Captain America 3- Civil War: The Choice is Between Collectivism & Human Emancipation

Article by: Mark. A Pritchard (aka Rorshach1004)
Date: 28th August 2015


The original Civil War arc in Marvel comics (written by Mark Millar) was all about the registration of superheroes. Captain America was against registration. Iron Man was for it. Cap thought it was anti-freedom. Tony Stark argued that it was needed in order to protect the people. It’s the old argument, fear versus freedom. We all know how that went in the real world (NSA, Patriot Act) don’t we?

In Marvel comics (SPOILER ALERT) it goes pretty much the same way. At the end of the Civil War Arc Captain America meekly surrenders and fear wins over liberty. It’s a terribly depressing ending, and is carried on in the new Civil War arc (by Charles Soule) that is part of the current Secret Wars event in Marvel comics. Quick note, get the book, it’s great.

So, in Marvel comics all of the superheroes must be registered with the government, and everything they do is monitored in order to 'keep them safe.’

In other words, it’s a soft tyranny, centrally controlled and enforced with a legal mandate over the use of coercive violence.

It’s France, it’s England, it’s America, and it’s every country in the west. All are enslaved underneath the loving, caring eyes of big brother government. And how do they get away with this soft tyranny, both in the comics and in the real world? Through the use of a heavily propagandised, relentlessly programmed ideology called ‘Democracy.’

Democracy has no regard for moral truth, individual liberty, or spiritual enlightenment. You vote for a master, and that’s exactly what you get. Democracy is about tyranny, order following, centralised control, collectivism, ‘sacrifice,' death for the system, joining a cult, becoming a brick in the wall, a cog in a machine of human enslavement. You better join it, or you will be punished for your failure to assimilate. I should know. That’s why I’m writing on my own personal blog, and not for some crappy comic book website.

Here’s a definition of the Borg from Star-Trek:

‘The Borg are a collection of species that have been turned into cybernetic organisms functioning as drones in a hive mind called the Collective, or the hive. The Borg's ultimate goal is "achieving perfection".

Here’s a quote from the hive-mind Borg themselves:

"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg_(Star_Trek)

Does all of that sound familiar? To me, it sounds like the neoliberal, mainstream corporate hive mindset of TODAY.

If you fail to comply with the neo-liberal corporate (mainly Marxist), politically correct consensus then you are a thought criminal, to be ostracised and accused of crimes against the perfected, progressive collective. This is particularly true when it comes to today’s comic books. These politically correct vehicles of neo-liberal corporate consensus feature narratives that explore every single facet of identity politics, but fail to touch any of the vital, underlying issues of our times.

But what about the racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobic, Islamaphobic right-wingers? Their very existence disproves what I am saying here, right? They might not dominate the comic book industry, but look at Fox news and all of the other racist, right wing bigots in the mainstream. If the media really were so ‘neo-liberal’ as I suggest, then Fox news and all of the other right wing ‘bigots’ wouldn’t exist, right?

No, not really. I’ll explain why.

Are all of the people that identify themselves as ‘right-wingers’ primarily concerned with freedom, liberty and individualism? No, of course they are not. Some are, but they are in the minority. The vast majority of those on the ‘right’ of the political spectrum just want to get what they can from government, just like the left. They want to use the power of the state to line their own pockets. As the state has a monopoly over violence it’s natural that both left and right wingers would be doing all they can to influence it, and make it serve their own needs. Makes sense, right?

The main difference between the left and right is that the left wants to suck off the state, whilst the right wants to pay-off the state. That means that they both have one thing in common, that being the state.

The left sees the state as Mommy, and the right sees the state as Daddy. Mommy protects, and Daddy corrects. Both are wrong. The state is neither Mom, nor Dad, it’s coercion through violence, always has been, always will be. The left knows this, and so does the right. They know, and that’s why they both support the violence that is the state, as long as that violence benefits them, of course.

In America (and the EU) today there is an alliance between the collective left, the collective right and the state. The state and large business collude, and as a business grows it can afford to pay off those working within the state apparatus with bribes/donations. As for the left, it needs the state like a baby bird needs his Mommy.

The state feeds the baby left, funnelling money into welfare handouts and their intellectually vacuous educational institutions that teach reliance on the state and victimhood to mythological oppressors like evil white men and patriarchy. The state is happy to do this as it keeps the left on the plantation, dependent upon its largesse and unable to identify the real oppressor, which of course is the state itself.

It’s not a particularly complicated equation. The collective right uses the state, and the collective left desperately needs the state. The distinction between the two collective ideologies of left and right blurs into one ideology, that being the ideology of collectivism under state control.

The end result is what we have today, a handful of large corporations paying off the state to ensure they maintain a monopoly over the world’s resources, a bankrupt intellectual class of leftist fools, and millions of people dependent upon state handouts. The mainstream political class in the west then is reduced to a choice between left and right collectivists, all reliant on the state, all supporters of the state. There are plenty of wannabe Iron Men, whilst Captain America doesn’t even get a mention.

Social control of the masses under collectivism is easy.  The status quo is maintained through a divide and conquer left versus right identity politics strategy relentlessly pushed from the aforementioned government sponsored collectivist left and their mainstream educational programs, and their right-wing ‘foes’ on channels like Fox news. This divide and conquer strategy is funded by the collectivist right in big business and the collectivist left in government. The young are taught all about identity politics, but know nothing about the big violent ape in the room.

That ape has a gun, and his name is Collectivist Statism.

Democracy in the west is exposed as a lie, and is nothing more than a combination of left and right collectivism that is funnelled through the violently coercive power of the centralised state. It is legitimised by something called ‘democracy,’ where the slaves on the plantation get to vote between left fist or right fist every few years or so.

This illusion of choice ensures that nothing of major importance ever changes. The only change allowable within this current system of soft tyranny is the race, gender and sexuality of the oppressor. This is exactly what Marvel and DC comics are all about in 2015, and that is why they say nothing and mean nothing.

The problem isn’t that businesses are getting too large and powerful. You should be rewarded for success, that takes hard work, that takes creativity and drive, and it moves the human species forward as your competitors struggle to keep up, and even overtake you in their hard work and innovation.

The problem is that the wealthy are the only people that can afford to pay for the violent protection of the state, a state that has given itself a monopoly over the use of legal violence. Their competitors cannot afford to pay, so they end up failing, not because they didn't work hard enough and not because they weren’t good or innovative enough, but because they couldn't pay for the violently coercive gorilla state that has been given a monopoly over the use of violence.

If you can pay the Gorilla, great, if you can’t, tough luck kid. The end result is a minority of obscenely rich individuals who own and control everything as they can afford to pay off the state, and the 99% of the rest of us fighting amongst ourselves for the scraps that fall from the table of the lucky few.

What we need to do is to level the playing field, and the only way to do that is to abandon the empty lie that is our programmed devotion to the violent, destructive, inhumane, coercive force of the state.

How do we do this?

We remove our consent. We stop voting, for anybody. We stop supporting violent coercion, and we stop supporting the monolithic oppressor that enslaves us all.

Our oppressor is collectivist statism, and we need to stop legitimising it through the ballot box. A violent revolution is not necessary. What is necessary is peaceful, non-compliance with our collective, Borg oppressors.

I can already hear the fear kicking in:

‘What will we do without the state?’

‘How will we protect ourselves from ISIS, or whatever new bogeyman that crops up in the msm next week?’

‘What about the roads?’

What about the children? Somebody think about the children?’

What we will do is evolve. We will talk it out, come to arrangements, make deals, choose for ourselves, defend ourselves, do things for ourselves. We are smart people, and we will adapt. Yes, the beginning will be difficult, but nothing worth having is ever easy.

The number one goal for all liberty minded individuals in the world today should be the abolition of the state. Let’s get rid of it, and let’s start living our lives as free human beings.

Before I finish off, and because this article is supposed to be about the new Captain America 3 ‘Civil War’ movie from Marvel, here’s a quick message for all of the comic book fans looking forward to that movie.

Let’s join Captain America and leave the Iron Men collectivists in the dustbin of history where they rightfully belong. The era of enslavement to the state is coming to an end. People are looking for something new, and that something new is a world where the power of the centralised state no longer dominates our lives. Don’t be scared, don’t give in to fear, as you already know, the only thing to fear, is fear itself.

Take care of each other, and spread the word. Change is inevitable, let’s make it real change this time. A new age is dawning. It’s an age free from the violently coercive power of the state, and free from the robotic, machine-man, destructive ideology of collectivism. It’s a world based on liberty, free choice, morality and respect for the individual. We can have this world, if we want it, but the first barrier that we need to clear is the barrier to human emancipation that is the modern, democratic, centralised, collectivised left/right state.

Comic review: The Covenant #3- Bible story kicks superhero butt

Created and written by: Rob Liefeld
Illustrated by: Matt Horak
Coloured by: Ross Hughes
Lettered by: Chris Eliopolous
Publisher: Image Comics
Released: 26th August 2015


The Covenant #3 is doing what I like my comic books to do. It’s keeping it simple, letting the story unfold and keeping the readers thrilled, excited and in eager anticipation for what is to come next.

They didn’t teach Bible stories at my school, and I never knew what I was missing out on. This story is a superhero story, with all of the constituents that you need to excel within that genre. It has bloodthirsty evil villains, brave heroes and a supernatural angle that makes you think that the humans might be the players, but there’s a bigger game going on here.

The Covenant is a comic book that brings God back into play, in a world that no longer believes in him. I like that. I like the fact that it’s so different, that it’s going against the mainstream atheist grain and telling a fascinating story about the history of the ancient Israelite and Philistine people.

This story can be given to children, but it’s not childish. The art helps a lot. It’s big, bold and uncluttered. It matches the script, which has the same uncluttered qualities. There is nothing needlessly ‘clever’ or ‘ironic’ or Kevin Smith post-modern about this book. It’s a good story, simply told, and clearly illustrated and, dare I say the word, educational.

It’s giving me fascinating, valuable insight into Biblical history, and I’m very appreciative of all of the people that have spent their time and energies on producing the book.

I’m being sincere here. Guys, thank you.

Three issues in and The Covenant is fast becoming my most anticipated book of the month. I shouldn’t be enjoying a story based on a Biblical narrative so much, but I am, it’s as simple as that.

There’s no feeling of emptiness here, a feeling I too often experience after reading mainstream superhero comic books. This is a story that resonates, and I’m enjoying every single second of the time that I spend with it. The Covenant is a Bible story that makes me want to know more about the Bible. It’s great, sorry atheist nation, but it is.


Rating: 10/10 (Revelatory Bible story that reads like a contemporary superhero tale)

Comic review: Gotham by Midnight #8- Television, Cops and the State

Writer: Ray Fawkes
Artist: Juan Ferreyra
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 26th August 2015



Gotham by Midnight #8 is an unpleasant, unimportant and depressingly stuck within the matrix little comic book, so I won’t waste too much time in reviewing it.

The tv gets us at each other's throats, no **** Sherlock

The story is perfunctory, nothing happening, statist drivel. The protagonists are cops and a couple of television hosts. The two hosts are well-worn-out clichés (ruthless and ambitious) and the cops are divided into the usual two categories, good and bad.

There is no underlying understanding of the immoral nature of order following, not that I would ever expect that in a DC comic book. The cops are either ambitious (bad) or trying to do the right thing (good).

Comic book writers still fail to understand that the state is violent coercion, that it is a control system of human enslavement backed up by order following goons. It always has been, and what do they do? They still play the game that the television plays, the game that the politicians play, the game that the newspapers play.

The game is this: You have a choice, but all of your choices are evil. Choose one evil over the other, and that means that you are free, and that evil now has your consent to rule over you.

But what if you don’t want the evil that is violent state coercion? Tough luck, you’re getting it anyway, slave.

I’m fed up with the game now. I’m fed up with comic book writers not understanding it, and I’m fed up of books like Gotham by Midnight #8.

Don't worry, the diverse agents of the state are here to save us.

There was one thing of note in the book. The two hero cops are smart, young and attractive, as they always are in cop shows. One of the cops is an attractive young girl with short hair, a Goth type that you might have seen in a 1990’s comic book by Neil Gaimen.

I’ve met real cops, female cops. Sorry, but they are not cool, comic book style Goths. Real life cops are simple-minded rule followers. They do what they are told, and are happy to do so.  I feel sorry for them. They are lost children in a world of predatory adults.

Anyway, the fantasy Goth Cop in Gotham by Midnight has a boyfriend. He’s a tribal tattooed pretty boy with long hair and a fondness for cooking. In other words, he’s playing the role of the female in their relationship. It’s all about equality now you see. The woman gets to work for the evil that is the state, and the boyfriend gets to stay at home and do her housework and cooking for her.

Yep, it’s that kind of book. That’s how lame it is, and I kind of hate myself for wasting my money on it. Yuck, what a piece of crap that was. Tame, lame and pushing a version of reality that comes from the wet dreams of a viewer of the Daily Show. I wasted my money again, didn’t I? Crap.



Rating: (More cop show disinformation from the liberal mainstream)

Comic review: The Seven-Per-Cent Solution #1- Holmes as a Paranoid Conspiracy Theorist

Adapted by: David & Scott Tipton
Art: Ron Joseph
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Released: 26th August 2015



I purchased this book because I am a long time consumer of everything and anything to do with the character of Sherlock Holmes. I thought that it was something new. I was mistaken. It’s not new at all.

The original book from 1974.

‘The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. is a 1974 novel by American writer Nicholas Meyer. It is written as a pastiche of a Sherlock Holmes adventure, and was made into a film of the same name in 1976.’ 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven-Per-Cent_Solution

I blame myself. I should have checked the previews before I purchased the book. I remember watching the movie over twenty years ago. I didn’t like it. The plot takes two original Conan Doyle stories and has Doctor Watson admitting that he made them up in order to save the reputation of Holmes.

The Sherlock Holmes in this tale is a paranoid, cocaine addicted, conspiracy theorist. The general gist of the plot is that his main nemesis, Professor Moriarty, is not a criminal mastermind, but an old mathematics teacher who Holmes mistakenly thinks (due to his cocaine addiction) is the, ‘Napoleon of Crime.’

The message of the book is that conspiracies do not exist, that life is random, and that crime is committed by ‘crazy’ individuals, and not organised by intelligent, well-connected groups of people who help each other out.

I guess that organisations such as the Bilderberg Group, Bohemian Grove, Trilateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations and the Bank for International Settlements don’t exist after all? They must all be a figment of our collective imaginations, I guess?

This message in ‘The Seven-Per-Cent Solution’ goes completely against the original stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and reinforces the mainstream idea that is pushed by Rockefeller funded educational institutions. You know the idea, right? Watch television, you’ll see it.

Here’s how it goes: Life is random, chaotic and cruel. There are no elite groups, just individuals. It’s a survival of the fittest zoo out there. Kill or be killed, be more ruthless than everybody else, there is no God, there is no morality, all is psychology, we are animals, Darwinian monkeys in a meaningless game. There is no such thing as ‘conspiracies.’ You’re all alone kid, and you need to get climbing up that greasy corporate pole, because that’s all that there is.

It’s a message of idiocy. A message that ignores reality itself, and promotes the kind of world that we have today in collapsing western countries, a world with easily manipulated masses and competing groups of ‘elite’ world controllers that play us off against each other with disdainful ease.

Sherlock Holmes was not a stupid man, but in this book, that is exactly what he is. That is why I disliked the 1976 movie. I disliked it because it portrayed Holmes as somebody who was not Sherlock Holmes. It portrayed a drug addict slipping into paranoia, not the best mind in England, not the man that I read in Conan Doyles’s original books.

I can understand why this comic book exists today. I understand why a 1974 novel has been rehashed into comic book form and here’s my own ‘conspiracy’ mind going into crazy land, and no, I’m not a bloody cocaine addict. I’m a boring, teetotal vegetarian who exercises twice a day.

Here’s my take on why this book exists: So called ‘conspiracies’ are becoming all too real now, thanks to the Internet. People are ignoring the mainstream indoctrination centres (television and the education system) and are looking at things for themselves.

What they have discovered is groups, large, wealthy groups, connected to international banking institutions, that make money out of nothing, loan it to supposedly ‘sovereign’ governments, at interest, and act like a vampiric spider in a world-wide web of evil, manipulation and human enslavement.

That’s what people see, not because it’s a ‘conspiracy,’ but because that’s how the world actually works. Conan Doyle knew how the world worked, and that’s why he created the character of Professor Moriarty, to encapsulate that conspiracy, and to put a face on the globalist spider in the centre of the world that feeds on us all.

‘The Seven-Per-Cent- Solution then is the mainstream’s attempt at discrediting the idea of a ‘conspiracy.’ Why IDW is putting this in comic book form in 2015 says a lot about where that comic book company stands. I’m not saying that they are part of the ‘conspiracy,’ itself. What I am saying is that there is some serious cognitive dissonance going on here, and that rather than deal with the revealed world as it is today, they are going back into the past in an attempt to validate their entrenched, indoctrinated beliefs about how the world works.

IDW sees no evil, hears no evil, and speaks no evil. They are a little comic book publisher that wants to be a big comic book publisher, and their mindset, rather than coming from the point of view of the underdog, is coming from the point of view of a servant that just wants to eat at the masters table.

I can understand that mindset, but I don’t have to admire it. We have the Internet now, and truth is available, if you want it.

We don’t have to accept the lies of the mainstream anymore. The lies taught to us by our televisions, teachers and newspapers are now naked before us, and we can finally see them for what they actually are.

Truth is now available. It’s on our telephones. It’s up to us, as individuals, to do the work, we can find reality, we can find truth itself, if we want it.

This comic book is pushing the mainstream lies of the discredited past. It’s a 1974 book that mocks the idea of a criminal conspiracy, and in 1974 it could have worked, but not now, not in 2015. The game is up, truth is getting out, and if all they can do is go back to the 1970’s to discredit it, then that says more than anything that I can put together here.


Rating: 5/10 (Faithful, solidly written comic book adaptation of 1970’s book that portrays Holmes as a paranoid conspiracy theorist)

The BIS, the real world Professor Moriarty.

Comic review: Godzilla in Hell #2- Fascinating concept, beautiful artwork

Art & Story: Bob Eggleton
Edits by: Bobby Curnow
Letters/Creative Consultant: Chris Mowry
Publisher: IDW Comics
Released: 26th August 2015



‘Godzilla in Hell’ sounds very silly, trite and D level, but this comic book is a lovely thing to look at, and it really brightened up my day.

The concept behind the artwork is explained by artist (and writer) Bob Eggleton at the conclusion of the issue, and not only do you get to look at some beautiful painted panels of artwork, but you get a bit of an art history lesson as well.

The first issue of Godzilla in Hell was having a laugh at the way too serious and up it’s own jacksie ‘Age of Reptiles.’ It had no dialogue, no narration, and the story simply (and silently) followed our big ferocious lizard hero as he beat up random monsters in Hell. It was funny, silly and a riot to read.

Godzilla in Hell #2 is similar, but very different. First off, there are words in this one. An omniscient narrator guides you through the panels, explaining who is who, and what is going on. This narrative voice uses bombastic, flowery, hyperbolic prose and creates an epic, almost biblical feel to the narrative.

It could be a bit over the top to some, but I enjoyed it, a lot. The art has grandeur, so why not reflect that in the text as well? To me it worked, and it really added to the feel of the book, plus it gave some clarity to the narrative events as well.

Don’t be put off by the silly title on this comic book. Godzilla in Hell #2 is a lovingly crafted treat for the eyes, and you’ll be missing out on some beautifully painted artwork if you decide not to check it out. Get down to your comic book shop, find a copy, flip through the pages, and you’ll see what I’m trying to say here.

The book might not be saying a lot, so for a comic book reviewer obsessed with reality like myself, this is never going to get a 10/10. The best rating that I can give it is a seven. A seven in my scoring system indicates a top quality book that is not addressing real world issues.

Yeah, I know, my rating system is ridiculous, but I’m the self proclaimed ‘Anti- New World Order Comic Book Reviewer,’ so that’s what I’m looking for in my books, and there’s none of that going on here.

Forget my rating on this one, this is a book that you’ll want to check out. Buy it for a beautiful, lovely five-minute diversion from essential reality. Buy it for the art. It’s lovely, it really is, and even a reality junkie like myself couldn’t help but be mightily impressed by it all.


Rating: 7/10 (Beautiful painted art, and a fascinating concept based on art history.)

Comic review: 2000AD PROG 1945- A Pleasurable Diversion

Artists and writers: Various
Publisher: Rebellion
Released: 26th August 2015


It’s Tuesday afternoon, it’s raining, and I’m listening to black metal music whilst writing up my review of 2000AD PROG 1945.

Life is good.

As usual with my 2000AD reviews, I’m reading and writing as I go. So first off, the front cover. It’s pretty bloody good this week, featuring a feral looking Dredd, crouched, battle scarred and ready to explode into a violent assault on whatever unlucky bloodbank (aka every enslaved human being currently living under neo-liberal corporate statism) that is threatening his uniformed authority.

Nice one Mr. Jake Lynch.

Let’s see what Tharg has to say- Oh dear, he’s still describing reality as ‘mundane,’ and applauding himself for diverting our attention from the world around us. Not good Tharg. Reality is never mundane. Reality is fascinating. Reality is awesome. Reality is the one thing that the good sheeple (yeah, I use that word) need to get more attuned with, because if they don’t, it’s bread, circuses and slavery, FOREVER.

Oh Tharg, you are either very dim, or are just as caught within the neo-liberal matrix as 90% of the comic book readers themselves. A good story doesn’t have to deal with ‘mundane reality,’ but the best, the very best, always deals with it, that’s what makes them great, that’s what makes them a cut above the rest, and that’s what every writer working for 2000AD should be striving for.

Take precious, delicious reality, take something that you see in the every day life that you lead, stick it in your narrative, and say something that needs to be said.

Judge Dredd gets us off to a bad start. It’s all about the heroic cops (Judges) and how they are temporary down, not out, and about to fight back against the evil villains. The art (as always in this arc) looks great, but what is the story saying? To me it’s saying, support uniformed authority. That’s all that I’m getting here, and that’s not a message that I have any respect for.

The Alienist Part 2 utilises a story telling technique that makes it a very involving and enjoyable read. The technique is to show the inner thoughts of the main protagonist, giving readers the pleasure of being a spy within her mind as the narrative progresses. That’s extremely reader friendly, and I love it when writers think about the reader first. I already mentioned the art last week, it’s great, black and white, old-fashioned horror, very cool. This story might not be saying anything, so it will only ever rise to good, but it’s a very enjoyable good, so all credit to everybody involved.

‘Apocalypse Anonymous’ is very interesting. The story is about Special Forces operating in Syria, in 2015. Yes, you heard that correctly, 2000AD are actually featuring a story that references real world events that are happening right now. How are they going to get around that without upsetting anybody? How are they going to have westerners look like the good guys when we all know that our callously evil western governments deliberately created ISIS in the first place?

This story solves that problem in two ways. Firstly, it doesn’t mention ISIS, instead it just refers to ‘rebels,’ whoever they are, and then focuses on western Special Forces and what looks to be an upcoming fight with alien monsters. Will ISIS be mentioned late on in this three-part story? Will it bring up the fact that the US is working with ISIS to get rid of the leader (Assad) of a country that has done nothing to anybody other than wanting to be free from corporate western hegemony?

Will it mention that Syria is ran by a largely secular government, and that the so-called ‘rebels’ are Sunni Muslim extremists, otherwise known as Al Qaeda, or ISIS? Will it mention that western governments are on the same side as these Sunni extremists? Will it mention that the fight is Sunni Islam and the west versus Shiaa Islam and Russia? What do you reckon? My bet is that the next two episodes will have the western Special Forces fighting monsters and that nothing of any consequence will be discussed. That’s what I reckon will happen, but I’ll wait and see. I could be wrong. I hope that I am.

Grey Area/Contact is very amusing, very wry, and very entertaining. The story is concise, easy to follow, straight to the point, witty and fun.  It’s a nice piece of writing, very clever, very enjoyable and even a reality obsessed bore like myself couldn’t help but enjoy it. Nice writing Mr. Abnett, you are a talented, clever bloke and your dialogue is as sharp as an Oscar Wilde brand of razor blades.

I was a bit dismissive of Helium last week, but it’s usually enjoyable and the big bright colours and playful tone always makes me smile. This week’s episode begins with a gorgeous purple background and big happy faces. The narrative itself begins with a joke and ends with a very serious cliffhanger. Are our heroes doomed? Tune in same time, same 2000AD channel next week folks. I love it. That’s how you are supposed to finish a comic book.

Looking back at PROG 1945 of 2000AD it’s looking like a ‘good’ issue. Good means that it was fun, that it entertained me, that it diverted me. It didn’t say anything, but it didn’t try to. I look for excellent in my comic books, but good is certainly better than bad, and 2000AD was far from bad this week. The best story was Grey Area, and the worst was Dredd. Next week should be good. Helium has a delicious cliffhanger that will be resolved, that new arc (Apocalypse Anonymous) will show whether it’s going to touch reality, or not, and there’s something new called ‘Dreams of Deadworld’ that looks to be very intriguing indeed.



Rating: 7/10 (Not much reality, but 2000AD is a good, diversionary comic book this week)

Comic review: 2000AD- PROG 1944- It’s Time for Anarchy, it’s time to be Free

Writers and artists: Various
Publisher: Rebellion

Released: 19th August 2015

Green alien editor Tharg introduces PROG 1944 with the following threat/warning:

‘So much Thrill-power in one week- it’s reality threatening, Earthlets!’

I’ll give him some credit. The old 70’s punk alien is true to his word, as there’s no connection WHATSOVER to reality in this week’s edition of 2000AD.

It starts with Dredd. The art is good, but the story is just our heroic judges shooting at monsters in space. Next story please.

Helium has a couple of moody girls bossing men about. The men are wimps or order followers, and the girls are large, and in charge. Ho-hum.

The third story (The Alienist) is very old fashioned, with a group of people spending a night in a haunted house in order to prove the existence of ghosts and win a prize from a newspaper. It’s set safely in the past (1908) so nothing of any contemporary relevance, insight or controversy will occur. The story is not particularly new or original, but it looks great. The art is black and white, and features the heavy inking style that you used to get in old horror comics. If you like old-fashioned horror then you should like it, but let’s be honest, nothing new is going to happen in this one.

Next story is the end of Outlier, and it’s a bit, uneventful. The main villain walks off, the end. That’s not very satisfying, is it?

PROG 1944 of 2000AD concludes with Jaegir, a story about soldiers. I didn’t care at the beginning, and I don’t care now. I don’t want to read about order followers. Order followers are not good, moral people. They are evil, and they make the world what it is today.

‘There is no such thing as any possible moral following of orders, the two terms are contradictory.’ (Mark Passio)

You can follow an order that leads to good, but that does not make you a good person. It makes you an order follower doing what s/he is told, that is all. Hence, the truism, that the good moral order follower CANNOT exist. Following orders is immoral because you are giving away your own moral sovereignty. That act alone makes you a bad person.

That’s a truth that people don’t want to acknowledge, and until we do, nothing changes. What does this have to do with Jaegir? Everything, as Jaegir is lying to readers, trying to convince them that you can wear the uniform of a soldier and be a good person. No, you cannot.

Order followers are not good people, they can never be good people. This message needs to be repeated, over and over again until people finally begin to recognise it for the truth that it is. The lie of the good order follower is reinforced every week in Judge Dredd, as it is in Jaegir. This is not how a society progresses. It’s how a society dies. Accepting lies, and making excuses for them is the main reason why humanity is enslaved. Think you’re not a slave? Try not paying your council tax, come back to me, and let me know how that goes for you.

Last week’s 2000AD featured some reality in ‘Future Shocks- Cloud Nine.’ That story was about human slavery to a centralised control system, a system that takes through the threat of violence, and gives nothing in return. This week’s 2000AD takes a break from reality completely, as was threatened by Tharg in his introduction.

Some readers will enjoy it, because reality in the UK today kind of sucks. We have the Tories as slave-masters, with their austerity for the poor, and their devotion to international finance and never ending war. The supposed ‘opposition,’ are the Iraq war Labour party. They are dying, unable to find a coherent lie to sell to the enslaved masses. All they can do is go back to the 1970’s in an effort to find meaning, to find something, anything to believe in and offer as an alternative to the neoliberal consensus of our times.

Yes, I understand why UK comic book readers might want to hide from reality in 2015, but as for me, I’d rather not hide. I prefer to shout and scream, and moan and complain and tell everybody who comes into contact with me that they are living in a giant bloody prison, and that the more they bury their heads in the sand, the more difficult it will be to break out, and be truly free people.

Have kids, have a career, have slavery, isn’t it fun? Buy PROG 1944 of 2000AD if you want to hide from difficult, uncomfortable, painful reality. Buy it if you don’t care about the world around you. Buy it if you prefer pretty drawings to meaning in your life. Buy it if you want to hide.

I don’t want to hide. I want to fight. I’m out here, talking about things that people ignore, shouting about the uncomfortable lies that we pay our taxes for. I’m a weird man. I live for meaning, not money or social status. I don’t care about material success and I don’t care about groups. I look at the world, and I see slavery to the state. I see cowardly, apathetic indifference to reality. I see the scared masses hiding within a wave of Darwinian selfishness that blinds us all.

I see humanity farmed as cattle, dumbed down by the media and schooling systems, programmed to obey, and programmed to worship the centralised control system that enslaves us all. I don’t like it. I don’t like how we are treated like cattle, and I don’t like comic books that ignore it, that think that human slavery and following orders is just, well, it’s just what humans do, isn’t it? No, it’s not. It’s what we have always done in the past, and that is why we are in the mess that we are in today. It’s time to change things up a bit, it’s time to break free, it’s time to reject the uniforms of the state and to go our own way, Yeah, it’s crazy time, it’s time to be free.

Rating: 3/10 (For the art in Alienist)

Comic review: The Shadow #1- The Shadow Knows

Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Giovanni Timpano
Publisher: Dynamite Studios
Released: 5th August 2015


This special $1 re-launch of The Shadow is a nice diversion from everyday realities and concerns. It’s set safely in the uncontroversial/mythological past, is about evil magicians, and has a strong moral core to it that will have you rooting for the morally righteous (and I’m not talking about ‘Social Justice’ here) Shadowy crusader.

I enjoyed the book, but there’s always been something about the Shadow that I really liked. It’s the cool red scarf, the hat, the cloak, the black inked voice, and his relentlessness determination to bring people to account, to pay for the consequences of their actions. That’s what I like about him, and that’s why he has always resonated to me as somebody that I enjoy reading about.

Where is a guy like that today when we have criminals like Tony Blair still walking around and reminding us of just how corrupt and evil our world truly is? Here’s an idea: How about bringing the Shadow out of the 1930’s and into this post 9/11 world?

Just think of the possibilities of a new ‘truther’ Shadow as he investigates and punishes those responsible for 9/11, the Iraq war, the Libyan war, the banking bailout of 2008 and all of the other crimes committed by western states since 2001.

Sounds great, don’t you think? So, why isn’t anybody doing it? Perhaps I should do it myself, yeah, I probably should.

Anyway, back to fun time, let’s forget reality for a couple of minutes, and dive back into this comic book.

The Shadow #1 is an enjoyable book, the art is mostly good, sometimes very good, and the story is simple, easy to follow and a lot of fun.

Buy the book (it only costs $1) for a ten-minute fun time diversion that contains a cool, bad ass character that can look into the very heart of a man, detect the guilt, detect the corruption, detect the moral decay and judge as Annubis judges the souls of the dead.

The Shadow is his own man, and that’s why I like him. A man who goes his own way and does what is right rather than what is expedient is rare these days.

The Shadow cares about moral law, about what is right, and what is wrong, and his only mission in life is to make sure that the guilty get exactly what they deserve. Tony Blair knows what he did. The Shadow also knows. Oh yes, the Shadow knows, and justice is coming soon.


Rating: 7/10 (A decent relaunch of The Shadow, and it only costs $1)

Comic review: Inferno #4- One for the kids

Writer: Dennis Hopeless
Artist: Javier Garron
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Released: 19th August 2015


Inferno #4 is a funny, silly, Nickelodeon teen speak book that follows the X-Men as they fight ‘evil’ monsters in an alternative hellish reality.

The tone is light and playful. The characters joke and quip with each other and the plot is not really very important.

The art isn’t particularly great, but you can differentiate the characters and the happy, smiling faces of both heroes and villains fits the playful tone of the narrative.

There are no themes or issues in the text. The characters are toys, cartoon characters, and they act like children having fun in a playroom full of plastic superhero figures.

The boys and girls are pretty much identical to each other. Some are good, others are bad, but the good and bad isn’t very deep, and the meaning is only surface level, so further analysis is not needed.

Get the book if you are under the age of about sixteen or so, and want a fun, playful fights and quips comic book to read. For anybody else though, it’s not going to make much of an impact.

Inferno #4 is a book for children, so I’m not going to be too hard on it. There’s nothing here for me, and so I’ll be one and out with this one.


Rating: 6/10 (A friendly, silly comic book that is perfect for children)

Comic review: Batman- Arkham Knight #7- Are you taking the pi**?

Writer: Peter. J Tomasi
Art: Viktor Bogdanovic
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 19th August 2015



Okay, let’s make this a quick one. Writer Peter J. Tomasi hasn’t put much thought or effort into writing the book, so why should I waste my time reviewing what is evidentially just a piece of throw-away, unit shifter irrelevance?

I prefer 'Skipman.'

Rhetorical that one, but onto the book. Batman Arkham Knight #7 consists of two stories, both are flimsy, and both have the impact of a soft sheet of tissue paper being ripped to shreds in a roaring thunderstorm tornado super-powered torrential downpouring storm.

The first story is about a saint. This saint is very poor, and he finds Batman in a skip. No joke, this is what actually happens. Anyway, this saintly man takes Bat/Skipman home, makes him soup and talks about his ex-wife. Whilst Skipman enjoys his soup a couple of lily-white bodybuilding thugs come to shake down the saintly man for rent or something. Skipman beats them up, and the story finishes up with Skipman and the saint watching the sunrise and having a nice cup of tea. Ha, how lovely it all is, reminiscing about the good old days with the one and only, dark night of the trash-bags, the slightly pongy Skipman himself.

What the donkey doharrr was that supposed to be Mr. Tomasi? Put some effort in mate, or don’t bother at all.

'Yo man, where's the toilet at?'

The second story has the epic and cutting edge paradigm shifting idea of having some villains trying to murder Bruce Wayne. Why do they want to murder Bruce Wayne? Because Penguin asked them to, and why not, it’s something to do, right? The highlight of this story is a villain taking a leak off the side of the building:

Harley Quinn- ‘What the **** are you doing?’ 

Deadshot- ‘Nine hours is a long time.’

Hope you enjoyed that one kids. He’s having a p***, but the writer doesn’t really give one. Thanks for coming, now bugger off and read one of the three versions of Wonder Woman available from DC this week.

Yes, it's a pretty stupid comic book.

Man, what can you say? I could complain about how it was set in no time and thus has no relevance whatsoever to, well, anything. I could complain that the art was a bit ropey in the second story and that Harley Quinn looked like a builder in a dress. I could complain that the tone was as throwaway as last week’s mouldy pizza crusts. I could moan and complain until the cows come home, but what’s the point?

Like I said in the first paragraph, Tomasi very obviously doesn’t care, so why should I? One thing happens in this book, one thing. That one thing is Deadshot taking a comedy leak off of the top of a building. That’s the highlight of the book, an indifferent pi** over the side of a very tall building.

I’ll conclude this review by doing more work than Tomasi did. I’m going to leave you with an image. Think of Donald Trump in a muscled-up Batman costume. Think of him going to the poor areas of the city. Think of him acting like he’s their great saviour, that he alone can make their lives better. Do you have the image in your head? It’s pretty ridiculous isn’t it? Now take that image, store it, have a laugh with it, and forget about this book. Have a bloody brilliant day with Donald ‘The Batman’ Trump dancing away in your head, and let’s pretend that Batman Arkham Knight #7 didn’t just turn up, take a leak, and waste everybody’s time and money.

Rating: 3/10 (Purely for the pi**)


SJW Watch:
For those keeping tabs on social justice warrior/ identity politics/ cultural Marxism themes in contemporary corporate comic books, this truly forgettable book includes a wonderfully ‘progressive’ panel featuring a muscled up woman working as a construction labourer. Nice job Peter. Women just love working on building sites. They can’t get enough of the low pay, hard physical work and dangerous environment. Extra ‘head in the clouds’ SWJ brownie points for that one mate.

.

Comic review: Alan Moore’s Providence #3- A black, fishy comedy that mocks Christianity

Writer: Alan Moore
Artist: Jacen Burrows
Publisher: Avatar Press
Released: 12 August 2015



I’ve read this book more than a few times now, and have been afraid of reviewing it. The reason being, it’s complex, and a review wouldn’t be easy, and I don’t want to mess it up. However, I’ve read it again today, and can see a slither of meaning amongst the murkiness, and so, I’m ready to give it a go.

Fishy men collecting souls in bottles.

Okay then, so what’s it all about? I think that the following quotation (from the book itself) nicely sums it all up:

‘It’s leaking from the future.’

That’s how I see the book now. That’s why in issue #3 there are weird, disjointed dream sequences, giving hints that are confused (as all dreams are) with events that are currently happening in the life of the main protagonist.

Our man is dreaming of the future, but it’s mixed up with his every day anxieties, his feelings of guilt, and his longings for answers in the present. We are seeing the world through his eyes (as is reinforced by the diary extracts that follow the main comic book narrative) and the confusion that he is experiencing is being transferred into the reading experience of the reader.

The dream sequences (of the main protagonist) are explored in great detail during the diary sections of the book and expand the narrative after the main illustrated part of the book concludes. Within this diary section are clues for the reader, clues that hint at both what is happening, and what is to come. It’s a fascinating story-telling device, and something that adds so much to the comic book reading experience, adding subtle elements, and details that would otherwise have been lost within the necessarily truncated comic book story format.

After reading the main comic book text, and the diary extracts, I cannot help but conclude that our protagonist is a bit of a dim detective. He is preoccupied with homosexual urges that distract him from the clues that can be picked up by the attentive reader, and although he records everything, he is not exactly coming to any big conclusions for himself. I guess that’s our job. Our protagonist records the evidence, and it’s up to us to unravel and make meaning of it all.

Into the caverns of the mind.

Providence is an occult mystery narrative that is dropping clues as it goes along. It’s a complex, involving book, and that’s exactly what you want in a genre book of this type.

The protagonist has to be a bit dim, as he’s laying out the clues, not solving them. The enjoyment to be had here is in following the story, and speculating about what is going on, whilst always being a bit in the dark as the full picture has yet to be revealed.

As for the deeper meanings that lay behind the narrative, that’s even murkier, but at the moment I detect a black comedy that involves jews, fish people, and homosexuals. It’s hinted that all three groups are about to be persecuted by the upcoming Nazi regime, with the black comedy being that two of the group are real, and were persecuted, whilst the other is pure Alan Moore weirdness.

The main focus of Providence #3 is the aforementioned fish people. These half-human, half fish follow a religion that’s part Christianity, and part worship of an ancient Mesopotamian fish God called Oannes.

‘Oannes, in Mesopotamian mythology, an amphibious being who taught mankind wisdom. Oannes, as described by the Babylonian priest Berosus, had the form of a fish but with the head of a man under his fish’s head and under his fish’s tail the feet of a man. In the daytime he came up to the seashore of the Persian Gulf and instructed mankind in writing, the arts, and the sciences. Oannes was probably the emissary of Ea, god of the freshwater deep and of wisdom.’
http://www.britannica.com/topic/Oannes

The fictional fish religion in Providence substitutes Oannes into the role of Christ himself, and is thus blackly blasphemous, disrespectful and contemptuous of Jesus Christ and Christianity as a whole.

Dream sequences include gratuitous nudity, be warned. 

What writer Alan Moore is doing here is insinuating that Christianity itself is a mixed up religion that has taken weird elements from earlier cult worship, creating a new cult that is equally as ridiculous as what came before it.

To further reinforce this point, the book concludes with the ‘Church of St. Jude’s Parish Newsletter.’ This is a comedic, absurdist attack on the origins of Christianity, mocking Jesus by making him a fish on a slab, resurrected and thus followed by all fish that have come after him as the one true messiah of all fish.

‘And they said, let us thake him out and hang him upon hooks that he may cure. Yet many tides did not pass before he was risen from his slab and was descended unto Heaven, through black abysses to dwell amidst wonder and glory for ever.’ (The Parish Church of Saint Jude, 138 Bridge Street, Salem, Mass. June- August, 1919)

Pretty silly, isn’t it? Christians are often mocked for taking allegorical Bible stories literally, but this really is taking things to a whole new level.

I have to point out that Alan Moore is picking very low hanging fruit here in mocking the origins of Christianity. It’s something that is allowed, and even encouraged, so I’m not going to applaud him for doing it. If he was mocking Judaism or Islam then I’d applaud him, but he’s not doing that, probably because doing so would be truly controversial, and dangerous.

Alan Moore is not being brave, or outrageous, or scandalous, or cutting edge in mocking the origins of Christianity and talking about a weird fish cult, insinuating that Christianity itself is pretty much the same thing. Sorry, he’s just not. He’s doing what you are allowed to do in our neo-liberal, atheist times, but he’s doing it very well, and Providence is noticeably superior to 99% of the other comic books that I read on a weekly basis.

Providence #3 then is a studious, intelligent, dark occult comic book, but it’s also, very much nestled within the centrally planned social consensus norms and mores of our neo-liberal, cultural Marxist times. Get it, enjoy it, have a laugh with it, but please, recognise it for what it actually is.


Rating: 9/10 (Blackly comic tale that is mocking the origins of Christianity)



Note:
I do realise that Providence is packed with references to H.P Lovecraft and that this book is more than likely a progressive/liberal critique of the identity politics issues within his work. I recognise that, but as I’m not particularly familiar with the PC thought crimes committed by H.P Lovecraft I’ve reviewed this new book by Alan Moore as a stand-alone text. 

Comic review: Secret Wars #5- Atheism, propaganda, dictatorship, democracy, truth and lies

Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Esad Ribic
Publisher: Disney/Marvel
Released: 12th August 2015



In my previous review (18 Days #2) I bemoaned the fact that contemporary neo-liberal corporate hegemony supporting comic books are pretty much all the same.

I moaned and complained that their narratives feature crazy dictators as the villains, and order following agents of democracy as the heroes. These ‘heroic’ agents of the state just want to bring ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ to the world and to stop evil dictators from killing their own people, or something.

‘War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.’ (George Orwell)

The lie that democracy means freedom is the lie that allows western governments to propagandise their own populations and to enslave them to a centralised control system.

Through the repeated telling of this lie the numerous wars that have become ever more apparent since 2001 can be sold as wars for peace, and not the wars for resources, profit and control that they actually are.

The wars are now sold as protecting people (by bombing them) and bringing democracy, which of course equates to freedom, seeing as we are all so free in the west, cough Edward Snowden.

“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it” (Adolf Hitler)

“All art is propaganda. It is universally and inescapably propaganda; sometimes unconsciously, but often deliberately, propaganda.” (Upton Sinclair)

The first thing that we need to recognise is that we are living in a lie. Your life is a lie, and so is mine. The west is a lie, a lie that we drink, eat, and bathe in, daily. It washes over us, flowing from everything and everywhere, yet the lie is so big, and so relentlessly repeated that we come to think of the lie as truth itself. We work for the lie, we feed the lie, we caress the lie, we nurture the lie, we treasure the lie, we love the lie, and we get careers as writers, and repeat the lie until the day that we die.

Do I think that comic book writers working for Marvel, DC, Darkhorse or any of the other US comic book corporations care much about truth and lies? Perhaps in their personal lives, but I know one thing for sure, I know that it’s not coming out in their comic book career lives.

I read a lot of contemporary US comic books and it’s become very apparent to me that the writers don’t want to go anywhere near truth. They want to tell exciting stories, they want to please liberal, progressive minded readers and they want to keep reality, truth and the real world a million miles away from what they are doing in their comic books.

It’s a choice. They choose the easy life and they echo chamber the thoughts and beliefs of their left leaning audience back to them whilst dreaming of the big television or movie deal. I wish them the best of luck with that and hope that they make lots of money and win award after award after award. It’s meaningless, but as most of them are atheist, solipsist, Darwinian types, that isn’t really an insult to them, it’s just stating a fact about their collective mindsets. Rats in a cage, and they are happy to be so.

Secret Wars #5 is a mainstream American comic book written by Jonathan Hickman. The story is about an evil dictator, and there’s a bit of tame religion bashing going on as well, which is par for the course in contemporary comic books.

The book is beautifully illustrated by Esad Ribic, and doesn’t touch on any real world concerns of 2015. It is an uncontroversial book. It does what all of the other books do, but there’s a lack of jokes, puns and quips in it, meaning (I suppose) that it’s a ‘serious’ comic book.

The ideology that runs through the book compares God to a deceitful, murderous, petty, insecure dictator. It’s an ideology that atheistic neo-liberal types will agree with, and thus is just another continuance of the mainstream echo chamber that stifles all debate and doesn’t address the predominant lie of our times.

I didn’t hate the book. It’s just another lefty comic book. It looks nice, it toes the line, and it does what it is supposed to do. It keeps the neoliberal democratic lie intact, our heads submerged within the corporate matrix, and successfully farts out another unit for the Princess programming, unreality pushing, crazy as a Rihanna video, bathed in children’s blood Disney Corporation.


Rating: 6/10 (It’s all about Doom, how he’s not God, how he created the world and how he’s a big old mean dictator that needs to be taken down by the atheistic democracy squad)



Check out Rihanna's charming new pop video below. Yep, the mainstream sure is a crazy place these days.

Comic review: Grant Morrison’s 18 Days #2- The Art of War

Script: Grant Morrison, Gotham Chopra & Sharad Devarajan
Art: Jeevan J. Kang
Publisher: Graphic India
Released: 12th August 2015



Comic book reviewers shouldn’t really rave over this comic, and if they do so, you need to be very suspicious about their motivations (cough, re-tweets).

That doesn’t mean that it’s a bad comic though, because it isn’t. What it is, is a comic that is establishing what is to come next in the narrative. It’s a comic that is doing the boring work before the big battle kicks off. It’s a comic book about political intrigue, motivations, and the heroes of the upcoming war playing a strategic game of chess in order to set up their enemies for their inevitable defeat.

18 Days #2 features people putting down their arms and armour, and talking about tradition, honour, oaths and fate. The villains have lots of rule about who and when they will, or will not fight. They are all related, and have long histories and grievances against each other. The heroes are exploiting all of this, as they talk to the different people, playing them off against each other, and strategize for the upcoming battle.

The message of course is that success comes from effective strategising, from brains over brawn. The strongest, bravest, fastest, most powerful warrior doesn’t always win, the smartest warrior wins. War is manipulation, about playing sides off against each other.

A modern example of the art of war and deception would be how the US (and EU) is currently using ISIS to destroy Syria, whilst simultaneously using the terrorist group (largely funded through US allies in the Middle East) to justify a Police state back home. The strategy of the US using ISIS as a proxy army allows them to destabilise Syria and to blame it on somebody else. When the country is a complete mess they can then send in their own ground troops to finish them off, murder all of the leaders, install a puppet government, and steal the countries resources, just like they did in Libya.

That’s how you strategise in war. That’s how you use your enemy to defeat a greater enemy, just as the US used the Taliban in Afghanistan to bog down the Russians in an unwinnable war that helped to destabilise the entire Soviet Union. Sure, the Taliban led to Al Qaeda, 9/11, 7/7, Iraq, the NSA and all of the other ‘problems’ in the world right now, but the bottom line is that the strategy worked. The Soviet Union collapsed, and the western banks and corporations that control western governments now have the perfect, permanent enemy in Islamic terrorism. This manufactured, and controlled enemy can now be sent around the world to bomb and maim, thus justifying less freedom in the west, and more western corporate imperialism and hegemony abroad, whilst claiming it’s all about human rights, freedom and democracy. Yeah, the US might be invading your country, but they are only there to protect you from ISIS/Al Qaeda. It’s true, yet it’s a lie at the same time. That’s the art of war, and that’s how you get things done.

The mainstream corporate media sell war as good versus evil, as neo-liberal democracy versus anything that dares to challenge it. They do so because they need to justify the corporate/statist/fascist status quo, and to portray their side as the heroes, and the other side as the villains. Contemporary superheroes play the role of soldier heroes, fighting against democracy hating dictator villains, fighting for freedom, whilst supporting indentured servitude to the corporate state.

Grant Morrison’s 18 Days #2 is a bit more complex than an average neo-liberal comic book. That’s partly due to Morrison himself, but largely because the book comes from ancient Indian wisdom (the Mahabharata) and so it has a bit more substance than the ignorant idiocy that is fed to us today.

Get the book if you want to explore Indian mythology and culture, but get it if you want to expand your horizons, and understand the complexities behind the art of war.

War is not about dictators and the illusion of freedom that is western style neo-liberal democracy. It’s not what you read in contemporary comic books, see on your television sets, and read about in your corporate newspapers. War is more complicated than what you see on the surface, and that is what 18 Days #2 is exploring.

It’s a book about war strategy, about what to do before the battle, and how to manipulate and weaken the enemy before a shot is fired. It’s about preparing for victory through proactive intelligence, using the most powerful weapon that we, as human beings, possess, that being the power of the mind.

Brains over brawn baby, it wins every single time, and that’s why the US isn’t bombing ISIS into oblivion right now. They could, but what would that achieve? ISIS are there to get rid of President Assad first (he’s an evil dictator, didn’t you know?) and then, who knows how they could be used next? Iran, Russia, something back home if the people start to question government authority perhaps? So many options, but that’s the game of war. We need to understand how it is being played, not for us, but against us, as right now, those in control, the evil people that control the world, are dividing, conquering, and walking over every single last one of us.


Rating: 7/10 (To divide and conquer, it’s the art of war)