Author: David Hogan

Captain America: Origin Review

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What is now worryingly a couple of years ago I said that I’d be doing an infrequent marathon through all my Marvel comic graphic novel collections as well as throwing in the odd highly regarded (or eventually modern) story via the Marvel Unlimited app, and guess what? It’s finally time to make a start, and where better than at the VERY start, I’m talking the 1940s! Yes, Captain America’s original four issues, which contain a couple of stories each, are first up given I’m going through them in original issue release order (as much as I can anyway) and they’re the four featured in the first “Golden Age Masterworks” collection. The next bunch are all origin stories in that they’re the first stories released for a character as well (I only brought a select few relevant Vol.1 Masterwork releases, so don’t panic, you’re not in for a long slog of 60s cheesiness!) and therefore they don’t have an over-arching title, so I’ve just put “Origins” for them, because that’s comic booky, right? Right! So let’s finally make a start then!

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Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo (Wii) Review

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The only other game I own that’s based on the original Dragon Ball series, “Revenge of King Piccolo” is essentially a Wii version of the previous game, Advanced Adventure, only focused solely on the Red Ribbon and Demon King Piccolo arcs with less modes and playable characters, BUT all in 3D, so… hooray, I guess. I brought it hoping it would be a modernised take on the GBA game but instead found a pretty safe, generic game instead. How does it hold up in 2023? Well, funnily enough, it’s much the same in that it’s a safe, generic action platformer. Let’s take a deeper look anyway… well, as deep as such a shallow game can go anyway!

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Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle Review

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Dragon Ball’s second theatrical feature sort of picks up from where the last one left off, in that the previous film adapted the first 13 or so episodes of the show / story arc of the manga and this one riffs on the next one, where Goku meets Krillin and they train under Master Roshi… well, then it sort of stops to tell a mostly original story, though adding in a few missed beats from the previous film and of course favourite side-character Lunch, who gets a much different introduction here! Let’s take a look…

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Doctor Who: Far From Home – Naomi’s Ark Review

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The second three-part story in “Far From Home” is less a “great concept not really well executed” like the previous story and more a “good idea done alright”. It has a greater focus on Naomi at last but all that did was further demonstrate how Eleanor Crooks still doesn’t seem to know how to show a range of emotions on audio, so that didn’t really help things either. Oh well! Let’s take a look and finally put the June Big Finish releases to bed…

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Good Omens – Season 2 Review

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The first season of Good Omens was my 2019 TV Series/Season of the year so it’s no surprise to hear I was eagerly anticipating this return and thankfully it didn’t disappoint! While I’d say it was slightly weaker than the first season, though given how highly I rated that it means Season 2 was still extremely enjoyable. This is mostly thanks to the endlessly charismatic duo of Michael Sheen and David Tennant, not to do a disservice to the other actors or the writing itself! So let’s take another dive into the world of Good Omens, shall we?

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Red Dwarf: Back to Earth Review

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We jump forward ten years with our next Red Dwarf review, the “Back to Earth” special, or specials I guess, I do remember watching over several nights originally, its just the Blu-ray is edited into one feature. It’s an odd one, mainly because there’s no live audience or even a laughter track, which makes a lot of jokes come off as flat or unfunny because you’re just used hearing it. Personally I always dislike “characters come to our Earth and meet the actors who play them” storylines, it’s one of my least favourite plots of any medium, so that also strikes it down in my book. You know what though? It’s still better than most of Series VIII! Let’s take a look…

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Doctor Who: Far From Home – Operation Dusk Review

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It’s time for another dose of the Seventh Doctor travelling with Harry Sullivan and Naomi Cross, a duo that we’re still waiting on the start of their adventures, but there you go. I think that’s next year’s Fourth Doctor stories, so not long left… Anyway, “Operation Dusk” feels like one of those stories where someone put two and two together and realised how perfectly they fit, in this case the Vashta Nerada and the Blitz, a time where Britain had to put out their lights and plunge themselves into the dark. Does it work? Let’s find out!

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Star Wars Legends: Darth Bane – Path of Destruction Review

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While looking for something Star Warsy to read before the next phase of the High Republic I thought that now I’ve read the Thrawn Trilogy what else from the old Legends canon have I always wanted to read? Then I remembered the Darth Bane Trilogy, specifically this first book which depicts the downfall of the Sith and how the infamous “Rule of Two” was created. Obviously who knows how much if any of this book will eventually “count” in the new canon beyond Darth Bane being the man who created the Rule of Two, but who cares? This is far from the first franchise with more than one timeline I like, so let’s take a look at the first bit of Old Republic media on this blog!

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Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure (GBA) Review

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I finally figured out how to get through my colossal Dragon Ball game backlog on this site: attach a game review with each movie / TV special review! Amazingly given how many films and specials the combined series has this was only JUST enough. That being said, let’s get the two Dragon Ball games I own out the way before sadly starting the Z games while still reviewing original Dragon Ball films, that’s just how much more popular the Z brand is,  and we do that with Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure (which I could’ve sworn was called “Advance Adventure”, but I guess I was misremembering…) I remember just being happy to see a game based on the original series at the time but as it turned out it was far deeper and more addictive than I had anticipated. Let’s see if it still holds up!

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Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies Review

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Before we get to the final chunk of original Dragon Ball episodes I thought I’d better cover the four Dragon Ball movies first, as they all feature Goku as a kid, rather than the taller late teen we see in the final story arc, and they generally adapt the stories we’ve already covered via the main series, just with new antagonists and such. “Curse of the Blood Rubies” (known simply as “The Legend of Shenlong” in Japan) adapts the very first story arc of the series but takes out Pilaf and his gang and inserts a new threat in King Gurumes and his men. How much does this change the story? Not as much as it only being 40 minutes does… Still, let’s take a look at the first of many, many Dragon Ball-related 40-odd minute films and specials!

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