New Suicide Squad: Freedom Review

Finished reading New Suicide Squad: Freedom, concluding writer Sean Ryan's run on the series as Amanda Waller, the head of Task Force X is forced to join the team on their missions after Vic Sage takes over the operation. The book opens up with Amanda Waller and the team are in Rio meeting with a dealer of a drug that gives its user superpowers. When the meeting goes south the team have to fight their way to the safety of a nearby cathedral where Waller goes rouge with the team and go after the Calvary Corporation which owns not only the companies that supply Belle Reve prison and its personal their weapons and equipment but also own the companies that have been appearing in the series that the squad have taken down. Overall this was a good book as it brings an end to writer Sean Ryan's run on the series by wrapping all of the loose plot threads very nicely. The final confrontation between Vic Sage and Amanda Waller is nice as the incorporation of Black Manta helps to bring the over arcing story full circle. The art by Philippe Briones continues to work extremely well with the series as the action and locations are drawn out greatly and work well for the book's story. The stories centring around Deadshot and Katana towards the end of the book feel that they have been added into the book just to make up the page count as they are only the first part of their respective stories and also to get people into the two series. 7/10.

Flash: Zoom Review

Finished reading Flash: Zoom, writes Robert Venditti and Van Jensen continue their run on DC's Flash series as Eobard Thawne the man behind the death of Barry's mother has returned to unleash havoc on Barry's life once again. The book opens up with Barry Allen getting use to living with his new roommate the former Pied Piper, Hartley Rathaway after Barry had to move out of his ex girlfriend's home after his breakup with Patty. After meeting with his dad at Iron Heights that morning with the information of a possible lead on the killer of his mother, Eobard Thawne, Henry breaks out of jail in hope to stop Eobard for doing the same to his son that he did to Henry's wife years prior. Unknown to Henry Eobard has already go his eyes on the Flash to not only kill him but the tarnish is reputation and legacy. Overall this was a great book as it gives Barry an extremely personal battle between Thawne who is after Barry because he despises the legacy that the Flash has in the future. While the battle also hits closer to home where Barry's farther Henry escapes prison in order to go after Eobard himself in the hope to save his son only to cause more problems for Barry as he his not allowed to get involved with helping the police with his own father's breakout. The side story within the middle of the book showing the history and origins of the members of Zoom's team that he builds throughout time helps to give these characters enough background to each of them to make the characters more that just pawns in Zoom's plan. The continuing build of the relationship between Barry, Iris and Wally continues to develop the characters with Barry become more of a surrogate father to Wally. The artwork by Brett Booth continues to be great as the paneling and action scenes are constantly gripping and help to convey the characters emotions as well. This is also Carey over to the back up story in the middle of the book with Bong Dazo's art being quite similar to the rest of the book while also having its own flavour as well. 8/10.

Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them Film Review

Finished watching Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them directed by David Yates and staring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler and Alison Sudol. The film opens up with wizard Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) arriving in New York City in 1926 with a suitcase containing multiple different species of magic creatures and once they begin to start causing trouble former Auror of the Magical Congress of the United States of America Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) brings Newt in when of of his creatures gets loose inside a bank where a protest against witches is taking place outside. After discovering that he has the wrong suitcase Tina and Newt try to find muggle Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) who has picked up Newt's creatures that are accidentally are released onto New York and with the help from Jacob, Tina and her sister Queenie (Alison Sudol) who Newt and Jacob meet when Tina takes them to her apartment to make a plan for how to capture the escaped creatures. Overall this was a good film as it dives into a different part of the world established within the Harry Potter franchise by going to the prohibition era of New York which shows of the history and even the legal system of this universe. The journey that the main characters go through in terms of development is great especially with Jacob as the ending of the film becomes quite emotional with how it affects the relationship that is built between Jacob and Queenie as well as the rest of the main cast. The creatures themselves are magnificent in their design are magnificent as they look different enough from real life animals to give them their own uniqueness but still being able to see the inspiration of the creatures as well. 7/10.

Harley Quinn: A Call to Arms

Finished reading Harley Quinn: A Call to Arms, with her very own gang of Harley's writers Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti continue to expand Harley Quinn's supporting cast with her own team as they become a group that helps the people in the community for a price. The book opens with Harley giving a roll call of the new Gang of Harley's as her friend Sy Borgman is spying on the mayor who he quickly finds dirt on. With evidence of the mayor taking money for himself Harley uses this to blackmail him into allowing her new gang to operate freely without the authorities getting in their way. This backfires badly when the mayor has Harley spied on and arresting her date for the night Mason Macabre after his mum help brake him out of prison earlier in the series. The next morning Harley and her gang get their first major job to find a missing fisherman who has discovered some strange seaweed that he quickly gets addicted to as it makes him near invulnerable. The second story see's Harley going to Hollywood to find a girl named Sparrow, after Harley's coworker had put a bounty on her daughter in hoping to bring her back home. However things don't go according to plan when it turns out that Harley's coworker had also offered the job to Deadshot who meets with Harley all guns blazing. The final story begins with Harley getting a call from her mum telling her the bad news that her uncle Louie has passed away in his home in California. With Harley joined by Poison Ivy and Catwoman the three of them embark on a cross country road trip back home with the open roof car and trailer that Harley's uncle left her. Overall this was a great book as it brings a new element in to Harley's life with her own gang that instantly have their background reviled within a few pages, which is a credit to the writing team of Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti. The way that Harley's training as a physiatrist helps to layer her character with how there is more to her than just the clown makeup and also helps to layer the book by not just making it a full on comedy as it links to situations that can happen in real life, just that the book tends to exaggerate a little. The comedy through out the book is great thanks to some nicely timed visual gags and the different situations Harley finds herself in along with the multiple pop culture references are used perfectly. The artwork throughout is great as the dream sequences are depicted extremely well as they feel less realistic than the feast of the book thanks to their tone and layout. While the rest of the book continues to capture the unpredictability of Harley's fighting style and also helps to make the locations feel as much as a character as the people in the forefront. 8/10.

Batman and Robin Eternal: Volume 1 Review

Finished reading Batman and Robin Eternal: Volume 1, writers Scott Snyder and James Tynion plot the sequel to the Batman Eternal series as they are joined by another team of writers telling a story centring around Batman's former sidekicks as they deal with a threat form one of Batman's old missions that has come back to haunt his former sidekicks. The book opens up in the with Batman moving a file form the Batcomputer to a USB as Dick Grayson, Robin sees him. The book then jumps to present day as current super spy of Spyral, Dick Grayson is back home in Gotham on a mission where he calls in an assist form Red Hood And Red Robin to deal with a technologically advance criminal that has caught his attention. After defeating the criminal Dick heads to the reopening of the Gotham State University Tower of Enlightenment only for the mission to go south incredibly fast as a mysterious villain called Mother has a group of kids and his Spyral partner of the mission Poppy Ashemore attack him. Once Dick begins to head back to the Batcave he is intercepted by a mysterious girl that has the USB that Batman had at the beginning of the book which contains Batman's confession and a list of names including those of the former Robins as a mysterious assassin is attacking Harper Row which Dick lucky sees. Once all of the young heroes meet back up in the Batcave and put their full attention on finding the person name Mother and what it she has to do with what Batman did several years ago while Dick was still Robin. Overall this was a great book as it tells a very Batman centric event that brings Batman's former sidekicks to the forefront that tests their relationships between one another as well as they relationship to Batman due to what comes to light in the duration of the book. Using Dick Grayson as the main point of view character is great as it allows for readers who have not been up to date with what is happening in the pages of the other Batman related books at the time due to Dick's absence. Additionally having Dick as the point of view character allows for some great timed flashbacks to Dicks time as Robin that help to further the story and give more information into what happened years prior. The art throughout the book is good as each style works extremely well for the different aspects of the story with some great bits of visual comedy and quite impressive moments that makes the book look great. While the changing art styles don't feel disjointed in the slightest and the styles are not radically different that it takes you out of the story. 8.5/10.

Arrival Film Review

Finished watching Arrival, directed by Denis Villeneuve and staring Amy Adams, Forest Whitaker, Jeremy Renner, Jadyn Malone, Abigail Pniowsky and Julia Scarlett Dan. The film opens up with linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) entering work and as she prepares for a lecture the students in the room say to turn the television on where the news of strange alien ships named shell have appeared in several different locations on Earth. After failing to make any headway in communicating with the aliens army colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) meets with Louise in hope that she can find a way to communicate with the aliens. Later that night when the American army picks Louise up from outside of her home see meets with her new coworker Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) who helps Louise to communicate with the Aliens. Overall this was a great film as it shows how the world would deal with the appearance of aliens in an intriguing way with how everyone having a different view on the experience, with the way language plays a part is also very interesting. The flashes with Louise and her daughter Hannah (Jadyn Malone, Abigail Pniowsky and Julia Scarlett Dan) is emotionally driven and the reveal of their placement in the context of the film timeline makes the scenes even more emotional. The aliens designs and the rest rest of the CGI is rendered on to the film extremely well as nothing feels out of place, while the full reveal of aliens towards the end of the film is simply astonishing. 8/10.

Gotham By Midnight: Rest in Peace Review

Finished reading Gotham By Midnight: Rest in Peace, after the lost of one of their own the Midnight Shift of Gotham's 13th precinct are not only still trying to stop any supernatural threats on the city but also trying to deal with the police department's internal affairs from closing the precinct down. The book opens up with current Batman, Jim Gordon coming to Jim Corrigan asking for the help of his team as a strange supernatural threat is reanimating corpses that were caught in a blast. The book then continues with the funeral of Sister Justine as the Midnight Shift pay their respects to there fallen colleague when detectives Jim Corrigan and Lisa Drake are called to the Powers Corporation to deal with a ghost haunting the development of a new product that is expected launch in a matter of days. The book then continues with the team dealing with a group of appearing dead at their own homes while at Gotham police department internal affairs are beginning to file a report in the activities of the Midnight Shift as a warrant for detectives Corrigan and Drake arrests and to search the 13th Precent. There is an additional story in the book with detectives Corrigan and Drake trying to arrest Gentleman Ghost after he puts a woman in the hospital while trying to steal a piece of jewellery at is later revealing to be very sentimental value to him. Overall this was an amazing book as writer Ray Fawkes concludes the series with internal affairs caching up to the Midnight Shift which make for some great character interactions and even some development for Corrigan and his team. While the supernatural and horror element of the book continues to look amazing. The Gentleman Ghost story was great as it brings an interesting layer to the character while the art by Christian Duce does a great job in redesigning Gentleman Ghost to fit the more horror feel to the book. The artwork by artist Juan Ferreyra is gruesome and amazing at the same time as the designs of the supernatural creatures fit it to the style of the book perfectly. Additionally there's is a car chase scene toward the end of the book that Juan Ferreyra draws which feels like a scene ripped straight of a movie. 9/10.

Starfire: Welcome Home Review

Finished reading Starfire: Welcome Home, writers Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti bring a new series featuring renowned Teen Titan Starfire, who has left her previous team the Outlaws in hope to start a new life on her adopted planet. The book opens up with Starfire asking advice from members of the superhero community on where she could begin a new life for herself. With the help of Superman Starfire decides to make Key West in Florida her new home with her first stop being at the local police station where she quickly befriends the local sheriff, Stella Gomez who helps to find Starfire a place to live at a nearby trailer park. Not long after Starfire moves into her new home a large hurricane starts heading towards the island and with the help of Stella the two try to save the residents from the first of many situation Starfire encounters in her new home. Overall this was a good book as it brings the character of Starfire into the forefront of her own series and works greatly with writers Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti having a fish out of water take on the book which brings a nice amount of comedic moments which also benefits form how alien Starfire is to the world. With Starfire's story being primarily base on trying to fit into a more normal life on Earth it allows to book to have room to develop the supporting cast members of the book which helps to make each one as interesting with a nice amount of detail being put in making these people more than just simple background characters. The artwork by Emanuela Lupacchino brings the tropical location to life extremely well with it feel with the colouring of the book helping to bring it to life with a lot of bright and lighter tone colours. While the art also does a nice job in capturing the emotions and expressions of the characters very well. 7/10.

The Accountant Film Review

Finished watching The Accountant directed by Gavin O'Connor and staring Ben Affleck, J. K. Simmons, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Anna Kendrick and John Bernthal. The film opens up with accountant Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) being at a the centre of an investigation that director of the Treasury Department Raymond King (J. K. Simmons) has analysis Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) blackmailed into finding out the who Christian is. As this is happening in the background of the film Christian has be given a job for robotics company who's own accountant, Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick) has discover that a sum of money is unaccounted for. When Christian discovers that there is a large amount of money missing a hired assassin (John Bernthal) begins to kill the people who know about the missing money with a hit being but on Christian's head as well. Overall this was a great film as it the action is great with the hand to hand combat of within the film being choreographed greatly with the other scenes leave an edge of you seat with the amount of suspense the film has throughout. There is a great amount of character interaction between Christian and the rest of the cast he interacts with works perfectly for the character's development and allows the film to show flashbacks of Christian's life. The eventual meeting between Christian and John Bernthal's character is one of the most emotionally driven scenes within the film thanks to the history the two characters discover to have. 8/10.

Grayson: Nemesis Review

Finished reading Grayson: Nemesis, continuing Dick Grayson's adventures as an agent of the spy organisation Spyral, writers Tim Seeley and Tom King takes Dick back home to see his friends since the events of Forever Evil, but first he must find someone killing spies while using Dick's own face. The book opens up with Dick Grayson on a mission with is new partner at Spyral Tiger as the two try to save Hal Jordan, Green Lantern's nephew for a hostage situation. The next story opens with Dick and Tiger infuriating a party in Madrid as a duchess attending the party is in possession of a necklace with a Kryptonite crystal, as the two have been tasked to steal the crystal for Lex Luthor. While at Spyral news has come through that Dick is being set up as a doppelgänger is running about killing other spies. The last part of the book sees Dick returning home to Gotham to meet with the his friends in the Bat family with an additional story where Dick teams up with the slightly depowered Superman as the two come face to face with the first villain they fought together against, Blockbuster. Overall this was a great book as it continues the series greatly as writers Tim Seeley and Tom King do a great job in the different character interactions and showing how Dick's life as a spy is beginning to take its toll on him. The fight against Dick's doppelgänger is great as it's executed extremely well by artist Mikel Janín while also being written greatly as the doppelgänger deconstructs Dick as a person during the fight. The later part of the book where Dick meets with the rest of the Batman family of characters and Superman is great and its not for being the first time Dick has seen these characters since the end of Forever Evil where only Batman knew he was alive and undercover. These interactions also bring a great amount of emotion that has been put into these scenes and how the art also accompanies them helps to give a stronger effect to the story. 8/10.

Batman: Superheavy Review

Finished reading Batman: Superheavy, dealing with the consequences of the Endgame story arc the creative team Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo continue their run on the series as former police commissioner Jim Gordon takes up the mantle of Batman after his predecessor was lose in the fight with the Joker. The book opens up two months after the event of Endgame with Gotham morning the lost of Batman, the CEO of Powers International, Geri Powers has created he own Batman initiative to hopefully fill the void left by the original. With former police commissioner Jim Gordon being her top candidate. After Gordon's first couple of mission ps he discovers that someone has been superpowers to gang members that Gordon has previously arrested during his time of the police force leads him to Bruce Wayne in hope he might have an idea since Wayne Industries develop most of the technology for the new Batman before Powers took over the company. Without Bruce's help Gordon decides to go rogue with the help of Julia, Alfred's daughter for the Batman Eternal series who knows the original Batman and is currently working with Gordon as the two try to find the new mysterious villain Mr Bloom. There is an additional towards the end of the book set just after the events of Zero Year as Bruce Wayne Batman finds himself on the case of the mysterious death of teenager Peter Duggio. Overall this was a great book as writer Scott Snyder with a different and interesting direction with Jim Gordon being the new Batman that give a different prospective on the world of superheroes thanks to his history in the police and the military. The reintroduction of Bruce Wayne is really impactful as this version of Bruce who has been healed completely has a much more brighter look on life with a girlfriend which still helping the people of Gotham in his own way, which sets the inevitable return of Bruce as Batman to be a very emotional scene. The flashback story is great as it does feel incredibly out of place as it does tie into the main story of the book by showing that Mr Bloom has been about earlier without anyone knowing while also set seeds of a revolution at the end of the book. The artwork throughout the book is great as artist Greg Capullo continues to deliver on the series, from the monstrous designs of the villains to the highly intense action. While Jock's artwork for the flashback story gives a noir feel to it that works perfectly what writer Scott Snyder and the story's cowriter Brian Azzarello have written. 8/10.

Doctor Strange Film Review

Finished watching Doctor Strange, directed by Scott Derrickson and staring Mads Mikkelsen, Tilda Swinton, Benedict Cumberbatch and Rachel McAdams. The film opens up with the villain Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) braking into the library of the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) to steal pages from a book that contains the ritual that would put the world in immense danger. The film than transitions over to New York were Doctor Steven Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) asks his colleague Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) to go out with him that night as he's doing a speech. However on the way Strange getting into a car crash that severely damages his hands that leads him to constantly paying for treatment to get his hands back the way they use to be. With everything failing Strange's last hope takes him to Nepal where he meets the Ancient One and begins to train within art of the magic in hope to mead his hands. Overall this was an amazing film as it introduces the magical side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe very nicely while still being attached to the rest of the universe as well. There is a great amount of character interactions thanks to Marvel's type of comedy that helps to make characters like the Ancient One see more human and relatable. While there is also a nice amount of development for most of the characters with in the film which bring about some powerful moments and while the villain of the piece is extremely one dimensional it does help to build the future of Marvel's films for later on. Additionally the visuals of the film works extremely well with the characters for the multiple dimensions that look jaw dropping amazing to the magic that is use in the fight scenes fit organically to the fight choreography of the actors and the stunt team. 9/10.

Justice League: The Darksied War Review

Finished reading Justice League: The Darksied War, this is the beginning of the end of DC comics' New 52 Justice League series as writer Geoff Johns begins the Darksied War storyline. The book opens up with the origin of new villain Grail, and the half Amazonian daughter of Darksied. With her birth happening on the other side of Paradise Island. The next part of the book follows the New God Metron around the multiverse breaking his vow of not interfering to tell the Anti-Monitor the his upcoming war against Darksied could have devastating consequences on the fabric of reality where it might not be able to come back from. The main story begins with Darksied's head assassin Kanto join by Lashina finding woman named Myrina Black and killing anyone with the name. The murders quickly gain the attention of the Justice League due to energy from a Mother Box being at each crime scene. Meanwhile on Apokolips Mister Miracle discovers that Darksied has been readying his army for another attack on Earth. But before Mister Miracle can warn the Justice League of any danger he finds himself face to face with the Myrina Black that Kano has been looking for which leaves Justice to face the threat of the Anti-Monitor and Grail on their own.

Overall this was a great book as writer Geoff John's lays out the ground work for an extremely interesting story that doesn't hold anything back when it gets going with the book ending on a cliffhanger that instantly leaves you asking for more. The use of Wonder Woman and Mister Miracle being the point of view characters of the book is great as it allows for Darksied's rule to be viewed by someone who has lived through it thanks to Mister Miracle's narration. While the main events taking place on Earth are shown for Wonder Woman's perspective which works extremely well in the book as it helps to show how the events effect the character which also giving more insight to Winder character and history as well. Artist Jason Fabok artwork is in the book is amazing as it does a great job in showing the scale of the fight scenes between Darksied and the Anti-Monitor along with the amount of the details show within the location and settings in the book. While the artwork use in the Metron story work extremely well as the changing art styles for different scenes works well for this story as each style working well for each universe that Metron visits. 8.5/10.