You are reading a story about a dystopian future, you’re walking straight into a situation that has been stewing in it’s moral ineptitude for quite a while, everyone in the story is wondering to themselves “how did it get this way? How did we fall so far?”. The story isn’t about exactly how they got there but how people can get back to a stage of normalcy. No matter how bad your world gets or how much we ignore, a hero will come along and wake us all up. Why not try to stop it while the shit first starts to come down? This is what Evil Empire by Max Bemis is about. A very realistic and close look at how the road to oblivion is paved by the voter.
by Tiff Douglas
You are reading a story about a dystopian future, you’re walking straight into a situation that has been stewing in it’s moral ineptitude for quite a while, everyone in the story is wondering to themselves “how did it get this way? How did we fall so far?”. The story isn’t about exactly how they got there but how people can get back to a stage of normalcy. No matter how bad your world gets or how much we ignore, a hero will come along and wake us all up. Why not try to stop it while the shit first starts to come down? This is what Evil Empire by Max Bemis is about. A very realistic and close look at how the road to oblivion is paved by the voter. by Tiff Douglas Almost every single comic franchise has done a Christmas special, whether they are a childhood idol recounting a famous Dickens classic, a league hero connecting with the common folk through a good deed on Christmas Eve or it is just plain Christmas everywhere and not even our caped crusaders can hide from it. All that a special Christmas issue needs is the setting, the date and some sort of mention of yuletide merriment. Hellboy: A Christmas Underground (the first story featured in an anthology Christmas issue), for instance, has all these things without being a specifically Christmas story, it’s actually very clever and more than just a little creepy. by Tiff Douglas When we think Grindhouse, we think sleazy, violent and low budget. The word conjures up an image of voluptuous vulgarity with a very thin veil of morality. Normally associated with film,Grindhouse cinema is one of the most loved and hated sub genres in cinematic history. Comics ,also a form of visual entertainment, are perfect breeding grounds for such reckless nastiness, you can pretty much do whatever you damn well please in a comic book and you don’t have a stinking budget blocking your shot; you’ve got the audience, you’ve got the skill. Game on! by Tiff Douglas Out of all the reasons why people love comics so much, do you think self-deprecation is a popular one? Do you think that when we read about all the wonderful things these colourful characters are doing, we resent the lives we chose for ourselves? We can use that feeling to motivate us or we can stick our noses further into our comics and let it be enough for us just to dream. This is why WANTED by Mark Millar is such an important book and why it’s more insightful than you think. Somewhat enjoyable film (that had almost nothing to do with the comic) aside, Wanted is a fabulously random, shocking, hilarious and profound read. You are introduced to Wesley who is so utterly forgettable and dull, that he could die every day and be reborn in the morning and no one would notice. His detestable cowardice rules his life and he constantly complains about the hole he is sitting in that he dug for himself with his shiny new spoon. He makes you want to shake your book violently, with the hopes of knocking some sense into a fictitious character. Then his world gets turned upside down. by Tiff Douglas The stage is set for a tale of discovery and mystery, with an enthusiastic audience waiting for something familiar to carry them through the journey, but the setting has changed and now they are falling away from their silver screens and into the pages of vivid colour. Tall tales of mistaken identity, shocking visions of violence and terror, all pulled together by the intricacies of graphic storytelling that can only be found…. In the Twilight Zone. J. Michael. Straczynski, I don’t really believe that you need to say more than that. He’s the man that gave us some of the best that Marvel has to offer and has written for some kick ass Sci-fi television shows and is absolutely a comic book legend. First tackling The Twilight Zone back in 1992, he’s jumped in with Dynamite publishing to give it another go. Teaming up with Guiu Vilanova, who previously illustrated Dark Shadows and Raise the Dead 2, he’s attempting to bring a whole new audience into the twisted world of The Twilight Zone, one moral enigma at a time. by Tiff Douglas We all collect and read comics differently, some of us have huge pull lists at our local comic store, with titles that you have been reading for years whilst following the continuity religiously. And some of us rifle through the latest preview magazine looking for something that catches our eye, reading news on the internet about exciting events that come up and new stories to explore. Those explorers often jump onto a title when something new happens, to read the current story, that’s exactly what I have done with Batman and Robin #24 and #25. I haven’t read any new Batman in a while and by a while I mean a couple of years. Not because I’m not interested but because sometimes the major leagues can really give you continuity fatigue. I become hungry for stories rich in originality so I head for the Indies, but in the back of my mind I always know I’ll go back to Dc and Marvel and catch up with my old friends. Along comes Batman and Robin #24 with a promise of a fresh origin story for Two Face. by Tiff Douglas Fifteen is a very awkward age, it’s like you’re playing the demo version of your life on a crappy computer at someone else’s house, with everyone watching you and telling you you’re doing it wrong. You don’t know what’s going on, you don’t know who you are, all you know is that you don’t like it and you want to try something else. I don’t look back on my high school years with that much fondness or regret, I look back at it as being a bridge to where I wanted to go; one that took way too long to get over. I had a few friends that got me through, I discovered different types of music that inspired me, I didn’t really date anyone but there was one guy who really had my attention, he helped me figure it all out. His name was Johnny and he was a homicidal maniac. Johnny The Homicidal Maniac is a charming comic book series that was introduced to me by a friend of mine who really liked to encourage the outrageous aspects of my personality. We were weird and we freaked people out or annoyed them on a regular basis. She told me that I should read it because it is hilarious and totally messed up. I have always been fascinated by horror movies and gore but felt uncomfortable when I took them too seriously. This gave me a chance to experience something more macabre but have a laugh, which did wonders for relieving my childhood nightmares. JTHM is a quirky seven part story based around Johnny, his creation Happy Noodle Boy, his extremely skittish and paranoid pre-pubescent neighbour Squee and various random victims and schizophrenia induced apparitions. Written and drawn by Jhonen Vasquez , it was first published in Carpe Noctem magazine in the early 90s and then published through Slave Labour Graphics in 1995. by Tiff Douglas Whether it was your first love, your first doctor or your first deep fried mars bar, you never forget those pivotal moments in your life that shape your future. They are events, people and places that you look back on and realise that they were integral to the development of your personal identity. My obsession with entertainment, movies, music and comics has had a profound effect on mine. Comics, as we all know are utterly amazing and there are things you can do with comics that you could never do with a movie( or should never attempt to). Comics are beautiful pieces of art flowing within literature, that are bursting with outrageously free forms of expression. After I picked up my first comic when I was seven years old, I had no idea what was going on, but it fascinated me so much, that I couldn’t stop looking at it. As I got older and dived head first into my first comic book series, I discovered a new and unique way to witness a story unfold and it changed me. My uncle gave my dad a hardcover comic that he got from the UK, his logic was that it may be worth something some day and to commemorate the arrival of his brother’s first child, he decided to give it to him as an investment. The year was 1986, the baby was my brother and the Comic Book was The Batman Annual 1986. |
ComicsComics are this section's passion, both those obscure and those in fashion. Whether Marvel, Dark Horse or D.C, we've got it all, just come and see! Categories
All
Archives
June 2015
|