Review: Bluffton

By Reboot

This week, I review the original graphic novel Bluffton written and illustrated by Matt Phelan and put out by Candlewick Press.  Matt Phelan hias previously a Scott O'Dell Award for his first graphic novel, The Storm in the Barn and was nominated for two Eisners for another graphic novel of his, Around the World.  Bluffton is slated to be released this month.

To start, this is historical fiction piece taking place in the early 19th century revolving around a young boy, Henry, in small town in Michigan not far from The Actor's Colony of Bluffton.  This is a time period I happen to already enjoy.  And to make it even better, it involves a young Buster Keaton and the vaudeville scene.  I enjoy going to vaudeville shows to this day so it would be hard for me not to dig this book.

Matt gets me again with the water colors.  I love water colors.  I have a commissioned art piece done in water color and they're just great.  Everything about the illustrations in this book works exceedingly well.

And then there's the story telling.  This story is jam packed with heart.  It was so sweet and wonderful and pulled me right in all the way to the end.  I had a hard time not getting a little choked up by the end (no spoilers, don't worry).

If I had to pick one thing that could have made it perfect, it have been maybe changing up the lettering a bit.  I understand hand lettering is long and tedious and it is somewhat ridiculous to expect Matt Phelan to hand letter an entire graphic novel.  However, there are at least a few points in the book where the digital lettering pulls you out of the absolutely beautiful aesthetic that Matt has graciously created for all of us to enjoy.  If anything, this critique is more of a praise for his art than anything else.

Overall, I highly recommend this book for adults and kids alike.  Anyone that enjoys historical fiction, this time piece in particular, or just a light hearted adventure with a little drama, then this is a story for you.  

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Review: Batman '66 #1

By Reboot

Today I'm going over issue #1 of the digital-first now in print Batman '66.  This new look at this iconic incarnation of Batman is written by Jeff Parker and illustrated by Jonathan Case.  The cover is drawn by Mike Allred and colored by Laura Allred.  I made that a separate sentence because it's the Allred's and they are incredible.  I don't think I need to explain myself any further. 

[IGH] at the Movies: Pacific Rim

The IGH team went to an advance screening of Pacific Rim, the newest offering from Guillermo Del Toro.  Gotta love those advanced screenings!  Here are our thoughts about Robots VS. Aliens!

Wilderowens' Thoughts

I admit, I went into Pacific Rim with low expectations.  The trailers just didn't get me excited.  The film also had some mixed early reviews, so it wasn't at the top of my list.  While I enjoyed it more than I expected, it wasn't the best movie in my view.  

It had a great concept but the plot got too convoluted and busy.  For non-spoilery example, the mind link that controls the robots, aka the drift, was poorly executed, even though a good concept.  Way too many side stories in two hours meant a lot of random plot holes that bothered me.  Additionally, the now convoluted plot required characters that just constantly spewed exposition, in the form of scientists played by Burn Gorman and Charlie Day.  While they served their purpose, it was tiring to see them pop-up on screen, just to pick up the story and move it along, especially when they didn't always make sense.    On top of that, these two also provided the comedic relief, so it got to the point that I was rooting for their death.

The leading man Charlie Hunnam was definitely a disappointment, but the majority of the cast lacked passion in their performance.   Idris Elba and Max Martini were the only actors that really carried their roles well, with a special shout-out to Ron Perlman with his over the top performance.  One highlight of this cast was the fact it was fairly diverse.  Still, I would have liked more passionate performances from a group of people trying to save the human race.  

The saving grace for this film is  the scope and special effects.  This is a must watch film for the big screen and preferably in 3-D.  It is amazing to see large and coming right at you.  Setting the fight scenes in major cities gave the robots/aliens tremendous scale and even in the fake IMAX looked great.  The 3-D worked with the fight rather than making it harder to follow, which is a rarity.  The sound effects were also amazing, which in my opinion added to the realism of the characters.  The sound seems to be getting better and better in films and this year has been the proof of that.

See Pacific Rim for the fight scenes, or for the over the top concept, or for the effects.   Don't see it if you are going to want a solid story, since it will disappoint. 

Wysefyre's Thoughts

I went into Pacific Rim knowing only two things - Guillermo Del Toro directed it, & it had monsters vs. robots. Del Toro’s a phenomenal director but live-action monsters vs. robots on screen? It seemed like a recipe for disaster. Turns out I was wrong, but there are three categories we need to talk about because while the movie's enjoyable, it's not without flaws. 

I felt the overall concept of the movie was a very strong one - monsters attack the world, the world unites to create robots to defeat them, & we get to see how it all turns out. However, somewhere in the script writing process, the plot gets muddled. It sticks with the main concept, but because they want to have character development & make the story interesting, the writers started to throw in all kinds of b-plots. It felt like they were trying to do too much in too little amount of time. Also, some of the dialogue, particularly during the fight sequences, was terrible. Luckily, the movie had a stellar cast t0 help make some of the clunky dialogue work.

*Side note, Highlight to read (contains HUGE spoilers of the ending) –
[ Have to give a big shout-out to the writers for NOT playing up the romance angle. That final moment on the raft was much more intimate without the kiss. Thank you.]

Charlie Hunnam (our dashing hero), who’s a really good actor, seemed incredibly wooden in this. There were some good moments, but mostly, he was just okay. I felt he was the weak link in the cast. 

As the only female in the cast, Rinko Kikuchi held her own. I really liked her & wish she had more screen time. Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Ron Perlman, & Max Martini were all great. Elba was respectable yet badass, Perlman chewed the scenery like nobody's business, Day was amusing, & Martini was wonderfully stoic, but the actor who I just adored, & who has become one of my all-time favorite character actors, was Burn Gorman. Other than not being able to hide how British he is (nor should he ever try to), it seems like there is no type he can't play. He stole the movie for me.

Let's talk effects. HOLY ACROPHOBIA! From the opening shot, I knew that the movie was going to be something special. The effects were stunning. The fights were amazing, but the effects that I kept thinking about were the ones that gave the audience a sense of height to the Jaegars (robots) and Kaiju (monsters). They looked enormous & took my breath away. However, there were many moments spent thinking about Voltron. I don't want to spoil that for you, but when you see it, you'll know. 

One final thought  - I don't normally say this, but I would recommend seeing it in 3-D. It truly enhanced the movie.  So far, Pacific Rim is my favorite movie of the summer. I give it four out of five Jaegars.

Our [IGH] team members quick reactions:

Poohbear - Let me tell you, I went into this movie thinking it was going to be another Cloverfield. Not that there's anything wrong with that but I'm not into alien takeover movies or apocalyptic movies where humans are the ones to suffer and ultimately die. In this though, Del Toro focuses on the human aspects and he made all the right choices in the film. From the story, to the character development to the visuals, to the effects, to the casting, to the non-love-love story, I loved it! For my full review go here. 

Reboot -  If you're looking for a nearly mindless, totally over the top, soundtrack of the week, cliche action movie with every overused line in the book crammed in it, then this is the movie for you.  And let me clarify that by saying it is absolutely 100% okay to totally get into a movie like this one for those reasons.

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[IGH] on Books: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S STAR WARS

A little known fact is that George Lucas stole Star Wars from the world's greatest playwright (and thief) William Shakespeare.   Ok, that's complete bunk but it would be pretty amazing.  Still, this wonderful mash-up of Shakespearean English and Scruffy Nerf Herders exists in Ian Doescher's mind.  Out last week from Quirk Books is his edition of William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope.

Now, I'm just going to assume that anyone reading this knows the story of Star Wars: A New Hope and not recap it here for you.  If you don't know A New Hope, leave wherever you are RIGHT NOW and find the Star Wars original trilogy and watch it now.  Seriously, you need to see what all the buzz is about.

Review: Catalyst Comix #1

By Reboot

Today I'm reviewing another installment of Dark Horse Comics' superhero revival, Catalyst Comix #1.  This comic is divided into three distinct stories in the same universe (one lead story and two back ups) all written by Joe Casey with art by Dan McDaid, Paul Maybury, and Ulises Farinas with characters originally created by Barbara Kesel.

The book will rotate lead stories every three issues and starts with Frank Wells aka Titan.  I think this is probably for the best.  I like this format and I think it will help Dark Horse differentiate itself a bit from the big two since they don't have too many anthology books like that (They do, however, have Legends of the Dark Knight and Adventures of Superman).

Review: King Conan #2

By Reboot

Today, Issue #2 of 6 of the Conan series King Conan: The Hour of the Dragon by Dark Horse Comics hits the shelves. This is scripted by Timothy Truman, with art by Tomas Giorello and adapted from the novel of the same name by Conan creator Robert E. Howard.  After reviewing issue #1 of this last month, I was on the fence with this miniseries which compelled me to read on. Will this issue sway me one way or the other? Read on to find out!

[IGH] at the Movies: World War Z

The other night, Wilderowens and I attended a screening of World War Z. I wasn't in the best of moods, thanks to bad weather and some disorganization with the people running the event, so my already low expectations, were running even lower when the movie started, but I love when a movie surprises me.

The first thing I noticed was how much better the 3D was on this compared to Man of Steel. Without any fancy tricks, there was a lot of depth to the film. Five minutes in and I was already thinking, "This is how you do 3D." Was it necessary? No. But unlike Man of Steel, where the 3D did absolutely nothing to enhance the film, WWZ used it well. There were many beautiful and interesting shots that were enhanced by the 3D.

I loved the international feel of the movie. Brad Pitt's character, Gerry, goes all over the globe, and I thought it really opened up the story. So many zombie movies stay in such a small area that it becomes easy to forget that there are attacks all over. WWZ made sure you understood that this was a worldwide situation. *SIDE NOTE - It was so nice to see New York not get destroyed for once. You get a brief glimpse, but none of the real action happens in New York and I was so happy about that. I know NY is iconic, but it gets really tiresome to see the places you walk by get destroyed on a regular basis. * 

Daniella Kertesz & Brad Pitt

This is really Brad Pitt's movie. There are several supporting characters, but because Brad Pitt was constantly on the move, they didn’t get to stick around long enough. I enjoyed his interactions with his family. When he's talking to his kids, you could see that he's only partially acting because his paternal nature was just naturally coming out. This wasn't the type of role I had expected from him. I thought he'd be playing more of an action hero, but he didn't. Gerry was a guy who had been in action and could handle himself, but he's no Stallone or Schwarzenegger. He's not looking for a fight; he's looking for answers. If anything, Daniella Kertesz' Segen was much more of a badass than he was. She's a relative newcomer, having done some work in Israel, but I think we're going to be seeing a lot more of her. Of all the other actors in the movie, she was the standout. 

The real reason why WWZ surprised me is because I didn't expect it to be as tense as it was. The writing team, which consisted of Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard, Damon Lindelof, and J. Michael Stracznski, and director Marc Forster, understood that what's scary is not necessarily lots of blood and guts flying around while the zombies eat, though that is pretty scary. What really messes with the mind are the quiet moments. Those moments where the audience knows something is about to happen, but the characters don't, so everyone is holding their breath, waiting for them to find out. It's also

not always showing everything and letting our imaginations run wild. That's what WWZ did. It created suspense. I'm not ashamed to admit there were a few moments where I had to cover my eyes because I couldn't handle the buildup. In a way, WWZ reminded me of the old horror movies for the 1930's and 40's - some cheesy effects, (the climbing zombies looked weird, and the other zombies didn't look great until the end, when they had more close ups) but delivers on suspense and thrills. 

I haven't read the book yet, so I can't tell you how it compares, but the way I see it, any movie that causes me to reevaluate my zombie apocalypse survival plan is a good one. Give it try. 

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Review: Captain Midnight #0

By Reboot
 

Today I'm reviewing the first of Dark Horse Comics' new wave of super hero titles, Captain Midnight #0 written by Joshua WIlliams with art by Victor Ibanez and Pere Perez.  Dark Horse had announced not long ago that it would be launching more super hero titles, despite the fact that they were starting to focus more on horror comics again and doing them fairly well.  I was not excited about this shift for them and think they shouldn't be doing this at all, but I thought that it was important to give it a shot.

Review: The Victories: Touch

By Reboot

I just read Dark Horse Comics' The Victories: Touch Vol. 1 collecting issues #1-5 of the mini-series before the recent on-going.  The Victories is a Michael Avon Oeming (co-creator of the Marvel imprint Icon's Powers) property that he writes and illustrates.  Oeming is facilitated in this endeavor with coloring by Nick Filari and lettering by Aaron Walker.

The Victories is a superhero comic.  If you got a chance to read my review of The Mighty Titan #1, you'll know how I feel about superhero comics outside of the big two currently, which is that they aren't too necessary and we should really be developing comics in all genres further since we are over-saturated with superheroes.  This book does not sway my opinion on that.  That also does not mean that this is a bad book; far from it. 

[IGH] at the Movies: Man of Steel

This week marks the return of the first superhero to the big screen in Man of Steel.  Three of the [IGH] family got a chance to see it right before it opened and you know we all had different feelings.

Review: Spike: A Dark Place

By Reboot

Spike: A Dark Place TPB collects issues #1-5 of the mini-series of the same name.  Like all of Whedon's properties in comic book form, it is put out through Dark Horse Comics.  As always, Joss Whedon is credited as Executive Producer, and this particular story is scripted by Victor Gischler, penciled primarily by Paul Lee, with chapter break art by up and coming cover artist Jenny Frison whose done covers for Hoax Hunters, Revival, and will be doing one of the Red Sonja covers as well.

This particular story in the Whedonverse takes place in the middle of Buffy Season 9.  For those of you who familiar with Dark Horse, you know that Buffy has continued since it ended with its 8th season in comic book form with Joss' oversight and approval (so it counts!).  In the case of this story, if you aren't well read in the post-TV seasons, you will feel out of place.  There are wise cracking and endearing bug aliens, Spike is on a spaceship, and did I mention the bug aliens?  Do not let this discourage you, Buffy fans!  The same sort of witty exchanges can be found here.  However, in the case of this story, it does fall a little short at times.

'Game of Thrones' Fan Reactions to 'The Rains of Castamere'

Minds were blown and hearts were broken during Sunday's episode of Game of Thrones. I'm not going to say why because if you haven't read the books or seen the episode, you would be deprived of the experience of finding out for yourself. So this post is not for the uninformed. If you don't want to be spoiled, move along.

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Now that the "unsullied" are gone, let's talk about what happened. HOLY S*%$SNACKS! How insane was that?! As crazy as the episode was, what's even better is the internet's reaction to what happened. 

The internet exploded. You know you're doing something right when so many people get so worked up of a piece of fiction. My personal favorites are "The Red Wedding" twitter, which hosts the various reactions across the twitterverse. They range from the typical "I HATE YOU GEORGE RR MARTIN!" to "I'm canceling HBO because of this" to "My life is over because of GoT" to "Can Bob the Builder fix Robb Stark?" and everything in-between. It's one of the funniest things I've ever read.

The Daily Beast put together a compilation of fans reacting to that big moment and I wish it was longer. Some of these reactions are priceless. Check it out.

*Side note* Can I just say how much I love how many females are included in this? We love GoT too. 

And finally, there is this - GoT's own Maise Williams (Arya Stark) posted her reaction.





What was your reaction? Do you know people who flipped out? Tell us your stories.

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The Doctor Regenerates - Matt Smith to Leave Doctor Who

It's a sad day for Whovians. According to the BBC, after four years, Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who after the Christmas Special. 

There have been rumors circulating for months and at one point, we thought we had confirmation that he was going to be around for at least some of the 2014 season, but now we know that is was all a ruse. 

Matt Smith issued this statement: 

"Doctor Who has been the most brilliant experience for me as an actor and a bloke, and that largely is down to the cast, crew and fans of the show. I'm incredibly grateful to all the cast and crew who work tirelessly every day, to realise all the elements of the show and deliver Doctor Who to the audience. Many of them have become good friends and I'm incredibly proud of what we have achieved over the last four years.

Having Steven Moffat as show runner write such varied, funny, mind bending and brilliant scripts has been one of the greatest and most rewarding challenges of my career. It's been a privilege and a treat to work with Steven, he's a good friend and will continue to shape a brilliant world for the Doctor.The fans of Doctor Who around the world are unlike any other; they dress up, shout louder, know more about the history of the show (and speculate more about the future of the show) in a way that I've never seen before, your dedication is truly remarkable. Thank you so very much for supporting my incarnation of the Time Lord, number Eleven, who I might add is not done yet, I'm back for the 50th anniversary and the Christmas special!It's been an honour to play this part, to follow the legacy of brilliant actors, and helm the TARDIS for a spell with 'the ginger, the nose and the impossible one'. But when ya gotta go, ya gotta go and Trenzalore calls. Thank you guys. Matt."

I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to miss Smith. I didn't like him at first, but I realized his Doctor was just what was needed after David Tennant left. So thank you Matt Smith for your quirky, mad, bow-tie loving, fez wearing Doctor. 

Review: Strange Attractors

By Reboot

Strange Attractors is a graphic novel put out through Archaia Entertainment that is one of the many recent endeavors of writer Charles Soule and also features art by Greg Scott, and Complexity Maps by Robert Saywitz. You might be saying to yourself, what the hell is a complexity map and why does someone get such a specific credit like that in a graphic novel? I promise you'll at least have a vague idea of what that is by the end of this review.

Full disclosure before I dive right in, myself and Wilderowens did attend the book release party for this graphic novel a few weeks ago. There we got to talk to Charles Soule briefly as well as Robert Saywitz. I was already familiar with Charles' work on Strongman so going into this I had an idea of the kind of quality story telling I should expect, but this book honestly surpassed any expectations that I could have possibly had. I was first impressed by the quality of the printed book itself. Archaia has always produced beautiful looking books. This particular hardcover holds true to the high benchmark that Archaia has for its products in terms of binding, paper quality, etc. And for 128 pages of goodness at a $19.95 price point, we're already looking good before I even start reading it.

Upon reading, you'll see that Strange Attractors is a loving tribute to New York City. From Charles' intro, to all the different kinds of people we meet along the way, you can tell that there is a deep level of sincerity and sentiment for this city that never wavers even for a moment. I understand many of you might want to know what the plot is here, and I get that. It's almost impossible to describe this very intricate story without spoiling something so I will try to be as vague as possible. A mathematics student, Heller Wilson, is working on his thesis. In order to do so, he needs to find a Dr. Spencer Brownfield who can give him the insight he needs to put everything together. However, once he meets Dr. Spencer Brownfield, Henry gets dragged into a world of uncertainty. Henry will have to fight not only for his thesis, but for his lover, his sanity, and for the fate of all of New York City. 

Charles does an exceptional job of keeping you interested every panel of every page. This, of course, would not have been possible without Greg Scott's brilliant eye catching art and the ingenious idea of incorporating these gorgeous complexity maps from Robert Saywitz. These maps that we see sprinkled through the story are key to helping Henry and Dr. Spencer Brownfield keep New York City going. It might not make a great deal of sense now, but if I could tell you exactly what they do without spoiling anything then it just wouldn't be that layered of a story, now would it?

Complexity Map by Robert Saywitz

I personally cannot recommend this book enough. I started reading the book leaving the book release party and finished it on the train to work in the morning despite being thoroughly exhausted and being able to use a good mass transit nap. If I wasn't the type of person to hold back from using words like "perfect" to describe a book, then I would be using it right now. Editor's Note: I would totally be comfortable with using the word perfect for this book.  - Wilderowens   

I implore you all to go pick this up at your local comic shops, to ask them to bring it in if they haven't yet or are sold out, and to tell other people you know that want a graphic novel that pushes the medium to new heights to do the same. If you have no other way to get this book, order it on Amazon which it is available through as of May 28th. Do whatever you have to to own this.

Charles Soule is an absolute fantastic writer that is worth every moment of your time. He's currently working on Swamp Thing starting from issue 19 and will be starting on Red Lanterns next month with issue 21. Pick up Strange Attractors so you can say you knew about him before he got big, because I'm telling you right now, he's going to be. You know how you didn't know who Scott Snyder was until Batman came out and by then everyone was all over his stuff? Don't make the same mistake with Charles Soule. He signed my copy of Strange Attractors with this phrase and I'd like to end with that here; "Stay complicated. You excel at it and we need it."


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Review: King Conan #1

By Reboot

Courtesy of Dark Horse Comics

 

This Wednesday, May 29th, Dark Horse Comics premieres Issue #1 of 6 of a new Conan series titled King Conan: The Hour of the Dragon.  This is scripted by Timothy Truman, with art by Tomas Giorello and adapted from the novel of the same name by Conan creator Robert E. Howard. 

Let me start with what I do know about Conan.  Admittedly, I'm not well versed in the comics.  My knowledge of Conan comes primarily from the two films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and the cartoon Conan The Adventurer which I watched often as a kid (I even had some of the action figures!).  In all fairness, that probably gives me a better background on the character than the average person you'll run into on the street, but that doesn't necessarily prepare me for the kind of intricate plot threads you'd find in a comic book series that has been going on more or less for many decades. 
 

Quicksilver: Top Nine Things You Need to Know

Quicksilver (aka Pietro Maximoff) has been all the talk this past week, with confirmation that the character will be in The Avengers 2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past, thus causing two studios to fight over him.  With all this Quicksilver love going on, it’s safe to say he is the new big man on campus.  For everyone who isn't completely up to date on this character (I admit my knowledge of Quicksilver is limited), here is a list of his highlights.

Review: The Mighty Titan #1

By Reboot 

Back in August of last year, The Mighty Titan became a successfully funded Kickstarter project.  Created and written by Joe Martino with art by Luca Cicchitti, this is a deeply personal story from Martino using a superhero tale as a backdrop.  This is a review of issue #1 of 5.

[IGH] on Books: The Planet Thieves

Courtesy of Tor Books.

Out this week is The Planet Thieves by Dan Krokos.  This is the first book in this new young adult series from Starscape Books.  This is the newest addition to the teenage saves the day theme that has become so popular but is the first to be part of the sci-fi genre in a long time.

Humans are at war with an alien species called the Tremist.  This war story follows a group of young military cadets during their summer session in space aboard the SS Egypt, when they are attacked.  The oldest cadets, led by classic troublemaker Mason, run off to help but this isn't the classic Tremist attack.  They are looking for something specific.  Now, I've given a very basic overview but there is a lot more into this story.  Check out this trailer to really get your heart pumping.

Review: Akaneiro #1

Courtesy of Dark Horse Comics

On Wednesday, May 22nd, Issue #1 of 3 of Akaneiro will be hitting the comic shops.  This is a joint Dark Horse Comics and Spicy Horse Studios production.  It's written by Justin Aclin with art by Vasilis Lolos with the concept created by American McGee, creator of Alice: Madness Returns!

Before I get into the review, I want to put this book in context.  This is a property based on a game (ARPG specifically) from Spicy Horse.  This game had a Kickstarter the beginning of the year and a week into it they announced this comic as a supplement to the game.  I feel that the context of where the comic originates from is important here.

Doctor Who: The Name of the Doctor

Series 7 is in the can. In a series that has been extremely uneven, this was a solid ending. It answered some questions and left a few open, but like the rest of the series; it had its ups and downs.

THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS, SWEETIE.