Comic review: Red Lanterns #36 (Godhead Act 2, Part 4)- A decent shift by Mr. Soule

Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: J. Calafiore
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 26th November 2014


This is the second time that writer Charles Soule has written a part of the ‘Godhead’ arc, and it’s a lot more enjoyable than his first effort in Red Lantern #35.

That first effort was terrible. His characters came across as American idiots, completely unaware of what was happening in the world. That was because the backdrop to the story was the real country of Dubai. In Soule’s story the country was portrayed as a luxury holiday resort where the heroes go to have a bit of a break. The real-world reality of a country owned by one billionaire dictatorship family that uses slave labour and has no regards for human rights was not mentioned, probably because that family is western friendly (to the banks and corporations that own the west that is), much like other western backed human rights violators like Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Witnessing one of DC’s superheroes sunbathing in Dubai and enjoying an alcoholic drink was a stark reminder that to American eyes some dictators are good, and that some dictatorships are not even seen as dictatorships at all. It was depressing, and the story that Soule attached to it was brief, lazy, uninteresting and no fun at all.

There is no mention of western friendly dictatorships, or human rights violators in Red Lanterns #36, so already it’s better than Soule’s first attempt on the Godhead arc. If you can’t be honest about the real world, then leave it alone. That’s what he does here, constructing a story about the personalities rather than anything that is going to insult the intelligence of the reader. The story is chunkier as well. More effort has been put in, and as a reader it felt less throwaway, less inconsequential.

As far as story progression goes, it’s not exactly a must buy book, however, something fairly important happens, and you see why it happened, from beginning to end. I also understand the motivations and personalities of the two main characters a lot more than I did before reading this book. It’s probably also the first time that I’ve seen a verse of the Quran used in a comic book. It’s a fairly uncontroversial verse, but I do appreciate the fact that Charles Soule was brave enough to use it in a mainstream comic book in the first place. In a world where mainstream comic book writers are usually in career mode it’s nice to see somebody stick his neck out, even if it’s only a little bit.

I also have to mention, and applaud, another line put into the mouth of one of the characters in this book. That line being, ‘There are no truly good rulers.’ That says it all. That’s why the human race is in the position that it is today. We voluntarily give away our power and freedom to rulers who don’t give a damn about us. They care about our votes, but once they have them, they serve the agendas of the real behind the scenes (corporate and banking) rulers of this planet. When we stop giving our power away to these puppet rulers things will change. Until then, the human slavery business will continue as usual. Charles Soule puts it out there in this book that all rulers are bad. I like that. I noticed it. I appreciated it, and I just want to thank him here for doing so.

So another review where I don’t even talk about the art? Yeah, that’s how I do it. I always put up a couple of samples next to the review though, so at least you’ll know what you get if you buy the book. I had no problem with the art, but I’m not an artist, so I’ll leave detailed analysis of art in comic books to people who actually know what they are talking about.

Red Lantern #36, or Act 2, Part 4 of the Godhead arc, is a character based book that has some moments of interest, story development and a couple of jokes as well. I enjoyed it. There’s quite a lot in there, no mention of western backed dictatorships like Soule’s previous Godhead book, and as a whole I give it a big old anarchist thumbs up. It’s not great, but it’s a lot better than I thought it would be, with writer Charles Soule putting a good shift in, and largely succeeding in creating an interesting and readable comic book experience.

Rating: 7/10

Comic book review: Sheltered #13- Explosions in the Hollywood sky

Artist: Johnnie Christmas
Writer: Ed Brisson
Publisher: Image Comics
Released: 26th November 2014


Sheltered has been a clever comic book. Clever, not because it has been doing anything original, but clever because it has kept me reading it for thirteen issues now.

Why has it hooked me? Why has it tempted me to spend my time, energy and money on it? Probably because it hints at doing something more than it actually does. It gives you the impression that something is being kept until the end of the story, something that will make it all seem worthwhile.

Looking at it subjectively it’s been a very formulaic cult leader story so far. It’s about prepper (survivalist) kids, and religion plays no part in the narrative. It's usually religion that fuels real life cults such as this one, so the decision to eliminate that aspect of the story has limited the scope of the book. It doesn’t appear to have any ideological foundation. It’s Lord of the Flies, but not as good.

As the months have progressed the story has become more about personalities and hooking the reader with quick, startling moments of graphic and intense violence rather than trying to say something or to provoke any intellectual response from the reader. The more I read, the less it says to me.

Because it has been relying on action, violence and personality conflicts to keep things interesting, it’s become the comic-book version of a Hollywood blockbuster movie. It doesn’t appear to have anything to say, and when things start to get a bit dull it just blows something up instead.

In issue #13 something gets blown up, and nothing is really said. Cops are surrounding the compound now, and it’s Waco, but with kids, and no religion. The only thing that can save the book is a twist at the end. Will the volcano really blow? Will the end of the world really happen? Perhaps there is something else going on? At the moment it seems unlikely.

The narrative appears played out. Do I care if the government order followers massacre all of the kids, much like they did at Waco? I should care, but the good guys have already escaped, and all that’s left is a bunch of whooping cult followers and their charismatically cliched leader Lucas. I can’t feel any connection to them, not because I hate cult followers, but because they don’t really feel real to me. They are just cartoon/action-movie characters, not real people at all. If they end up getting slaughtered then I would feel as much empathy for them as I would for the villainous characters in a bad action movie. There’s no connection there, and I just don’t care. Just get this over and sacrifice them for a cool looking explosion. That’s where I am with this book right now.

I’ve been reading about these characters for thirteen long issues now, but I don’t care about any of them. I’m glad that it’s all over next month, because I’m running out of things to say about this book. If it has a spectacular twist at the end then that might justify the time and money that I’ve spent on it, but at the moment it’s looking like I made a bad decision to invest in this one.

Rating: 4/10

Comic review: Conan the Avenger #8- Individualism versus corporate collectivism

Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: Brian Ching
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Released: 26th November 2014


I always go back to my old Conan comics, reading them again and again to remind myself that comics can be good, if done properly. I need the reassurance every now and then, especially after reading bloody awful, intelligence insulting mainstream comic books that obsess over race, sexuality and gender politics, whilst deliberately ignoring the important issues of our times.

Break down their centres of control

You know what I’m talking about here, right? I’m talking about corporate/banking criminality, endless wars against media generated villains, a lack of political representation for the 99% of ordinary people, unthinking statism and the worship of order following abusers in positions of lawless state authority. These are the pressing concerns of today, not skin colour, race, religion or sexuality. These are the issues that comic books should be addressing. They are not doing so, and you don’t have to be a genius to understand why.

A good Conan comic is about individuality, and standing up for yourself whilst sticking to a strict set of moral codes, punishing the corrupt and being kind to the weak. Conan is not a government agent; he’s not an uniformed enforcer, he’s not an order follower, he’s not a good corporate slave. He would be completely out of place in the Marvel comic book universe of 2014 where order following state slaves are portrayed as heroes and true individual, independent masculine heroes no longer exist. It’s not a ‘conspiracy,’ it’s a corporate thing.

Marvel/Disney is a corporation that relies on consumer slave culture, and so it pumps out consumer slave heroes. It’s only natural for them to do so. They can turn Captain America black, or turn Thor into a woman because that is perfectly allowable within a corporate culture that sees humans not as individuals, but as passive consumers. How do you double your consumers? You get women to buy your crap as well as the men. Marvel doesn’t turn Thor into a woman because it cares about women’s rights. They turn Thor into a woman because they care about female consumers. It’s not about morality. It’s about business. What Marvel cannot do is push stories where the hero is an individual; a man who works outside of the collectivised, government sponsored Avenger/Corporate status quo. Pushing individualism is bad business for a corporation that relies on herd mentality consumer repeaters.

Conan the Avenger #8 is a good old fashioned Conan tale. It’s lacking an element of magic and sorcery at the moment, but it has political intrigue, a gorgeous slave girl for our hero to rescue and a despicable villain who is suppressing the people through threats of violence. It’s what all villains do. Threatening people with order following goons and bureaucrats is at the heart of what government is all about. It’s what your government is doing to you and your family right now. It’s what all governments do, and that’s why we need to get rid of them, all of them.

Conan ends up as King Conan at the end of his life, so he’s not perfect. But he’s always a sad King, a reluctant King who doesn’t really enjoy the position that he has attained. He’s not the power tripping type. He’s melancholic, a bit confused, and a bit in need of a book about anarchy if you ask me, because that’s what all of his adventures are about. They are about fighting against control systems, against kings, governments, wizards and every other kind of scumbag who has set himself up in a big White House on the hill. That’s why I like him, and that’s why he’s my comic book hero.

This particular Conan book is very well drawn, it has some gruesome battle scenes, it has a good villain and it closes on a cliff-hanger where Conan is staring down a wall of archers. Oh no, he looks in trouble this time. How is he going to get out of this one? I like that in my comics. Give me a cliff-hanger, give me a reason to look forward to the next issue, don’t rush things and have some fun with it all.

So far Conan the Avenger is a pretty decent Conan book. Conan is young, he’s not that talkative, he’s taking things in, learning and strategizing as the adventure progresses. It’s good stuff, far better than the cops and government agent crap you get from DC and Marvel. If like myself you get fed up with corporate Police state propaganda then you’ll get a kick out of it. Conan is still Conan in Dark Horse comics. They haven’t turned him into a girl. Not yet anyway.  He’s still fighting against control systems, and he’s still the main man, the number one hero in the comic book world of 2014, just as he was in the 70’s and 80’s and 90’s and 2000’s. All hail King Conan, the melancholic, anarchist hero who doesn’t want to be a King.

Rating: 8/10

Comic review: Gotham by Midnight #1- Stupid cop show in comic book form

Writer: Ray Fawkes
Artist: Ben Templesmith
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 26th November 2014



I haven’t read a Batman book in over six months, but I noticed that Ben Templesmith was the artist on this one so decided to dip back in, and see what was going on. I shouldn’t have bothered.

I forgot why I stopped reading these stupid comics in the first place, but was quickly reminded on the first page, and fourth panel of the book where the often repeated lie that is the background to all Police dramas was repeated.

That lie is that the Police are there to protect you. I’m sorry, but the Police are not there to protect you. That is not their job. Their job is to control you, to intimidate you, to protect the moneyed classes and to maintain the status quo whilst stifling all dissent from the enslaved masses. That is the role of the Police, and when they are portrayed as heroes in the mainstream media it always makes me wince.

I couldn’t enjoy this book from that fourth panel on, as all it is doing is following cops around as they mess around with ‘supernatural cases.’ I didn’t care for the characters involved, at all. It’s not that I hate cops, because I don’t. I just feel sorry for them, as I do for any duped person, but the characters in this book bare no resemblance to real life cops. They are television cops, television characters, television lies. I can’t read this stuff. I’m not stupid enough, not childish enough, and not ignorant enough either. I like reality, it interests me, and this book is not reality, it’s television.  I can’t get any enjoyment out of the story here. Narratively, thematically and intellectually there’s nothing here for me to grab a hold of, there’s nothing there for me at all.

I think I might get the scissors out on this one, as some of the large panels by artist Ben Templesmith have this creepy gothic feel to them that I really like. He’s a great artist is Mr Templesmith. His work always looks so distinctive. He has this knack of creating an atmosphere that can transcend the banality of the actual story itself. Yeah, I think that I will get the scissors out. This comic book story is completely boring, but the art doesn’t deserve to be shut away at the bottom of my ‘bad comic’ file. I guess the book wasn’t completely worthless then, and it’s a good reminder to myself of just why it was that I stopped reading so many mainstream comic books in the first place.

So, to sum it up. Gotham by Midnight #1 is a stupid ‘supernatural’ cop show in comic book form. Batman hangs around in the background whilst the cops defend the poor innocent civilians from Ghosts. No, they can’t help themselves, don’t be stupid. People helping themselves? We can’t have that in our comic books now, can we? After all, if people looked after themselves what role would the ‘authorities’ have in their lives? I’ll tell you what role. The role they should have. No role whatsoever. Is the book worth checking out for the art alone? Nah, not really. You might be tempted to read the book whilst you look at it, and trust me, you don’t want to be doing that.

Rating: 2/10 (for the art)

Book review: The Leaderless Revolution- ‘How Ordinary People Will Take Power and Change Politics in the 21st Century’

Author: Carne Ross
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Release Date: June 2012

Official book website:
http://theleaderlessrevolution.com/



Books aren’t what they used to be. People still read, but they do so for enjoyment, not to gain knowledge. So what gets read in depressingly large numbers is a shade of perversity, or teenage vampires or boy wizards, or ghost written celebrity memoirs. Not books of worth, but books of banality.

I don’t read banality. I don’t read Marvel comics and I don’t read books that are meant to titillate rather than educate. I read books that tell me something, books that have something to say. That’s why I read books like ‘The Leaderless Revolution’ by former British diplomat Carne Ross. This guy worked for the establishment, building his life by serving the agenda of unaccountable elite’s. It was his job to keep rolling the boulder up the hill, to make it look like things were getting done, when in reality the boulder never progresses, never even moves, and at the end of his shift it goes back to the start again.

He was rewarded monetarily, and in terms of social status. Women, apartments and the uniformed order followers saluting him like he was a big deal, a good man who was doing his duty for his country.

The reality was that Carne Ross was an ambitious, overgrown schoolboy, taking a dream job because of ego and selfish careerism. He wanted to be a fighter pilot, but his eyesight wasn’t good enough, so he became a diplomat instead. Rather than bombing people from the air he spent his time justifying the bombing from the ground.

His life as a diplomat involved drinking too much, popping anti-depressants, doing what he was told, engaging in morality free group think, ignoring reality, and giving politicians diplomatic cover in order to invade Iraq. A country that they all knew had no weapons of mass destruction, had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks, and had nothing to do with the so-called ‘war on terror.’

Carne Ross was a willing tool of the establishment. Morality was not a factor in what he did. He did what was expected of him, and he did it very well. He knew that the organisations he worked for were boulder pushers, but he had a career, he had status, so he just went along with it all. He was not a brave man. He had a chance to stand up and say no, but he didn’t do so. He went along with the lies, retiring quietly when all of the damage had already been done, when one of his best friends (Dr David Kelly) had committed suicide for showing some backbone and trying to expose the lies of the globalist war machine.

Carne Ross was a coward, and he lives with that guilt today. After he quietly ended his career as an establishment yes man he set up a group called ‘Independent Diplomat.’ This group now acts as a facilitator, helping people to talk to each other, away from the deliberate boulder pushing of official channels of communication. Carne Ross is fully aware that what he used to do was wrong, and he is now trying to make up for it.

His political philosophy has changed dramatically. No longer is he a government-worshipping schoolboy, a diplomat who wanted to be a fighter pilot. Today he is an anarchist, a man who knows that government is a useless vehicle for human advancement because he used to be a part of it.

His book is an easy read with a simple message. That message is to do things for yourself, to stop relying on government, to talk to each other on a one to one basis, to stop relying on government to protect you, to stop living a life based on fear. That is all that ‘anarchy’ really is. It’s not riots or masks, or chaos. It’s talking to your neighbours to sort out your problems. It’s sorting things out away from the useless control system of government. This book concludes with the following quotation:

‘Our dream of safety has to disappear.’ 

That’s the message. Government relies on fear to control you. Abandon fear, and change is inevitable.

Rating: 9/10 (A revealing glimpse into the world of international diplomacy by a man that has been there, and seen that things can only change when we rid ourselves of the control system that is government, and start to do things for ourselves). 


Independent Diplomat official website: 
http://www.independentdiplomat.org/about-us/our-staff/carne-ross

Comic review: Green Lantern-New Guardians #36 (Godhead Act 2, Part 3)- Weak sauce

Writer: Justin Jordan
Artist: Diogenes Neves
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 19th November 2014


I didn’t know too much about Kyle Rayner, the legendary White Lantern of the Lantern universe before reading this book. All I knew was what I had been reading in this Godhead arc, so I had this idea that he was a super powerful character who had bridged the very boundaries of reality itself. Pretty impressive, and more so when you consider that not only had he gone through these barriers of realty, but he had returned as well, more powerful than ever.

Crazed dictator alert

In Green Lantern-New Guardians #36 this mighty, powerful, reality changing character voluntarily gives all of his power away to a cartoon villain who walks around with a big neon sign above his head flashing:

*******CRAZED DICTATOR***********
*******CRAZED DICTATOR***********
*******CRAZED DICTATOR***********
*******CRAZED DICTATOR***********

Errrrrr, why did the great White Lantern do that? Why did he give his ring away? That kind of makes no sense. And now he’s moaning about it, saying that he’s made a stupid mistake. Well, no s*** Sherlock. What the Hell was going on here?

This is coming across like one of those occasions where story progression forces characters to act like idiots. It comes across as very soap opera, and not very believable at all. Kyle Rayner is either stupid, gullible, or both. He’s also a bit of a whining b***h as well. With heroes like this it’s no wonder that the villains are having such an easy time of it in the Godhead arc right now.

Very rushed and unimpressive artwork here

I’m not sure if the White Lantern was always this lame, but wow, what a useless, clueless twerp he turned out to be.

As for the artwork in this book, it looks rushed and unfinished. It’s noticeably lacking in detail and colour, and it appears to have been hurried out on a strict deadline. There’s one panel that needs to be good, the panel where the White Lantern is introduced to the new Genesis. His reaction is amazement at how awesome it all is, but in this comic book the art shows a half-page of beige coloured and roughly sketched sand dunes, not impressive at all.

That’s it for this week in the Godhead arc. A moaning White Lantern who voluntarily gives his power away to the most obvious villain since Ming the Merciless, some rushed looking art, and that’s it, the end. It’s a massive fail, and in comparison to last week’s impressive outing by writer Van Jensen and artist Bernard Chang (I gave that issue of Green Lantern Corps #36 a very well deserved 9/10) it’s chalk and cheese.

I guess that’s what you are going to get in these long crossover arcs with different artists and different writers working on the same story week to week. Sometimes it will be good, and sometimes it will be bad. This week, it’s bad. Oh well, let’s hope it’s swings and roundabouts and next week it’s gets good again.

Rating: 2/10 (and I’m being generous with that rating)

Comic book review: Winterwold #4- Decent comic book to be made into a television show shocker

Writer: Chuck Dixon
Artist: Bruce Guice
Publisher: IDW
Released: 19th November 2014


Winterworld is to be made into a television show. I find that a bit surprising really, as the book is good, and most television programmes are, well to point out the bloody obvious, they are usually bad, very bad.

I’m a bit shocked that a book about an independent, self-sufficient, decent man is going to be allowed on television in 2014. The mainstream media continuously pumps out anti man/anti-family programming that portrays men as order following statists, psychopaths, criminals, fools, losers, geeks, metro-sexuals, flaming best friends or juvenile weaklings dominated by bossy women, so this surprises me. Yeah, it’s very surprising, but in a good way for a change. I wait with frosty Winterworld breath to see how they mess it up. Nah, only joking. I’m sure it will be great. After all, if they follow the excellent comic they can’t really go too far wrong.

Issue #4 sees the end of the first arc. It features a determinedly unintimidated Wynn (the young ‘charge’ of the main protagonist Scully) versus a bunch of Al (Abraham) Gore worshipping fanatics and their new god, a killer whale. Will she become the latest sacrificial offering to the eco-friendly fish god who is silently stalking her through the frozen sea? I won’t spoil the outcome, but I approve. It’s good, and this month’s front cover of the killer whale preparing to gobble up our daring young heroine is the best cover of the series so far.

Tomas Giorello takes over as the artist for next month’s arc, and I couldn’t be happier. Bruce Guice has been very good, but with Giorello taking over it’s going to get even better. Giorello’s work on King Conan for Dark Horse comics was absolutely stunning, and in my eyes he’s one of the very best artists working in the comic book industry today.  Excited? You bet I am. I can’t wait to see what he does with the icy landscapes of Winterworld.

Winterworld is a rare comic book. Simple, yet good, with no underlying statism and characters that I can relate to and care about. There’s a refreshing absence of wagging fingers telling you to bow down to uniformed ‘heroes’ and watch what you say less you might upset the feminist liberal thought Police. It’s just a good old-fashioned comic book. Hopefully it will make a good old-fashioned television show as well. God knows we need something decent to watch on the lying box these days.

Rating: 8/10