate mainstream media.’ It is their role to program your mind, to frame reality in a twisted way that suits their corporate control system. Truth has no role to play in their deliberately dumbed down manipulation of current events.

I admit that this next statement is an over-simplification, but a general rule of thumb is that when the corporate mainstream media tell you that something is black, then you can be pretty sure that if it’s not white, then it’s plenty of shades of colours, and those colours are not going to be discussed between the advert breaks.

If enough people obtained their information from real world experience rather than the mind control system that is their newspaper and television then a revolution would happen and the left/right political circus would be as redundant as it should be. The lesson of this issue of Alex + Ada then is to talk to your neighbours, talk to strangers, talk to your supposed enemy, just talk, and stop believing what corporate controllers are programming you to believe.

Narratively speaking, a death is always a big event, but when it happens in this particular book that death is only the background to the bigger picture. The book has already discussed consciousness, and now it’s moving on to the big questions, the questions that we all want answered:

What happens when the body dies? Does consciousness continue, or does it end?

This excellent book has already established that consciousness is about being aware, about breaking free from the mind control programming that society cages us within. The androids in the book are either aware or unaware, as are the humans. To use the popular vernacular that is used in so-called ‘conspiracy’ circles, some people are awake, but most are sleeping ‘sheeple.’

The western world as it is today is made up of two groups. The first group consists of order followers and career repeaters who read newspapers, watch television and repeat the mind control programming that is given to them by their controllers. The second (much smaller) group consists of truth seekers, of independent individuals who are actively attempting to break free from the mind-control and to get to the truth behind the myriad of lies that define our times. Guess which group the lying box in the corner of your living room wants you to belong to?

Some people might think that I’m going over the top here, making all of these statements when I should just be enjoying the comic book as a bit of silly sci-fi entertainment. They might even mock me and insist that I’m seeing things that are not there. I don’t think that this is the case. I read the book, and what I take from it I put into this review. That’s what I do, that’s the entire point of my blog. I want to talk about the bigger issues, and a comic book like Alex + Ada is perfect because it’s content allows me to do so.

I’ve heard other reviewers complain that this is a slow paced book that lacks excitement and action scenes, but don’t let that put you off. It’s slow for a good reason. That reason is that it has something to say, and it wants to say it properly. So far it’s doing an excellent job, and this issue, having already covered the initial philosophical aspects of consciousness is going to the logical end point, exploring what happens to us when we die. All of this in a comic book. It’s quite amazing really. I leave this issue of Alex + Ada #12 feeling happy, entertained, intellectually energised and above everything else, deeply, deeply impressed with the quality of writing that is on display here.

Rating: 10/10

Comic review: Twilight Zone- Shadow & Substance #1- Losing is the new winning

Writer: Mark Rahner
Artist: Edu Menna
Publisher: Dynamite
Released: 21st January 2015


If you could go back in time and meet yourself as a child would you stop yourself from doing something stupid that made you what you are today?

Here’s a different way of asking that same question. Would you go back in time to stop yourself from experiencing something that totally and utterly sucked? I certainly would. Suffering sucks, sod all that learning from the experience bullshit. Sometimes, actually most of the times, it just plain sucks when something bad happens to you. Sod the lessons. I’d rather read about them in a book.

Yeah, I know how the argument goes. What if the sucky incident was something that you needed to learn in order to progress and develop on an intellectual, emotional or spiritual level? You know what? Lots of horrible things have happened to me in my life, and the vast, vast majority of them taught me absolutely nothing that I didn’t already know.

Sometimes horrible things happen, and they are completely meaningless. You learn nothing, other than life can be really, really horrible, that people act in ways that make you hate the human race, and that nobody gives a crap about you, at all. 

The only thing to be learnt is that you better dust yourself off and continue, because if you don’t, you’ll die, and nobody is going to give a shit when you do, just the poor saps that have to dispose of your useless, miserable, messed-up carcass. That’s life, that’s the lesson, and if you don’t already understand it after a couple of weeks at school then you’re a very dense individual who will probably spend the rest of his life learning absolutely nothing.

The plot of this particular comic book is posing that hoary old Twilight Zone conundrum, what would you do if you met yourself as a child? Would you stop yourself from doing something stupid that made you the man you are today, or would you do nothing, because the younger version of yourself needs to learn from the horrible experience? You already know my answer to that one. Yes, of course I bloody would do something about it. I’d help my younger self as much as possible. God knows the poor bugger needed some help, and he certainly didn’t get any at the time.

Having said that, there is a major difference between my own life and the character in this book. He’s a successful writer, and I’m a twit writing on a blog. He might be a self-hating alcoholic mess, but he’s a successful, self-hating, alcoholic mess. He gets to do book signings whilst I get to write comic book reviews that are read by a couple of people who accidentally click on my blog.

Am I bitter? Yes, very much so, but at least I don’t have to sit embarrassingly by myself for a couple of hours whilst people mess around on their phones and ignore me. This actually happened to some ‘writers’ doing a book signing in my local bookshop last week, the poor sods. People seriously need to get the hell off their iphones and start reading again if they want to reverse the deliberate dumbing down of our entire species, but that’s another rant for another occasion.

Anyway, back to the book. What do you reckon he should do? Interfere or leave it alone? Should he save his younger self from some self-inflicted misery, because we all know what’s going to happen if he does, right? My guess is that it’ll change his future, and rather than being a successful writer he’ll be some twit writing on an Internet blog. He’ll probably end up writing comic book reviews, or something else that screams loser from every pore and orifice of the body. So what is it going to be? Success, self-hatred and a drinking problem, or failure, happiness, self-respect and a blog about comic books?

Here’s the part of my review where I talk about the actual construction of the comic, and not just the themes, ideas, and all of that other stuff that I’m interested in. Okay, here I go:

The art is a bit shoddy, and the panel layout is occasionally annoying and confusing, but as the story is so simple those problems are easily surmounted, even though reading the book is a far from smooth experience.

The plot contains two contemporary references (about mobile phones/surveillance devices) and the rest of it could have been set in your usual Twilight Zone era of the 1970’s. The main protagonist is two
dimensional, even though we get to see him as a kid, and he’s not exactly very likeable either.

The book succeeds because the original idea is interesting, and not because of the actual realisation of that idea in the comic book itself. I’ll be purchasing the next issue, not because of the art, or the characters, but because of that original idea. Sometimes a good idea is all that you need, and despite all of it’s flaws they have themselves a repeat customer here.

Now back to my blog, back to my unsuccessfully happy life, and back to daydreaming about poorly attended book-signings, girl-friend problems and missed AA meetings. Keep your success. Losers are the new winners. Well, it feels that way to this guy anyway, but what do I know?

Rating: 6/10

Comic review: The October Faction #4- Goodbye pretty comic

Writer: Steve Niles
Artist: Damien Worm
Publisher: IDW
Released: 21st January 2015


I don’t want to further my reputation as the grumpy old man of comic book reviewers and needlessly slag this comic book off, because that’s no fun, and it’s kind of cheap of me as well.

Let’s face it. It’s easy to go on the Internet and call something terrible, say you hated it, and string together some pretty sentences to describe how awful it is. But what kind of individual would want to spend their days reading awful comic books and then destroying them on the Internet? I know it might appear that I do that all of the time on my blog, so I think it’s time for me to rein myself in.

From this day forward I will not waste my time deconstructing silly, throwaway, light-hearted, escapist comic books. I need to acknowledge that they are not for me, put them aside, stop buying them, and move on to something else.

If I come across a comic book that is hiding it’s insidious anti-human, global Police state message under cover of playfulness and silliness then I will point it out. But if a book has no agenda other than to entertain and avoid real-world issues then I’m not going to waste anybodies time by going on a massive 2000 word rant about it.

The October Faction #4 is one of those books that appears to be purposefully ignoring the real world. I understand that is what some (a lot?) of comic book readers want, but that’s not why I am reading them. The book offers a daft plot and some cuddly characters that you shouldn’t be taking too seriously, and it’s a jumping off point for me.

For anybody interested in the plot, it’s silly, and throwaway, and it has that post-modern, knowing, too cool for school thing going on with the dialogue. Characters are linguistically clever, but no wisdom is being imparted. Death is portrayed as a bit of a joke, foreshadowing that death in this comic isn’t really death, and so the last page reveal comes as no surprise. It’s just something that of course happened, because none of this is serious, and you are a bit daft if you are taking any of it seriously.

‘Have fun with the book dammit.’ That’s what writer Steve Niles will be shouting, if he reads this review. ‘Don’t take it so damn seriously mate’ (that’s something else that I’m sure he’d say).

But for me, as the reality junkie, anti collectivism, anti globalisation Internet tough guy twit that I am, I have to bow out now. I’m a bit disappointed, as it means that I’ll be missing out on the awesome artwork of Damien Worm, but the narrative progression, themes and characters being offered up by writer Steve Niles offer very little to me personally. I can’t get much out of it, and so I’m not going to try to find something that is not there.

That doesn’t mean that I hated the book, because I didn’t. There’s nothing here that greatly offends me, but there’s nothing that illuminates contemporary real-world issues either, and as it’s not exactly a memorable book that leaves me begging for more on a strictly narrative level either, why would I continue to read it?

If you like Tim Burton/Goth kind of stuff then give it a go. You might enjoy it, the art is beautiful, but for me, it’s become a bit blah now. I’ve read four issues, and even though I still admire the art, the story is beginning to wash over me. That’s it. Indifference has set in, and there’s not enough reason to keep this one on my rapidly diminishing wafer thin comic-book pull-list. Goodbye pretty comic book, you were fun, for a while.

Rating: 5/10 (occasionally amusing, great art)

Comic review: Justice League #38- Ho-hum, it’s zombie Batman, yawn

Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Jason Fabok
Colorist: Brad Anderson
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 21st January 2015


****Spoilers in review****

I’m not going to waste too much time on this book, as it’s not worth it.

If you want to see Batman as a zombie, then buy it.

The art looks great. It’s very big, impressively detailed and very colourful, but the story by Geoff Johns is pedestrian, uninteresting, routine, bland, and perfunctory in every way imaginable. He certainly isn’t saying anything of any importance, and his plot has a resigned and tired feel about it.

I find it very telling that he has turned some of the Justice League superheroes into zombies at the close of the book. It’s exactly what I would expect a writer to do when he has run out of ideas. It’s easy, easier to reverse and well, the kids love zombies these days, don’t they?

Johns also gives us the stunning revelation that evil genius Lex Luthor is a devious and manipulative liar. Superman, of course, is surprised at this development. It’s pretty stupid really.

Doesn’t Superman know anything about Lex? You’d think he would have a good handle on his character by now, but in this book he acts like he’s just met the bloke a couple of weeks ago. I know that Superman is supposed to see the best in people, but that doesn’t mean that he is a complete and utter fool.

Forgetting that completely unbelievable moment of Superman naivety the plot has already been resolved anyway.

Superman is carrying anti-bodies in his blood that will turn zombie Batman into normal Batman again, so it’s just a matter of an extra strong needle, a blood sample, and it’s back to the status quo for Batman and the rest of the Justice League.

I don’t understand why Johns has given us the ending already, but he has, and the end panel of this book with a rampaging zombie Batman and assorted mates offers little to look forward to, other than a brief punch-up in issue #39.

If you want to look at some pretty pictures whilst you are sitting on the toilet, well this is the book for you. However, if you want a comic book that has something intelligent to say about the world as it is today (that is what I’m looking for in my comics) then you’ll find nothing here.

If you couldn’t care less about ‘boring’ reality and real world issues, and read comic books as entertaining, escapist fun then there’s nothing to get excited about here either.

This is dull, dull, dull. Perhaps Geoff Johns just needs a break, as it appears that he’s running on empty at the moment. His run on the Justice League title has been largely entertaining, but there’s no getting away from the fact that his creative juices are at an all time low at the moment.

Rating: 3/10 (for the art)

Comic review: Millennium #1- Cleverly constructed, intriguing and fun

Writer: Joe Harris
Artist: Colin Lorimer
Publisher: IDW
Released: 21st January 2015



It was the overarching concept behind this book that hooked me, that tempted me into a purchase, and not the association with the old ‘conspiracy’ television show of the 1990’s.

That show was The X-Files, and the concept I’m talking about here is evil, and how it manipulates the world, hiding just beyond the scope of our current ‘scientific’ understanding.

That’s the real ‘conspiracy’ behind the pathetic, see-through lies and manipulations of our puppet politicians. It’s an interdimensional conspiracy with demonic entities attaching themselves to those in positions of power and influence in our particular ‘reality.’

Do these entities have to psychically manifest in the minds of individual men in order to manipulate them, or perhaps it’s just an in-built disease of our DNA that allows us to be so open, so eager to embrace evil? Either way, the demonic entities attach themselves to the minds of men (and women) in order to guide them, to manage them, and to encourage them to give out the immoral orders that those in uniforms unquestioningly follow.

That is the story of our planet. A wilfully ignorant, immoral, psychically contaminated species in love with order giving, and order following. The inevitable result of this toxic mindset is endless war, suffering and inhumanity, with man killing man, not for a good reason, but because he was ordered to. This is our past, our present, and if we keep on voting for it, our future as well.

That is the reason behind my purchase of this book. I am hoping for an exploration of that very human disease, the disease that allows us to give and take orders with no regard to moral rights and wrongs. I am hoping for an exploration into control systems, of slavery, of the collective Stockholm syndrome that is affecting us all. I have high hopes, and that is why I am such a harsh critic.

I will not accept a good story with interesting characters and give it a 10/10 because it was exciting or ‘cool.’ I am no longer a child. I demand much more than cheap thrills in my comic books these days. Say something, or go away.

This X-Files companion book takes the idea that the year 2000 was to be the end of something, acknowledges that it wasn’t, explains why it wasn’t, and carries the idea forward. There was a group of human plotters working for the evil entities that I have just mentioned. The group had something planned for the big day, but when 1999 turned into 2000, they failed, and the promised end of times failed to materialise.

But what is time to the eternal evil that lives, that hides, that manipulates, that plots, that conspires, that deceives, that tempts, that sows seeds of discord, disharmony, hatred and despair within the heart of us all? Nothing, and so the poisonous metaphorical spider continues to weave it’s web, mankind entraps itself, and a new threat emerges.

It’s a very comic book thing happening here, introducing a threat, and then having order following agents of the state thwarting it. It even has that tired old trope, the serial killer, but there’s something happening in this book that interests me, at least so far. It could be the structure (which is very good) and it could be the dark shading and colouring (which I like very much), but there’s a feeling of something hidden here that appeals.

As long as writer Joe Harris can ratchet back the statism, it should be a decent read. I’m not a frequent reader of his work, so I don’t know where his mindset is, but all I can do at the moment is keep my fingers crossed and hope that this story doesn't devolve into yet another book where state sanctioned agents save the poor innocent victim-civilian-suspects.


I’m going to take a gamble here and give this book a cautiously optimistic thumbs up. Time will tell whether or not it’s trying to say something, but I have to acknowledge that it’s a very cleverly crafted, intriguing and interesting beginning to the arc. A good opening can often deceive of course, so we’ll have to wait and see with this one. At the moment it’s worth purchasing, but time will be the ultimate judge. Will this book stand up like a nail, or will it just end up being another in a long, long line of police state supporting contemporary comic books? We’ll see.


Rating: 7/10

Music album review: Futurama by Manic Street Preachers- Hooky world-view reassessment

Released: July 2014

Amazon page (to purchase album):
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00JK4K07A?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

Youtube video of ‘The Next Jet to Leave Moscow’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU_kKnmKsuU



I’ve listened to this album so many times now that it’s starting to get a bit old to me, so it’s probably a good time to knock out a review and detail the best tunes, the most interesting lyrics, and the overall themes, and lasting impressions made by the album.

My own association with the Manics goes back to their prime years in the 1990’s when they were producing fiercely intellectual polemics against everything and everybody. This culminated in their nihilistic, screaming into the abyss nightmare/masterpiece ‘The Holy Bible.’

In 1994 Richly Edwards, their intellectual, philosophical, moral, political, lyrical leader disappeared, and everything changed.

The lads

From that point on it has been a slow slide into compromise and middle class/suburban sadness and nostalgia for the remaining Manics. ‘Everything Must Go’ gave them their big success, but to me it was a deeply depressing album, a resignation from the extremism, an acknowledgement that they could never go that far again. From there it has been hit and miss, a carefully crafted career rather than a suicide mission.

The band used up some remaining Richey Edwards lyrics in the Holy Bible retread album (and correctly titled) ‘Journal For Plague Lovers,’ which briefly brought me back to them, but since then I have paid less and less attention to the Manics.

Futurama shouldn’t have interested me at all, but the excellent reviews caught my eye, so I took a chance, and purchased the album, not expecting much, but hoping for the best. I’ve spent a couple of weeks with the album now, listening to it a lot more than I thought that I would, and I’m ready to share a few thoughts about it.

First off, the tunes are excellent. They are exploding with creativity, vibrancy and (most importantly) sing-along hooks. This album feels like it took some time to produce, and it really does have some memorably hooky moments that will stay in your head all day long. There’s probably too many of those moments to mention here, they really are that frequent, but one of my favourites was the self-lacerating chorus (Yes, I realise how appropriate that phrase is in the context of a Manics review) ‘The next Jet to Moscow,’ with lyricist Nick Wire mocking his own socialist failings, compromises, contradictions and hypocrisies.

That theme of recognising that your life long held political ideology has been tested and shown to be false is a central theme of the album as a whole.

This is the Manics album where Nicky Wire admits that all of that Marxist stuff of his youth was total and utter bullshit. It’s taken him some time to get there, but the old left wing feminist liberal drip is finally waking up to the reality of the collectivised new world order supporting liberalism that has defined his socio-political life, and the lyrical themes of his band.

Nicky Wire (left, obviously) has a few things to think about.

Futurama, at least to this reviewer, is the album where Nick Wire admits that he was wrong, and that he needs to batten down the hatches, read, read, read and reassess his worldview. Because of this it’s the next Manics album that’ll probably be worth listening to, at least from a lyrical viewpoint. This album unfortunately still has a lot of that champagne socialist whining quality that comes across like a rich man complaining about digging his own luxurious pit of self indulgent ennui, in the safe suburbs, and surrounded by high tech security systems (to keep out the bothersome proletariat) obviously.

So yes, its still full of Nicky Wire complaining (as he does on every other Manics album post Richey) about feeling isolated and depressed behind his wall of luxury, but with that hint of change, that hint about further study and world view reassesement ringing throughout the lyrical themes, I can put up with it this time, and it leaves me looking forward to the next album, something that I haven’t done in a long, long time now.

Get 'Futurology' for the fresh sounding tunes, and a promise of a world-view reassessment by ‘Jaded old Commie’ Nicky Wire. The Manics sound rested up and full of vigour in this one. It’s jacked to the gills with catchy, sing-along hooks, it has variety and creativity in the individual songs, and you’re guaranteed to get at least a month’s worth of listening pleasure out of it.

Nicky Wire is still moaning about being a rich socialist, but this is a very good collection of songs. If you’ve ever taken an interest in the Manics then you’ll get a lot out of this one, and just like me you’ll find yourselves humming the songs in your head all day long.

Rating: 9/10

Militant, Grinding, Hardcore Music review: Ultramantis Black by Ultramantis Black: Stabbing, jagged, electric, energising protest music

Label: Relapse records

Released: 8th July 2014

Bandcamp page (listen to, and purchase album here): 
http://ultramantisblack.bandcamp.com/

Check out this awesome official video to the song ‘Bio-monster DNA’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C882d7NfR2U



This album sounds sweaty, and youthful, and righteous, and like it’s being played in a small club with (organic, alcohol free) beer flying through the air that is covering the collected shirtless mass in a sticky wave of good old healthy protest song anger.

What the heck do I know about this kind of music? Nothing, nothing at all, that’s what I know about it. Oh, that’s not true, I do know that it’s called ‘hardcore,’ so I know that. It’s a good adjective to use, as it certainly isn’t softcore, that’s for sure.

It’s punchy, stabby even, and everything is blasting away at a furious pace, the guitar, drums, screamed vocals and the song lengths themselves.

This EP has nine songs on it, and it lasts about thirteen minutes, yet I didn’t feel ripped off, and when I read the lyric sheet I had even more appreciation for it. Themes include the danger of pharmacological drugs, animal cruelty, pollution and the horror that is genetically modified food. Important issues there, real issues, not just the trendy feminist liberal ones, and it’s all shouted out with the anger that you need in rock protest songs.

I purchased this EP because I’m a Chikara pro wrestling fan and the man responsible for this music is one of their wrestlers. I was not disappointed. He rants/sing-screams about important issues, the music is suitably frenetic and having this blaring away in the background at a top volume as I knock out this review gives me that good feeling of energised rebellion that every good protest song should contain. Good stuff Mr Ultramantis Black. This English bloke who knows nothing whatsoever about hardcore music is very impressed with what you have done here on your debut music EP.

Rating: 9/10

Comic review: Green Lantern Corps #38- Chairman Mao would love this one

Writer: Van Jensen
Artist: Bernard Chang
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 14th January 2015


Green Lantern Corps #38 is introducing a new story arc, so there are a couple of questions bubbling underneath the simplistic surface narrative. It’s trying to intrigue you, trying to get you hooked. But for me the most important thing about the book is that the structural framing to the narrative is full of the usual assumptions that you get in a mainstream corporate/globalist comic book today.

Flying around the galaxy to help poor victim-suspect-civilians.

It’s the same old things, the same old nonsense that I moan about all of the time here on my blog, so I’ll keep this review short. Frankly, it deserves neither my time, nor yours.

Okay, the structural framing devices. It’s your standard Police state assumptions.

The book starts with some army cult drilling, repeat slogan, repeat that you are the good guy, now go out into the world and Police it for the good old neo-liberal value systems that we all adhere to. Protect the poor innocent civilians. Centralised governmental systems are there to help you. Lawbreakers are bad. Drugs are bad (but only the illegal ones), now let’s fly around the universe to protect people.

No thinking is allowed, no agendas are involved. It’s all about the rule of law. Who is making the law? It doesn’t matter, just follow your orders and uphold arbitrary laws that you don’t need to morally inspect for yourselves to have true, individual moral responsibility for your actions. Put on your uniform, and get to work.

All of the good guy characters in this book are order following soldiers/police. A female order follower just wants to protect her children. Not from government, of course. Government is good. She’s going to protect the children (public) from drug dealers. Isn’t she a good person? Errr no, she’s an order follower. But weren’t the Nazi’s good order followers as well? Yes, they were, but don’t mention that, and so the wheels of the comic book ignorance machine continues to turn and the global Police state is welcomed with opened arms.

Do you see how it works? Is writer Van Jensen a secret member of the illuminati then? No, he is not. He’s just a jobbing writer, more interested in the story than his themes, and if he continues to produce Police state supporting work like this he’ll continue to be employed in mainstream comic books. That’s how it works. No conspiracy, just a career, and an exciting narrative where the police state agents help the poor innocent intergalactic civilians who cannot help themselves.

Agent of the state John Stewart gets his orders from the communist elite

No more Green Lantern Corps books for this reader. I’ve already wasted far too much of my time on this. I don’t hate the book, and I’m sure that Van Jensen will assemble an exciting narrative journey as the story progresses, but I don’t need to read further confirmation of statist assumptions that you get in the mainstream corporate whore media.

I don’t care if the story is exciting, or whether or not the characters have interesting or difficult times. A book that frames itself around unquestioning support for statism and the Police state has nothing to offer for somebody like myself.

Let me make this clear. Green Lantern Corps #38 is not a bad comic, the art is functional, and the structure of the story is well thought out, giving the reader a delicious hint at the close of the book that things might not be what they seem on the surface. That’s good story-telling, but I don’t want to read about agents of the Police state, so sorry, it’s not for me.

Hand it out to young police or army cadets. This book is for them. It will feed into their delusions of heroism, and make them eager to put on the uniform and get out there and start obeying some orders and protecting the poor innocent victim/civilian-suspects who cannot help themselves. That’s it, no more words. If you like centralised control systems with order following agents unquestioningly serving their masters then get the book, if you don’t like that Chairman Mao, communist world-view, then don’t.

Rating: 3/10 (must-read book for fans of centralised control systems)

Comic review: The Superannuated Man #5- A warning from the future

Created, written and illustrated by Ted McKeever
Publisher: Image Comics
Released: 14th January 2015

A man making his living working off of ‘Blackwater’ Pier sees horrible animal mutations. A disease is coming, spreading rapidly, and he attempts to warn people. The people don’t want to hear him. He is told that, ‘No one gives a s**t,’ and is forcibly removed from institutions that could help. His warnings ignored, he resigns himself to a life of solitude where he witnesses the collapse of human civilisation.

What could this comic book possibly be saying?

Blackwater Security Company (they change their name frequently to confuse people, but this is the name they started with) are a private security firm that works in Iraq, and other countries that have been invaded/liberated/destroyed by western governments.

Blackwater (their current name is ‘Acadami’ but it will change again) has a simple job. They protect western interests as countries are looted on the pre-text of neo-liberal human rights and democracy. Here’s how the Guardian newspaper describes its operations:

‘The mercenary firm Blackwater has become a symbol of the utter lawlessness and criminality that permeates the privatised wing of the US war machine. The company's operatives have shot dead scores of Iraqi and Afghan civilians, while former employees allege in sworn statements that Blackwater's owner Erik Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe", and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life". (Jeremy Scahill)

This is not a ‘conspiracy theory.’ It’s a conspiracy reality, and the world has been warned. So what has been the reaction to the warning?

A shrug of the collective shoulders, and a very clear, ‘No one gives a s**t.’ And what happens to a species when it no longer cares? What happens when morality disappears, when whistleblowers to state sanctioned evil are either imprisoned or ignored? What happens to a civilisation when it chooses to ignore morality, when it chooses to ignore reality itself?

Look around you.

Civilisation collapses. People act selfishly, and do what is best for them only, sod everybody else. The world burns and people warm themselves by the fire.

‘I suddenly found the sheer absurdity of it all to be completely and utterly…. hilarious.’ (Ted McKeever in ‘The Superannuated Man’ #5).

So what to do? Ted is laughing, and I don’t blame him. I’m going to keep on knocking out these reviews, keep on learning, keep on making mistakes, and keep on trying to improve myself as the world teeters on the edge of total collapse.

We haven’t gone over the cliff just yet. There’s still time to avert it, and the warnings are everywhere now. Will we heed them? Can we stop the end of everything? Yes, we can. But, as always, it’s up to us to do it. Nobody is coming to help us, it’s up to us, as it always is.

Rating: 10/10


Click link below for Guardian newspaper article quoted in this review:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/nov/11/blackwater-mercenary-scandal-legal-sanction

Click link below for Wiki page on Blackwater/Academi:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academi

Conan Red Sonja- The Age of Innocence #1: Feminist liberal morality hole

Writers: Gail Simone & Jim Zub
Art: Dan Panosian
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Released: 14th January 2015


The two writers of this book have achieved the impossible. They have made me dislike a book that is starring Conan the Cimmerian. How did they achieve such a momentous, incredible, reality shaking, thunderous, unprecedented feat? I’ll explain.

First off, the art is excellent throughout. The panels are lovingly detailed, the colouring is gritty, dirty and atmospheric and the individual characters are full of personality and character. The only problem is the characterisation of Conan himself. He’s drawn great, but he’s drawn as a male model, as a pretty boy. He is not Conan, he is Red Sonja’s boy toy, but more of that later.

The story itself, at this early stage, has two huge fundamental flaws to it. It begins with Red Sonja doing what she always do in Gail Simone’s books, using the victim status given to her by her gender to dish out some violent ‘justice’ to animal rights abusing, sexist fat rich (right wing substitute) men.

Sonja sticks up for poor, abused animals (before completely forgetting about them later) and beats up a man who dared to find her attractive and wanted to sleep with her. Don’t worry, the man is old and fat, so that’s okay.

Anyway, so far, so normal for your typical Gail Simone book. The first problem is that this surface reason for Sonja’s violence hides her true motivations, which are thievery. Animal cruelty and sexism are the moral get-ins for the character, allowing her to steal, because the people she steals from are bad people. Just think about that for a second. This comic book is telling you that stealing is okay, just as long as you are stealing from bad people. Who gets to define whether or not a person is ‘bad?’ That would be the political left, as epitomised by the animal rights, feminist crusader Red Sonja, of course.

After the animal rights and sexism excuses are discarded Sonja teams up with (a very pretty) Conan to rob a young prince as he is laying in his bedchamber. This completely innocent, blameless young man is then brutally murdered by Conan, and what is Red Sonja’s reaction to this horrific, unjustifiable murder? Surely a truly moral person who cares so deeply about animal suffering and gender equality would find murder abhorrent? Nope, not at all, she meekly comments that the murder ‘seems excessive,’ and then completely forgets about it. She then spends the rest of the book looking at pretty boy Conan (the murderer) with puppydog eyes, completely indifferent to the fact that she has witnessed him murdering a young man, who did absolutely nothing wrong.

What happened to morality? How are these two character heroes? Sonja and Conan have been commissioned by a third party to steal somebody’s possessions, entered a young man's bedroom late at night, murdered him, and stolen his box of jewels. That, in anybody’s eyes, makes Conan and Red Sonja the villains of this story, not the heroes, doesn’t it?

After commencing their spree of murder and robbery our two heroes/villains (SPOILER ALERT) deliver their loot to the man who commissioned them to steal it. He then, inexplicably, explains his evil plans to them, rather than simply paying them and continuing on his way. Why would he do this? It makes no sense whatsoever, as he has nothing to gain by revealing the truth behind his schemes. That information would be on a need to know basis and the two mercenaries would quite simply, not need to know.

If you reveal the truth behind your scheme your paid mercenaries might not like it. They might even want to stop you from completing your evil plan, which is exactly what happens in this book. This twit of a villain has barely finished boasting about his evil plans when Conan quickly snaps his neck, and once again Red Sonja is completely indifferent to the casual murder.

What we can take from this is that Red Sonja is perfectly happy with murder, just as long as handsome young men like Conan are committing it. I guess she cares more about animal rights and sexism than anything else, as murder doesn’t appear to be much of a concern to her.

I find it very telling that animal rights and sexism have been used as a framing device within this narrative, as an entry point into a story about murder and thievery.

This deceptive technique has many parallels with western ‘democracies’ invading numerous middle-eastern countries for declared reasons based on neo-liberal definitions of human rights. When the ‘heroic’ liberators of the west actually get to those countries reality kicks in, concerns for human rights completely disappear, and it’s all about murder and stealing resources. In that way this comic is very much in keeping with the liberal values of our times. Use surface issues to justify your actions, then ignore reality as you loot, maim, murder and plunder, all the while portraying yourselves as the good guys, as the heroes of your fantasy narrative of liberal values.

I really enjoyed the art in this book, apart from Conan being drawn as a pretty boy, but I can’t continue to read it after this morally fractured first issue.

If you want to understand why the liberal mindset is so flawed, so twisted, so deluded, then you need to buy this book. Left leaning feminist types will love it, and they’ll hate what I have to say about it in this review. I’m happy with that. They live on hate and the desire to shut people up unless they agree with them, so this review is just more fuel for their fire of delusion, intolerance and politically correct mind control programming. The phoney ‘liberal’ left needs to wake up, and if I can expose their delusional mindset in some of these reviews then at least I’ve achieved something. Some people will get what I am saying here, others won’t. I put it out there, make of it what you will.

Rating: 4/10 (Apart from the depictions of Conan himself, the art was very enjoyable)

Comic review: Sherlock Holmes Vs. Harry Houdini #3- Great cover, borderline unreadable book.

Writers: Anthony Del Col & Conor McCreery
Artist: Carlos Furuzono
Cover artist: Aaron Campbell
Publisher: Dynamite Comics
Released: 14th January 2015

****SPOILERS IN REVIEW****

As soon as I finish up this review I’m going to scour the Internet for the opinion of other reviewers. There must be somebody out there that likes this comic book, but to me it reads like a baffling, haphazard, sprawling, headache inducing, confusing mess.

I want to clarify that statement, and make it crystal clear that my confusion has nothing to do with the narrative itself. I understand exactly what is going on. I have re-read the book twice over, and even gone back to issue #2 to clarify a few points in my mind, so I know exactly what is happening. My confusion is based on the construction of the story and what it is trying to do to the poor reader.

If it’s trying to baffle, trying to confound, trying to annoy the reader, then it’s a huge success. This is dense, dense stuff. It doesn’t help that the two lead characters are drawn so similarly either. Was that Holmes speaking, or was it Houdini? I kept getting them mixed up as they are almost identical in appearance. The final panel illustrates this problem perfectly, with the two leads sharing the panel, looking like twins, and ending the book with the same sense of conclusion that it opened with. Was that Houdini on the hypnotist’s couch? Let me check again.

Nope, it was Holmes.

And the plot itself, underneath all of the dense layers of obsuration it’s maddeningly nonsensical and utterly unlike any detective story that I’ve ever read.

Issue #2 concluding by revealing the identity of the villain. It also revealed his motivations, and exactly how he was carrying out his machinations. You don’t do this in a detective story, and if you do then you better have a pretty bloody good reason for doing so.

Issue #3 of Sherlock Holmes vs. Houdini looks at the villain’s accomplice/boss, at the bloke in the shadows who was helping him out. This bloke turns out to be ****SPOILER ALERT***** Rasputin the mad monk. Yeah, that guy….again. So why the early reveal? I don’t see any good reason here, as the reveal isn’t a narrative misdirection, designed to thrill the reader, it’s just that the main villain wasn’t the dull old guy after all, rather he was Rasputin instead. So what? Why exactly am I supposed to care about this?

So Rasputin is messing with Holmes and Houdini with his special magical powers, and when confronted by Holmes the great detective doesn’t even care to ‘wait for the reveal.’ Rather than chatting it over with the beardy weirdo he chooses instead to physically attack Rasputin. When does that ever happen in a Holmes story? The answer to that question is, never. It never happens because Sherlock Holmes is a brain, a puzzle solver, not a fist first, explanation later kind of guy, as he is portrayed in this book. The only thing that would interest Holmes at all about this case would be the motive of the villain, so to have him refusing an explanation is utterly baffling to me.

I tell you what, thinking about this again, I know exactly how Holmes feels. If I was in his shoes then I don’t think I’d care much about the reveal either. The reason why I don’t care is because the writer hasn’t given me any reason to care. There’s no mystery here, just an explanation of motive. That isn’t a detective story, and it’s barely a story at all.

I’m a huge fan of the original Sherlock Holmes stories, but this interpretation of Holmes portrays him as somebody that I find impossible to have any empathy for, and Harry Houdini is just as unpleasant, arrogant, petty and self centred as well. Why create a comic book where your titular characters are egotistical braggarts who readers are going to have a difficult time identifying with? That’s a baffling decision, and I can’t understand why it was made.

Why should anybody care that two arrogant sods are being messed with? I don’t like either character in this book, and all the story has to offer now is to reveal why Rasputin was messing with them, and whether or not he has any genuine supernatural powers. That’s not enough to keep the story interesting. I need more than that to keep on reading.

This issue ends with Rasputin doing what Rasputin always does in stories such as this ***SPOILER ALERT AGAIN**** he dies, then comes back to life again. Am I supposed to care about him now? Why should I care? I don’t understand why I should care.

Oh, and I see in the preview for issue #4 that Houdini supposedly got arrested in this book. Err, what? Did I miss that? Nope, I didn’t. What was missing was the panel that actually showed him getting arrested. That panel never existed. Goddamn it, this review is starting to make my head hurt now.

This book has been such a slog to get through, such bloody hard work, not a lot of fun, and I can’t find any valid reason to care about any of it.

I need some positives here, as all of this negativity is starting to weigh me down. There is one good thing about the book, that being the exceptional front cover art by Aaron Campbell. Look at that cover again at the top of this review. Isn’t that beautiful? Mr Campbell has done a great job on that one.

Oh man, here we go again with more depressing negativity, but I have to be truthful here. That amazing front cover art is in a different league to the artwork within the actual book, and the drowning scene that is featured on that cover never even happens in the story anyway. There is a tank of water in the book, but there’s no girl in it, so I don’t know what happened there. It’s like the cover art is from another, much better book than this one. That cover is great, but the interior stuff is not very impressive at all.

I can’t keep buying this book because of the cover, no matter how good it is. I need something more than that for my money, and the story and art within just isn’t cutting it for me, so off I go.

Now to read those other reviews. I’m sure that somebody out there has given this book a good rating (there always seems to be somebody on the Internet who will give a top mark to a bad book) and I can’t wait to see how he talks this one up.

Rating: 2/10 (for that lovely front cover)

Comic review: BUMF VOL. 1- Reality bomb

Writer and artist: Joe Sacco
Publisher: Random House
Released: November 2nd 2014


With bags on their heads the compromised servants of the new world order deliberately ignore reality, caring only about their own career opportunities whilst the world around them burns.

Statist mothers betray their pacifist sons. A woman uses paper money to buy milk. She is kidnapped by the state, not because she has done anything wrong, but because the state is worried that she is not posting enough information about herself on facebook and twitter and that her paper money transactions cannot be logged and traced.

A portal is opened to a parallel dimension. A dimension where there is no law, no morality, no repercussions for your actions and where torture is permitted. The milk purchasing woman is tortured until eventually she learns to love her torturer, thanking him for abusing her.

Richard Nixon is reincarnated as Barack Obama. Once again he is President of the US, but in 2014 he is allowed to get away with all of his actions. He spends his time in bed, eating potato chips and piloting a drone where he can kill whomever he wants, whenever he wants. He doesn’t have to justify his actions. He has the time of his life, and can’t quite believe that he’s allowed to get away with it.

Enemies of the state are chopped up and fed to a grateful public. Citizens are referred to as ‘Citizen-Suspects.’ Nixon uses executive orders to justify his absurdity. Lawyers are consulted, then fired if they do not agree with him.

Meanwhile, cartoonist Joe Sacco is invited into the communal mainstream media Jacuzzi. He is lavished with praise, just as long as he wears the same hood as everybody else and reports what he is told to report. Joe is happy to do this. He wears his hood, pick up awards, and write an ostensibly funny, throwaway, silly little comic about naked hood wearing servants of evil, a daft talking chicken character and Richard Nixon.

So, is this comic book any good?

No, it’s a billion times better than ‘good.’

What this comic book does is expose the utter lunacy that we have come to accept as normalcy in the world today.

BUMF VOL. 1 is an absurdist, comedic masterpiece of sociopolitical satire that shoves our faces into our own filth. It accuses us of complicity in everything that is happening in the world TODAY. It accuses us of wilful ignorance, of going along with evil for selfish, careerist reasons.

Writer Joe Sacco accuses himself, and he finds himself as guilty as everybody else.

This book answers the question, ‘Who is responsible?’ The uncomfortable answer being, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE.

You put up with insanity, so insanity is what you get. You get a world run by Satan, because that is what you deserve to get. You support Satan through your actions, not your words. Your words are meaningless. It’s your actions that count. You are naked. You wear a bag over your head. You chose to wear the bag. It shields you from reality, and you have made a conscious decision to wear that bag. You are responsible. The world is burning because of you. You are to blame. It is your fault.

Rating: 10/10 (must buy book)

Comic book review: Green Lantern #38- Emasculated chump hangs out in friendship zone

Writer: Robert Venditti
Artist: Admira Wijaya
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 7th January 2015

What’s going on in my mainstream superhero comic books this week? Why are the so-called ‘heroes’ being portrayed as emasculated losers who have no lives, no friends and no girlfriends?

Who wants to read this depressing crap about loser superheroes? Oh yeah, comic book fans.

Drink up losers

After reading about the suicide inducing no-life of Ant Man the next book I picked up this week was about the equally depressing loser life of Green Lantern.

Unlike poor old Ant Man at least Hal Jordan has a job, but at the beginning of this book he’s told to sod off, so he does, straight to a bar.

He spends the rest of issue #38 drinking, hanging out with his childish loser mates, and concluding his non-adventures with a humiliating conversation with an ex-girlfriend who rejects him, gives him a pity kiss peck on the cheek, then buggers off to have fun with her new boyfriend.

What the hell was that supposed to be?

Am I supposed to identify with this loser because I am a comic book fan and therefore a loser myself? That’s the conclusion I took from Ant Man #1, and I’m getting exactly the same vibe with this one.

Guess what? I don’t relate to put upon, unemployed single fathers and dumped boyfriends drinking dejectedly in a bar. Perhaps I’m weird? Perhaps I’m not a big enough loser to read comic books these days? Perhaps I need to go back out into the world and experience more humiliation and rejection before I can relate to these books? I better buy myself some new sensible clubbing shoes, because at the moment I feel like I don't belong in this depressing club for rejected, lonely, pathetic, emasculated, humiliated men.

Goddamn it, what’s up with my comic books this week? I don’t want to read about losers. I just don’t, and so another book gets a much deserved low rating from this thoroughly pissed off reviewer. Perhaps I'm wrong? Perhaps I need to change my ways? I'll finish this review here as I need to go the shops. I have some sensible shoes that I need to buy.

Rating: 2/10 (for that ridiculous alternative front cover)