It's that time of year again when most of the Western world runs about in a bit of a panic trying to find Christmas presents for their family and friends. We thought we'd use this time to spotlight a few of our older reviews and suggest some books which would make Christmas presents. Without further ado, let's continue....
Monday, 29 November 2010
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot
You may have heard that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is getting rebooted, without the involvement of anyone from the original film or TV show. With this in mind, I'd like to remind any fans of the TV show that you can still get your Joss Whedon influenced Buffy kicks, through the medium of comics!
We here at New readers.. have featured two Buffy spin offs, Tales of the Vampires and Tales of the Slayers. Both come fully Joss Whedon authorised and approved and are of the quality you would expect from the TV show. If that's not enough Slayer for you, you could also buy season 8, produced as an ongoing comics series, starting with Long Way Home. The reading order for season 8 is as follows:
Long Way Home
No Future For You
Wolves at the Gate
Time of Your Life
Predators and Prey
Retreat
We here at New readers.. have featured two Buffy spin offs, Tales of the Vampires and Tales of the Slayers. Both come fully Joss Whedon authorised and approved and are of the quality you would expect from the TV show. If that's not enough Slayer for you, you could also buy season 8, produced as an ongoing comics series, starting with Long Way Home. The reading order for season 8 is as follows:
Long Way Home
No Future For You
Wolves at the Gate
Time of Your Life
Predators and Prey
Retreat
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Batwoman: Elegy
Artist: J.H.Williams III
Colours: Dave Stewart
Letters: Todd Klein
Publisher: DC Comics
What's it about?
Batwoman is the latest person to take on Batman's mantle. Real name Kate Kane, this is her first set of solo stories and is really a two parter - the first story introduces us to Alice, a psychotic woman who speaks only in prose taken from Alice in Wonderland, and the second story is Kate's origin - what events made her the way she is now, how and why she chose to put on the bat mantle.
Kate is a new and rare character, introduced a few years ago she is an out and proud lesbian from a military background. She has suffered some tragedy but this is not what drives her. In the costume she's confident and dangerous, out of the costume she's dedicated to the cause and is trying to balance her night pursuits with her personal relationships.
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Power Girl: New Beginning
Pencils: Amanda Connor
Colours: Paul Mounts
Letters: John J. Hill
Publisher: DC Comics
What's it about?
Power Girl is Superman's cousin from a parallel Earth. Her real name is Kara Zor-L, her secret identity is Karen Starr. This book is about her decision to build a new life and secret identity in New York, unfortunately her plans get thwarted by a giant albino gorilla with a human brain, a Lord of the Rings style fantasy reject and trio of party girls from the farthest reaches of space.
Does this sound a bit silly? Yes, it is a bit ridiculous, it takes some typical comic (and sci-fi) plots, mixes it up with slice of life stuff and produces a fun and engaging book to make you smile and let you while away an hour or so.
Saturday, 6 November 2010
About... Grey Spines. A Consumer Warning
By and large we’re a positive bunch at New Readers… Start Here but today, for one post only, I will be dwelling on the negative and tell you about something you should not buy:
Marvel collections with a grey spine.
The reason this warning has not come before is because I was not convinced it was a general problem but rather that I was just unlucky. The books with grey spines represent an inferior British binding of Marvel graphic novels, quite simply the glue connecting the pages to the spine is not strong enough. About a hundred pages of my copy of Planet Hulk fell straight out of the book when I was about halfway through. Once, as they say, is an incident.
Marvel collections with a grey spine.
The reason this warning has not come before is because I was not convinced it was a general problem but rather that I was just unlucky. The books with grey spines represent an inferior British binding of Marvel graphic novels, quite simply the glue connecting the pages to the spine is not strong enough. About a hundred pages of my copy of Planet Hulk fell straight out of the book when I was about halfway through. Once, as they say, is an incident.
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Neil Gaiman's Sandman. An Overview
Recently, we reviewed Dream Country, the third collection of Neil Gaiman’s landmark ten-volume series The Sandman. Further volumes will be reviewed in due time but before that we present here a brief overview of which volumes are most suitable for new readers. Note, for the purposes of this post we are dealing only with the Sandman ten-volume series itself, ignoring the additional volumes produced in later years and the spin-offs (though again, the best of these will be reviewed here at a later date).
Each of the ten volumes can, in theory, be read in isolation but in practice a little foreknowledge of what you’re getting into might not be a bad thing.
The chronological sequence of the series is as follows:
Each of the ten volumes can, in theory, be read in isolation but in practice a little foreknowledge of what you’re getting into might not be a bad thing.
The chronological sequence of the series is as follows:
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Sandman: Dream Country
written by Neil Gaiman
“Calliope” and “A Dream of a Thousand Cats” pencils by Kelley Jones, inks by Malcolm Jones III, colours by Robbie Rusch
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” pencils and inks by Charles Vess, colours by Steve Oliff with additional material by William Shakespeare
“Facade” pencils by Colleen Doran, inks by Malcolm Jones III, colours by Steve Oliff
“Calliope” and “A Dream of a Thousand Cats” pencils by Kelley Jones, inks by Malcolm Jones III, colours by Robbie Rusch
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” pencils and inks by Charles Vess, colours by Steve Oliff with additional material by William Shakespeare
“Facade” pencils by Colleen Doran, inks by Malcolm Jones III, colours by Steve Oliff
What’s It About?
The Sandman, Oneiros, Morpheus, Lord Shaper, Dream of the Endless, he has had many names. He is the concept of human imagination personified, the well from which all stories spring. In his landmark series The Sandman Neil Gaiman created and used this central character to explore the very idea of stories.
This is a collection of shorter stories from the Sandman series. We have the Sandman commission a play from William Shakespeare, a cat who has become a preacher, a modern author who has imprisoned one of the legendary muses Calliope and an immortal who not only longs for Death but gets to have a conversation with her.
The Sandman, Oneiros, Morpheus, Lord Shaper, Dream of the Endless, he has had many names. He is the concept of human imagination personified, the well from which all stories spring. In his landmark series The Sandman Neil Gaiman created and used this central character to explore the very idea of stories.
This is a collection of shorter stories from the Sandman series. We have the Sandman commission a play from William Shakespeare, a cat who has become a preacher, a modern author who has imprisoned one of the legendary muses Calliope and an immortal who not only longs for Death but gets to have a conversation with her.