New Excalibur: Battle for Eternity, Chris Claremont

"Chris Claremont makes his triumphant return to New Excalibur! The fight has begun. The battle that's been building since the very beginning of the series is finally coming to a head. Captain Britain must take on his opposite for a battle that will be waged upon many worlds. Plus: One of the team members suddenly succumbs to an all too real tragedy. The team must pull together and care for their fallen friend while their own lives fall to pieces. Collects New Excalibur #16-24."












If the Excalibur (or eXcalibur) of Warren Ellis was all grim and gritty spy fare with a dash of sci-fi thrown in, this is pure, unadulterated Claremontian superheroics.

Or at least it is AFTER the first few issues, which instead choose to focus on ... Nocturne suffering a stroke. If you can imagine the mood whiplash of that being the lead in to an alternate version 'evil' Captain Britain showing up to invade London with an alternate version 'evil' X-Men, whilst a diverse eXcalibur team battled against overwhelming odds to defeat them and save the Queen from execution. Well, actually, it's rather impossible to imagine that kind of mood change.

So if you do read this book after reading this, just skip those first few issues. It's not worth it. Much like the powerloss chapter about the depowered mutant who almost inadvertently dies because he can't fly anymore, it's a taste of the real world that certainly has a place in comics, but rarely works alongside the convention of capes and baddy punching.

Is it good? Rarely. Is it enjoyable? Assuredly so. Will you miss anything by not reading it. Not at all.

There's a lot of Claremont comics to get out there, this isn't even top 30.

Also Try:
Chris Claremont; X-Men
Mark Millar, Ultimate X-Men
Joss Whedon, Astonishing X-Men
Christos Gage, World War Hulk: X-Men

The Korvac Saga, Jim Shooter

"He hails from an unimaginable era: the 31st century. Fleeing through the timestream from the pursuing team of futuristic defenders known as the Guardians of the Galaxy, Korvac the Machine Man has established a secret presence on present-day Earth in the self-created persona of the mysterious Michael. Through such an unassuming guise, Korvac contemplates the elements of a universe he thirsts to command. Yet despite the subtlety of Michael's machinations, the world's greatest super-team - the mighty Avengers - catches wind of his cosmos-conquering scheme, thus drawing the two titanic forces into inevitable conflict."








I picked this up rather randomly in a little second hand Sci-Fi bookshop at the top of the street I work on, a shop notable more for it's devoted attempt to replicate the Black Books experience. To say that its proprietors are disinterested is to do them a grave disservice, they have elevated the idea of apathy to a laconic art form, barely shifting from their amply cushioned positions to extend an ungrateful hand for the cash that disturbs them from the daily routine of opening up, reading and closing time.

That having been said, they always have a weird array of old comics and an excellent back catalogue of trade paperbacks and pulp fiction. Having never read the Korvac saga before, or indeed much early Avengers, it was worth picking up a cheap pocketbook version just to get to grips with a character who is bigger in impact than in actual appearances.

In fact, the only real reference I've ever seen to him was a two part story in Avengers Academy where Korvac reappeared to fight almost every Avenger and trashed them with ease.

What's surprising about the Korvac saga is how little of it is actually related to Korvac. His appearance is scattered through multiple comics before he actually meets the Avengers - battles against the Collector, team-ups with the Guardians of the Galaxy, even Ultron shows up before we actually see Korvac. So whilst the actual fight sequence is amazing, an excellent demonstration of how overpowered the Avengers are by the cosmically fuelled being, it's a little bit of a let down.

In fact, the majority of the book is pretty dull really, which is definitely not what I expected. It doesn't help that the original Guardians of the Galaxy are one of the most dull teams to ever appear in comics, certainly if you have only the experience of seeing them appear alongside the far more interesting (and, importantly, starring) Avengers.

Ultimately, despite its status as a 'classic' this is an unsatisfying and laboured read, one which is hampered by an all over the place cast and a slow burn narrative that drags rather than exciting. Try other stuff first.

Also Try:
Christos Gage, Avengers Academy
Jonathan Hickman, Avengers
Stan Lee, Fantastic Four
Dan Abnett, Annihilation 

Avengers: The Last White Event, Jonathan Hickman

"The Avengers must scramble to deal with the threat of another Universal SYSTEM. The New Adam is transformed, and his true self revealed. And the most dangerous hero on Earth is created. The Avengers face off against the World Breaker. Discover the imminent threat to the Avengers World. Watch the first hints of the hidden connections between the events of Avengers and New Avengers. COLLECTING: Avengers 7-12."












These are incredibly handsome books - I commented about that on the last one of these, but they are just incredibly beautiful. Hickman has such a talent for the creation of spectacular designs, and nowhere is this clearer than here, where he can cut loose with stuff and Marvel seem content to build their branding around him. Even his creator owned work like Manhattan Projects, East of West and God is Dead don't have the same cohesive structure of Avengers.

The actual story is somewhat less stellar. It's a quick read, that boils down to a lot of punching. Hickman is more concerned with giant actions affecting the Universe at large than giant consequences for the characters. To quote Andrew Wheeler's review of Infinity over at comicsalliance:

"Hickman doesn’t seem to enjoy writing character moments. It’s not where he takes the action. He’s an odd contrast to Brian Michael Bendis, whose character moments are typically so strong that he sometimes spends issue after issue building on them before he remembers to tell a story."

Considering that outside of the last 18 months or so BMB has written nearly every Avengers story for the past decade, that is a HUGE transition.

I still find myself terribly enjoying the book though, for all its lack of focus and love of action set pieces over anything like development. And I enjoy the large scale of cast, something which seemingly everyone else hates. I just wish we could get more Smasher, so luckily for me the next volume sets up Infinity, a space based event where the Shi'ar, and thus Smasher, are prominent.

Also Try:
Jonathan Hickman, The Manhattan Projects
Brian Michael Bendis, New Avengers vol. 1

X-Factor: Happenings in Vegas, Peter David

"Remember when we warned you about the shocking twist involving Madrox's baby? Remember when the return of Shatterstar wound up making every comics-related website? Well, that was just a warm-up for the shocking events in this volume. X-Factor gets a new client, a tall green-garbed woman with a deadly secret, but that's just a set-up for the jaw-dropping surprise to come."












X-Factor is a tonally strange comic to pin down, being, as it is, a detective comic with a cast of mutants and others than generally tends towards the soapier side of pulp fiction, and features some of the most character-led plot in the entire genre.

And that also, from time to time, features actual superheroes appearing and engaging in heroic battles, as though that were what this is a comic about.

But it isn't, it's not your general superhero battle book, although there are plenty of fight scenes. It's not Heroes for Hire, and it isn't the X-Men, it's a weird halfway house of both, and like the latter it is ALL ABOUT the character arcs.

This is a little disappointing then, because by and large this is a self-contained arc, featuring some set up for future stuff, some extra little conflicts on the side, and a main plot that features the X-Factor group teaming up with Thor to fight dead vikings in Las Vegas, a city which has almost no native heroes that I can think of but routinely gets trashed.

Oh, the Thor stuff is fine, but from a series that started off exploring sex crimes of the super people, or sent its main characters off into the future to fight in the Summers rebellion, a Noodle incident that had been referred to for decades beforehand, a vignette on how women are tricky things to understand and how Thor can hit things isn't quite as cool.

Also Try:
Peter David, X-Force: The Invisible Woman has Vanished, Madrox
J. Michael Straczynski, Thor

Tactics of Mistake, Gordon R. Dickson

"It's obvious that Cletus Graeme--limping, mild-mannered scholarly--doesn't belong on a battling field, but instead at a desk working on his fourth book on battle strategy and tactics. But Bakhalla has more battlefields than libraries, and Graeme sees his small force of Dorsai--soldiers of fortune--as the perfect opportunity to test his theories. But if his theories or his belief in the Dorsai lead him astray, he's a dead man."










I have no idea why this isn't up yet. I read it months ago (in August), so it's just general laziness at this point.

Basically, this book is great, and you should read it. You can do that here: http://library.worldtracker.org/English%20Literature/D/Dickson,%20Gordon/Gordon%20R.%20Dickson%20-%20Childe%20Cycle%2004%20-%20Tactics%20Of%20Mistake.pdf

Also Try:
Robert Heinlen, Starship Troopers
Joe Haldeman, The Forever War

Batman: The Black Mirror, Scott Snyder

"In "The Black Mirror," a series of brutal murders pushes Batman's detective skills to the limit and forces him to confront one of Gotham City's oldest evils. Helpless and trapped in the deadly Mirror House, Batman must fight for his life against one of Gotham City's oldest and most powerful evils!Then, in a second story called "Hungry City," the corpse of a killer whale shows up on the floor of one of Gotham City's foremost banks. The event begins a strange and deadly mystery that will bring Batman face-to-face with the new, terrifying faces of organized crime in Gotham.This volume collects Detective Comics #871-881."








There is so much to talk about with this one, so it's difficult to limit myself to making this just a bullet review.

First of all though -  Scott Snyder is currently knocking the ball out of the park with his Batman run. Court and Night of Owls was fantastic, Death of the Family managed to deliver some truly excellent moments despite it's general uneveness, and Zero Year has been surprisingly good. But Black Mirror is where he first established his credentials as a writer in the Gotham universe, serving up a deliciously twisted story focussing on Dick Grayson's Batman and Commissioner Gordon.

Even before that Snyder has been a writer I've tried to follow, since his excellent American Vampires debuted. He has a knack for picking artists that complement his creepy, horror-lite, style, and that look like nothing else around. Rafael Albuquerque on American Vampire and Francisco Francavilla and Jock here are more indie and creator owned icons than typical DC artists (in fact this was Francavilla's first DC role) - they certainly don't match the house style of DC and it works fantastically in creating a tale that undermines the preconceptions of the reader, presenting a fractured take that ties in to the psyche of the main antagonist, James Gordon Jr as the book hurtles towards its inevitable conclusion.

Like Geoff Johns and Grant Morrison, Snyder loves to use details and ephemera from stories past to add narrative weight to the tale he is telling, but the inclusion of James, a character rarely (if ever) seen since Year One, and who was pushed out by Sarah Essen and his more heroically inclined sister, is a lovely touch, especially contrasted to Grayson, the heroic 'son' of Batman, and the man who at one point was intimately connected to the Gordon family through Barbara.

Of course, there's more than just storytelling technique at hand here, and the collection tells an excellent tale, balanced with the wonderful artwork. If you're looking for a book for someone who loves Batman, this is perfect.

Scott Snyder, Court of Owls
Scott Snyder, American Vampire
Grant Morrison, Batman and Robin
Gail Simone, Batgirl

Excalibur Visionaries - Warren Ellis Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, Warren Ellis

Born in whimsy though it was, the British mutant team had its share of dark days - never moreso than under the horrific hands of Warren Ellis Excalibur enters the Genoshan war zone with Peter Wisdom, smoking sardonic spy extraordinaire, as their guide Plus: Nightcrawler's magic girlfriend Daytripper joins the cast when a sorcerous struggle centers on Shadowcat's Soulsword Mutant terrorism, extraterrestrial espionage, and more Guest-starring Wolverine










Romance is in the air for Englands's Premier super-team! Captain Britain loves Meggan, Pete Wisdom has moved in with Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler and Day Tripper are back together, and Wolfsbane and Douglock are best friends! But things don't stay rosy long as the team faces threats from a group of Brood in the future, an all-powerful X-Man and...Colossus!? Plus: The Starjammers save the Shi'ar Empire! 









I read these two together, so rather than splitting them into the two books that they came as I'll just review them as one.

I was initially drawn to these for two reasons, a fondness for Warren Ellis, and a particular love of Excalibur (or eXcalibur, as it's often titled), the English X-Men. Marvel have had a long history of creating excellent UK titles, most recently in Cornell's Captain Britain books, although the Marvel UK brand is relaunching imminently.

A further draw was that the second book features the appearance of Colossus, although as it turned out that was less positive than I had hoped, as my favourite character basically turns up to be jobbed as a villain.

There's certainly a lot to love, especially in the first volume, but compared to the Claremontian run (which I'll review some of soon, as I've also been reading that) it's not half as fun. It's certainly better, but it's not as enjoyable, especially once we get into the second volume which just gets duller and duller without an overarching plot.

I would reccomend the first volume certainly, it brings a nice Sci-Fi and Spy vibe to English heroics, which is entirely fitting and nicely distinguishes it from the much more clearly super-heroic American set. The second, not so much though, as it all topples over into turbulent boredom.

Also Try:
Warren Ellis, Planetary
Chris Claremont, eXcalibur
Paul Cornell, Knight and Squire

Jesus + Nothing = Everything, Tullian Tchividjian

"It’s so easy to forget what the Christian faith is all about. We struggle so much, work so hard, and fail so often that we frequently sense something in the equation of life must be missing.

Tullian Tchividjian argues that what we are missing is the gospel—a fuller, more powerful understanding of Jesus and what his finished work means for everyday life.

During a year of great turmoil, Pastor Tchividjian discovered the power of the gospel in his own life. Sharing his story of how Jesus became more real to him, Tchividjian delves deeply into the fundamentals of the faith, explaining the implications of Christ’s sufficiency—a revelation that sets us free and keeps us anchored through life’s storms.

Ultimately, Tchividjian reminds us that Jesus is the whole of the equation as he boldly proclaims that Jesus plus nothing really is everything."

I went into this expecting something a little bit daunting from the Grandson of Billy Graham. It actually turned out a whole lot better than that, acting as a sort of guide to Collosians, alongside the experiences of Tchividjian in facing problems at church.

It works best as an exploration of just what it means to live life with Jesus alone, eschewing the world and the things that seem important.

JJ and I read it together, and it was well worth doing it like that - each of us were able to pull out quotes and lessons from each chapter, and it was certainly one of the most helpful books we've gone through like this.

It's nicely accessible, so shouldn't put anyone off - the focus is obviously pretty Christian but it stops to explain unfamiliar concepts and takes a nice, steady tone throughout.

Also Try:
Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz
Rob Bell, My Velvet Elvis

What God Has Joined Together, The Christian Case For Gay Marriage,David Myers and Letha Scanzoni

"Gay marriage has become the most important domestic social issue facing twenty-first-century Americans -- particularly Americans of faith. Most Christians are pro-marriage and hold traditional family values, but should they endorse extending marriage rights to gays and lesbians? If Jesus enjoined us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and the homosexual is our neighbor, does that mean we should accept and bless gay marriages? These and other, related questions are tearing many faith-based communities apart."

Subtitling your book as 'The Christian Case For Gay Marriage' is an inflammatory prospect considering the difficulty in convincing many Christians that there's a case for gay anything, let alone marriage. Thankfully this is a book that is by an large an altogether subtler and more nuanced tome that the title suggests - albeit one with a very specific axe to grand.

Starting on the supposition that the two sides of the argument (reduced down to conservative Christians and liberal everything's) can be convinced through logic and reason seems a more challenging idea than the actual argument. As the authors freely acknowledge most people's opinion is made up in advance and they choose the arguments that reinforce that stance. Despite the overwhelming evidence (both scientific, psychological and biblical) to reinforce their case it's unlikely that anyone who seriously stands opposed to homosexuality will be convinced by reason - but it does provide a wealth of arguments for those who would take up that battle to those who choose to ignore it.

Setting the argument within the context of years of church-science battles (astronomy, global warming, contraception, women) and the changes to biblical marriage that have been accepted (divorce, interracial partnerships, female roles) they create a compelling argument in favour of strengthening marriage by welcoming gay couples that can be sold as a conservative and liberal victory.

It contains a great breakdown of actual evidence, philosophy and biblical teaching about homosexuality and marriage, whilst never descending to platitudes. Definitely worth picking up if you want a way to advance the conversation past 'Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve'.

Also Try:

Phillip Yancey, What's So Amazing About Grace

Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis

The Age of Consent, George Monbiot

"A visionary road map for humanity's first global democratic revolution.  All over the planet, the rich get richer while the poor are overtaken by debt and disaster. The world is run by a handful of executives who make the most important of decisions—concerning war, peace, debt, development, and the balance of trade. Without democracy at the global level, the rest of us are left in the dark. George Monbiot shows us how to turn on the light.

Emphasizing not only that things ought to change, but how to change them, Monbiot develops an interlocking set of proposals that mark him as the most realistic utopian of our time. With detailed discussions of what a world parliament might look like, how trade can be organized fairly, and how underdeveloped nations can leverage their debt to obtain real change, Manifesto for a New World Order offers a truly global perspective, a defense of democracy, and an understanding of power and how it might be captured from those unfit to retain it."

Like Captive State this is a brilliant read that will make you so, so mad, although it takes a lot longer to get going and is mired in a slightly confused intent.

Set out as a manifesto for a global democratic institution Monbiot seeks to answer the question of who rules the world, where their authority is derived and how we can change this at an international and global level.

This is the less interesting part of the book, because Monbiot's key strength is in tearing apart the hypocrisy and deceit of the powerful, and nowhere is this clearer than when he turns his attention to the global institutions designed to help the poorest nations. His anger is infectious, in a few short chapters he rips apart the arguments and dissembling and presents a picture of Western culpability and responsibility for global poverty that cuts through the promises and words of politicians and shreds their empty rhetoric.

Like The Bottom Billion it also has some ways in which this can be changed, but again these are secondary to the real meat of the book. As an exposé it's riveting reading, and cherry picking chapters is well worth doing.

Unlike the Bottom Bilion, that isn't the real intent though - it's meant to be a practical means to kick start reasonable global governance, which is a somewhat lofty goal which doesn't seem to have too much backing it up. In fairness Monbiot addresses this problem at length but the conclusion he draws (better to try) doesn't really engender much hope.

Also Try:

www.monbiot.com

George Monbiot, Captive State

Paul Collier, The Bottom Billion

Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto

Animorphs; The Stranger, K A Applegate

"The fight for the planet continues in this gripping installment -- and the Animorphs must make an exacting choice.

The last time Rachel and her friends entered the giant Yeerk pool beneath their town things went very bad. This time they plan to be careful, and sneak in as roaches, just to spy.

Once they're inside, though, the team gets caught. But right as things are looking their most dire, everything stops. Everything.

Then Rachel and the Animorphs hear a voice. It belongs to a very old, very powerful being, and it says it can save them. But if it does, the Earth will be defenseless."



The Stranger is the seventh Animorphs book, and as I've mentioned before, as a kid I was a little bit obsessed with this series. So when I saw a copy of this book (one of my favourites) for sale at a library clearance I picked it up for JJ's brother. It's actually an updated version of the book I read, re-released last year as part of an unsuccessful relaunch of the line.

The Stranger is Rachael centred and has a couple of plot threads. Kicking off with the discovery of a new entrance to the Yeerk Pool, and the Animorph's decision to infiltrate it with the intention of discovering the whereabouts of the Yeerk's Kandrona (the replica sun that they feed from). Whilst there they encounter the Ellimist (essentially an all powerful alien God) and get given the opportunity to decide the fate of humanity.

The B plot is Rachael being given an out; a chance to leave behind her life as an Animorph and relocate to a different state with her Dad.

The plot then is all about choices, Rachael is given the chance to end her involvement in the war by both her father and the Ellimist, and her personal struggle, as well as the decisions of the Animorphs as a whole are the main focus of the book.

It's a theme that comes up a lot in the books; more notably with Cassie and Ax who both face difficulties in justifying their role against their morality (Cassie) or duty (Ax). But for a series where the decision to fight and keep fighting despite all the horrors they have experienced was notably quick, it's nice to see the ramifications of these choices.

Rachael can sometimes be a very one note character in the books that don't focus on her, but she tends to be far more nuanced in her own stories. Between this and the David arc she shows far more compassion and fear than is normally the case, even going as far as to admit to it to the rest of the Animorphs.

The key thing here is that the heroes are given an explicit opportunity to choose their destiny. The heroes choice is a common trope in fiction, emphasising that these individuals knowingly give up on the things that would make them happy for the greater good (think Bruce Wayne sacrificing his reputation to maintain the Batman secret, or Spider-Mans 'with great power must also come great responsibility').

The Ellimist gives the series a chance to explore exactly what it means for these teens to be facing up to a potential lifetime of war, it's the first time they question what the future will look like should the war drag on and on.

The conversation between Rachael and Tobias represents an acceptance that their life can't be normal again;Rachael's decision to stay with the Animorphs and not leave foreshadows the fact that, (spoiler alert), she won't make it through this war. Her chance to get out rejected she will be in it to the end, and won't get to live beyond it. The tragedy is that here is the last point at which she could conceivably have escaped from the path laid out for her - rejecting the warrior she is becoming and returning to normality with her Dad.

By contrast the Ellimist presents a different choice; not a return to the status quo and abandoning the mission, but recognition that their cause it lost and choosing to save those they care about. Abandoning the war for Earth to save their families is a harder choice to make. Unusually, despite initial resistance they eventually make the decisions to do so. The fact that the Ellimist is playing a different game altogether is irrelevant: this is a book in which the heroes do come to the conclusion that abandoning earth to an almost certainly inevitable conquest by the Yeerk's is the best option. It says something about the stakes of the series that this decision is presented as almost certainly the best one; saving a few families and the species from extinction is better than allowing the entire population to succumb to enslavement. 

It absolutely blew my mind as a kid that just a few books into such an epic mega-series the heroes are so shell-shocked and traumatised that giving up and letting the bad guys win to save a few dozen people is not only considered a valid option, but actually gets chosen as the strategy.

There are some parts where it's clear that this is one of the earlier books, and the rules haven't quite been solidified yet; during the escape from the Yeerk Pool the Animorphs demorph to human to avoid being eaten by a Taxxon, something which is unlikely to happen in later books where the paranoia about being discovered to be humans has really crept in. Rachael complaining that a controller pushed her over is especially disconcerting; it would be hard for anyone to mistake a human girl for an andalite,    so if he's knocking her over you would assume he had realised that the guerrilla force the Yeerk's were hunting wasn't just comprised of blue alien centaurs with deadly blade tails. Clearly observational sloll isn't something that Visser 3 prizes.

We do get some great action sequences in the book that made it stand out for me when younger though; the inevitably future scene of Yeerk victory with dead bodies in schools and burnt out cars was one of my first post-apocalyptic scenes. Hands down the highlight however has to be Marco punching a security guard in the face through a reinforced window whilst in gorilla morph. It's up there with his driving the truck as a gorilla (in Megamorphs 1?) as a highlight for the character.

This is a pretty important book in the series introducing the Ellimist, Rachael's Grizzly morph and fleshing out the character so often written off as a gung-ho blood knight. More tha that though it's one of the most entertaining, and features some great moments and character development for almost everyone.

Also Try;

K A Applegate, Animorphs - http://animorphsforum.com/ebooks/

Michael Grant, Gone

R L Stine, Goosebumps

Kate Thompson, Switchers Trilogy

X-Men; Powerless, Alan Davis

"Mutants are supposedly evolution's next step, but the High Evolutionary doesn't like where it's headed! All over the world, mutants are robbed of their powers, leaving X-Men and adversaries alike on the edge of defeat! But who is the Evolutionary's mysterious patron, and how is the disempowerment his next step? Plus: threats from the Acolytes, the Neo, and more! Guest-starring the New Warriors, X-Force and more than thirty years' worth of robots! Collects Uncanny X-Men #379-380, Cable (1993) #78, X-Force (1991) #101, Wolverine (1988) #149, and X-Men (1991) #99."








Proving that there really are no news ideas at all, here is the pre-House of M story of mutants losing their powers as the High Evolutionary and Mr Sinister devolve all mutants to baseline humans. Now, this is the kind of story that was obviously the inspiration for a later big event, and it's honestly (and unsurprisingly) handled a lot better by Bendis in House of M and by the X writers in every X-Men book after that until Second Coming.

Still, this is a pretty neat little book, that allows the X-Men to showcase what they do (go to space and beat up scientists mostly) whilst also giving Polaris a chance to do something with an actually interesting Magneto plotline.

The main problem with the book is that it's one of those classic X-tie ins which feature issues from half a dozen separate books, with competing art styles and plot lines to flesh out the idea. So alongside the main story in Uncanny X-Men and X-Men you also get a truly rubbish Cable story with some of the most pedestrian art imaginable and a totally out of place tale of Wolverine fighting robots with Nova and the New Warriors whilst dying of Adamantium Poisoning. He almost gets killed by a Spider Slayer, and it is awesome.

Also Try:
Brian Michael Bendis, Avengers: Disassembled, House of M
Brian Michael Bendis, Uncanny X-Men
Grant Morrison, New X-Men
Mark Millar, Old Man Logan

Blockade Billy, Stephen King

"Even the most die-hard baseball fans don’t know the true story of William “Blockade Billy” Blakely. He may have been the greatest player the game has ever seen, but today no one remembers his name. He was the first--and only--player to have his existence completely removed from the record books. Even his team is long forgotten, barely a footnote in the game’s history.

Every effort was made to erase any evidence that William Blakely played professional baseball, and with good reason. Blockade Billy had a secret darker than any pill or injection that might cause a scandal in sports today. His secret was much, much worse... and only Stephen King, the most gifted storyteller of our age, can reveal the truth to the world, once and for all."

I managed to pull this from a chance visit to Waconia Library in Minnesota, and figured that at a hundred pages or so I could read it in an evening. It actually took a little less time, as it turned out that the book is actually two short stories, rather than a single piece.

Blockade Billy is the story of a historically significant, minor league baseball player with a dark secret. King's key strength has always been the way he can evoke character in just a few lines of dialogue, and the telling of this tale (by an old man, to Stephen King, in a bar) is an excellent way for him to immediately invest a truthfulness to the story which gives it a real shine. It helps that King writes about baseball so effectively that even when I had no clue what was being spoken about, I still felt invested. The pacing of the story, unlike baseball as a game, is relentless.

The second story, a much shorter piece called Morality, is a little harder to describe, but basically boils down to what impact does an evil deed done for money have on the life of two otherwise ordinary people. Whilst King is usually known for his more exuberantly supernatural tales (The Mist, The Shining, IT, Carrie) he also has a fairly firm line in psychological and suspense led horror - real life tales, essentially (think Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, Dolores Clayborne, or Geralds Game).

Morality is one of these - a corrosive tale that's more impactful than Blockade Billy for it's simplicity. Told in flat, short prose, it sets up its idea and then lets it run its course. By making the reader implicit in the action, it turns the sedentary voyeurism of the act committed around, and places the weight as much on the reader as the characters.

Also Try:
Stephen King, The Dark Tower Series, any short story collection
Michael Chabon, Summerlands
Michael Lewis, Moneyball

X-Men Forever; The Secret History of the Sentinels, Chris Claremont

"Comics legends Paul Smith and Terry Austin join the X-Men Forever team! As the X-Men attempt to recoup from brutal recent events, they're tested by an unlikely obstacle. Meanwhile, something big has surfaced in South America - an enemy the battered X-Men will have to face head-on! Collects X-Men Forever #6-10."














X-Men Forever, even by the standards of any series that has been running for 40 years, is probably the most continuity-snarled and least accessible book I have ever read. It's part continuation of the original Uncanny run of Claremont, designed to show 'what would have happened' if he had stuck around, but exists in its own continuity (where death is permanent, Sabretooth IS Wolverine's Dad, and Storm is evil).

So If you can keep up with it being a book designed exclusively for X-Men fans who want to see the 'real' Claremontian story completed that has no actual continuity or canon reality, then here is a book for you.

And boy, is it weird. This is volume 2 of the book, and considering that I've not read the first I was pretty lost. Storm has been cloned as a child and her holder version has gone evil. That's the easiest twist to explain in a series that also features a blind Sabretooth living in the X-Mens house so that he can more easily hunt Kitty who now has Wolverine's claws. It's just totally nuts.

The story itself is pretty run of the mill stuff - Nick Fury shows up when Sentinels attack his men in South America. The X-Men head off to fight them alongside Nick and Daisy Dugan (daughter of 'Dum Dum'). We then get a secret origin of Nick Fury and Wolverine, where they meet to fight Sentinels in World War Two. Don't question it.

The arts pretty, the story is characteristically bombastic, and even if it doesn't add anything new it's fun in its own slightly nuts way. But ultimately this is a tale that didn't need telling, that has no consequences at all for the X-Men, and serves as a slightly worse Elseworld or What If? tale.

Pick up Ultimate X-Men instead. Unless you really, really miss Chris Claremont.

Also Try:
What If?
Mark Millar, Ultimate X-Men
Chris Claremont, New Exiles
Chris Claremont, Uncanny X-Men

The Cyberiad, Stanislaw Lem

"Trurl and Klapaucius are the archrival constructor robots, who, ransacking myth, technology and the secrets of cybernetic generation, race to create an invention even more improbable than the last."

















The Cyberiad is a collection of translated short stories from Russian Sci-Fi master Stanislaw Lem, who's probably most famous for Solaris. It follows the tales (and tales within tales) of the inventor Trurl and his misadventures within the application of his craft.

Featuring everything from the invention of a beast that can defy death for a hunting party, to a storytelling machine telling stories of Trurl and the stories he knows. There's a sense of playful inventiveness on display which is wonderfully enjoyable. None of the stories outstay their welcome, at around 20 pages each they're very short indeed. Even the longest of them involves the sleight of hand trick of building stories into further stories, a trick that Lem adores.

There's a sheer joyfulness to the world building on display, a love of language and wordplay that means that every story features intricate puns and the vocal equivalent of sight gags. To say these are great stories undermines them, they show more regard for the subtleties and depth of English than most writers manage. That this is a translated work speaks to the power of the writing; I don't know quite how much of the original text survived here, but there are enough rhymes, half rhymes and flights of surreal connections to impress.

The person who lent this to me described it as a Polish Douglas Adams. That's a perfect comparison, and frankly, when that's the person that springs to mind, you're in a good place.

Also Try:
Sergei Lukyanko, Night Watch
Douglas Adams, Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy
Terry Pratchett, The Bromelliad Trilogy

The Progressive Patriot, Billy Bragg

"What does it mean to be English? What does it mean to be British? Is the cross of St George a proud symbol of a great tradition, or the badge of a neo-Nazi? In a world where British citizens can lay bombs to kill their countrymen, where religious fundamentalism is on the increase and where the BNP are somehow part of the democratic process, what does patriotism actually mean?

Our identity can change depending on what company we are in. For example, someone could describe themselves British to one person, Scottish to another and, say, a Londoner to another, and be right every time. But problems arise when someone tries to tell you what you are, based on your skin tone, religion, accent, surname, or whatever.

This book is Billy Bragg's urgent, eloquent and passionate response to the events of 7 July 2005, when four bombs tore through a busy morning in London, killing 52 innocent people and injuring many more.

A firm believer in toleration and diversity, he felt himself hemmed in by fascists on one side and religious fanatics on the other. The suicide bombers were all British-born and well integrated into our multicultural society. Yet they felt no compunction in murdering and maiming their fellow citizens. Inclusivity is important, but without a sense of belonging to accompany it, what chance social cohesion...

But where does a sense of belonging come from? Can it be conferred by a legal document? Is it a matter of blood and soil? Can it be taught? Is it nature or nurture? The Progressive Patriot is a book we all need to read. It pulls no punches in its insights and its radical vision offers a positive hope for a country teetering on the brink of catastrophe."

It's been a bit of a struggle for me to get through this book, not because it's not interesting but because it can't quite decide what it wants to be, and tends to get a bit exhausting as it zips between a history of the country, an autobiography and a discussion of 70s folk music and the London pub scene.

It's an eclectic mix, and whilst Bragg certainly knows his stuff it never really coheres into a single narrative beyond "racism is bad, but I like music". It's at its most interesting when it talks about his passions; Simon and Garfunkel, the colonisation and appropriation of English history, and what it means to be English. But having read Watching the English so recently there's nothing here that seems deep enough - certainly his assetion that class has been eliminated is painfully untrue, and his optimism for the future free of race baiting and distrust isn't exactly holding up too well post-economic crash.

It's intended to be a manifesto for left wing patriotism, showing how multiculuralism is part of what it means to be English, and reclaiming British history from the Imperial white washers and conservative reformists who attempt to take a back to basics approach to education that emphasises English achievements abroard. Unfortunately it takes too long, and is far too anecdotal to engage with a broad and difficult topic, and never comes close to providing answers.

Also Try:
Kate Fox; Watching the English,
Jeremy Paxman, The English
Bill Bryson, Neither Here Nor There

Wolverine and the X-Men Vol. 1, Jason Aaron

"Wolverine has taken half the X-Men back to Westchester to start over with a new school and a new mission. Schism tore them apart, but can Wolverine lead the new Children of the Atom into the future? Only if they survive the new Hellfire Club and the return of another classic villain! Collecting: Wolverine & The X-Men 1-4"

This is the one of the two that I least expected to like. Despite it having an artist I really enjoy I don’t really have any idea about Jason Aaron before this – I'm aware of some of his previous work but he’s someone like Dennis Hopeless who I know exists, but who just hasn't written anything I’ve been interested in reading (although unlike Dennis Hopeless I'm not viscerally appalled by the output of his I have seen).

The very concept of this is not something I was particularly fussed about – I love the X-Men and I love X-School books, but Wolverine is a character so overplayed in the past ten years that I instinctively try to avoid books he’s appearing in.

Working in the youth sector I quite often get exposed to some truly bizarre slang. My personal favourite is DBI, or ‘Don’t Beg It’ a phrase used in conjunction with a withering look to let the recipient know that their enthusiasm is offputting, and that they risk looking desperate if they continue with whatever they’re doing – they’re begging for attention, and should stop. Since the success of X-Men: The Movie, Marvel have pushed Wolverine as THE X-Man of note. It’s a common joke that Wolverine’s real mutant power is that he can be in multiple places at once, due to his presence on a few X-teams, the Avengers, his solo titles and whichever monthly book needs a boost.

So the idea that, post-schism, Wolverine has split from the majority of the established X-Men to go and set up a school (The Jean Grey School, just to rub it in Cyclops’ face that little bit further) doesn’t just stretch credulity on the basis that this is a man who moonlights on a black-ops team that seeks out potential threats to mutantkind and murders them. Quite how he can be headmaster of a school (presumably on a normal teaching schedule) whilst also enforcing world peace with an Avengers team that he’s still nominally part of and teaming up with whichever character has seen drooping sales is beyond me.

So, Marvel, from the start; DBI. Wolverine is overplayed. Unless it’s a relaunch of the incredible ‘Wolverine and the X-Men’ cartoon that was cancelled a few years back I am not interested in anything that has Wolverine in the title.

Except.

This comic is brilliant.

I really never expected this but somehow of the two X-titles I picked up (Gillen’s Uncanny X-Men was the other) this is the one I loved.

It’s not hard to put my finger on what I loved about it, but it’s definitely a surprise to me. It’s not the art – whilst I like Chris Bachalo a lot, and think that some of his X-Men art is superb, his style isn’t a good fit for this book. His messy, living characters need more room to breathe and it’s noticeable that he’s at his best when dealing with more established, monstrous characters; his Wendigo, Krakoa and Ice Men are excellent, but his Wolverine frequently looks too bestial to fit with the school look that is being pushed, and there’s on panel in the second issue where he’s either twist his entire head round or the arms have been drawn on the wrong way. Either way, it’s not his finest. Things pick up a lot once Bradshaw steps in, and his art is wonderful.

But by this point, despite some sub-par artwork, I was already hooked because this is excellent, classic X-Men standard storytelling. There’s a refreshingly wide cast, from Kitty Pryde and Iceman, to the students, as well as a strong debut from the new Hellfire Club.

Normally Wolverine doesn’t work especially well alone because he requires something to rail against. It’s one of the reasons why the classic Cyclops/Wolverine argument works so well; Scott is all about control and Logan is barely suppressed rage. They’re the classic straight-man-fall-guy of superhero dynamics. Without someone to rail against Wolverine doesn’t especially work. He’s not interesting enough on his own, in part because he’s not especially unusual compared to the majority of the Marvel Universe, where nearly everyone is conflicted, and most heroes are happy to kill whenever it’s necessary.

But Aaron makes the great connection that the straight man he’s raging against is himself. Wolverine’s most difficult battle is to try and turn his back on that life and create a stable home for a bunch of superpowered pre-teens.

At one point, there’s a cover of Quire (code name: Kid Omega) with a graffiti sign behind him remarking ‘Do You Remember When Wolverine Was Interesting? Me Neither’. It’s a pithy put down, but it’s not quite right. Because this is where Wolverine is showing that he’s not begging it. And he’s not been this interesting in years.

Also Try:

Joss Whedon, Astonishing X-Men

Grant Morrison, New X-Men

Brian Michael Bendis, All New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men

Christos Gage, Avengers Academy

Uncanny X-Men Volume 1, Kieron Gillen

"In the wake of Schism, Cyclops leads a team of X-Men whose express purpose is to deal with extinction-level events. Meet the X-Men's ""Extinction Team"": Storm, Emma Frost, Magneto, Namor, Colossus, Danger, Magik and Hope. And the team's formation hasn't come a moment too soon, for Mr. Sinister has brazenly taken possession of the massive alien Dreaming Celestial - an act of open hostility designed to put the X-Men in their place, but also an offensive that will draw the attention of the godlike Celestials themselves. Collecting: Uncanny X-Men 1-4"










I got two X-Men graphic novels in a bid to catch up on the post Schism story lines as I'm loving the current run of X titles from Marvel. For those who are unaware, Schism was the sundering of the united mutant front into two separate sides, led by Cyclops and Wolverine. After years of simmering romantic competition over Jean Grey, a mutual distrust of one another's methods and the fact that they're just a ridiculous buddy cop duo (uptight control freak mutant leader meet psychotic berserker Samurai super soldier) their relationship utterly broke down and leads to the creation of two separate teams of X-Men.

With Wolverine off teaching school in Wolverine and the X-Men, Scott is left in Utopia leadin the cool mutants, like Magneto, Colossus and Doctor Nemesis. So, we have the best, and most powerful characters, characters bunched into a single 'Apocalypse Team' and it's written by fan-favourite writer Kieron Gillen! So, I was pretty excited about this one, certainly more than Wolverine's title.

Sadly, this isn't living up to expectations. Gillen can be bait hit or miss, and for a writer who is known for his ability to create 'the feels' he's created an exceptionally sterile narrative. Part of this is down to the large cast; with a focus on Scott and Emma Frost, mutant messiah Hope, Storm, Danger and side characters galore there's very little here to allow anything like emotive resonance.

But a bigger problem is the villain; Mr Sinister is probably one of the most underwhelming enemies the X-Men have. I don't really know what his deal is. He's an immortal Victorian geneticist obsessed with mutants, and the Summers bloodline especially, who wants to create a master race and was the lieutenant for Apocalypse? And he can shoot energy and has psychic powers? Or something.

Whatever, the point is that he's a rubbish villain, which make an introductory book that features him creating an entire city of Sinister's to fight the X-Men slightly boring. It doesn't help that the back up story is all about a mechanical parasitic alien that turns people into robot duplicates. That's two stories about impersonal replicants in one book! So if you're into that kind of thing, go for it.

Also Try:

Joss Whedon, Astonishing X-Men

Age of Apocalypse

Judd Winick, Exiles

Victor Gischler, X-Men: Curse of the Mutants
Jason Aaron, Wolverine and the X-Men

Agents of Atlas: Dark Reign, Jeff Parker

"The heroes of the 1950s are back with big plans for the 21st Century! When Federal enforcers under the hand of Norman Osborn burst into an armory under control of the Atlas Foundation, Jimmy Woo's Agents go head-to-head with the new powers that be. How it all goes down will make the playing field of the modern Marvel Universe more volatile than ever! This edition comes packed with extras, including a 1950s flashback to the Agents of Atlas' first savage encounter with the man now known as Wolverine! Plus, the Avengers must enlist the help of the Agents to help take down Kang the Conqueror! And discover the key role the Agents of Atlas played in Marvel's blockbuster event of 2009 in Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust?!

Collects Agents of Atlas #1-5, Wolverine: Agent of Atlas, Giant-Size Marvel Adventures Avengers, and material from Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust? and Dark Reign: New Nation."



Agents of Atlas is another of those books like The Defenders or Heroes for Hire that appears on the periphery of the Marvel Universe every now and again, and contains some great little all-ages stories without ever getting a long running ongoing book. This collects the Dark Reign tie in issues, which is a great fit for what is essentially the heroic Thunderbolts - a team of heroes pretending to be villains so as to create a peaceful world using the resources of a criminal empire.

Like Thunderbolts it allows for the lesser known heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe to get a look in; these books feature Temugin (son of The Mandarin) and everyone's second favourite bear themed character, Grizzly. It also showcases some more prominent characters from the Avengers era, including Bendis' New Avengers, The Sentry and Norman Osborne, and Wolverine. It's a broad cross section of popular and unknown characters that makes the book a joy to read. As someone who loves the one-page cameo and the intricacies of continuity an appearance from Man Mountain that ends with him being eaten by a dragon is a thing of joy.

There's a real light hearted ness to the book. One of the things that it succeeds in so well is telling a range of different stories. The Agents of Atlas as a whole are a collection of broad archetypes; a Spaceman, a Spy, a Gorilla, a Siren, a Robot and an Atlantean in a series of crime super heroics that owe as much to James Bond and Jackie Chan as to anything else. It means that as well as the exploits of the agents in the Dark Reign era you can have missions set in 1958 (yellow peril and red scare spy-jinks) absurd Kung-Fu battles or sic-fi invasions of revolutionary Cuba. Absurd, but wonderful.

It channels the same structured chaos of NEXTWAVE, and whilst it never reaches the heights of that comic, a book that is the single defining extrapolation of all comics ever, it does a good job of bringing in the wider reaches of a super heroic world.

Basically, it's crime and spy stories featuring a super hero team up in which a talking gorilla fires machine guns whilst a robot shoots a death ray from its head. If that doesn't sound like the kind of book you want to read then, Brother, you've got no business reading comics.

Also Read:

Warren Ellis; NEXTWAVE: Agents of H.A.T.E

Jeff Parker, Thunderbolts

Brian Michael Bendis, New Avengers

Matt Fraction and David Aja, Immortal Iron Fist

Invincible Ultimate Collection Volume 8: Robert Kirkman

"Collects issues #85-96 of the greatest super hero comic in the universe! In the aftermath of the Viltrumite War, friends become enemies, enemies become allies, and Mark Grayson's future as Invincible ends here!"
















I love this book so much guys. Invincible is just such a solid concept, and now nearly 100 issues into these hardback collections it just shows every sign of running and running. What started off as just another super hero comic has grown into a Universe spanning meta-commentary on super heroics. This isn't Animal Man or anything. Don't get me wrong. It's not meta in the sense of self-awareness in universe, but simply in the construction of a superhero epic putting its own spin on everything from team-ups, sidekicks, legacy characters and summer events, all kept to the confines of a single book.

There's something beautiful about the seeming simplicity of Invincible. It's never a comic that feels like it overreaches itself. The character development and passage of time are given the weight required, meaning the characters change considerably from inception. Compare Mark and Eve to their first appearance, and their status is significantly altered, even as his morals, values and perceptions have changed. It's fantastic to see a character mature and grow in a way that rarely feels forced, and never excites fear of slide back. It's one of the best things about creator owned comics for a reader; there is real significance to events. Continuity won't be changed or abandoned, there is no danger of editorial redress to reset to the status quo. Every consequence is felt, dealt with and remembered.

At this point, with the Viltrumite War almost over and the threat of The previous 50 issues seemingly removed, or at least forestalled, this is a chance to change the focus a little. We see some of the fallout of the decisions made during the war, and especially the way it ended, that lead to major shake-ups for the heroes. It also allows for the development of some of the huge supporting cast, in particular an explanation for the breakdown of Monster Girl and Robot's relationship. Between this and the increased presence of Bulletproof as the new Invincible, it's great to see some of the smaller character given their day in the sun. Much like the issues featuring the Guardian reserves against the Lizard Legion these are often the emotional heart of the supporting cast, and the time spent focused on them leaves the impression of a fuller world. It has always been a strength of Kirkman's work on Invincible, and it's one of the reasons why these long run collections work so well - the brick jokes started issues before are given time to mature and flourish before they bear fruit.

As well as the usual great art from Ottley we get the return of Cory Walker, original series artist and co-creator of Invincible, to illustrate the alternate world issues. These are excellent, and it's one of the few times when sharing an artist makes sense. Unlike many anthologies or split art duties the two styles complement each other nicely, whilst still being noticeably different enough to suggest a different aesthetic in each reality. Considering how great Ottley has always been this is a laid back collection - nothing exceptional to talk about. Then again, the most mundane of pages are excellent, and Dinosaurus against Thragg is particularly incredible. Definitely pick this up.

Also Try:
Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead
Kieron Gillen, Young Avengers

Morning Glories, vol 3, Nick Spencer

"The critically acclaimed, smash-hit series rolls on with this collection of the blockbuster third arc, "P.E.!" The first days were just the beginning - when the faculty cancels classes and sends the students on an outing in the nearby woods, all hell breaks loose, sending the Glories on a mysterious journey through time and space. Nothing is what it seems to be as Academy's hold on the kids collapses and new threats emerge!"











Morning Glories is an incredibly frustrating comic to read, one that I picked up the first few volumes of as individual comics before dropping a few years again. There were a couple of massive issues that I had with it - initially sketchy artwork was a problem, but the deft characterisation and fantastic myth-arc were enough to keep me hooked. The major fault, the thing that eventually killed it for me, was the fact that the plotting eventually ran away with itself, ending up as less a Kudzu plotline and more an utter mess.

This volume then picks up where I left off, and more than anything I was hoping that some of the thirty or so big questions that were brought up would get answered. Sadly, this goes totally the other way. Much like Lost, something cited as an influence, this is a series that asks more questions than it answers, and it rarely seems as though Nick Spencer quite knows what should be happening next. Revelation follows revelation, but little of it adds any extra depth to a series that's swimming in extraneous details. It all adds up to a book that 20 issues in seems to be treading water.

Some of the blame for this has to lie on Joe Eisma, an artist who has little credit to his name other than Morning Glories, and who struggles to differentiate his cast from one another. Whilst the six main characters are obviously distinguishable, any time a new character is introduced they roll too much into the rest of the cast. With the rolling focus from Spencer on each of the characters there's little time to invest in new characters, especially when they don't show up for a while.

Every good thing about this book, and there are many, is undermined by the fact that the plot twists make so little sense - an engaging series about pupils at a mysterious school has turned into a plot ball about time travel and magic.+

Those things are great - I'd just rather not be confused every time I read a comic that I like.

Also Try:
Brian K Vaughan, Runaways
Jonathan Hickman, Manhattan Projects
Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim

Watching The English, Kate Fox

"In WATCHING THE ENGLISH anthropologist Kate Fox takes a revealing look at the quirks, habits and foibles of the English people. She puts the English national character under her anthropological microscope, and finds a strange and fascinating culture, governed by complex sets of unspoken rules and byzantine codes of behaviour.

The rules of weather-speak. The ironic-gnome rule. The reflex apology rule. The paranoid-pantomime rule. Class indicators and class anxiety tests. The money-talk taboo and many more . . .

Through a mixture of anthropological analysis and her own unorthodox experiments (using herself as a reluctant guinea-pig), Kate Fox discovers what these unwritten behaviour codes tell us about Englishness."




This isn't the kind of book I normally read, but it was one that JJ picked up a year or so ago to read for her cross cultural studies class, and then when I went to America it got bought for me for Christmas, so with recommendations and a spare copy, it was pretty inevitable that I would end up getting through it. It's been a slog though - I started this before any of these reviews, it was the first book I began reading (pre-Christmas 2012) and I only just finished it.

That's not because it's boring, or a bad book, quite the opposite. It's more that I found other things to read, and it's certainly not the kind of book I find it hard to put down. At any one time I may have two or three non-fiction books and a couple of fiction books on the go. I'll read a book in a day and then move back onto whatever I was reading beforehand. This book was always one that kept getting abandoned in favour of something else.

Whenever I did read it though, it was fascinating. Whilst it overstays its welcome a little (especially since Fox is trying to define the rules of Englishness, which inevitably means a lot of finding similarities, and thus repetition) for the first two thirds it's an incredible run through of what makes people English - something which had me chuckling throughout, and frequently reading sections aloud to anyone who would listen. Usually JJ, who never seemed that impressed - possibly because she had already read it once.

It's a book that will probably resonate as much with the English as with any foreigner who wishes to understand them. Unlike Bryson, who is always more interesting when writing about other places, Fox manages to locate those things which are common currency in every English persons life - their privacy issues, their dislike of communication, their love of humour. Much of it can seem oversimplified, or a reach, but there's no doubting that it's often revelatory - whole sections revealed character traits (flaws?) that I had never realised I had but which it turns out JJ had been dealing with for months. Not just from me, but from the entire country, all of whom are engaged in an unwitting cultural pantomime of one-downmanship and keep-away.

It's the kind of book that is perfect to dip in and out of, which is conveniently what I have been doing. Whilst I can't imagine reading it all in one would be too pleasent (it's not always as fun or interesting a read as at its best, especially when it focuses on the anthropology of other classes, or anything that wasn't specific to my Englishness) it's certainly something that will make you think. In fact, it's been enough to cause arguments about anthropology in my family, something I never ever thought would happen.

Also Try:
Jeremy Paxman, The English
Bill Bryson, Neither Here Nor There, Shakespeare
Paul Cornell, Captain Britain and MI13

After America, John Birmingham

"March 14, 2003, was the day the world changed forever. A wave of energy slammed into North America and devastated the continent. The U.S. military, poised to invade Baghdad, was left without a commander in chief. Global order spiraled into chaos. Now, three years later, a skeleton U.S. government headquartered in Seattle directs the reconstruction of an entire nation—and the battle for New York City has begun."








After America is one of the most ridiculous books I have ever read, and bearing in mind that I've just posted a review of a comic that features a superhero who replaces his head with that of a ghost cow, after an undead boxer smashes his to smithereens, that is saying quite a bit.

This is the second in a series called 'The Disappeared', the plot of which is that in the run up to the Iraq war, with most of the American military about to step into a war in the Middle East, an unexplained wave of energy hits America and reduces its population to a few million. In the last book the fallout from the near total destruction of America was the near economic destruction of the world, and a pre-emptive nuclear attack by Israel on every neighbouring nation.

Having set up a new democratic Government, and prevented secessionist Texans from declaring military rule, the new President is having a hard time, due to the fact that New York has been occupied by an entire terrorist force.

Focusing on the battle to retake the city, as well as the struggles for various characters in Europe and southern America, it basically becomes a lovingly detailed book of military hardware. Much like Birmingham's other series, Weapons of Choice, this is a book that loves to go overboard on the intricacies of weaponry. What it lacks in sense, or explanations, it more than makes up for in embellished characterisation of the military.

It's a great book, don't get me wrong, in the classic mold of an airport page turner. It's not smart, it's not clever, and it's rarely all that well written. Above all, it's not good Sci-Fi. Not since 1632 decided it could just dump a modern town into history because 'aliens' has a major plot point been quite so sketchily planned. The wave is a catalyst, but it isn't ever explained. There's no attempt to analyse it. Like King's 'Under the Dome' it's just something that happens to start the plot. Reactions to it vary, but all accept it and move on.

Everything that comes after is tinged with the sense of that; people accept things and move on. People do things that don't make sense, and it's chalked up to the wave. It's bad sci-fi, and it's a shame that it's unexplored (and unexplained). At least in Weapons of Choice Birmingham attempted to rationalise an explanation.

It shouldn't bug me in a book about the invasion of New York by the US army to fight the evil forces of Islam, but it does. It's not helped by the portrayal of anyone outside of America as either evil (and Muslim) or cold and aloof (and English). These are the defaults of outside America. Not all Americans are good, but all non-Americans are pretty bad. And that's a pretty problematic world when America is quite so reduced in status and size.

Also Try:
John Birmingham, Weapons of Choise
Eric Flint, 1632
Brian Wood, DMZ
Brian K Vaughan, Y: The Last Man

Battle Scars, Fraction, Eaton and Yost

"Spinning out of the incredible events of Fear Itself, Battle Scars introduces a man in the crosshairs of the world's most deadly super villains. Who is he? And what does his existence mean for the future of the Marvel Universe? This major new title ties directly into the Marvel Fear Itself event and stars the Avengers."















Battle Scars is a pretty average book that sets up a lot of better books, and achieves its key aim of introducing a black Nick Fury and Agent Coulson to the mainstream 616 Marvel Universe, to tie it into the movie universe more easily. It's not pretty, but it does the job, and frankly on those grounds it's probably considered a win.

It's the very obvious definition of a comic that Marvel doesn't intend anyone to actually read. It's just there to be a part of continuity, so that they can point back to it as having happened. Marcu Johnson and 'Cheese' are two characters that feel wholly out of place in the Marvel universe - the stakes that they go up against (fighting Deadpool and Taskmaster) undermine those characters by association.

They aren't on the level of Johnson and Cheese. They shouldn't be at the same level. Putting them up against villains who have regularly taken on entire Superteams isn't just jobbing; it's stupidity.

Also Try:
Mark Millar, The Ultimates
Gail Simone, Agent X
Fabian Nicieza, Cable and Deadpool