Andy Diggle

I admit: I have no clue who the Thunderbolts are and I'd never read Deadpool before, though I'm familiar with his character just by being a Marvel fan. I decided to read all the Dark Reign trades, and this popped up on my radar. And I loved it.

I started with Deadpool, Vol. 2: Dark Reign, which provides a paragraph recapping this trade about halfway through. So, I stopped that book to read this one. Happily, readers don't need to know who the Thunderbolts are (or even read the other trade) show more because this book can stand alone. Readers should be familiar with the overarching story of Dark Reign, and Norman Osborn being in power, but beyond that, Deadpool himself recaps how he got where he is on the first page. Essentially, Deadpool thinks Osborn owes him money, and Norman has been trying to have him killed. The other trade covers Tiger Shark and Bullseye's attempts, and the two trades really should've been combined into one collection. However, both are worth purchasing.

After getting over the initial shock, because it is unlike any other comic I have ever read, I found Deadpool to be hysterically funny, unbelievably violent, and overall an amazing character. Some of the dialog was lost on me until I figured out Deadpool was having two-sided conversations- between him and his brain. Even other characters didn't know if he was speaking to them! Plus, I loved Deadpool's flirting with the [evil] Black Widow; it was raunchy and hilarious. This trade is not essential to Dark Reign continuity but it is a fantastic story that is well worth reading.

Overall, I think I'm hooked on Deadpool and will definitely be reading more. I wouldn't recommend this for young readers because it is extremely violent, even gory at times, and Deadpool is not strictly a hero. He can and will commit murder. But for adults, Deadpool is an experience every comic reader should try! show less

“Beware your enemy once, but your friend a thousand times. For a friend knows what hurts you.”

Cold, calculating, glib. That’s how I like my 007, and that’s how he is in this book. I really enjoyed this book, with Bond taking on Kraken and trying to disrupt a nuclear heist and a corrupt arms race. Well drawn, well paced, and fun to read! I definitely would like to read more in this series!

"For the defence of the realm..."

Not a joyride in the traditional sense, but a spiritual one for the Constantine storyline. Constantine runs into a group of absolute butters who seem to think that it's a good idea t take revenge for people by putting their conscious' into the perpetrators' bodies (basic astral projection with body-occupying capabilities) and making them commit attrocious crimes that harm themselves. Taking vigilante justice is one thing, but wouldn't it just be easier to possess the bad guys and make them show more confess? This is exactly what Constantine gets uptight with, and his concerns are amplified when he discovers that they also have plans to use their negative energy to kill the Earth. Very odd, for sure, so I'm pretty sure that their story isn't quite over yet. show less

For the first three chapters, this is classic Doctor Who: the Doctor and Clara (yay!) end up in an infinite sky, where they fall in with the crew of a British bomber from World War II. It's a very cool, sprawling world, and it's very fun-- thanks especially to the art of Andy Kuhn, who eschews dull tie-in realism for a more cartoony style to good effect. His Clara Oswald may not look like Jenna-Louise Coleman, but she does look like Clara. There are a lot of cool visuals and neat ideas here, show more plus dogfights, and what's more exciting than that?

It all crashes down in chapter four, though, when it's revealed who's behind it all-- tying back in to Andy Diggle's first story in The Hypothetical Gentleman. (The book credits Andy Diggle and Eddie Robson with writing; I'd guess Eddie Robson scripted it from a plot by Diggle, whose presence on the book has been inconsistent at best.) Unfortunately, it's a maniacally evil Matrix, having escaped the destruction of Gallifrey. There's potential here-- the Doctor vs. the dead memories of his race-- but it comes across as an excuse for continuity (there are tie-ins to The Deadly Assassin, The End of Time, and "The Day of the Doctor") and really it could be the Doctor fighting any evil robot spider. I really like Eddie Robson as a writer, but this final chapter does not play to his strengths.

Finally, there's a short tale by Len Wein and Matthew Dow Smith: "In-Fez-Station!" The Doctor, Amy, and Rory fight the Slitheen while wearing fezes at the Fez Music Festival in Fez, Morocco. It's fun. show less