Review: Dark Knights Metal

I received a review copy for a fair an honest review. Upon reading this trade I feel that this was much better than the prior Road to Metal. This was way more structured and in retrospect, I wonder if Road was mashed together at the last minute to make this series seem more complete. I do have to say at times I really enjoyed the metal(rock) theme, but sometimes the font was a bit hard to read due to it being too jagged and rock looking.

Right off we are introduced to the action as the Justice League are battling on War planet and in an almost Voltron moment they build a giant robot to save the day. 

But hold tight kids we have even more intensity when we meet the evil versions of Batman from the multiverse who serve the dark lord, Barbatos (see first pic above). This really made this trade enjoyable for me. I love alternate versions of my fave comics heroes. Each evil Bats has his side to the story, and why they are doing what they can to assist in unraveling the universe. The payoff for this book was so much better than the lead up to this. I do think they should have combined what I think may have been the other stories to make 2 more volumes fo this storyline into this book. It seemed to rush through to the end rather quickly just as I was getting into it. I really enjoyed this and rated it 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. If you are an alternate universe fan this will be the series for you to check out. I am looking forward to reading the other 2 volumes in this storyline and hope they are just as good as this if not better. 

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Review: Dark Days - Road to Metal

I do not read monthly issues as I prefer to wait and read stories in trade paperback format. But a few of my friends who do read single issues raved about this storyline so much that I just could not wait for it to be released in trade paperback. I'm extremely thankful that Netgalley gave me the opportunity read and review this series for a fair and honest review.

So my anticipation for this series was at the peak. Upon reading the introduction to the series I am kind of not sure what to think. I mean new story....new content, and a whole new world, right? But first off I'm not sure if this was planned years or months ago or if it was a spur of the moment change in the continuum. I say this because this collects a lot of portion of different storylines that they are suggesting elude to this main storyline. Some I can say sure I see a connection but others seem to be a stretch. For instance, the crisis of the multiverse is a portion of this collection along with some other Batman stories that had me wondering and shaking my head. I felt this didn't really run cohesively the transitions between linked stories was very rough. The Bruce Wayne lost in time story makes sense to be a part of the greater storyline. But the Endgame and the Joker poisoning Gotham had me baffled. Don't get me wrong this isn't a bad collection as I did reading the original new story that ties this all together. I hope that s the series goes this will flesh out that way it should and be a great story that my friends raved about. I decided to rate this introduction trade 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. 

Review: The Gravediggers Union Vol. 1 by Wes Craig

I saw this book come up as a suggested read on Goodreads, and I'll admit that the title had me intrigued. I wasn't exactly sure what this book was about but I had my suspicions that this was a supernatural book just by the title alone.

Right from the start, we see the action and what the Gravediggers Union's main purpose is....to protect the living from the undead! We see them fight back hordes of zombies and vampires. We later learn just what kind of sinister world this is which is overseen by the rich who are in league with an evil cult called the Black Temple(sounds like the Illuminati, right?). These people hope to bring the dark gods back to earth so that they may reap their rewards. Typical selfish rich people...ya know. We also see the origins of the supernatural in this world which features Lovecraftian creatures...Cthulu anyone? Kinda like 2001 Space Odyssey with the monkeys and aliens...just plain weird and fun shit going on in these panels. 

It's kinda obvious that this is a horror comedy and not a super serious plot....if compared to a tv series I would compare it to Ash vs  Evil Dead. This book is kinda campy. If you are looking for a more serious horror/supernatural title I would check out Nailbiter or Harrow County. 

First off I was super impressed by the artwork of this and the use of color. Toby Cypress is the artist for this series. I kinda liked the sketchy way the figures are drawn and really liked the splash of color randomly placed on certain scenes which kinda gave this a 60's/70's horror vibe. To be honest that was the strong point of liking this book...that and it's campy horror vibe. Now I know that this is not a series for everyone. The ratings for this are not too high and I hope they do not cancel it before it really gets going. I myself rated this 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads, and am looking forward to reading more of this series. 

Movie Review: Goodnight Mommy

This film has been on my watch list for quite some time, and I just recently got the chance to watch it. For those who have not heard of it; it is an Austrian film about twin boys awaiting the return of their mother from the hospital after she has had plastic surgery. it's never explained why she had surgery, but that is not really important for the flow of the story. She returns and is acting differently than before, such as taking photos out of the family album and walking in to search the boys' room.  There is also one scene which is featured in the trailer where she walks out into the woods to disrobe.

Odd behavior that normal people just do not do, such as going for naked walks in the woods and ripping photos out of the family album. So the boys question whether she is their real mother or someone who has taken her place.

This film is very slow to get going and you the viewer mostly follow the twins around the estate doing what boys usually do. They explore and run through the woods near their home.  The mother does do some strange things and we see the boys start to question who this lady is. Is she a doppelganger? They even ask her at one point "Where is our mother?".  Is there something sinister going on? 

Not until the very last 10- 15 minutes of the movie do we understand what is really going on. I won't spoil it for you as this is the plot twist that gives you the aha moment where strange past scenes start to make sense. You may even want to go back and rewatch this after the ending so that things come out more clearly.  I'll admit I got bored at times with this film, but the end all I did enjoy it and rated it 3 out of 5 stars. 

Review: Injection by Warren Ellis Volumes 1- 3

I recently finished reading the third volume of this series which is weird, different and kinda great. In the words of Image comics taken from their site - "...there were five crazy people, and they poisoned the 21st Century. Now they have to deal with the corrosion to try and save us all from a world becoming too weird to support human life. It is science fiction, tales of horror, strange crime fiction, techno-thriller, and ghost story all at the same time." So yeah it's quite the mix of genres. 

The first volume introduces the concept of the Artificial Intelligence and how it is manipulating the world to create paranormal events, and we meet part of the team responsible for its creation. This was a great start for the series. I thought it was okay but it had enough to keep me interested and wanting to continue on with the series. The second volume introduces yet another member of this team and one who is kind of Hannibal Lector meets Sherlock Holmes kinda vibe. 

This story was way better than the first but left me feeling that the story did not live up to its expectations. The third and I'm assuming final volume (I assume final because the last issue was released in Nov. 2017 and there is no news about a follow up). Was very intense and I felt the story had finally reached its potential. Of course, the third volume ended on a cliffhanger, and I do not know if Ellis will ever finish this story. This last volume had the perfect blend of fantasy, horror, and science fiction, and a nice nod to Dr. Who with a comment from a student about it not really being bigger inside.

I rated the first volume 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads and the other 2 both 4 stars. I really hope that Warren Ellis picks this back up and continues on with this story because it would be bad to end this series just as it started to get good. I also called a few comics shops and there was no word of this very infrequent book coming back.  Below is the complete hardcover edition which features 3 volumes. 


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