Star Wars: Chewbacca Review

Finished reading Star Wars: Chewbacca, from the creative team of Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto as they take the famous Wookiee on his very own adventure. The book opens up with Zarro and her father Arrax being taken from their home to work in the Andelm Beetle Caverns by the scoundrel Jaum who is currently working with the Empire. Once escaping the cavern with the help of her father, Zarro crosses paths with Chewbacca in a local bar after being chased by a group of Jaum's men. After convincing Chewbacca of her predicament he agrees to help as the two devise a plan to save the workforce only for their plan to go south when Jaum's right hand man, Tyvak causes a cave in while attempting to kill Chewbacca who he sees as a very dangerous threat. Once finding a way out of the cavern Chewbacca and Zarro decide to go after Jaum as he's meeting with an imperial platoon to sell all of the mined Lava from the cavern. Overall this was an amazing book as it dives into Chewbacca's background by using very powerful, silent flashbacks to a time where Chewbacca was a slave worker which makes helping Zarro's father and the other workers even more personal. The light and comedic tone of the book is great from Zarro trying and failing to understand Chewbacca to the opening scroll which makes the tone apparent from the get go. Even with the lighter tone the book is still able to take a more serious tone in some places such as the point where the Chewbacca, Zarro and the workers are caught in a cave in and where Zarro and Chewbacca begin to build a friendship which is a testament to Gerry Duggan's writing. Phil Noto's artwork throughout the book is amazing as it helps to convey the body language and emotions of Chewbacca very well which helps for the reader to understand him as Chewbacca is a character with a very limited vocabulary and this helps a tremendous amount. Additionally the competition within Noto's is great as it put characters important within a panel into focus while making their surroundings out of focus which gives the book a cinematic feel. While the closing moments of the book with Chewbacca along with Zarro's narration is incredibly heartwarming and gives a brilliant ending to an amazing story. 9/10.

Star Wars: Darth Vader: Shadows and Secrets Review

Finished reading Star Wars: Darth Vader: Shadows and Secrets, this continues the series as Darth Vader continues to look for the truth about Luke Skywalker, while still doing missions for the Empire. The book opens up with Vader joined by Aphra and her droids on Tatooine to learn about Luke Skywalker. Vader is then tasked to lead a group of Stormtroopers on the planet Son-Tuul were they find a large vault full of credits and put it on to an imperial transport. Meanwhile on the other side of the planet Aphra and a group of bounty hunters devise a plan to steal under the orders of Vader himself. Later Vader is debriefed by Grand General Tagge as General Karbin is assigned to find Luke Skywalker while the cybernetic enhanced twins are tasked to find a small Rebel group called the Plasma Devils. Finally Vader is joined by Inspector Thanoth on his mission to find the people who stole the credits from the imperial transport as Vader secretly takes Aphra to find more information about Luke Skywalker. Overall this was an amazing book as writer Kieron Gillen continues with the series by diving into the background of new characters and the many situations the characters get into. The character development throughout the book is amazing as Alpra's background gets fleshed out in an incredibly compelling way that the art even shows the emotional impact it had on her with the way it conveys her body language and movements. While new characters like Inspector Thanoth are an instant hit thanks to how he interacts with Vader and to criminals showing that he has lots of experience. Additionally the artist Salvador Larroca is amazing as his work looks cinematic with how characters emotions are brought across along with the action scene with Stormtroopers and Darth Varder's fighting style. 9/10.

10 Cloverfield Lane Film Review

Finished watching 10 Cloverfield Lane directed by Dan Trachtenberg and staring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Bradley Cooper, John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr. and Suzanna Cryer. The film opens up to Micelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) leaving the home that she shares with her fiancé Ben (Bradley Cooper) after having an argument with him. While driving down a long empty road Micelle suddenly gets into a  collision with a vehicle overtaking her leading to her waking up inside a doomsday bunker, with her leg handcuffed to the piping as the owner Howard (John Goodman) tends to her injuries. Michelle later finds out the she is not alone as the builder of the bunker Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.) is inside the food storage with a broken arm he got by trying to get inside after an attack of some sorts hit the area. Overall this was a good film as it uses the setting of the doomsday bunker along with the small cast extremely well as it allows for the film to get right into the core of the characters and their interactions between one another. The cast brings some stellar performances from the small personal character moments that help to develop the characters of Michelle and Emmett, to the range of John Goodman's acting as his character goes from a very anxious person to full on psychopath in a matter of minutes that brings over a lot of edge of the seat suspense. The prop and make up departments do an amazing job with the decaying pigs outside of the bunker and the look of the infected woman (Suzanna Cryer) as they look horrifying and very realistic. 7.5/10.

Star Wars: Showdown on the Smuggler's Moon Review

Finished reading Star Wars: Showdown on the Smuggler's Moon, continuing Marvel Comics main Star Wars series as writer Jason Aaron tells a small story featuring a self exciled Obi-Wan set between the two trilogies which continues as a larger story with the heroes of the original film. The book opens up to a story featuring Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tattooine finding it hard to blend in and to try to not be a Jedi, which goes against every part of his nature, from his training to his willingness to help people. During a severe drought on the planet Obi-Wan comes across a handful of Jabba's men who are taking water from the locals by saying that it's a tax while Obi-Wan tries to help the locals and protect a young Luke Skywalker by using his Jedi training discretely in order to not bring attention to himself. The rest of the book follows the main heroes of the series as Luke and R2-D2 head to the Smuggler's Moon of Nar Shaddaa where Luke hopes to find a way to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant in hope to become a better Jedi. However Luke's plan goes south incredibly fast as he finds himself captured by Grakkus the Hutt who takes Luke to his arena ready to be killed for entertainment. Once news of Luke's capture is received by the Rebel Alliance Chewbacca and C3PO head to Nar Shaddaa to rescue their friend. As all of this is happening Han and Leia are confronted by a woman called Sana who insists that she is the wife of Han Solo. Their meeting is cut short when an Imperial Fleet of Tie Bombers and Fighters starts to bombard the planet and the soldiers attempt to arrest Han and Leia for being Rebels. Overall this was an amazing book as it continues to be a great addition to the Star Wars canon by showing what Obi-Wan was doing on Tattooine and how Luke slowly became the Jedi he is within the films. The character interactions are amazing as the scenes with Han, Leia and Sana help to develop their relationship which contains a lot of great laugh out loud moments. While the pairing of Chewbacca and C3PO on Nar Shaddaa is brilliant as it consists of great comedic moments with how C3PO translates what Chewbacca is saying and some of the best action scenes in the book come out of its as well especially when the Bounty Hunter Dengar enters the fray. Also the structure of how writer Jason Aaron fits the Obi-Wan story in to the rest of the series is great as it plays out with the story coming to life at the same time that Luke is reading the journal he found in Obi-Wan's home on Tatooine at the end of the previous book. The artwork is amazing as the Obi-Wan story drawn by artist Simone Bianchi designs some great action scenes between Obi-Wan and Jabba's men while also showing how isolated he is on the planet. While the artwork throughout the rest of the book is immensely breathtaking as artist Stuart Immonen draws some spectacular space battles and action scenes, which are all elevated by Wade Von Grawbadger's inks and Justin Ponsor's colours. 9.5/10.

The Multiversity Review

Finished reading Multiversity, this embarks on writer Grant Morrison's tour of the DC multiverse as he is joined by a slew of great art talent to tell this overarching story. The book opens up with a landlady knocking on the door of Nix Uotan the last of the Monitors who uses a interdimensional transport to go to Earth-7 where he finds the world to look post apocalyptic after a few interdimensional creatures attacked the Earth. Once seeing this Nix tells Thunderer the last hero of the Earth to use the transport to get reinforcements for other Earths within the multiverse. Once Thunderer assembles a team lead by the Superman of Earth-23 they find themselves on Earth-8 were they meet the superhero team called the Retaliators when a twisted version of Nix appears in front of the hero. The book then showcases several stories featuring different universes within the DC multiverse. The first features the Society of Super-Heroes of Earth-20 as they are being invaded by the Society of Super-Criminals of Earth-40. The next story set on Earth-16 follows the children of superheroes that create their own team called The Just while the Justice League is formed by former sidekicks and older heroes. The following story stars the heroes of Earth-4, dubbed Pax Americana who find one of their own at the centre of the assassination of the American President which leads to a very interesting mystery that leads to the story constantly flashing back to show more information about what happened. The fourth story centres around the Earth-4 version of Captain Marvel when the villainous Dr Sivana kidnaps the wizard Shazam allowing him to harness Captain Marvel's powers by bestowing them onto his children while devising a plan with multiple versions of himself in order take over the whole multiverse. The next story tells two almost interconnecting stories of the young Batman of Earth-43 meeting with the Batman of Earth-17 while on the post apocalyptic Earth-51 the last boy of Earth, Kamandi is joined by Prince Tuftan and bioMAC as all of the characters discover the origins of the Multiverse and what each universe contains by including a guidebook of the Multiverse inside and part of the story itself. The penultimate story tells the tail of the Superman of Earth-10 who crash landed in Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia in 1938 which lead to Germany winning the Second World War and even occupying America where Superman makes his home in present day. The last of the stories is set on Earth-33 where the hero Ultraman and his creator speaks to the reader as the story itself is very self aware of its surroundings by interacting with the reader. The book concludes with the ending of the opening story as all of the heroes of the multiverse join forces to take on the threat of the twisted version of Nix Uotan and the other interdimensional creatures. Overall this was an amazing book as writer Grant Morrison structures a very captivating story that takes the form of multiple stories that feature different variations of heroes and villains, while being able to still tell one large overarching story. Each of the singular stories are amazing as each helps to show the range that Grant Morrison has, as each story is just as great as the last and barely skip a beat or even dip in quality. The artwork within the book is amazing as each story plays to the strengths of each art team on each story. Even the Guidebook itself that is incorporated in to the book, by a great use of storytelling, features different universes that are drawn by different artists. 9.5/10.

Hail, Caesar! Film Review

Finished watching Hail, Caesar! directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and staring Josh Brolin, Heather Goldenhersh, Scarlett Johansson, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, George Clooney, Wayne Knight, Alison Pill and Michael Gambon. The film opens up with the head of physical production at Capital Pictures Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) beginning a new work day in the early hours of the morning by stopping an unofficial photoshoot inside someone's home before heading to the office at the Capital Pictures studies where he is joined by his secretary Natalie (Heather Goldenhersh). While at the studio Eddie deals with the personal problems of a large amount of the cast and crew of the films being filmed at the time. From the news of actress DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson) to the casting of western film star Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) in a period drama helmed by director Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes) who finds it very hard to work with Hobie as the main focus of the film, the kidnapping of actor Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) by one of the Hail, Caesar! extras (Wayne Knight), who takes Baird to a house on the coast line where a Communist cell calling themselves that Future slowly begin to convert Baird to their cause. Overall this was a good film as it centres around the day in the life of studio head Eddie Mannix by showing what he has to deal with on a daily basis and how that affects his wife Connie (Alison Pill) and their two children. The films narration by Michael Gambon is a very nice touch to the film as it helps to elevate the films setting and themes by giving a different view and angle to the film. The comedy within the film is great as it constantly hits it's mark by bringing some great laugh out loud moments. What lets it down though is the fact that some comedic moments go on for a little to long making the feel very awkward. 7.5/10.

Convergence Review

Finished reading Convergence, this is the main series of DC Comics event that brought back old universes the were previously thought to have been written out of existence. The book opens up with Superman being incarcerated by Brainiac shortly after defeating Vail Dox Brainiac during the Superman: Doomed story. Once braking out Superman encounters multiple versions of Brainiac before he is through off the world as the Brainiac's fall back into the ground while Telos looks over. Next a group of heroes from the recently destroyed Earth 2 find themselves on the mysterious planet, when they are attacked by Telos, the living embodiment of the planet and declares a tournament to determine which city from different types of universes is the fittest and worthy to call the planet home. While Telos is distracted the heroes of Earth 2 escape his restrains leading to Green Lantern discovering that the Earth is toxic to him and that the best way to defeat Telos lies underground. The heroes then split as Batman and Dick Grayson head to a local Gotham in hope for some backup while the rest of the heroes head to an entrance under the surface were they meet a man named Deimos along the way who guides them to the underground city of Skartaris. While Dick comes face to face with Telos once again after a large group of Batman's villains follow him and Earth 2 Batman from the Gotham they travel from. Overall this was a good book as its able to distinguish each type and variation of a characters throughout the book extremely well, which is a credit to the art and writing teams. The character interactions are great from the meeting between Dick and Alfred to Dick's interactions with Telos which helps to give both characters some great development. What lets the book down is that it feels it need the knowledge of what happened in the Superman: Doomed story, the Futures End and Earth 2 series'. Additionally the book itself has a very slow start which takes a little while to get into, which ultimately leading to an incredibly satisfying end to the book and the overacting story of the Earth 2 and Earth 2: World's End series'. 7/10.

Batman: Endgame Review

Finished reading Batman: Endgame, this brings together a culmination of creative team Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo run on the series to this point. The book opens up with a gas attack on Gotham with Batman inside a large mechsuit at the centre of the gas cloud. The book then flashes back to minutes before as Bruce Wayne is injuring himself with the latest strain of Scarecrows fear toxin were he sees different versions of his demise. After being woken up by Alfred and checking in with Julia at the Old Wayne Tower when Wonder Woman comes crashing through the window attacking Bruce as the rest of the Justice League shortly follow. The appearance of Superman caused a long drawn out fight between him and Batman after discovering that the whole League is under the control of the Joker. After getting into a stalemate with the possessed Superman Batman heads back to the tower to recover from the fight. Batman them heads to the remains of Arkham in hope to find a cure for the League when he see Eric Border there who reveals himself to be the Joker and traps Batman in his old cell as Joker releases a toxin throughout the city turning everyone into jokerized versions of themselves. Overall this was an amazing book as it brings an end to this chapter of Batman's life and career that began with writer Scott Snyder's Court of Owls storyline at the beginning of DC Comics New 52 publication line. The interactions between each character are amazing as the Jokers dialogue is just as frightening as his look while the internal narration from Batman throughout the book is great as it helps to show what goes through Batman's head when he has to fight the Justice League and the Joker. The artwork throughout the book is stunning as artist Greg Capullo designs some amazing fight scenes for Batman fighting the Justice League to his conflict with the Joker are all incredibly mesmerising. While the colours of the book help to capture the horrific tones and setting of the book that becomes a more darker colour palette after each page turn especially when the Joker arrives as his shadow instantly covers the book when his presence is apparent. 9.5/10.

London Has Fallen Film Review

Finished watching London Has Fallen directed by Babak Najafi, and staring Alon Aboutboul, Aaron Eckhart, Gerard Butler, Radha Mitchell, Angela Bassestt and Waleed Zuaiter. The film opens up to the wedding being attended by arms dealer Aamir Barkawi (Alon Aboutboul), where the American military bombard the location with an air raid hoping to kill Aamir. The film then flashy to two years later were American president Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) and his top Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) who is preoccupied with sorting out the new bedroom for his yet to be born baby with his wife Leah (Radha Mitchell). Soon later news comes through that the British Prime Minister has died, leading to Benjamin and Mike along with the Director of the Secret Service Lynne Jacobs (Angela Bassestt) travel to London along many other world leaders to attend the funeral. While in London all of the world leaders get caught up in a terror attack orchestrated by Barkawi who survived the air raid with his son Kamran (Waleed Zuaiter) leading the charge in London in order to seek revenge on the American President. Overall this was a decent film as it shows of some great action but doesn't deliver as well on its character development. The character interactions between Mike and Benjamin are good as it helps show the friendship between the two. However the one liners used between the two feel out of place even though they are played up for laughs. The action and fighting choreography  is great especially with the attention to detail that is elevated by how well the camerawork keeps up throughout. While shots such as the point of view shots taken from Mike's point of view helps to show how well trained Mike is. Additionally the siemesly continuous shot of Mike and the SAS feels as if the camera is another member of the squad. 6.5/10.

Justice League Dark: Lost in Forever Review

Finished reading Justice League Dark: Lost in Forever, bringing an end to the DC Comics series as writer J.M. DeMatters separates the team throughout time and space. The book opens with Zatanna and John Constantine in Paris when the two are teleported to the Houses of Mystery and Secrets respectively as the two houses plan to go to war with each other by using members past and present of the Justice League Dark to fight their battles. Once both factions of the team meet, the battle which turns out to be a ruse when the two houses merge together to become the House of Wonders. In order to defeat the House of Wonders Zatanna casts a spell which causes Constantine to forget his love for her which sends the team across time and space with Constantine finding himself back on Earth. The rest of the book deals with the team being seperated throughout time and space due to the destruction of the House of Wonders as Zatanna finds herself at the dawn of time while Nightmare Nurse, Swap Thing, Frankenstein and vampire Andrew Bennett are trapped at the end of time as Deadman, Black Orchid and Madame Xanadu find themselves in the Kingdom of Now, a place that exists outside of time and space. Overall this was a great book as it separates the team into smaller teams which allows writer J.M. DeMatters to tell more personal stories with characters like Nightmare Nurse and Madame Xanadu who narrate their section of the book giving them some great character development. The character interactions throughout the book are brilliant as there are some emotion filled scenes from Zatanna's interactions with Constantine and her father while the interactions between Madame Xanadu and Lord Arif of the Kingdom of Now are incredibly heart wrenching. The artwork throughout the book is great as the character and creature designs are extremely well detailed along with the emotions that are shown between characters. While all of the spells and location designs are all elevated by the inking and colours of whole art team of the book. 8.5/10.

Batman: Detective Comics: Anarky Review

Finished reading Batman: Detective Comics: Anarky, this continues DC Comics New 52 series as Batman deals with several problems facing Gotham from an organised plane crash to a leap into the future were Batman has to team up with an unlikely ally. The book opens up with Bruce Wayne preparing  to leave Gotham Airport in his private jet when a commercial plane crashes into one of the terminals. After investigating the plane Batman gets the chief of police at the airport to quarantine the terminal after discovering that the plane is carrying an airborne virus. Due to being constricted at the airport Batman calls Dick Grayson to find the man responsible for the crash and the cure for the virus currently infecting the people in the airport. The next story opens up during Christmas Eve as Batman confronts the MadHatter when Batman discovers multiple skulls when Hatter falls into icy waters. Meanwhile at the Gotham City police station detectives Bullock and Yip revive news of a homicide at Wayne Tower. At the tower the two detectives meet with Batman when a bomb planted by Anarky to give everyone in Gotham a clean slate as the bomb took out most of Gotham's records. The following story is set during the events of Batman: Endgame as a group of teenagers help a young boy named Lonnie to reunite him with his mother who is on the other side of the city. The final story flash-forwards to five years into the future as Batman is on a glider heading towards the Riddlers own skyscraper in hope to team up with him so Batman can bypass the updated security system that Riddler implemented at Arkham, in order for Batman to prevent calendar Man form repeating the blackout that the Riddler caused during the events of Zero Year. Overall this was a great book as it gives members of Batman's supporting cast their own moments to shine through. The airport story written by Benjamin Percy is incredibly captivating as it restricts Batman to one terminal that's been quarantined which leads the addition of Dick Grayson into the story, which is very interesting as Grayson is on the other side of the world. The Anarky story is great as writers Francis Manapul and Brian Bucccellato continue to bring Harvey Bullock to the forefront of the investigation while MadHatter ties to Anarky's backstory and how each villain plays off of each other on a psychological standpoint is amazingly done. Additionally the Endgame tie in is really interesting as it helps to show how the citizens of Gotham deal with the larger Batman events when he confronts his more prominent villains like the Joker. 8.5/10.

Grimsby Film Review

Finished watching Grimsby directed by Louis Leterrier and staring Sacha Baron Cohen, Rebel Wilson, Mark Strong, Penélope Cruz and Isla Fisher. The film opens up with Nobby Butcher (Sacha Baron Cohen) and his girlfriend (Rebel Wilson) at a local bed shop were they purchase a new mattress. Back at home a hand full of Nobby's kids complain about being over crowded in their room even with an empty room in the house that Nobby as left in case his long lost brother comes back home. Meanwhile MI6 agent Sebastian Butcher (Mark Strong) completes a mission in Uganda when his bosses give him a new mission to stop the assassination of humanitarian Rhonda George (Penélope Cruz). The mission goes south when Nobby intervenes leading to Sebastian going on the run form the MI6 and try's to clear his name with the help of Nobby and Sebastian's assistant Jodie Figgis (Isla Fisher) back at the headquarters of MI6. Overall this was a decent film as it blends together the action and comedy genres extremely well. The action scenes are great as they are choreographed extremely well thanks to a continuous point of view shot that only cuts away to show a birds eye view of the action by a drone overhead which makes the scenes very suspenseful. The interactions and backstory between Nobby and Sebastian is great throughout the film the as the two rekindle their relationship after being separated years prior and some of the interactions being some nice comedy moments with how the two react to situations the other has put them in. While the comedy itself is fairly hit or miss throughout the film as the jokes that work are really great while the ones that don't hit their mark and are very cringeworthy. 6/10.

Earth 2: World's End: Volume 2 Review

Finished reading Earth 2: World's End: Volume 2, this brings the adventures of Earth 2 to a conclusion as Darkseid and the forces of Apokolips begin their final push of the destruction of Earth. The book opens up with Darkseid returning to his throne as he is debriefed by the Court of Apokolips and Big Barda. While back on Earth Power Girl, Val Zod, Batman, Superman and Red Tornado are inside Desaad's laboratory where he has been making clones of Superman and just turned Huntress into the newest Fury of Apokolips who joins the rest of the Furies in their battle with the Avatars of the Earth. As all of this is happening the newly pemoted commander of the World Army Sonia Sato after the mission with Mister Mirricale, Mr Terrific, Sandman and Fury fails when Terry Sloan rigged their transport with a bomb leading to Commander Khan to sacrifice himself while on a failed attempt on Darksied's life with the transport, the population of the world head underground to shelter from Apokolips. During the final push of Apokolips' forces as the heroes of Earth try to defend the planet Commander Sato prepares to evacuate the population of the Earth as the recently recovered Huntress and Batman travel the remains of the world to find this Earths Oliver Queen who is in possession of Bruce Wayne's doomsday contingency plans that could help the survivors of Earth rebuild a new world. Overall this was a good book as it brings an end to the story with Darkseid and Apokolips that has been the main back drop of this series and the main Earth 2 series since the beginning of the New 52. The action set pieces are great as each artist helps to show off each character's powers and abilities throughout the many fight scenes in the book. While the the character moments are great as Huntress and Batman finally get the chance to sit and talk about their relationship as the current Batman is her grandfather Thomas Wayne not her father Bruce Wayne. Additionally the internal narration by Green Lantern is incredibly interesting as he deals with an upgrade on his powers by the Parliament of the Earth and losing his fiancée for the second time in order to have a fighting chance to save the world. What lets the book down though is the uneventful ending of the book as it doesn't have a solid conclusion, leaving the story widely open for more even though the book is the end to the series. 7/10.