What is this book about?

For those of you who don’t know, Blade is a superhero vampire hunter. Blade was born in a whorehouse in the Soho neighborhood of London, England at some time in the late nineteenth century. Blade’s mother, Tara Brooks, was a prostitute at Madame Vanity’s Brothel. When his mother experienced severe labor complications, a doctor was summoned who was in actuality Deacon Frost, a vampire who feasted on her during Blade’s birth and killed her. However, this inadvertently passed along certain enzymes in his own blood to the infant. This resulted in Blade’s quasi-vampiric abilities, including a greatly prolonged lifespan and the ability to sense supernatural creatures, as well as an immunity to complete vampirism.

This story takes place after Blade becomes a solo vampire-hunter in New Orleans after he helped Hannibal King defeat their nemesis Deacon Frost. Blade decides to remain in New Orleans.

He comes into contact with the vampire Ulysses Sojourner who was in New Orleans to hold a meeting for the nationwide undead unification, along with his former ally, Morbius, the Living Vampire, who was under Sojourner’s mental thrall.

Why should you read this book?

A Strange Tales miniseries featuring Man-Thing and Werewolf by Night was published in 1998 to tie up plot lines after their individual series had been canceled. Blade’s first volume was just that, his first solo title book under the Strange Tales imprint. Ironically, although four issues were solicited for Man-thing and Werewolf by night, only two issues of this volume saw print, and the conclusions of those storylines were never released. I’m pretty sure this was also the case with Blade’s series as well. Only because, I have the three issues that WERE published under the Strange Tales imprint for his series and I feel like it still ends with unanswered questions. Plus it was never officially released as a “mini-series” with a definitive end to the titles numbering.

And it’s of no surprise that the reason the title came out to begin with was to coincide with the release of the feature length blockbuster hit, Blade. Which so began comic characters matching their movie counterparts. So like, for instance, in the Spider-man films the movie character has organic web shooters instead of mechanical one’s so editors and chairmen gave the comic character organic web shooters as well. In the Superman Returns movie, Superman and Lois Lane had a kid so they gave Superman and Lois Lane in the comics as kid as well. And with the Blade movies, the character could walk around in the daytime, whereas the comic character couldn’t. So to match what was happening, within the movies, editors and chairmen gave Blade the ability to walk around in the daytime. Which I feel was the whole point of creating Blade Volume: 1.

But since it seems as though it was canceled and left without finances to finish the book they had Blade follow Morbius to New York (Spider-man Volume: 2 # 8), where, while teamed with Spider-Man, Blade was bitten by Morbius. Blade’s blood enzymes reacted unexpectedly with Morbius’s unique form of vampirism to grant Blade many vampire strengths while eliminating weaknesses inherent to a vampire, most notably the weakness to sunlight. It was at this time that Blade assumed the unofficial title of “Daywalker” among his prey. Now, officially coinciding with the film. I think they mean’t to do this all along in his own title but it lost funding so they tied it up in a Spider-man book.

I’m not a GIANT fan of this series, but I do LOVE the Spider-man book where Blade gets his ‘Daywalker’ powers. But I feel like those titles go hand in hand and you can’t read one without the other. So yes, I do highly recommend this book. Because although I’m not always keen on comic characters matching their movie counterparts, I do like how this one was handled.

I think the only question I have is, you can clearly see in the enlarged image, on the right, that Blade was walking around in the daytime. But he didn’t get his ‘Daywalker’ abilities until after this particular panel. I don’t know man, the late nineties when Marvel was going bankrupt was an odd time to try and follow comics…

Although, one has to wonder, where is the drama in Blade comics now? He basically can never die. There’s no sense of fear and tension within the book because Blade essentially can’t lose. It’s a little absurd. But, somehow they pull it off nicely where his stories still make for interesting books. After all, Blade has nothing to worry about in terms of sales considering vampires are pretty hott right now…

You can purchase the titles here and the Spider-man issue here.

What is this book about?

This story actually takes place before her first appearance in Inhumans # 5 and before Black Widow Volume: 1. Belova is an amoral spy and assassin who was trained by the same spymasters who trained Natasha Romanoff, the first Black Widow. After the death of her trainer, Pyotr Vasilievich Starkovsky, she is activated as the new Black Widow and deployed to investigate.

Unbeknownst to Yelena, as she grew older, Starkovsky became obsessed with her, paying another woman, Petra, to don Yelena’s costume and satisfy his desires. Petra eventually became psychotic and killed Starkovsky. It was only after Yelena slew Petra and avenged her mentor that she truly accepted her role as the Black Widow.

Why should you read this book?

Because it’s a Black Widow title under Marvel’s Max imprint.

MAX is an imprint of Marvel Comics for adult audiences, launched in 2001 after Marvel broke with the Comics Code Authority and established its own rating system. MAX titles are unique among Marvel’s output in that they are free to feature explicit content.

Regular readers of Now is not the Rhyme should know that I hate censorship, in all forms, especially in my comic books. When Marvel released the Max imprint Former Marvel President and chairman Stan Lee openly criticized the books. Specifically, referring to the Fury miniseries, based on the character Nick Fury, which he co-created, Lee said, “I don’t know why they’re doing that. I don’t think that I would do those kinds of stories.”

And as much as I normally would agree with Stan Lee on things. I can’t help but hate his way of thinking here. It’s one thing to say “I don’t think I would do those kinds of stories,” and it’s another to say I don’t think I would have written my character like that. The Fury miniseries and the series I’m reviewing Black Widow Volume: 3 is a great contrast to make here in regards to what Stan was talking about. Fury took a character that had an already established personality that dates back to the fifties and almost completely retconned that personality solely because someone thought he’d work well written like that under a Max title! So Stan Lee’s right in the sense; he wouldn’t have written stories like that because he created characters with certain personality’s. However, in certain books, like Black Widow Volume: 3 with a character he didn’t create, it presents the opportunity to be able to write stories with a little more reality to them.

In comics nowadays there’s a lot of censorship, even more so than there was back in the day. For fear of exposing and influencing children to the dangers of the world. I’m reminded of Joe Quesada’s hero smoking ban. That no character considered to be a ‘good guy’ in the comics can be allowed to smoke in the books. For fear that if they saw Mary Jane Watson for instance smoking that girls and boys alike would suddenly start smoking.

I’m not going to go into the reasons why I think this is more harmful than smoking itself…but I will just make my disgust known for this way of thinking.

Anyway, the reason you should read this title relies heavily on the fact that it’s for mature readers.

Regular readers of Now is not the Rhyme should also know by now that I love things that ooze and drip sex and sex-ploitation. So the fact that this series takes place entirely within an S&M club, is superb.

The plot itself is a little strange and quite frankly a little…forced. But, it’s more about the why to make this story. Why put this character in an S&M club? Why have her mentor fall in love with her? Etc. Etc.

The whole thing served as a psychological mind game for Yelena to start overcoming her inability and lack of confidence of whether or not she could become better than Natasha. Everything from the S&M, the general questioning her attire, Petra trying to take the Black Widow moniker from her, the exercises in submission and questioning of her abilities. This is a great lead-in to who this character is and what she’s all about. The thing is, I actually like her better than Natasha. In fact, I liked Natasha better when was brainswashed.

I mean, this series being under the Max imprint just makes sense. It’s kind of an homage to earlier books when Gene Colan was writing stories with Natasha as the Black Widow and there were so more adult themes, well…nothing like themes you see in Black Widow Volume: 3 but, certainly for the seventies some risque stuff.

This whole character is entirely underdeveloped and should be used more and often.

Anyway, it’s a great book. The book serves as more of a explanation tool for the character rather than her ‘next’ appearance in Black Widow Volume: 1 which embodied more of the tension and action of traditional espionage novels that the character was made for.

I can’t find a trade paperback, but you buy the individual books here.

What is this book about?

Natasha Romanov, a.k.a. the Black Widow, used to be a Soviet spy, fighting on the Cold War front-line, then moving to the West and eventually gaining membership AND leadership status in the Avengers.

This book takes place years later, her time as Black Widow has come into doubt and Yelena Belova, the new Russian Black Widow, seeks to reclaim the mantle she feels was stolen from her Motherland. Trained in the arts of espionage and combat and anxious to prove herself by eliminating Natasha, the original Black Widow. The two battle on in the deserts of the Middle East to obtain a deadly drug that grants super-strength then shortly after kills any who use it.

Why should you read this book?

This title embodies all the tension and action of traditional espionage novels. Plus, the writing by Devin Grayson and artwork by J.G. Jones are career high points for both creators in this book.

The way that each Black Widow dishes out their own form of justice is an analogy of the different viewpoints between comic book stories from the 1960 & 1970’s (when heroes won with little bloodshed), versus the comic book story styles of the last decade of the 1990’s and later, (when heroes are borderline homicidal maniacs, shooting everything in sight). Natasha, shows more experience, patience, and is harder to outsmart; while the new style Black Widow gets to the point faster, and is more unpredictable. With that in mind, we see that each approach has its pros and cons. Which was a pleasant surprise to see Yelena not branded like a villain for having more, radical, views on justice.

The thing that I think I found the most interesting was how Natasha was still interested in teaching Yelena. But I suppose that age old saying of: “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer,” rings pretty true here. She’s teaching Yelena hoping to either convert her to “the good side” or just teaching Yelena HER methods in order to outsmart her later if need be. Either way, I underestimated this character. I’m used to seeing this character in the Avengers comics or Daredevil comics and always being a sort of, okay, character…nothing special. Using cliche tactics and typical “James Bond” type moves and methods. But it’s in a solo book where you can really see why the character gets so much publicity, the character is actually brilliant! and Grayson really displays that beautifully.

I think the only thing that I’m somewhat confused about in regards to this book is what was the point of making it? It seems as though Grayson is trying to make a point but I’m not entirely sure what it means. The idea of what the bio-toxin, the Deathless Frenzy, is, strikes a chord in Natasha:

Natasha: How can you call it a “deathless frenzy”?
Doctor: I do not mean the the serum takes no causalities–but rather that the frenzy itself–the rage against personal extinction–is immortal.
Natasha: And so even that, even our private fight against time itself–does not belong to us alone.

I think, loath to see another manipulated as she had been for so long, Natasha takes strides to teach and “mentor” Yelena by arranging for Yelena to see how her superiors consider her an expendable pawn. The above quote and relation to the bio-toxin is still somewhat unclear, to me at least, but literally the last sentence in the book pretty much drives the point home entirely: “A spy is difficult to stop once she has found what makes her unique.”

Which was also something that I was interesting to say, because I wonder if Grayson was trying to say that spies and soldiers are interchangeable in that last quote. I feel like maybe he could’ve been making similar comments about the lack of display of uniqueness when it comes to soldiers and that it’s possibly one of the reasons they fail and are, at least in the case of the villains army in the book, expendable. That they’re so quick to take orders and hardly if ever question them that they fail in combat because they haven’t figured out something that makes them unique to they continue to fight blindly for someone or thing all the while losing the edge that would otherwise benefit them in the field; which is, I think, purpose.

The story is fast-paced, with lots of surprising twists, and intriguing developments, and the artwork is realistic and beautifully rendered, almost “photo-quality” at times. You can’t go wrong with getting this book! Especially since it touches on so many different topics: femininity, family, history, politics, science, etc.

What is this book about?

Quoted from the previously page from issue # 6: “There are some places you just don’t mess with. Wakanda is one of them. Since the dawn of time, that African warrior nation has been sending would-be conquerors home in body bags. While the rest of Africa got carved up like a Christmas turkey by the rest of the world, Wakanda’s cultural evolution has gone unchecked for centuries, unfettered by the yoke of colonization. The result: A hi-tech, resource-rich, ecologically-sound paradise that makes the rest of the world seem primitive by comparison.

Ruling over all this is T’Challa, the heir to the centuries-old warrior cult that’s served as Wakanda’s religious, political, and military head since its inception: The Black Panther. Anyone who’d dare to make a move on Wakanda must go through him.

And someone does dare. His name is Klaw and—along with his team of super-powered villains—he’s waged an all-out assault on Wakanda, aided and abetted by the Nigandan Army, made available to him by the country’s corrupt Prime Minister, M’Butu.”

This particular volume of Black Panther comics addresses important political issues revolving around the Wakandan nation that it’s remarkable no writer that has written for Marvel before has tried to tap. Where Volume 3 was more about it’s king, Volume 4 seems to be more about the nation itself.

Why should you read this book?

Even though Wakanda has never been conquered and is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, their greatest weakness is in their greatest achievements.

They underestimate their opponents, often times they’re cocky, and they have very little experience when dealing with threats.

Whether it was his plan or not, the writer for Black Panther, at least for issues #1-6; wrote the citizens of Wakanda as being very dismissive towards the Super Villains attack in these books. Which I thought I was brilliant on his part because their attitude towards this impending attack makes perfect sense.

You have a nation that has a reputation for being unconquerable, so a lot of people don’t even bother to try and conquer it anymore; the citizens the Wakandan government puts into position for defense of it’s nation, almost never see combat because a) no on tries to conquer them b) they never attack people unless it’s to defend their borders c) their king usually jumps into battle before he lets his army of African warriors do anything. Plus they have technology the rest of the world could only dream about, they’re more advanced than any country in the world. Of course their citizens aren’t concerned with a super villain attack. They shouldn’t be! You can see their attitude in the way they act and say things in the face of impending doom. Click some of these thumbs you see on this page to see some of their reactions.

I really underestimated Black Panther books. I really did. I always thought they were about race and bigotry, I mean obviously, that’s a prevalent issue in the books…but, like said above, this series in particular was great just because it was more about the nation the Black Panther rules rather than about Black Panther himself. It’s really quite good. I’m a little curious what Volume 5 is all about, now.

The one other thing that I wanted to make mention of is, the villains in this particular series. By the way, the issues I’m specifically recommending are issues # 1-6. The villains in this series are superbly appropriate. I think at least. Let’s evaluate shall we?

Klaw, Rhino, Batroc, Radioactive man, and Black Knight. Klaw is from Belgium, Rhino if from America (technically he’s from a country in the Eastern Bloc but, for sake of argument let’s just go with America), Batroc is from France, Radioactive Man is from Russia (Not Chen Lu this Radioactive Man is Russian) and Black Knight is from England.

What do all these countries have in common? They’re mostly all within the top 10 richest countries in the world! Politically, economically, and globally these villains make more sense than pitting Wakanda against Dr.Doom or Namor. Yes they are both rulers of kingdom’s but, they don’t have nearly as much pull in the global market as these other countries do.

Plus let’s look at the villains thematically. Pitting Rhino against T’Challa makes sense, I mean what with his nation being in the heart of the Serengeti and actual rhinos roam them. Thematically it makes sense. Klaw makes sense mainly (possibly only) because he killed T’Challa’s father and T’Challa killed Klaw’s father, so there’s a vengeance retribution thing there; maybe there’s another reason that I am not touching on though. Batroc and Radioactive Man, are a little harder to see since I don’t know much about these particular characters, especially this incarnation of Radioactive Man. But I suppose his chemical make-up could (and did!) effect the Vibranium that Wakanda sits on. So pitting him against Wakanda, makes perfect sense. Why it wasn’t Chen Lu I don’t know, why did it have to be a Russian guy? Again, maybe there’s another reason I’m not seeing. Now, here’s an interesting take on the writer’s part…The Black Knight. At some point in the book the writer’s make the point that Africa has been taken over almost entirely by the Christian faith. So, Klaw hires a mercenary that is not only Christian, but who has a profound hatred for Wakanda because they worship an animal instead of God and the teachings of Jesus Christ. Your villain roster encompasses economics, politics, science, religion and even the animal kingdom! It’s amazing.

Seriously, do yourself a favor and fucking read these books. You can pick it up here.

What is this book about?

Brief synopsis on what The Black Panther is all about: The Black Panther is the ceremonial title given to the chief of the Panther Tribe of the African nation of Wakanda. The Panther uniform is a symbol of office (head of state) and is used even during diplomatic missions. The Black Panther is entitled to the use of a heart-shaped herb that grants the person who consumes it enhanced strength, agility, and perception. The present-day bearer of the Black Panther mantle is T’Challa, who has had a lengthy career as a superhero, including a longstanding membership in the Avengers. T’Challa is the son of T’Chaka, who was the Black Panther before him. In the distant past, a massive meteorite made of the vibration-absorbing mineral Vibranium crashed in Wakanda, and was unearthed. Knowing that others would attempt to manipulate and dominate Wakanda for this rare and valuable resource, T’Chaka concealed his country from the outside world. He would sell off minute amounts of the valuable vibranium while sending the country’s best scholars to study abroad, consequently turning Wakanda into one of the world’s most technologically advanced nations.

This story takes place years after T’Challa leaves his active Avengers to return to Wakanda.

Volume 3 picks up when the Panther accepts a Washington, D.C. envoy, Everett K. Ross, and faces multiple threats to Wakanda’s sovereignty. Villains of all kind threaten Wakandan soveriengty and he and Ross do their best at stopping them.

Eventually a villain named Killmonger, a major rival of Black Panther’s, resurfaces, with a plot to destroy Wakanda’s economy. This forces T’Challa to nationalize foreign companies. Killmonger then defeats him in ritual combat, thus inheriting the role of Black Panther, but falls into a coma upon eating the heart-shaped herb—poisonous to anyone outside the royal bloodline, which had a hereditary immunity to its toxic effects.

Later in the series, T’Challa finds he has a brain aneurysm and succumbs to instability and hallucinations. After his mental state almost causes tribal warfare, the Panther hands power to his council and hides in New York City. There he mentors police officer Kasper Cole; an experience that gives T’Challa the strength to face his illness, reclaim his position, and return to active membership in the Avengers, whom he helps secure special United Nations status.

Why should you read this book?

Besides the obvious success as one of the first successful African comic book characters from an American publishing company, you should also read this book because of the tension that was revealed when The Black Panther admits that he first joined the Avengers many years ago to spy on them for the sake of Wakandan national security.

Admittedly, this book at times can be quite annoying because so much of it isn’t taken from the perspective of T’Challa, but the Washington, D.C. envoy, Everett K. Ross. Who, is insanely annoying. To think that the President would hire and assign this immature frat boy type to watch over the King of the most technologically advanced country in the world is the equivalent to having someone from Animal House or that Australian party kid, Corey Worthington, watch over the President of Denmark or Hong Kong. Just really hard to suspend my disbelief there. But, like most media, you have to weed through things to find the true purpose and message and overall crowning achievement for it’s existence.

But yes, without going into too much detail about Black Panther’s race, which yes, is a huge topic in the book, and should be talked about considering it’s impact on not just the African American community but the African nation as well. However, I can’t get around the main point and HUGE revelation, at least for comic book fans, about the Panther’s original plan to spy on the Avengers.

Which I have to say was brilliant on the author’s part. You have this character that existed and was loved by the fans and fictional peers for almost over 40 years, then to drop a bomb on them like this was really a great take on the character. This series in particular really sold me on some things I was very confused about in regards to the Black Panther. Like why would a guy in Africa wear an all black costume that covers his entire body in the weather like that? Why does he wear a costume at all? Why a black panther motif? Why would the king of a country join a group of super-heroes?

All these questions are answered in the book.

I say that finding out Black Panther was a spy is an important reason to read these books is because it’s reminiscent of real-world national security. Do we, as Americans, do the same thing? Do we befriend other countries to spy on them? Fearful for what kind of technology and weaponry they have? Like Black Panther did to find out the legitimacy of American super-heroes?

Thinking about it, this series is actually very different than most of the comics I’ve read recently. This character and series is actually very political than anything else, which I feel is rare in comics. Whereas other books I’ve been reading are deeply rooted in family, sociology, philosophy, math, feminism and love; this was actually quite a breath of fresh air. And maybe it’s assumption, but I feel that the people who are usually into politics are too ‘mature’ and analytical to feel that reading a Black Panther comic wouldn’t be something they’d be able to get into to.

Truly a great series. This book really made me look at the character in a new light and makes me consider picking up future books where he appears. Specifically if you’d like to read the story in particular where he admits to being a spy then read you should probably read issues #1-8, and probably #9 as well. You can buy the book here.

Also, I just have to say, issue #25? Also a great story. It ties in with a cross-over event that was happening at the time called “Maximum Security.” You don’t need to read that series in order to understand issue # 25 which is great because the cross-over with the Black Panther series was actually quite eloquent. It’s said quite often that editors of these cross-over events force their writers to tie-in with what’s going on in that cross-over hoping for readers to pick-up that tie-in and gain more sales in the process. Which as you can imagine writers hate because if they have a plan for a story they now have to force something they don’t want into their story which can sometimes feel out of place simply because the writers heart isn’t into it. Not the case with # 25. It tied in elements from old Black Panther tales and explained why the alien invasion happening in Maximum Security makes sense to tie into Black Panther comics. 100% worth the read, even if Maximum Security is only worth 75% of a read.

What is this book about?

Filmmaker David Lynch describes his personal methods of capturing and working with ideas, and the immense creative benefits he has experienced from the practice of meditation.

Lynch typically reveals very little of himself, or the ideas behind his work. Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity is a window he provides into his methods as an artist and his personal working style. In Catching the Big Fish, Lynch writes about the tremendous creative benefits he has gained from his thirty-two-year commitment to practicing Transcendental Meditation.

In hilariously super brief chapters, Lynch describes the experience of “diving within” and “catching” ideas like fish-and then preparing them for television or movie screens, and other mediums in which Lynch works, such as photography and painting. I say hilariously super brief chapters because if you’ve ever watched, seen or read any of Lynch’s other books, media, commentary, etc. The man has a tendency to be overly verbose. So I’m curious what the editing process was for a book like this.

The book comes as a revelation to the legion of fans who have longed to better understand Lynch’s deeply personal vision. And it is equally intriguing to anyone who grapples with questions such as: “Where do ideas come from?” and “How can I nurture creativity?

Why should you read this book?

Catching the Big Fish provides unprecedented insight into Lynch’s methods, as it also offers a set of practical ideas that speak to matters of personal fulfillment, increased creativity, and greater harmony with one’s surroundings.

I’ve always been pretty skeptical about meditation. In a way, I feel like I practice meditation every day anyhow. For me, meditation is the open mind. I don’t feel as though you have to practice the cliche sitting Indian style humming “Om.” I feel like I practice meditation when I’m running, laying in bed, sitting on the toilet, drawing, cooking, basically doing things that my mind and body otherwise feels is mindless work where it then lets my mind think about things I wouldn’t be able to while I have to concentrate.

I guess I always stereotyped meditation thinking that it was always a get-healed-quick-type-solution for your problems. Where you just push your anger down and never deal with it, creating obvious problems later. But a quote from Lynch from the book made me feel otherwise:

“There’s no guarantee that meditation or delivering the Wall Street Journal is going to make you a success. But, with focus and with meditation–although the events of your life may stay the same–the way you go through those events changes and gets so much better.”–David Lynch

Which really gets me thinking about my life and how to go about making it better.

I actually made an appointment with a therapist recently to try and make my life better and am also just as skeptical about therapy, if not more, than I am about meditation. But, clearly I’m not doing so well, so I’m looking at anything else to try and make things better. And Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity couldn’t have come at a better time.

It’s a very quick read and although I feel that the book caters more to the fans of David Lynch as an inside look into his psyche and rationale, it’s intriguing and interesting outside of David Lynch fandom. If anything I feel like it’s better than a regular “how-to” guide on transcendental meditation because you can actually see how someone was able to apply to their work and how it changed them and their impact on the world.

Buy it here.

Also, here are some really great quotes from the book:

“If want to get one hour of good painting in, you have to have four hours of uninterrupted time. You don’t just start painting. You have to sit for a while and get some kind of mental idea in order to go and make the right moves.”–David Lynch

“I went to a psychiatrist once, I was doing something that had become a pattern in my life, and I thought, Well, I should go talk to a psychiatrist. When I got into the room, I asked him, “Do you think that this process could, in any way, damage my creativity?” and he said “Well, David, I have to be honest: it could.” And I shook his hand and left.”–David Lynch

“Instead of instilling fear, if a company offered a way for everyone in the business to dive within- to start expanding energy and intelligence-people would work overtime for free. They would be far more creative. And the company would just leap forward. This is the way it can be. It’s not the way it is, but it could be that way so easily.”–David Lynch

“Sometimes accidents happen that aren’t happy, but you have to work with those as well. You adapt. You throw out this thing, and throw out that thing, and throw out another thing. But if you pay attention to the original idea-stay true to that-it’s surprising how, at the end, even the things that were accidents are honest. They’re true to the idea.”–David Lynch

What is this book about?

Black Adam, the ruler of the nation of Kahndaq and a recipient of the Power of Shazam. Shazam is an ancient powerful wizard who grants people with the power of the gods; Shazam imbued Teth-Adam, a 13th century warrior with the power of the gods hoping that he was going to be his new champion in the wizard’s quest for justice. Unfortunately the wizard realized too late that he had recruited a champion with a dark temper and a dangerously limited definition of justice.

Believing that his student had become irrevocably corrupt, Shazam banished his soul into a mystic scarab rather than allow him the freedom to menace Earth unchecked.

Now, centuries later, his soul was released from the scarab, where he now pits himself against Shazam’s modern day champion, Captain Marvel. Defeated, Black Adam joined the Justice Society of America, but soon became exasperated by their so-called “reactive” approach to law enforcement.

Eventually, Adam returned to Kahndaq and took it by force. Reestablishing his “eye for an eye” brand of justice through bloody retribution. As the leader of a sovereign nation, he is both feared and worshiped despite his rage, he sees himself as a hero, having vowed to protect Kahndaq from any and all who dare threaten it’s borders.

This story takes place after Black Adam’s wife, Isis, is infected with a deadly disease which kills her. Seething with fury, Adam slaughters everyone connected and not connected with her death. Two million deaths later, and intent on revenge, Black Adam flies off, seeking revenge for the death of his family. Enraged to the point of madness, and with his gods’ blessings, Black Adam launches a week-long attack against the heroes of the world. Tearing across the globe, Adam attacks and defeats dozens of superheroes who attempt to stop him. Adam causes massive civilian casualties and billions of dollars in property damage when various superhumans get in his way. Captain Marvel, though unable to take away Black Adam’s powers, works with a group of mystics, to work a spell to transform Black Adam into Teth-Adam. Marvel also changes Adam’s magic word from “Shazam” to a word he keeps secret to prevent him from ever changing back. Despite his defeat, Teth-Adam escapes. He is left a mortal wandering the Middle East, unsuccessfully guessing at the word that will restore his power. Which is where Black Adam: The dark age begins.

Some time after his defeat in World War III, Adam sneaks into a heavily guarded and war-torn Kahndaq in disguise to retrieve the bones of Isis. Adam takes Isis’ bones to a Lazarus Pit, (caverns composed of unique chemicals that possess the ability to rejuvenate the sick, injured and even resurrect the dead), in the Himalayas with the intentions of using it to resurrect her, but cannot complete the process without either using all of Isis’ bones or her magical amulet, which has gone missing. He makes his way to Dr. Fate’s tower, (a safe haven for the hosts of the Fate persona), looking for the amulet. He finds the supervillain sorcerer Felix Faust, who was trapped in the tower. Faust reveals to Adam that Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. (sidekicks to Captain Marvel) broke Isis’ amulet into several pieces and scattered them across the globe. Faust enacts a spell which allows Teth-Adam to transform into Black Adam by drawing from the residual magic remaining in Isis’ bones, with Adam using her name as a magic word. However, Faust warns Adam to use his powers only when absolutely necessary, lest Adam drain all of Isis’ remaining power and make her resurrection impossible. Using a homing signal etched into his hand by Faust, Adam sets out across the globe hunting down the pieces of Isis’ amulet.

Why should you read this book?

Honestly? Because in the end it’s really a sweet story.
Any guy, or girl for that matter, who has lost someone, not even necessarily from death, but through the ending of a marriage or relationship, I feel can relate to this story.

I say this almost every comic book review I do, but, comics are just metaphors on the truth. There probably aren’t many people in this world that would travel the globe looking for ways to resurrect their dead significant others and even less who take the events in this book as a literal translation for how you should act if your partner is murdered. But, the whole purpose of the book is to show you and hopefully to teach you not to take for granted the experiences you have with people. Because even though it’s cliche to say, you really do never know when is the last time you’re going to get to enjoy someone’s company. Time really is precious and you really should cherish every moment you have with people.

It’s funny, the name of this book is called: The dark age, but I see nothing but light and revelation in this book. Of course the book is very sad and somber at times, but, in the end, it’s Black Adam realizing certain things about life that for the countless centuries he’s been alive has never realized but does now. Like I said, it’s a very sweet story about coping and loss with the main point being about hope.

The other reason to read this book is Adam’s quest of figuring out his secret word that will change him back into Black Adam. So he goes around reciting the names of streets, signs, locations, moods, and emotions in hopes of stumbling upon his new magic word. I really don’t want to give anything away, but, it’s really cute when he finds out what the secret word actually is. I say cute, because, Captain Marvel books have always been about family, innocence, and power. And Black Adam even though violent, angry and vengeful…is very much about those concepts as well. So how and where he stumbles upon the word is so fitting and perfect for the Captain Marvel ideal characterization.

Black Adam is written that his troubles are never his fault, but rather the consequences of a man who’s always right doing what has to be done. Adam is a study in contradictions but that doesn’t mean he is in fact a contradiction. His regrets are only for what he’s lost, not what he’s done. People would call Black Adam a villain before calling him a hero but it’s not as black and white as we’d like to think. Let’s take Black Adam’s conversations with Hawkman and Atom Smasher. Two heroes not afraid to shed blood, but Hawkman wants Adam to turn himself in, while Atom Smasher councils Black Adam to hide. Adam heeds neither’s advice, but the fact that he fights with Hawkman but leaves Atom Smasher in peace speaks volumes of Adam’s character. The difficulty with calling Adam a villain is that ultimately, he’s a reasonable man. His reluctance to throw the first punch, when “heroes” like Hawkman have no such reservations, threaten to redefine our concepts of heroes and villains. Which also as controversial as this may be, makes me think twice about “villains” like Ra’s al Ghul and Sebastius.

There’s a lot of back story in this book that might turn you off to caring to read it, but, do yourself a favor and read it.

If you would like to read this book, purchase it from here.

What is this book about?

Featuring adventures surrounding Barbara Gordon (Batgirl, one of Batman’s most trusted allies), years after Gordon was paralyzed after being shot by the character the Joker. Unable to retire from fighting crime she attempted to create a new identity. Augmenting her detective skills with state-of-the-art-electronics she created a new alter ego as the ultimate information resource to the super-hero community. She now goes by the name, Oracle.

Oracle learned the ropes of espionage as an ally of the Suicide Squad, a covert black-ops government strike team, before starting her own international crimebusting operation called, The Birds of Prey. Her first agent Power Girl, left the team when a mission went awry and innocent people were killed–something that strains their relationship to this day. Oracle’s next agent was Black Canary, and the two slowly became the best of friends. Canary’s tour of duty defined the team and it’s methods of operation giving it the long-term credibility it would need to outlast her once she finally left the group.

No one operative could replace Canary, instead, Oracle now recruits allies largely on an as-needed basis–some regularly, others only when their specific skills are required. Among her core operatives: Big Barda, Manhunter, Lady Blackhawk, and Huntress.

Why should you read this book?

Solely because the title is the rarest of anomalies in the comic industry. Maybe it’s the creative team that makes this book such a gem and well-respected book among critics, maybe it’s these specific characters, maybe it’s writing for uniquely strong and well-rounded female personalities, or maybe it’s the assuredness of an editor who knows what this book should be. I have no idea. What IS important is that the Birds of prey book was one of the few books published by DC Comics that you could open each month and expect to find quality and entertaining stories starring strong women characters that embody so much of what the feminist ideal is. So given that concept, for this series to survive when the core audience of comic books, especially super-hero comics, are primarily young males is no small feat.

You can pretty much read any books from the Chuck Dixon’s run on the book, however, I’d like to recommend specifically issues 47-49.

Barbara Gordon makes plans to attend a scientific conference where Lex Luthor (who at the time was President of the United States of America, [not kidding]) claimed to have made a breakthrough that could stop cellular decay. Dr. Atticus Blackaver, the scientist? financier? demonstrated how to manipulate the so-called “chaotic code” that controls cellular decay. His demonstration included a teenage girl, who apparently can control the chaotic code. In order to prove his findings to be correct Blackaver healed a senator with a heart condition that was at the conference. Skeptical, Barbara Gordon asked incessant questions that annoyed Blackaver and had the teenage girl, Madison, touch her legs to heal them like she healed the senator. Much to Barbara’s surprise, she could now feel her legs. Before she could get up and walk around the convention was interrupted by terrorists out to kidnap Madison, the teenage miracle healer. Now without revealing too much of the actual story, I just have to take this time to tell you why exactly I’m reviewing and recommending this book to you.

Dinah Lance, Black Canary + Terry Moore (of Strangers in Paradise fame) + Amanda Conner + Ass kicking and witty banter from a hott woman in fishnets = Greatest story ever told. Also, the controversy surrounding Terry Moore and giving Barbara Gordon control over her legs again (albeit temporary) is another interesting reason to read this story.

If you would like to read this book, purchase from here.

How about that…no infamous NINTR introspective insight about about the book where I try and decipher the subversive message behind it all. Just a plain ‘olll fashioned book review.

What is this book about?

Honestly, I’m not sure. But there’s not a lot of independent books that I can say that I love. But this is most certainly one of them. It’s a book produced by a man named Anders Nilsen. The stories seem to grow out of the images. It’s almost as if he gets an image in his head, draws it, then connects it to another with a story. It’s all related to one another but I’m not sure if he’s consciously aware of what his story is all about when creating it. There are a lot of elements to the books he creates and the whole things plays out like a dream sequence. And though, I’m usually quick to pick apart and hate on books with that type of story telling, but for some reason, Big Problems hasn’t left me feeling dissapointed with the independent genre.

Part of why I like this book so much is that it reminds me a lot of the work from David Lynch. But unlike Lynch, I don’t think this book has any true meaning for the author other than for the purpose of being a great work of art. I’m not sure he has a message that he’s put into these stories. I think that the book serves to be a tool in which the reader can look inside themselves and see something they haven’t noticed about themselves. It’s a very reader driven experience where can you determine the point of the story. Which is why it resonates with me with David Lynch so much, because, I feel that Lynch does this in his movies but, I think the difference here is that he I think has an underlying message and/or moral he’s trying to say.

Why should you read this book?

For it’s minimalist art style and open ended story that let’s you interpret the point. Like I said, I have no idea what this story is about, but I appreciate the artwork and story telling a lot.

One of my problems with the independent genre is that it’s extremely difficult to find a book not littered with missed deadlines, failed concepts, running out of money and will to finish the story. So when I do find something I stick with it pretty hardcore and try not to give up on it. But I think that’s what I like about Nilsen, so far he’s been pretty consistent with putting out books on time and producing thought provoking unique content.

The particular issue I want to recommend to you is issue number 11, which is titled Sweetness and light.

I feel that the main idea behind this particular story is the food chain. And showing comparisons between humans and animals, in regards to what they consume and how that effects themselves and the beings that they share the world with. The story begins with two birds one of which appears to be dying and begins to crawl towards this massive crater in the ground. As the bird is crawling towards the crater the story then shifts focus and begins to follow a pack of wolves who are scrounging for food. And it does this a few times spotlighting different creatures like swans, crows, humans, and wolves. But it usually always spotlights the two birds. Who are the focus of the story. I think the two birds you see together throughout the story are the same two birds from the beginning. Except the one that appears to be dying at the beginning is healthy through the middle of the book because the middle of the book serves as flashback sequences. Which again, isn’t clear or said to be the case, this is just my interpretation.

I’m sitting here racking my brain trying to figure out if there’s a comparison about humans and animals he is trying to display; but I’m not sure if that’s his point. The only scene that supports my theory is the scene where a bird (maybe one of the birds from the beginning of the book who is trying to crawl to the crater) sees a crow eating food off the ground and asks “I thought you only ate vegetables and bread.” To which the crow reply’s “We eat whatever we want. Anyway this bread is sweeter it has bits of animal in it. Animal. Dead. Rotten animal. And you are what you eat little bird. You’re not just seeds and mindless bugs anymore. Now you’re the dead animal, like us. The walking flying dead. Always hungry, feeding off the misfortune of the world. It’s a hard taste to forget. Once you’ve had it, you can’t go back.” And here is where I feel this is the main point (if such a thing exists in this book) he is trying to say. Because all the scenes after this make it easier to make that comparison. However, it’s only speculative.

But please, do not misconstrue my inability to make clear sense of the book for a bad review. In fact, nothing could be farther from the truth. In anything, I like this book almost more than any other books I usually read. Most of the issues from Big Problems are really quick reads but it’s taken me two weeks to write a review on one single issue. Because the creator leaves the interpretation on the book entirely up to you it seems which is superb! The last time I remember having this difficult a time getting introspective is when I reviewed Batman/Lobo: Deadly serious. The message isn’t clear to see but that’s half the fun and challenge for reading it.

What is this book about?

Big Numbers is an unfinished comic book series by writer Alan Moore and artist Bill Sienkiewicz. Two issues, of a planned twelve, were published in 1990 by Moore’s short-lived imprint Mad Love. Apparently, Moore described this series as “a potential magnum opus.”

In the two issues which were published, the story is about the effect of a new US-backed shopping center development on an English town. Moore tells the story from a number of perspectives, using a range of characters. Every scene is unique and gives a highly detailed insight into this British community. This is helped in no small part by Sienkiewicz’s exceptional artwork.

The idea behind the creation of this book is derived from chaos theory. Which is a scientific theory that rejects the notion of randomness. Based on the issues of Big Numbers that were published, it appears his intent was to use the theory to depict human alienation. The characters are both subtlety and no so subtlety depicted as being trapped inside their own heads, unable to find a relationship or emotional affinity with others despite their best efforts. Their lives are defined by patterns and routines; which is where you can see Moore’s and Sienkiewicz’s inspiration for fractal geometry and the mathematical ideas of Benoît Mandelbrot. When the routines of the characters cross, they bounce off each other, creating tension and inevitable heartache.

Why should you read this book?

Although I’m inclined to say, It’s Alan Moore…just read it! I know that not everyone’s an Alan Moore fan. But, I think he was spot on when he said in an interview that this book could’ve been his magnum opus. He hit it big with Watchmen, sure, but, I think this could’ve been his non-superhero magnum opus.

There are a few reasons why I want you to read this.

Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewicz use fractal geometry, chaos theory and the mathematical ideas of Benoît Mandelbrot to show that patterns existing at the large scale (the effect of the town) would have existed at a micro scale (the effect on individual characters’ lives). Which, is something I talked about recently in this blog.

The story as near as I can tell based on the two issues that were published is about a woman named Christine who goes to her hometown to finish writing her new book. However, it’s mentioned quite a bit that she just recently had an abortion, so I think she’s coming home more to be with family and friends in light of that, rather than to write a book. But I suppose we’ll never know since the rest of the series is unpublished.

It’s hard recommending a book to people where there is no ending, which I suppose is also why many fans of Alan Moore don’t even know this book exists, because nobody felt as though it was worth talking about since no one had any idea where the story was going. But, the two issues that were published there’s so much information in both of them that set the book up perfectly. And there’s so much great dialogue that really makes you feel.

I guess I can just relate to this story from multiple perspectives. I can relate to the successful author who is now coming back to her hometown and seeing that nothing has changed and people’s lives are exactly the same and having that feeling of remorse and dismay about even wanting to come back home in the first place, but I can also relate to the people of the town who see the now famous author coming home and hanging out with the locals again and having that feeling like you’ve gone no where and seen nothing and your life is wasting away. I can also see the benefit of coming back to my hometown and I can see it’s faults; and you can see that the main character, Christine, deals with the same drama and in her own head.

Personally, I think this story would be boring if it was only about Christine. However, that’s not the case, the story revolved around multiple people’s lives and you get a sense on how the building of this shopping center would start to affect things for the better or for worse for the town’s people. His pairing up with Bill Sienkiewicz was a superb idea. The amount of planning this man must go into when laying out a page must have been grueling. I just want to know what kind of planning went into laying the page out on the left (click the thumbnail, RSS reader’s go to actual post).

I think, Big Numbers had a great chance of being a fine portrait of community in written media. I think, if finished, that Big Numbers would’ve been just as revered as From Hell, Watchmen and V for Vendetta.

So many people write stories like this, but, so few who write stories like this can explain the scientific theory behind the actions of a community.

I think what makes me have so much respect for this unfinished project from Moore and Sienkiewicz is that they take care to eloquently render the pain the characters feel at being unable to make connections. Emotions are all over the place, yet the behavior of the characters remains the same. I have to wonder if behavior remains the same because the emotions are all over the place; maybe it is just science balancing its;ef out. Maybe it’s the only way to create order and control on one’s life. To be emotional and dramatic, maybe, is natural…and possibly even healthy for humanity.