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: Weirdworld #1- A Flabby Voice of Surrender.

Artist: Mike Del Mundo
Writer: Jason Aaron
Colours: Mike Del Mundo & Marco D’Alfonso
Publisher: Marvel (Disney)
Released: 10th June 2015


I didn’t find this ‘WeirdWorld’ to be particularly weird. The art portrayed weird, if weird is psychedelic trippy hippie 1960’s weird, but the narrative itself was just another mainstream comic book story of a lost Conan clone trying to get home, and fighting monsters.

I don’t think that it’s unfair to call Arkon (the protagonist in this book) a ‘Conan clone’ because, well, just look at him. He’s Conan, and it would be daft to pretend that he’s not. I read a lot of Conan books, and there’s no mistaking it. This guy is as close to being Conan as you can possibly get, at least visually speaking anyway.

Jason Aaron writes Arkon as a generic, indistinguishable 2015 era comic book protagonist. The narrative unfolds with Arkon as narrator, telling his own story as he waves his chopper at sharks and jumps off waterfalls. The actions are blood and guts toughness, but the voice of Arkon, unfortunately, is not in the least bit Conan. In place of the iron willed barbarian voice of defiance, courage and brutal integrity we get wet, limp and border line comedic.

‘How does one eviscerate despair? How do you strangle hopelessness?’

What a wuss. Is this Conan the Emo? I don’t think that it’s supposed to be. No, it’s just another limp comic book character written during very dire times for western masculinity. As I read this comic book, enjoying the beautifully painted artwork and lovingly crafted panels, I’m becoming painfully aware that this barbarian, this man of muscles and swords, isn’t really any different to any other whining ‘hero’ that I would read in a mainstream comic book of today.

Five pages in and he’s crying like a child lost in a supermarket. On page seven he is already done. A victim of despair, he’s ready to kill himself, not because of any great problem, not because he’s injured and about to be torn apart by a pack of dogs and unable to defend himself, but because he’s lost, and can’t be bothered to keep on trying to fight. I’m not joking. Seven pages in and this child-man is looking to jump off the nearest cliff. Now that’s a modern emo barbarian hero for you. Why continue to fight to the end when you can moan like a little girl and then do yourself in?

Before our hero takes the final leap into self indulgence, he’s forced into another fight, and the narrative goes into the usual ‘cool’ mode of story-telling that is so common in books (and movies) of today. You know how it goes, right?

Do you have nothing to say? Do you spend your entire life in a fantasy world where reality never peeks, thus making you incapable of saying anything about the world or what it means to have real human experiences? No problem, do something ‘cool’ instead. ‘Cool’ is God now, the comic book geeks live for ‘cool,’ so give it to them until they drown in the stuff.

The cool continues in Weirdworld #1 until the end of the book where the narrative POV switches to a sexy villainous, a girl for Conan the Emo Barbarian to have adventures with. Who knows? If he’s lucky he might even get a small peck on the cheek from her? No girl with anything at all going for her would want to give this drip a proper kiss, so friend-zone is the best that somebody like Arkon the weak could ever hope for.

Poor old Jason Aaron. He’s trying to write tough, and all he’s doing is writing another limp-wristed death of masculinity contemporary ‘hero.’

The artwork by Mike Del Mundo is great. I loved his swirls, his colours, and his artistic theme of harsh bloody, dirty reality mixing with the golden shine of magical fantasy. Mike Del Mundo is a new name to me, and I’ll be keeping an eye on him, but the writing, Aaron’s version of masculinity in particular, is embarrassing. There’s a sense of passive aggressive wetness about it all, and the supposition heavy, narrative voice of the protagonist reads about as well as the awfully stilted dialogue in a Stephen King novel.

It’s a shame. I loved the art, but the voice of the hero, the voice of everybody in the book actually, was just too much wet for me to take.

I really tried to like the book. It’s swords and sorcery, and I love swords and sorcery. It’s Conan (it is) and I love Conan, but it’s an old genre with a modern voice.

That modern voice is completely unbearable. It feels soft, bloated, unused to difficulty and unwilling or unable to endure empty days of useless toil for zero award. There was a feeling of entitlement to it, of expecting that life will be easy, that it will have meaning, that there will be rewards, when anybody who has actually lived a life knows that existence is usually just routine, pain, indifference, frustration, nothingness and toil, toil, toil.

I couldn’t help but take a dislike to the flabby tone of the book, and as much as I loved the artwork, that narrative voice of surrender ultimately stopped me from having the fun that I was desperately trying to have.


Rating: 5/10 (For the art alone)

Comic Review: Planet Hulk #1- Captain Pony-Tail & His Pet T-Rex

Writer: Sam Humphries
Artist: Marc Laming
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Released: 20th May 2015



I’ve often wondered, and reading Planet Hulk #1 has made me think about it again, that the only thing that makes a comic book hero an actual ‘hero’ is that he fights against dictators.

The hero stands up for ‘democracy, and freedom.’ That is what he does, and that is why he is a hero. The unquestioned assumption of course being that democracy equates to freedom.

So what happens when a democracy becomes compromised? What happens when obscenely wealthy people purchase the democracy, and propagandise the people through their media manipulation machines, thus making the democracy a sham, an empty charade where the people are not as ‘free’ as they might think that they are?

What happens when change is impossible, when the political parties represent not the people that vote for them, but the people who fund them? What happens when a democracy becomes nothing more than a dictatorship of the wealthy, and people go along with it in the hope that they can at least make a decent living out of the corrupt situation that they have found themselves living in?

Where are the comic book heroes to be found in such a situation? Where are the comic book heroes in 2015? What do they do, what do they say, and do they even deserve to be labelled as 'heroes?' Let's jump into the larger than life world of comic books, and see what the heroes of today are getting up to.

Heroes in Marvel comics of 2015 come in many different shapes and sizes, but they all do one of two things:

1- They fight against fictional bullies and dictators (whilst ignoring real ones like the western backed gangster family in control of Saudi Arabia) and pretend that democracy in the west is not broken.
2- They become ‘social justice warriors,’ and fight for all of the politically correct ‘freedoms’ that are pushed by the mainstream media, the same media that is ran and controlled by the people who run and control the sham democracy.

I think it's safe to say that Marvel comic books of 2015 focus mainly on evil dictators, and social justice warrior issues. The writers are almost 100% feminist neo-liberal in their world-views and frequently pat themselves on the back for having stories that deal with issues related to race, sex or gender. Their idea of controversial is what would have been controversial thirty years ago, not what is actually controversial today.

Why am I bringing all of this up in a review of Planet Hulk #1? It's because that backdrop informs what I am now going to say about this particular comic book.

Planet Hulk #1 has a simple story, and reads like any other mainstream comic book that you will find in your comic book shop today. It doesn’t have as many zombies or third-wave feminist empowered young girls as most of the other junk books on the shelves, but its overarching assumptions are very familiar.

The book’s villain is an evil, world controlling dictator. This dictator (Doctor Doom) sits on a thrown and orders people to do his bidding. People follow his orders (just as they would do in a democracy btw) and the world is a horrible place that needs the help of some comic book heroes. Captain America is one of these heroes, and as we begin this story he is a pony-tailed gladiator who rides around on a T-Rex. He works for said evil dictator in order to help his friend, Bucky. The book is about fighting, and if you like fighting you’ll like the book.

Oh, I almost forgot. You also get a backstory about how a place called ‘Greenland’ got to be radiated, and thus turned into a big monster play-park. The story might be fun, but only for those under the age of about ten years old. This add-on story is about monsters, and more fighting. So again, if you like fighting, you'll like this bit as well, and if you like monsters fighting then this will really make your day.

Here’s how I read Planet Hulk #1. Captain America is a US marine, a man who is fighting not for a great cause, but because he wants to help his buddy. I’ve read interviews with real soldiers, and when they are asked what they were fighting for their answer is normally the same. They were fighting to help their friends, not America, not democracy, not freedom, they are fighting for their friends, and their friends are fighting for them. Their objective is to get home safely, and if they have to murder people to do so, well, they’ll do it, a lot.

Don’t ask the soldiers why they are occupying a foreign country, and don’t question why they would agree to do such a thing in the first place. You don’t question the troops, and you certainly don’t criticise the troops. They are heroes, just like Captain America. What they actually do is not important. You thank them for your freedom, and you don’t question anything that they do.

Do you see the problem here?

I don’t have to spell it out, do I? You have a culture being created, being celebrated in comic books like Planet Hulk #1, where questioning is something that you just don’t do. But then look at the comic book again and look at the villains. Who are they?

Who are the villains in Planet Hulk #1?

It’s not Doom. He’s the face of it, but look at what he actually does. All he is doing is sitting in a chair. He’s not killing anybody. He’s not forcing people to do anything. All he is doing is giving orders, and people are obeying him.

Doom has an army of ‘Thors’ who fly around subjugating the local population on his behalf. This army of Thors rain death and destruction from the sky, targeting civilians as they do so, indiscriminately using violence to sucessfully complete their missions.

The Thors are the villains, the SOLDIERS. Doom is a politician, the president, and the man who gives orders, but he doesn’t do the actual killing himself, that is what his order following Thor/Soldiers are doing.

The villain in this book is not Doctor Doom. The villains are the people who follow his orders, the Thors, the SOLDIERS.

How do comic book readers read this book, and then look at their own soldiers as heroes? The Thors are soldiers, but they are not heroes. Soldiers are never heroes, because people who follow orders are not acting under moral law. They are voluntarily giving away their moral responsibilities, and acting in an immoral way that is inconsistent with the actions of a good, moral person. This is what soldiers do. It’s what soldiers always do. It’s a part of the job. You cannot be an order following soldier and also be a good moral person, the two things are completely incompatible. People might not like to hear this truth, but truth is what it is, and it needs to be said.

After acknowledging that order following soldiers are not heroes, the book then uses the ultimate order following soldier (Captain America) and attempts to portray him as the hero of the narrative. It’s already contradictory, that a man who follows orders is a hero, but then look at what he is actually doing in this book.  He is also working for Doctor Doom, accepting a mission where he is to murder somebody, just on the say so of Doom. His rationale of course being that he is doing it for his friend, the same rationale I discussed previously in this review.

What is this comic book saying?

To me, it’s saying two things. Firstly, that it’s bad to be an order following Thor/soldier, but if you are doing what you are doing in order to help your buddy (remember, the cry of all soldiers) then, well, that’s okay, you a good moral person now.

I guess that if you are following orders to help your buddies then morality no longer counts? You are not a villain anymore. You are Captain America now.

Tell that to the Nuremberg trials of 1945/6 and see if they’ll buy it. They won’t, and do you know why they won’t? They won’t buy it because it’s BS. You are always morally responsible for the results of your actions, no friendships, no orders, and no excuses. If you do evil things, the only person responsible is YOU.

Do you see the insanity, the self-delusion, and the practised ignorance of reality that is on display here in this (very typical) comic book? It’s quite incredibly really, and that’s what you have going on in most mainstream comic books in 2015. An acknowledgement that following orders is probably not a good thing, but this idea that if you are doing it to help your friends then that’s perfectly okay, and even admirable.

It’s madness, pure madness, encouraged in comic books, like Planet Hulk #1, by Sam Humphries, and on display in countless other Marvel, DC and independent comic books that are on the market today.

Is the world mad, or is it just asleep? They understand that western democracies are broken, don’t they? They understand that following orders is what the Nazi’s did, and that is why we call them ‘evil’ don’t they?

They have to understand, and yet they (I’m talking about the writers and readers of contemporary comic books here) are ignoring these two issues.

I’ll read other reviews of this book and they’ll talk about the plot, the art, the characters. I know they will. The deeper issues will not be discussed. My review will be the weird, ignored one. I know that is going to happen, because that is what always happens. And so I put out this review for one reason only, for the sake of my own conscience. I saw what was going on, and whilst others remained silent, I refused to say ‘cool,’ and ignore what was going on. I’m the bad guy who told the comic book reading world that their emperor is not wearing any clothes. Somebody had to do it, sorry, but it had to be done.


Rating: 4/10 (Get it if you want to see a pony-tailed Captain America riding a T-Rex) 

Comic Review: Captain America & The Mighty Avengers #8: Vote Hillary

Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Luke Ross
Publisher: Marvel
Released: 13th May 2015



Here’s a review that is probably going to offend you if you are a liberal minded comic book reader.

If you enjoy getting offended and feeling morally superior on issues of race, gender and religion, then you’ll want to read this review. You can leave your passive aggressive comments at the end of the review in the open, uncensored comment section. That’s okay, I expect it. You can tell me that I’m a bad person, and insinuate that I need to be put into a camp or something. I welcome the comments, because that is what I expect. What I don’t expect is a serious, polite debate about the issues that I’m about to bring up.

Okay then, ready? Here we go:

Conspiracy theories are for basement dwelling, tin-foil hat wearing paranoid morons. You know the kind, right? Pathetic loser white men with dirty beards and comb-overs who call people ‘sheeple,’ and go on about 'Chem-trails' and other stupid things like that. These conspiracy men (they are always men) are sweaty, fat, paranoid, totally uncool and always wrong.

Young Muslim girls (keep it vague, don’t identify them as Sunni or Shiaa) are brave heroines, and we should respect everything that they say. Don’t actually do anything to help them though, as discussing Sunni Islam, Saudi Arabia, and other crazy dictatorships supported by the west is not to be done at the moment.

Say whatever you want about Christians though. Those crazy cult followers (make sure it’s always Christian, and please don’t mention anything to do with Jews or Israel) always think that it’s the end of the world. They need to be mocked and beaten up. They are brainwashed, dangerous, violent, and suicidal and err, that was close, you didn’t mention ISIS, did you? No, I definitely made sure that it was just the Christians that we were mocking here. Okay, phew, thank atheism for that.

The illuminati are real, and there really are secret groups of powerful men who control the world and lie to us on the television, making decisions that affect us all, but not telling us about it when they do so.

But what about the Christians and Conspiracy nuts, didn’t they talk about this? Yeah, they did, but that doesn’t matter. They are still wrong, even though they told us all about the illuminati thing decades ago. The people in charge just wanted to help and protect us, and the Christians and conspiracy nuts are uncool, and old, and losers anyway, and they’re far too white as well, so they’re probably racist or something as well.

What we need is women and people of colour (women of colour would be best) to take charge now, and to fix the mess caused by the stupid white men. But, what about the structure of the system itself, and how it is designed in a top down fashion to enrich a handful of rich people (of all colours, genders and religions) whilst exploiting the 99%? No, let’s ignore all of that. Democracy is a great system, we just need to change the race and gender of the people in charge of it, and then everything will be okay.

Makes no sense whatsoever, does it? The liberal drip obsession with race and gender, and the mocking of Christians and people who question mainstream consensus (as ‘conspiracy theorists’) is getting really old, and tired now. But that’s the mainstream liberal world-view encapsulated, and if you want to see it played out in all of it’s self-deception and race/ religion baiting glory (Christianity only, of course), then buy ‘Last Days- Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #8.’

The book is liberal America (and it’s UK cousins) trying to make sense of it’s own lies. It might be worth purchasing the book if you are a critically aware student and you need to do an essay on the collapsing liberal establishment and their reluctance to deal with the lies of the Obama establishment. But for anybody not stuck in the mainstream liberal web of lies it will make for a painful and even depressing read.

Most comic book fans will let the liberal consensus guff wash over them and will probably describe the book as a bit too talky, light on action and dull. It was that as well, but the self-delusion of it all was the thing that stood out to me.

This is a book that would support Hillary Clinton as the next President of the US, not because she’s going to be any good, but because she is a woman.

Don’t worry Mr. Ewing, you are a good man. I detected no hint of racism, sexism, or Islamaphobia in your book, and you didn’t question anything of any real importance at all, so well done to you. No thought Police will be knocking on your twitter door anytime soon, and your precious career in mainstream comic books will proceed as before.


Rating: 3/10 (I enjoyed the nice clear art from artist Luke Ross, but the rest of the book was not for me)

Comic Review: Secret Wars #2 (of 8)- Delicious

Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Essad Ribic
Colours: Ive Svorcina
Main Cover artist: Alex Ross
Publisher: Marvel
Released: 13th May 2015


Secret Wars #2 is a delicious all you can eat buffet of a comic book that leaves you well satisfied and eager to return to the Marvel (ous) restaurant of superhero scrumptiousness as soon as is humanly possible.

The plot is simple. We are introduced to a brand new comic book world called ‘Battleworld.’ Doctor Doom is in charge. He controls everything. His law is the only law. His subjects worship him not just as a ruler, not just as a king, and not just as a god, but as the God, the creator of everything, the alpha, omega, and you know the rest, the big man in the old testament, yes that God, the only God.

Lots of things are happening on this Battleworld, but if you know anything about the real world concept of the ‘New World Order’ then it will be easy to understand.

What is the New World Order? It is the world that is to be created after WW3, after the horrendous death and destruction that takes place on this planet leaves people crying out for a centralised control system that will give them a guarantee of peace and prosperity and an end to all future wars. They will have that guarantee, but they will also find themselves living in a prison-cell.

This New World Order will be comprised of one religion, one judiciary system and one army enforcing the dictates of a centralised control system of unaccountable autocrats. That is exactly what is happening in the Battleworld of Secret Wars #2. Doctor Doom is the centralised control system and religion. Dr Strange heads up the judiciary, and a team of Thors make up the world Police/Army.

The only difference between this book and our own world is that in Secret Wars #2 the world is controlled solely by Doctor Doom and his group of specially selected order followers. In the real New World Order system the control will not go to one single person, but a group of elitist autocrats modelled on the EU or Chinese communist system.

However, if you want to look at it from the Christian prophesy point of view then perhaps this really is exactly what is going to happen? That would mean that the character of Doctor Doom is the comic book version of the Antichrist, the false Messiah of Revelations.

Take your pick between the two theories, secular or biblical. I myself lean towards the former, but either one could be correct. I guess we’ll find out as the book (and our own world) progresses. If it’s a team of heroes that are going to beat Doom then it will be a secular reading, but if it’s just one man leading an army against Doom (who could it be?) then we could well be looking at a biblical interpretation here.

Structurally speaking, this book has to introduce its readers to a huge new comic book world. That can be tricky, but writer Jonathan Hickman deals with the problem with ease. He begins with the tried and trusted method of introducing the world through the eyes of a new initiate. That new initiate is a young Thor, a character we both know and enjoy, so already we are at ease with the story. The book then hints at a discovery that might upset the status quo of this new world, a discovery that readers of issue #1 will already be well aware of. That’s clever, and very enjoyable for the reader as we already know more about what is happening than the characters in the book. The reader feels like he has special insight, and that is always a good feeling to have as a reader, and helps to clear any sense of confusion that you might have in reading what is potentially a very confusing story about a strange and disorientating new world. This world is then further clarified for the reader with a demonstration of how disputes are settled, and the book closes with a dramatic, super hero action packed scene of violent confrontation and threat to the status quo.

It’s a big book, but that solid, clever, enjoyable, and expertly crafted structure makes it easy to assimilate all of the information, to contextualise what is going on, and to enjoy it all as a good comic book story. It’s a new world, but it’s never a confusing one. We know exactly what is going on, and the sense of anticipation is deliciously enticing throughout the entire book. All of this is helped of course when the art looks top notch, as it does here. That art, by the tremendously talented Esad Ribic, is superb and the entire book is a joy not just to read, but to look at as well. I’ve talked a lot about the themes, plot and structure, but if this book was in Japanese it would still be a glorious, beautiful looking comic book.

This is how you put together a decent comic book. Develop a strong backbone idea that resonates with contemporary societal anxieties and concerns, formulate a tried and tested narrative framework, load it up with interesting personalities, throw in some action that will threaten the status quo, and get a talented artistic team to make your vision come to life.

That is what you have here in Secret Wars #2. This event is just beginning, but it’s got off to a flying start. I know what people think about comic book events, we’ve been let down so many times recently, but banish all thoughts of Avengers versus X-Men, and give this one a go. Secret Wars 2015 is in an entirely different league to that big pointless punch-up, and this is coming from a guy who not only bashes Marvel on a weekly basis, but has vowed more than once to never read any event story-line ever again.

If you are a comic book fan then you’ll want to read this book. I know it’s Marvel, and I know that they put out a lot of nonsense, but this book is a bit special.

Far too many contemporary comic books (and movies) devolve into self-aware, post-modern analysis of circle-jerk geek irrelevance, and the last thing I want to do is to read comic books written by a bunch of fanboys stroking their own egos and congratulating themselves on how clever they all are.

I don’t see any of that annoying smugness in Secret Wars #2. What I do see is a comic book that has dropped the stupid quips and knowing jokes and has buckled down to tell a good, serious, entertaining story. How refreshing, how entertaining, and how absolutely delicious it all is.


Rating: 10/10 (Yummy)

Review: Secret Wars- Prelude- 2015 (TPB)- Collapse of the Marvel World/Collapse of our own

COLLECTING: New Avengers (2013) 1-3, Secret Wars (1984) 10-12, Fantastic Four 611, Ultimate Comics Spider -Man (2011) 1, Ultimate Comics Ultimates 4
Publisher: Marvel
Released: 6th May 2015


I don’t know if I’m falling in love again, but it feels like the early days of anticipation, before the rejection or awful realisation, that moment when reality clobbers you over the head and you either fall into the pit, or pick yourself up and carry on, carrying that nauseous fresh in your gut feeling that insists on the impossibility of purging what was never there, an impossible bind that is queasy sick, an empty belly mocking false memory that wants you to retreat into hate, and to shut out everything and everybody, forever.

It’s amazing how a comic book can make you feel, even making you feel anything at all is quite an achievement today really, but Secret Wars #1 by Hickman and Ribic made me feel and, yeah, does that explain the spontaneous riff in the previous paragraph?  Hey, it’s a blog, not a review on a site pretending to be the corporate whore mainstream media, so what do you expect? I enjoyed the book, and it gave me hope, yeah that stupid emotion of the eternal loser, but I’m a sucker for hope, it wins elections you know, and the book was cool so why not hope, at least for a while? There’s nothing else to do, is there?

Hope led me to Secret Wars Prelude (tpb) and I’ve just spent my Monday evening which is my Saturday morning, and my Tuesday afternoon which is my Sunday morning, reading and thinking about the book, doing it slowly so I can get my remaining brain cells around it, and now a couple of neurones have fired together and I’m spitting out a review on my blog. Oh crap, been reading too much Kerouac again.

It’s a joke man, did you get it?

Anyway, so the book, it’s cool. It’s a wallop, a reminder, and some back-story research that ties into what is going to happen in the upcoming Secret Wars 2015 story arc. It begins in 1985, those years when comic books still looked like comic books and people like myself didn’t complain about new world order or neo-liberal themes being ignored in the books because they were just comics, and well, I was a comic book reading little kid back then, and this was before the whole new world order thing became the awful reality that it is today, with the focus on social justice warrior nonsense blinding us all to the wall of dry crap reality that is the backdrop to it all.

The first three stories are reprints from the mid 1980’s. There’s a lightness, a silliness to them, but so much packed information, I read it slowly and it deceives. You think it’s silly, childish even, and sometimes it is, but sometimes, it isn’t. Wolverine questions, too much power concentrated in a single man is the theme, and I see how the past is today, how that concentration of power leads to the destruction of an entire country, hundreds of thousands of deaths, and the call for human rights and democracy used as excuse as power does what power inevitable always will do.

The book shifts to 2012, Doctor Doom, a main player today as can be seen in Secret Wars #1, is rescued, by the young, the young indoctrinated by the system as it is now, telling them they are smart as they jump threw hoops marked ‘incorporated.’ A pretty girl, propping up the status quo, with hope, love, naivety, ambition, arrogance/ignorance perhaps she will understand, in time, but will it be too late? The young generation of social justice, neo-liberal warriors, the position fillers of the consensus now, make not the future; instead they prop up the system as it is today. Slotting into place, helping that which needs to be left to die a natural death of evolutionary redundancy, feeling pride as they build platforms for evil, their young minds failing to recognise the slavery system they help to maintain, concentrating on the little, whilst missing the whole.

From there it’s Ultimates, Thor getting beaten up by the young as he represents not the status quo, but a link to something greater than animal man, he represents God, of faith, and faith in this time of the robotic, machine man, transhumanist new world order, has to go.

After old Thor (religion) is beaten up we go to new Spiderman, or ghetto man, as he probably should politically incorrectly be termed. This Ultimate Spider lives in our neo-liberal now, his life a lottery, in squalor and urban Darwinian selfishness he strives, Oprah like, to get out of the hole that he has been placed in. Don’t worry, he’s a comic book character, he will get out, the majority don’t.

After the spider it’s the beginning of the end, a tie in to the world’s colliding stuff that is happening now in Secret Wars #1. Things falling apart, the comic book heroes act on rare love of humanity, of life, think they can fix it, but how to fix neo-liberalism? The only way to fix something so irrevocably broken is to start all over again, to destroy the world and rebuild from the ground up, not top down as is happening now, world’s colliding, destruction inevitable.

And so the stage is set. What did that 1985 stuff have to do with the now? It’s simple, in my mind. Thatcherism, Reaganomics created our neo-liberal world. Thatcher elected in 1979. Reagan elected in 1981. They built the universe we now inhabit, opened everything up to private banks and corporations that have been raping and pillaging the entire planet for how many years now? Thirty something? Do the maths. What has been created since those free market days has resulted in what we have now. They have created the neo-liberal world order, is it now the time where the neo-liberal order crashes into a ditch, spits into flames, dies, only to be replaced by what’s next, you know what’s next right?

It’s the New World order mate, not the pretend one, the real one, and to get to that it’s always been the goal to rip the world in two, to have world’s (east and west?) collide, happening now in the middle-east, and being (subconsciously?) paralleled within the pages of this comic book event. The death of the old world, replaced by the totalitarian new. A one world Police state, one world army, bank, government, chips for everybody, but no tomato sauce available unles GM contaminated, eat up, cancer a certainty.

Umm, I fall down now, exhausted on Jack Kerouac adrenaline, said what I wanted to say, this event then is a parallel between the world as it is now, in a moment of change, I know it always changes, but this one is the big change. Neo-liberal world seen for what it is, the world shudders, things falling apart, a catastrophe, bang, bang, bang, and the world is on fire. But fires eventually die out, and when they do its time to rebuild. Marvel worlds are dying, as is ours, do they recognise how close they are, how much relation there is to the story in the book and the reality of the now? I’m going to get quite a lot of mileage out of this Secret Wars 2015 event. I’m going to follow it closely, see the parallels, talk about them on my blog. I’m looking forward to this one. It’s going to be good, and there's that hope again, feels like love.



Rating: 8/10 (I loved the 1980’s re-prints, and the New Avengers 2013 material is very strong as well).