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.
