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Excited for London Super Comic Con this Sunday!

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Nightwing The Series [Fan Made]

I want to share with you all this really cool fan made Nightwing series currently doing the rounds on YouTube, while fan made the production is high and pretty slick showing just how good a Nightwing series could be DC decided to go ahead and create one themselves to go alongside their already sterling line up of TV.

Check out the first episode "Deathstroke" here...

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GEEKY COMICS – EXPOSED ISSUES 1 & 2

Continuing on with my trend of reviewing indie comics of all shapes and sizes this time out I am looking at a publisher that embodies the true spirit of indie comics, I’m talking about a good old fashioned comic publisher that goes by the name of Geeky Comics.

I discovered Geeky Comics at NICE-CON 14 last weekend where I met creator and writer Victor Wright who introduced me to his array of various comics with great enthusiasm. I could tell from the off that Victor is extremely passionate about his craft. I decided to have a dabble with Geeky and picked up the first two issues of “Exposed” which tells the story of Allied troops during the D-Day invasion of Europe stumbling across a terrifying Nazi plot to create an army of super soldiers. Now I know what a lot of you will be thinking now, that this story has been done before in most media formats but what drew me into Exposed was the combination of a dark and forbidding feel and a B-Movie charm that Victor and artist Nino Cajayon have created.

Right from the start of book one there is a sense of darkness and a deeply sinister atmosphere nicely brought to life by Cajayon’s beautiful artwork. Both the attention to detail and his shading skills are staggering and a joy to behold. The story introduces us to a group of Allied soldiers who land on the hellish beaches of Normandy during the allied invasion of Nazi occupied Europe. The story doesn’t waste time throwing us into the action as the soldiers clamber their way up the beach to cover but if they thought that was bad they were in for a huge surprise for when the group find refuge in cave all hell brakes lose. I won’t spoil too much but the soldiers discover a horrific Nazi programme they think will guarantee them victory in the war. It is the horror elements Wright employs here that separates Exposed from other stories of a similar style.

With brutal battles, soul eating decisions, an underpinning story line on the home front and a quality “against all odds” situation already packed into the first two issues I can’t wait to see where Issue three takes us.

To find out more about Victor, Nino and the other guys who help bring Geeky Comics to life check out http://www.geekycomics.com/ and pick up and issue or two from their store.

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Neil Gibson's Tabatha Review

Tabatha, the latest offering from the mind of Neil Gibson is a four part mini series that tells the tale of what happens to four enterprising youths who get caught on the wrong side of a twisted mind.

The story opens with some light humor which carries on throughout even through some of the darker scenes with the characters almost making light of their predicament. Caspar Wijngaard's art is somehow animated yet realistic in it's tones, sleek and well detailed, his Splash pages instantly draw you in. You find yourself drinking in the artwork long after you've read the dialogue. Despite it's light hearted opening however the story soon takes a creepy turn that one who is familiar with Gibson's work would expect.

The main crucible of where the story takes place, a basement if horrors is littered with neat little pop culture references, the villain who operates this room gives off a strong B-Movie vibe in his madness and his plans would not seem out of place in a classic black and white horror flick. The four characters this depraved individual subjects to torture may have started out on the wrong side of the law but you soon find yourself rooting for them despite their backgrounds this is aided by being witness to how the antagonist sees the world around him through rose tinted glasses, seeing it through his eyes explains the motive behind his insane plans. Even more of the villains depravity is explained when we see his steady decline into insanity, from well to do loner to terrifying mad man in a matter of pages.

Tabatha is as enjoyable as any popular horror movie and is a key instrument in Neil Gibson's mission to get comics out to a wider audience and show people there is more to the format than spandex and superheroes, his quest to have comics accepted on a wider scale is only helped by great works of art such as this.

Tabatha will hit store shelves in November, for more info on Tabatha, T-Pub and Neil Gibson check out http://www.neilgibsoncomics.com/

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London Super Comic Con write up

LSCC Sunday 16/03/14

I headed to LSCC with a couple of things in mind that I wanted to check out, now I'm not one to sit through panels I prefer to walk the floor and chat with the creators and publishers, the guys on the front line (plus I can catch any panel on line at any time).

LSCC had a lot on offer and I mean a LOT! There were tons of British indie creators and publishers selling their wares and that's where we began our day. We stopped by Art Heroes stall and had a chat with the guys, writer Dan Clifford and Artist Lee Robinson were promoting their book Halcyon & Tenderfoot. The guys were absolutely fantastic to talk too and promoted their book expertly, a non intentional sales stunt that saw punters stamping the Art Heroes logo on the bags after purchase was an amusing conversation point. Halcyon & Tenderfoot is currently up to issue #4 is tagged as "Not another crime fighting duo" and is aimed at all readers, it's tongue in cheek take on superheroes and cartoonist art style sees it appeal to both indie fans and young readers alike. The guys were kind enough to sign and personalise each issue. If you want to check them out head over to www.artheroes.co.uk

Next up we met Sam Read who talked us through his book Exit Generation #1 who has had previous work published by Grayhaven Comics and Dead Roots, again a really nice guy more than happy to talk us through his crazy Sci-Fi adventure book resulting in a sale. Sam too signed his book, I haven't read through it just yet but Exit Generation has just kicked off and you can find more out at samreadwrites.com Alongside Sam was Colin Bell promoting Dungeon Fun, Colin was rather busy at the time we picked up his book but he was able to spare a second to sign it and thank us for the purchase, you can find him on twitter @colinbell

We moved around nearly all the stalls we could reach, I'm going to have a little moan here and say that I cannot stand it when you approach a creator's stall who is not busy with another person and is not furiously sketching a commission but just sat reading or watching the crowds and they ignore you, maybe they will make eye contact and flash a quick smile but that will be it. I find it a shame a creator who has put blood sweat and tears into a book cannot or will not talk me through it, these are indie guy's the likelihood is I haven't heard of you or your book so a chat about what the project is would be great and more than likely result in sale. I don't want to rant but I find it a little rude and quite frankly if you can't be bothered to acknowledge a potential customer then I am unlikely to want to buy your book.

Anyway moving on we met Welsh creator Stephen Wainwright who introduced us to his LBGT comic project called The Pride. Stephen's vision for The Pride is for it to grow into a well known and well accepted LBGT title, he explained it was being embraced well by the weekend's crowd which is positive to hear, in today's world to create a openly gay super hero book is a bold move and should be celebrated and welcomed. I haven't gotten around to reading The Pride #1 yet but you can find more on Facebook (search ThePrideComic) and on Twitter @ThePrideComic.

Moving on we paid a visit to the Subversive Comics stall to look at a title I have wanted to read for a while now "Bearlands" a crazy bloody Teddy Bear zombie apocalypse story, I picked up issues 1 to 3 (they had sold out of the new issue #4). Creator Jeremy Biggs was popular and happily signed each issue and entered all his customers in a prize drawn to win a very cool undead teddy bear.

Walking past one stall we were asked the question "Do you like Aliens?", "Of course!" I replied only to then be asked if we had ever heard of a Alien Sports Adventure comic, of course we hadn't that sounds insane, however it's exactly what writer Jack RB Kirby and artist Mat Barnett have done with "Alien in the Outfield" the tale of a Alien who crash lands on Earth, needing to blend in he takes up a position in local Baseball team the Roswell Rockets, the book is absolutely insane, very witty and of course unique beyond words. Check out more at alienintheoutfield.com

We stopped by the lovely Kate Ashwin's table to see what she had on offer, she excitedly walked us through her self contained set of stories "Widdershins" set in Victorian England which follows the adventures of failed wizard Sidney Malik and chain smoking bounty hunter Harriet Barber, the art style is beautiful and the book very very creative, check out more at widdershincomic.com which is updated three times a week and is free to read! Kate was also kind enough to sign our copy.

Well know creator Neil Gibson was on hand with the T Pub guys promoting his graphic novel series "Twisted Dark", Neil had set a challenge to anyone who came to his table, read the first two stories of Twisted Dark and not want to buy the book, according to Neil only one person all day had gone away empty handed which says a lot when you consider the white board constantly updated with the number of sales was well into the two hundreds at this time and the T Pub guys had just cracked open the last box of Volume One. I too read the first two tales and brought Volume One, Neil's dark and (wait for it) twisted stories suck you in and you simply crave more. Neil signed our copy and was a really nice guy to chat too, find him at neilgibsoncomics.com

All your expected vendor stalls were in attendance including Diamond, 200AD, Orbital Comics, Forbidden Planet, Scott's Collectables, Boom! Studios (along with Kaboom!), IDW, Midtown Comics, A Place In Space, and loads more.

My personal highlight of the entire con was meeting David Lloyd and having a sketch done by him in the front cover of my copy of V for Vendetta, I was in fanboy heaven, David is a awesome guy and we chatted for a while, he was there with his team from Aces Weekly which you can subscribe to from just £6.99 a week at acesweekly.co.uk

Overall a really good day at LSCC, already stoked for next year!

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Excited excited excited....

So I haven't made a blog here for a while but I received a very exciting package the other day, all 3 issues of Marvel & Soleil's Universal War 1 including issue one's variant edition. I have been stoked to read this for a long time, for those of you who don't know Universal War 1 was a joint project which saw Marvel team up with French comic house Soleil (A powerhouse on the Euro comic scene) to produce their most popular lines in English and release them in the US and UK, Universal War 1 was just one of them.

UW1 is a sprawling Space Opera told over three issues, the official CV plot tag is.... "Nearly 100 years in the future, the many planets of the solar system find themselves caught in the middle of a civil war. In the midst of everything a gigantic black wall separates the solar system in two, absorbing all light and matter! The universe's last hope is a band of soldiers facing court martial"

I am huge fan of seventies and eighties science fiction and the art style and plot line of this series is right up my street so I am extremely excited to check this out!

If you need me I will be grinning behind issue one in the corner....

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Francesco Francavilla's Batman 1972

Back in May CBR posted some images created by Francesco Francavilla depicting batman in an early 70's exploitation style. Now they have unearthed some more, these are absolutely fantastic in my opinion and I would definitely read Batman 1972 if it was an actual book. Check them out below if you haven't already seen them.

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Check out Francesco's blog and CBR for more of these great images at the below links

Link 1

Link 2

Francesco's Blog

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Gravity Review

What to say about Gravity? This film was the first I have seen in recent years that has left me excited for others to see. I want my friends and family to experience this and enjoy the experience the way I did, to me that's a rare thing for cinema to pull off.

Gravity is both visually stunning and emotionally touching. I challenge anyone to go and see this film and NOT feel some connection to the characters. What we see if the most hopeless and terrifying event imaginable happen to an inexperienced astronaut alongside a veteran, an event so catastrophic it leaves both as helpless as each other. The fact that the film is rooted in real world technology along with from what I understand is correct science makes it all the more terrifying that their situation is realistic.

The sound of the film is superb, silence and dialogue is how I would describe it, no silly Hollywood explosions in space or overly dramatic music to be found. The visuals (4K Digital) are beautiful and I can't wait to grab the DVD to see just how they created it. I found I wasn't scared of the film but I was terrified for the characters which again is something very special for me from a film. Every detail is perfect from the light from the sun to the materials of the space station down to the way the characters grip at nothing as they tumble around perfectly mimicking real natural body reactions.

Going in I had heard that the entire film was one scene which is true, this works very well, it never once breaks focus giving the audience the sense of closeness that other films don't. Throughout the film I found myself more than once literally gripping the arms of my seat and my partner continuously gripping my hand, Gravity is quite simply the most intense and literally gripping film I have seen in many years.

In short, Gravity is well worth cinema prices and more than worthy of it's brilliant scores and ratings. I urge everyone to go and see this film as soon as they can.

5/5

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Movie Review - The Dead (2010)

Since watching this I have learnt that a follow up is due for release this year under the title The Dead 2: India.

Since it close to Halloween I thought I'd review some trashy horrors in the run up to my planned Halloween movie fest. Let's start with THE DEAD

The Dead as you may have guessed is a low budget zombie movie from the Ford Brothers (whoever they are). I went into this film thinking it was going to be another terrible zombie flick based on every other zombie flick like so many that have shuffled off the production line in recent years, as as it was made in 2010 at the height of the zombie comeback my expectations were only cemented further.

I'm pleased to say I was a little surprised when the film turned out to not be as bad as expected. The plot is basic and easy enough to follow as we undergo a journey with a flight LT from a cashed USAF evacuation flight out of Africa after the dead begin to rise and attack the living. The flight LT is washed up on a beach and left to fend for himself. On his journey he meets a young African solider who has returned home admist the apocalypse to find he wife dying and his son taken by the retreating military forces, the team up to take on The Dead! While the plot is fairly solid as far as these films go I would have liked a little bit of background of the two main characters, we don't learn much more than their names, professions and basic drive.

The entire film has very little dialogue and at times entire scenes roll by without anyone saying a word. The zombies are too very quiet, they don't scream, they don't growl and they don't moan, they just shuffle around in old fashioned zombie style (think Night of the Living Dead) with blank expressions and far away stares ad ironically they all seem a little too subdued.

A good chunk of the film sees the LT simply wondering the barren African planes taking out the undead with perfect head shots, while this is very repetitive it does showcase the films surprising special effects which are superb considering the small budget so seeing the same basic scene over and over isn't that bad.

The Dead has a number of pros amongst some of it's low budget cliches and the fact it's shot on location in Africa is definitely one of them, too many films today (Hollywood I'm looking at you) are shot somewhere completely different to where they are supposed to be based, this I personally feel takes something away from the film so to see this film shot exactly where it was supposed to be was a big plus in my book. The film isn't drowned in gore which can't be said for a good number of zombie films, there is just enough to make it believable and proves you don't have to use gallons of fake blood to make a decent movie.

While the lead is an American Air Force LT he isn't your typical macho (USA is number one!) characters, he isn't adorned with American flags, he doesn't peace American Patriotism and is no underpinning American dream in the plot, the guy just gets the work done and moves on, this is remarkably refreshing to see. (No offence to American readers of course).

The environments lend a lot to the film as they are barren, dry and gloomy giving the film the perfect backdrop of a hopeless and god forsake wasteland. I wouldn't go as far as saying the film is scary but there were a number of attempts at "jumpy" scenes but sadly these didn't hit the mark and were very predictable, what I found more disappointing was that there were a number of times a scare scene could have been added in but the chance seemed to have been missed.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised with The Dead and I would recommend it for a good old fashioned "bad movie" marathon or Halloween get together.

Final Score - 3/5

Check out more about the dead over at IMDb

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Dropping in...

Hey Viners, whats going on? I haven't made a blog post for a little while so I thought I'd stop by and say hey. I will be updating my "What I'm reading" section as well as taking a look at a publisher called Ape Entertainment who have recently launched a bunch of new titles and have the licensing for popular smart phone game Temple Run and have created a comic based on the characters exploits and from what I can see the writers are looking to expand and explore the world the game is set in.

Watch this space for my write up.

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