Category Archives: Books

Locke & Key: Clockworks. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Every outstanding Graphic Novel or superhero requires a back story, there is a law somewhere, probably laid down by story teller supremo Stan Lee on a scrap of paper in a rest room and the flourished signature witnessed by Jack Kirby. The paper, possibly now residing on a wall in Marvel offices just below the enormous Captain America drawing that greets visitors to the building in New York, is surely seen by all aspiring writers and artists, none so more as Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez and in the book Clockworks.

Locke & Key: Clockworks. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(568 words, estimated 2:16 mins reading time)

Wonder Woman, Volume One: Blood. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

If you look at so called Big Two of American comic publishing, then Marvel for some reason has infinitely more heroines in which to glorify than those that live in the D.C. Universe. Even away from Marvel, which seems to have embraced with a lot more heart the reality of women who can hold their own against any of their male counterparts and in many ways are actually far superior to them, after all who would you rather have alongside you in a fight to the death, Susan Storm/Richards or Benjamin Grimm?

Wonder Woman, Volume One: Blood. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(557 words, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)

Justice League, Volume Two: The Villain’s Journey. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Whatever they were paying Geoff Johns at D.C. Comics, to be honest it really was not enough. Almost single handed, (when isn’t writing a single handed occupation unless it involves film scripts and American television comedy?) he revitalised, what was in the eyes of many a dying flag ship, the crumbling dust of an empire that had been ground seemingly apart by Marvel’s prodigious output and the emergence of some true independent greats. Whether Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Terminator, Locke & Key or any other superbly written graphic art novel, D.C. seemed to be only holding together in part due to the bankability of its greatest creation, Batman.

Justice League, Volume Two: The Villain’s Journey. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(619 words, estimated 2:29 mins reading time)

Aquaman: Death Of A King, Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The fourth volume in D.C Comics excellent revival of Aquaman brings all the facets together as if the running of a thousand taps had finally found a deep crevice in which to conjoin and multiply in. By bringing all these together and with the exceptional writing and artistry of all involved, it should be noted that Aquaman, the stuff of much unnecessary hilarity due to the poor nature and lack of respect shown the individual in the past; is arguably one of the most interest characterisations in the last 40 years of publications by D.C.

Aquaman: Death Of A King, Graphic Novel Review. full post

(548 words, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

Justice League, Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

All it takes is one person to turn everything you thought you understood about the world of comic art and graphic novels upside down, shake the stupidity of pre-conception out of your head and spank you with your rolled up, tattered copy of reasons why company is better than the other.

Justice League, Graphic Novel Review. full post

(673 words, estimated 2:42 mins reading time)

Locke & Key: Keys To The Kingdom. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

You don’t need to look any further for a magnificent read when it comes to a series of graphic novels than Joe Hill’s and Gabriel Rodriguez’s Locke & Key.

It is a series built upon the very fundamentals of great story telling that art can only ever enhance.  The premise of a unique story, the realisation that you care about the way each character is drawn from the writer’s imagination and lovingly captured by the artist, the pace of the narrative, whether it is fast or slow doesn’t matter and the action and thoughts drawing you ever deeper into their own world, blurring the lines between narrative symbolism and the representation of Humanity’s great assets, that of the overwhelming power of vision, inspiration and creativity.

Locke & Key: Keys To The Kingdom. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(700 words, estimated 2:48 mins reading time)

Aquaman: Throne Of Atlantis. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It shows just how good an idea it was that the people behind D.C. Comics  came up with the concept of the New 52. A re-branding or re-imagining, which ever you wish to grasp onto, of their super heroes and the way that they were looked upon, from the casual interloper that may have been a staunch fan of their bitter rivals Marvel or the mass and gratefully received comic books and graphic novel fans who had shifted their purchasing power of the independents such as Dark Horse, it was a change that they could get on board with.

Aquaman: Throne Of Atlantis. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(666 words, estimated 2:40 mins reading time)

Locke & Key: Crown Of Shadows. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There can be nothing more wonderfully terrifying to the mind than reading something, a classic gothic novel, a piece of macabre inducing poetry or indeed the prosaic style of any of the finest horror writers of the last hundred years, or finding a set of books that just make you squirm with delight with every turn of the page.

For anybody who loves the Graphic Novel, for anybody who the loves horror, Locke & Key is an absolute must and the third in its series, Crown of Shadows, maintains the very high standards that writer Joe Hill and artist extraordinaire Gabriel Rodriguez have thrilled fans with in the previous two books.

Locke & Key: Crown Of Shadows. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(497 words, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Sin City: Family Values. Graphic Novel Review.

 

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

One of the most overwhelming features of the Sin City series is that of family. In a neo-noir world in which you would expect a dystopian vision to be lurking on every black and white panel drawn and scripted by Frank Miller, the surprising comfort afforded to the reader is that of the tight unit in which many of the characters are drawn into.

Sin City: Family Values. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(602 words, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)

Locke & Key: Head Games. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The deadbolt should have been kept padlocked; the catch on the memory firmly kept in place and armed guards placed on every conceivable exit and as for the imagination…well that’s best left to Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez to care for. For the Locke family certainly need them to keep them safe or at least care for them in the same manner throughout as they do in Locke & key: Head Games.

Locke & Key: Head Games. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(599 words, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)