Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
All it takes is one person to turn everything you thought you understood about the world of comic art and graphic novels upside down, shake the stupidity of pre-conception out of your head and spank you with your rolled up, tattered copy of reasons why company is better than the other.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
You don’t need to look any further for a magnificent read when it comes to a series of graphic novels than Joe Hill’s and Gabriel Rodriguez’s Locke & Key.
It is a series built upon the very fundamentals of great story telling that art can only ever enhance. The premise of a unique story, the realisation that you care about the way each character is drawn from the writer’s imagination and lovingly captured by the artist, the pace of the narrative, whether it is fast or slow doesn’t matter and the action and thoughts drawing you ever deeper into their own world, blurring the lines between narrative symbolism and the representation of Humanity’s great assets, that of the overwhelming power of vision, inspiration and creativity.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
One of the most overwhelming features of the Sin City series is that of family. In a neo-noir world in which you would expect a dystopian vision to be lurking on every black and white panel drawn and scripted by Frank Miller, the surprising comfort afforded to the reader is that of the tight unit in which many of the characters are drawn into.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
The deadbolt should have been kept padlocked; the catch on the memory firmly kept in place and armed guards placed on every conceivable exit and as for the imagination…well that’s best left to Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez to care for. For the Locke family certainly need them to keep them safe or at least care for them in the same manner throughout as they do in Locke & key: Head Games.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 5/10
Into every magnificent series must come a dip, a lack of form or supposed interest that makes all the other titles so far printed seem even more tantilising. In Frank Miller’s Sin City series that fall comes with the sixth in the range, Booze, Broads and Bullets.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Welcome to Lovecraft; welcome to the world of Joe Hill but whatever you find it might be better to keep it under Locke & Key.
Locke & Key: Welcome To Lovecraft was the opening graphic novel by the writer Joe Hill and top rated artist Gabriel Rodriguez and as graphic novels go it is sensational. A story of incredible depth but with the added bonus of some of the most interesting comic art to ever see the light of day that its only peers in the last twenty years would be arguably Watchmen and the Sin City series, certainly when it comes to independent graphic novels.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Aquaman may well have been the poor relation for many years in terms of superheroes from the big two mainstream makers of comic books and graphic novels but in terms of modern story-telling, the fight against injustice actually going hand in hand with environmental concerns, it really has opened many fans eyes to the possibilities that was afforded to Arthur Curry due to the huge re-boot by D.C. Comics in the New 52 series.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
There used to be a saying that you were either a Beatles fan or a Rolling Stones devotee, the same could be said of the big two comic book publishers in America, D.C. Comics and Marvel. Like the argument between The Stones and the four Liverpool musicians, there will also be a crossover who say for example find the compelling stories of Batman or Wonder Woman just as exciting as the moral guideline set out by Captain America or the incredible life of Peter Parker’s Spider-Man, just as there are those who love The Beatles but also see the appeal of Paint It Black or Sympathy for the Devil. However sympathy for D.C. Comics marine hero Aquaman has never really captured comic book fans in any kind of dramatic way.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
What would you do if you had a super power so great that you were able to help many thousands of people survive the everyday viciousness, cruelty and the malevolent? To be able to walk the streets in safety with no fear attached to their daily routine knowing that there was a hero out there looking out for them. This power is so great though that it frightens others and forces you to come clean, to reveal who you are and there by jeopardising your own safety as the criminals and the ones with evil intent come after you and those that you love. Would you, could you, sign up to act that required you to disclose your true identity?
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
The graphic novel/ film/television tie-in has had many great reasons in which to celebrate multi-media crossover in the last couple of decades. From Sin City to The Watchmen, from V For Vendetta to Buffy The Vampire Slayer, each has carried the other with the weight of heavy expectation foaming from its pages or celluloid extravagance. When it comes to the world of Marvel, arguably the heaviest hitter in the world of the comic book communities, the films have been great, the comics have been superb but the tie-ins have not been so enamouring.