Comlexia

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,

2009-06-18T09:54:00.001+01:00

Its out tomorrow and ive got my tickets booked!

The Flash: Rebirth

2009-06-18T08:37:00.004+01:00

Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Ethan Van Sciver
Publisher: DC Comics

Back in May when I went to the Bristol Comic Expo, I attended a DC comics panel that was being hosted by Dan DiDio. In the panel Dan asked the audience to ask questions about any of their characters and he would try answer them as best he could, so I asked a question about the Flash and why the 60s version (Barry Allen) was recently resurrected as I felt there was no need to do this. Dan informed the audience and myself there was/is a purpose to him coming back and that I should check out the series to see what it is. So recently I picked up the issues of the series to see why but before I get into that let me just have a quick recap as to how the Flash died originally.

In 1986 DC Comic decided to have a massive comic event that would unify all of their super hero comic lines into one universe rather than having stories set in different universes. This event was called Crisis of the Infinite Earth's and as the story progressed quite a few characters died and were not seen again most notable was the Flash (Barry Allen) and to make it worst when he did die, he died alone saving the Earth and he literally ran him self to death.
When the rest of the super heroes did discover that Barry Allen had died, the mantle of the Flash was handed down to his side kick Kid Flash(Wally West). This new Flash(Wally West) went on to become just as heroic as his predecessor if not better and he has now been the flash for the last 20 years. But for the last few years it has appeared that DC Comics don't know what to do with the character and this has resulted with Barry Allen some how being resurrected. Although it turns out his resurrection might just result in the death of other characters, as Barry Allen has come back as the Black Flash, bringer of death.

Barry Allen has returned to the DC Comic Universe but this time he seems to have taken the role of Death. The reason he has become death?No body knows at this point in time but it seems to involve the evil and twisted Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash. Barry Allen cant seem to touch any one or have any one touch him at this point as it results in the persons death. The series features many of the DC super heroes and issue 3 features a rather nice conversation piece between Superman and Barry Allen where, Superman reveals that he wont let Barry die again as they have lost far to many heroes recently.

Whilst the series is enjoyable there are a lot of characters in this series and I really do think DC should take a leaf out of Marvels and 2000ad comics and have a page at the start of every issue informing the reader who a lot of the characters in the book are. Also even though I am enjoying the series I still cant say that I am really bothered that Barry Allen is back as I dont find him that interesting as a character. The Flash I grew up reading was the Wally West version of the character and return of Barry feels like its 15 years too late. I still don't see the point in resurrecting the character other than to make him Death in the DC universe. All I keep thinking is that this series might be tied into the current story line going through Green Lantern(Where the dead are going to be joining the black/dead Lanterns).
The artwork in this series is great and very detailed. I know that some people can find Ethan Van Sciver's work a bit mush at times but I really enjoyed looking at it and seeing how much detail he put in to every page.

The series might be a bit much for new readers of the character as the book ties heavily into the DC comic continuity although through out there are a lot of flash back sequences to past events. I think this series is worth a try for dyslexic readers as it is very well written although I would say bear in mind there are a lot of references to DC continuity so this might be better suited to some one who is quite up to date with DC Comics. A enjoyable read and I'm intrigued to see where it will go next.

Bad Company: Goodbye, Krool World

2009-06-11T20:02:00.004+01:00

Writer:Peter Milligan
Illustrators:Brett Ewins, Jim McCarthy, Steve Dillon
Publisher: 2000AD - Rebellion

I picked up this book back when I went to the Bristol Comic Expo. I really did not know anything about the series prior to picking this up but from the summary on the back of the book I thought it sounded quite interesting.

The story is told from the point of view of Danny Franks a young soldier who is fighting a war against the evil Krool who seem hell-bent on taking over the universe and experimenting on mankind. Danny ends up being part of a unit called Bad Company, which seems to be populated by a collection of misfits and monsters led by the mysterious Kano and who all were seemingly created by the Krool. Danny and Bad Company are pushed to their limits and you can never be sure who will make it to the end of the book as it seems no one is safe.

Now to me the book sounds very interesting. Its essentially a war story in space with monsters on the good side. Problem is a lot of the characters are just so unlikeable that the reader cant connect with any one in the book so that when they are killed off or injured you really not that bothered. I really wanted to enjoy this book but I just could not get into it at all. The first story just seemed to drag on in a lot of places and when the end finally came I was glad because I was bored in all honesty. The second story was not much better. Danny the character from the first story goes about setting up the next incarnation of Bad Company but now he's kind of looking a bit more "tough" and he gets another bunch of monsters together to go on a suicide mission to stop a rampaging monster. As before this group are just as bad as the last bunch and not a lot of them make it out to the end.
Another thing I found annoying about the book was the constant close up's on characters faces. I did not see the need for it and thought it was a bit boring. Otherwise the art work in the book was very good and there were some nice action sequences in the book.

I do believe there is a second volume to this book and at this point I am not sure whether I will make the effort to pick it up. I was a bit down that the book was not as good as what I hoped it would be. This does not mean that the book was bad, it just was not for me.

Batman And Robin Issue 1

2009-06-10T21:32:00.003+01:00

Writer: Grant Morrison
Illustrator: Frank Quietly
Publisher: DC Comics

Last week saw the release of the new Batman and Robin comic series from DC Comics.I am sure there are quite a lot of reviews all over the internet of this comic but I wanted to review it too as Grant Morrison's take on Batman was quite interesting and controversial. If you don't know much about Morrison's run on Batman, really all you need to know is that Batman (Bruce Wayne) was pushed beyond his limits and the climax of the story resulted in his Death (Sort of). Morrison's entire run on Batman seems to be held in high regard by most but sadly I cant say the same. For me I have found his entire run very forgettable, especially the final part of his run called Batman: R.I.P. which I found incredibly confusing and once the story was complete I felt incredibly relived as the story was over. This does not mean the run/stories were bad, just that they were not Batman stories for me. It could be because of my dyslexia that I did not fully understand what was going on in the of comics. There seemed to be an infinite amount of information and references to many Batman stories from the silver age or possibly the golden age of comics. I would advise other dyslexics to avoid reading Morrison's run on Batman because of this as I have often just found the information with in the book too intense. This does not mean I struggle with every thing that Grant Morrison has written though, I thoroughly enjoyed his run on the JLA back in the 90s as well as his run on New X-men and I cant recommend those titles enough, both of which are being collected in trade paperback formats currently.

Now on to Batman and Robin. I have not read a Batman comic since the Batman: R.I.P. story line, so I have gone into the issue knowing that Bruce Wayne, the original Batman is now deceased. Dick Grayson the original Robin - The boy Wonder and former Nightwing has taken up the mantle of Batman and he has a new Robin with him called Damien Wayne (Bruce's son), who just happens to of be trained by the League of assassins and raised by his insane/villainous mother Talia al ghul.
The story starts out with a car chase where a character styled like Toad from Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows, is on the run from the Batmobile, which has now been upgraded to fly through the streets of Gotham City. It seems that since the city thought Batman was dead, crime has been on the increase and has started to attract a new batch weird criminals. The most interesting character seems to be the new crime boss called PYG, who seems to be incredibly brutal and totally on crazy.

The relationship dynamic between the New Batman and Robin seems very interesting. Where in the past Robin always seemed to look up to Batman, this Robin seems to be a very rude and arrogant young man who thinks he is ready to become Batman right now. Although Robin is very cocky he also seems to have a vast intellect which in time could surpass his father's. Robin also seems to have no respect for his elders as he is constantly dismissing Alfred and wants Dick to step aside as soon as possible.
Dick seems to of taken over the role of Batman with ease, although he does mention to Alfred that he knew one day he would have to step into the role of Batman but he did not want to face up to it.

This comic was good. Real good in fact and very easy to understand. I was able to go into this comic with out having read the back story as how the new Batman and Robin came to be and just enjoy their adventures from this issue. There are numerous changes to the Batman mythos which might seem off putting to some old time Batman fans but near enough all the changes are explained through out the issue. If you want to check out a decent Batman comic, this is probably one of the best in the last few years. Check it out!

The Complete Ro-Busters

2009-05-29T21:30:00.010+01:00

Writers: Pat Mills and Alan Moore

Illustrators: Kevin O'Neill, Dave Gibbons, Mike McMahon and Mike Dorey

Publisher: 2000AD - Rebellion

Back at the Bristol Comic Expo I was able to pick this book up for £10 and it was pretty much the only book I came looking for at the show. The book had been recommended to me by quite a few people all of whom seemed to hold the book is very high regard. The only character I knew of from the series was one of the main characters called Hammerstein. Back in the 90s when I had been reading 2000ad Hammerstein had been featured in a strip called A.B.C. Warriors, which I remembered enjoying.

Moving on to Ro-Busters when I first opened the book I was expecting to see the character Hammerstein but in this book he looked vastly different from how I remembered him. Any way the series is about two robots called Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws who are old robots waiting to be sold at a second hand used robots lot. Essentially Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws are C3PO(But double hard and has a back bone) and R2D2 (Except a lot more offensive and twisted) and they are brought by a cyborg called Mr Ten Percent, who then inducts them in to his rescue team Ro-Busters. Which is very similar to Gerry Andersons Thunderbirds. Ro-busters is a collection of old robots that are deployed to emergencies all over the world and a lot of the time most of the supporting are killed as soon as they are introduced.
Through out the book MR Ten Percent seems adamant to see the destruction Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws in each story although luckily they seem to escape destruction every time. The book follows there adventures through out with the exception of one story which features a division of Ro-Busters called the Terra-Meks, where for a change the Ro-Busters are actually the bad guys and are taken on by a gigantic robot called Charley defender of the people. Whilst this story is good, I do not want to talk about to much as a lot of other reviews seem to focus quite a lot in this story.

Through out the book the one character who I thought was fantastic and I undoubtedly now have a Robot-Crush on is Ro-Jaws. Never in my life have I read a character who is so offensive yet attempts to be charming at the same time. As soon as I saw him up to something in one of the stories, I could always tell its going to end badly! Ro-Jaws is with out a doubt the ugliest, most offensive but funny character that I have read about in years.

I really enjoyed reading this book and was glad that there is only 1 volume collecting the stories as it is with out a doubt one of the best omnibus/collections that I have on my shelves. I would even be willing to say it's probably the best 2000ad collection I have read yet. The stories were easy to follow and understand and I know I'm new to Pat Mills writing but I really enjoyed his story telling. The pacing of the stories was great and I really felt that the characters were developing through out the book. The first few stories in the book were very short but as the stories progress there is more of a back story being built up. The Artwork in the book is great but with the creative talent involved its not a shock. Although I'm sure at the time the comics were originally produced none of the artists knew that their work would be collected in a massive collection. Also I am sure each artist makes poor Ro-Jaws uglier when ever they came onto the book.

A great book and a real investment. If you have not checked out this volume yet then you really should as it really offers a great collection of comic strips by a lot of now well known creators and two of the best characters I have ever been introduced too.

Judge Dredd VS Aliens

2009-05-19T15:19:00.008+01:00

Writers: John Wagner & Andy Diggle
Artist: Henry Flint
Publisher: 2000AD - Rebellion

I am not and never will be a big fan of crossover books. Back when I was a teenager I loved them and thought they were great. There was Aliens VS Predator, Robocop VS Terminator, Marvel VS DC and the weirdest one of all Punisher and Archie. I thought they were great cause they were over the top and featured battles comic fans had always wanted to see and always out of continuity. Truth be told though, when ever I look back at some of these crossovers, they just don't stand the test of time. A lot of the time they feature a plot that could of been conceived by a 4 year old and the artists who work on the books don't always appear to be putting in a lot of effort. There has been a couple of notable exceptions though, the first Aliens VS Predator book is very entertaining and even reading it some 20 years after it was first published, it still reads really well. The second crossover book that stands out as really well done is Wild C.A.T.S. VS Aliens, which is about a superhero team (Storm watch) being wiped out by the Aliens on a space station, with another team of superheroes(Wild C.A.T.S.) attempting to rescue any survivors. By the end of the issue Storm Watch are pretty much dead and the story actually happened in continuity, which had hardly ever been done at that point. This then lead to the launch of the Authority but that's a review for another time.

My biggest problems with crossovers now though is the fact the suffer from poor characterisation. Take any Aliens crossover and I guarantee who ever is writing it will try and emulate the story of James Cameron's Aliens and the Aliens essentially become redundant and in effect are no longer the terrifying presence they once were.
It's a shame but it just seems that the Aliens are used to make other characters they are crossing over with look more heroic and the aliens seem to be so easily defeated from then on.I remember the first time I saw Ridley Scott's Alien and I was truly terrified that of it. In the film there is one Alien and it slowly annihilates the crew of the Nostromo, the spaceship that it is on. Eventually the Alien is defeated but only after 90% of the crew are killed and one woman (and her cat) are left. Aliens the sequel is just as good but the horror genre takes second place to make way for a more action based story. Whilst it is a good story it has been copied and referenced so many times that I can no longer be bothered to read comic with Aliens in it as I know it is going to be a carbon copy of the film.

Until now. Recently I had been speaking to the hosts of "It all comes back to 2000AD" podcast and Flint one of the presenters had recommended Judge Dredd VS Aliens as it was a crossover that actually happened in continuity. So recently I picked it up to read and I was dubious to see what it had to offer.

The story starts of with a odd looking guy doing a runner from his car in a traffic jam and soon enough it becomes painfully obvious that this guy has an Alien inside him. Luckily for him, he near a hospital and whilst trying to treat him the Alien bursts through his chest and escapes into the Hospitals air vent system. Soon enough it becomes clear that the Alien is a very big and real threat to all in the hospital. Whilst this is going on Judge Dredd and a team of other judges engage another Alien and it does not take long for Dredd to realise these Aliens and incredibly lethal but only after a Judge is impregnated by a Face-huger(part of the Aliens evolutionary process)and few other Judges are severely wounded and killed.
The first part of the book is about the Judges encountering the Aliens and trying to come up with a way to exterminate them with out injuring or killing any one. It takes Judge Dredd a gargantuan effort just to defeat one of them!The Second Part of the book deals discovering where the Aliens came from and to ensure they don't overrun the Mega City One. Whilst discussing what they should do the Hall of Justice (Judge's headquarters) is invaded from the Undercity below and the all out war breaks out between the Judges and the Aliens. The Judges are struggling to to beat the Aliens and the quick thinking of Judge Giant helps turn the tide by using Mechanismo Droids (Robot Judges) to fight the Aliens so there is no more casualties. Its not long before the Aliens are returning to the Undercity but they have also taken the young Judge Sanchez and Dredd goes after her only to be captured by the Aliens. It's not long until to we see Judges Dredd and Sanchez again, but this time they have been impregnated. How will it all end?
I went into this book being very weary of what the story was like but I am quite pleased to say, it's probably the best Crossover book that I have read in years, if not the best all round. The Aliens in the book really are scary and through out the book I really did doubt whether some of the established characters would actually make it through the story. Even when Judge Dredd was infected I really did wonder if he would make it to the end of the book. I really like the fact that although the Judges did have weapons they had to be careful using the them otherwise they would be splashed with the Alien's acidic blood. This book was extremely well written and illustrated, both the Judges and the Aliens characterisation was spot on in my opinion. Even if no one has read a Judge Dredd or Aliens story before, they could read this book and get a very good indication of what both Characters are like, so if your dyslexic and want to check this out go for it.

A very good read and the best Judge Dredd story i've read since The Pit. Worth the read and every penny!

Does everything come back to 2000AD?

2009-05-18T20:42:00.009+01:00

This year I have rediscovered my appreciation for 2000AD. It also seems that there are quite a few other people who are getting back into the comic. The reason I have got back into 2000AD is because I have been reading quite a few of the trade paperback collections, most notably the Strontium Dog Case files and Judge Dredd: The Pit. I had never read the early stories of Strontium Dog and The Pit story I read back when I was 15 and after a good 12 years I think the story still holds up very well. Also Since August 2008 I have been purchasing the Judge Dredd Megazine every month. The Megazine (That's not a typo) is out once a month and comes with a free "Graphic Novel"(it's a comic) each issue. Whenever I pick up an issue it always takes me a couple of days to read it as there is a lot of interesting comic strips and articles in it.

With reading the collections and the megazine I have been kinda curious to check out more collections of older material as well as the current issues of 2000AD. To top it off there has also been a new 2000AD podcast that has been released by Richard McAuliffe and Steven Reid which is quite entertaining and incredibly informative.

So 2 weeks ago I picked up 2000AD for the first time in a while and so far I am enjoyin it quite a lot. The first issue, sorry I mean Prog I picked up was 1633 Which featured strips of Judge Dredd, Savage 1984, Zombo,Nikolai Dante and a new story called Cradlegrave. With the exception of Cradlegrave which started this issue, all of the other strips had started in previous strips were fairly easy to get into.Prog 1634 featured more of the same strips and was still entertaing.The Nikolai Dante strip wraped up this prog and this means there will a new strip in the next week. The quality of the strips is really good and even though I feel like I have come in the middle of some of the stories they are very easy to follow, as there are summaries to each story at the start of each prog.

Prog 1635 features a new comic strip staring Slaine called the Gong Beater. I really dont know much about the character but it's written by Pat Mills and features the superb artwork by Clint Langley.
Out of all the strips in the Prog's I felt that the Judge Dredd stories were the weakest, which is a shame. My favourite strip so far has to be Savage:1984 which features a character similar to the Punisher taking on Invading forces in the UK. It seems that some sort of bomb has wiped out most of the technology, similar to a EMP. Cradlegrave seems like it could be an interesting story although I think it's to early to tell as so far not much has happened. Zombo Seems to be a horror story that features a Zombie that can be controled and used to protect people. It reminds me a bit of Doctor Who really, where I spend half the time working out which character will be killed off next.
All in all I am really enjoying reading 2000AD again and I cant wait to see how a few of the strips develop. With my dyslexia, it does make reading some strips difficult cause there is a lot going on in each issue, but the summaries at the start of each issue are a great help and makes it easy to follow. I think I will stick with 2000AD for the foreseeable future and I have a massive stack of 200oAD trades to get through.

So if you have not read an issue of 2000AD recently, it might be worth picking it up again. Does everything come back to 2000AD? Ultimately yes it does.

The Cottage Part 1

2009-05-13T22:42:00.002+01:00

The Cottage

October 1987

I’m 7 years old and we had just moved to Lower Newport Road. It’s our first house that we actually own, prior to that we had lived all over the country as my old man was a lifer in the Army and we lived in all manner of army quarters. Lower Newport Road however was the place I will always call home.

It was a quiet road and located quite closely to my school. Strangely enough though at the end of Lower Newport Road there was a closed down Milk Dairy which had recently been purchased by a housing company and more houses were going too built there. Next to the dairy though, there was a very old cottage. It was called Malt house Cottage and no one had lived in it for years.

The first time I saw Malt house cottage I thought it was incredibly freaky, but the first time I went actually close to it, I nearly shit my pants. There were loads of bushes and over grown trees, a disused car or two and a massive padlock on the front door. The reason however that I nearly shit my pants was because when I went to get a closer a look at the cottage, I had opened the large rusted gate and was walking to the cottage when I heard a loud slam from the back of the house. I quickly turned around ready to pelt it down to my house, when I ran in to him.

He was built like a brick shit house and looked like Magnum P.I crossed with Geoff Capes, oh and he never spoke. His face was emotionless and unmoving and at the moment I ran into him, he didn’t even flinch. At first I thought he lived in the cottage and that he was going to beat the living shit out of me for going in the garden, but as it turns out I was wrong. He picked me up by my parker jacket hood and dragged me from the garden; he closed the gate behind him and then pointed in the direction of my home. Not once did he speak to me, he only made brief eye contact with me and in that moment I knew I never ever in my short life wanted to cross that man, as I was fairly sure any confrontation with him would end me being wiped off the planet.

I ran straight back to my house and when I got there I turned around to see the Magnum P.I’s bigger meaner brother standing in the same spot where ran away from. He was just staring at the cottage motionless. He was looking up at one of the windows at top of the cottage and for the briefest of moments I thought I could see movement behind the window but I can be sure as I was so far away.

I knew then, that no matter what my fate was tied to Magnum P.I’s and that cottage. I just didn’t realise how bad thing were going to get from that point onwards.

To be continued

Bristol Comic Expo Sketches

2009-05-12T10:28:00.003+01:00

Whilst at the show I was able to get a few sketches from a few artists and I thought I would post them up here so people can see them.

Judge Dredd by John Higgins

Jeremiah West by Tim Keable

Optimus Prime by Jimmy Bott

Bristol Comic Expo Day 2

2009-05-10T20:31:00.005+01:00

The final day of the of the comic expo is usually a day where everyone from fans to creators are severly hung over and every one seems to be walking around in daze. This year was no different, I myself felt physically shattered as prior to traveling down to Bristol, the day before I had flown back from Malta and did not get back till very late(not to mention I was habouring a hang over from hell, as the night befor flying I had been out drinking with my dad and a couple of his mates) and did not get much sleep. So this sunday I was shattered and wanted to visit the con to pick up the last few comics and trades I wanted to pick up.

After breakfast I headed over to the expo hall and headed straight to the 2000AD table where I picked up 3 trades for the bargin price of £25! I wont revel what trades I picked up , but I will review them on here very soon! Next I picked a few cheap comics from a few stands and then I went to the Com.X stand where I picked up a RazorJack by John Higgins and I was lucky enough to get a free sketch from John of Judge Dredd, Which was a nice suprise!

After this I had to head back to my hotel to check out and load up my suitecase (Ive learnt over the years its easier to take a case and load that up with comic rather than hundreds of bags!) with all of my purchases and headed back the expo, where I spent some time sitting in the bar (not drinking) just looking through my stuff and generally relaxing. I was also lucky enough to get a given a gift which was the Self Made Hero edition of Sherlock Holmes, which looks to be a great read.

And that was about it for my weekend. I went to the show to go and find lots of new and interesting comics and trades and stuck to my budget through out. Although this years show was a lot smaller, I still really enjoyed it. I do think the saturday was the better day in my opinion. The small press expo part of the show was with out a doubt a lot my enjoyable and better set up. There were a lot of stalls with a lot of interesting products and its a shame it was not set up on both days of the weekend.

All in all I really enjoyed the expo and it was worth going.

Bristol Comic Expo Day 1 Continued

2009-05-10T00:34:00.000+01:00

I really wanted to post this up yesterday but sadly I was way tobusy to do so. When I arrived at the venue I found a que outside the building which did not take long to get through. When I entered the show,it was quite shocking to see how small it was to previous years. Although the entire show was spread out between 2 venues. The I was first at seemed to feature all the well known artists and a lot of stalls selling goods. Stalls that were worthy of note would have to be the Cinebook stand and the 2000ad stand, both of which had amazing deals on their books. Over in the other venue there was a lot of indie comic creators, all of which wanted people to buy their comics. Some were as always a bit to pushy whilst others seemed to very pleased and willing to help if I enquired about their comics/products.

Also there were a few panels through out the day too and I was able to attened a couple of these. The first being the DC Nation Panel which had Dan Didio and Bob Wayne asking members of the audience questions about the current state of DC Comics. The panel was very lively and Dan also informed every one at the panle that he was envious of me because I had brought a pint of beer into the panel, which was quite ammusing. The next panel I went to after this was the Two Drunk Guys in a panel, which was Geek Syndicate attempting to interview Dan Boultwood and Tony Lee, both of which were totally drunk and a lot of the panel made no sense what so ever.

After these panels I went back around both parts of the show a little more and was able to obtain a couple of sketches from Jimmy Bott, whose work I had previously seen in a original graphic novel called Half Dead from Marvel comics and the other sketch was from Tim Keable who is the artist of a comic he jointly creator on called West.

Not to long after this I spent the rest of the evening in the pub. Which is why im writing this early Sunday Morning!

Bristol Comic Expo Day 1

2009-05-09T07:38:00.004+01:00

This weekend I am at the Bristol Comic Expo, which is bascially a big convention about comics for comic fans. There are lots of artists and writers who will be attending as well as lots of stalls selling and promoting what ever good they have. I first started coming to these type of events about 3 years ago and I have got to admit I enjoyed them at first but as time has gone on, the enthusiasm for me to attend has gone to an all time low. I used to book every thing super early and have it all sorted months in advance but now I just cant be bothered.

Dont get me wrong I love comics and I like the fact I now have friends who like reading comics too but it does not mean I wanna spend every moment with them! Thats not me being negative, it's just for 20 odd years I collected comics with out having friends who were into comics, so when it comes to looking/shopping about for stuff I can become a bit anti social. Also it's a concentration thing, if im trying to talk as well as look for comics I end up not thinking about what I am doing and end up forgetting.

Any way enough about me turning into a grumpy old fart, this weekend I am going to keep updating my blog letting people know how the show is going onand if there are any interesting news piece I can post about on here. There hopefully should be ome pics too. All this would not be possible with out my dad, who very kindly gave me his mostly new laptop as a gift for looking after my mother(and the house and cat) who spent most of the last week in hospital.

Any way check back later for updates through out the weekend!Unless your already here!

Viking Issue 1

2009-05-04T10:57:00.006+01:00

Writer: Ivan Brandon
Illustrator and Colourist: Nic Klein
Publisher: Image Comics

A few months back I picked up the first trade paperback collection of Northlanders from DC/Vertigo comics. Northlanders is essentially about vikings and the Norse people. Whilst I mostly enjoy the book, I felt no desire too get the next trade as the books conclusion was lacking in my opinion. So when it was announced that Image comics were releasing their own similar viking themed(called Viking)comic in 2009, I thought I would give it a go as well.

Viking Issue 1's story revolves around 2 viking brothers who slaughter a band of men in order to make a name for them selves by stealing from those who are wealthy. As the story progresses we get to see more of the 2 brothers lives and how they are very different from one another. Egil is the more aggressive brother who would happily kill any and all who get in his path, whilst his brother Finn is a lot more wiser and thoughtful,his over confidence could be his undoing. Other characters who appear in the book are King Bram, who appears to be powerful, confident and willing to defend what is rightfully his and the character I would like to see more of Princess Annikki who seems to have a warriors spirit and willing to put others above her own protection.
Whilst at the moment I'm not sure how these characters stories will tie together , I can only guess.The final part of the first issue ends with a conflict, which could be possible to changing certain characters paths in the future.

In my opinion I really enjoyed this comic and really want to know more about all the characters with in. Whilst reading Northlanders there was only 1 real character I wanted to know about and by the end of the book I found out his fate, so for that reason I don't feel the need to read more. With 4 characters that I am interested in though I could see my enjoyment for this book carrying on for a while. I don't think for a second that all of the characters will be there by the time the story ends but I'm hopeful that more characters will be introduced that are just as interesting.

I thought the comic was well written although it did take me twice to read it and fully understand it. This is not a negative point, it just warranted two reads in order for my dyslexia to fully process every thing that was going on. What I also liked was the way the characters talked, I liked the fact that they swore in the comic but only when need and only by certain characters. Also whilst reading the comic, i felt that each character had their own unique voice and what I found especially moving was when Princess Annikki was confronted by the bear, I felt I could hear the tremble in her voice and although she was scared she did not one the bear to be executed for its natural curiosity. The artwork in the book is truly amazing and I love the fact that Image had made the comic over sized in order for the read to fully appreciate Nic Klein fabulous artwork. I honestly cant tell how he has produced the artwork, it looks to me like he has used a mixture of media in order to create the book. At times I can see parts Andy Kubert styled artwork mixed in with a bit of Jack Kirby and Roy Lichtenstein. I honestly feel that the artwork is an infusion of all three and yet it really is it's own style at the same time.

I really enjoyed Viking's and I will pick up the future issues. I think this comic will be a challenge with my dyslexia but its going to be worth it as I'm hoping the best is yet to come and its going to be enjoyable getting there.

Free Comic Book Day 2009

2009-05-01T11:51:00.008+01:00

On Saturday 2nd May 2009 there is a promotion taking place in Comic shops around the world called Free Comic Book Day. For this day a lot of comic companies produce Free editions of their comics. Marvel, DC, Dark Horse,IDW and Image always release title and a lot of the time the material is exclusive and not just reprints. Whilst there is a plethora of titles being released I wanted to recommend a couple of books that have been released. I have read these 2 comics and out of all the FCBD comics released, these titles stood head and shoulders above the rest in my opinion.

Contract #1
Writer: Garan Madeiros
Artists: Kevin Sharpe, Rick Ketcham, Mark McKenna
Publisher: A First Salvo

The comic starts a character called Jessie Garrett going home and having a days rest from being mercenary and running her own Merc company, "The Stellar Rangers". She's gone home to see her dad however she ends up finding a stranger in her home who is a friend of her father and ends up giving him a recap of her life so far and revealing why she became a mercenary.

Now from the cover on the comic I expected the comic to have Jessie running around half naked through out the comic. The character appears to be drawn like a lot of comic "Bad Girls" but in all fairness there whilst there was a lot cleavage shots in the comic it really did not distract me from the story. I really enjoyed the story and wanted to know more about the characters in the comic. In some ways the comic really reminded me of a cartoon that used to be on in the summer holidays when I was a kid, called " The Galaxy Rangers".
The writing in the comic was easy to understand and a pleasure to read. The artwork through out the book was very dynamic and fast paced. I especially liked Kevin Sharpe artwork at the start of the book and would like see a lot more of his work in the future. A great introduction to a new character and I will be ordering the issues that have already been released.

The Stuff Of Legend
Writers: Mike Raicht and Brian Smith
Artist: Charles Paul Wilson III
Publisher: Th3Rd World Studios

This is with out a doubt my favourite FCBD Comic that I have read so far. The story follows a young boy is trying to get to sleep late one night, when all of a sudden The Boogeyman attacks the boy and his dog and kidnaps the boy and takes him into the dark world of the closet. What follows is the assembling of a small force of Toys who embark on a mission to rescue the young boy from the The Boogeyman and his army of long forgotten toys. The issue focuses on the boys abduction and the assembling of the toys who seek to rescue him.
I really enjoyed this comic. The writing was superb and easy to understand. I loved how each of the toys had their own character and all seemed to have their motivation for rescuing the boy. The artwork is truly spectacular and at times reminded me of Dave McKean in places. I honestly cant wait to order this comic and read the full story.
Prior to reading this I had no idea what the comic was about and I had never heard of Th3Rd World Studios. Now I know who they are, I will hopefully be checking out some of their other titles if they are of a similar standard to this.

So tomorrow go to you local comic shop and see if they are participating in FCBD and if they are pick up the 2 title above as you wont be disappointed.

Dyslexia Annoys Me Part 2

2009-04-30T14:02:00.005+01:00

A couple of days ago I started writing this unsure of where I was going with it other than, knowing that my dyslexia has really been bothering me of late. What I wanted to write was a nice informative piece which went in to details about dyslexia and my thoughts on it. Yet looking back at the first part, I can see my dyslexia in full effect. What I mean by this, if you go back and read the the post I start talking about one subject(Dyslexia) then as I carry on writing I start talking about another subject(my friends). One of the main parts of my dyslexia is struggling to get my point across. Im now going to explain in detail what my Dyslexia is like so that people understand what its like. When I was assessed 2003 I was informed that I have Sever Dyslexia. I knew I was Dyslexic but not to that extent.

The best way I find to summarise my dyslexia is imagine a clock work machine that has been fitted with the wrong sized cogs inside. This means when the machine is instructed to do some thing, it attempts to do it but ultimately cant as the insides don't work correctly.

When attempt to write anything down it is an incredibly hard task for me to complete it. I know with in my mind, how I would like to express my self but for some reason when my brain sends these commands to my hands, what is written down is not necessarily done in the correct manor. Its also the same when I'm talking, I know what I want to say but its difficult for me get across what my point is. There has and always will be moments when I'm talking to people and I just go on a loop and keep repeating my self with out realising, of course people find it funny and have a laugh at me. Its makes it difficult because when I was younger and this happened there were more than a few occasions when I wanted (and did sometimes) lash out people. Luckily as time has gone on I have learned to control this and I realise not every one knows why I cant express myself at times.

Another part of my dyslexia that comes into play is my hand to eye coordination. A lot people probably think I am just incredibly clumsy and whilst that might be true sometimes, but not always. It also one of the main reasons why I still have not learned to drive, as I think I could be a hazard on the roads. Although saying that where ever I go,no matter if its work, home or a foreign country/place, I have to know my way around it. The first time I go to these places, it usually makes me a little bit nervous but as soon as I can find my way around them it makes it easier for me as I memorise where stuff is. I know it sounds seriously intense but its not to bad! I just do not like to be lost so I explore stuff as much as possible so I know what im doing.

The most frustrating part of my dyslexia though is being unable to document the ideas I have knocking about in my brain. It has always bothered me that it take a gargantuan effort for me to write stuff down. I know a few of my newer friends over the last few years have a had a bit of success with their writing efforts, which is fantastic, but it makes me wonder whether I truly have it in me to be able to write to their standard. I still attempt to write but in all honesty it takes a lot out of me. Even when I am at work and I have to document information, I find it incredibly taxing at times and I have to get some one else to read it too to make sure the information is relevant and I know the more I write the more confident I will become.

So I think that's the best summary of my dyslexia. Of course I do also have some of the more common elements too, such as bad grammar,poor handwriting and spelling. Now as this is the last day of April and I have hardly done any posts this months, I am going to get back on track with Comlexia and update it a lot more regularly.

The main reason I started this blog is because if you search books for dyslexics on a lot of book websites, they have a lot of information but its only relevant for the younger readers. I want this blog to detail as much as possibly whether its comics, books, films or whatever,so that if other dyslexics want to know what if its good for them they can find a review on the internet.

Don't get me wrong, Im sure Horrid Henry is a good book for young dyslexics, but what about the adults? And that is what I want to change!

Dyslexia Annoys Me

2009-04-28T21:03:00.010+01:00

I realised today I have known for I am dyslexic for roughly about 12 years. I found out when I was at college, enrolled on a GNVQ intermediate Media Course. Prior to this, I had always known/thought that I was not smart and a below average student. Whilst at school I liked to be silly and whilst I did try to get on with my studies I always struggled. For the first few years of secondary school I received help called learning support only it stopped when I got to the last 2 years, which in my opinion was ridiculous as those are probably the most important years of a youngsters school life. Any way like I said whilst at college I was encouraged to take a Dyslexia assessment, which of course revealed that I was/am dyslexic. The thing is though it made me angry, probably more angry than I have ever been in my whole life. I was so damned angry that I became a absolute horrid person. I quit college, worked in a crappy tacky supermarket and spent my wages each week by going to the pub getting pissed and then topping off the night by heading to the classiest(and only)club in Aldershot,Cheeks!. I did this for about 18 months and I found myself being bored of stacking shelves day after day, getting abuse from shop lifters and customers and generally going no where in life.
So I went back to college and started on the GNVQ Intermediate Media course yet again fully intending to complete the course this time. Looking back at it now, I realise actually the course was fairly easy, but back in 1998-1999 it was really hard but I got through it. The one thing I remember more than anything about the course was an assignment I had from a young lecturer called Ian. For 4 months he made me redo an assignment about genres. My assignment was about the Wes Craven film Scream and rather than talking about how the film fitted into the horror genre, I just wrote a rather crappy review about the film. This really was my dyslexia coming into effect, as rather than read the assignment properly, I only read/understood it partly and completely missed the point. Through that year I was incredibly nervous about actually passing the course but eventually I did complete it and then I went onto GNVQ Advanced Media course, which was a 2 year course and would be a lot harder. Again I struggled and eventually prevailed, after this I decided I wanted to go to University and to pursue a career in the film industry. Before I move on to University, I want to talk about my time at college some more.
When I went back to college to retake my GNVQ, I did not know any one on the course, which was kind of weird and really made me nervous. At the time , unknown to me I was falling out with my school friends. Since we had all left school, I started to drift apart from them and the fact that when I found out I was dyslexic, I became rather vile and horrid really did not help matters. So when I eventually fell out with my school friends I felt really alone. I felt no one understood me and how much I struggled with my dyslexia and I think it's safe to say, that if I stayed in and did nothing, it really would not of been good me. Luckily for me , whilst at college I had made a few new friends. As a way to hide how nervous my dyslexia made me feel, I used to be quite loud, attempt to be witty and act extremely rude towards a lot of people, but a lot of my new friends thought this was quite funny, which at times it would be. I would like to think that I never did it to upset any one and only did it to lighten the mood of the class room at time, but looking back now, I cant help but think maybe I was a bit of a bully.
Out of these new friends I made, there are really only 2 that I am still in contact with, and with out a doubt these 2 made my life so much more enjoyable and really helped make me into who I am today. First there is Andrea, who is with out a doubt the first real girl friend I have ever had, not as in boyfriend/girl friend, but just a friend who is a girl. Since I first met her, we have just always got on, whether its to do with music, film , books and even real life, through out the time I have known her she has always wanted to break into the film industry too.
Then there is Ross, who was the first person to speak to me when I joined the GNVQ and since that day we have been friends. He is my best friend and he's been there for me when I have had my highs and my lows. In some respects I feel at times like I have failed him as a friend, especially since moving away from Aldershot. Whilst I still do see Ross, I really don't see enough of him and I do miss the fact that he's not a few miles down the road. If I had not made friends with Ross and Andrea, then I don't think I would of been able to complete the GNVQ. Every assignment was a really difficult, but when ever I needed to get away from the college and unwind they would always be there for me. So whilst my dyslexia often made me feel very angry and annoyed and it made it difficult for me to get my ideas on to paper and often made me regret going back to college, It did enable me to meet my 2 best (and longest known)friends.

I.R.$: Taxing Trails

2009-04-20T19:22:00.011+01:00

Writer: Dresberg
Illustrator: Vrancken
Translator: Luke Spear
Publisher: Cinebook

Before I start the review I just want to apologise as I am not 100% sure where I.R.$ was originally published. I believe it was originally published in Brussels but I'm not totally sure that is correct.

Now that's out the way I can move on to my review of I.R.$: Taxing Trails. Last year at the Birmingham Comic Show there was a stand for Cinebook,The 9th Art Publishers and what caught my eye with this stand was that they were selling English translations of European comics. This interested me a lot because for the past few years I had read and heard that a lot of the comic material coming out of Europe was far superior to that which was coming out of the USA and the UK.
So obviously I was interested in being able to check out some of this material first hand. Prior to this the only experience I had with European comics was reading/looking at old Tin-Tin and Asterix books in the Library when I was a kid and in more recent times I had the opportunity to read Blacksad Volume 2: Arctic Nation, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Luckily for me Cinebook's was doing a 3 for 2 on book deals so I was able to get a few titles. The first of these that I have read is I.R.$: Taxing Trails.

Ill be honest here and say that I only picked up the book because of its cover, as I thought it looked quite interesting that the I.R.S would have a special agent with a gun working for them. I really did wonder how they would explain it!

I.R.$: Taxing Trails is collection of 2 stories that follow the missions of Larry B. Max who works as a special agent for the I.R.S. Essentially he is a hardcore accountant version of James Bond. The story follows Larry as he investigates the the murder of an important Swiss citizen who has been assassinated and this leads to the trail of a Jewish-American business man, who it seems has amassed a rather large amount money from his deceased relatives from World War 2. Soon enough Larry discovers there is more to this case than what he originally thought.
Also as a side line through out the book we see Larry start a relationship with a call girl called Gloria,who we never really see but Larry uses her to get answers that he need another perspective on.

I really did not know what to expect with this book as I had never read anything like this before.At first whilst reading it there were a lot facts and figures used in the first part of the book and that made me a bit dubious as to how much I would enjoy it, only because I was worried that if these figures were important that I would forget them or not see their relevance due to my dyslexia. Luckily enough though I was proven wrong and as the story got more involved and developed, I was able to follow the story with ease and enjoyed it throughly. One negative point about the book I would have to add is in the first chapter when Larry is having a gun battle with a hit-woman, there is some awfully tacky dialogue used, although this made me laugh/groan out loud, it really did not distract me from the story.
I really enjoyed the story and I am interested to check up on the future volumes of I.R.$., So I think ill be picking it up very soon. The best way I could describe this book would be a comic book film noir. The book has femme fatals, deception and a protagonist who will stop at nothing to achieve his desired outcome.

The artwork in the book is amazingly detailed and the colours are incredibly vivid. At first I did think the faces looked a little bland but as I read more I found the faces of the characters more detailed and they appeared to display emotion a lot more too. The scenes that I thought looked truly amazing, were the flash-backs to World War 2 and pages that showed Larry talking to Gloria, the call girl. The artwork is really crisp and a pleasure to look at and at times reminds me of the detail that Jean Giraud(Moebius) would put into his work. Although I should point out I am in no way in expert in this subject.
A great book and an interesting new character for me to follow. If you are a fan of Film-Noir it might be worth checking this book out.

Northwest Passage: The Annotated Collection

2009-04-13T19:36:00.009+01:00

Writer and Illustrator Scott Chantler
Publisher: Oni Press

For the past 2 years I have been looking for a decent job so I could essentially get on with my life and get my own place to live. As I have detailed before in previous posts, about 5 months ago I got a decent job(which I'm still enjoying) and I have begun saving money to move. Also in the past 2 years I have been building up my collection of Comics/Trade Paperbacks/Graphic Novels. I have brought some trades that I have heard of and others which I have no idea about such as Northwest Passage: The Annotated Collection. I was lucky enough to find the book in my local Oxfam(A Charity Shop)for 99p, which I have to say was an absolute steal!!

The story is set in 1755 in Fort Newcastle, which is based in Rupert's Land which was a territory in British North America,now more commonly known Canada and a small part of the USA. The story revolves around Fort Newcastle which is savagely captured by invading French forces seeking to control the fur trade and the fabled Northwest Passage. Fort Newcastle's governor is Charles Lord, who is intending to retire and possibly discover the Northwest passage. This does not go to plan although because of the invading French forces. Charles Lord is luckily informed of this invasion by his old friend and colleague Eagle Eye (Indian Shaman) although he is unable to make a proper stand against the invading forces of the French. Charles and a band of his surviving soldiers, trackers,explorers and old friends set forth on a mission to claim back Fort Newcastle from the French and his old enemy from the past... Montglave!!

I really enjoyed this book and at first I thought it was based on actual fact but on further reading I have found out that its all fictional but certain elements are based on fact. The cast of characters was great as there was only about 10 main characters that the reader follows and all of them got enough time in the book to show who they are and what they are in the book for. I would love to see the characters earlier adventures at some point but I don't know if we ever will. My favourite character in the book would have to be John Blackmoon, a mysterious man who seems to blend into his surroundings and is detrimental to claiming Fort Newcastle back.

The artwork in this book is what attracted me to buying it. It reminded me of the artwork from the 90s Batman Animated series. Whilst reading the book I started to notice how much hard work Scott Chantler put into the book. The artwork is black and white although im sure at times when reading the book my mind's eye started picturing colours to every thing in the book. The writing in the book is amazing because there are numerous story threads going through out the book and it was great seeing how they all tied together. There is mystery, deception and war featured through out the story. Once I sat down with the book in my hand I could not put it down. It really reminded me of watching old western/war films when I younger but a lot more enjoyable.
Also there is a lot of back up material which is annotations for certain pages with in the book and details where the Scott's inspiration came from. I'm currently in the middle of reading these but so far they have been very insightful.
With certain comics based with in history, I have encountered difficulty before(See the post on Red Prophet) and it has put me off from reading them as there is far too much information contained with in them. Northwest Passage though was a joy to read because, whilst there is a lot information in the book, it is given to you once or twice and goes from there, it does not dwell on it. The artwork while detailed is not not over the top and is very clean cut and easy to define. Although it appears cartoony it works very well with the story.

A great intriguing read and a lot of fun.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volumes 1 & 2

2009-04-08T21:31:00.010+01:00

Writer: Alan Moore
Artist: Kevin O'Neil
Publisher: Americas Best Comics/DC Comics

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was the first of Alan Moore's work that I read based on his previous work. Prior to this I had only read Watchmen (It was one of the few graphic novels/comic my library had) and the never heard of, often forgotten(With good reason)Spawn/Wild C.A.T.S. But I had heard the Alan Moore was a very accomplished writer and if I wanted to experience the quality of his work first hand, then I should read The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen when its released.

Of course when It came out I did love it, thought it was a brilliant well thought out concept and was thoroughly enjoyable. I did not read any of the prose back up stories but in all honesty none of that mattered at that point I just really enjoyed the main story. Which Ill briefly summarise here.

Its 1898 the world is changing and England is now prone to being taken over from within. The British empire needs protection from this and a team of rather unique individuals are tasked to do this. This League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is compromised of Mina Murray,Allan Quatermain,Captain Nemo, Doctor Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde and the Invisible Man Hawley Griffen. This League when formed takes on Fu Manchu and to stop his devious plans for taking over Britain. But behind the league's heroic efforts there are devious plans afoot.

Now I originally read The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen back in 1999 and I really did enjoy it. I knew just enough information about the main characters in the league, although I had never read any of the original stories/books they were featured in. Whilst revisiting the book I found I still did enjoy it and this time round I wanted to read the additional prose story featuring Allan Quatermain(Allan and the Sundered Veil)but I was sure it would be a bit of a challenge for me.
I have read books before and at time they can be very difficult for me but I really do enjoy reading. Reading "Allan and the Sundered Veil" was incredibly difficult for me. I knew from reading Watchmen that Alan Moore is a very intelligent writer and he use of language is at times phenomenal and this is what I often struggle with. To read the main (comic) story in the it took me a couple of hours but it took me 2 days to read the prose story. Once I finally read the story I was glad I had as it was highly enjoyable and gave me an insight in to the future of Allan Quaetermain.

All in all though I really enjoyed Volume 1 and Im pleased that I finally read the prose story even though it did feel like gargantuan task. For other dyslexic readers I would strongly suggest that if you are going to read the prose part of the graphic novel, that you read it in you ideal reading conditions. Ideally I would of liked to read the book at home in silence but that was not the case for me, I ended up reading it on a night shift at work so I did not give it 100% of my attention.
Next I started reading League of Extraordinary Gentlemen volume 2. As before I originally read this when it cam out in comic form and I had not read it since. Also I had never read any of the additional material at the back of each issue. I had been informed that the back up material expands on the future of some of the characters so this time round I also wanted to read this.
This book features the league in the War of the worlds storyline. The story develops the characters a little further and their relationships with one another. Allan and Mina become involved whilst Mina also seems to have a calming effect on Edward Hyde. Whilst the previous volume dealt with the formation of the team, this volume see's the team break apart.

Overall I really enjoyed this story much more than the original although I did feel a bit bad that the team broke up essentially. My favourite character in this volume would have to be Mr Hyde. Where in the previous volume I was not bothered about him, I found myself quite intrigued by the relationship he developed with Mina. Whilst absolutely insane I felt that Hyde did have the best(and most brutal)intentions when defending the country from traitors with in and the invading alien horde.
Unfortunately I do have something negative to say about the book, which should not be seen as a mark against Alan Moore. I tried and eventually succeeded reading the additional material "The New Travellers Almanac" but I found it incredibly incomprehensible. I felt at times there was far to much information and a lot of it was just wasted on myself as I am sure there were references to other literaturary characters but I can be totally sure. Although the one part of it I did enjoy was discovering the fate of the few members of the League and it was nice to know what eventually happened to them.

If you are dyslexic and you wish to read "The New Travellers Almanac", then I suggest you spend a good long time reading it as it is a dense read and at times it felt very daunting.

I really enjoyed Volume 2 more so than Volume 1 and its only downfall for me was the back up material. A great piece of work and I cant wait to move on to the Black Dossier next!

G.I. Joe: Origins Issue 1

2009-03-24T10:42:00.008Z

Writer: Larry Hama
Artists: Mike Hawthorne and Tom Feister
Colourists:Mike Hawthorne and Tom Feister
Cover: Andrea Divito
Publisher: IDW

All of my friends know I love the Transformers and I don't exactly hide this fact either. Whilst I'm not an expert on Transformers, I do know quite a bit of information about them and when ever I can I will sing their praises. Another property that has close ties with Transformers is G.I. Joe. Over here in the UK it was called Action Force way back in the 80s and I vaguely remember having a few of the toys. Over in America it seems like G.I. Joe was hugely popular and the comic seems quite well respected, whilst over here I don't ever remember seeing that much of it.
So when it was announced that IDW had recently acquired the license (From Devil's Due Publishing)to produce G.I. Joe comics, I thought I would give the series a shot to see what its like, as ive been more than impressed with how IDW have dealt with the Transformers comics. The first issue they released featured 3 preview stories, all of which would spin off in to 3 separate titles, these being G.I. Joe,G.I. Joe Origins and G.I. Joe Cobra.
Now I've tried the main G.I. Joe title and so far I am enjoying it but that seems to have a much larger story being built around it so the story is slowly building up. G.I. Joe Origins on the other hand seems to be moving at such a fast pace I don't know if I can keep up! I had heard the issue was good from the 11 O'Clock Comics podcast and from my local comic shop manager but really I did not expect this good of a comic.
The main story of the comic is the origins of a few of the of the members of the G.I. Joe unit. Whilst I did not really know too much about the characters, it did not bother me in the slightest because I felt that whilst the characters are being thrown together, they are learning about one another and the reader get to see this first hand. I am sure this is a lot of fun old time G.I. Joe fans but for me its intriguing cause I don't know where the story is going to go next. If your dyslexic or just want to know more about G.I. Joe then I recommend you pick up this title. Sure I don't know who all these characters are but I'm looking forward to see how they develop. The one character I do know a little about is Snake Eyes and whilst he's only in this book for a few pages I am very curious to see how he becomes a ninja. Also the possible appearance of Cobra Commander, who seems to be absolutely insane, make me want to come back to the next issue to see how his story progresses.
Larry Hama has written a great comic and the only work of his that I had read previously was a few of his Wolverine issues, but I had heard he was the best writer for G.I. Joe and after reading this issue I can see why he receives so much praise. In all honesty when I had read that he was the writer it did make me a little nervous, as I was concerned that he would write the book for the hardcore G.I. Joe fans but as a laymen to the property, I found the book really enjoyable and cant wait to read more. Mike Hawthorne and Tom Feister have done a great job on the art and colour duties. At times I did think I could see some similarities to Phil Noto's art but it was great and the colouring was spot on too. I really liked the opening pages too, I thought it was great the colours that were used to present night time and the red light from with in the plane. Really had that military feel to it and reminded me of when my Dad would tell me of his parachute jumps and what the situation was like on the plane.

A great comic and introduction to a property that has years of back story behind it. I went into this book only knowing that Snake Eyes is a ninja but left feeling like I had just seen a great action film and wanting to know more. For dyslexic and/or new readers this is a great series to pick up if you don't know anything about G.I. Joe but are interested in it.

X-Men: First Class New Beginnings

2009-03-23T21:22:00.011Z

Writer:Jeff Parker
Artist:Roger Cruz
Colourist:Val Staples
Covers:Marko Djurdjevic
Publisher: Marvel

Ive been reading comics as long as I can remember. When I was a kid my parents would buy me Masters of the Universe, Transformers or Spider-man comics and I loved reading them. Then as time went on I stopped reading comics. Don't know why but I did but 1 day in 1990 my brother had come home from work with a small collection of comics that I had never seen before. From what I remember he brought home a couple issues of Avengers Spotlight, X-Factor and Uncanny X-men. Out of all of those comics there is one I remember more than any of the others. In all fairness this 1 comic is what made me go off and start reading comics again and its why to this day I still read comics. This comic was Uncanny X-men 268. The cover featured Captain America, Black Widow and of course Wolverine, and it was cause of this character I had to know more. I had this passion to know "who the hell was this cool looking guy with knives coming out of his hands!". And so began my decent into the often confusing world of the X-men. Whilst I would love to go more into this story, I'm not going to today because I want to review this comic that I read.

Before I get on to the review I would like to put up a quick warning first to any one who has never read the X-Men before and/or is Dyslexic. I strongly advise you DO NOT ATTEMPT TO READ ANY OF THE MAIN X-MEN COMICS, why? Well they are heavily involved in their continuity and unless you have been following the X-men (on and off) for the past 20 years, you could be scared off comics for life. Marvel have let the X-Men comics go off the rails and there has been so many spin off titles that for a new reader too attempt to read any of the X-men comics is an incredibly daunting task and one that could put them off comics. What I would advise you to do is READ The Ultimate X-men or alternatively read X-Men First Class.

X-Men First Class New Beginnings is a collection of the first 4 issues of the series which follows the original class of X-men back in the day where they were the world strangest teens. These stories are not "Re imaging" the classic X-men stories, these are completely new stories and as far as I know they seemed to have happened alongside them.
There are a lot of references to their original comics but this does not interfere with the story at all. Each issue with in the book seems to be a self contained story. Whilst some of the aspects of the story have been updated such as their costumes and technology it really is not to distracting.
One nice point that I liked about the book, was the explanations as to why the X-men have different costumes to their original ones(they were damaged in a fight and the x-men are awaiting them to be repaired)and in the first issue Iceman(Bobby) is writing a letter to his mother but says he would much rather send her an email but Professor X wont let the X-men have email so Bobby has no choice but to write a letter. Also there is continuing back stories going on too. For example we get to see some of Cyclops(Scott) and Marvel Girl's(Jean) relationship developing with a little help from Professor X, he doesn't use his psychic powers to do this, but gives Scott and Jean some time alone from the rest of the X-men so they can enjoy themselves and work on the relationship. Another interesting back story in the comic is Cerebro (The mutant tracking computer) being a supporting character. When I first saw that Cerebro was being used as a teacher, I did wonder if it would end up manipulating any of the X-men and lets just say that by the end of the book I had my answer.

I really enjoyed reading this book and it really reminded me of how much I used to enjoy the X-men. Jeff Parker's writing is superb and where certain writers of the X-Men comics just put in too much exposition, he totally gets the X-men the way they should be. Roger Cruz artwork is quite enjoyable too. At first I was a little put off by how, I thought, the faces of the characters all looked the same but as the issues progressed I really enjoyed his artwork, especially in the final act of the book.Another thing I liked about Roger Cruz's Artwork was that he actually drew the X-Men as teenagers, not as over exaggerated men and women. The colourist of the book is Val Staples and he/she makes the book like absolutely vibrant but not garish.Finally Marko Djurdjevic covers are brilliantly stylised and a real treat to look at.

I really enjoyed this book and cant recommend it enough. I know a lot of comic fans see the X-men as this impregnable title that has far to much continuity but if you want to read a good X-Men comic with out all of the baggage then go read this comic. For Dyslexic readers,again if you have ever wanted to read the x-men but were to worried about it, then please go read this title. The book is advertised as an All Ages book, this does not mean it is just for kids, any one can and should go read this book.

After looking on the internet to find out how much the book cost,the cheapest place I found it was on Ebay. For some reason its not listed on Amazon. For £2.50 (+£1.50 p&p) its a bargain. X-Men First Class On Ebay

Finally a big thank you to Filthy McMonkey from the 11 O'Clock Comics Forum who sent me this book as he was my Secret Santa over there. All the best buddy!

Prime's Final Post

2009-03-21T18:28:00.006Z

Good Day to you Humans.

Thank you for visiting Comlexia to see my final post. For my final piece I have decided to share with you a short story which I can only hope you enjoy.

Thank you for coming here to read my posts this week. I hope you have enjoyed reading them and who knows I might be back at some point in the future. Now on to the the short story!

Cybertron

A planet made out of metal, populated by transforming metropolises that are are so large they are incomprehensible and maintained by beings who can transform at well and are more than meets the eye. In its golden age Cybertron was like a fine tuned machine, with pistons pumping,cylinders moving and sliding and microchips processing day after day, year after year. Cybertron was essentially a planet sized factory which mass produced transforming robots and weapons for destinations unknown, to fight in wars of no consequence to it. This went on for thousands of years until one robot realised through the use of force and manipulation, he could rebel and break from the constant production line. Soon enough other robots joined him in his quest to rebel. No longer were these transformers, they chose a new name, a name to install fear into robots who stood against them or refused to join them. They became Decepticons and they attacked where ever they wanted and stole weapons they believed they rightfully owned. Any transformer that stood against them was quickly executed or vanished off the face of the planet. In one attack a transformer that was severely wounded received an upgrade from one of the elders. This upgraded transformer made the decision to fight back against the Decepticons who nearly extinguished his spark. Soon as before, others now joined this transformer who fought back making an opposing force to the Decepticons. This force would fight to protect Cybertron and to try and restore law and order, this force would eventually take the name Autobots.
So began the war on Cybertron that would rage over a million years and would result in the systematic destruction of the planet. The transforming cities were torn apart and rendered inert. The Decepticons spread like a cancer over the planet, leaving everything they touched infected, dead and barren. Now all that remains in ghost cities where only a few places are now habitable. Iacon is one of the few remaining cities that has yet to be infected. The remains of the Autobot army now reside there, with no permanent headquarters, hiding and surviving in structures long since abandoned.

This is where I have to knowingly send my soldiers to deaths on a regular basis to ensure the survival of the Autobots in the grand scheme of things.

This is my duty as the commander of the Autobots.

This is my life.

This is my home.

This is Cybertron.

Prime Posts: Talking about All Hail Megatron

2009-03-20T10:22:00.014Z

Humans

As the week draws to a close and I stick up my second to last post I just wanted to share with you a couple of recommendations I think you should visit if you have the time.

Next week sees the release of All Hail Megatron Issue 9 from IDW which is written by the superb Shane McCarthy and drawn by the glorious Guido Guidi. In order to stop the Decepticons you should go and buy it. The first trade paperback was released a few weeks back and it is you duties as humans to go and pick this up and follow my troops adventures.

Over at 11 O'Clock Comics(Episode 47)last week Vince B and Wood had a brief discussion on All Hail Megatron. Wood who had not been 100% sure about a Transformers comic picked up the comic and enjoyed it. Not as well as I would of liked mind you, but don't worry I'm sure he will change his mind as soon as I send his address to the Decepticons, telling them it's our secret hide out! Been good knowing you Wood!

Next at Comic News Insider(Episode 183)the awesome Jimmy Aquino did a review on the the first All Hail Megatron trade and he loved it. He even asked Marcus a few questions about some of my comrades. Good Old'e Blaster was quite impressed with Jimmy's review and said that there may be hope yet for humanity.

Finally for all your Transformer questions and answers got Seibertron. There is a wealth of information there.

Thanks for your time Humans and don't forget to come back tomorrow for my final post.

Autobots, transform and roll out! Crap Your humans I keep forgetting you cant Transform. Well some of you cant.Sometimes even the wisest machine can make an error.

Prime Posts: G.I.JOE Issue 2

2009-03-19T12:10:00.008Z

Writer: Chuck Dixon
Penciler: Robert Atkins
Cover: Adam Hughes
Publisher: IDW

Greeting Earthlings.

I see there is a couple more of you here this morning. Well if you are here for my next review you can stick it in your tail pipe. Bumblebee woke me up this morning telling me my next review was due and I realised I had not finished it. Why can't deal with you human beings as we do with Decepticons! By Primus it would be easier!

Any way on to the comic! The comic is about a Military group called G.I.Joe who seem to have a lot of personal running around and are there is lots of cool machinery and stuff. The highlight for me was the woman on the cover which has been illustrated by that human Adam Hughes.

She's very well drawn and designed and looks pretty good in the interior of the comic it was very pleasing to my optic sensors. Oh and her name is The Baroness. She also meets up with a Scottish character called James McCullen who looks to answer to the name Destro. Although personally I after researching more about him on the Cybernet (Cybertrons Internet) I think he looks like a bit of a fruity character.

There you that's my review.

You happy now Bumblebee you little ass kisser?

Oh and if your dyslexic the comic is fairly easy to read and there is a lot of stuff going on but as this is only the second issue it is easy to keep up with. A good read!

Prime Posts:Transformers Spotlight Arcee

2009-03-18T10:57:00.009Z

Writer: Simon Furman
Penciler: Alex Milne
Cover: Alex Milne

Bet you did not know there were female Transformers! Well there is and this review is about the hottest piece of machinery in the galaxy. Arcee. Let me tell you guys here, that she has a really sweet chassis and … Hold on let me just make sure little Bumblebee isn’t around..... she really gets my Sparkplug sparking! If you know what I mean! Kerching!!!!

Any way on to the review. The comic is about a Transformer institution that holds bad/crazy ass robots whether they are Autobots or Decepticons. Some Decepticons decide to break out some of their comrades on orders from some guy called Jhiaxus(Never heard of him). The Autobots attempt to stop this by sending in a nutcase .. Sorry I mean female hard ass transformer called Arcee, who just so happens to be very pleasing to my optic sensors, indeed! She seems to be suffering with a sever case of woman problems (Don’t ask me I’m the Commander of the Autobots, I can’t deal with that rubbish!). Any way she fails to stop the Decepticons but does do some damage to them though. And she goes off into space to find this Jhiaxus fella at the end. I think she may set a booby trap that actually uses her boobies as a trap. But then she doesn’t have any as she is a robot. Although she does have a nice sized trunk. So that’s it, it's time for me to go see Arcee. I wish I didn't have to depart again but such is the life of the Autobot commander.

Optimus Cleaning the "pipes".* Bumblebee

Oh and if your dyslexic and love transformers you will really enjoy this comic. There are lots of details in the artwork and a large cast of characters but it’s a good read. If your dyslexic and don’t know any thing about the Transformers then it might be worth staying away as Arcee is mine… wait I mean the comic is confusing.

Your pal Pervymus Prime.