Category Archives: Comics

Beyond the Main Arc: Diving into BRZRKR Bloodlines Volume 1

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But wait, there’s more! In the opening of my BRZRKR Volume 3 review, I’d claimed that we’d reached the end of the BRZRKR comics, or more specifically, “AN end” as there was still a spinoff series and a novel left to explore in this gruesome series that seems to work as hard as possible to cover its pages in blood red ink.

We’re finally tackling that first volume in the spinoff: BRZRKR: Bloodlines Volume 1. A complaint I’d had at the end of the main series, was that I felt the story had lost some of what I originally liked about the series in the first place, getting to see our immortal hero, B, in exotic periods of history. It seems somebody was listening, or more likely that many others were in love with this same element, as this is the main conceit of the first volume of this spinoff.

Through the course of Bloodlines, we’re taken to two mythical places, Atlantis — let me just ring that alarm a little louder . . . ATLANTIS!!! — and a mythical desert kingdom called Olos. If Olos is from a real myth or legend, I couldn’t discover it with a brief google search. The shape of some of the pyramids present in panels of the city, and the gladiator style fighting pits, first led me to believe that perhaps the Olos were some desert dwelling parallel to the Aztecs, but looking at some of the ziggurats of ancient Mesopotamia, it seems more likely that this is the culture referenced.

Indeed one of the main plot points of the issue revolves around their queen, who was traded as a peace offering to the king of Olos by another desert tribe. A tattoo on the queen’s back depicts her tribe as vaguely Ancient Egyptian, and so Mesopotamia fits better with this data.

In any case, BRZRKR Bloodlines Volume 1 is essentially split right down the middle with a story taking place in each of these two settings. Poetry of Madness is the Atlantean adventure, while Fallen Empire takes place in the desert kingdom of Olos.

In both of these stories, I thought it clever how B is essentially the reason for the “loss” of these two mythical ancient civilizations. I was thrilled at the chance to explore a live and functioning Atlantis at the start of Poetry of Madness, and excited to see what the worldbuilding would look like and how it would interact with B’s story. Without spoiling too much, I’ll admit I was somewhat disappointed by the results, as it seems the Atlantis of the BRZRKR universe is more in line with the one found in H.P. Lovecraft’s mythos than Plato’s dialogues.

I still haven’t read much Lovecraft (or much Plato), but I am aware of his racial prejudices. I’m also aware of his influence on Speculative Fiction as one of the founders of the genre. A book like The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin expertly grapples with this dichotomy and calls out the bad while still managing to acknowledge the good. A Poetry of Madness — likely a reference to Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness now that I stop to think about it — is not all that skillful or deep. B’s inevitable slaughter of an eldritch horror does not really read like a condemnation of Lovecraft’s work if that is how it was meant to come across. It felt a bit more like something done for the sake of being ‘awesome’ without much further thought.

As such, some elements felt a bit off in today’s climate, like the depictions of some of the villainous characters, specifically the leader of the cultists. I’m not sure where the inspiration for these characters came from per se, but it seems like it could be easy to have just recycled them from an earlier era.

So, I guess Poetry of Madness wasn’t really my speed; however, I did enjoy Fallen Empire much more.

Its plot was more engaging, and B’s character has a bit more depth. Most of the BRZRKR comics so far seem focused on his immortality and status as a hero, but Fallen Empire reminds us that despite all of that he is still just a man — prone to weakness, gullibility, and revenge — and his immortality only means that there are heavy consequences for those who wrong him, and little consequence for him when he behaves badly.

I also felt the worldbuilding a bit more mysterious, with the introduction of a group of scribes with strange markings on their skin which inscribe chronicles on stone tablets in a cave . . .

I felt the tone returned to its more stoic roots as opposed to the sort of awkward attempts at humor forced into Poetry of Madness (referring to B’s obsession with ancient documents as ‘endless scrolling’ is genuinely funny but just felt completely out of place in the story).

One final thing, I may just be an idiot, but it wasn’t obvious to me in either piece what the ‘Bloodlines’ part of the title was in reference to. The POV for each story is from two women that knew him, however, he never sleeps with one of them (I think), and if a child is born from the second one, it’s never shown. Also the ‘rules’ of his curse seem to prevent any children surviving, even though the end of Volume 3 of the original series seems to change that, it would not have been in effect during these stories.

I’ll be curious to see if this is better revealed in BRZRKR Bloodlines Volume 2!

So Give ‘BRZRKR Bloodlines Volume 1’ a Read?

Yea, I’d say this one is worth the read. While I didn’t particularly enjoy the first story, A Poetry of Madness, I felt the second adventure in the desert kingdom of Olos, Fallen Empire, was able to keep the tone and feel we’re familiar with from previous BRZRKR comics, but give us another angle into B’s character, emphasizing his more human qualities.

In general, I found that much more enjoyable, and am still interested in finishing out the series.

That’s all I have for this week. What are your thoughts? Has anyone read this before? What did I miss? And why is it called Bloodlines?

Leave your thoughts in the comments. Looking forward to talking about this one!

A Satisfying Conclusion? A Review of BRZRKR Volume 3

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We’ve reached the end! Well we’ve reached AN end. There is, of course, still the Bloodlines spin-off comic (2 vol?), and The Book of Elsewhere (the whole reason we’re in this to begin with lol), but Volume 3 presents the close of one major arc and so I think we can feel a just a little accomplished at completing one part of the journey.

Without getting too much into spoilers, I’ll say that I felt this end was a bit wonky. The way in which the story sets up some potential future villains was very satisfying in a classic superhero comic book type way, but what’s going on with “good guys” at the end of the story is a bit more confusing, and I’ll admit, I feel like I may have lost the plot a bit.

I’d say where Volume 3 distinguishes itself from the other volumes I’ve read so far (check out my reviews of BRZRKR Volume One and BRZRKR Volume 2) is in its use of a bit more color. There is still plenty of red ink, but with some depictions of a “higher plane of existence” in the beginning, and some god-like shows of power during — and leading up to — the fight with the final baddie, Volume 3 isn’t quite as monochromatic as the previous iterations.

There’s a panel in the first couple of pages in which B sorta “touches the face of god” so to speak and I think we’re meant to feel as if the very essence of his being is somehow being pulled apart, stretching to its absolute limit. I just adored this panel because of how chaotic it appears and yet there is also an obvious and painstaking level of craftsmanship in its detail.

Aside from just a general kind of confusion about what was going on, I think my only real critique lies in the kind of onomatopoeia used in many of the panels. At many points in the story, characters are kind of brimming with power and making guttural noises to express the strain of it. In every case, I feel like they probably sounded good in the mind, but would sound pretty laughable if read aloud.

I understand that these types of “sounds” are a staple of the comic book genre, and my critique is little different than the shade which has been thrown at “POW”, “BOOM”, and “WHAM” since time immemorial. However, it seemed to me that an infinitely powerful being destroying a corrupt military compound could sound a little better than: “GRRRR . . . GRAAAHH . . . GRAHHRR!”

Diana really comes into her own in this volume, which was a delight to see as she’s been kind of relegated to a pseudo-narrator up until this point. I’m certainly curious to see how she might progress. I’m not sure if — or how — we might see her again though given that the story is finished.

Finally, I’ve mentioned that the real fun of these pieces is seeing B in previous historical contexts. This element is more or less missing from the finale. The sort of prehistoric setting returns here and there, but gone are the scenes of B in some exotic ancient location like ancient Greece or medieval Japan. It makes sense from a story perspective that they wouldn’t focus on that, however, it was the part I liked best.

Give BRZRKR Volume 3 a Read?

I think it’s worth reading at the very least to close out the story and get answers to the questions we’ve been wondering about since the beginning of the series. Volume 3 may not have quite the philosophical depth as Volume 2, but it certainly is an improvement upon Volume 1 in terms of its use of color and the craftsmanship of its artwork. Story wise, some parts were a bit hard to follow, and I wish we’d seen a few more historical periods before the close, but ultimately I’m feeling good about the ending, and interested in pursuing the spin-offs and still hype to read Book of Elsewhere when it’s time.

That’s all I have this week. Has anyone read this one yet? The rest of the series? What’s your favorite volume so far? Which villains are you most excited to see pop up in another BRZRKR story? What’s next for Diana?

Leave your thoughts in the comments! Looking forward to talking about this one!

Until next time . . .

On the Purpose of Violence: A “Philosophical” Review BRZRKR Volume 2

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I have to admit, when I first set out to begin this post, I had fuck-all to say. In my review of BRZRKR Volume One I had asked if Keanu Reeves’ comics debut was anything more than an excuse to spill red ink, and ultimately came to the conclusion that there was intrigue worth pursuing in the main character, but that if one was wholly opposed to the depiction of gratuitous violence on the page, there was no unique or captivating theme present that would justify pushing through (for the sake of ‘Literature’ so to speak).

BRZKR Volume 2 seems to reverse that polarity somewhat, though I only began to realize this upon the reflection inherent in the review process. Initial impressions were that this piece traded in the same stock as its predecessor: B has a mysterious and tragic existence, he kicks ass against impossible odds (and gets completely messed up while doing it), we get some flashbacks of B throughout history, a dark and nefarious cabal surrounds B seeking to exploit his power. A lot of blood and guts are spilled.

But as I considered what to write about this, I decided that there WAS more going on than I’d initially realized and that while the intrigue surrounding B seemed a bit less interesting in this volume, the broader story around him was beginning to grow in depth and meaning. Here’s what I mean:

The story opens with Diana (B’s doctor/psychiatrist/a thousand other things) at B’s home, in what seems like something of a half-hearted attempt at seduction. B is almost comical in his commitment to the ‘strong and silent’ type in this scene but Diana puts on a record and gets him talking, and he goes on something of a rant about how all songs — throughout humanity’s entire history — are about one thing.

For B, music’s only purpose is to bring people together to satisfy a “universal urge” for “it” (and then because B is tragic: “. . . or the loss of it”). When Diana suggests “it” might be love, B responds stoically that he doesn’t do that anymore. But given the panels we see about the women B is with losing their children, I might venture that “it” is more likely sex, or becomes so over time.

I don’t think the character work here is particularly interesting; stoic, jaded, and emotionally unavailable action heroes are more plentiful than grains of sand at the beach, but this inquiry into the purpose of music IS something the reader can sink their teeth into.

Personally, I disagree with B and think there is more to music than the joy of getting to smash, or the sorrow of no longer being able to. B himself almost has it when he muses how music brings people together — forms connections. But it is only half-formed since for B, there is only the one type of connection which matters.

This opening inquiry into the purpose of music is just a taste of the types of questions asked throughout the volume, which indeed seems to be centered around defining purpose (you may even say it is the volume’s . . . purpose lol). While wandering in the woods after surviving a helicopter crash, B questions his own purpose in one of the more interesting character moments for B as he carries one of his squad members with him, in essence saving the man despite how seemingly cheap life should be for B.

And finally, the true thematic work of this piece comes to the foreground as villain Caldwell discusses an artifact recovered on B’s last mission (the reason they had to trapse around in the woods). Caldwell has been tracking the progress of technology in relation to B’s movements and suggests that while death and destruction assuredly follow him wherever he goes, so does information. B remembers the knowledge and technological advancements of lost societies and so those cultures live on. Every place he visits, be brings with him every place he’s been and so cultures mix and humanity progresses technologically through a kind of cross pollination. Caldwell suggests this is B’s true purpose.

At this point, it is not unreasonable to see B as a metaphor or personification of the concept of war and Caldwell’s explanation of B’s purpose as a commentary for the true (and perhaps essential) purpose of war itself. It would be hard for me to believe that this comic is written as a justification for war, but I’m uncertain that it fully succeeds as a condemnation of it. The cost paid for eternal violence is focused around one person, the hero, and his unbearable burden; yet the disruption, pain and sorrow — in my opinion the true cost of war — for everyone in B’s path is more or less unexamined.

I’ve spent a lot of time discussing theme and some of the more weighty parts of this work, but I’d also like to point out that there are some things within these pages that are just enjoyable for their own sake, and not for what they state about the human condition. For me, the “fun” part of this series has always been B’s relationship with history and the glimpses of the past we see through his memory. B is shown in many recognizable eras, and I was pleased to see a few panels placing B in Ancient Egypt.

So, Give ‘BRZRKR Volume 2‘ a Read?

For this installment, I can more whole-heartedly commit to yes. I still have the same caveats (or perhaps trigger warnings) as BRZRKR Volume 1, but I think the added thematic work present in BRZRKR Volume 2 — surrounding the purpose of more abstract concepts such as music, and especially war — elevates this sequel above its first installment and generally makes all the blood, guts and violence more endurable.

That’s all I have for this week. Has anyone read this yet? What do you feel is the purpose of music? How about war? Leave your thoughts in the comments. Looking forward to discussing this one!

See you next time . . .

More than Gore? I Can’t Yet Tell – A Review of Keanu Reeve’s BRZRKR Vol 1.

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We’re back in the comic book realm this week, which I apparently haven’t visited since July of 2023 when I reviewed Age of Reptiles Ancient Egyptians Issue 2. Wow time is passing quickly.

In any case, BRZRKR caught my attention for several reasons, all of which are basically the same reason, which is that it has to do with KEANU REEVES!! A few months back, during #Blaugust, I posted that The Matrix was something of a formative experience for me and as such, Keanu Reeves is something of an important figure to me. Though I have not written about him (hardly at all) on the blog, I’ve watched a ton of his movies and enjoyed nearly every single one of them.

So I about near lost my mind when I saw he’d written a book with China Mieville, and that a series of related comics (this series lol) had already been out in the world since March of 2021!

I knew when I eventually read through the series, I’d be writing about it here, so I held off pursuing it because I wasn’t sure how much other Keanu content I wanted to work through as reference before jumping in. But then a few weeks ago, The Book of Elsewhere just “fell” into my cart at Target, and I knew then and there I just needed to run this gauntlet. There would always be more time to talk about Keanu on the blog later hahah.

While I had been abstaining from the series, I mostly managed to avoid spoilers, but I could not tune out other’s opinions completely and so when I finally picked up the comic I had an idea that it would be somewhat “R rated” mostly because of gore and violence.

It was way more brutal than I could have ever imagined.

I had thought PRIMAL and Age of Reptiles were vicious experiences. I had thought Warren Ellis’ take on Moon Knight was too violent . . . These stories would cringe and turn away at the violence on offer in BRZRKR.

I’ll admit that I found myself mostly skimming these ultra-violent scenes, not because I’m particularly squeamish, but because they can often become monotonous rather quickly. I was far more interested in the main character’s inner battle, revealed in layers through a kind of “voice over” in which he is interviewed by some kind of doctor or psychiatrist.

The main character, known as B, is seemingly immortal and has existed since man’s earliest days (strong Conan The Barbarian vibes during this part of story). We are slowly given more and more of his backstory, but even so, B’s god-like status lends him a kind of mystique reminiscent of the main character in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. He is quite compelling.

It seems likely I’ll continue the series and I will be doing so mostly because of this character, B, in who we can see the goal of many stories — immortality — as an unending burden and real tragedy.

Give ‘BRZRKR Volume 1‘ a Read?

I would say yes? But with the HUGE caveat that if you don’t like gore and violence, this one is not going to be for you. So far, the main character B is a compelling mystery and certainly the main draw of the story. Time will tell, but I don’t think there is any unique theme, or new philosophical question that would make it worth pushing through if you are really opposed to gratuitous violence.

I found myself skimming a lot of the scenes, and focusing more on the characters than the liberal use of crimson ink.

As far as BRZRKR being necessary reading for The Book of Elsewhere? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

That’s all I have for this week. What are y’all’s thoughts on this one? Too violent? Leave your thoughts in the comments. Looking forward to talking about this one!

Oh No! Not the Babies! Age of Reptiles Ancient Egyptians Issue 2 Review

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Well, #JurassicJune is over, but that doesn’t mean we can’t continue enjoying awesome dinosaur filled stories. Last time, I reviewed Age of Reptiles Ancient Egyptians Issue 1, and had a little bit of a heart attack just from the mere knowledge that it existed.

Once calm, I enjoyed the story quite a bit, and was fascinated by the texture of the images, how easy the story was to engage with even without speech bubbles, and how the paralititans are showed as dangerous and not gentle giants.

For the most part, everything that I enjoyed in issue one remains present in issue two. The artwork is still incredible. Primal in a way that really allows the reader to feel like they’re in the ancient past. Brutal too, but that likely has more to do with the content of the story.

Still no speech bubbles . . . and still a unique and interesting choice which adds to the story rather than takes away from it.

I was bit disappointed by our second encounter with Paralititan Stromeri, which are attacked early in this issue by Carcharodontosaurus. In issue one, Paralititans were massive, almost bullying creatures, larger than life and seemingly unassailable. Without getting into spoilers, the opening scene of issue 2 shows that no longer to be the case, and the reader is again presented with a sort of cow-like creature that despite its size cannot defend against smaller but more vicious predators.

It seemed a bit of a step backwards to me.

Regardless of what we think the creatures may have really been like or not, they had been set up one way in issue one and were now being depicted as something else. I suppose not all individuals in a group are the same, and perhaps this group was merely less aggressive than what we saw before, but my initial reaction while reading was not as sense of “no behavior is a monolith” and that different groups will act differently, but one of “would that have happened like that?” Based on the expectations I had from issue one? I’m not sure it would have.

But issue two does not just rest on its laurels, it pushes forward, adding new elements while continuing excellence in the areas I enjoyed in issue one.

Slightly spoilery, but one new element brought to the fore in issue two was sex . . .

Yup, dino sex.

If you’re worried about the kind of hackneyed, purple, and often pornographic depictions of eroticism found in the quite baffling and prevalent sub-genre of Dinosaur Erotica, you needn’t be.

Courtship in issue two consists of presenting the lady Spino with a fish (we saw something similar with the Utahraptors in Raptor Red, one panel of them doing the deed, and then they retire to Lady Spino’s nest to find . . . well you’ll just have to read it.

In reality, its just ‘mating’, akin to something we might see in Prehistoric Planet or a documentary about some other kind of animal. It looks awkward, uncomfortable, and probably a bit painful for everyone involved. However, there is a pretty strong thematic current surrounding violence within this issue so perhaps its depiction adds to that stream. Who is to say? It certainly adds drama to what happens next which again, I don’t want to spoil (but is some deft story telling by Delgado).

Far more important thematically however, is the part of life’s cycle which comes after sex . . . Children.

We see each of the various dinosaurs rearing their young in some capacity during this issue, and I found this theme to be deftly used in each instance. Delgado discusses his inspiration in afterward text at the end of the issue, reliving his experience watching westerns and samurai movies. Sanjuro appears to have stuck with him, specifically the experience of a wandering samurai who gets drawn into local politics and helps nine young samurai. Sanjuro learns that violence is not always the answer.

Delgado says it caused him to think a lot about the place of violence in his work, and ultimately he decided it should be varied. All things considered, this issue seemed to me to be one of the violent ones.

Anyway, that’s all I have for you this week. Is anyone else reading these? Or has already read them? What did you think of issue two? Please leave your answers in the comments. Looking forward to chatting about this one!

See you next time!

Alert! Alert! This Is So Cool – Age of Reptiles Ancient Egyptians

by in Ancient Egypt, Comics, Dinosaurs and tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

We’re three quarters of the way through #JurassicJune2023, and by now you’re probably expecting another post about Prehistoric Planet. Episode five, Forests, would make the most sense and indeed that was the episode I was gearing up to rewatch and write about . . .

That is, until I stumbled across this: Age of Reptiles: Ancient Egyptians.

At seeing this title, my existence became a rollercoaster. I can’t even tell you whether or not my palms were sweating, or if my knees got weak (feels like the next clause should be about my arms getting heavy or mom’s spaghetti). I don’t remember. All I know is that the next 45 minutes were a blur of google searches and a lot of whispered cursing.

This was my thing! The thing I had wanted to make. The thing I had hoped I’d staked a claim to with Narmer and The God-Beast. Had someone else already done it? Had I waited too long? Had someone copied me? Was theirs better?

All of these thoughts ran through my mind as I saw the cover image in a goodreads list about dinosaur books. Obviously these kind of thoughts are futile. Nothing is original and indeed even I can’t take credit for the Ancient-Egypt-and-Dinosaurs idea considering its genesis in my own headspace (I essentially ripped it of from a conspiracy theory).

Still, you just can’t help the things you feel sometimes . . .

Anyway, I had to know and so I purchased every issue of Age of Reptiles: Ancient Egyptians in digital from Dark Horse comics.

It appears that I was safe enough for now. While this comic takes place in “Ancient Egypt“, it is not the time of pyramids or pharaohs. The Sphinx does not watch mysteriously as both men and dinosaurs go about their daily business.

For AoR:AE, “ancient” is the Cretaceous Period. While there is not a primate in sight, we do spend the issue with my beloved Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus as they hunt fish and defend themselves from another familiar face: Paradiddle Stromboli Paralititan Stromeri.

The Spino also encounters some smaller theropods which I believe are meant to represent Deltadromeus, and witnesses the death of a larger theropod which I believe is meant to be Carcharodontosaurus. All of these dinosaur friends I’ve used in my own fiction, and I think most of them might also be familiar from The Lost Dinosuars of Egypt.

I probably could get away with just gushing about these creatures for the rest of the post, but this post is supposed to be about a work of fiction, so I’ll do my best to stay on target.

I’ll admit that I’m still a newbie when it comes to comics. The last one I reviewed was the Annotated Sandman Vol.1 (need to pick up the rest of those!) back in 2022, and before that, only a handful of Moon Knight comics, so I can’t really say I’m well versed in this medium, but a couple of things stood out to me while reading AoR:AE.

Perhaps the easiest thing to notice is the images themselves. They’re incredible. It looks like Ricardo Delgado did both the writing and the artwork for these books, and it’s not like anything I’ve seen before. I’m at a complete loss for adequate vocabulary with which to describe what I’m seeing, but I’ll persist in trying anyway.

It sometimes feels like there’s as many black lines on the page as there is colored spaces (texture?). These dinosaurs are wrinkled and leathery things (unsure how prevalent feathered dinosaurs were in 2015 when this debuted), the trees gnarled and snaking, and just about everything is incredibly detailed.

Another dinosaur artist I hear about and see images from quite frequently, Mark Witton, posted on how Age of Reptiles influenced his own artwork. He notes that the framing of the images is ‘cinematic’, and likens the artwork to “… ambrosia from the loftiest peaks of Olympus.”

I have to agree.

The next thing which stuck out to me was the complete lack of dialogue or speech bubbles (seemingly a pretty common feature of comics). I suppose this only makes sense as dinosaurs would not have spoken any kind of language (despite what you see in Dinotopia), and a book filled with RAWRs and GRRRRs would easily become tiresome and quickly push the tone from serious to silly.

What’s amazing about this though, is that the narrative does not seem to suffer at all for the omission. Some frames which depicted a lot of movement were a struggle to understand what exactly was happening, but I imagine this would still have been the case with speech bubbles. I think it’s more my inexperience with the medium than any failure on the part of the depiction. AoR:AE‘s was still easy to follow, and also quite compelling. A feat to be sure.

Finally, I loved how the story framed the Paralititans as dangerous, almost villainous creatures. All sauropods are often depicted as gentle and peaceful giants, much like massive cows (a notion formed from the Jurassic Park movie no doubt).

But given the fact that nothing else around was even close to their size, I would not be shocked to find that they were the bullies of the cretaceous. Afterall what could stop them?

Give This One a Read?

Absolutely. Top marks for Age of Reptiles: Ancient Egyptians. Pure dinosaurian ambrosia, made even sweeter by the fact that I don’t have to give up on my own Dinosaurs in Egypt setting. So good even that I may just take a quick break from Prehistoric Planet and work my way through these issues for a bit. I guess I’ll be back next time with Issue #2

That’s all I have for now. Has anyone read these yet? What stood out to you the most? Please leave your answers in the comments. I’m excited to talk about this one!

Still here? Awesome. I hope you enjoyed Alert! Alert! This Is So Cool – Age of Reptiles Ancient Egyptians. As mentioned at the beginning of this post, I had a similar idea in my own story, Narmer and the God Beast except I went full tilt and have ancient Egyptians and dinosaurs inhabiting the Nile Delta at the same time. How cool is that?

If you want more of my writing, please check out my fiction page, or consider signing up for my newsletter at https://jdweber.news/EgyptAndDinos. It will give you access to exclusive fiction, special offers, and just my general life and nonsense (here’s a sample newsletter). Just for signing up I’ll send you an email with the very first story I ever wrote about a Warlock Doctor.

Thanks for your time, and I hope to see you around here more!

Annotated Sandman Vol.1 – A Great But Sometimes Overwhelming Dream

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Well now that the Hugo Award winners have been announced (congrats Psalm for the Wild-Built, we were rooting for you!) I guess it’s time to go back to our regularly scheduled programming which is . . . well any random thing I guess.

Sandman is perhaps not quite so random as a live-action adaptation of the this highly regarded comic has recently been released on Netflix. It looks amazing, and I’ve heard it lives up to the hype from everyone I talk to who’s watched it.

I’m VERY excited to check out the show, but I’m also the type of person who likes to try and read things before they watch it. With books at least, once I’ve seen it on the big/small/any screen, I cannot rid those images from my brain, and so I just imagine everything as I’ve already seen it which, to me, kinda takes away from the experience as it feels a bit like cheating.

Of course there are some exceptions to this rule: Lord of the Rings was WAY cooler as imagined by Peter Jackson than what I came up with on my own (no comment here regarding story as that’s a whole other post). I guess my 11 year old mind just simply lacked the budget to do the story justice . . . Anyway, generally I’ll try to air on the side of caution and read the original format first (although for a lot of series I’m currently reading and loving, like Shadow and Bone, and The Witcher, it was the show (or game and then show) that brought me to the books which I can’t be disappointed by because at least they got me to the books).

Anyway, I (usually) want to experience the story in its original medium first because I feel it gives my own imagination some freedom and a kind of creativity that a movie or show just can’t. There are definitely times (like LotR) when Hollywood does it better, and if that’s the case I’m pleasantly surprised, but if it’s not the case, at least I still have that original memory.

Perhaps as I get more into comic books, I’ll find they’re a bit different considering they are already a visual medium and I’m not imagining things from scratch, but I didn’t want to run that experiment just yet, I just wanted to plow through a highly acclaimed story by a renowned author.

So what did I think?

Right. Back on topic. In general, I loved(!!) The Sandman story, but unfortunately I think the edition which I read actually made it more difficult for me to enjoy. I’ll start with why I’m recommending the comic, and will end with why I will consider a different edition when continuing on.

The Dream Itself

The Sandman itself is absolutely an incredible story. My previous experience with Neil Gaiman has been a bit hit and miss — loved Good Omens, hated Neverwhere, still need to read American Gods — so I was pretty lukewarm on the idea of a Neil Gaiman comic, when my book club proposed the idea. However, I knew the show was coming out, and I would want to watch it, and everything I mentioned above, so I decided just to go for it. We were tasked to read Vols 1-20, and so I requested it from the library, and waited its eventual arrival.

In general, I’ve read very few comics, and what I have read was generally inspired by a book (Wheel of Time: Eye of the World), a movie (James Bond), or a show (Game of Thrones). Exceptions to this are Moon Knight (and I guess now Sandman) which fall into the category of: Rushing to Read a Few Before I Watch the Show.

Generally, everything mentioned above is either not a superhero story, or a Marvel superhero story. In the case of the Marvel stories, I can’t say any were particularly deep or thought provoking (with the exception, maybe, of Lemire’s take on Moon Knight). Mostly they were stories with a lot of action, punching and crime fighting.

The Sandman is apparently part of the ‘DC Universe’ which I have never read any of, but have seen a few movies (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman etc.) Would they be the same? Who knew? Not me.

I had no idea what to expect.

What I found was a deep and thought provoking story. One that exists in single nights, generations, and eons. A story rich in allusion, both to classical myth and comic book milieu. A comic book which considers themes of gender, racism and class.

And a comic book that was equal turns, batty, horrifying (read as genre of horror), funny, and prescient (even though the first issue came out in 1988).

The Sandman himself is a strangely compelling protagonist. Kind of a grim reaper type fellow which gave me major 80’s metal vibes (actual Death is personified as a perky punk girl). Sandman’s job is not to help people into the afterlife, but to protect ‘The Dream’. His methods for doing this are at times moral, selfish, brutal, kind, or in some cases just bizarre.

We understand his motives and goals as much as we need to in order to have a satisfying story, but there is always something behind the curtain which we don’t understand. Always something which seems to make Sandman unknowable, despite how much we learn about him each issue. It’s deeply compelling.

Gaiman also seems to be able to hook us with something new each issue. In some issues it’s the setting (Hell and later a convention — like comic-con — for Serial Killers stand out but there are many great ones). In other issues, it’s the villain, or the theme/social commentary, or some new twist on something we thought we’d seen before. One issue is entirely the dream of a cat. It seems Gaiman really let his imagination run wild, but as a true storyteller, is also able to connect the seemingly disparate stories together in a way which told a larger story.

My only gripe was all the cameos.

Gaiman’s Sandman (I say “Gaiman’s” because as I learned from the Forward, there was a Sandman in DC universe before this, one that’s referenced and shown in several issues) is an intriguing enough character on his own, he doesn’t need the help of a crossover. I understand that this is how comics sell other comics, but I think everything would have been stronger without them.

The Sandman, The Dream, Death, Desire, Lucifer, The Endless, are all rich enough characters and settings with incredibly deep mythology (often pulling from real myths) to exist in their own story without Arkham or the Justice League or any of the other tie-ins (although Constantine seemed to fit into the Sandman milieu as if he’d always been there so he was my favorite cameo).

Anyway, it all combines into a deeply interesting comic which is easy to lose your whole night reading (or blogging about). I highly recommend whether you’re new to comics or a long-time fan. These stories are packed with enough that I feel there will be something for everyone to take away from the experience.

My Issues With the Annotated Edition.

For one, no color. Sandman appears to have been a fantastically illustrated comic, but you would not know it from reading the Annotated Edition. Every panel is black and white, which often obscures some of the artwork, making things unclear or hard to make out. Also, having seen the color editions at my friend’s house . . . they’re just so much more beautiful.

Next, the annotations themselves. Some of them consist of explanations of allusions, or backstories of characters we see on certain pages. Even script notes from NG about what he imagined the scene to look like (the script notes were fun, NG is a weird and interesting dude). Also errors are pointed out . . .

As someone who watches the New Rockstars “Easter Egg Break Down” after every marvel show/movie (I believe Eric Voss never sleeps), I though this would generally be the type of stuff I would eat up in a minute.

Only there was so much information that reading the annotations often took me away from the story completely rather than immerse me deeper in (which I assume is the intention). Honestly, it caused a lot of false starts and trails which felt like they lead nowhere.

For instance, until I read the Forward to the annotated edition from NG himself, I had no idea Sandman was ‘DC Universe’. There was a lot of interesting history of comics in his intro, and the annotator’s opening which got me up to speed quickly and provided a ton of extra context. However, I did not need a single word of that to jump into the ‘text’ of Sandman.

Of course this ‘text’ of The Sandman is heavily referential, as I mentioned earlier, alluding to the mythologies of many cultures, and DC universe history as well. Often times those references were obscured by the artist or author’s intent and also just generally an obscure cut which you’d have to be a big nerd (a term I do not use pejoratively) to know about.

I’ll admit it was a bit fun to see some DC heroes I was familiar with (mostly from movies) appear in the issues, but often times the annotations that accompanied these cameos vacillated between wikipedia length articles, and a single line saying which issue the character first appeared in. Useful I suppose if I want to go back and read those issues some day, or check out a new character, but ultimately, the short annotations were not useful, and the long ones took so long to read that I couldn’t remember where I was in the story. And worst of all, a few contained spoilers!

As I consider this, I think some kind of tags in the beginning like “comics history”, or “Literary allusion” (and of course “spoiler!”) would have been useful at the beginning of the annotations so that the reader could decide whether or not to read the annotation or not. Some were interesting to me, while others were decidedly not, but I eventually just stopped reading them altogether because I could not discern if it would be relevant information for me to know before getting halfway through and then stopping and trying to pick up the pieces of where I was in the narrative.

My final thesis about these annotations is probably this: If you have not read these comics already, then they are likely going to provide too much information for you to really get immersed in the story. When watching the Easter Egg Break Downs mentioned earlier, I’ve realized that I always watch them after I’ve already gone through episode or movie blind once and formed my own theories and conclusions. Then watching the breakdowns can be like getting your score back on a test. Did you catch everything?

I suspect an annotated volume like this could have very much the same fun, if I was already experienced with The Sandman comics to begin with.

So . . . Recommend?

Yes! I whole heartedly recommend The Sandman comic, with the caveat that it may be wise for newbies to the series to find an edition that’s in color, and does not include the annotations. Vols 1-20 are a thought provoking story. Deep, wacky, scary, and even humorous, with a compelling and seemingly unknowable main character. However, this particular edition was a bit difficult to read. Aside from this one gripe, I would highly recommend the book to anyone, and if you’ve already been a fan of The Sandman for quite a while, then perhaps this is the edition for you after all.

Has anyone reading enjoyed this comic? What’s your fav storyline (no spoilers for after issue 20 plz! I’ll get there soon.) Have you tried it with the annotations? What was your experience?

Please let me know in the comments. I’ll see you next time.

Moon Knight Vol 2. Dead Will Rise (Review)

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We’re back with another Moon Knight post! It’s been seemingly forever since I did one of these (I’ve been pretty much knee deep in the A Dead Djinn Universe the last couple weeks), and considering the Moon Knight show on Disney+ has uh . . . (ahem) wrapped up, I wasn’t sure when it would make sense to do another one.

But all who are mighty shall bow down before the divine authority that is a library due date lest they face the WRATH OF THE $5 FINE!

Or in other words, I quick read this one during a lunch break so it wouldn’t be overdue. I think my last foray into these comics was with the proceeding volume of this run, Warren Ellis‘ debut with the character in Moon Knight Vol 1: From the Dead. I’m not entirely sure how crediting works in comics go, but Brian Wood seems to be the main name associated with this volume (#2): Dead Will Rise.

Overall Reaction:

Overall, I thought this was a pretty straightforward Moon Knight experience. The character is still a bit of a loaner with side kicks Frenchie, Marlene and Crawley noticeably absent. Marc’s other personalities reprise their roles though and the Moon Knight we see appears to have gained some new gadgets (scarab drones lol) and a burgeoning moral compass. The Moon Knight seems to have any physical conflict well in hand, taking down single foes with ease, however his inner conflicts are not so easily pushed aside.

This would seem a bit of a course correction from the Ellis edition which relied heavily on a more surreal art style, and an extreme amount of violence, to present a pretty amoral hero who only barely cared about things like justice or protecting the innocent.

Or, it might be that — just like the duality noted in epithets of the real Ancient Egyptian god Khonsu — Moon Knight is both protector/healer, and bloodthirsty demon (who lives on hearts yummm), and now that we have seen the darkness in the Ellis books, it’s time to see some heroism.

Other Connections

Unfortunately, I don’t have a ton here. We only get one brief visit back to Egypt at the Pyramid of Giza, in which we see Khonshu’s statue (in a similar inaccuracy to those made in Moon Knight Episode 3 – The Friendly Type), but ultimately the story does not linger there long, and there were no other references to Ancient Egyptians that we hadn’t already seen (that I noted anyway).

Another possible thing of note, was the use of Marc’s alternates in this volume. I mentioned that much of the violence was turned down in this arc, but there was still one instance of needlessly excessive force which happens during a hostage situation early on. Each of the alters are working to resolve the situation in a kind of revolving door of expertise, and when the enemy is finally confronted, he is “disarmed” (literally both his arms are broken) by Lockely. It’s assumed that while this foe is rendered — quite brutally — incapacitated, that he will live to stand trial. But the final panel shows Moon Knight covered in more blood implying that Lockley went further, even though the job was seemingly finished.

For me this was interesting because one of the main changes the show made, was to make Lockley’s character a kind of brutal assassin. It seemed to come as a surprise to everyone (check out reactions in my posts on Episode 4 – The Tomb, and the finale Episode 6 – Gods and Monsters) since in the early days of Moon Knight, the Lockely persona was just a cabbie, used almost exclusively for finding information and talking with informants. Perhaps we are seeing the origin of the show’s version of Lockely in these few panes.

Finally, I did think that Marc and Khonshu’s relationship in this volume took on some more interesting complexity which leads the way for the dynamic we’ll see later in the Jeff Lemire run.

So . . . Read?

I’d say yes. I’ve fallen pretty deep into the Moon Knight hole by this point so I like to look for all the little nuances etc, but even if it’s your first take on the character, I think it’s a pretty straightforward and enjoyable story with some moral questions and lots of tension.

What did y’all think? Leave your comments in the . . . well the comments section!

See you next time!

Moon Knight Unwrapped: 4 – The Tomb

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I can’t believe we’re already two thirds through this amazing show, but dem’s the breaks, so let’s talk about this episode while we can, and get ready for the fifth(!) episode to air tonight. If you’re interested in catching up on any of my previous posts about this show, please check out my Moon Knight Unwrapped tag. Might be fun to see what theories I’ve had come true, and which were a bust.

Anyway, Episode 4: The Tomb was definitely my favorite episode so far. We went full Indiana Jones in this episode, finally raiding the tomb of Ammit, and having to solve some puzzles along the way which we could only do by knowing a thing or two about Ancient Egyptian history and mythology.

— Spoilers from here on —

The clue they have to decipher is the Udjat Eye (or Eye of Horus), which allows Steven and Layla to figure out which way to go in Ammit’s mazelike tomb. I really enjoyed the inclusion of this motif as it is one of the most prominent icons of Ancient Egyptian mythology and culture. It is often used as a macguffin of sorts with characters having to find an amulet engraved with this symbol, or in some cases the literal eye of poor Horus. But here it is just a key which allows them to unravel the latest puzzle.

Unfortunately, as Roxane Bicker points out, a bit of creative license was used in Moon Knight as well, but I still thought it was cool.

One of the episode’s major reveals, was who exactly was buried in Ammit’s tomb (and therefore presumably their original avatar). It turns out to be Alexander the Great! Again, Bicker can catch you up on the important background info relevant to Moon Knight.

I’ll admit, this was a complete surprise for me, and honestly not a particularly rewarding one. Alexander the great is a hugely important figure, but not a particularly Egyptian one. Also, with all the hints and clues this show leaves lying around to tease viewers about what future episodes may hold, I don’t feel that this was foreshadowed at allllll. Which doesn’t seem fair.

Anyway, I still enjoyed raiding the tomb with Steven and Layla (I forgot to gush about the creepy Heka priests!), and the burial chamber itself was completely amazing, and exactly the type of thing that I have been wanting from this show (or any show) for the previous three episodes up until this point. So, I refuse to be upset hahah.

I guess the next big reveal which needs to be discussed is Marc getting shot, and “falling” into an insane asylum, where he’s clearly been staying for quite some time. This entire sequence gave me Jeff Lemire vibes, specifically his first book, Moon Knight Vol 1: Lunatic.

In these issues of the comic, Marc is trapped inside an insane asylum and must fight his way out with some help from established characters from previous comics, who are also committed. In the comic version, Marc’s therapist is Ammit, who Marc sees as both a normal woman, and the crocodile headed demon depending on how shaky his mental state is. She is not the main villain of the three book run, and Marc ends up facing off against Khonshu by the end.

I really hope that this not what happens in these next two episodes as I’ve somewhat grown to like our bossy, yelling, tantrum-throwing moon god . . . but we’ll have to wait and see.

Last but not least, we see Tawaret in the final shot of the show. She says “Hi!” in the cutest possible voice, and hilariously, Marc and Steven (finally separated) scream in fright.

I’ll be honest, I had no idea what to make of this ending. I recognized Tawaret (who was properly foreshadowed in the first episode), as a hippo goddess associated with pregnancy and motherhood, but I’ve got next to nothing on what her role will be in Moon Knight. I guess we’ll have to see.

Theories . . .

Not a ton for you in theory land this time around even though we got tons of reveals and new information over which to speculate. I would definitely check out New Rockstar’s Episode 4 Easter Egg Break Down for anything you missed and a couple great theories coming out of there. For me though, I’m thinking about

Jake Lockley Appearance?

I really want to have some fresh original take on this, like “Steven’s third identity (still encased in that third tomb) is so-and-so, not Jake.” But unfortunately, I just don’t know who else it could be. Jake Lockley is just sooo prevalent in the comics, so I think it almost has to be him. However, so far none of the identities we’ve seen in the show have been very similar to what we saw in the comic. If it is “Jake”, I don’t think it will be like any Jake we’ve seen yet. Given the blackouts we witnessed in Episode 3, I’m assuming that he will be much more violent and scary than anything we’ve seen yet. Whatever it is, they better hurry up!

The Asylum is the ‘Overvoid’ which is why we saw Tawaret

I’m really hoping that the asylum is not Marc/Steven/Whoever’s true reality, and that he’s actually been sent to the “Overvoid” which seems to be the place where all the Gods hang out. Perhaps the reason it looks like an asylum, is because mortal minds cannot handle so much of the divine (or alien) in one place and so they hallucinate a reality they can believe. Since our MC has DID, perhaps an asylum is something it can make sense of. Whether the Overvoid is a heavenly Field of Reeds, or the hellish Duat, we will have to wait and find out . . .

The Climax of this show will involve Steven/Marc Freeing the entombed Gods from their Ushabti

As much as I really enjoyed this episode, one thing kind of bothered me. As soon as they got inside the tomb, Steven/Marc and Layla were so completely focused on finding Ammit’s Ushabti and preventing Harrow from getting it, that they completely forgot about Khonshu! In episode 3, right as Khonshu is crumbling to dust, he tells Steven to make sure Marc saves him . . . they did NOT do that AT ALL.

So, my prediction is that this objective is still on the table, and that once we’re out of the asylum/overvoid, we’ll head back over to Giza and start bustin gods out of statues. My hope is that in order to finally get to Khonshu, they’ll have to bust out many of the other gods we see thereby releasing them as players in the larger MCU. From promo posters, we can see Khonshu, Anubis and his scales, and (hopefully) Sobek.

We’ll just have to wait and see . . .

The End . . .

Well, that’s all I have for you this round. What does everyone thing. Will we get to see more Ancient Egyptian Gods Running around in the MCU? Which are you hoping to see the most? What other thoughts and theories do you have about this episode?

Please leave em in the comments. See you next time!

Moon Knight Unwrapped: Ep 3 – The Friendly Type

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It’s Wednesday morning, so that means it’s time for another review / theory discussion of Moon Knight!

Before we get into the meat of things however, I just wanted to point out that if you’re wanting to catch up with any of my previous episode reviews, you can just click the Moon Knight Unwrapped tag, and it should list them all as they’re posted.

Also I’ve been reviewing Moon Knight comics intermittently. The latest one was Warren Ellis’s Moon Knight Vol 1: From the Dead. I had a great time researching some history for this one, trying to reconcile Khonshu’s epithet of “The One Who Lives on Hearts”, with his nature as a healer in the Bentresh Stella.

Finally, if you’re like me, the coolest draw of this show is the ways in which it interacts with Egyptian history and myth. There’s all kinds of other books, movies and shows that do this as well, and so if you’re just into Ancient Egyptian stuff like me, please check out my Ancient Egypt tag (right now a lot Moon Knight stuff will be floating to the top, but I’m thinking of making it separate).

Ok, onto the review . . .

— Spoilers from here on —

Of course, another great episode. We learned so much, both about our characters, and about our setting. It was so great to be able to see a modern Cairo in this episode. I’ve been wanting to travel there for quite some time, and this just reinforces that desire.

I have a few favorite parts of the episode, but I think the most interesting part was certainly the ‘trial’ inside the Pyramid of Giza. Now, as Roxane Bicker explains in her post, „Moon Knight“ – Die altägyptischen Hintergründe erklärt, Teil 5 (god bless google translate), Khufu’s pyramid does not have such a massive room inside it. But given just how cool this scene is, and how amazing the room looks, I’m willing to more than overlook it because . . .

FINALLY we get to meet some other Ancient Egyptian Gods! We meet Hathor, Tefnut, Horus, Osiris, and Isis. That is exactly zero of the gods I hoped/predicted we’d see, but we’ve only met five of the possible nine that make up the Ennead so perhaps there is hope yet (none of the others I predicted are in the historical Ennead, but the show seems to be taking liberties with that as well).

I have hope, based on the statuary that we do find in the tomb, that we’ll meet Sobek, and Thoth at least, and possibly Sekhmet (because Hathor).

My next favorite scene was definitely when Mark and Layla go to visit Mogart. I had never heard of the El-Mermah games before so that was definitely an interesting glimpse into Arabian culture. I’m definitely interested in learning more about this when I get the chance. Also, makes for a pretty awesome and violent fight scene.

I think those were the main scenes that stood out to me. Obviously, Khonshu causing an eclipse and moving the night sky back 2,000 years were amazing bits of special effects, and possibly have huge implications for the show and MCU, but I still enjoyed some of these ‘less epic’ scenes a little more.

Anyway, that’s all I have for reviewing, let’s move on to the theories!

Theories . . .

Marc is already dead and journeying through the underworld?

One theory that I saw online, is that Marc is already dead, and that we are watching Marc’s journey through the Ancient Egyptian Underworld. I do kind of like this theory, as it makes a very good arc for the six episodes. Ammit (who is the big bad of the series), is a very prominent figure at the Weighing of the Heart, when an Ancient Egyptian’s soul was thought to be judged by the Court of Gods. It kind of has a certain sense to it.

However, that judgement is just one aspect of the Ancient Egyptian journey through the underworld, known as the Duat. A little research reveals the Duat to be a complete terrain, with lakes (of fire), mountains, fields etc. Also, the journey requires one to cross Twelve Underworld Gates guarded by Gate Deities. This seems like a task that would take more than six episodes (unless we’re flying through two gates an episode) and considering we’re only just starting to see all the players on the board, I don’t think this theory is gonna pan out.

Khonshu just took Earth back 2,000 years?

This theory was put forth in the New Rockstar’s Moon Knight Episode 3 Easter Egg Breakdown, and then expanded on in the How Khonshu Moved the Sky episode. This would effectively retcon the entire MCU AGAIN! For like the third or forth time in Phase 4 alone. Personally, it doesn’t seem to make much sense. Why would Marvel/Disney would want to do this as it invalidates like 23+ movies and shows? They want you to HAVE TO WATCH all of them to understand what’s happening next so retconning them doesn’t really make sense, even if they have written themselves into plot corners (which I haven’t really felt like they have).

But I also have another reason for thinking this theory is false. Upon second watching of the episode, I noticed that Steven is complaining about how painful turning time back is, and he encourages Layla to hurry up and take the pictures with her tablet because he isn’t sure how much longer he can hold it. This makes me think that yes, they turned back time to the night the star chart was made, but that it is kind of like winding up a spring, eventually it unwinds (when Khonshu gets turned into a tiny statue), and I believe they go back to the present, even though we are not shown the sky while this is happening (Steven is too busy fainting).

Just my theory

That’s all folks!

And that’s all I’ve got this time around. Thank you all for reading. I enjoyed this episode just as much as the last two, and I’m really looking forward to watching the 4th episode later tonight.

How did you enjoy the episode? What was your favorite part? Have any theories? Did Khonshu retcon the MCU? Is Marc already dead?

Leave your thoughts in the comments. I’m excited to talk about this one!