The Road Through the Wall by Shirley Jackson Review

I’m a big fan of Shirley Jackson’s - The Haunting of Hill House is great, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a masterpiece, and her short stories are mostly amazing - but I was shocked at how utterly bad her first novel, The Road Through the Wall, was.

Doomsday Clock, Part 1 Review (Geoff Johns, Gary Frank)

Ozymandias, the world’s smartest man and a celebrated superhero, tried to save the world - and failed. About as badly as he could have!

7 years later…

The Dollhouse Family Review (Mike Carey, Peter Gross)

Spooky dollhouse, gonna spook it up, spooking people over time because that’s what spooky dollhouses do! Boo! Spooky dollhouse!

Let the Old Dead Make Room for the Young Dead by Milan Kundera Review

A 35 year old man happens across a former lover, a 50 year old woman, and the two reminisce about their affair from 15 years ago and how things were then, how things are now, time, age, and all sorts of pseudo-heady things - but where will the evening take them…?

2000AD Prog 2200 Review

My fifth review for Multiversity Comics went up today - it's the first part of Judge Dredd: Carry the Nine: http://www.multiversitycomics.com/news-columns/multiver-city-one-2200/

Stillwater #1 Review (Chip Zdarsky, Ramon K. Perez)

Dan West receives a hand-delivered letter from a little old man in a bowler hat summoning him to the town of Stillwater to receive an undisclosed sum from his great-grand-aunt’s estate. Having recently been fired with nothing but time on his hands and a need for cash, it’s the perfect time for a road trip! But what is Stillwater - and why has no-one heard of it…?

Judge Dredd Megazine 424 Review

My fourth review for Multiversity Comics went up - it's the first part of The Returners: http://www.multiversitycomics.com/news-columns/judge-dredd-megazine-424/

The Low, Low Woods Review (Carmen Maria Machado, DaNi)

In Small Mining American Town, the women are having episodes of memory loss. Well, it’s gotta be the men’s fault, hasn’t it? Teenagers El and Octavia set out to find out what’s what because apparently only teenagers can crack this one.

Red Pill by Hari Kunzru Review

Hari Kunzru is one of those names I’ve repeatedly come across when browsing bookshelves over the years but I’ve never read one of his books before. So when I saw Red Pill, which sounded topical and potentially interesting in a transgressive/satirical way, I decided to finally find out if this was a writer for me. And - nope!

2000AD Prog 2199 Review

My third review for Multiversity Comics went up today - it's the third and final part of Saphir: http://www.multiversitycomics.com/news-columns/multiver-city-one-2199/

Slasher by Charles Forsman Review

The only bright spot in Christine’s life is the love she’s found online with an emaciated teenager and their shared love of blood/leather/knife play fetishes. Then Christine buys a knife and, after one fateful night, her whole world changes and she discovers who she really is. She’s happy, she’s in love - and a lotta people are gonna have to die…

Chuck Forsman is one of the most original and talented cartoonists working today and Slasher is another brilliant book from this remarkable creator. Slasher reminded me a bit of the bleak, troubled romance of TEOTFW but taken to the next level - ie. much, much darker - and mixed with the bloodiness of Revenger.

I can see why some people might not like this book very much: Christine is unlikeable and severely unhinged. Things escalate without rhyme or reason and seemingly gratuitously, barrelling towards total nihilism. But I also think that’s part of the book’s appeal: it’s so unapologetic in what it is, much like Christine learns to be. As fucked up as everything in this book is, this is love for Christine - it’s not most people’s idea of love, but she’s also not most people.

And that’s the other thing: this is a love story. Yes it is, and I really like that there is a blip of human tenderness and soul amidst all the carnage. It’s a love story I’ve never read before and I appreciate Forsman giving us a different take on this oldest of story types.

The story is completely unpredictable and, for all its horror, utterly compelling. The twist is impossible to predict as is Christine’s behaviour in general. Forsman’s writing is very artful and minimalist - he’s not going to explain any of it to the reader - so it’s a little unsatisfying in that you’re left with some questions that’ll never be answered; I still really enjoyed Slasher regardless.

One of the many things I love about Charles Forsman’s comics is how unique they are. There’s nothing comparable to them out there and his stories are always imaginative, thoughtful, memorable, and so well put-together. Slasher is definitely a disturbing read but bold, challenging and gripping regardless. 

Batman: Curse of the White Knight Review (Sean Murphy, Klaus Janson)

With Jack Napier (mostly) gone, the Joker is back to wreak havoc on Gotham City by revealing a groundbreaking truth about Batman - and he’s gonna use Jean-Paul Valley as his avenging angel of death to do it!

Why Goodreads is good for readers and books: a rebuttal to Sarah Manavis’ “Why Goodreads is bad for books”

I read Sarah Manavis’ article “Why Goodreads is bad for books” on The New Statesman’s site today (read it here: https://www.newstatesman.com/science-...) wondering if I was going to learn something new about Goodreads (hereafter abbreviated as GR) - because why else would this article be written but as an expose on a seemingly benign site; surely it wouldn’t be an arbitrary, weak jab against a popular site simply because it’s popular, would it? - and I didn’t unfortunately. It’s basically just an opinion piece with some vague, and ultimately pointless, assertions to cater to malcontents who have an axe to grind against GR for their own reasons.

Hellblazer: Rise and Fall #1 Review (Tom Taylor, Darick Robertson)

Politicians and the wealthy elite are being stripped nekkid, having angel wings glued to their backs and dropped from the sky - sounds good to me, what’s the probs? Constantine sets out to investigate anyway - expect supernatural reasons why!

2000AD Prog 2198 Review

My second review for Multiversity Comics went up today - it's the second part of Saphir: http://www.multiversitycomics.com/news-columns/multiver-city-one-2198/

Reality, and Other Stories by John Lanchester Review

Reality, and Other Stories collects eight horror-themed short stories by John Lanchester, most of which are kinda meh.

DCeased Review (Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine)

Darkseid completes the Anti-Life Equation (again), this time with the twist of adding death to the mix - and inadvertently kickstarts the DC version of Marvel Zombies! Booming Cyborg back to Earth from Apokolips as patient zero, he inadvertently spreads the equation as a techno-organic virus when his system automatically connects to the interwebs so anyone with a smartphone or computer, ie. everyone, gets infected - superheroes too. Who lives, who dies, who cares…

The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist by Adrian Tomine Review

The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist is a collection of amusing, self-effacing autobiographical vignettes from Adrian Tomine’s career promoting his work at comics conventions, literary festivals, and so on, as well as the general public’s perceptions of his books. And it’s really good - I enjoyed it a lot!

The Bohemians by Norman Ohler Review

Norman Ohler follows up his fantastic book Blitzed (my favourite book of 2016) with The Bohemians, another history book about the Third Reich, focusing mainly on two figures, Harro and Libertas Schulze-Boysen, a young couple who were part of the German resistance to Hitler’s Nazi regime during the war. I’d like to say this was every bit as eye-opening and gripping as Blitzed but unfortunately it’s nowhere near as good.

2000AD Prog 2197 Review

My first review for Multiversity Comics went up today - it's the first part of Saphir: http://www.multiversitycomics.com/news-columns/multiver-city-one-2197/

Gigant, Volume 1 by Hiroya Oku Review

A student filmmaker meets his favourite pornstar who’s recently had a device fused to her wrist, by a time-traveller who turns into a doll, that allows her to control her size - so she can become a giantess if she wants. There’s also a rogue AI that the time-travelling doll-man seemed to be trying to stop and a website that grants wishes that come true. I KNOW, who hasn’t read this same, tired old story a zillion times before, eh? Yeesh, come up with something original, Hiroya Oku!