Godzilla: The Half Century War, James Stokoe

"The year is 1954 and Lieutnant Ota Murakami is on hand when Godzilla makes first landfall in Japan. Along with his pal Kentaro, Ota makes a desperate gamble to save lives... and in the process begins an obsession with the King of the Monsters that lasts fifty years!"














I really can't recommend this book enough - if you like Godzilla, non-superhero comics or just incredibly detailed art, then you HAVE to read this.

Stokoe is a master of fine detail. I mentioned in my review of Welcome to Megalopolis how much I admire the art of Jim Caliafore, for its depth of deisgn, but what's achieved by more non-mainstream artists like Stokoe and Ulises Farinas is breathtaking.

Take the panel below, a scene of Godzilla advancing through Tokyo during his first sighting, with a Japanese tank attempting to distract him from the fleeing refugees in front. A city scene featuring finely detailed buildings, the monster himself and the horde ahead of him. All are lovingly detailed, with no skimping. Compared to so many superhero comics, where a light attempt at a background is often to simply colour a flat service it's astounding.

James Stokoe (uncoloured), http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=39274

The comparison with Farinas is an easy one; both produce craftman-like independent comics, and in 'Gamma' Farinas created a story of epic monster mayhem, through a prism of Pokemon and Power Rangers.

Ulises Farinas 'Gamma' ,http://comicsalliance.com/ulises-farinas-gamma-interview-dark-horse-presents/

But to boil Stokoe and Farinas down to simply being great artists does them a disservice. Half Century War, far from being simply a chance for Stokoe to indulge himself, is a wonderfully written book of obsession, loss and failure - what it means to live in a world in which sentient natural disasters have essentially made the military defunct, and in which total annihilation is only an new emergence away. It clings tight to the spirit of the original, whilst telling a neat history of the character through the eyes of one man.

It's essentially Don Quixote, with giant irradiated dinosaur-lizards.

I've written before about my love of Godzilla as a concept ( http://monsterawarenessmonth.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/remake-and-reboot/ ) and I love that this is a book that not only takes Godzilla seriously as a character but retells the story in a new light, introducing antogonists, plots and themes which dovetail with, and enhance, the movies.

And Stokoes meticulously time-consuming art doesn't just focus on individual pieces of rubble, buildings or people - his monsters are beautiful and horrifying, exactly as they should be. There's a two page spread of multiple warring beats, where the focus of the panel is maintained by a moving van threading through the warzone. It's masterfully articulated, maintaining the readers eye line at all times, moving them through a densely populated page without a break and allowing them time to drink in the power, size and destructive capability of Godzilla and his ilk.

It is, in short, everything that you should read.

Also Try:
James Stokoe, Orc Stain
Ulises Farinas, Gamma
Jeff Parker, Thunderbolts: Violent Rejection

Welcome to Megalopolis, Gail Simone and Jim Caliafore

"When the caped heroes of the world's safest city inexplicably all turn into homicidal lunatics, no one is safe.

The only rational thing to do is get the hell out of town. If only it were that easy..."














I kickstarted this (and it seems like a long time since I did) on the strangth of the fact that I like Gail Simone a lot (even if I've not especially enjoyed her Birds of Prey or recent Batgirl titles for DC) and Secret Six, which she did with Jim Caliafore

This isn't up to that standard, but as an example of world building it's an enjoyable read in its own right. The problem for all creator owned content is that, sooner or later, they have to explain their USP in a market crowded with too many characters, where even big name heroes can struggle to maintain their own series (just take a look at the list of cancelled book from the DC New 52 so far).

Kickstarter provides a medium for creators to release material without the worry that it won't sell. In reality, that's probably not an issue for Simone. She's a big enough name in the industry that her own creator owned stuff is going to sell. If Millar, Vaughan, Deconnick and Wood can do it, then Simone shouldn't have a problem, but clearly the vehicle of Kickstarter is a nice way to release new material.

The problem is that, shorn of the regular release schedule of mainstream comics the book can come across as ephemeral. Simone does an excellent job of creating a city that feels lived in, and Caliafore's art certainly helps. It's Hitchian in its scope and depth, and if his figure work isn't always as strong they certainly seem solid and real. The scenes of wholesale destruction have an appropriate sense of devastation. But without time to spend getting to know characters the death and sadness that permeates the book have little time to take route. Unlike The Walking Dead or Crossed, where a regular release or set of miniseries could bed in the core concept, we are introduced to characters and not given any time to appreciate them before they die.

It's not a bad thing to say, that I would rather there was more of it, but it does feel like a missed opportunity to set up a brand new universe that stands on its own.

Also Try:
Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead
Brain Wood, DMZ
Simone and Caliafore, Secret Six

BZRK, Michael Grant

"These are no ordinary soldiers. This is no ordinary war. Welcome to the nano, where the only battle is for sanity. Losing is not an option when a world of madness is at stake. Time is running out for the good guys. But what happens when you don’t know who the good guys really are?

It’s BZRK. Noah and Sadie: newly initiated to an underground cell so covert that they don’t even know each other’s names. Here they will learn what it means to fight on a nano level. Soon they will become the deadliest warriors the world has ever seen. Vincent: feels nothing, cares for no one; fighting his own personal battle with Bug Man, the greatest nano warrior alive.  The Armstrong Twins: wealthy, privileged, fanatical.

Are they the saviours of mankind or authors of the darkest conspiracy the world has ever seen? The nano is uncharted territory. A terrifying world of discovery. And everything is to play for..."

To be honest, it has been so long since I read this that I don't fully remember all of it.

But here's what I have got. BZRK is your standard everyday tale of people who control nanotech to 'hack' the minds of others, carrying out personality (and policy) adjustments as well as assassinations in order to take control of the world. Battles are carried out, by and large, by teens controlling nanotech to take over the world.

So, so, wonderful.

Not to mention the fact that this is written by one half of the pair behind Animorphs. Alongside his wife, K. A. Applegate, Grant wrote my favourite series of all time, a series notable for its brutal realism about conflict, it's willingness to put teenage protagonists in mortal peril and actually follow through on that. All in all, a series in which a global conflict over the literal minds of the leaders of the free world isn't necessarily going to go well.

It's a cracking read, in the vein of the dystopian fiction that so much of teenage fare has become, with a more technological side which is bound to appeal to most teens. Well worth a read, in other words.

Also Try:
K. A. Applegate, Animoprhs
Michael Grant, Gone
Patrick Ness, The Knife of Never Letting Go
Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell

"Why do some people achieve so much more than others? Can they lie so far out of the ordinary?

In this provocative and inspiring book, Malcolm Gladwell looks at everyone from rock stars to professional athletes, software billionaires to scientific geniuses, to show that the story of success is far more surprising, and far more fascinating, than we could ever have imagined.

He reveals that it's as much about where we're from and what we do, as who we are - and that no one, not even a genius, ever makes it alone.

Outliers will change the way you think about your own life story, and about what makes us all unique."

Probably the best endorsement for Outliers I can give is that this is the first book I can remember my Dad reading. Ever. I think at one point, about eight years ago, he flicked through a golf book (Into the Bear Pit?) but I can honestly say that I have never seen him read anything other than a weekend newspaper, a car guide or a golf magazine. So for him to sit down and read through a whole book is a major talking point in our family.

Off the back of that I read through Outliers, and it's an excellent book that builds a convincing portrait of the social foundations that are required for truly exceptional success. Picking up a range of success stories, Gladwell demonstrates that each benefitted from innate privilege and was fortunate to be given unique opportunities, giving lie to all those that argue that hard work alone is all that is required.

In a culture which emphasises personal responsibility, and villifies failure as the deserved consequence of not trying hard enough, it's refreshing to read about how little true success owes to being an exceptional individual, and how much it's down to where and when you were born.

Also Try:
Malcolm Gladwell, Blink
Michael Lewis, Moneyball
Mi

Zoo, James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

"All over the world, brutal animal attacks are crippling entire cities. Jackson Oz, a young biologist, watches the escalating events with an increasing sense of dread. When he witnesses a coordinated lion ambush in Africa, the enormity of the impending violence becomes terrifyingly clear.

With the help of ecologist Chloe Tousignant, Oz races to warn world leaders before it's too late. The attacks are growing in ferocity, cunning, and planning, and soon there will be no place left for humans to hide."

I am going to differ from probably everyone else on this book, because whilst the world seemed to hate it, I thought it was wonderful. Now, part of that may be down to the fact that the story (animals turn on humanity, go on the rampage) is exactly the kind of thing I enjoy most, or it may be down to the fact that the writers clearly are enjoying themselves way too much to care about things like facts, science or consistency.

And Boy, do they not care. Going on the basis that pheromones are things that exist, the book posits that a new pheromone could change the behaviour of every single male animal worldwide, causing them to attack humans. In packs. The real victim isn't humanity though, it's continuity, as the authors introduce important plot lines (like only male animals attack people) having forgotten that the very first attack they describe is from a lioness. And when characters disappear halfway through a chapter and never reappear again. This is all pretty normal.

But there's still a real joy to it all, whether descriptions of massive dog packs occupying major citites, or descriptions of special forces units against bears. Even when it doesn't make sense (which is every few pages), or when the science is bad (I mean, really bad - like Michael Crichton bad) it's carried along by the fact that another idea will be introduced by the next chapter and everyone will forget exactly what the problem was.

Also, the REAL villains are entitled rich people, and I think we can all get on board with that.

Also Try:

James Patterson, Maximum Ride

Michael Crichton, Next, Congo

The Spear, James Herbert

"When Steadman agreed to investigate the disappearance of a young Mossad agent, he had no idea he would be drawn into a malevolent conspiracy of neo-Nazi cultists bent on unleashing an age-old unholy power on an unsuspecting world -- power rising out of a demonic relic from man's dark primal past to threaten humanity with horror from beyond any nightmare"














James Herbert has written a lot of books, and some of them are even passably good fiction, although there's a lot of his ouevre that's perennial charity shop fare, and is as indifferently similar as to count as a single story. These are the stories that as a young teenagers I thrilled to, because they contain lashings of violence, sex and the kind of stupid plotlines that would make most writers wince. At his best, and even in his worst books, Herbert can pack a punch, he creates a crude homonculus of disgust. It's never deep, and it's rarely psychological, but it still has a thrill to it.

Of his better books, I have exceptionally fond memories of '48, a book which has probably been helped by the fact I've never revisited it, even though I have a well thumbed copy. From memory, it features a post-apocalyptic London decimated by Nazi superweapons (this may or may not have included Zombies). Hoping for something similar from a book which promises undead Himmler on the back cover I picked this up cheap in Hay-on-Wye.

Frankly, whichever reviewer picked out undead Himmler as a highlight was probably reading a different book to me. Himmler isn't especially resurrected, so much as his (possessed?) corpse shambles around for the final few pages before collapsing when stabbed with the spear of Longinus. All of this is played out as part of a reworking of Parsifal. To say it's confused is to do it a disservice, it's tightly focussed, but the focus isn't very interesting. Usually a NAZI secret society controlling all levels of British Government to fight Israel with biblical weaponery would be enough, without bringing in Wagnerian Opera sideplots, but here neither the motivational plots of the hero, villains or side characters seem to match the up at all.

Apparently a court ruled that James Herbert based most of this on work from another author (The Spear of Destiny by Trevor Ravenscroft). So now you know.

Also Try:
Trevor Ravenscroft, The Spear of Destiny (only seems fair)
James Herbert, The Rats, The Fog, '48
Stephen King, Different Seasons