Best of 2013: Spandex

Writer: Martin Eden
Art: Martin Eden
Publisher:  Self published and Titan Books

What's it about?
Spandex tells the story of a group of 8 queer superheroes and their enemies, living in Brighton, UK.  For those of you that don't know, Brighton is an LGBT friendly city on the south coast of England.  The members of Spandex are Butch, Diva, Glitter, Indigo, Liberty, Mr Muscles, Neon and Prowler.  Spandex generally has 7 members at a time, and their costumes are coloured according to the colours of the rainbow.  Butch wears green, Diva wears red, Glitter is orange and so on.

Between them their power set covers unbreakable skin, light based powers, teleportation, a danger sense called gaydar, ultra strength, ability to absorb other gay people's powers and skills.  All members are on the LGBT spectrum.  There are recurring characters such as the pink ninjas and the 50 foot lesbian.

Best of 2013: horror

Last week Bamf Comic Book Radio, a podcast I am a co-host for, http://waabamf.podomatic.com/entry/2014-02-05T09_25_13-08_00 did a horror special.  We invited P M Buchan, aka Bucky, author of Black Out (reviewed last year) to join us.  Four of us chatted for 60 minutes about the latest comic news and all the horror comics we have enjoyed, covering manga, indies and some more mainstream stuff.  There's a fair bit of swearing on the podcast, so it's probably more suitable for mature listeners!

If you like horror, go give it a listen.  I think the sound quality may not be great on this one, but please bear with it.  I had an absolute blast recording it :)

2013 overview: Top 10 volumes 1 and 2

Writer: Alan Moore
Pencils: Gene Ha
Layouts: Zander Cannon
Colours: Alex Sinclair
Inks: Gene Ha
Letters: Todd Klein
Publisher: America's Best Comics

What's it about?
Top 10 is a cop drama set in a world where everyone has superpowers. I mean everyone.  Kids, pensioners, parents, pets.  The series focuses on the city of Neopolis' police force.  Everyone has a codename, a regular name, and a costume.  People use their powers to travel around, to do their daily job, to meet people, to eat, to do all the normal everyday stuff we do.  The police force operates in the same way real world police do but with laws that specifically reference super powers.

2013 overview: Grendel - War Child

Hola!

Apologies for the lack of updates - I'm hoping I've still got some readers left...  As usual I have a ton of things I'd like to review and, as usual, the task is a little bit daunting.  So, to make it easier on my myself (and to get some posts on here for you dear lovelies to read) I'm going to do a few posts on the best stuff I read in 2013.

I'm going to start with books from a couple of smaller publishers: Grendel: War Child, from Dark Horse comics; and Top 10 from America's Best Comics.

Grendel: War Child

Writer: Matt Wagner
Art: Patrick McEown and Ken Henderson
Colours: Bernie Mireault and Kathryn Delaney
Inks: Matt Wagner and Monty Sheldon
Letterer: Kurt Hathaway
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

What's it about?
I did have a full length review of this written in rough, it inspired me so much, but then I lost the bits of paper and now I have to re-write it from memory.  There's a lesson to you all - organise your paperwork!

War Child is a 10 issue mini series and part of the wider Grendel story.  I haven't read any other Grendel books, although I am a big fan of Matt Wagner (the writer), so this review comes from my understanding of this single story.

Grendel is the senior bodyguard/protector of the leader of the empire, Orion I.  After Orion's death his son, aged about 10, is kidnapped by Grendel.  Orion's widow is now ruling as regent; however she is a little unhinged.  She is desperate for power and wants the son back to give her leadership legitimacy.  She has locked her daughter in her quarters, ostensibly for her protection from the threatened rebellion - but honestly?  I think her daughter just isn't a high priority.

Grendel has taken the son on Orion's orders and they are travelling through the wastelands to safety.  Orion's widow sends the army after them, and predictably they all fail.  Eventually Grendel and the child find sympathisers and can rest, and wait.

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.

Kid Book Group discussion on twitter tonight

Tonight on twitter is the monthly Kid Book Group chat.  This month, it is focusing on kids' comics.  It's set up as a comics clinic and I will be taking part as an expert (!) to give recommendations and advice.  If you want to join in, stroll on over to www.twitter.com and 9pm (UK time) and follow the hashtag #kidbkgrp (note that it is a singular kid and singular book).  The chat will last for 1 hour, until 10pm.

#kidbkgrp is the brainchild of @chaletfan, a children's and young adult literature devotee.  She's great at getting people involved and stimulating discussion.  You can find out more about the book group here:
http://didyoueverstoptothink.wordpress.com/2013/10/01/kidbkgrp-update-octnovdec-dates-and-topics/

I don't think you need a twitter account to view the tweets, but if you want to join in you'll have to register.  You can have a look at the preparatory tweets here: http://twitter.com/search?q=%23kidbkgrp&src=typd

I hope you can join us!

Marvel: Civil War

Writer: Mark Millar
Penciller: Steve McNiven
Inker: Dexter Vines
Colourist: Morry Hollowell
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Publisher: Marvel

What's it about?
A group of young heroes accidentally kill themselves and 600 civilians. This alarms the government who introduce the Superhuman Registration Act - everyone with powers must register with the government and become paid operatives of S.H.I.E.L.D.  If you don't comply, you'll be arrested and charged with treason.

This Act splits the heroes. Iron Man, Spider-Man, Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, She-Hulk and others are in support of the Act.  Most of the X-Men, Captain America, Nick Fury and others oppose it.  As the supporters are hired to bring in those that don't comply, the opposing faction go underground.

The book builds on and references other key events in the Marvel universe but you don't need to know about these to read it.  The other events are used to build the case for the Act and explore the moral quandary that the Marvel universe finds itself in.   The supporters believe registration is necessary to ensure new heroes are adequately trained and to ensure a measure of accountability.  The opposers believe that heroes shouldn't be beholden to government (what if government fucks up?) and that registration puts their loved ones at risk.