The Wicked and the Divine: Fandemonium

Writer: Keiron Gillen
Artist: Jamie McKelvie
Colourist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Flatter: Dee Cuniffe
Publisher: Image Comics

What's it about?
Every 90 years 12 Gods return as young people.  They live for two years.  Then they are dead, until the next cycle.

In this cycle they are pop stars.  Rock gods.  Choose the descriptor that gets you the most excited.  Everyone is a fan.

Ganesha's Sweet Tooth

Writer: Sanjay Patel and Emily Haynes
Art: Sanjay Patel
Publisher: Chronicle Books

What's it about?
Ganesha is a Hindu god. He's very important and powerful.  And a tad chubby.
But when he was a kid, he was just like any other kid...
except that he had an elephant's head and cruised around on a magical mouse collecting fruit, rice, sweet, and other gifts from the temples in his neighbourhood.

This is a retelling of the Hindu legend about how Ganesha came to write the Mahabharata.

It's sold as a picture book, not a comic, but as Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics says, if a story is told through sequential art it can be considered a comic.

Best of 2013: DC

This is the last in my Best of 2013 posts,  As such I decided to focus it on my beloved DC Comics  Anyone who listens to the Radio Bamf podcast or who follows me on twitter would be forgiven for thinking that DC's output for 2013 was all utter rot.  This is not the case.  I am susceptible for going off on a tangent and declaring the company's current direction rubbish, but that's not fair to them, as they have put some excellent series.  So let's look at them!

Seen the move? Read the book - Thor: The Dark World

The recent Thor: The Dark World film is about the dark elves' attempt to take over the nine realms.

If you enjoyed this film you might want to pick up the current Thor: God of Thunder series, which sees the return of Malekith (leader of the dark elves and rather prominent in the film) as he tries to take over the nine realms.  This story arc started with issue 13 which, with issue 14 only just out, is still very new - so it should be easy to find hard copies of both issues.  If you can't find hardcopies - or if you prefer digital copies - you can also pick up the series on Comixology.

Thor: God of Thunder has so far been a great series.  The previous arc dealt with a god killer named Gorr and 3 versions of Thor: one from long ago who was still young and belligerent; one from the present day who is a member of the Avengers; and one from near the end of time, who has replaced Odin as the Allfather of the Gods.  As these three Thors battle across space and time, trying again and again to defeat Gorr, we are treated not only to absolutely gorgeous art by Esad Ribic, but we also get to see the Thors quaffing lots of ale and occasionally hitting each other in the face with space sharks.  And sometimes, my dear readers, that is exactly what superhero comics should be about.  The series to date can be bought on Comixology.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Writer: William Shakespeare

Adapted by Richard Appignanesi

Art: Kate Brown

Publisher: Self Made Hero

What’s it about? 

This is an adaptation of a William Shakespeare play.  To my mind, it’s the most magical and comedic one.

Theseus and Hippolyta are due to be married in Athens, Greece.  Theseus' servant Egeus has a daughter named Hermia.  Hermia and Lysander are in love and wish to marry, however Egeus has decided that Demetrius is an appropriate husband.  Helena loves Demetrius but, as he wants Hermia, he is not interested in Helena.

In honour of Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding a group of inept craftsmen decide to put on a play about star-crossed lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe.  It’s a tragedy where the lovers kill themselves, so not entirely fit for a wedding – I did say they were inept!

In the forests of Athens the fairy court is in session.  Oberon, King of the fairies, and Titania, fairy Queen, are embroiled in an argument.  Oberon wants a human boy that Titania has adopted, but Titania won’t give him up.  Oberon plots revenge, and here is where the plots converge...

Oberon gets his servant Puck to enchant Titania so she falls in love with the first hideous thing she sees.  Hermia and Lysander have run away to get married and are pursued by Demetrius, who is in turn pursued by Helena.  Oberon witnesses this and instructs Puck to enchant Demetrius to fall in love with Helena, except Puck gets it wrong and enchants Lysander instead.  The enchantment of Titania is successful, as Puck gives one of the craftsmen, Bottom, a donkey’s head, and Titania falls for him.

This takes up the first half of the play.  The second half concerns the humans and fairies trying to sort out the mess Puck has caused. 

Magic of Myths: Season 1

Writer: Corey Brotherson
Art: Sergio Calvet
Publisher: Self published
 
What's it about?
This book is about Eve, a schoolteacher who is transported to a mythic fantasy world where she has to undergo certain ordeals and retrieve valuable artifacts before she is allowed back to her own world.   She doesn't know why this is happening, who's in control of it, or even where she really is. As the Magic of Myths website FAQs explains, Eve has magical armour which can create weapons for use in her ordeals.  The sidekick/guide role is filled by a cranky creature called Tinkantankerous.  Eve's ordeals force her to consider her life thus far and her worth as a person.

The story is framed against - and references - many famous mythological stories: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Perseus, the Greek Sirens, Peter Pan.  Expect to find both overt and subtle markers for these throughout the text.

Aquaman 101 sale continued

Following on from my previous post on the Aquaman 101 sale, I bought several issues and now feel able to wax lyrical about why you should buy them.  Read on!

Thor

Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciller: Olivier Coipel
Inker: Mark Morales
Colourist: Laura Martin and Paul Mounts
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Publisher: Marvel

What's it about?
The Gods are dead.  Destroyed in the last great battle, Ragnarok, Thor exists in the void.  Called back to a shadowy dreamscape by Donald Blake, his human alter-ago, they consider their role in life, or even ifthey desire a life. To live, to return to earth, proves a sweet temptation for Thor and so he returns.  The other Gods are asleep, trapped in human bodies and Asgard has to be rebuilt.  As Thor travels the earth searching for his lost brethren he discovers the tragedies that have beset mankind in his absence, and comes across a few old enemies.

Demon Knights (LGBT History month)

 We find the source of the problem, and we throw dragons at it

- The Questing Queen's war strategy

Writer: Paul Cornell
Pencils: Diogenes Neves and Robson Rocha
Colours: Marcelo Maiolo
Inks: Oclair Albert with Rocha and Neves
Letters: Jared K Fletcher
N.B. These are the credits for issue 6 but I'm pretty sure think issues 1-5 had the same creative team.
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
Demon Knights is a new ongoing comic book series published by DC Comics.  It's set in England Southern France (so the writer told me) in the Dark Ages, and gathers together an unlikely group of magic users who end up fighting side by side against the enemy.  The group is made up of Exoristos, tall, super strong woman; Sir Ystin, the Shining Knight; Jason Blood, host of the demon Etrigan, Madame Xanadu, magician who was at the fall of Camelot; Vandal Savage, immortal; Horsewoman, archer extraordinaire; Al Jabr, saracen and inventor.

The Questing Queen sends her horde to battle the kingdom of Alba Serum.  To get there, they have to go through a village named Little Spring.  When the front runners arrive in the village and barge their way into the local pub, our 'Demon Knights' take this interruption to their quiet pint seriously, and start fighting the invaders.  Things escalate, and before you know it there's dragons and demons, and winged horses, giant rhinoceroses and magic shields and sacrifices and so on and so forth.

It's a full on fantasy series, and it's ever so English.

Wonder Woman: Eyes of the Gorgon

Writer: Greg Rucka
Penciller: Drew Johnson, James Raiz, Sean Philips
Colourist: Ray Snyder, Sean Philips
Inker: Richard and Tanya Horie
Letterer: Todd Klein
Publisher: DC Comics 

What's it about?
It's a book based heavily on Greek myth and legend.  Previously, the Gorgon sisters Stheno and Euryale coerced the sorcerer Circe into resurrecting their third sister, the monstrous Medusa.  Once revived, Medusa is burning with the thirst for revenge on Athena, responsible for cursing her.  The sisters decide the best to do this is to slaughter Wonder Woman, Athena's champion on Earth.  Of course, a lot of time has passed since they last walked the earth so the plan does not go smoothly.

Woven in and around the main plot are intrigues and plotting of a higher nature, as Athena stirs up rebellion among the Gods of Olympus.

Like the best Greek stories, this is a book of heroism, honour, sacrifice, love and tragedy. 

All Star Superman

  

Today's review is brought to you by guest blogger naswho, who describes himself thusly: Student. Writer. Tutor. My role model is a fictional character, just like Yours. If you're reading this, you're reading my mind.

You can find Nas on twitter, here.

All Star Superman

Writer: Grant Morrison
Art: Frank Quitely
Colourist and Inker: Jamie Grant
Letterer: Phil Balsam and Travis Lanham
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
The Superman myth is a well known and popular aspect of modern comic culture. He’s the granddaddy of all superheroes, and is constantly being reinterpreted by writers and artists of various eras to suit the times. All Star Superman is writer Grant Morrison’s attempt to tell a timeless Superman story, one that exists within a continuity he’s created from across the varied eras of Superman’s publishing history and is both easily accessible to new readers and rewarding for anyone who already loves the Man of Steel. 

I usually end up describing it as “What if Superman were God, except cooler?”

The basic thrust of the plot is that Superman, after rescuing scientist Leo Quintum from a failed mission to land on the sun, finds himself overloaded with solar energy. He’s reached the peak of his potential in his current form and is now dying. With only a year to go, the Man of Tomorrow sets out to try and save the world one last time, completing the adventures that will become known as his 12 Labors in the far future, and come face to face one final time with his archenemy, Lex Luthor.

The story’s a whimsical homage to every era of Superman, with a hefty dose of Silver Age charm and excitement thrown in for good measure.

Wonder Woman: Gods and Mortals

Writer: George Pérez, Greg Potter and Len Wein
Pencils: George Pérez
Inks: Bruce Patterson
Colours: Tatjana Wood
Letters: John Costanza
Publisher: DC Comics

What’s it about?
Wonder Woman: Gods and Mortals collects the first seven issues from the George Pérez run of the Amazonian heroine.  After the Crisis in the 80s, DC Comics decided to clean up their continuity, reboot most characters and get rid of all the alternate universes they started to have.

While Superman started simpler in a clean new direction under John Byrne in Man of Steel and Batman got edgier and more realistic in Year One under Frank Miller, Wonder Woman was left aside for a while.  Perhaps the editors weren't sure how to show Wonder Woman in a new light, or perhaps they thought they should portray her more realistically (by toning down the mythological aspects), or adapt her to the market (ruining a classic character with a tits and ass approach).

It wasn't until 1987 when George Pérez came onboard, revised Greg Potter's suggested pitch and kept everything WW in check that the Amazonian princess finally got a new start.

Planetary by Warren Ellis

Written by Warren Ellis
Art by John Cassaday
Colours by Laura Depuy
Publisher: Wildstorm

What’s It About?
Elijah Snow has been approached by the Planetary Foundation to become a member of their field team. Together with the enormously strong Jakita Wagner and the possibly-insane Drummer he travel to uncover the secret history of the world. As he uncovers mystery after mystery he finds himself with more and more questions:

Why does the Planetary Foundation exist? What agenda is it pursing? Can his new associates be trusted? And who is the mysterious Fourth Man who finances it all without question?

Creatures of the Night

As Valentine's Day draws near we at New readers... think you should be offered a variety of romance themed books to mark this particular day.  Being the kind of people we are, these won't be your typical boy meets girl stories, rather they will represent oddities and interests from among our comic collection.  Read on for the first suggestion....

Writer: Neil Gaiman

Illustrations: Michael Zulli

Letters: Todd Klein

Publisher: Vertigo

What's it about?

It's comprised of two tales, The Black Cat and The Daughter of Owls, based on Neil Gaiman's short stories of the same name.  They have a touch of the Gothic romance feel to them, despite not being about love or relationships.  Instead, these stories concern Good and Evil and the fight between the two.

The Black Cat concerns a family of cat lovers who discover a new stray amidst their lives one day, a mysterious black cat.  Soon they discover this feline coming home with unexplained injuries and as they seek to learn the cause of these they find that the fate of their family appears to be tied into the fate of the cat.

The Daughter of Owls is written in the style of John Aubrey and starts with a baby girl being found abandoned on the town steps.  She has no name, no family and is only clutching an owl pellet.  The townsfolk deem her unholy and lock her in an old convent to grow up alone.  As she grows older news of her beauty spreads and tragedy strikes.  Is she human or does she belong to the owls?  What befalls those who would harm her?

Tank Girl: The Odyssey

Writer: Peter Milligan
Artist: Jamie Hewlett
Publisher: Titan Books

What's it about?
It's rude, it's crude, it's very very lewd.

Have you ever seen the 1995 Tank Girl movie?  Well, the comics aren't like that.  Speaking as someone who loved the film, that isn't a criticism.  The comic includes boozing, shagging, farting, vomiting and eyes of God able to fight off evil cannibalistic movie producer types.  You'll see a couple of familiar faces from the film - Booga the humanoid Kangaroo and Jet Girl, the girl with a jet.  There is however no water shortage, no post apocalyptic waste land and nothing futuristic about it.

So what is it about?  It's about a modern day Australian, boozing, smoking and abusing her way through life.  And it's all tightly woven around the plot of Homer's Odyssey and James Joyce's Ullysees.  For those of you not familiar with Homer's poem, it deals with the hero Odysseus and his journey home from the Trojan War.  It takes him ten years to get home and while he is away his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a hoard of suitors, wanting to wed Penelope.

Promethea Volume 1

Writer: Alan Moore
Penciller: J.H.Williams III
Colourist: Wildstorm FX, Jeromy Cox, Alex Sinclair, Nick Bell, Digital Chameleon
Inker: Mick Gray
Letterer: Todd Klein
Additional art by Charles Vess 
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
Set in an alternate, near future world, college student Sophie Bangs is researching Promethea stories for a school project - Promethea is a recurring character in many different pieces of literature over the centuries.  Sophie tracks down and meets with the widow of the last writer to focus on Promethea.

At this meeting Sophie discovers that there once was an Egyptian girl named Promethea, and furthermore, when Sophie writes poetry about Promethea, that is when she uses her imagination to connect with the idea of Promethea, she becomes her.  Moreso, there have been Prometheas created like this, before her.  Sophie as Promethea gains mystical powers and can travel to a realm called the Immateria, a world of myth and fiction where ideas have reality.  Within the Immateria Sophie learns about the history of Promethea and is trained for battle with the demons who are out to destroy Promethea and all her vessels.

Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia

Writer: Greg Rucka
Pencils: J G Jones
Colours: Dave Stewart
Inks: Wade von Grawbadger
Letters: Todd Klein
Publisher: DC Comics

What’s it about?
Diana, Princess of Themyscira, aka Wonder Woman, is Ambassador for her people.  This story mostly takes place in and around her embassy in New York.  A young woman, wanted for a string of murders in Gotham, runs to Wonder Woman and gives supplication to Diana in order to form Hiketeia with her.