Monday, May 27, 2024
Saturday, May 11, 2024
Scott's Take: Aquaman: Andromeda by Ram V
Aquaman: Andromeda by Ram V, Illustrator Christian Ward, is part of the Black Label line of the DC Universe. This read is designed for adult readers and is supposed to be a stand-alone book in its own universe. In this tale, Aquaman is more of a periphery character, despite the fact that he is prominently billed. While he is the hero in the book, his role is very limited and he is by no means the central character.
The book is about the crew of an
ocean dwelling vessel that is sent to investigate a sunken alien like structure
under water. Things go wrong and Black Manta is also involved. Aquaman does
hero things and tries to save everyone from themselves.
This is a horror book, but not
very scary in my opinion. The horror is rather tame despite the Black Label
designation. The art is really good and depicts several amazing aquatic scenes.
The characters are interesting if not fully developed because of the short
length of the book. I wish Black Manta and Aquaman played bigger roles in this.
They are depicted as basically being larger than life characters so their
screen time is limited. The screen time they are used in is good, but the focus
is on ordinary people of the crew and not the big-time hero/villain.
While this is a fun book, it is
not really an Aquaman book. While it is supposed to be a horror book, I found
the horror elements rather tame. If one has experience with any Lovecraftian
horror, then the elements here are not very innovative or unique. It’s easy not
to be afraid when you have seen this type of thing before.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3TNzqfM
My hardback reading copy came
from the Lakewood Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple ©2024
Saturday, May 04, 2024
Scott's Take: Children of the Vault by Deniz Camp
Children of
the Vault by Deniz Camp, Illustrator Lucas Maresca, explores some of
the aftermath of the Fall of X. Without a majority of the X-Men
around to maintain the dream prison holding the Children of The Vault (a group
of superhuman conquerors who live in a place that time moves at a rate faster
than Earth), they are free to conqueror the planet. Since a majority of
telepaths were mutants, humanity is now vulnerable to a thought virus. The
Children unleash an idea virus that spreads person to person which will kill 99
percent of humans while also converting the few survivors into new Children.
They will win a war that most humans won’t even realize has begun.
Luckly there
are two X-Men left who have a plan to stop them. Cable and Bishop. This is a
buddy cop tale featuring the two X-Men from dystopian futures. They could not
have more in common. They are both mutant soldiers who are determined to do
whatever it takes to complete their mission. They do not have lines they won’t
cross. They are not heroes. They are soldiers. They could not hate each other
more. They have a lot of bad blood and
history between them. There was a whole thing that Bishop tried to murder Cable
and a little girl he was protecting so they committed horrible crimes against
each other. For example, Bishop would nuke a whole continent full of people to
kill Cable while Cable would start a cult to murder Bishop. That kind of thing causes issues between
them. That’s just one of their problems with each other.
This is action
miniseries where the buddy cops are insulting each other with shots about their
history. There is plenty of action. The villains are interesting if not
explored fully because this is only a four-issue series. The art is cool and
depicts things well whether it is combat on the astral plane or being a man
with his own hammer or deploying a black hole gun. This is a fun miniseries and
a good way to learn more about Cable and Bishop. Two complicated mutant
soldiers that have a lot of blood on their hands.
Amazon Associate
Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4atwxpI
My reading copy
came by way of the Hoopla App and the Dallas Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple ©2024
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