Compelling Characters: Character Analysis With Cartoons to Boot

A Deep Dive Into The New 52 Justice League: What You Need to Know!  4 to 6 min read Alright, let’s talk about The New 52 Justice League . If you’re looking for the ultimate superhero team-up origin story, this is it. Volume 1 is not just well-written and beautifully illustrated; it’s packed with the excitement of characters meeting for the first time, which is an absolute joy for someone like me, a graphic novel fan in his forties! This first Justice League book is a belter. Following my reading order, the next book is Barry Allen's flashpoint story arc which created this universe; he returns home at the end of the book and his costume and his memories begin to change too. It was clever how he is absorbed into the new 52 version. After finishing this volume, I’m diving right into Barry Allen’s Flashpoint arc. That twist where he returns home, and everything about him starts changing—brilliant storytelling!  The dialogue in Origins, Vol. 1 has a spark that jumps off th...

Hulk Character Development: Hero vs Monster | Evolution in Marvel Comics 5 to 7 min read When it comes to comic book characters few are as iconic as the Hulk. That's because he's a green temper tantruming vandal. He was created by the comic book legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1962, but has made a few evolutionary changes since—his first colour was a creepy grey, and he had more in common with Wednesday Addams than The Avengers. But who is the Hulk today? What makes him such a compelling character? The Hulk in a Nutshell The central theme of The Incredible Hulk is contrasts, a copy and paste rebrand of Dr. Jekyll and Hyde. Likewise, we have the brilliant scientist: Bruce Banner, a man with a calling to understand the mysteries of the world and his contrasting counterpart, a super monster man with the IQ of rubber duck. An entire age of sage rage from this not so jolly green giant; he is a monster but he can't be seen as a victorian murderer, like what we see with...

The Superman and His Rebirth!  5 to 7 min read The man of steel on the big screen was iconic as Christopher Reeves. There have been many since him, a few before but he is the one that stuck for many of us. Maybe because quite a few artists based their Supermen on the popular Reeves version that embedded itself in our psyche.  This Superman in the DC Rebirth graphic novel series consists of an Action Comics run as well as one from the Superman comics of that time, and they crossover well. We can see the nod to the classic era Superman and Christppher Reeves and those earlier comics. Both merge into one narrative, well worthy of praise, but, like with all graphic novel collections, there are fillers and duller parts, but I was fascinated by how they smuggled this Superman back!  This kryptonian is the last person you would eant to seduce your wife or girlfriend, he's got a perfect masculine form, most earth woman fall at his feet and he can fly. You can't pick a fig...

DC Rebirth: The Aquaman and Wonder woman 4 to 6 min read I went through a massive phase of reading heroic and epic graphic novels, and when I look at my shelf I can recall every story. The full set of Aquaman, and the six or seven of Wonder woman's DC Rebirth graphic novels I have really hit the spot. I have found much to admire with the works of Dan Abnett, there were, however, some elements that fall somewhat short of the mark. Rucka's take on Wonder woman was so welcome, a great return to the Amazon's original pre-new 52 character. In this collection, Diana struggles to figure out what is going on in her life, she is troubled, bordering on feeling mentally ill . This was a humbling read and quite relatable. Especially as so many of us will experience poor mental health at some point in our lives. Her mind, as challenged as it was, didn't slow down her protective nature which propelling her story forward. She's still a badass! As always, heroism, girl powe...

Batman/The Flash: The Button 5 min read The Button is a DC Rebirth graphic novel, written by Tom King. The Rebirth series follows the new 52 timeline. I recommend it, straight up. The story follows two alluring archetypes of the comicbook world,  Batman and The Flash , who are investigating a strange anomaly; the smiley face  Watchmen button, recovered from a wall in the Batcave!  Two detective types who dress up to fight crime. One is super-human and the other is a resourceful, well disciplined sociopath with a sense of justice. It works! I never liked tje treadmill to be honest but this version of The Flash is the best and the artwork is a belter! Time travel and alternate universes have been done many times, but doing it well is what matters.    We always compare one superhero to another, Batman and The Flash in combat would end terribly quickly—no human human can randomly defend against such speed! On the other hand, who cares? Batman com...

The Flash/Barry Allen has so much potential.  5 to 7 min read The New 52 eight graphic novel Flash set, was written by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato. Of course, it had it's fair share of praise and criticism, but I enjoyed most of them like satisfying relieving dump of an evening—it makes you feel lighter. The art style stands out because of Manapul and Bucellato; it wasn't amazing.  It reminded me of that bloody television show: It started out promising and I was pulled in, and it began flirting with some comic themes! Honestly, everything really was hunky-dory, until Mark Hamil rocked up, the yellow bloke returned and it gradually degraded into one of the cringiest comic-to-television disappointments I've ever seen! They destroyed Flashpoint; then the Flash movie did exactly the same. Ezra Miller doesn't even slightly resemble comic-book Barry!  Anyway, the later Manapul & Buccellato storylines fumbled with the ball a bit, but it is no where near as...

Watchmen in Black and White...  7 to 9 min read It's about time I wrote a little something about a graphic novel that made waves, not only in my life, but also in the entire comic book world back in the day. Obviously it's Watchmen. I built that up pointlessly didn't I? If you're not familiar with the graphic novel or the comic book genre, here's a brief overview: Watchmen was written by a wizard called Alan Moore, the legend behind swamp thing, V for Vendetta and From Hell, a beautiful read! It was illustrated by Dave Gibbons, who did Rogue Trooper and The Originals. Watchmen was originally published in 1986 and has since become iconic.  When I was a child Watchmen would have been way too advanced for me. They looked the part, but I would never have considered them as 'proper superheroes' like Spiderman or Captain America. It's a pleasure to digest a mature themed comic book world. Trying to scrape some sort of enjoyment from modern comics when ...