Finished reading Arkham Manor, this book sees writer Gerry Duggan putting Batman undercover inside his own home that has now become the current residence of Arkham after the asylum was destroyed during the events of Batman Eternal. The book opens with the destruction of Arkham Asylum which leads to the Mayor of Gotham moving the former inmates to Wayne Manor which is retrofitted into the new Arkham after Batman blocks all of the manors entrances to the Batcave. While returning to his new apartment after stoping a mugging, Bruce Wayne receives news that something terrible has happened at the manor and when Batman discovers that an inmate has been murdered he goes back to the manor under the disguise of Jack Shaw to find out who's behind the killing and to try to stop them from killing again. Overall this was a great book as it puts Batman into a different situation from which he is typically in as he goes into Arkham undercover as a patient which brings across some interesting character interactions with how the inmates and the manor's staff are. The twist of a jokerized Clayface is great especially with how Batman and Mr Freeze team up to defeat the monster by throwing it into Freeze's cell which is the former freezer to the manor. Which brings some great interactions between to two while Freeze's position after is very funny as he begins to live outside of the manor during the cold winter weather as he builds an igloo and even appears to be barbecuing outside as well. The art accompanies the story incredibly well as Shawn Crystal's designs for characters like the killer and Clownface and the manor with its many rooms and even secret rooms are great especially with how the manor's killer uses the building to his advantage throughout the book. While Dave McCaig colours helps to bring an totally dark feel to the book thanks to the darker shades which work well for characters like the manor's killer and even for Batman himself. 8/10.
Finished watching The 5th Wave directed by J Blakeson and staring Chloë Grace Moretz, Matthew Zuk, Ron Livingston, Zackary Arthur, Maggie Siff, Liev Schreiber and Alex Roe. The film opens up with Cassie Sullivan (Chloë Grace Moretz) entering an abandoned gas station finding supplies when she shoots a wounded man (Matthew Zuk) in the back of the building after thing that he is pulling out a weapon. The film then flashes back to before the appearance of an alien ship over the Earth as the aliens named the Others by the world begin to invade through different waves that are destructive to the humans but the the planet itself. After surviving several of the aliens waves ranging from a large EMP across the world to a world wide earthquake where parts of the plant landmass become flooded, Cassie's father Oliver (Ron Livingston) and her brother Sammy (Zackary Arthur) leave their home and go to a local refuge camp after Cassie's mother Lisa (Maggie Siff) died from a disease that wiped out most of the human race. While at the camp a convoy of army trucks and school buses under the command of Colonel Vosch (Liev Schreiber) evacuate the children inside the camp to an army camp while the adults are gunned down in a building when a couple of parents start to panic due to being separated from their kids. As all of this is happening Cassie gets stuck on the grounds when trying to get Sammy's teddy leading to her to find her way to the Army camp. Overall this was a decent film as it dives into the struggles that the human race has with an alien invasion. The character journey of Cassie in the later part of the film with how she is heading to the the army camp to rescue her brother is very interesting in the lengths that she goes through to find Sammy. However the romance that Cassie makes with Evan Walker (Alex Roe) seems a little forced and almost comes out of the blue because Evans motives in helping Cassie seem a little too convenient for the plot. The story itself felt very predictable as a few of the plot points seemed very obvious especially the later half of the film as it plays on typical sci fi conventions. While the action scenes in the film are great especially the gun fights which are full of tension between each party that is involved.6/10.
Finished reading Superman/Wonder Woman: Casualties of War, this begins writer Peter J. Tomasi's run on the series as the two heroes come into conflict with a villain who blames them for not being able to save their own family when Darksied's attacked five years prior. The book opens up with a flashback to the first meeting between Superman and Wonder Woman during Darksied's attack. While in the present Clark Kent is finishing writing up a piece for one of the many people who were lost during the Crime Syndicates invasion in Forever Evil as Diana rushes him along so they don't run late for their date. While in New York Clark and Diana feel a large tremor coming from a local nuclear power plant where Atomic Skull and Major Disaster are attacking the place which leads to the appearance of a new superhuman calling himself Wonderstar who captures the villains as they try to flee from Superman and Wonder Woman. After another team up with Wonderstar, Superman and Wonder Woman discover Wonderstar's true motive as he revels himself as Magog who was given his powers by the Greek sorceress Circe. Overall this was a good book as it continues to further develop the relationship between Superman and Wonder Woman especially for Diana as she gains a lot of character development within the book that helps to strengthen her relationship with Clark. Magog's origin and motivation is incredibly interesting as he blames Superman and Wonder Woman for not being able to save his family from the army of Parademons that attacked Earth. While Circe's inclusion into the book is very intriguing with how her hatred for Wonder Woman's mother fuels her motivation in trying to get back at Hippolita through Diana. The art work is great as the fight scenes are choreographed extremely well. While the design of Circe's monsterous Ani-Men is great as they all have a werebeast look to them. 7.5/10.
Finished reading Batman Eternal: Volume 3, this concludes the series as Batman puts his full force into finding the one person behind the events that have transpired in Gotham throughout the series. The book opens with Batman fighting against the GCPD who have Lucius Fox with them taking over the controls of the Batmobile with Batman still inside. After dealing with the police Batman puts his full focus into finding the escapies of the fallen Asylum and the person responsible for the events that have transpired in Gotham. While Batman is occupied, Catwoman continues to solidify her role as the new kingpin of Gotham while Batwing deals with a group of ghosts from Arkham that have made his apartment their new home. As this is happening Red Hood, Red Robin, Batgirl and Harper Row with the costumed identity of Bluebird track down the villain using the nanobots that have infected Gotham's citizens including Harper's brother Cullen. As this is all happening Spoiler's life continues to get more complicated as she is captured by an assassin hired by her mother and even Catwoman who wants information out of her only to find her self setting up a home with Harper and Cullen after being taken form Catwoman's new club, the Egyptian. Overall this was a great book as it concludes the series on a brilliant note as each character gets their chance to shine as everyone's story comes to a close with characters like Red Hood and Spoiler having bittersweet endings to their stories. There are some comedic moments ranging from Jim Corragan coming out of a sewer tunnel after being stuck in Gotham's underground tunnels for two weeks and when he interrogates Professor Milo, to the many reactions of Julia and Harper to what's happening within the book. Even Batman has a great visual gag when he steals a jet from the Air Force after writing IOU on the runway. There are some great reveals within the book as the villain behind the nanobots infecting some of Gotham's citizens was very interesting while the final villain's late introduction is instantly backed up with a flashback that explains their involvement which is incredibly intriguing to how it fits into the whole story. The inclusion of the flash-forward story form the main Batman series set during the events of Eternal is a nice addition to the book as it helps to fill in the gaps of the Batman Eternal series while is also a great way to refimilarise with the story. 8/10.
Finished watching The Revenant, directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu and staring Domhnall Gleeson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Forrest Goodluck, Tom Hardy and Will Poulter. The film opens with a large group of hunters under the command of Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson) are forced to leave when Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck) notice a large group of Native Americans. Causing the group to lose most of their number as they flee the scene with the use of a small raft down the river. After getting enough distance away from the Natives the group burn the raft and continue home on foot in hoping to avoid any confrontation in the forest. While in the forest Hugh encounters a large bear, which attacks him leaving Hugh brutality injured leading to his son, John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) and Jim Bridger (Will Poulter) to watch over him while the rest of the group head home to get help. After a few days John gets annoyed for waiting around he kills Hawk due to being protective of his dad and buries Hugh alive and lies to Jim about a group of coming Natives. Overall this was a good film as Hugh's survival story is incredibly intriguing and captivating in how he builds up the willpower to crawl himself out of being buried by John. The action scenes are great as they are choreographed extremely well while a few of the scenes bring some edge of the seat moments with one such scene where Hugh is being chased by a group of Native Americans on horse back only for the film to take a surprising turn. The cinematography is great as its used to show the location thanks to some breathtaking imagery that helps to show the passing of time by the many shots of the changing faces of the moon. 7.5/10
Finished reading Superman- Action Comics: Under the Skin, dealing with the aftermath of being infected by the Doomsday virus as writer Greg Pak takes Superman back to his home town of Smallville. The book opens up with Clark Kent in Metropolis helping with the rebuilding of the city, while in Smallville Lana Lang and John Henry Irons are helping the towns people recover from Brainiac's attack two months prior. When a strange fog begins to cover Smallville, Superman finds out that he can't get home as the fog keeps teleporting him to the other side of the town. With the help of his friend Hiro, Superman is able to enter the fog saving Lana and John from a monstrous creature using a host to reanimate Lana's parents. After realising that he can't escape the fog Superman teams up with Lana and John, who has suited up as Steel to find the source of the strange goings on in Smallville. The next story has Superman in Bizarroworld when Doomsday appears leading to Bizarro to be infected by the same Doomsday virus that Superman was, creating Doomzarro. The final story set five years in the future where Superman has retired to Ethopia where he is helping to plant new crops in the country. While elsewhere three separate people begin to habit powers similar to that of Superman with a sand like being helping each of the individuals. Overall this is an amazing book as it focuses on the characters emotions and interactions brilliantly by diving into the backgrounds of Lana and Clark with how Lana and her family helped him when his parents died. While the addition of Steel helps to enforce Clarks and Lana's friendship as John and Lana's relationship is at the forefront of the book by showing John's determination in saving her. The Smallville story is brilliant as it plays with Clark's emotions and to a degree Lana's as the monster uses their dead parents after digging them out of the ground against them. While the horror theme of the story is supplemented by Wil Quintana's choice of monotone colours used on Aaron Kuder's artwork while the flashback scene helps to intensify this thanks to Jae Lee's design of the same monster Clark fought years prior but in a less powerful state. While the Bizarro story is very funny and the cartoonish style to the story helps capture the theme of Bizarroworld and it's ocapents. Additionally the future story written by Sholly Fosch helps to solidify the influence Superman has on the world and how he helps people with their lives by inspiring and pointing them into the right direction even though he does not believe in himself anymore. 9/10.
Finished reading Justice League United: The Infinitus Saga, this concludes writer Jeff Lemire's run on the series as the team join forces with the Legion of Super-heroes who have come back in time from the 31st century to prevent a universal catastrophe. The book opens up with a story set five years into the future as Equinox is saving a truck driver from Polargeist and a pack of cybernetic Polarbears when she gets a physic message from Martian Manhunter who is currently the warden of a large super prison on Mars. After meeting with the Justice League in New Mexico, the teams leader, Cyborg gathers the team together and head to Mars where they encounter a prison breakout being orchestrated by the now villainous Captain Atom. The second story of the book begins with the Legion of Super-heroes member Mon-El in the Justice League United's base fighting Martian Manhunter over the young Ultra who has become the god like being named Infinitus in the 31st century that the Legion has been unable to defeat as Infinitus makes his way to Earth in the future. While on the other side of the galaxy, the league's away team consisting of Green Arrow, Animal Man, StarGirl and Supergirl are tracking Hawkman's transmitter that has been activated, which leads them to confronting the Byth again who has manipulated Hawkman after the Nth metal in his body brought him back to life, in order to help Byth get Ultra back so he can become Infinitus. Overall this was a great book as it continues the overarching storyline of the series as the Legion of Superheroes team up with the Justice League United. The book itself has a lot of exposition within the Infinitus story as Brainiac 5 catches everyone up with what has happened to the Legion in the 31st century which helps to show the teams motive for coming back in time for Ultra. The art of the main story is great as it makes the scenes with both the Legion and the League on the same page feel less crowded as no character becomes lost in the background of the large fight scenes in space against Infinitus' forces. 8/10.
Finished watching The Hateful Eight, directed by Quentin Tarantino and staring Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, James Parks, Samuel L Jackson, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, Demián Bichir and Dana Gourrier. The film opens up with bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) and his prisoner Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) heading to Red Rock to collect his bounty. On the way to the town their carriage driver O.B. Jackson (James Parks) stops when he notices another bounty hunter, Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L Jackson) with three bodies hoping to get a ride with John and Daisy. While further on the road they come across the new sheriff of Red Rock Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins) as the group decided to take shelter at a local lodge to get away from the escalating snow storm. At the lodge the group are met by the local hangman Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth), cowboy Joe Gage (Michael Madsen), army veteran Sanford Smithers (Bruce Dern) and Bob (Demián Bichir), who is looking after the place for its owner Minnie (Dana Gourrier). Overall this was a great film as the character interactions throughout the film are great as they help to further develop characters backstory with Marquis' views and experience in the American Civil War and society helps to explore his backstory along with the history behind Sanford and Chris as well as the two have very strong views on the subject. While the relationships between the characters which are formed and shown throughout the film are great and the friendship between John and Marquis helps to further the story thanks to the distrust John has for everyone in the lodge due to having Daisy as his prisoner until he collects the bounty in Red Rock. While the friendship that Marquis and Chris have at the end of the film after having to unite on a common ground gives a satisfying ending to the film which leaves it on a slightly positive note. The use of the film being broken up into chapters is great as part way through the film Quentin Tarantino starts to narrate which helps to change the tone of the film a little by showcasing the different ideas that he went through while writing the story. 8/10.
Finished reading Constantine: The Apocalypse Road, this concludes DC comics New 52 Constantine series as writer Ray Fawkes takes John Constantine on an adventure on Earth 2. The book opens up with Earth 2 John Constantine celebrating his birthday with his friends and family while the main John finds himself surrounded by a group of Parademons only to be saved by the villainous Wotan, hoping that Constantine can save him from Earth 2 by transporting him to John's Earth. This however backfires leading to Constantine coming to the conclusion that there must be another version of him living on the same Earth. This causes John to head to his family house in Liverpool were he finds the Earth 2 version of himself and his family who happens to be alive. Overall this was a great book as it brings an end to the series on a great note as Constantine meets the Earth 2 version of himself and the loved ones he thought were long dead who are still alive on Earth 2. The internal narration and monologues of Constantine is great as it helps to display the emotions that go through Constantine's head while trying to save the Earth 2 version of his family. While the interactions between Constantine and the Earth 2 version of family and friends is great as it helps to develop John's character expessily when he ends up frozen as the building the group is in is attacked by a hoard of Parademons with Constantine being unable to decide what to do in the situation as the only decision he can come up with to get out of the situation is for him or his counterpart to be killed. The character designs from Jeremy Haun are great as the differences between Constantine and his Earth 2 are highlighted very well. While the destruction of Earth 2 caused by Apokolips and its forces is almost jaw dropping thanks to the shear scale of the destruction. 8/10.
Finished reading Earth 2: Worlds End: Volume 1, this spins out of the DC Comics New 52 Earth 2 series as writers Daniel H. Wilson, Marguerite Bennett and Mike Johnson continue of Earth 2 and its population as they deal with the final assault of Apokolips and its forces. The book opens with a recap of the history of Earth 2 of how the events of the Earth have lead the characters into the situations they find themselves in now. In Geneva Power Girl and Huntress find themselves back on their home as the two meet up with this worlds team of heroes when the fire pits on the planet start to become active leading to the four Furies of Apokolips to come through. The heroes then split up with Flash, Hawkgirl and Dr Fate heading to London to confront the Fury of Famine, Green Lantern flys to Rio after the Fury of Pestilence, and Queen Marella of Atlantis is met with an army of dead Atlanteans in the control of the Fury of Death, as the rest of the heroes temporary defeat the Fury of War in order to investigate the fire pit the Fury came from. As the team of Val-Zod Superman, Thomas Wayne Batman, Huntress, Power Girl and Red Tornado investigate the fire pit, Green lantern is called by the Green itself who tells him and Solomon Grundy that they must find the other Avatars of the Earth to help protect the world. While in Amazonia the World Army try to devise a plan to fight back against Apokolips itself with the assistance of Mister Miracle, Big Barda and Fury while on the ground Dick Grayson, his wife Barbara, their son and citizens in the Chicago refugee camp are faced with the problems the population of the world face during Apokolips' attack on Earth as they are eventually noticed by John Constantine who as found himself on a different world to his own. Overall this was a good book as it continues the overarching story that has been happening during the main Earth 2 series. The changing artwork within the book works surprisingly well as it changes to a different location with other characters of the story which helps to distinguish each part of the overarching story from each other. The action is great as the design of the action and fight scenes showcase each characters fighting skills with the heroes fighting against the hordes of Parademons and Superman clones while the choreography of the furies fighting style are stunning especially the Fury of War's as the art shows off the brutality in her fight against the heroes. The refugee camp story with Dick and Barbara Grayson is great as the focus on how the citizens of Earth 2 deal with the attack of Apokolips along with introducing alternative versions of well known characters into a different satous quo while the story featuring Mister Miracle, Big Bada and Fury is amazing as it further develops characters that have only small appearances before as Mister Miracle's journey through the book is one of the most captivating stories as the interactions he has between the World Army members, Fury and Darkseid are some of the best in the book. What lets the book down is the little bits of discontinuity like the name of Dick and Barbara Grayson son as it changes from Johnny at the beginning of the book to Tommy for the rest of the book. 7/10.
Finished watching Joy, directed by David O. Russell and staring Jennifer Lawrence, Diane Ladd, Virginia Madsen, Robert De Niro, Édgar Ramírez and Isabella Rossellini. The film opens up with Joy (Jennifer Lawrence) a divorced mother of two who has a hectic home life as she lives with her Grandmother, Mimi (Diane Ladd), her mother, Terri (Virginia Madsen) who lives in a downstairs room watching soap operas all day. When her father, Rudy (Robert De Niro) is dropped of by his latest wife after divorcing him causing Joy to set him up in the basement along with her ex-husband, Tony (Édgar Ramírez). Soon after Rudy finds himself a new girlfriend on the form of Trudy (Isabella Rossellini), invites Rudy's family to a boat ride on Trudy's boat where Joy accidentally drops a glass of red wine on the deck, leading to her to invent a self ringing mop after cutting herself on the glass while moping the deck. Overall this was a great film as it explores the difficulties of creating and selling a new product can be while adding some great drama within the story. The use of Mimi being the narrator of the film helps to make the story of the film feel like it's being told from a personal angle, while the addition of greatly placed flashbacks and flashfowards helps to enforce this thanks to the comments made about how things in Joy's life has transpired. There are some great character moments and development throughout the film as Joy's mother's character gets developed immensely as she goes from someone who's always crushes Joy's dreams to a person who helps to inspire her along with a more positive thinking to the world. While Joy's father, Rudy has some great comedic moments and also brings across some of the most tension filled scenes in the film. 8/10.
Finished reading Earth 2: The Kryptonian, continuing writer Tom Taylor's run on the series as the heroes of the world along with the World Army join forces in hoping to defeat Superman and the army of Parademons he brought from Apokolips. The book opens up with the remaining forces of the World Army retreating to Amazonia, the former home of the Amazons while an underground Space Ark containing high ranking officials and world leaders fails to escape from Superman when he destroys the ark above the planet. While back in Gotham the Heroes make contact with the World Army and Atlantis as Lois and Hawkgirl help Val learn to use his powers only to be noticed by a large group of Parademons lead by Superman who has come to kill Val only to be stopped by Lois' intervention, leading to Superman taking Lois to his parents in Smallville as the rest of the Parademons are being fought off by the return of the resurrected Green Lantern allowing the heroes time to flee to Amazonia. This helps to buy everyone time to come up with a plan to defeat Superman while he's with Lois at his parents house. The other story to feature in the book is set five years in the future as former Mr Terrific, Michael Holt ends up on the run after two versions of Terry Sloan changing the goggles one of them invented to make him appear to be from Earth 2 rather than from his native Earth. Overall this was a great book as it continues the series on very strongly by constantly developing characters like Val Zod and even Superman who's the villain of the story with the interactions between Martha and Jonathan Kent really showing the depth of how different Superman is. While the character development of Val is driven by great interactions between Lois and Jimmy as they help him develop as a character throughout the book. The artwork is stellar as artist Nicola Scott draws out some amazing fight scenes, while the scene with Val learning to fly with the help of Lois looks breathtaking which is enforced thanks to the rest of the art team. 8/10.
Finished reading Batman Eternal: Volume 2, this continues the series as Batman deals with the ongoing threats against Gotham while also dealing with the situation of Alfred being hospitalised after being attacked by Hush at Wayne Manor previously. The book opens up with Alfred's daughter Julia stumbling across the Batcave after being told how to enter it when her father was taken to the hospital after being attacked by Hush while Batman is tracking down the Architect who creates a man made earthquake that shakes Gotham leading to current police commissioner Jason Bard to enforce marshal law to the city after people start rioting in the streets. While all of this is happening Batman focuses on trying to find Hush after what he's done to Alfred as he appears to be the person orchestrating the events that have transpired in Gotham since the beginning of the series, Catwoman is contacted by her father Rex Calabrese from Blackgate offering her the chance to become the newest mob boss in Gotham after the war between Penguin and Carmine Falcone left a power vacuum within Gotham's criminal organisation. Also the story of Batwing and Jim Corrigan's fight against the resurrected Deacon Blackfire comes to a conclusion. Overall this was a good book as it continues the series by concluding some of the side stories the begun earlier in the series while setting the seeds for new ones. The characters of Julia Pennyworth and Stephanie Brown, Spoiler really shines through as Spoiler captures her father, Cluemaster and even goes toe to toe against Hush with help from Batman which helps to show off the characters skills and emotions when she's fighting her father. While Julia flourishes as a character as she fits in to her new role of Batman's support from the Batcave almost seamlessly while also bringing a few great comedic moments with how she reacts to different situations Batman is in. While the inclusion of Killer Croc in the book is great as in the little amount of time that he's in the book as the writers incredibly humanise Croc as he gets caught up in a firefight while looking for the young girl, Jade who he feels responsible for. 7.5/10.
Finished watching In The Heart Of The Sea directed by Ron Howard and staring Ben Whishaw, Brendan Gleeson, Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker and Tom Holland. The film opens up in 1850 with writer Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) meeting with the last surviving crew member of the whaling ship the Essex, Thomas Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson) in hope to get inspiration for his book, Moby Dick. The film then flashes back to 1820 where the Essex's first mate Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth) is told by his bosses that he will not be captaining the ship after being promised a captainship on his next voyage. Instead the inexperienced George Pollard (Benjamin Walker) is appointed captain as the Essex's crew is assembled which includes a young Thomas Nickerson (Tom Holland) as the crew set sail for the Atlantic. After not having much luck in the Atlantic the crew head over to the Pacific in hoping to find enough whale oil to fill their containers on the ship, however this inadvertently leads the crew to the monstrous white whale. Overall this was a great film as it dived into the true story that inspired Moby Dick while bringing great emotion to the way the story is told. The character interactions are great as each crew member has their chance to shine within the film while the scenes with the crew stranded in their lifeboats helps to bring over some of the most drama between the characters. While the emotional elements that come from the older Thomas works incredibly well within the film as it helps to make the story more personal with it being told by Thomas' point of view. The camerawork is great as the range of angles and shots help show the incredible amount of detail the prop, costume and makeup departments have made while the use of special effects helps to enforce this especially during the scenes with the whales which are breathtaking. 8.5/10.
