UNTOLD TALES OF THE PUNISHER MAX #1 Review

Writer: Jason Starr

Art: Roland Boschi

Colour: Dan Brown

Review by Stewart Loud

With the death of Frank in the MAX ongoing series, Marvel have launched a 5 part mini series telling standalone short stories set before his recent death after his battle against the Kingpin. #1 isn't brilliant to be honest. It's a nice enough story about criminal shenanigans but since the Punisher only appears briefly at the very beginning and end of the comic, and all of the other characters featured are new to the MAX universe, there's not much to connect you to what's going on.

PROMETHEUS Review

Director: Ridley Scott

Writers: Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Idris Elba, Sean Harris, Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Logan Marshal-Green and Guy Pearce

Review by Stewart Loud

Ridley Scott's long awaited sci-fi spectacular is here at last. So, does it live up to the hype? I think it does.....well.....apart from the utterly senseless ending but I'll get to that later.

THE BOYS: BUTCHER, BAKER, CANDLE STICK MAKER review

Writer: Garth Ennis

Art: Darick Robertson

Published by Dynamite Entertainment

Review by Stewart Loud

War, brutality, Infant murder, a messed up childhood and more than a couple of supes getting horribly killed. The mysteries of Billy Butcher's past are finally revealed in the last of the Boys origin stories and as you'd probably expect, it's not for the faint hearted.

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE review

Director: Joss Whedon

Starring: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlet Johanson, Mark Ruffalo and and Chris Hemsworth
Review by Stewart Loud

Did you ever have that conversation with your mates when you were a kid at school, about how great it would be if they made one massive comic book movie that had loads of characters in it like some sort of special event cross over? I did. We'd talk about who'd be in it, what stories they could use, possible set pieces and ideas for the action scenes. Even play with the idea of writing to film companies with our ideas. but deep down we were always sure it would never actually happen and even if it did it'd likely just turn out to be a load of shit that bore little resemblance to the comics it was based on. Comic book movies when I was a nipper were few and far between and what was around very rarely came close to doing the source material justice.

GHOST RIDER 2: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE review

Directors: Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor

Writers: Scott M. Gimple, Seth Hoffman and David S. Goyer

Starring: Nicholas Cage, Ciaran Hinds, Idris Elba and Christopher Lambert

Review by Stewart Loud

Cinema 3D might be a load of crap but this film definitely isn't. Directed by the guys responsible for the Crank films, this high octane fire fest is everything you could possibly expect from a film about a flaming skeleton who rides a motorbike. Nicholas Cage's hair is looking a lot better than it did in the first one too.

MAZEWORLD graphic novel review

Collects THE HANGED MAN, THE DARK MAN and THE HELL MAZE originally published in 2000ad progs 1014-1023, 1101-1110 and 1151-1160

Writer: Alan Grant

Art: Arthur Ranson

Published by Rebellion

Review and pictures (most of them) by Stewart Loud

Described on the cover as “a nightmarish fantasy” that's exactly what this epic tale is. Read this and you'll lose yourself in one of the most original story lines ever to be published in the pages of long running British comic 2000ad. Mazeworld is the kind of setting I imagine you'd end up with if Studio Gibli made a movie that was a cross between Lord Of The Rings and the old Another World computer game on the PC. Dark, frightening, violent and relentlessly inventive from start to finish, Mazeworld is second only to Pat Mills', Requiem: Vampire Knight in terms of how unique it is.

MARVEL'S ASTONISHING TALES #1-6 review

Writers: C.B. Cebluski, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, Shane McCarthy,Jonathan Hickman, Christopher Sequeira, Matt Yocum, Jonathon Green, Ted McKeever and Frank Tieri

Art: Keneth Rocafort, Lou Kang, Martin Redmond, Nick Pittara, W Chew Chan, Adiana Melo, Fiona Staples, Ted McKeever and Marko Terini

Published by Marvel Comics in 2009

Review and pictures by Stewart Loud.

A Mini series showcasing a lot of creative talent containing three six part stories and six individual short stories starring a dazzling array of Marvel characters including Wolverine, Punisher, Cannonball, Sunspot, Mojo, Iron Man and Daredevil. The beauty part about this short run of comics is that none of the stories are part of some long running complicated continuity or massive universe wide cross over so even if you don't know much about the characters in each story you can still pick up the comics and enjoy them all without having to add three dozen back issues to the list of comics you need to get hold of to work out what's going on.

THE BOYS Volume 9: THE BIG RIDE review

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

TROLL HUNTER REVIEW

Review by Stewart Loud

This came out on dvd and blu-ray last week and after I saw the action packed trailers portraying it as a non stop thrill ride and riddled with 5 star review scores with quotes labelling it as one of the most original and exciting films in recent years, I just had to get my self a copy. People hunting great big fairy tail trolls? I can't remember the last time I got this excited about a film! Unfortunately, having watched it now, I can't remember the last time I was this disappointed by one either.

HAS THE 616 PUNISHER BEEN RE-BOOTED? I JUST CAN'T BLOODY TELL ANY MORE.

Before I articulate my confusion over what's happening with the Punisher's continuity in the main Marvel 616 comic at the moment, let me just say that I am enjoying the current series written by Greg Rucka. He's taken the approach that Garth Ennis put to such good use in his Max run, that you don't need to have the Punisher appearing in every single page of the comic just because it's got his name on the cover.

ABC WARRIORS: THE VOLGAN WAR Volumes 1-4 review

Originally published in 2000ad progs 1518-1525, 1550-1559, 1601-1606, 1611-1616 and 1666-1677

Writer: Pat Mills

Art: Clint Langle

Published By Rebellion

Review by Stewart Loud

Lots of action, comedy, violence, war flashbacks and shit either getting spectacularly blown up or horribly imploded left right and centre as the ABC (Atomic Bacterial Chemical) Warriors continue their galaxy spanning crusade to increase the peace in this jaw droppingly gorgeous sci fi epic from Requiem Vampire Knight writer and UK comic 2000ad creator Pat Mills and artist Clint Langley (Slaine, Judge Dredd, Sinister Dexter).