303 Review (Garth Ennis, Jacen Burrows)

Garth Ennis does NOT like George W. Bush or his administration or seemingly America in general really and he basically uses 303 as his hate screed to show why. 

Highbone Theater by Joe Daly Review

Books like Highbone Theater make me wonder what motivates artists like Joe Daly. Is he just doing such staggering amounts of hallucinogens/weed that he really believes what he’s doing is a masterpiece of sorts and therefore worth the effort? Because this is a 560+ page comic - an amazing achievement in itself - that’s about the mundane adventures of a twentysomething stoner who doesn’t really do anything! 

The Visitor: How and Why He Stayed Review (Mike Mignola, Chris Roberson)

A more accurate title for this book would be The Visitor: Why??? 

An alien race of watchers is unnecessarily introduced to the Hellboy universe for no reason other than to sell more comics to Hellboy fans. One of them is there when Hellboy first appears during World War 2 and his orders are to kill him because of that cliched literary trope, a “prophecy” - but the Visitor instead decides to give Hellboy a chance. From then on, he watches Hellboy’s adventures over the decades in the background, occasionally saving his ass in secret, and fighting some monsters/frog worshippers. 

Animal Man, Volume 2: Origin of the Species Review (Grant Morrison, Chas Truog)

Grant Morrison’s second Animal Man book doesn’t improve on the lacklustre first volume being equally dull. There’s no overarching storyline to this series, it’s just a collection of random, uninteresting adventures Buddy Baker goes on. 

Google's Ideological Echo Chamber by James Damore Review

Link to the memo: https://assets.documentcloud.org/docu...

Like a 21st century Martin Luther/Jerry Maguire, (now former) Google Software Engineer James Damore wrote a 10-page memo for his employers entitled Google’s Ideological Echo-Chamber: How Bias Clouds Our Thinking About Diversity and Inclusion - and was promptly fired! 

Batman: Gotham Shall Be Judged Review (David Hine, Guillem March)

I don’t think I’ve ever read an Azrael book before - but then I never come across them either! And this is why: Azrael sucks. This version of the character (the previous one being the laughably ‘90s Jean-Paul Valley from Knightfall) is Grant Morrison’s Michael Lane, a tortured ex-cop who gets all crazy religious for some reason, dresses up like a medieval Crusader and, like too many real-life Christians, behaves like a judgmental twat. Azrael is going to vaguely “judge” Gotham - which apparently means blowing it up? Buuh, I wonder if Batman will stop him? Snooze. 

Kill Or Be Killed, Volume 2 Review (Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips)

In the first book we met Dylan, a grad student whose life was saved by a demon. In exchange, he had to kill someone “deserving” (ie. a shithead) each month or he would die - kill or be killed. In the second book… nothing much new happens. Dylan continues to kill and that’s about it! 

Reborn: Book One Review (Mark Millar, Greg Capullo)

Is there life after death? Bonnie Black discovers that the answer is yes – and it’s an afterlife littered with demons, dragons, barbarians, sorcerers, orcs, samurais, aliens, faeries, flying elephants, mythical creatures; in other words, a smorgasbord of genre clichés! But the lazy writing doesn’t stop there: Bonnie is The One that The Prophecy foretold would save everyone from The Evil One. Oh, so original!

Redlands #1 Review (Jordie Bellaire, Vanesa R. Del Rey)

I get why stories sometimes start in the middle or just go straight into an action scene before doubling back. Normally it’s a scene or two, a few pages, to grab your attention AND THEN the story starts properly so you appreciate and understand the opener more. 

The first issue of Jordie Bellaire and Vanesa R. Del Rey’s Redlands is one big action scene and it doesn’t work because everything is rushed and nothing is established so it’s impossible to care about anything. 

God Country Review (Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw)

An old dude with Alzheimer’s somehow has a Final Fantasy-type giant magical sentient sword that cures his horrible disease while he holds it – but a space wizard villain something wants it back for reasons. Stupid fighting ensues!

Batman, Volume 3: I Am Bane Review (Tom King, David Finch)

Following his daring raid on Bane’s island home of Santa Prisca, Batman has taken the Psycho Pirate back to restore Gotham Girl’s shattered mind. But with Bane hot on his heels, will Batman be able to keep him occupied for five days - or will Bane break the Bat once and for all? 

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware Review

Four high school friends now in their thirties reunite after a terrible shared secret threatens to emerge and shatter their peaceful lives. But what they thought was a shared secret turns out to be a lie - one of them isn’t telling the truth. 

Scars Review (Warren Ellis, Jacen Burrows)

Scars is an experimental comic in that Warren Ellis set out to write a horror story that would shock even him and the end result is, yeah, genuinely disturbing! Scars centres around John Cain, a Homicide Detective already near the end of his tether, as he investigates the case of a dead little girl who’d been kidnapped, tortured for three months and then cut up and delivered in some cardboard boxes. The further Cain looks for the child’s killer, the further he moves from his own humanity. This can only end badly.

Hellboy: Into the Silent Sea Review (Mike Mignola, Gary Gianni)

In the words of Van Jones describing Trump and Russia, Hellboy: Into the Silent Sea is a big nothingburger. It’s the archetypical Hellboy story: Hellboy goes someplace remote, encounters some supernatural things, there’s some trite exposition, he punches a monster, the end. That’s all that happens here - nothing remotely new, different or original for readers like me who’ve read all the previous Hellboy comics. 

Gary Gianni’s art is beautifully eerie and haunting. It’s the kind of art I remember seeing in illustrated classics as a kid and the spindly lines and nineteenth century decor is perfectly suited to a ghost story. Coupled with Dave Stewart’s always dependable, sharp colours and you’ve got a wonderful-looking comic. 

The art is all Into the Silent Sea has going for it though. Mike Mignola’s firmly on autopilot in this dreary comic. Disappointingly weak - definitely not a must-read for anyone but the most ardent/completist Hellboy fans.