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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The Walking Dead – Vol. 15 & 16: “We Find Ourselves” and “A Larger World” Review
The final quarter of The Walking Dead’s second Compendium is up next to be reviewed and with it… some pretty chill volumes, it has to be said. In fact Volume 15 barely has any action in it at all as its once again focused on the Alexandria community coming together post-crisis and then a small mutiny. At least 16 introduces the Hilltop community and does something a little different. Still, we all know what Compendium 3 is full of, but that’ll have to wait until later in the year, so let’s finish this chunk of Walking Dead comic first, shall we?
Continue readingThe Walking Dead – Vol. 13 & 14: “Too Far Gone” and “No Way Out” Review
Another double bill of Walking Dead comic volumes and once again it’s mostly setting the scene of Alexandria being a new safe haven with no more outside groups to deal with (oh how wrong they turn out to be…) but that’s not to say it doesn’t have its moments, especially involving the, well, walking dead. Let’s take a look!
Continue readingThe Walking Dead – Vol. 11 & 12: “Fear the Hunters” and “Life Among Them” Review
It’s time for another chunk of black and white Walking Dead goodness (well, in terms of storytelling, not so much tone…) as we get some dramatic send-offs and some horrifying moments before we reach the all-too-familiar (for those of us who watched the TV show first) location of Alexandria. Let’s take a look!
Continue readingThe Walking Dead – Vol. 9 & 10: “Here We Remain” and “What We Become” Review
Picking up where we left off with the Walking Dead comic reviews is the start of the second Compendium, or specifically Volumes 9 and 10 overall, and after the insanity of the previous chunk that saw the Prison fall and more character deaths then you can shake a stick at we have several issues of dealing with the trauma of those events before we meet up with a familiar trio of people in Abraham, Eugene and Rosita. Let’s take a look!
Continue readingStar Wars: The High Republic – Eye of the Storm Review
This’ll be a brief review but I can’t not cover what is essentially the epilogue of the first Phase of the High Republic era. In two longer-than-normal comic issues it explores not only Marchion Ro’s backstory but the backstory of his entire race, plus a nice glimpse into what he was doing in between the books. Let’s take a look!
Continue readingStar Wars: The High Republic – The Shadow of the Nihil / Jedi’s End Review
Although billed as two “story arcs” the finale to the first run of High Republic comics comes to a close really with the five part “Jedi’s End” story, and the two part “Shadow of the Nihil” is just a quick story to set it up. Still, those final few issues are great, being set to happen concurrently to the final adult novel in Phase 1 “The Fallen Star” as was obvious during the book. So let’s finally take a look at the other POV of that dramatic incident…
Continue readingThe Walking Dead – Vol. 7 & 8: “The Calm Before” and “Made to Suffer” Review
(Note: This was written a few months ago so it’s still in the old review format. Oh well, at least all of Omnibus 1 will match!) Never before has a title rang quite as true as Volume 7 “The Calm Before” because, yeah… Volume 8 is a hell of a thing, that’s for sure. It’s no wonder the comic fans at the time were so upset with how the finale of the Prison story arc was handled at the end of Season 3, and even when they tried to recoup it in 4. It’s nothing like the shocking sudden onslaught that happens here… So let’s take a look!
Continue readingThe Walking Dead – Vol. 5 & 6: “The Best Defence” and “This Sorrowful Life” Review
(Anime on a Monday and a comic review on Friday?! Stupid review embargo!) My first look through the Walking Dead comics has brought me to the Governor and his Woodbury settlement, something that was a bit of a mess in the TV show and it turns out is a mess in the comics as well, just in a very different and far more literal way! Let’s take a look, then, but not too long of a look because yikes, some panels in these pages were quite the sight…
Continue readingThe Walking Dead – Vol. 3 & 4: “Safety Behind Bars” and “The Heart’s Desire” Review
The next two volumes of The Walking Dead comic see the group set up in the Prison but things go quite differently than it did in the later TV adaptation as they really push the idea of the human survivors butting heads in a new world without law and what that means. It’s really good stuff and tonally very different from what I know as the show. It’s starting to seem like the people praising the comics may have been on to something…
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