You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December, 2008.
We here at Comic(s) Relief wish you all a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We will be back with more reviews in 2009.
First of all let me apologize for the unusually long absence. My workload is a bit overwhelming and although I love reading about Superman, I’m not him. But that’s neither here nor there, so let me move on with this week’s review of Superman: Secret Identity.
This four issue mini-series takes not place in the usual DC universe, but rather in a reality similar to our own. The protagonist however has also been named Clark Kent by his parents and living in Kansas, his schoolmates give him a hard time about it. Clark tries to ignore them of course, but after years of harassment he grows weary of the constant reminders of his parents’ idea of a joke. When he one days goes for a short hike on his own and falls asleep in the woods, he wakes up to discover that he can fly. Freaked out and ecstatic at the same time, he explores his new powers and finds out that he also has increased strength and resilience. Although his new found powers would make his co students shut up and leave him alone, he decides to keep this secret to himself and use them to help humanity.
The four issues all deal with another period in Clark’s life. In the first he is a teenager, discovering his powers. In the next he is in his twenties, working as a writer (not a reporter) in Manhattan. His friends set him up with a woman called Lois and although both are fed up with the Clark & Lois jokes, they give it a shot and fall in love. At the same time, the military, who has been secretly observing the superhuman Samaritan, decides to become active and catches Clark in order to experiment on him. The third issue deals with an older Clark, married to Lois and occasionally working together with the military in order to keep them off his back. Finally in issue four we see Clark as an old man with children and dealing with his fading powers.
What makes this series such a special and delightful read is the way it connects to our own reality. It deals with realistic questions considering somebody gaining superhuman powers. How would this person keep his secret? What would the government do once they find out? And how can you have a family with such a huge burden on your shoulders?
The illustrations by Stuart Immonen are beautiful and touching at the same time. Kurt Busuik’s story is one of the best I have read in a long time and probably one of my favorite Superman tales ever, even though it is not a DC universe story. Highly recommended!
Story 10, Art 9, Re-read 9, Overall Score 10/10
Finally I have time to do a quick review of this issue. Story wise it gives us the ending of the Buffy and Fray crossover. But instead of giving us answers to questions like, what is Willow doing there, we only get a bunch of new ones. Although I am a fan of the series, this constant piling up of new mysteries starts to grow old. Let’s hope the creative team will refocus on the big bad of this series and pushes the main story forward before the audience grows weary of it. Story 6, Art 8, Re-read 6, Overall Rating 6.5
In another hell on earth, Angel is still struggling with his death. While Cordelia tries to convince him to give up and leave this realm in order to prevent his destiny from becoming true, Angel’s allies are fighting their own fights in order to save him. All on all this issue is filled to the top with story and suspense and it will keep you guessing till the end. Still I have to add that the main story starts to get a little bit too twisted to follow it properly on a monthly basis. I’m looking forward to the end so that I can read it all again in one sitting. Story 8, Art 7, Re-read 8, Overall Rating 8
Months we had been waiting for it and then it finally arrived. The newest Mortal Kombat game has hit the shelves and it brings with it the possibility to enter the deadliest tournament in the world … with your favorite DC characters. Among the superhuman combatants are Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Captain Marvel, Green Lantern, but also the villains, Lex Luthor, Deathstroke, Catwoman and the Joker. And let me say this: fighting as the Joker is as much fun as could ever be expected. He fights dirty and his crazy attitude from the comics has been adopted perfectly. This can be said about every character, their moves and looks fit the original visions as good as possible, in certain cases even better.
On the side of Outworld we see familiar faces like Subzero, Scorpion, Shang Tsung, Sonja Blade, Liu Kang, Kitana, Jax, Raiden, Kano and the beast Baraka. In the integrated story mode both sides will be pitted against each other until they realize that they are both fighting a common enemy: Dark Khan, a fusion between Shao Khan, the conqueror from Outworld and Darkseid, the destroyer from the DC universe. Only together the warriors from both worlds can defeat this enemy.
When you play the game you can choose between several single player modes and traditional one on one multiplayer. Furthermore you have the option to fight online against other players. The single player modes are split into a story mode (one for each side) in which you will have to take on the roles of several different fighters in order to complete it. There also is an arcade mode (used to unlock the character specific ending scenes) and a kombo challenge in which you have to input 10 different combos for each character.
After having finished the DC storyline I have to say that I was astonished at the accuracy of the story. The developers accounted for all the recent events in the DC universe and got most of the character profiles right. As a comic fan I am really glad that they took the time to research these elements and also implement the proper moves for each character. If you are a DC fan and like to beat the bejesus out of others (virtually of course) than you should definetly take a look at this game.
The Kollektor’s Edition (no I’m not spelling it wrong, it is actually called that) comes with a removable art print by Alex Ross (you might remember him from his work on Kingdom Come), a Bluray Disc packed with interviews and documentaries and a comic by original Mortal Kombat co-creator John Tobias.
100 posts and 30,000 views in only a few months. We are happy about these numbers and hope to stay with you a long time. Next up will be reviews of the Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe collector’s edition, the newest Buffy and Angel comics (once I get a hold of them), and Batman: The Last Arkham.
Recent Comments