Tag Archives: Worlds Apart

Locke & Key: Welcome To Lovecraft. Graphic Novel Review.

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.

Locke & Key: Welcome To Lovecraft. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(601 words, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)

Aquaman, The Trench. Volume One. Graphic Novel Review.

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.

Aquaman, The Trench. Volume One. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(522 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

Captain America: Winter Soldier, Ultimate Collection. Graphic Novel Review.

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.

Captain America: Winter Soldier, Ultimate Collection. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(657 words, estimated 2:38 mins reading time)

Batman: Haunted Knight, Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It’s hard to imagine any superhero in the Marvel Universe having the same type of intrigue and fascination with Halloween as D.C. Comic’s biggest hero Batman does. Indeed across every spectrum and genre no other title perhaps lends itself more to the crazy upside world of the night than the Dark Knight.  In a collection of three different one shot Halloween special stories by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, under the one title of Batman: Haunted Knight, the complicated relationship he has with the day is one that captures the imagination but also the fixation, the near fixation he has in dealing with those who bring harm to Gotham City is at near psychosis levels.

Batman: Haunted Knight, Graphic Novel Review. full post

(495 words, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Sin City: The Big Fat Kill. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Dwight McCarthy, perhaps one of three decent men who inhabit the world of Sin City, has a new face but that doesn’t stop him from finding trouble by the truck load or even getting involved with the women of Old Town once more in the third book in the Graphic Novel range by lauded artist and creator Frank Miller.

Sin City: The Big Fat Kill. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(515 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For, Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Twenty years since the events that unfolded in the second book by the esteemed Frank Miller, one of the finest set of graphic novels is being tuned into an arguably must-see film for its fans.

Despite the prestige of the novel being tuned into a film, Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For is much more than the chance to relish into the grimy neo-noir world of Basin City and the chance to see Robert Rodriguez add extra class to an already seminal story, the focus should be on just how good, how superior the idea was to almost anything since the mind bursting days of Film Noir and the rise of the Detective novel.

Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For, Graphic Novel Review. full post

(559 words, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)

Batman: The Long Halloween: Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Alongside Wonder Woman and Superman, Batman is perhaps arguably D.C. Comics’ greatest hero and certainly lucrative money spinner in an ever increasing market for film adaptations. The films, especially the darker and grittier Dark Knight series starring Christian Bale were mesmerising and brutal and aside from perhaps the first two Batman films of the 1980s with the excellent Michael Keaton in the role, were the epitome of graphic novel/adaptions from the D.C. universe.

Batman: The Long Halloween: Graphic Novel Review. full post

(638 words, estimated 2:33 mins reading time)

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Omnibus 7, Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

With all the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus editions produced by Dark Horse, one overriding thought comes out of the dark like a stake aimed straight for the undead’s heart, that Series Editor Scott Allie had some incredible talent at his disposal during the long run and the result was arguably the best set of graphic novels and comic books produced, the most superb stories to grace anything outside of the Marvel and D.C. universe and ranked possibly on a par with the classic Watchman series.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Omnibus 7, Graphic Novel Review. full post

(538 words, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

Blake’s 7: The Liberator Chronicles. Counterfeit. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Gareth Thomas, Paul Darrow.

A story that didn’t involve the commanding tones of Gareth Thomas as the Captain of The Liberator, Rog Blake, would seem to be as surprising as leaving out the main character of the television series for virtually all of its final series. Thankfully the people behind Big Finish audio dramas are the best in the business when it comes to getting old favourites to reprise their renowned and celebrated roles and in the episode Counterfeit, audiences once again get the chance to sample the delights of Gareth Thomas as the determined rogue turned freedom fighter in the final story in the box set of Season One of Blake’s 7: The Liberator Chronicles.

Blake’s 7: The Liberator Chronicles. Counterfeit. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish. full post

(494 words, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Blake’s 7: The Liberator Chronicles. Solitary, Audio Drama Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Michael Keating, Anthony Howell.

Even amongst a tight band of renegades and misfits there will always be the one outcast who is different enough from the rest to make him a prime target for an introverted and perhaps self-contained lifestyle, even if that person deep down wants to be part of the group that he is associated with.

Blake’s 7: The Liberator Chronicles. Solitary, Audio Drama Review. Big Finish. full post

(517 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)