“The Ultimates” Vols. 1 & 2 (Marvel)

Writer: Mark Millar | Artist: Bryan Hitch | Inks: Andrew Currie & Paul Neary | Colours: Paul Mounts

Strange beings with incredible powers have risen up to challenge the old order, and ordinary citizens are scared witless. The government’s solution: a small but lethal army known as the Ultimates, created to protect us all from the newly rising threats to mankind!

Despite the plentiful recommendations and obvious popularity of this series, I’m sad to say it left me utterly underwhelmed. The story felt flat and over-padded. It clearly had an influence on the recent (excellent) Avengers Assemble movie, but it still managed to fail on a number of levels. I will concede that these two books – also available in a special edition collection (cover image above left) – did have moments of inspired storytelling, but they were fleeting and far between as to have little overall impact on the quality or my level of enjoyment.

“Shift” by Kim Curran (Strange Chemistry)

A fast-paced, entertaining debut

When your average, 16-year old loser, Scott Tyler, meets the beautiful and mysterious Aubrey Jones, he learns he’s not so average after all. He’s a “Shifter”. And that means he has the power to undo any decision he’s ever made.

At first, he thinks the power to shift is pretty cool. But as his world quickly starts to unravel around him he realises that each time he uses his power, it has consequences; terrible unforeseen consequences. Shifting is going to get him killed. In a world where everything can change with a thought, Scott has to decide where he stands.

There seems to be a new sub-genre developing in YA fiction, focusing on various forms of time-travel or inter-dimensional travel. Recent great examples include E.C. Myers’s Fair Coin and Ian McDonald’s Planesrunner. Now we can add Kim Curran’s Shift to the genre’s growing ranks of quality novels. In her debut, Curran has written an intriguing world of limited time-travel (it reminded me a little of the dynamics in the Nicholas Cage movie, Next). It’s an excellent introduction to the setting and characters, and despite a couple of niggles, I certainly enjoyed reading Shift.

Comics Catch-Up: Zenescope

Another post in which I catch up with a selection of releases from a specific publisher. Zenescope produce some of the more interesting comic adaptations and twists on fairy tales and folklore. They don’t always work perfectly, but some of these series have really grown into their own, offering up some intriguing interpretations. I’m also particularly intrigued by the start of the “new” Grimm Universe, as laid out in the Annual and Angel #1. Things look like they are about to get really interesting for Zenescope’s titles…

Reviewed: Call of Wonderland #2, Grimm Fairy Tales #74, GFT: Angel, GFT: Annual 2012, GFT: Myths & Legends #17, Jungle Books #3, Waking Dead: Dream’s End #2

Upcoming: “Marvel NOW!”

So, right off the bat, I think that’s an awful title for a new comics initiative. Especially with the capitalised “NOW!”. Just wanted to get that out there. [If you are familiar with The Gutters online comic-commentary website, then you’ll see how this announcement almost writes its own humour…]

The most popular characters. The most acclaimed creators. The most ambitious stories. This is Marvel NOW!

Marvel doubles-down on the cringe-worthy PR-speak with:

“ushering in a new era for comics and the perfect jumping on point for new readers. The biggest creators bring you the biggest characters in the biggest stories… and it’s happening NOW!”

So, now that I’ve got some snark out of the way (there’s more to come), what is this actually all about? This Fall, Marvel comics are heading in an “exciting all-new direction”, as the publisher releases “all-new ongoing series, each beginning with issue #1!” I had to chuckle at the “each beginning with issue #1”, given that that is usually where new things start…

Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Spider-Man, Wolverine and more will all see new Marvel NOW! series, apparently marking the “culmination of Marvel ReEvolution”, the “groundbreaking new initiative to evolve the comic book experience through innovation.”

Guest Post: “Influences & Inspirations” by Guy Adams

In this week’s guest post, author Guy Adams talks about the influences and inspirations for his latest novel (published today), Hands of the Ripper.

Influences and Inspirations:

HANDS OF THE RIPPER by Guy Adams

A writer trying to define his inspirations should be rather like a curry discussing the heritage of a particular onion. We’re influenced by everything and sometimes catching any single thread is impossible.

That said, it would be hard to write a novelization of a movie (however bold) without being inspired by it and Hands of the Ripper, while it may stand on its own two legs as a novel, will always be an adaptation of the 1971 picture from Hammer Films. On the surface I seem to have changed a great deal (it’s set in the present day for goodness sake), but you would be surprised by how faithful it is to the spirit of the original, no doubt through fear of antagonizing said spirit and causing a murderous rampage.

Music: “Living Things” by Linkin Park

Ho-hum, a long-time fan grumbles

I originally had very high hopes for Living Things. I had even been prepared to write a long review, believing this may be the return of the band that dominated my stereo, and later MP3 player, for most of the early 2000s. Sadly, this album is, effectively, the Linkin Park equivalent of elevator music.

Most-Anticipated Novels – July 2012

It’s been a while since I wrote a post highlighting a given month’s most-anticipated releases. But, given that this year is shaping up to be a real monster for new fiction, and because it’s just impossible to read everything, I thought it would be a good idea to give a hat-tip to those books I’m most looking forward to reading. I’ve stuck with UK release schedules for the most part, but a couple are US releases or books already available across the pond.

I’ve been lucky enough to get a fair few of these titles already (and have managed to read three in advance of their releases), so I have included links to my reviews where relevant, rather than exhaustive comments on those titles.

So, without further ado, here are my picks for July 2012…

“Before Watchmen” First Phase (DC)

Reviewed by Abhinav Jain

My prior experience with Watchmen is limited to the 2009 film adaptation. I remember that it was an extremely weird experience, as I had no prior familiarity with it and I was rather confused for the whole of it. My friends helped fill in a few blanks later during dinner and then that was that. As you can no doubt tell, I was not motivated to go pick up Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ graphic novel and read the source material.

Recently, however, I’ve been getting back into comics after a rather long break, and when I heard that DC was planning a prequel phase, the Before Watchmen series, I was mildly curious. I like the idea of prequels, especially for things like these. To give but one example, Tolkien’s Silmarillion is one of my favourite novels ever; although it is almost entirely prequel stories set in Middle-Earth and in Valinor and our heroes of the original trilogy barely feature in it.

So when the Before Watchmen comics started releasing last month, I picked them up one by one: the first issues of Minutemen, Silk Spectre, Comedian and Nite Owl. I still somewhat prevaricated on this, and didn’t read them right away as I had some other reading commitments to get out of the way first.

Catching up with MARK CHARAN NEWTON

Mark Charan Newton’s Nights of Villjamur was one of the first books I received unsolicited from a publisher, and I really enjoyed it. The sequels, City of Ruin and The Book of Transformations just got better and better. Now, with the final book in the series – The Broken Isles – hitting shelves, I thought I’d send Mark a few questions to see what’s been going on since I first interviewed him, back in February 2011.

Legends of the Red Sun #1-3 2012 Edition Covers

Comics Catch-Up: Boom Studios

In this first Comics Catch-Up, I take a quick look at two titles from Boom Studios, both science-fiction, and both early in their respective runs. Higher Earth and The Hypernaturals both have pretty intriguing premises, and should appeal to fans of science fiction (comics, TV, movies and novels). I enjoyed both of them, but they were not perfect.

Reviewed: Higher Earth #2, Hypernaturals #0-1