Reviews - BGCP Comic Con

Review – Scarlet Witch Vol 1: Witches’ Road

18th May 2021

Review – Scarlet Witch Vol 1: Witches’ Road Publisher: Marvel Writer: James Robinson Art: Vanesa Del Rey, Marco Rudy, Steve Dillon, Chris Visions, Javier Pulido, Jordie Bellaire, Frank Martin, Vero Gandini, and Muntsa Vicente Release Dates: 2015 – 2017 Scarlet Witch has taken the world by storm these last few weeks thanks to WandaVision. Fans of her literary and live action appearances are very aware that daughter of Magneto is not perfect. She is one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. She can rewrite reality with a single thought; however, she cannot control everything or everyone around her. Wanda Maximoff has committed unspeakable acts that changed the world forever. She carries guilt for those acts to this day, but must push it aside to face a looming threat. Enter the Scarlet Witch. Story Scarlet Witch Vol:1 Witches’ Road follows Wanda Maximoff’s return to fighting evil. But instead of facing purple-skinned tyrants and her technical father-in-law Ultron, she faces a silent threat. A “broken” magic is surrounding the world. Dark forces are forming at work, and old villains vie to become our hero’s new rival. The world may not want the Scarlet Witch, but she is the best they got. The five issues together follow Wanda’s trek to confront the witchcraft that permeates the globe. However, each issue can be treated as a stand-alone story as each issue puts Wanda to a completely different location and in touch with completely different people. This is what makes Scarlet Witch Vol: 1’s such a fantastic read; James Robinson gives his readers a story wherein Wanda is constantly confronting herself and the forces working against her. But by approaching the story as a loosely tethered anthology of short stories, Robinson adequately toes the line between lore-building and having fun with Wanda’s character by placing her in ever-changing circumstances. This philosophy of giving readers short stories with a beginning, middle, and end is descriptive of Scarlet Witch Vol: 1 as a whole. Previous knowledge of the Scarlet is not required. The story provides you everything you need from the get-go, and it is not a lot: Wanda Maximoff is Scarlet Witch; she has a disembodied mentor called Agatha Harkness; Wanda is living with the sins of her past and she is ready to atone for them. Readers who find their way to the end of the volume are invited to continue journeying with Wanda into Volume 2, yet Robinson’s cohesive storytelling also allows readers to stop their journey at the final page, satisfied with what they read. Art The absolute best thing about Scarlet Witch Vol: 1 is the art. Every issue contains a different illustrator’s art. Each artist uses light, shadow, color, dimension, shapes, and even panels differently. However, none are bad; in fact, it is very difficult to pick out which is best as this will depend on the reader’s preferences. This shotgun approach of having different illustrators illustrate their own issue of a 5-issue arc serves two accomplishments: 1) First, it resonates with Robinson’s loose-anthology approach to Scarlet Witch Volume: 1 in that each issue can be treated as its own short story. 2) Second, it gives readers of different artistic preferences something to like. If a reader did not like the overuse of darkness in issue #1, that’s fine because more than likely that reader will like the bright colors of issue #5. Everyone will like something. While this shotgun approach is risky for sacrificing artistic consistency, I believe the risk was well worth it as each illustrator is no doubt talented in their given style. Scarlet Witch Volume: 1 Witches’ Road is a cohesive, fun story comprised of smaller cohesive, fun stories. Scarlet Witch fans will watch Wanda grow beyond the sins of her past. New fans who only know Wanda from the MCU will be treated to a fun time and may come to respect her comic book counterpart. Come for the Scarlet Witch; stay for the eye-catching artwork. If you enjoyed our Review of Scarlet Witch Vol 1: Witches’ Road then leave a comment or rating below. Join us on Discord, Twitter, Instagram etc – linktr.ee/BGCPComicCon [yasr_multiset setid=1] [yasr_visitor_multiset setid=1] Buy tickets for BGCP Comic Con in and around Glasgow Scotland – BUY TICKETS Check out all of our Comic, Movie, Television and Videogame Reviews HERE and our Podcasts/Interviews HERE

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Review – Suicide Squad #1

17th May 2021

Review – Suicide Squad #1 Publisher: DC Comics Writer: Robbie Thompson Artist: Eduardo Pansica Inker: Julio Ferreira Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo Letterist: Wes Abbott Release Date: March 2021 Let’s Begin: Ever since the feature film released in 2016, The Suicide Squad has changed into a completely new beast. The past 5 years has (for better or worse) been a unique half-decade for the team becoming more mainstream and emphasizing the importance of many crucial members of the team. Clearly, the series about a group of expendable D-list villains forced to work together on a covert black ops mission without knowing who would live or die at any moment had changed into something new. While Amanda Waller was still calling the shots, the members of the team seemed to become less and less expendable as they cemented themselves as permanent members of the team who were mainstream characters in the DC universe. Unlike the original conception of the series, there are clearly some characters that are untouchable. Everyone knows that Harley Quinn is going to make it to the end of the series…whether this is a negative thing or not depends on who you ask. However, one thing is for certain; The Suicide Squad has been something different. With a brand new movie by James Gunn coming this year, the Suicide Squad has the potential to enter a brand new era, and Robbie Thompson is looking to help make that happen. Guess Who’s Back: Waller’s back. And much to the dismay of Rick Flag, she has a crazy plan to turn the Suicide Squad into it’s most absolute form, Task Force Z. Amanda Waller sends Peacemaker and a few other obscure villains like Film Freak (yes, Film Freak) on a mission in Arkham Asylum to retrieve William Cobb, the Talon himself. While the Squad makes light work of the officers guarding the Asylum, Talon himself proves to be enough of a challenge on his own, as he seems to have forgotten who he is and is immediately hostile toward the team. Meanwhile, Rick Flag is clearly not a big fan of Waller’s secret plan, but Amanda isn’t having it so she electrocutes him and throws him in chains. It quickly becomes clear though that Flag isn’t the only one Waller has locked away, and the chains on this surprise prisoner definitely aren’t gonna be staying on for long. As we cut back to the Squad in Arkham Asylum, each member is dispatched one after the other by a release of Joker gas in the vicinity and the overflow of expendable guards trying to subdue them until only 2 remained. With Peacemaker and Talon retreating up flights of stairs with Asylum guards gaining from below and green toxins filling their only escape route, the two prepare to fight off the horde of officers quickly approaching as the issue comes to a close. Not Here To Show Off: The art in this book done by Eduardo Pansica is very good. The style complements the action focused storytelling by providing dynamic scenes that show the ability of the characters skills. The obscure villains utilized within are made to look powerful and cool despite their obscurity and quirkiness. The characters specifically are drawn with great detail and full page spreads are done very well. Overall, this is a clean art style for such a muddy and murky cast of characters. Some Kind Of Suicide Squad: Ultimately, this new Suicide Squad team is refreshing and intriguing enough to warrant your attention. I wasn’t going into this issue with much of any expectations, but this new set of squad members and whatever Waller has planned got me invested enough to want to continue reading the series. All of the characters seem like unique and sensible fits for the Squad with Peacemaker and Talon specifically peaking my interest to see where these characters are taken. The lack of any mainstay Suicide Squad members may throw off some fans of the series, but I think that is exactly what this series needed. The uniqueness of this story in comparison to recent storylines gives it a sense of unpredictability that a title like the Suicide Squad greatly benefits from. Every aspect of this issue seems to give off a unique energy different than what this title has had before. This year seems to be a big one for the Suicide Squad, and if you are looking forward to the upcoming movie or looking for a unique new title, this is a really solid first issue that should at least warrant picking up the next issue to see what happens next. [yasr_visitor_multiset setid=1] [yasr_multiset setid=1] Please don’t hesitate to leave a comment down below for our Review of Suicide Squad #1 and give us your rating of the comic if you’ve also read it. Join us on Discord, Instagram, Twitter etc – linktr.ee/BGCPComicCon Buy tickets for BGCP Comic Con in and around Glasgow Scotland – BUY TICKETS Check out all of our Comic, Movie, Television and Videogame Reviews HERE and our Podcasts/Interviews HERE

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Review – The Cloverfield Paradox

22nd December 2025

Remember That Time That An Out-Of-Nowhere Secret Movie Ruined The Entire Franchise? Review – The Cloverfield Paradox Directed by: Julius Onah Produced by: J.J. Abrams & Matt Reeves Written by: Oren Uziel Starring: Daniel Bruhl, David Oyelowo & Elizabeth Debicki Release Date: February 5th 2018 Right, quick disclaimer – this is going to be less of a review of The Cloverfield Paradox and more of a rant on how this movie ruins any Cloverfield movies going forward. In terms of reviewing this film, I actually don’t think that this film is as bad as most other people have been saying. There are actually some cool moments and neat ideas here, they just don’t really work when they are all put together like this movie tried to do. I liked the cast, I thought that the set was cool, I even enjoyed some of the more cheesy sci-fi clichés in the film, but the whole point of the first two Cloverfield movies is that these planet altering events aren’t explained. Even if you totally disregard the fact that this ‘explanation,’ actually makes no sense when you think about the timeline of the first movie’s events, half the fun of the first movie was trying to work out exactly wtf was going on, this half arsed attempt at explaining it just ruins any of that potential fun. Then, the second movie established that the ‘Cloverfield,’ label was more of an umbrella that went over these exciting sci-fi movies. Sure, it ties the movies together as a franchise, but there are no obvious links between the franchise entries and that’s ok. Think of the ‘Cloverfield,’ title as being similar to the ‘Twilight Zone.’ Not everything has to make sense and call back/forward to another entry in the franchise. The tenuous links we had in the other movies, like how it was mentioned in 10CL that Howard worked at a satellite company before building his underground bunker, was more than enough to constitute a link and spark the online fan theories, we didn’t need any more than that. Then there was all of the online marketing stuff involving Slusho and Tagruato, which was so clever and unique and elevated the first movie from being a mediocre monster flick to something intriguing and ripe for discussion. Now this movie comes along and claims that all of these events are interconnected, even though the events of of the previous two movies took place years before the events of Cloverfield Paradox. Then they think by showing us a huge version of Clover from the first movie at the end of Paradox just automatically makes everything okay? Why did they not just make this movie about a group of astronauts on a space station having some weird shit happening to them, (like the original script for this film was written,) and then call it Cloverfield: God Particle? (which was the movie’s original title.) They could have still had Stambler’s brother on the news at the start talking about how the crew’s mission is dangerous and that would be enough to link this to the other movies. Why they included the appearance of Clover at the end of Paradox and the other half arsed attempts to tie the other two movies into this one is beyond me. It is so unnecessary and defeats the whole point of the Cloverfield franchise as a whole. That is the reason I didn’t like this movie, not because of the movie itself. The film itself was ok, but what it tried to do in terms of connecting these movies was stupid and unnecessary and may have ruined any other Cloverfield movies going forward.

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Review – Harley Quinn Vol. 1

22nd December 2025

Review – Harley Quinn Vol. 1: Harley vs Apokolips Publisher: DC Comics Writers: Sam Humphries & Christopher Sebela Art:John Timms/Alisson BorgesMirka Andolfo/Max Raynor Colouring: Gabe Eltaeb Cover Artists: Guillem March & Tomeu Morey Release Date: 05 Dec 2018 “Harley Quinn is Back, Baby!” All Harley wanted was a dang vacation. Just some nice quiet “me time” in the small island country of Badhnisia, situated in the South China Sea. Sun, sea, sand and sanity. Is it too much to ask? Apparently, it is. Whisked to the scariest place in the known universe, Apokolips. Harley is given an offer she cannot refuse: join the Female Furies, get kick-ass powers and wreak havoc! This may very well turn out to be the best vacation ever. Tasked by Granny Goodness, Harley along with her new superpowers, must hunt down a rogue Fury by the name of Petite Tina. Sounds easy, right? Oh boy… this is a Harley Quinn story we’re talking about. Nothing is EVER easy. Turns out Petite Tina isn’t as “tiny” as her name suggests. Y’know what though? She’s a pretty sweet gal, despite being a soldier bred in the pits of Apokolips. Harley has a dilemma on her hands, take down Tina and hand her over to Granny Goodness or face the wrath of the Furies. Choices, choices. Harley Quinn Vol. 1: Harley vs Apokolips is the start of a new era for one of the most popular characters in comics. Collecting Harley Quinn #43-49, this series is packed with the Quinn craziness we all know and love, plus with tighter ties to the DC Universe. “Our Little Harley” To say I am a fan of Harley Quinn would be a bit of an understatement. I adore Harley Quinn. So, when this popped up to review I jumped at the chance. Issues 45 to 49 were fun to read. However, I struggled a little with Issues 43 and 44. Forty Nine connects perfectly to the last four issues as upon Harley’s return to Earth, she finds out her hideout/home is days away from being demolished and turned into condos. I understood that, and I enjoyed it. Forty Three and Forty Four is where I struggled. Taking place before Harley’s adventures in Apokolips, it sees her trying to figure out who is out to kill her. There was just one slight snag, it was all in her head. As a reader, following this, the story felt like a drag. Now, don’t get me wrong, Harley Quinn has forever been a kooky character. Much like Deadpool, she knows she’s part of a comic book so essentially “talks” to the reader. This is fun, this engages us as the reader. The problem is, and I’m unsure if this was intentional or perhaps just my version, but #43 and 44 were after #45-49 in the running order. I hadn’t noticed this the first time round, but upon looking back as I write this, they’re at the tale end. There’s even a little note from the comic’s editor saying it takes place before Apokolips, making the reader think perhaps this is a flashback. According to the run number, it is not. They are #43 and 44. Why they were placed at the back of the book I haven’t the foggiest. “Harley Love in Save The Last Dance” Despite this little snag, I really did enjoy the comic. Sam Humphries and Christopher Sebela certainly did justice to who Harley is as a person. She is constantly conflicted by wanting to do the right thing but, ultimately, all she wants to do is have fun. Harley can easily be swayed, especially by bad guys like Granny Goodness. She also has a child-like quality about her. John Timms, Alisson Borges, Mirka Andolfo, and Max Raynor are to be thanked for the art, which is genuinely beautiful. Touched up by Gabe Eltaeb’s colours, each page was just lovely to look at. I’d also like to give a shout-out to letterer, Dave Sharpe! If he’s the one who added all the colourful text to nuance what characters were saying, I doff tip my hat to thee! Very much 60’s style Batman. I honestly wanted a “ka-pow” to appear and then for there to be a break with Harley’s face circling in and out. There was also two little, old style comic pages within the novel itself that were akin to “Dennis the Menace” and “Archie” which I found lovely. They both credit an artist known simply as “M. Clatterbuck.” Upon researching, it appears that this mysterious artist has a bigger picture to play within the DC Universe. Hopefully I’ll be lucky enough to get a chance to read Harley Quinn #50 to find out. “Game Over” Overall, this comic was a wonderful journey from beginning to end despite the (possible) mishap of jumbled up issues. For anyone who is a Harley Quinn fan, if you haven’t already added this to your collection then I’d do so now! Ms. Quinn will forever by my favourite DC character and I can’t wait to read some more of her crazy adventures. Have you read this series? If so, tell us your thoughts below as well as give your own rating. You can also read about Harley’s ol’ Puddin himself, The Joker, here and here.

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Review – God of War: Fallen God #1

22nd December 2025

Review – God of War: Fallen God #1 Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Writer: Chris Roberson Artist: Tony Parker Colourist: Dan Jackson Letterer: Jimmy Betancourt Release Date: March 2021 I loved the recent God of War game on PS4, so I was eager to read #1 of God of War: Fallen God for review. The book is intended to fill in the gap following God of War 3, which saw Kratos kill the last of the Greek gods, ending with Zeus. When we pick back up with the Ghost of Sparta in God of War 2018, he is now in Midgard and battling gods and deities from Norse mythology. The Fallen God series is intended to fill the audience in on how exactly Kratos got from Olympus to Midgard. This first issue picks up shortly after the end of God of War 3 and the first half of the issue sees Kratos attempting to get rid of his Blades of Chaos to no avail. They seem to have an omnipresent hold over him and follow him wherever he goes. It works as a fairly blatant personification of his past not letting him go and constantly catching up with him. The second half of the issue follows Kratos getting further and further away from Mount Olympus and starting to hallucinate due to a lack of rest. These hallucinations consist of animals speaking to him in order to remind him that he can’t outrun destiny. This carries on until a shattered Kratos finally collapses at the end of the issue. This isn’t a first issue that contains a lot of action; in fact it contains no real action scenes whatsoever. I understand that the writers are attempting to take Kratos from the impulsive, super angry dude that we followed in the first three God of War games to the more contemplative, sombre version we see in God of War 2018. However, the idea that he goes immediately from an action packed god-killing adventure directly into this slow travellers tale is somewhat of an anti-climax. I don’t mind a slow burn, but when you’ve just come directly from the exciting climactic cutscene and the end of God of War 3 and go straight into this, it’s a fairly big step down. I was expecting to see a more violent Kratos in the first few issues that would slowly turn into the more circumspect and mature version of the character we see in God of War 2018. Instead Chris Roberson delivers a weird disconnect from the way that the character was written in the game that took place immediately before this issue chronologically. Also, a first issue is supposed to grab new readers and get them excited and onboard for what’s to come. A slow actionless issue such as this usually comes at around issue 4 or 5. Starting the series off with a slow-paced issue like this isn’t a great way to get new fans onboard. Additionally, if anyone happens to pick up this book that doesn’t happen to already be familiar with God of War lore, then all that you are going to take away from this is a boring 20 pages of a guy wandering the desert and slowly going mad. The art is decent though, Tony Parker’s pencils and inks manage to capture the look and feel of the landscapes that we see in the earlier God of War games and Kratos is drawn accurately as well. There aren’t any stand out pages that come to mind that really left me awestruck though, but every panel is perfectly serviceable. The colours are nice enough and the lettering is decent but again, nothing mind-blowing. Overall, I am pretty disappointed after reading the first issue of God of War: Fallen God for review. Not enough engaging elements are present to really hook the reader. It takes a lot to make a character like Kratos boring, yet somehow Chris Roberson has managed it here. This is one to skip whether you are a God of War aficionado or not, hopefully the series will pick up a bit as it progresses.

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A Case For Venom: As Bad As You Remember?

19th January 2026

Review – Venom (2018) Directed by: Ruben Fleischer Produced by: Avi Arad, Tom Hardy & Stan Lee Written by: Jeff Pinker & Scott Rosenberg Starring: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams & Riz Ahmed Release Date: October 3rd 2018 (UK) I shouldn’t have enjoyed revisiting Venom for review anywhere near as much as I did. I remember when the film first came out not being on-board with it at all going in. I wasn’t interested in a Spiderman-less Spiderman universe and the trailers didn’t exactly sell me on it either. It looked like they were messing with the origin of Venom too much and the action set pieces didn’t look too impressive. Then there was the fact that the review embargo was only lifted a day before the movie’s release, then there were the terrible reviews. All of this led to me going into the film with a morbid curiosity and expecting a total mess. However, I am happy to report that after I saw Venom for the first time, it actually really pleasantly surprised me and I had a ton of fun with it and I even had fun whilst re-watching it a second for this review! When I heard that Tom Hardy was playing Eddie Brock, I was really gutted because I think that he would have been the perfect choice for the MCU’s Wolverine. I also thought that this was going to be a mistake in terms of Hardy’s career; out of all of the superhero movies he could have been a part of, he chose Venom? I was happy to be proven wrong, Hardy was great in both his role as Eddie Brock and as Venom. He was funny, scary and heartfelt at all the right moments and it always looked like he was having a good time whilst playing the character. This movie did remind me a lot of Upgrade, which was also a Sci-fi movie released in 2018 with a protagonist who gains a voice in his head and extraordinary powers that he doesn’t have any control over. Coincidentally Tom Hardy also looks strikingly similar to the lead actor in Upgrade; Logan-Marshall Green. If I had to compare the two movies, I personally preferred Upgrade, but I still had a lot of fun with both of them. And that’s the best thing about this movie, it is fun. Sure, it’s not a comic book accurate Venom origin and it’s not directly connected to the MCU’s Spiderman and it’s not up to snuff compared to any of the recent entries in the MCU, but it is a ton of fun to watch this violent alien join forces with a witty, down on his luck reporter and wreak havoc across a city. I’m going to drop a few spoilers going forward, so if you have yet to see the movie, you should probably click away now. The thing that was really bothering me during the opening of the movie was; why is this story taking place in San Francisco? Eddie Brock is a New Yorker, not a San Franciscan. Then they addressed that issue and explained that he had moved away from New York. It was only a brief, throwaway line, but they didn’t have to bother including it and I appreciate that they did. I also really enjoyed the brief appearance of She-Venom. Sure, the odds that this symbiote that rejects almost every human host that it comes into contact with, just happens to bond perfectly with both parties in this couple, is a bit of a stretch. However, this is a comic book movie about an alien symbiote, so I’m willing to accept a few stretches in the movie’s logic. Lastly I like the fact that they teased Carnage in the post credits tease and I am glad that they got Woody Harrelson to play him, as he is one of my favourite actors… but my God he looked really dumb in that red wig, like almost parody bad. It is still just as jarring on a second viewing. Overall, although I had extremely low expectations going into Venom, it exceeded them by a great deal. Sure, it’s not Infinity War or Endgame and it’s not even Spiderman: Far From Home, but it is a lot of fun and there is definitely a good amount of enjoyment to be had in Venom.

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Review – Pride of Baghdad

22nd December 2025

Review – Pride of Baghdad Written by: Brian K Vaughan Art by: Niko Henrichon Lettered by: Todd Klein Release Date: September 2006 Introduction Pride of Baghdad is a Vertigo title by Brian K Vaughan and Niko Henrichon. Niko is known for a lot of cover work for Marvel and DC. BKV is known for his work on Lost, Saga, and Y The Last man, among other titles. Published in the mid-2000s, Pride of Baghdad came out at a time when the Vertigo logo was almost always a sign of a fantastic book. Pride of Baghdad was printed as a complete volume, as opposed to the more traditional serialized format. The creators based Pride of Baghdad on a true story of lions who escaped the Baghdad Zoo during the Iraq War in 2003, specifically an American bombing during the Fall of Baghdad. While initially rooted in truth, the story told about these four lions is ultimately a fictionalized story of four anthropomorphized lions. A beautiful book, Pride of Baghdad offers us a rare setting and a unique story. Review – Pride of Baghdad continues below Story The story is simple, our four lions leave the zoo after the bombing and explore their freedom. Our lead characters and their interactions with the world are where the writing shines. You’re offered a variety of perspectives and personality types. Each member of the pride stands out, from the hopeful revolutionary, to the jaded elder looking to live out their days peacefully. The group really feels like a family that has lived together for a while too. I’m always a little skeptical when folks write with anthropomorphic characters. It’s important that we remember how brutal nature can be. Pride of Baghdad balances that very well. It’s obviously a story written by humans but it doesn’t humanize every aspect of nature. The mating rituals of lions are portrayed as normal for them, but with just enough human sadness. They ultimately act more like animals than humans, and that’s the key. On its surface the writing can be enjoyed as a family of animals trying to survive, or you can look beneath the layers to mine the interesting ideas. It also wasn’t until my second or third read that I truly understood the allegory. At first I thought Pride of Baghdad was just about discussing zoos, and missed the deeper discussion. This made me like the book even more. Even then, the perspectives are balanced and the story doesn’t tell you how to feel, it just offers questions. The journey is thoughtful and the ending poignant. The book gives you so much to think about, if you want it. However, it’s subtle enough that you don’t feel bludgeoned if you just want to read a pretty book. Art The highest compliment I can pay to this gorgeous artwork is that you could pull all of the speech bubbles from the comic and it would still be an incredible read. Pride of Baghdad is a book where every page is used to tell the story and the art carries so much of that story. Even the pages used for credits or to end the book lend themselves to the story in subtle ways. The artist really balances the natural look of the animals with just enough humanized emoting that you can follow their feelings. It’s a tricky balance to pull off but Niko nails it. They’re given just enough emotion that you can read the book without dialogue and still understand them. Fajer is, perhaps, the most exaggerated of the animals, but you look past it because he’s just terrifying to look at and it works. The art in Pride of Baghdad leans on reds, yellows, and oranges, which works given its locale, but it never feels same-y. There’s a depth to the use of color that I find irresistible. On its surface I don’t think to call the book colorful but flipping through the pages you realize just how rich and diverse the colors are. In the wrong hands you could see someone trying to make the art look more cartoony. Overall I did review The Deluxe Edition, so it’s worth mentioning the additional content. If you like this book, the deluxe edition is worth it. I would buy an Absolute of this, if I could. In the Deluxe Edition, you get a bunch of early text and artwork for the book, which is a nice bonus. They printed the proposal for the book, and an outline, which gives some interesting insight to the writing process. There’s lots of sketch and pencil work to comb through, too, if you’re as fascinated by the process of drawing animals as I am. It might sound like I’m in love with this book, and that’s because I am. It’s a perfect book, in my eyes. Pride of Baghdad truly shows the potential of comics. It’s one of those books you give to people who are unfamiliar with comics. I’ve handed it off to many folks who want to try reading comics, but I know they wouldn’t respond to standard fare. It’s also often the first book I hand off to expose someone to Brian K Vaughn for the first time. Pride of Baghdad is a story that belongs in comics and lends itself to the art form. There’s no need to see it adapted or transformed. It’s mature without being explicit, and serious while still being entertaining. The art is gorgeous and the pacing is perfect. The ending is brutal, poignant, and appropriate for the setting. When I say that, I mean both the end of the story of the Pride, as well as the final words of the book. “There were other casualties as well.” Every time I finish Pride of Baghdad, my eyes burn a little. It’s a book I’ll never forget and can’t recommend enough. If you enjoyed our review of Pride of Baghdad then leave a comment or leave your own rating below.

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Review – Aquaman (2018)

22nd December 2025

Review – Aquaman (2018) Directed by: James Wan Produced by: Geoff Johns & Zack Snyder Written by: Geoff Johns & James Wan Starring: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard & Willem Dafoe Release Date: September 12th 2018 (UK) Re-watching Aquaman for review was the first time that I have seen it since seeing it in the cinema upon its release. When going to see it for the first time, I remember being quite excited for the movie after hearing the glowing reviews and praise it got at the time. I am also a fan of Jason Momoa and James Wan, so I was really hoping for this to be at least as good as Wonder Woman. Also, being a long time fan of DC Comics, I also hoped to see them find their footing cinematically and I thought that this could finally be the start of that. Unfortunately I left the cinema feeling pretty underwhelmed and not much has changed since then. The movie opens by telling the story of how Aquaman’s parents came to meet and fall in love, even though they are from vastly different worlds. This whole sequence is brilliant and I was totally on-board for what was to come afterwards. Sadly, this opening sequence is by far the best part of the entire movie. From this point on it descends into a mediocre action adventure flick with story elements very reminiscent of Thor and Black Panther, (two movies that are vastly superior to this one.) From a direction standpoint, it is clear that James Wan knows how to visually capture a scene in the most beautiful and intriguing way possible, which is especially evident during the trench sequence. His direction during all of the action sequences is great, with Nicole Kidman’s trident work in the opening scene and the rooftop sequence with Black Manta, Mera and Aquaman being the highlights. I don’t think that my issue with this movie is due to the direction lacking in any aspect. The only questionable choice in my opinion, was the choice to shoot the big Black Manta scene in broad daylight. It just looked slightly naff and would have came across much better if shot in darker conditions under the cover of night. Nor do I think that it is the fault of any of the cast members. I think that Momoa does a great job in the title role and he looks incredible in the full on Aquaman suit, (which I don’t think many other actors could legitimately pull off.) I think that Patrick Wilson did a decent job as the evil slightly cheesy power hungry half brother of Aquaman. I also enjoyed Willem Dafoe, Dolph Lundgren and Nicole Kidman in each of their scenes. I think that the major culprit in this movie, – feeling a bit forced at times, – was the lazy script that the actors had to work with. Almost every scene plays out in the exact same way; with the characters that we are following turning up to a new location, meeting up with a character, (usually Willem Dafoe,) listening to them spout a bunch of expositional dialogue and then mid sentence bad guys will attack and an explosion will go off cutting the conversation short. Then we will get a well shot action sequence with super dynamic cinematography, then the characters will figure out where they need to go next, they will go to the next location and the process will be rinsed and repeated for the duration of the movie. Overall, Aquaman is not a bad superhero movie, there is a lot of fun to be had here with the badass action sequences. Unfortunately the lazy script holds the movie back from being as good as the glowing reviews told me it would be and it is by no means the best of the DC solo movies. PS. Although I don’t think that the movie in general was up to the highest level of quality, the CGI is objectively breath-taking in every scene and I totally agreed with James Wan that it was nothing short of an atrocity that the SFX team on this movie were snubbed for the 2019 Oscars ceremony.

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Review – Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham

22nd December 2025

Review – Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham Publisher: DC Comics Writer: Mike Mignola & Richard Pace Penciller: Troy Nixey Inker: Dennis Janke Colourist: Dave Stewart Letterer: Bill Oakley Release Date: November 2000 – January 2001 I was looking forward to reading Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham for review, as it is an Elseworlds story that I had been meaning to get around to reading for a while now. It is written by the brilliant mind that created Hellboy and it mixes Batman lore with the themes of H.P Lovecraft, – what’s not to love? This should have been an easy homerun success for DC, but unfortunately it is not. The plot sets up Bruce Wayne as an explorer, sailing his ship across the seas for the last 20 years with the Robins as his shipmates, he then returns to a 1920’s themed Gotham City. I actually enjoyed the eerie setup that the first few pages of the book delivers, unfortunately this is the plot’s high point. As soon as Bruce appears as Batman, the story seems to lose its way. The setup for why Bruce dresses as a bat is clumsy and unclear, much like the portrayal we get of Batman throughout this book. He is sloppy and carries a gun, which he never even uses to any actual effect. He also never feels competent in any given situation, instead it just feels like he happens to be in the right spot at the right time during action sequences or we would have easily been killed. He spends this whole book getting lucky and scraping victory through no real doing of his own. In terms of the dialogue, my God this is a boring Batman! He says nothing of any real interest through the whole book and has the personality of a wooden board. The dialogue in general is largely expositional and never seems to flow naturally, instead feeling shoehorned in. After the opening act of Wayne coming back to Gotham, the rest of the book seems to drag on a fair bit before anything else happens of any great significance. To the point that it took me several sittings to even get through the book and honestly, if I didn’t have to finish reading through it for the sake of this review, I would have put it down and moved onto something else more engaging. It also doesn’t help in terms of focus that so many flashbacks and cryptic metaphors are used throughout the story. I realise that these techniques may have been employed to pay homage to the Lovecraftian style that this book is clearly going for. However, there is an extended flashback sequence that takes place from page 106 to page 114 that feels very aimless and frankly unnecessary to the plot. One glimpse of hope was when (SPOILER) Jason Todd and Dick Grayson are unceremoniously killed and it seems like one positive of this book is that it doesn’t need to adhere to regular continuity, so no one is safe. Afterwards I was eager to see Bruce’s reaction to finding out that two of his crewmates and adopted sons are dead but instead of seeing any significant grief or loss from Bruce, we instead get one page that shows a couple of frames of him saying goodbye to the Robins at their graveside. It feels like Bruce takes their death rather lightly and nonchalantly fails to bring them up again through the entire rest of the book. Frankly, the artwork in this book is hard to look at, – and not in the right ways. Upon seeing the first few panels, I thought it was interesting that they had chosen not to make Bruce Wayne as traditionally handsome as he is usually drawn. Then I got a few more pages in and realised that all of the faces are drawn to be extremely ugly and hard to look at. I don’t know if that is because Troy Nixey struggles with drawing faces as I am not aware of his other work, or if it is a stylistic choice, or if it is because they were very obviously trying to recreate the style of Mike Mignola. Regardless of the reason for this, it is extremely noticeable and distracting as you are reading through the book. I also hated the design of the Batsuit in this story. The Batsuit is supposed to be menacing and strike fear into criminals, the suit seen in this story isn’t menacing in the slightest. It looks baggy and too big for Bruce to fill it out, this makes Batman look pretty weak and wimpy, especially when paired with the fact that he has to carry a gun to defend himself. Just when you start to get over how pathetic and unthreatening Batman looks in this story, the book manages to one-up itself in terms of ludicrous absurdity. When Batman goes to the graveside of the two dead Robins, he is wearing his full Batsuit in broad daylight, with a trench coat over the top of it. It is genuinely one of the most laughably ridiculous things I’ve ever seen in a Batman comic and that is really saying something. I also found the book’s final battle to be a confusing mess narratively and the art really didn’t help matters. The weird environmental artwork, mixed with the off-putting character design of the literal Bat-Man that Bruce turns into, along with the weird colour choices just makes the whole thing a nightmare to look at. It results in the reader having a difficult time following the action and ends up just being a cluttered panel of awkward characters designs. Overall, I came away pretty disappointed after reading Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham for review. It does not live up to the pedigree of Mike Mignola or the literary influencers that it clearly borrows from. This book could have been great, but sadly it is one to skip

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Review – Marvel’s Spider-Man

22nd December 2025

Review – Marvel’s Spider-Man Developer: Insomniac Games Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment Genre: Action-Adventure Director: Brian Horton Release Date: September 7th 2018 Getting to go back and review Marvel’s Spider-man was a dream. I had a great time revisiting one of the biggest games of 2018. Developed by Insomniac Games and following an original story, – not tied in to the any MCU movie, – this release was the most exciting superhero game since the Arkham series for a lot of people. Thankfully, Insomniac did manage to deliver a brilliant game, but not quite a perfect one. The game’s opening fantastically sets up the tone and energy of what’s to follow and it’s probably one of the best video game openings I have ever played in that respect. Once the rush and momentum of that first mission wears off, you are introduced to the open world that you will be exploring for the next 20 or so hours. Manhattan does look good here, possibly the best it ever had done in a game up until this point . Landmarks like the Empire State Building and Madison Square Garden are rendered extremely accurately to their real life counterparts. The stuff that they chose to include in the game’s version of Manhattan is great, but the issue is all of the parts that they left out. Battery Park is has halved in size, the One World Trade Centre has changed shape and everything above mid Harlem has vanished, making the district feel stumpy. Hopefully some of this stuff is amended for the sequel, along with the addition of at least a couple of the other boroughs. Although the environment looks good graphically, as do Spidey’s various suits that can be unlocked during the game, the human character models aren’t the best and are fairly ugly when compared to character models in other 2018 games such as God of War, Red Dead 2 and Detroit: Become Human. Usually, in cutscenes etc, the game presents these character models well enough that it isn’t too noticeable, but there were a good few times during gameplay that I would catch a glimpse of MJ’s or Miles’ weird faces and scratch my head wondering why they don’t look better. And don’t even get me started on the changed Peter face in the PS5 version of the game where he now looks like MJ’s little brother rather than her ex-boyfriend. A few other reviews of this game make a point of complaining about the orchestral score that plays in the background as you swing around the city, but I personally really enjoyed it and it made me feel even more like a superhero than I already do when swinging through the middle of Times Square. I felt that all of the musical choices were well implemented and matched the story beats aptly to add impact in the right places. The web swinging mechanic in this game is extremely satisfying and comes out on top of any other Spider-man game’s web swinging system previous to this. Again, it’s not flawless, there are moments that it will frustrate you and you will web to the opposite side of what you were aiming for. Also, for some reason the wall crawling mechanic is really slow and finicky and can often break the fast paced momentum of the web swinging/zipping/wall running combo that you have going. Most of the time though, it works fantastically and feels extremely fluid and immersive and it was probably one of the most satisfying game mechanics of 2018, along with Kratos’ axe in GOW. Overall, Marvel’s Spider-man is great, but not perfect. There is definitely room for improvement, but this could be the start of a potentially incredible series of Marvel superhero games and hopefully the sequel, (that Insomniac is undoubtedly working on following the release of the Miles Morales spin-off,) can improve on some of the flaws present in this game and deliver something incredible.

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