Category Archives: Comic Books

Comic books

Comic Books, Game Reviews, Gaming, General

One Piece Odyssey PC review

Celebrated Japanese manga and anime series, One Piece, gets the open-world RPG treatment with Bandai Namco’s One-Piece Odyssey.

The adventures of Captain Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirates have been around for over 25 years now. Originating in the pages of the Japanese magazine, Weekly Sh?nen Jump, the manga series has been collected into over a hundred volumes. In 1999 One Piece made the jump to anime with a Toei Animation TV show that is still going today. Continue reading One Piece Odyssey PC review →

Comic Books

The Shazam! legacy

DC’s Shazam! has hit theatres. And I’ve heard good things. The big screen adventures of young Billy Batson and his adult alter-ego, Captain Marvel…I mean Shazam, seems to be a welcome addition to DC’s cinematic stable.

The legacy of the movie’s hero, however, is one of the most fascinating bits of comic-book history. Continue reading The Shazam! legacy →

Comic Books, Film and TV, General, Movie Reviews

Marvel’s Black Panther review

If someone had told me, twenty years ago, that Black Panther would be a major motion picture, whilst Daredevil and The Punisher were relegated to TV, I wouldn’t have believed them. In the Marvel comics, T’Challa’s adventures were usually as a supporting act for another character, his native Wakanda and its source of vibranium being of more importance.

But here we are with Black Panther, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s eighteenth movie in the ten years since its inception. Continue reading Marvel’s Black Panther review →

Comic Books

The Killing Joke explained

The Killing Joke
The Greatest Batman story ever told!

I’ve just read this article over at Blastr.com. The piece details a discussion between comic-book legend Grant Morrison and film-maker Kevin Smith.

As the conversation moves onto Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s’s The Killing Joke, long regarded as the greatest Batman story ever written, Morrison reveals that at the end of the book Batman kills the Joker, something that most readers, including an amazed Kevin Smith, missed.

Holy shit. I’ve read that book loads of times, my copy is signed by Brian Bolland and the original colourist, John Higgins, and I don’t recall ever knowing that the Joker meets his end in the book.

I’m not sure if this is a little fact that was aware of at the time, but have just forgotten. I think that I would have remembered something as important as this.

 

Continue reading The Killing Joke explained →

Comic Books

Comic-book review: The Massive

Comic-book review: The Massive
Post-apocalyptic environmentalists

I’ve just read through the first twelve issues of The Massive from Dark Horse Comics. I picked them up on a whim, the post-apocalyptic adventure-at-sea premise pressing all the right button for me.

The book began as a three-part series in the pages of Dark Horse Presents, a book whose alumni inclused Frank Millar’s Sin City. Basically the world has gone to shit, with literally every type of environmental cataclysm occurring simultaneously; like the Earth just put its foot down and said enough is enough. Continue reading Comic-book review: The Massive →

Comic Books, Film and TV, General

Vic B’Stard’s week in review Dishonored, Doom 3, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Prometheus 3D and Avatar 3D.

Vic B'Stard
Game on!

So I’ve finally finished Assassin’s Creed Revelations to the point that I can feel comfortable embarking on Assassin’s Creed III.  A review is copy coming my way, but I intend on savoring the experience this time, so expect a review…just not straight away.

Assassin’s Creed III and Far Cry 3 are the two games that I’m actually up for purchasing on day one during the pre-Christmas release schedule. And, to that end, I’ve secured myself a copy of the posh Assassin’s Creed III Freedom Edition from my local EB Games. Expect a detailed unboxing article very soon. At the same time I’ll be dropping some cash to secure an Insane Edition of Ubisoft’s other triple-A game, Far Cry 3 which I’ll be out at the end of November. Continue reading Vic B’Stard’s week in review Dishonored, Doom 3, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Prometheus 3D and Avatar 3D. →

Comic Books, Game Reviews, General

Vic B’Stard’s week in review- Telltale’s The Walking Dead game, The Walking Dead comic-book and The EB Games Expo

Vic B'Stard
Sorry, been busy!

Busy. Not a very good excuse, but nevertheless true. The chaotic mixture of moving country, playing Sleeping Dogs and getting back into Skyrim has taken its toll on my ability to knock out a decent bit of content for this website.

Then there was The Walking Dead. The last couple of episodes of Telltale Game’s The Walking Dead serialised game has been sitting on my hard drive for a few months (thank you steam for yet another great deal). I’d dabbled a bit with the first part, and wasn’t really in the right space for a retro-ish point and click adventure with zombies in it. With the recent release of the third episode, I though I’d have another bash as it, else The Walking Dead becomes another game in my, ever-increasing, backlog. Continue reading Vic B’Stard’s week in review- Telltale’s The Walking Dead game, The Walking Dead comic-book and The EB Games Expo →

Comic Books

Who Watches Before Watchmen?…The first five books

No Moore Watchmen?

I’ve just finished reading the first five issues of DC Comics semi-blasphemous Before Watchmen series.

I was half expecting my copy of Watchmen #1, signed by Watchmen co-creator and self-styled warlock Alan Moore, to spontaneously combust the moment I opened the first issue. Mr Moore has some well-reported negative views on the use of the characters that he and Dave Gibbons created, way back in the mid-eighties. I’ve got to admit, publishing further stories set in the Watchmen universe after a break of twenty-six years does seem a little odd and almost as if DC are deliberately trying to bait the outspoken Mr Moore. Continue reading Who Watches Before Watchmen?…The first five books →