Comic review: Klaus #2- The Road to Freedom

Writer: Grant Morrison
Art: Dan Mora
Publisher: Boom! Studios
Released: 16th December 2015



‘So. We have a malcontent in our midst. Someone who refuses to play by the rules of civilisation.’


Evil hides beneath the veneer of collective goodness, taking from you, to give to him, as he deserves it more than you, we are more than you, and we have soldiers, swords/guns, and what are you going to do about it, little man?

It’s socialism. The theft of what you own, of what you have worked for, given to the spawn of the state, an ungrateful spoilt kid.

It’s evil here, real world evil in a beautifully drawn tale about Santa with muscles.

Happy Christmas to a world enthralled with unreality, dictators ain’t the problem mate, it’s collectivism, and you, the collectivised spoilt masses are at the centre of the matrix web of social control.

The world is a hall of smashed mirrors. Grant Morrison takes a shard, and shines it in your eyes. Understand the violent coercion of mirror shattering state apparatus. Here it is, for all to see. Can you see it?

Life should be a road not made. Create one, for yourself. The road well worn is a Disney movie, old, tired, regurgitated emptiness, the road is strewn with weeds, and it leads to nowhere.

Open up a new path to possibility where nostalgia withers, and everyday is a new day, with a new you, creation drunk, exploring your incandescent eternity of endless possibility and ever-expanding consciousness emancipation.

When Morrison gets it right he is an excellent road builder. In Klaus #2 he is building a very fine road indeed, and I'm more than happy to take a Yule time trip down his merry road to freedom.

Rating: 9/10

Klaus #2 is a lovely Christmas tale, it has jokes, but there’s depth here as well. This is more than the usual surface cleverness, nostalgia and social justice that you will find in an average Marvel comic book, or the new Disney Star Wars movie. 

There is real joy here, real creativity, and an acknowledgement that socialism boiled down is the state using collectivised guilt to justify the theft of resources from it’s tax netted population. 

Klaus is a book about individualism, and in this collectivised western world of shared weakness, shared inanity, and shared guilt, what better Christmas gift could any anarchist individualist ask for? 




A special Christmas message to everybody at Boom!Studios

Happy Christmas Boom!Studios. Happy Christmas Grant Morrison. Happy Christmas Dan Mora. Thanks for this fantastic comic book that is all about the Christmas spirit, not of collectivism, but of kind-hearted, individualistic volunteerism away from the violence and coercion that is old time monarchy/dictatorship and its modern day equivalent of neoliberal collectivised socialism. I'm loving the message here, and it's very much appreciated. Have a great Christmas, and I'll see you all in 2016.

50-Word (Comic) Review- Klaus #1: A Wonderful Fairytale Book about the Origins of Santa Claus

Writer: Grant Morrison
Art: Dan Mora
Publisher: Boom! Studios
Released: 4th November 2015



Soldiers revel in cruelty, granted by a tyrant, his castle towers over homes of the poor. Spoilt child destroys, wants more, a solitary trader, appalled at what he sees, escapes, then by night, alien elves conjure presents for children, a red cape, a sprinkle of snow. Santa is that you?


Rating: 8/10

Klaus #1 is a lovely surprise gift to the comic book world, and it’s just in time for Christmas 2015. The story is about the origin of Santa Claus, and there’s something very fairytale about it, mixed with the dirty realism that you will find in an old brother’s Grimm story. Issue #1 follows a buffed up (bearded) young man as he visits a town gone to wrack and ruin due to a scumbag leader, and all of the top down corruption that inevitably follows when those in charge are a right bunch of bankers. It might as well be about David Cameron, and the town might as well be London in 2015. The rot starts from the top, and when everybody is aware of the corruption of those in power, the reasoning goes, why not be just as corrupt as them, after all corruption equals success, right? The only difference between this book and the UK in 2015 is that at least the men in this book have jobs. They might all be down a dirty old mine, but at least they are working, and that’s a lot more than you can say about a lot of people in the UK right now. Anyway, back to this book. It’s a happy bundle of Christmas joy, get it, it’s good, there’s a nice feel about it, and you’ll like it, probably, I did.

Comic review: John Flood #1- Edward Cullen + John Constantine + Dr Who = John Flood

Writer: Justin Jordan
Art: Jorge Coelho
Colours: Tamra Bonvillain
Publisher: Boom! Studios
Released: 5th August 2015



If you like John Constantine and tales about supernatural serial killers, then you’ll probably enjoy John Flood #1.

However, for anybody looking for something original, subversive, creative or contemporary, there’s not a lot going on in this book that will appeal to you.

This debut issue concentrates on establishing the world, the characters, the villain and the plot.

The world is a comic book anytime. The characters use computers and iphones, but they could easily be replaced with libraries and payphones, and it wouldn’t have made any difference to the direction and flow of the narrative.

The characters themselves are not very memorable. John Flood looks like Edward Cullen and acts like a quirky Doctor Who. He is generically eccentric, but not real, and not interesting to me.

His sidekicks are more straight-laced, as you would expect them to be, and the villain is a generic movie serial killer type, an evil genius who just wants to see the world burn.

The plot is entirely unremarkable. It’s disappointingly dull, routine and lacking in a big central idea, or hook. Here it is: A serial killer is doing what (movie) serial killers do, and it’s up to John Flood to use his wacky supernatural powers to stop him. He can’t do it all by himself though, so he has a chirpy young girl and an ex cop to help him out.

This first issue establishes the help, and ends with the serial killer being all evil and coming to get John and his buddies, or something. That’s not a lot of plot, but that’s all you are going to get if you pick up John Flood #1

The art is actually pretty good. The backgrounds in particular stood out to me, with otherworldly whirls and hints of far off galaxies and realities. Some of the characters are a bit too square jawed and muscular to be real people, but that’s a minor point. I enjoyed the art. It’s the rest of the book that lets it down.

I hate it when I read #1’s and they are not very good, especially when they come from publishers like Boom! Studios, a publisher I want to support, just because they are not Marvel or DC. But what can I do?

John Flood #1 isn’t going to set the world on fire, so I have to be honest about it. The book is very generic, reads like Constantine, and I can’t really see it doing a lot, or getting anybody out there in the comic book world particularly excited. Sorry, but it’s blah. I don’t want it to be blah, but blah is what it is.


Rating: 5/10 (Blah book, nice art)

Comic review: The Fiction #1- Not much fun, and now I feel bad because I didn’t like it

Writer: Curt Pires
Artist: David Rubin
Publisher: Boom! Studios
Released: 17th June 2015


It’s not very enjoyable to write a review on something that has little impact, that is neither hot nor cold, just middling, lukewarm and indifferent.

I like to rave, and I like to moan. I like to get passionate, and to get passionately wrong about something is always a learning experience that I’ll gladly accept, sod the ego, let it get bruised, I need to banish it to gain inner spiritual fulfilment (or something) anyway.

Oh, a book that does nothing, it’s so depressing. I can barely talk about it. I’m writing a review and it feels like work. I don’t want to go to work. I want to write with freedom and passion, and say silly things. So please forgive me, because what’s coming next is a half-hearted effort, a review of a book that did absolutely nothing for me.

‘The Fiction #1’ reads like a child’s fantasy book, like that Narnia movie with the wardrobe and lion in it. The characters are childhood friends, they experience something when they are ten, one of them goes missing, now they are all grown up, and about to jump back into that childhood fantasy world once again to discover what happened to their friend.

There was a hint at the beginning of the book that the disappearance is connected to ‘conspiracy theories’ and that should have hooked me, seeing as I’m supposed to be the ‘conspiracy’ guy, but the hooks never attached, and it wasn’t enough to make me care.

So what was the problem then?

I don’t know. The characters felt a bit plain, a bit dull, nothing resonated and it felt a bit too childish for me, not serious enough, a bit too cartoon and silly, and the artwork played into that feeling as well. It was too colourful, there was no realism to it, no sense of threat or danger, or most importantly, excitement.

I’m, sorry. I hate to say mean things about new indie books, but I didn’t enjoy it, and I won’t be buying issue #2. I wish them the best, but there’s not enough here to keep me interested, and now I’m fed up, and I don’t feel good about writing this review. I shouldn’t have bothered. I feel like a bad guy because I didn’t enjoy the book. Lots of effort, and struggle and time, and passion and hopes and dreams, and here I am dismissing it like it is nothing. Ah man, sometimes reviewing comic books really sucks.


Rating: 4/10 (Dull)