Review of EMINEM / PUNISHER: Kill You one-shot
Writer: Fred Van Lente
Art: Salvador Larroca
Yes you read right. It's a Punisher/ Eminem crossover story. What's next? Spiderman teams up with Ice Cube? Who knows, but if this travesty is the best they can come up with for a Marvel, hip hop collaboration then I seriously fucking hope not.
Bad Company: Goodbye Krool World
Collects story originally published in 2000ad progs 500-519, 548-557, 576-585 and 601
Writer: Peter Milligan
Art: Brett Ewins, Jim McCarthy and Steve Dillon.
Published by Rebellion
Review by Stewart Loud
This graphic novel collects together one of my all time favourite comic story lines. Originally published in the UK comic 2000ad in the mid 80's I first read it when it was re-printed in classic 2000ad monthly in the early nineties (comics which I read twice and then lost). Then again a few years ago when I spotted this graphic novel in my local comic shop. Now I'm writing online reviews, I've decided to read it again and give it the review it deserves to see if I can persuade a few other people to give it a try. Having read it 3 times before and knowing how it all ends in the mind blowing climax of the story I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy reading through it all again but I was every bit as engrossed in this dark, nightmarish tale of future war and horror as I was the first time I read it over 17 years ago.
PUNISHER/BATMAN crossover specials
Here's a couple of short reviews of the Punisher/Batman books that came out in the 90's. One was brilliant and one was toss. If you really think about it the two characters have quite a lot in common apart from their views on capital punishment. Can't understand why they never made any more of these. The potential is there for some fantastic stories.
BUTTON MAN volume 1: THE KILLING GAME graphic novel
Collects 2000ad progs 780-791
Writer: John Wagner
Art: Arthur Ranson
Published by Rebellion
Review by Stewart Loud
Violence and/or murder for cash reward is the name of the game in John Wagner's (Judge Dredd, History Of Violence) tale of how ex British soldier and mercenary, Harry Exton gets drawn into his role as a “button man”, the name given to the participants of a well organized, highly secret and brutal blood sport played for the amusement of a group of shadowy upper class elite types known to their button men as only “the voices”. Good money if you're a survivor but they don't have much of a retirement package for those who decide they want out of the game.
REQUIEM VAMPIRE KNIGHT Book 2 : Dracula and The Vampires Ball
Writer: Pat Mills
Art: Olivier Ledroit
Published by Panini Books
Review by Stewart Loud
Oh my God, it gets worse!....Or maybe better….. It depends how you look at it. Either way, the first book was bloody marvellous and this one's just as good!
The second book in Pat Mills mind bendingly good, Requiem series expands the wicked world of Resurrection he introduced in the first book. We see a lot more of the political landscape of Resurrection as we're introduced to various factions within the ruling elite as well as other countries and nations of creatures within the savage hell dimension and treated to some truly awe inspiring and stomach turningly brutal battle scenes between them and the vampire forces led by Dracula. Again I was surprised by the series' ability to actually give me a physical sensation of unease with how unrelentingly nightmarish it is.
THE BOYS volume 6: THE SELF-PRESERVATION SOCIETY graphic novel
Collects #31-38
Writer: Garth Ennis
Art: Darick Robertson, Carlos Ezquera, John McCrea, Kieth Burns
Publisher: Titan Books
Review by Stewart Loud
The conflict between The Boys and the worlds super human community jumps up a notch as Vought America launches their first open attack against Butcher and his crew since they resumed their campaign to police the super heroes that inhabit Garth Ennis' fucked up Marvel/DC universe parody. Then the pace slows down a bit for some origin stories about Mother's Milk, Frenchie and the Female. Another shockingly violent, laugh out loud instalment of the New York Times best selling series, The Boys.
PUNISHER: FRANKEN-CASTLE hard back collected edition
Collects: Dark Reign: The List – Punisher
Punisher #11-#16
Franken-Castle #17-21
Dark Wolverine #88-#89
Writers: Rick Remender
Daniel Way
Marjourie Liu
Art: John Romita Jr, Jefte Palo,
Tony Moore, Stephen Segovia,
Mike Hawthorne, Paco Diaz,
Dan Brereton, John Lucas,
Roland Boschi, Andrea Mutti,
Luca Malisan
This massive book brings together every part of the Franken-Castle storyline, from the untimely carving up Frank receives from Daken in The List to him seeking out Daken for some retribution or "punishment" in the pages of Dark Wolverine and finaly his return to normality in Franken-Castle #21. I’m well aware that a lot of Punisher fans avoided this arc on the grounds that it sounded stupid so I’ve written a larger than normal review explaining why you should all give it a try. I DOUBLE DARE YOU!!!
Review of All Star BATMAN and ROBIN volume 1 graphic novel
Writer: Frank Miller
Art: Jim Lee
Review by Stewart Loud
I'm a huge fan of Frank Millers work and even though I don't read much Batman, his Dark Knight Returns story is one of my all time favourite comics so I was shocked and amazed at just how much of a mess this re-telling of Robin's recruitment into Batman's war against crime was.
Review of JUDGE DREDD vs ALIENS: Incubus graphic novel
Originally published in 2000ad progs 1322-1335
Writers: John Wagner/Andy Diggle
Art: Henry Flint
Review by Stewart Loud
Judge Dredd proves once and for all that, no, he isn't frightened of anything when he goes head to head with science fictions most fearsome face biter in one of the best, and most obvious comic book crossovers since Alien and Predator.
There have been quite a few comic book crossovers involving the Aliens creatures over the years. Predator, Batman even Superman. Some have worked well and some have just been plain awful so I was relieved to discover that the collision between Geiger's iconic monster and 2000ad's flagship character falls firmly into the category of Aliens crossovers that work.
Review of Marvel Universe vs The Punisher hard back graphic novel.
Collects Marvel Universe vs The Punisher #1- 4
Writer: Jonathan Mayberry
Art: Goran Parlov
Review by Stewart Loud
Once again, Frank shows everyone what an uncompromising, unstoppable tough guy he is by kicking the spandex off of the rest of the Marvel Universe in this alternate universe/what if story of a world in ruins after the global epidemic of a doomsday virus that turns almost every single human being, super powered or otherwise, into a savage cannibal. Bring on the punishment!
Review of XIII books 6-7 The Jason Fly Case and The Night Of August Third
Writer: Jean Van Hamme.
Art: William Vance.
Published by Cinebook.
Review by Stewart Loud.
This week I'm doing the write-up for the latest couple of books publishers, Cinebook, have kindly sent over for me to review.
Jumping straight in at books 6 and 7, the back story is quickly recapped and we're introduced to Jason Fly, a man who, after waking with terrible amnesia and injuries with no memory of his past or who he is whatsoever, has so far discovered that he used to work as some sort of American government super operative after taking part in a top secret, black ops training program and was subsequently injured (in the brains) causing his total memory loss. Now he wonders the land looking for information and people that might help him piece together his life and help him regain some memory of who he used to be, all the while being hunted by shadowy government agencies and assassins who want him dead because of what he might discover.
Review of Punisher: In The Blood 5 issue mini series from Marvel Comics.
Writer: Rick Remender
Art: Roland Boschi, Bertilorenzi and Dan Brown
Rick Remenders outstanding Punisher run climaxes with this fantastic 5 part story picking up right where Franken-Castle left off with The Punisher returning to the streets of New York 100% human to once again take on the criminal underworld and in particular track down his old partner Microchip, who after being resurrected by The Hood during the Dark Reign had worked with The Hood against The Punisher and played a part in the attempted resurrection of Franks family.
