Jedi Reads #004 - Joker

Jedi Reads - Joker by Brian Azzarello & Lee Bermejo (art)

I picked this up because of two things - Brian Azzarello and the cover. (Come on. The cover man. Why won't any self respecting Batman fan won't pick it up?)

The graphic novel hit the stands not long after The Dark Knight was shown, in 2008, and some might point out the similarities on how Glasgow smile on Bermejo's drawings is similar to Heath Ledger's Joker in the movie but it is purely coincidental. And unlike Ledger's portrayal of the Joker on screen, Bermejo's Joker is much more sadistic in doing things - he went as far as flaying one of his traitors, alive.

The story primarily revolves around a small time bum, Johnny Frost who joined Joker's crew which he tries to rebuild after being released from Arkham Asylum. Instead of getting into The Joker's head, Azzarello puts us in Johnny's head, and witness Joker's antics first hand. Sometimes it is more like a documentary on Joker as told from Johnny's perspective. Refreshing. I like.

Not much on the Batman but I'm sure Bats' fans would not be disappointed with the book.

Grabbed it around RM70 at Borders, and I think the price went down a bit. It is almost a four year book by now. I would not recommend this to fresh readers but to those who wants to read more about the character, please do, pick it up. You won't regret it.

Not the best Batman book I've read (that title goes to Batman: Year One) but it is definitely a fresh take on the Joker and his relationship with Batman (towards the end of the book).

Lowdown:

Story - 7 (out of ten)

Art - 8

Pace - 6

Entertainment value - 7

Final score - 7

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12:11 AM | 0 comments

Jedi Reads #003 The New 52 - Batman #1

I have a confession to make - I have NOT read any of DC's New 52 #1 titles...until I got hold of Batman #1 today.

Those who have known me would know that my favorite hero is NOT Iron Man (despite having a softspot for any stuff Iron Man) but instead, the caped crusader - Batman.

So here's the thing. DC relaunched almost all (if not ALL) of their titles, and everything returns to #1 and there are four titles specifically focusing on Batman; Batman, Detective Comics, Batman & Robin and Batman: The Dark Knight.

And I dare not talk about other spinoff titles - Catwoman, Batgirl, Batwoman etc. Too much side story man! I wanna follow ONE particular title.

So back to Batman - Four titles. So which one to follow? Heck I'm not gonna read through each and one of them and make a verdict- I have a day job, you know.

Conveniently saw a mint copy of Batman #1 selling at RM 10.50 at Kinokuniya today so i picked it up. Reviews on the title has been generally very positive - So why not?

Sidenote: I have never been an avid follower of Batman titles before. I only picked up graphic novels and trade paperbacks. My favorites are The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One, both by Frank Miller.

Those who got confused about who's wearing the cowl, and who is carrying the name of Robin are in for a treat - There's ONE Batman- Bruce Wayne, and all three Robins exist at the same time. Yep. You have Dick Grayson, Tim Drake and Damian Wayne all chummy sharing the same page. I dont know where is Jason Todd though.....

Note how they presented each character and little sidenotes explaining their current status in the Batman universe.

The pacing is good right from the start - Batman is in Arkham Asylum facing these ugly sons of bitches ....

How it turned out...heck. Go read it yourself. I'll only tell Batman gets an unexpected help from someone who turned out to be someone else.

Readers will get a good look at Bruce Wayne's philanthropist ways in changing Gotham (it has a Bruce Wayne from Batman Begins and a Tony Stark-ish feel in Iron Man 2) into a better city. Art wise, I personally like how Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion drew Batman. Not too dark, nor too cartoony. Looks how Batman should look like, without sacrificing the comic-y look- large jaw, cold eyes etc.

After reading other reviews, several websites tagged Batman as the best Batman title among DC's New 52. Do I agree? I'm not in position to say. But did I enjoyed Batman #1 to make me wanna pick up Batman #2? YES. Reprints of Batman #1 should be available in all good bookstores. Kinokuniya's got some.

Story - 8 (out of ten)

Art - 8

Pace - 8

Entertainment value - 7 (still very early but good pace to get readers into the know of the series)

Final score - 8

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6:43 AM | 1 comments

Jedi Reads #002 - Invincible Iron Man

Jedi Reads #2 is here! Sorry for the delay because.....well...I have a dayjob!

So here is it. Invincible Iron Man from Marvel comics.

The Eisner Award Winning book is written by Matt Fraction and is drawn by Salvador Larroca tells of a modern, more relatable story of well- Iron Man a.k.a Industrial billionaire Tony Stark.

Since he took over in June 2008, big old red and gold shellhead storyline has taken a much more modern twist with real-life issues, and reference to pop-culture.

It has got five main story arcs to date, most reent, a tie-in to Fear itself.

The other four are

1. The Five Nightmares.

The story picks up just after Civil War. Captain America is dead. Tony Stark is the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. He's still wearing his "extremis" armor and his main nemesis, Ezekiel Stane is trying to destroy Stark Industries with his own fabricated ARC reactor. One of the attacks almost killed Tony's assistant, Pepper Potts who had an ARC reactor mounted on her in order to stay alive.

2. World's Most Wanted

After fending off Ezekiel Stane, and also the Skrull invasion (overlapping from Secret Invasion arc), in which all Stark tech failed after being infected by an alien virus, Tony Stark is no more Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and now considered a pariah for his failure to stop the attack. Due to some wicked twist of fate, the new director is Norman Osborne a.k.a Green Goblin a.k.a Iron Patriot who renamed S.H.I.E.L.D as 'H.A.M.M.E.R'. He demanded for the data of the Superhuman Registration Act, in which the only copy is in Tony Stark's head. With his company in ruins, Tony installed Potts as the new C.E.O. In order to keep the data ensuring the safety of the secret identities of almost every known superhuman in the Marvel universe, Stark goes on the run, and in that, tries to wipe his mind clean of all information that cannot fall into Osborne's hands.

3. Stark Disassembled

After getting a major ass whopping by Osborne, Tony Stark is brain dead and now, has lost all his memory - including all the sensitive information he tried to hide from Osborne. Now in vegetative state, one of his last instructions to Maria Hill was to relay a message to Captain America - instructions on how to 'reboot' him once his memory is wiped out. However, the reboot and recovery of all of his memory and personality is traced only up to pre-Civil War meaning he has NO recollection of his fight with Captain America, all the superhero information and what he has done during the "World's Most Wanted" arc.

4. Stark Resilient

Picking up the pieces, Tony Stark tried to come to terms with everyone and fix whatever bridges he burned post Civil War. Starting up a new company named 'Stark Resilient', Tony announced that he is pulling out of the weapons business and will now concentrate on focusing on the energy race - using his ARC reactor as the base. As proof to this, he plans to build an ARC reactor-powered racing car but was sabotaged by a mole planted by Justin Hammer's daughter and granddaughter. Hammer now takes over as the main contractor for the military and introduced 'Detroit Steel' - an all-terrain battle armor. Losing all his memory and also now armor-less, Tony, with the help of Reed Richards built a new, much more streamlined and organic suit dubbed the 'Bleeding Edge'.

From here on, it hooks up with 'Fear Itself' and renumbered itself starting from #500. (current issue is #507)

Brilliant life-like art and a real-life + flowing dialogue makes Invincible Iron Man a good & enjoyable read. I noticed Fraction modelled Stark to look and act more like Robert Downey Jr more towards the third arc and yeah - if you enjoyed Iron Man and Iron Man 2, you'll enjoy Invincible Iron Man. The thought process is another stand out, putting you right behind the helmet of the Iron Man armor - and justifies almost all of Tony Stark decisions throughout.

Another highly recommended comic to pick up.

Story - 8 (out of ten)

Art - 9

Pace - 7

Entertainment value - 9

Final score - 8

Yeh, that's the Bleeding Edge armor.

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4:00 PM | 0 comments

In-Ger-Land! In-Ger-Land! Why In-Ger-Land wont win the World Cup?

Picked this up for RM 8.00 at the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale.

Whatever written on the cover explains what it is all about really.....

So In-Ger-Land qualified for Euro 2012. Who cares - they won't win it anyway!

Weekend read it is - reviews coming up!

OK. No point posting a new entry for review- so here is it for the book mentioned above -

England - either you're a fan, or you're a person who would just love to see the team crash and burn (despite some of the players from your favorite club plays international football for them).

I'm of the latter.

I enjoy seeing England scrape through qualifiers, then listen to their fans proclaiming "We will win it this time!" (then again, being a Liverpool fan, I utter that often too!) before watching them crash and burn spectacularly in tournaments.

So what about the book? Without giving away what sort of arguments thrown in explaining the title, lets put it this way - if you, like me, is a person who absolutely LOVE seeing Rooney getting a red, or them overpaid football stars/ divas under perform in the international stage, this one's a keeper.

Otherwise, you'd be wasting your hard-earned money...then again, it's selling for only RM 8.00 at the book sale, so why not eh?

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8:10 PM | 0 comments

Jedi Reads #001 - Y: The Last Man

This will be a weekly entry, where i will talk about at least one graphic novel / comic title worth picking up. Hopefully first of many.

So what better to start this series with one of my favorite series eh?

Written by one of the dudes behind 'Lost', Brian K Vaughan, Y: The Last Man tells the story of a lone English Major, aspiring magician and motormouth, Yorick Brown who found himself to be the only surviving male after a 'gendercide' killed all organisms with a Y chromosome on Earth.

Heck most of you pervs out there might think - hey! Open Buffet!

But its a totally different scenario for Yorick, who for his own personal reasons (well you'll have to read it yourself to find out what it is, right?) decides to remain honest to one girl and embarked on an adventure that sees him come across male hating Amazons, ex-cons, astronauts, mafias, Yakuzas, and the Israeli army!

If you're heavy on dialogue, this is a definite must have. Spanning sixty issues, all divided into ten graphic novels, the Eisner Award - winning series (for Best Continuing Series) is riddled with pop-culture references, smart-ass lines, and would somehow make you root for Yorick and his pet monkey, Ampersand plus - wouldn't you wanna know what causes the gendercide?

I think Borders the Gardens have the full set, also the Curve one too.

Some snapshots from book 1

Story - 9 (out of ten)

Art - 8

Pace - 7

Entertainment value - 8

Final score - 8

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7:25 AM | 0 comments