The Hellblazer: The Poison Truth Review

Finished reading The Hellblazer: The Poison Truth, beginning a new Constantine centric series as part of DC Rebirth as writer Simon Oliver brings Constantine back to England along with some of his classic supporting cast from his original Hellblazer days. The book opens with Constantine returning back to London after his time in New York with Constantine having to deal with the curse that was put on him years prior which lead to Constantine to leave the country. Once the curse is lifted thanks to the help of young psychic, Mercury, Swamp Thing appears in the greenhouse of John's friend Chas in hope for John to hold up is promise to help find the love of his life, Abigail Arcane who is currently the avatar of the rot and has gone missing. Which leads to Constantine taking Swamp Thing to meet with Mercury for help as he goes back to London to question why no one from the supernatural community has come to find him about what he did when he came back to London. Overall this was a decent book as it begins to set up a very interesting story going forth with the threat of a Djinn named Marid, with how Constantine finds out that he's coming for John while also making for a very intriguing influence on Swamp Thing's story within the book. While the introduction of Chas and Mercury into the main DC universe are a great addition to the book thanks to how well they play off Constantine thanks to the characters already having their relationship already established when they meet. The art throughout the book is pretty good as the supernatural elements of the book along the designs of the creatures that Mercury and Swamp Thing fight within the Rot look great. However what lets the art down is that it becomes inconsistent with how the different the art styles leads to some characters looking completely different to a very pages earlier within the book. 6.5/10.

Rules Don't Apply Film Review

Finished watching Rules Don't Apply, starring, director Warren Beatty, Alden Ehrenreich, Lily Collins and Annette Bening. The film opens with driver Frank Forbes (Alden Ehrenreich) being giving the job to pick up one of Howard Hughes (Warren Beatty) newest actress, Marla Mabrey (Lily Collins) and her mother (Annette Bening) at the airport before taking Marla to her new home. Frank soon becomes Marla's main driver which leads to the two to begin a friendship which develops over the course of the film while Frank soon finds himself having more of a prominent role within Howard's company. Overall this was a decent film as it brings to life the world of early nineteen sixties very well thanks to the film's aesthetic and the music used within it.mThe relationship between Frank and Marla is one of the greatest part of the film as the relationship feel very realistic thanks to how well the two actors work together. One of the things that lets the film down is the fact that some of the editing at the beginning of the film uses a lot of cuts between scenes without giving enough time between each of them. 6.5/10.

Harley Quinn: Die Laughing Review

Finished reading Harley Quinn: Die Laughing, restarting the series as part of DC Rebirth writers Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti continue their run with the character as Harley continues with her solo adventures with some even crazier situations. The book opens up with Harley and Poison Ivy at a local spa before Ivy heads back to Gotham. When Harley gets back home she reintroduces all of her supporting cast to the new additions of Jimm Salabim and Red Tool. Outside Harley and Red Tool soon discover that Coney Island has found itself in the middle of a zombie apocalypse when a shapeshifting alien inadvertently became part of the food chain as the alien disguised it self as a cow after crash landed in a farm. The next story sees Harley and the whole of Coney Island dealing with the aftermath of the zombie outbreak as Harley try to help the local Hot Dog vendor who's meat was contaminated. Soon after Harley and Bolly Quinn head over to India with the plan to bring an end to call centres that are conning people out of money. The final story of the book opens with Harley being rudely awakened in the middle of the night form a group of thefts dressed as Knights on horse back robing from a delivery van. With this seemingly being connected to other crimes going on in other part of the state of New York leading to police Chief Spoonsdale to ask for Harley's help as she goes undercover as part of a punk band along with Tony, Red Tool and Eggy to find the culprits. Overall this was a good book as it picks right up from the previous series seamlessly for readers while also being a good Jumping on point for new readers as the book begins with Harley introducing every one of her supporting. The premise and execution of each story is great as they bring a nice amount of comedic moments with how each character reacts to what is happening. Additionally there is a nice amount of hints and set ups to potential story that could happen later on in the series that look to be very interesting if revisited. The art throughout the book is great as each art style works for the story being told with the changing styles feeling very seamless between each other while the designs of the zombies at the beginning of the book to the punk band version of the characters bring some great visuals to the world that has be built. 7/10.

Suicide Squad: The Black Vault Review

Finished reading Suicide Squad: The Black Vault, restarting the series as part of DC Rebirth and to coincide with the release of the film writer Rob Williams brings the film's team roster to the forefront of the series. The book opens with Amanda Waller meeting with the President at the White House where he tries to call an end to the Suicide Squad after is many covert missions due to being unknown of their actions. This leads to Waller to bring up the counteroffer of bringing in Colonel Rick Flag onto the team to lead them and make sure there are less casualties. The main story of the book begins with Amanda Waller arriving at Belle Reve to prep the Squad that will lead to them dropping from space into an underwater prison in Siberia to retrieve an item of cosmic proportions. The rest of the book features a few small character stories centring around Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Katana and Harley Quinn. Overall this was a decent book as it takes a very much style over substance thanks to amazing artwork by Jim Lee for the main story with how the action and fight choreography is drawn is breathtakingly while the story itself is a little simplistic. The side stories that put the spotlight onto individual members of the Squad are great as its a nice way to give the character a nice amount of development an insight into their history, the only problem this has is that the stories feel separated for the main story. The art from rest of the art team in the character centric is great as each art style works extremely well for the character that is in the spotlight. 6/10.

The Fate of the Furious Film Review

Finished watching The Fate of the Furious, directed by F. Gary Grey and staring Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Charlize Theron, Dwayne Johnson, Terese Gibson, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel and Jason Statham. The film opens up with Dominic (Vin Diesel) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) on holiday in Cuba where Dom gets into a typical car chase that's has been a staple of the franchise. Soon after Dom comes into contact with Cipher (Charlize Theron) who seemingly blackmails Dom into work for her. Meanwhile Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) is meet by a government agent at his daughter's football game where his given a mission to retrieve a powerful EMP device with the help form Dom, Letty and the rest of the team consisting of Roman (Terese Gibson), Tej (Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges) and Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel). After retrieving the device Dom causes Luke to get caught as he takes the device to Cipher and cements the fact that he has betrayed his friends. Overall this was a good film as does a nice job in blending action and character moments very well thanks to how each character and actor work of one another and the action bringing to life some great visuals. The reason for Dom working with Cipher in the film leads to a great and very emotional revaluation by giving Dom a great amount of development with in the film and motive to to seemingly betray his friends, which also leads to a great scene with Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) towards the end of the film that is happening simultaneously with what's happening with the rest of the cast. 7/10.

Titans: The Return of Wally West Review

Finished reading Titans: The Return of Wally West, continuing for the events of Titans Hunt and picking up where DC Universe Rebirth ended writer Dan Abnett brings the former Kid Flash, Wally West back into the team that have just remembered their time with each other with some memories still missing due to Wally being gone for so long. The book opens with Wally at Nightwing's place in Gotham as Dick returns home and confront Wally for braking in, only for Dick to remember Wally when he makes contact as lightning for Wally's powers. After seeing their fellow teammate knocked to the ground the rest of the Titans attack Wally in thinking he's a threat. After Wally gets everyone of his old friends to remember him Wally catches the team up on where he's been as Lilith reads is mind when she inadvertently brings back classic Flash villain Abra Kadabra causing the team to head to Keystone City as Kadabra summons younger versions of the Titans who begin to attack the city as its revealed the Kadabra was the one who thrown Wally in to the time stream leading to everyone to forget him. Overall this was an amazing book as it cements the Titans and Wally West back into the DC universe thanks to how team feels more unified since reforming. The spotlight of the story does focus on Wally Wast with how he try's to readjust to how different the world is to how he remembers and the main antagonist of the book being Abra Kadabra, surprisingly and to the credit of the writing the book still makes time for other characters to have some great development and a nice amount of time to shine. The artwork by Brett Booth is amazing as it showcases each characters powers and abilities extremely well within the fight scene while also draw some great emotional moments within the book that are all brought to life thanks to the life with the help of the rest of the art team. 9/10.

Nightwing: Better Than Batman Review

Finished reading Nightwing: Better Than Batman, bringing Dick Grayson back into the role of Nightwing as writer Tim Seeley give Dick a new mission to bring an end to the Court of Owls organisation. The book opens with Dick Grayson finally returning home to Gotham after his time as a super spy for the organisation Spyral as Dick saids his goodbyes to his old coworkers before heading home to Gotham where he meets up with Batman and Damian as he makes his new mission to hopefully bring down the Court of Owls who have renamed themselves the Parliament of Owls. The book then continue with Nightwing doing jobs for the Owls to help consolidate their influence over the world, and while Dick is in Russia he meets with a new partner in the form of Raptor the the Owls have hired to work with Dick while the two decide to go behind the back of the Owls to find a way to bring an end to the organisation. The next story has Dick working with his old coworkers at Spyral in a bust up of a group of Owls in Sidney only to discover that they've were late as a member of the Kobra organisation has killed all the Owls in the building leading to Dick coming to the conclusion that Raptor has sold the information on the Owls to villainous organisation leading to a confrontation between the two. Overall this was a good book as it deals with the ramifications of Dick joining the Court of Owls at the end of the Robin War story which leads to him going on another round the world adventure with new character Raptor who has been hired work with Nightwing by the Owls. The introduction of new character Raptor is a great addition into Dick's life as not only does the two play of each other really well, the reveal of his true origin and the way that it links to Dick's family makes Raptor's motives more personal to Dick. The art by Javier Fernández is great as it brings to life some great character designs in the form of the set location form the multiple mazes and countries that are on display to some of the higher members of the Parliament of Owls with their clothing choices and even one member who becomes a monster in the middle of the book. While the addition of Yanick Paquette art at the beginning of the book works perfectly for the aesthetic of Gotham and the Batcave with colourist Nathan Fairbairn bring a nice choice of a brighter colour palette to Gotham which works for Nightwing's story. 7.5/10.

Going in Style Film Review

Finished watching Going in Style, directed by Zach Braff and staring Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Alan Arkin, Maria Dizza and Joey King. The film opens up with Joe Harding (Michael Caine) going to his local bank when it becomes the centre of a bank hist. When Joe goes to meet with his friends Willie (Morgan Freeman) and Albert (Alan Arkin) where they go to a meeting at their old work place where a spokesman for the factory saids that the company's pension scheme is to be scrapped and use to fund the company's change to move to different countries. This than gives Joe the idea and more of an initiative rob his own back especially when he gets an eviction letter from the bank to say that he has a month to make a payment for his mortgage before he's left homeless along with his daughter, Rachel (Maria Dizza) and granddaughter, Brooklyn (Joey King). Overall this was a good film as it brings to life a very intriguing hist story with a nice amount of character and comedic moments blended into the film. The interactions between the main cast are great as it's used to help it bring their friendship to the forefront of the film with it feeling like a real relationship thanks to how well the actors work together in bring the film to life. Which the the comedic moments that feel very organic with the timing from the actors and the way the film has been written to play off how the characters have been created. 7/10. 

Batman: Night of the Monster Men Review

Finished reading Batman: Night of the Monster Men, crossing over with the Batman, Nightwing and Detective Comics series as writer Steve Orlando takes the lead, along with current Batman writers Tom King, Tim Seeley and James Tynion IV cowriting  as Batman and his team of heroes are joined by Nightwing to help evacuate Gotham form a hurricane and something much more monstrous. The book opens with Batman, Nightwing, Batwoman evacuating Gotham due to an approaching hurricane with Spoiler and Orphan at a local park on higher ground than the city to keep people safe from any flooding while Clayface has split into multiple police officers to help with the evacuation. Only for an evacuated Gotham to find itself under attack by gigantic monsters leading the heroes to leap into action to protect their home city. Overall this was a great book as brings together the heroes currently in Gotham to help it's citizens while fighting giant monsters. There is a surprising amount of character development with how the characters are dealing with the recent events that recently transpired within the Batman related series. With one of the book's strengths being the fact that it doesn't dwell on previous events for too long, allowing for anyone wanting to read a book featuring Batman fighting giant monsters to easily jump into. The art throughout the book is amazing as the monsters designs feel like they have been ripped out of a supernatural horror story with a mix of classic giant movies in the blend as well. The additional use of the weather with an on coming hurricane allows for some great art with how there's a secondary threat to the heroes and citizens of Gotham. 8/10.

Batman: Detective Comics: Rise of the Batmen Review

Finished reading Batman: Detective Comics: Rise of the Batmen, writer James Tynion IV brings the classic series into DC Rebirth by putting the spotlight onto other heroes from Batman's supporting cast as they face an enemy that is very personal to Batman and Batwoman. The book opens with Batman finding Azrael severely beaten up by someone who looks a lot like Batman. This leads to Batman to meet with Batwoman where he receives his true identity to his cousin as Kate takes up Bruce's offer to train the newer heroes of Gotham. After recruiting the team which contains Red Robin, Spoiler, Orphan and a reformed Clayface, Batman finds himself in need of the new team when he's beated and captured by a military group called the Colony. After seeing this Batwoman calls her father in for help only for it to backfire when he reveals himself to be the leader of the Colony. Overall this was a great book as it brings together a group of Batman related characters who don't currently have their own series or part of a team are brought together by Batman to be trained by Batwoman so the newer heroes can defend themselves against any future threats. There is an amazing amount character interactions and development with the relationship between characters being very prominent throughout the book as Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown's relationship helps to show how the younger heroes deal with their life's as heroes while also building on the characters with Tim discovering that he's been offered a place at a top university making him think about his future. While the relationship between Batman and Batwoman is brought to the forefront with Kate's father being the antagonist not only effects her but Batman as well with Jacob being his uncle who has built a military group that is inspired and modelled after Batman. The art throughout the book is great as the amount of detail that has gone into it makes each page feel very cinematic which how well the action set pieces are drawn while colour palette for the flashbacks help to play on the emotions that are on play within the scenes with how the subject of death is brought to the forefront. 8.5/10.

Ghost in the Shell Review

Finished watching Ghost in the Shell, directed by Rupert Sanders and staring Scarlett Johansson, Peter Ferdinando, Tenkesi Kitano, Pilou Asbæk and Michael Pitt. The film opens with the creation of Major Mira Killian's (Scarlett Johansson) cybernetic body before the head of Hanka Robotics, Cutter (Peter Ferdinando), who is over looking the procedure gets her signed up within Section 9. A year later Killian is on a mission with Section 9 as a group of armed and cybernetic enhanced men storm a meeting when the robots surviving the attendees attack, causing Killian to jump into the building without the backup of her team. After reporting back to her boss Chief Daisuke Aramaki (Tenkesi Kitano), Killian and her parter, Batou (Pilou Asbæk) go to Hanka Robotics where Killian gets patched up before delving into the brain of one of the robots that we at the meeting to discover that a man named Kuze (Michael Pitt) is pulling the strings. Overall this was a good film as it brings the world of the Japanese manga/anime to life thanks to some amazing visuals of the effects used as part of the set designs and the city itself. The action scenes are great from the stunning CGI fight scenes to the hand to hand combat between characters are all excited extremely well. There is also a great amount of character interactions between Killan and other characters such as Batou and Kuze as the film dives into the working relationship between Killan and Batou with some great moments of levity and drama in places. While the few scenes that Killan and Kuze share help to develop both characters with how both characters background intertwine similarly. 7/10.

The Flash: Lightning Strikes Twice Review

Finished reading The Flash: Lightning Strikes Twice, beginning the newest Flash series as part of DC's Rebirth line as writer Joshua Williamson takes the reins as Flash deals with the return of his former protégée while gaining several more when a Speed Force storm hits many of Central City citizens. The book opens with Barry Allan at a crime scene similar to the one on the night of his own mother's death on the same night the original Wally Wast returns only this time the event of the story is told form Barry's point of view. The main story begins with a retelling the Flash's origin by introducing one of Barry's coworkers, Police Officer August Heart as Barry is working with him again on a new case before heading to meet with Iris and the younger Wally Wast. When news comes through of a nearby fire in an apartment building and an attack on a police escort by a group calling themselves the Black Hole, Barry races to save as many people he can but once he finally gets to the police escort he's almost to late to save August when he is suddenly hit by lightning and gains super speed just like the Flash. After discovering that August has powers Flash helps him deal with them by training to use them when they are both called into action when Iris is caught by a group of Black Hole members when a storm rages across Central City giving some of its citizens Speed Force powers. Overall this was a great book as it put Barry into a slightly different role as a mentor to multiple new speeders while also having to deal with new foes of the mysterious group calling themselves the Black Hole and a new villainous speeder called Godspeed who has appeared along with the new speeders. There are some great character interactions and development from Barry interactions with both Wally's and the rest of the new speeders. While new characters August Heart and Doctor Meena Dhawan not only get a nice amount of development but also have their own time to shine with they own sub story being told from their own perspective which help to dive more into how each character deals with their new powers. The art by Carmine Di Goandomenico is great as it brings each character's super speed to life extremely well while also delivering on the action scenes as well. While the addiction art throughout the rest of the book works with how they are place within the context of the book with the part as the different art styles bring a different angle to the overall story. 8.5/10.

Batman: I Am Gotham Review

Finished reading Batman: I Am Gotham, writer Tom King begins a new main Batman series as part of DC's Rebirth line as Batman finds himself facing a different predicament that he has face in so sort of firm before but not when it had been this close to home literally and figuratively. The book opens up with Batman's newest protégée, Duke Thomas coming to Wayne Manor for his first day while Batman is on the other side of Gotham fight the Calendar Man who is planning on releasing spores into the atmosphere, however when Batman stops the villain some spores are released leading to Gotham having a whole years worth of weather within the space of a week. The main story of the book opens with Batman taking to Commissioner Gordon when a passenger plane flying over is attacked by a rocket leading to Batman to try an prevent it for crash landing into the city by diverting it and only to survive due to the intervention on two new super powered people calling themselves Gotham and Gotham Girl who introduce themselves as the newest heroes of the city. Overall this was a great book as it begins a new series for Batman extremely well by giving him an intriguing situation to face which helps to bring out the more human side of the character and some classics antagonist's within the background of the book. The parallels between Batman and the new heroes of Gotham and Gotham Girl with how their origins and their initial believes on attempting to make Gotham a better which leads to some great interactions and even Batman questioning about his own life choices and how he became the person he is today. The artwork throughout the book is great and the main story's art by David Finch has some well crafted action scenes and the epilogue story art by Iran Reis captures the amount of emotion that Gotham Girl is going through extremely well. Additionally Mikel Janîn helps to design design a creepy need look and feel to the Calendar Man thanks to the story by writers Scott Snyder and Tom King. 8.5/10.