The Comics Daily team drag themselves away from the Excel Centre (and, er… Liverpool) long enough to capsule on up Amazing Spider-Man (and Family), Hellblazer, Uncanny X-Men and… Sonic the Hedgehog s darko divx movie online watch pelican brief the in divx children shouldn t play with dead things download ? Continue reading »

You can tell a lot about a comic by how it tends to handle the issue of “characters who you know should be swearing talking in a book or imprint that doesn’t allow swearing”. For the most part, intelligent writers are capable of simply working around it – or, in the odd case, they have a bit of fun with it, such as Garth Ennis’ use of “motherlovin’” in Hitman free seed movie download speed download free , or Warren Ellis’ Nextwave giving a character an unguessably-obscene name. And then you get comics such as Jeph Loeb’s Hulk that somehow think it’s big and clever to shoehorn vast amounts of poorly-disguised swearing into a title for which it’s simply not appropriate. I should point out that I have absolutely no problem with a good swear (quite the opposite, in fact) – simply with the lack of respect shown for the publisher and the reader when filling a non-Vertigo (or equivalent) book with the stuff. And it happens to such an extent in Killapalooza that it starts to feel exemplary of a fundamental deficiency of any sort of imagination or intelligence. And what do you know? That proves to be exactly what it is.

Because as an exercise in missing the point entirely, this is the strongest example I’ve seen in comics for some time. Okay, so it’s supposed to be a big, dumb, over-the-top, high-concept violent action title. I get that. A market for such things exists, and if done well, they can be enjoyable and entertaining comics. But not everybody is Mark Millar (hell, a lot of the time even Mark Millar isn’t Mark Millar), and if you’re going to do this sort of thing, there’s got to be some level of wit behind it. And being smart-arsed and thinking you’re funny isn’t the same as wit. So it’s not even as if I have a problem with the book’s premise – more that it’s so relentlessly stupid download aenigma that the book’s premise is even spelled out in dialogue dadnapped free by one of the characters. Or that said premise – not, inherently, a bad high-concept hook – is justified with the most flimsy of rationales (and in the shape of “Your boozing, bingeing and whoring tabs have always been bigger than the US deficit”, one of the worst lines of dialogue I’ve read in some time). Or that all the characters are unlikeable arseholes, but without even the faintest glimmer of cocky charm that can make unlikeable arseholes worth reading about.

There’s just… there’s no point to this. It glorifies in violence and fake-swearing and talk of shagging and outdated references to goths (oh, and while we’re at it – “Genghis Audrey”? OH VERY CLEVER I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE) and emo bands, but forgets that for a comic (or indeed any form of fiction) to be compelling, it needs either a point or a plot. It’s an action book without any action (beyond a cliched and juddering opening sequence that lasts all of a couple of pages), and a satire without any jokes. The level of sloppiness on show even extends to nicking Phonogram krippendorf s tribe divx ’s gag of crediting the writer and artist as “Lyrics” and “Music” before failing to extend the metaphor properly and simply crediting others as “Letters” and “Colors”. Oh, and while this is a more general personal gripe based on the difference between American and British English, I find it hard to get behind a book that uses singular verbs when referring to bands (”The Clap is officially dead…”).

Coupled with art by Trevor Hairsine that is both horrendously ill-suited to the attempted style on display and which looks like it’s been knocked out in a lunch break (I’m not the artist’s biggest fan, but he’s capable of solid work, and if you compare this to the work he did on Wisdom it’s frankly laughable), and some incredibly unclear storytelling, the overall feel is of a shoddy package, bashed out in order to grab some of the market that’s swarmed over the zany OTT likes of Kick-Ass and Wanted but which seems happy to revel in being quite insultingly knuckle-headed. It’s hard to see who it’s meant to appeal to – the satire is so unsubtle, and has been done so often before, that it can’t appeal to people looking for good satire; and it stops so far short of being entertainingly shlock-violent that it’ll never grab the Millar/Ennis fans – and frankly, when a book tells you in its first panel that some dialogue is “Translated from a language you don’t speak or read, so shut up”, it gives such an immediate sense of the level of respect the thing’s affording you that you might as well give it the same and ignore it entirely.

From having been one of the books I was most looking forward to this year, my anticipation for Wildstorm’s Resident Evil 5 tie-in nose-dived once the project was announced in detail, as it became clear that the series was being kept at arms-length from the core of the franchise. Despite an interesting narrative structure, a book wounded by Capcom’s removal of its heroes is put of out its misery by some truly erectable dialogue.

The story is told in two clear episodes, with the BSAA’s Agent Mina Gere’s investigation of a biohazard outbreak aboard an international space station initially appearing unconnected to her compatriot Holiday Sugerman’s South American covert mission. As the issue progresses, however, it comes clear that the latter is a direct consequence of the first story told, being set several hours afterwards. This moment of realisation, however, is the only occasion of interest in the entire issue, with the bland and dull cast only the tip of the iceberg. Despite the name of fan-favourite character Chris Redfield having been banded about during the initial publicity for the series, the only figures from the games to be employed are the menagerie of virus-fuelled monsters that emerge from the shadows to menace the intrepid agents. The adherence to the games’ logic is noticeable, although the writer annoying builds a plot device around an error on his part- the resentment other countries feel towards the supposedly American BSAA is rather curious given that Resident Evil 5 goes to great pains to make clear that the Alliance is a international UN-backed outfit.

As I mentioned, any other efforts on the part of Ricardo Sanchez are rendered pointless by the speech patterns he bestows. Holiday insists on communicating almost entire in portentous quotations from an absurd variety of sources, and the editors have felt the need to add the origins of his comments as footnotes. Although this shatters the credibility of the story, it was probably a wise move, as the text would have been completely incomprehensible without this clarification. Resident Evil emerges as by far the weakest of Wildstorm’s video game tie-ins, and at times threatens to sink the entire line. On showing the book to my fellow reviewer Seb, he took one look at Holiday’s speech and immediately collapsed in helpless laughter. Whilst I didn’t begrudge him this reaction, but I couldn’t bring myself to share his entertainment- I’d paid money to read this rubbish…

Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning have obviously worked out how to give a varied tone to a title set in a dreary and depressing setting. After an opening few issue which established the team’s new setting, last month saw the close of a more upbeat arc that improved the team’s lot while including a heavier emphasis on action. This month brings something stranger, with a fantasy setting allowing the writers to evoke more of the book’s old character.

Midnighter isn’t alone in his cricket & warm beer pocket dimension for long, with the remainder of the field team soon joining him in time for the series’ first all-out super-powered battle. There’s a feeling of the book being on holiday here, with a short-lived return to the sort of overblown fights against high-concept opponents that the book enjoyed in its more high-profile days. It’s not quite a return to old times, though, as the team set about reducing their enemy to a bloody pulp with only a trace of the cheery banter that once typified the title’s action sequences. ‘Team Unicorn’ and their powers appear to be based solely around their joke names, but there’s more than a hint of Captain Britain & MI13 in the attitudes of the Authority’s temporary opponents, reminding the reader of the Wildstorm team’s new status as a London-based operation. Unicorn’s gentlemanly commander, Charles, isn’t quite as interesting a figure, although Simon Coleby’s Dali-inspired depiction of his battle form suggests that the creative team have something very specific in mind for the character’s powers. And at the risk of sounding like a broken record, Coleby deserves credit for being able to produce this standard of work, particularly as the title had been entirely devoid of art fill-ins throughout its history. Even in an issue rather light on plot, the Authority offers solid entertainment.

Afterthought: I don’t normally pass comment on the bonus stories that Wildstorm include in their WSU titles, but some mention of the abysmal nature of “Defile” must be made. A cunning combination of a terminally dull lead character, and art that bears only a passing acquaintanceship with sequential storytelling, leaves me considering ripping the last four pages from the issue.

Despite having served as the foundation stone of the Wildstorm Universe, Wildcats has an unfortunate habit of being overshadowed by its stalemates, despite the calibre of creators who have invested time in the series. While Christos Gage isn’t quite bringing the intellectual weight of story to the book that perhaps might be expected, he’s making an extremely good fist of a strongly character-based title.

Bored by the politically-orientated bickering which the team has descended to in the aftermath of recent defections to the fascistic Majastic’s cause, amoral cyborg Maxine goes in search of her own kind, discovering how the Wildstorm Universe’s robot population has fared in the post-apocalyptic scenario. A vestige of Grant Morrison’s aborted sci-fi makeover of the property, the mechaniods are reduced to living underground in fear of rampaging packs of humans, and Ladytron is certain that she’s found the perfect outlet for her dissatisfaction with life. While Gage has constructed the series as a whole as the least-grim of the four WSU titles, here there’s an outright move into comedy, with Maxine’s team of misfits trying to better their lot.

Pete Woods turns in some extremely good work here, and it’s largely down to his contribution that the book’s status as a lighter component of the World’s End line comes off. In particular, his designs for the robots are a perfect blend of the sinister and the comical, with all instantly memorable. There are a few flies sin the ointment, with little details that Gage obviously didn’t feel to be important spoiling some of the fun. The structuring of the robot society around their worship of “Gort” is a little too cute to be really convincing, proving a rather lazy shorthand for the social positioning that follows Ladytron’s stumbling upon their refuge and slightly confusing the story. While the move is perhaps an acceptable shortcut on the part of Gage for this one-part story, the idea of robot worship is too interesting to be glossed over so briefly- as it stands, the unexplored idea merely distracts from the reader from the main thrust of the story. Maxine’s intervention also works out a little too neatly, while it’s amusing to see her apparently anarchistic and self-indulgent manipulations producing a perfect ending for the characters she interacts with, some acknowledgment of this within the story would have overcome a slight feeling of tweeness. These small difficulties aside, “Computer Love” is a typically well-judged change of pace issue for the series, proving an amusing diversion from the ongoing struggles that characterise the book.

• download fantastic planet the free

this is england movie

download force 10 from navarone online We’re now past the half-way mark in Faith’s comics excursion, and the series is gradually moving away from its initial episodic format, with the overall arc now beginning to emerge. In general, the book continues to impress, and looks set to stand up remarkably well in trade format.

kicking screaming free

The courier isn’t letting her grasp of the day job weaken, but last issue’s revelations about her late mother have obviously become a source of preoccupation for Faith, with tracking down her surviving parent now her number one priority. Rhianna Pratchett continues to combine the feel of the parent property with a more narrative-orientated approach, while using enough familiar images from the games for the change in tack to be barely detectable. What makes the book such a solid success is the structuring and pacing- aside from a rather contrived two-page fight against “Leaf”, this is a textbook example of how to tell a coherent story in a varied fashion. Action sequence leads into flashback leads to introspection into revelation leads into end of the issue. It may be a side effect of having a series/franchise so unrelentingly focussed on its main character, but in comics it feels like a breath of fresh air, reminding of just how rarely a book primarily based around the intrigue of its main plot manages to stick to a regular monthly schedule.

With the action largely confined to interiors, Matthew Dow Smith’s atmospheric cityscapes are much missed, with his depictions of the cast’s faces contrasting unfavourably with Niko Henrichon’s superb cover. The reader is very much dependant on the book’s colouring to distinguish between locations, with the washings giving each location an instantly recognisable tone. This creates problems for a reviewer, however. Is this approach a deliberate recreation of the game’s use of its pallet or a last minute remedying of the artist’s minimalism? The attention to detail shown in choreographing action sequences makes me inclined to give Smith the benefit of the doubt, particularly as the end result adds something a little different to the storytelling without hampering the reading process. Given the high quality of the book, Mirror’s Edge has had a disappointingly low profile since launch, but sticking with the title is proving to be a rewarding experience.