Chocolate Movie Review

Alright, so I don't know why i chose this as my first movie review. There's a lot to say about this film, because where there are a lot of reasons that I really enjoyed this, there are a few that made me take a step back too. Anyway, here we have a Thai film that came out in '08. So right off the bat, this is one pretty sweet martial arts film, but it's all in Thai, so unless you speak the language you're going to be reading subtitles. To me that's never been a big deal, but I know it bugs some people, But in this film it might not be such a huge deal for you. I'll explain why as I break this review into two parts. One that consists of the actual film, direction, and acting. And the other where I want to talk specifically about the action sequences. 

So my beef with this film lies mostly in it's plot. It's kind of weak, and not really a whole lot happens for the first 15- 20 minutes, which isn't too bad, because it's getting the setup out of the way to make room for the action. Basically the film revolves around this girl who has pretty severe autism, but with that she also has some kind of of savant like martial arts capabilities. There were a few things that kind of bugged me about this idea. I don't really know why they chose to go with this story, when it would have worked just as well if they hadn't used the gimmicky story, but what evs. So she has the ability to pick up on martial arts moves as she sees them. That's fine to me, I've seen this a few times before, so it works for me as an ability. Like a more grounded believable version of Taskmaster or that girl in season 2 of  Heroes. But my beef with this is that I'm not sure that even if someone was able to mimic these moves perfectly I'm not sure that they'd know the perfect timing, especially if they had autism. Not only that, but footing is something that doesn't even factor in. If she's autistic how does she know how to keep her footing and how to do all these acrobatic moves and shit. I mean sure she could mimic them, but what if the ground is more slick than when she saw the move used? There's even once where she pulls her pants up a tiny bit, which is totally common if you're in a fight, but i'm not sure someone with as severe a grade of autism as she has would know that that would get in the way of her moves. It wasn't a big deal, just something i noticed and chuckled at the 2 or 3 times it happened throughout the film. The main character's acting is pretty good. She goes from playing this character that I didn't doubt once was autistic, and instantly flipped to a bad as shit, ass kicking machine. Everyone else it was kind of hard to tell. Again the film wasn't in English, so i can never tell how much of the cheesyness is poor acting or just inflection. 

So while you have a kind of weak platform to base these action sequences around, they really made the most of them. I'm not sure if the director and the action director were the same person or what, but it's almost like a different film when they go into kick ass mode. There's little to no wire work, and it's all realistic acrobatics, with what appears to the untrained eye, mine, pretty awesome martial arts. I mean just when you think they can't get more imaginative with these set pieces they keep doing things to one up themselves. I mean the first action sequence, twenty minutes in, was awesome, and everyone after that was better and better. I will say though, there's one scene where this random dude walks out to fight the main character and he appears to have turrets and he fights a lot like Voldo from Soul Calibur or something. It was a cool fight but if you think about it for more than 30 seconds it's a little fucked up that these two gangs are having two handicapped people do their fighting for them... Then right after that one dude just pulls out a gun and kills as many guys as he can with that one clip, and then switches over to a katana for an all out sword duel. I loled. This is followed up by a platforming/fighting combo scene that involves a building, a monorail, and signs extending from the building between them. I mean this is so inventive and awesome to watch, it kind of makes me wonder why we haven't seen something like it coming out of Hollywood for films like Prince of Persia, or a Mario adaptation, where it actually makes more sense. My only problem with this scene is that it's the final action set piece, and it doesn't really feel like it. It almost felt like the last two major fights should have been switched. Both scenes are none the less awesome, but it was just a bit weird as a last set.

Now my point from before is that if you're watching this movie, you're really watching it for the action, so there's not really a lot of reading when there is, and during the action there's next to no dialogue, so you can sit back and enjoy the show without having to read at all. I enjoyed the shit out of this film, and I plan on buying it for my collection to throw on for background noise so that when I see the action scenes I can stop and watch them, and walk away during the boring parts. If you like what you see, and want to check this film out for yourself, you can Search Amazon.com for Chocolate, or you can just click the box below. 

The Sword Vol. 3 - Earth

So my problem with the last volume, was that it was just so cut and dry. There was not really a whole lot there as far as substance. It was just go here, find bad guy, fight! This one takes that even above and beyond. In the second volume it takes Dara and Zakros two and a half issues to start fighting. In this volume she finds the next guy in one issue... so right after she kills Zakros, Spoiler if you hadn't read vol. 2 yet, she heads to Mexico to find this other douche... it all just seems so easy. There's no build to it, there's not detective work going on to find him, it's just "hey lets walk over here and fight him!" Maybe it's because the writers know that the strong point of this book is the combat, but i can't tell.

There are a few good twists and turns that i didn't really see coming, and i liked the way they played out for the most part. Also there's a lot more back story in this volume, but not on any of the main characters just the villain. Now while these characters are really interesting, and it's cool to see where they came from, and some of the shit that they did in the past, especially when Dara's dad is in those flash backs, but it is kind of a moot point by the end of the volume. I mean This is kind of a big *Spoiler* but does it really make a whole lot of sense to spend six issues building up a character's back story if you're going to murder them at the end of the arc? I dug what i saw, i just don't see why i saw it. It didn't reveal anything about the overall plot, just character development for a dead guy...

But like i said, if you're still reading this it's because of the action. Now while the swordplay in this volume kicks it up a notch, and they keep finding new inventive ways to use it and it's abilities, the "earth bending" we'll call it for lack of a better term, was a bit lack luster at first. See, in the fight with Zakros i wasn't sure what they could do that would top other times I'd seen these kinds of abilities, and they did a great job from the start. Where as here he kind of just throws rocks at her for a while. It was a little uninspiring, but maybe the slow build to the good stuff was to balance out for them finding him so soon. Like you can find the bad guy right away, but we're going to make the fighting kind of lame for a while just so there's still a build. When it gets going there is some cool stuff that he does with the Earth that i kind of had to take my statement back a bit, i just don't know why they didn't start doing the cool stuff a little sooner? Also, my least favorite aspect of the book, the fact that they're fugitives and they're on the run, is kind of ramped up at the end of the book by a kind of plot twist/cliff hanger. It's not a huge shocker when you get to it, I'm just not sure if i like where it's going.

If you read one and two, this one is more of the good stuff from that. But the stuff that those were missing this doesn't give you either... so if you're already liking this then who am i to tell you to stop, but if not then there's nothing that new, yet anyways. Also if you haven't read one and two, you could pick this up if you want. If you don't give a shit about the story, it would almost be easier to just pick up the random issues with combat, because that's really where the book shines. Just pretend it's the Lost Chapters of Avatar or maybe a super distant sequel or something... If you do want to check the book out, you can Search Amazon.com for The Sword Vol. 3 earth, or just click the box below.

Thanks for Reading!
James

Girls Vol. 3 - Survival

So now three quarters of the way into the book, and we still have no idea what the fuck is going on in this town. I mean don't get me wrong, we've got a pretty good idea what's happening, but why or how? Yeah... don't look forward to getting any answers in this volume. If that's something that's important to you, then you're kind of shit out of luck, if not, like me, then this volume was fucking sweet!

The weirdness gets cranked up to maximum volume. I mean shit has been fucked up throughout this whole series, but in this volume, the creepiness, and the pervertedness, and the depravity, and the insanity are all at maximum levels. All the while these survivors are practically ripping each other apart because the tension is so high. I love books like this so much. I don't understand why more Survival Horror stories don't get this really easy formula. It doesn't matter what the "monster" is per say, but what does matter is the mood. And the tone in this book is spot on. I will say that there are a couple of characters who have seemed pretty normal up until now who are kind of pushed to their limits. Not only in what they can take, but what the audience can take as well. There are certain things that happen that you'll want to punch certain characters right in the face, and other times you'll want to just bury them alive. This next bit is kind of a *Spoiler Alert* but I've been waiting to get to this volume, so i can talk about this fucking lady. There's this one lady, and this lady is always in one of these survival stories, but she grows into a character who has the ability to turn all the other ladies, and some of the guys too, into mindless drones doing her fucked up bidding. You can almost never pick her out from the beginning either, because she's always like "oh, don't mind me, I'm totally mild mannered, and am totally not a insane bad guy : )" But then let shit hit the fan a little bit, and she goes into super villain mode! It is absolutely crazy what some of these characters do in this volume, and what other characters let them get away with. I kind of walked the line between loving seeing the depravity of these characters, and really wishing a giant sperm would shoot them with a laser. There was a handful of scenes that i really liked these villainous ladies though, specifically one where they make a pit with sharpened poles and lure the girls in so that they can mow them down with shotguns. Now psychopath ladies or not, that's kind of badass...

I don't know what else to say about this series without giving the best parts away, but i am still digging the shit out of it, and i can't wait to do the review for volume 4. If you liked Volumes 1 & 2, then definitely check this out, because it just keeps getting more and more interesting, and this is my favorite volume yet. If the other two sounded lame, and this one sounds cool, go back and check out the first two, because this one probably won't make any fucking sense without them. Not only that, but now that you know where the story's going, it might be a bit easier to accept the weirdness. If/When you decide to pick up this series, you can Search Amazon.com for The Girls Vol. 3 Survival, or just click the box below.

Thanks for reading!
James

Batman - Year One Review

Take a look at the first year of Bruce Wayne being the Batman. Honestly though, this is almost more like "Jim Gordon - Year one". For every one page about Batman, there's two about Gordon and what he's doing. The story starts with Gordon being transferred to the GCPD, and Bruce Wayne's return from studying abroad. It follows these two characters through some pretty boring situations for the first issue or so. It's not really entertaining, and not a whole hell of a lot happens. It does slowly build to be interesting, but it takes it's time. There's a pretty entertaining scene, for the wrong reasons, pretty early on where before he's Batman, he just puts a mild disguise on and goes on patrol and gets his ass kicked pretty severely by a bunch of prostitutes... i loled... Anyway. Jim Gordon is really the start character here. I guess they just couldn't find a way to make Batman's first year appear interesting, because he does fuck all, and Jim kicks a bunch of ass. You watch him rise to the star cop that he is, and why the public likes him, and why all of the other cops respect and/or fear him.

Once Batman finally gets the suit on, his scenes get a little better, and i can say i enjoyed them quite a bit. There's one really bad ass scene where Batman gets cornered by the GCPD and the building is collapsing or something. It's the best "Batman" scene in the whole movie, and while it was good, it's just sad that there was nothing better. Jim Gordon has a weird side plot where he starts dating this chick from his precinct, and has a kind of affair on his wife. It's a little awkward because nothing is really ever done with it. I would say that i wish i had seen more of it... but i don't. It was weird and felt kind of forced, Almost like they had plans for it when they set out, but lost them somewhere. Batman's bits feel more like a Punisher story, because there's no real villain here. There's a couple of crooked cops that Gordon deals with, and Selina Kyle, Catwoman, and Harvey Dent, who would later become Two-Face, make cameos, but they're not much more than that. It's insinuated that Batman's working with Dent, but like i said since it's almost done from Gordon's point of view, you don't really know for sure what's going on here and there. Catwoman doesn't even interact with batman, she just gets mistaken for him once or twice. She even has a line in the last issue that goes something like "next time I'll just have to do something worse" so that she gets the recognition instead of Batman, and then the book ends shortly after without even going back to her character. Or there's one scene before that *Spoiler Alert* where she's robbing some crooked people and Batman helps her out for a second from the shadows and she smiles at him. And i don't really know what his motivation for helping her was. Maybe he thought she was another vigilante or something, but Batman's never seemed like the kind of guy that runs off the honor system if you ask me...

I will say this for the book. I'm glad it was written. Because if books like this and Long Halloween hadn't been written, despite how mediocre i feel that they are, then they wouldn't have been able to inspire similar scenes in Christopher Nolan's films Batman Begins, and The Dark Knight. I mean there are several scenes in this book that are copied right into Begins, which is really awesome for Batman fans. Now maybe it's because i saw the films first, who knows, but i just didn't feel that this book held up as well...

I just don't know. There's not a whole hell of a lot of story here, and there's almost no resolution. As a Batman story I didn't really find it all that interesting, not a lot was revealed about the character, and there isn't too much to be seen. There was a slow build up to what felt like a rather anticlimactic ending... If you're looking for a Batman origin story, then go watch Batman Begins, but if you like Gordon a lot then this might work for you too. If you'd like to check this book out for yourself, you can Search Amazon.com for Batman Year One, or you can click the box below!

Thanks for reading

James

Acme Comics - Longwood, FL

My son and I, yes that's him in the photo, just started visiting this store recently. It is definitely the farthest i drive to visit a comic shop regularly, but it's well worth it. Acme is an awesome comic shop with super friendly staff. Every time I've been they always greet me, and i usually get some pretty sweet conversation too. As you walk in there's one long counter on your right with all kind of cool shit underneath and hanging on the back wall. In the back right corner there's all the new comics and trades, with older collectibles hanging on the walls. In the middle of the store is a large collection of long boxes that houses the bulk of their back issues that are alphabetically ordered. Then the back left half of the store is a huge toy section. Throughout the store there are life size statues of characters including, Silver Surfer, Batman, and Spider-man, which is not only really awesome, it totally adds atmosphere to the shop. Then throughout if you happen to look up, certain ceiling tiles are replaced with full size drawings that are cool to go around and look at, but could honestly probably be placed in a slightly better location so as not to break one's neck every time you'd like to appreciate the art. A for effort though.

Their selection on comics is really good, I've never not found what i was looking for, and i have been pleasantly surprised at the selection of indie books that i either love and don't see often enough, or haven't read and would like to give a chance. and their collection of back issues is impressive to say the least. I've been several times with friends looking for obscure issues of popular, and not so much, series and found pretty much what they were looking for, if not spot on. My only gripe here is that the back issues are separated into two groups, popular and not... and I don't really see why. Because if you wanted to separate them by company that'd be one thing, but there are certain books that i don't know where to look for and have to ask. Is Savage dragon an indie book? Spawn? What about books like Walking dead that have more fans than they know what to do with? Or how about smaller Marvel titles like Captain Britain and the MI13, is that an indie book since no one bought it? That kind of organization style has never made sense to me. Why do small books instantly not become indie just because they have a Marvel or DC logo, and "indie" books remain so even when they have ridiculous amounts of readers...? Probably not the shops fault, but still.

Now i would be remiss if i didn't mention that, Acme,hands down, has the best collection of Statues, Busts, Toys, and Action figures I've ever seen. Now whether that interests you or not it's at least something you should check out once. There are several aisles on one side of the store dedicated to just toys, and they're separated by saying one aisle is star wars toys, the next is Marvel toys, etc. It's so cool, and i dare anyone to browse for more than a couple minutes and play "You Nostalgia, you lose!" Then there are walk in cases in the back, kind of like a humidor or something, for the more rare and expensive busts, statues and toys. It's so cool, being someone who's always been, and always will be, a huge toy nerd seeing shit i grew up on, and would spend quite a bit of cash if/when i get the chance.

The staff is super cool and laid back. Every time I've gone I've enjoyed their company, and wished i could stay longer. There's nothing like meeting someone who you've never had a conversation with before, and realizing that not only do they have all the same interests, but they are dying to sit and chat you up about them. I will say that the last time i went they didn't have as much time to hang out, but it was a Saturday and there were quite few people there and they are a business. I have seen shops handle a bigger crowd better, but not many. The first time i went i was browsing in the toy section with my almost two year old son. One of the guys asks me how I'm doing and i say, with a grin, something along the lines of "not too bad, trying to stop my son from fucking up all you guys stuff". He says that he'd appreciate it with a laugh. He asks if it's our first time to their shop, and when i say so he welcome me and asks where I'm from. I mention that it's a smaller town about an hour or so away and he mentions that that's kind of a far ways to drive. He then says "you know what that means don't you? Since you've got to drive all the way here, you should just open up a shop of your own." i say "yeah, but then i wouldn't buy comics from you charming people anymore" and you know what he says? "it would be worth it. One more comic shop in the world, and I'd take that as a trade. Hell i might even come and visit." I feel bad for not catching this guy's name, but how awesome is that? That's the kind of shit that will keep people coming back to your store and wanting to hang out. Acme is definitely in my top five favorite shops I've ever been to, and i don't see that changing any time soon.

If you want to check this shop out for yourself, which you totally should, you here's a handy map to get you there:


View Larger Map

Thanks for reading
James

The Sword Vol. 2 - Water Review

Alright, so like before if you haven't read either this or volume 1, you may want be weary of spoilers. It's kind of hard to review a series without giving away a few of the earlier bits. So the last book ended in a decision for Dara to murder her attackers. This seems like the obvious choice, and really isn't that big of a spoiler, but then again her dad did leave them alive for millennia... I'm still hoping they get around to answering that question, because one thing there isn't a whole hell of a lot of in this volume is answers. 

This book is so straight forward, that if you can't follow what's going on here you might need to give up comics, or reading in general. This is six issues of her hunting down this guy Zakros and trying to kill him. They do not deviate from this at all, and that is literally all there is here. There's an awkward scene pretty early on where they get a ride from these people who recognize Dara from the news, and freak out. She then saves them from some attacking Pirates. Now not only is that awfully silly to begin with, but as soon as she's done leaving three more people for dead in the ocean, these people are all of a sudden totally back on her side. It's not too ridiculous, but since this is one fraction of one issue that this scene occurs, it just feels a little rushed and awkward... 

Then they spend some time wandering around this island that Justin led them to because he remembered Dara's dad bring it up in class one time. So I don't want to ruin exactly how it goes down, but there's a pretty sweet scene involving water manipulation and a bathroom. Basically Zakros can manipulate water and all it's forms, so he takes all the water out of all of the plumbing in the bathroom, which is kind of gross, and then freezes it locking them in a room together. And proceeds to beat the piss out of this girl while her friends decide whether or not to rescue her. And while this is a cool scene, i'm starting to doubt the competence of her companions. I get that they're on the run, so they don't really have shit else to do, but they're following this girl around on a vengeance trip. She just heads down to some island in the bahamas on a whim, and then when she gets captured due to her own stupidity, they actually have to sit around and debate whether to run for the fucking hills, or to pick up the super powerful sword and lend a damned hand.

Then there's a pretty cool chance scene that leads up to the end battle. I don't want to ruin it, but the tides get turned pretty quickly, pun intended, and Zakros really is allowed to unleash god's wrath on this girl. Again, i don't want to spoil it, but the combat is easily the best part of this book. And i almost feel like they sat around thinking up these really creative combat scenes and then tied them together with this weak ass story. That being said the last issue or two of this book really makes it worth it, because those scenes are so fucking cool. This would easily be a better movie, or TV show or something than a comic. The actors could convey the kind of emotion i'm just not getting from the book, and these scenes, that while awesome as shit on the page, would be absolutely epic on screen. 

And like i said that's about it. There really isn't a whole lot here. I do have to say that if you read the first six issues and you don't really dig it, at least give it this volume too, because i'm almost positive that the first volume was setup for these cool boss fights. They got the backstory out of the way, and for this whole volume it's barely there, and when it is it's laced very well with the story and action so it's almost not noticeable. This is easily the Luna Brother's weakest book yet, but i'm still enjoying it quite a bit. If you like what you see you can Search Amazon.com for The Sword Vol. 2 Water, or you can click the box below. 

Thanks for reading!

James

Girls Vol. 2 - Emergence Review

    

Alright, so if you haven't read these first two volumes yet, there are probably going to be some spoilers ahead! The book starts right up where the last one left off and some pretty big shit goes down in these first couple of pages. This is so smart on the writers part because they find a way to isolate the characters, and create that non escapable feeling of claustrophobia. Also it eliminates a large quantity of people in the town making the cast of the book large, but not overwhelming. 

For a large part of this book the cast is split into three groups. One is the survivors from the bridge incident who are now hunkered down in the largest house in town and they mostly just sit around and interact with each other.. The other is a group including the Sheriff who head to the north exit to see if they can escape there. The last is the Pickett father and son duo who basically serves as the comic relief.

So the first group of people find out that one of the survivor guys slept with a bunch of these girls, and in turn that Ethan was the first one to do so. Then everyone freaks out and begins to persecute these two dues. Now the one guy who slept with them did it in the road after a shit load of people died and some of the girls even murdered people. That guy's kind of fucked up, and he deserves to be yelled at. Now Ethan on the other hand didn't really do anything wrong... I mean he picked up some girl who was hurt and clothed her and gave her a place to stay for the night. She came on to him and seduced him. There's not really anything wrong with that in my eyes, but maybe i'm a bit bias because i'm a guy, but whatever. But other than that it's kind of like I said, they don't really have a lot to do. The dialogue is great, so I didn't have a problem with it, but I can see someone who is more driven by action being a bit bored until the later half of this book. But regardless of whether you like the action or dialogue more, the climax of this volume is really fucking cool, and i don't want to say more than that, but it's creepy and you're not sure what exactly is going on, or who's going to survive. 

The second group led by Wes, the Sheriff, heads to the north and when they realize they're walled in there too, they begin to search to see how far this wall goes. I'm not really sure why this was done, because they don't really have a lot to do. I mean I didn't have a huge problem with it while I was reading it, it's just in retrospect. I guess it allows tensions back at the house to grow between everyone without a source of authority, but other than that the coolest thing that comes out of it is a fight with a bear... 

These last two characters are insinuated to be kind of villainous, but mostly they come off as incompetent. That being said it is really fun to watch them fuck off and get messed up. I laughed out loud several times during these parts and are the funniest parts in the series thus far. After a while this group meets up with the second and there's a bit of confrontation, but it's resolved pretty quickly. This all builds towards a bit of a conclusion for the book, but it's more a cliff hanger than anything. 

I read right through this volume, and loved almost all of it. The mysteries of this series are so intriguing that I found myself rushing to the end of every chapter. It might not grab everyone this way, but by this volume you should know if it's for you or not. If you like what you see, you can Search Amazon.com for Girls Vol. 2 Emergence, or you can click the box below. 

Thanks for reading

James

The Sword Vol. 1 - Fire Review

Alright, so I've been on a bit of a Luna Brothers kick lately if you couldn't tell. I enjoyed their other books quite a bit, so I figured why not start reading the recently finished "The Sword"? So I went into this without any preconceived notions. I had no idea what this was about, just that it could be hyper violent at times, and I've got to say that so far I've liked what I found. Basically this story is about a girl who is a paraplegic who's family gets attacked and murdered because this group of people thinks that her father is someone who he claims not to be. These three people who attack them apparently have some kind of magic/mutant powers. They leave her for dead, and she discovers this sword deep beneath her house, and it heals her entirely. Well upon discovering that she's alive, these people send a group of people to kidnap her and get their sword back, which they were after in the first place. From this point on things start going downhill for the main character, Dara. She discovers that this sword is some kind of ultimate weapon when she kills all the dudes sent after her, and then runs from the police with ease.

My biggest problem with this book so far is the fact that she tries to turn herself into the police to get their help, and it's awfully predictable to assume that they're not going to help at all, and will instead probably fuck her over at some point. I think it would have been much more fun to have her be assisted by the government, but instead that shit gets all messed up too. It seems like an easy cop out, no pun intended, to have this character be on the run. I have hope that there's some creative stuff done with it later, because if not it might aggravate me. There's also these long scenes at the beginning of every issue that are like two or three pages long where these villains talk to one another. To me these just seem like needless over extended recaps. Why tell the audience what your villains are doing every step of the story? So there are scenes where shit goes down that could go either way, but you know what's going on because you heard the villains' plan. It just seems a little awkward for the reader to be in on what's going on, and the characters be clueless. During the scene or two where you actually get to see the sword in action it does kick a lot of ass. It's very cool watching someone who's not really sure about what they're doing murder several people because of an instrument that's in her hand. It's like any slight movement she makes would end up in slicing right through people, or leaping over buildings. That was by far my favorite part, which is surprising because i'm not usually into that kind of over the top action, but here it's done very well and I can't wait to see more of it!

So in the last chapter of this volume Dara meets up with her friends who she previously abandoned to turn herself in. They're all on the run now with not too much more than this super powerful sword. This dude Justin had her dad's creative writing class a few years before and apparently he told his class of his travels in his previous life as this character Demetrios. He then relays some of these tales to Dara. Now this is basically where the book goes into backstory mode and, i hope, gets it all out of the way. There were four bad guys who each control an element and they used their powers to rule, but to keep each other in check they forged a sword using each of their powers. Demetrios was given this sword by the other three to kill the most powerful one. Afterwards he left the other three alive, but constantly reminding them that he could fuck their day up. My problem with this is that I can't tell whether this is borrowing strongly from The Last Airbender, or whether the writers just chose the not that original route for this story. I'm hoping they do something a little more creative with it in the later books, but they're even called Water, Earth, and Air...

I definitely have to say I'm not sold yet. I can't decide if this is just another version of a story I've seen dozens of times, or whether it's a great reimagining of those stories that's going to top them all. I'm going to keep reading until it gets bad, because the parts I liked I did like a lot. Maybe I just liked Girls better because you have no idea what the fuck is going on from start to finish, where as this seems to be almost holding your hand the whole way through. If you like what you see, and you'd like to check this book out for yourself you can Search Amazon.com for The Sword Vol. 1 Fire, or you can just click the box below.

Thanks for reading
James

Girls Vol. 1 - Conception Review

Alright, I'll start off by saying that the covers on these books make them come off as some kind of softcore porn. They are not. This is a legitimate survival horror story, and a pretty good one too. The story starts out with this sexually frustrated character named Ethan. Well throughout the first part of the book he keeps trying lay the charm on some ladies, and he keeps getting shot down. Hard. Well in the first issue he kind of losses his shit and basically goes off on a chauvinistic rant about how all women are bitches. Now maybe this is a little fucked up to say, but I liked this guy from the get go. Not because he's a woman hater of course, but because he's a real dude with real frustrations. Well on his ride home he finds a naked woman injured in the street. He tries to do the right thing and help her, but she doesn't want to go to a hospital, so he takes her back to his place. Once she's back he makes it clear he has the most honest of intentions, but she kind of seduces him, and they get it on. Well the next day he goes to the police station to get the sheriff to find a solution to this situation. Now all of this is set up for when this book takes a dive into the really creepy and uncanny. And it's kind of hard to go into detail about that stuff, or even really the premise of the book without venturing into spoiler territory. So... When they get back to Ethan's house they find this mystery girl in the bathroom with five or six full grown eggs hatching with exact replicas of her coming out of them. These girls then go on a rampage and start trying to murder all the ladies they come across. 

This story strongly resembles a Zombie story, to me. The only difference being that instead of zombies, you have naked murderous girls. Which to some people might be scarier. There's some seriously weird shit here too. At one point there's a giant sperm at one point, and the way the book ends just adds to the creepy factor. Don't let all that stuff discourage you though. Underneath all of the awkward imagery, is a really interesting story. I read through this volume in under two hours, because I literally could not wait to find out what happened next. I can't explain it, but the way everything is handled made me get really into it, really fast. Now I can say this though, if you don't identify with a character quickly, you might have trouble caring about the shit that happens to these people, because just because I liked the main character doesn't mean you will. That being said i definitely think it's worth at least a glance. 

I definitely enjoyed this volume, and I'm so intrigued to see what happens next. This is definitely a weird book, and probably not one I'd recommend to first time comic readers, but it is definitely a perfect example of how comics aren't just about Superheroes in capes, and zombies and ninjas. It's amazing how something so simple in premise can be so intriguing and satisfying at the same time. If you like what you see, you can Search Amazon.com for Girls vol. 1 conception or you can click the box below.

Ultra - Seven Days Review

Alright, so I've been wanting to read some stuff written by the Luna Brothers for years, and just haven't gotten around to it until now. When I Originally saw this book, the cover is kind of somber and dark, and it's called "Seven Days" and I thought the premise was "What if this super woman only had seven days left to live" upon reading it I discovered that it's actually about her having seven days to find true love. Being a guy, I kind of felt like I'd been duped. I mean it literally starts with these three chicks, that you don't find out are superheroes until a ways into the book, that are kind of smashed that go to see a fortune teller. But once I got passed the idea that I was reading a comic book version of a romantic comedy, and not really that original of one either, I kind of started to dig it. So basically the main character, Ultra, is being coerced by her to friends to go and try to find her true love once they receive their fortunes. I don't really want to spoil how it all plays out, but it does tend to take a few twists and turns that if your girlfriend sat you down and made you watch this as a film, you'd call that shit right out, and then look like a jackass for being wrong. This is done really well, and it keeps you on your toes as to where the plot goes. 

One of my favorite aspects of this comic though, is the actual superhero parts. Basically in this big Metropolis style city, named Spring City, there are these talent agencies basically. One for superheroes, and one for heroines. And these talent agencies work directly for the police. So basically every super hero works as a police officer, and has on duty times, and off duty times, where they can be called to deal with certain situations, or if there's a big deal going on they might form a task force. It's a really streamlined way to handle the situation of what happens when super heroes sleep, when do they sleep, when are they off duty, are they saving people 24/7? all those things are handled with one system, and the best part is, is all of those things are told well, and used in the dialogue. So it's not just exposition at any point where they're saying "this works this way, and this works this way," it's all woven very well. My only beef with this is there is one scene later on in the book, and this is kind of venturing into spoilers, but all of these superheroes are in one spot for an awards show. While I did really like this scene, i don't see why every criminal and super criminal in the city isn't staging the biggest heist ever during that fucking awards show, because they're all busy getting gussied up and then accepting awards and shit. It didn't bug me that bad, but it did make me grin thinking about it. 

Now I'm going to go into full blown spoiler mode for a second, but this story is about her finding her true love. And it doesn't pan out the way it looks like at first. Then in around part six or seven, of eight, there's a sub plot where one of the main character's friends tells her she's gay and in love with her. Now maybe this is just me, but I loved this idea and I wanted them to run with it so bad. I guess it's just the idea of this super powered, cute lesbian couple flying around the city holding hands and whooping ass together, but whatever it was in my brain that clicked, that was the story I really wanted to read at that point, and it gets kind of dropped for something a little more sappy. While I didn't hate where they went with it, I'd be lying if I said I didn't prefer the way it could have gone. 

This is a great book if you want to read a romantic comedy with super hero action mixed in. It's a very "Sex and the City" look at Super Heroines and their interactions with each other. If that sounds cool, then definitely check this out! If not... stay away, because that's what most of the book is. The dialogue is great, but the action is few and far between. I personally liked it quite a bit, and didn't have a problem with it at all. If you like what you see you can Search Amazon.com for Ultra - Seven Days, or you can click on the box below. 

Joker Review

The Problem with Batman comics, is this: If you read them, and your friends don't, and they're watching say "Batman: Begins", or the more popular sequel "The Dark Knight", then they're like "Man Batman is so cool!!!" This is a problem because then you're like "I know! Maybe you should read some of his comics!" and then when you go to recommend them, all of the current, or at least moderately so, books are about him fighting Darksied, or him coming back to life and traveling through time, or not him at all but instead his old sidekick who went off and did his own thing for a while and is now Batman along with Bruce's son Damian as his Robin... Do you see? No one who watches The Dark Knight, and has that Comic Nerd Adrenaline pumping wants to read any of that shit! I mean while all of those can be good stories at the right time, they're just not the same feel as Christopher Nolan's new take on the character. Brian Azzarello's "Joker" is the answer to that problem.

This book came out around the same time as the movie, so I'm sorry if I'm using it as a frame of reference a lot, but this book is basically a spiritual successor to that film. This was not made to retell the same story, it wasn't to cash in on the films success, it was a project that ran parallel and ended up being a really similar look into a really similar world. There are no cheesy origin stories here where they try and modernize these characters, instead they assume you know who they are, and by now who doesn't know Batman's rogues gallery? This book is a gritty realistic look into the world of the Joker that could almost literally be a sequel to these major motion pictures. 

Now enough with the comparisons, on to the actual book! First off, I feel like I need to mention how amazing the art is through this whole book. From start to finish my breath was damn near taken away. Lee Bermejo, who I haven't seen a lot of his other works, is fantastic here. Everything looks real, and touchable. The way he draws all these characters it looks like something you'd see downtown one night, and piss your pants because it's so dark gritty. Mad props sir! The story starts as the Joker is being released from Arkham on the pretense that somehow he convinced the doctors there that he is no longer insane, and that he is successfully rehabilitated. The whole story is told from the Joker's point of view, and follows him on his quest to get back what is rightfully his. When he was put away all the other super criminals and gangsters in Gotham split up his territory, and he wants it back. So he proceeds to coerce, kill, and terrorize anyone in his path. He is also followed by his right hand man throughout the book a character named Johnny Frost, frequently referred to as Johnny Johnny by the Joker, who also narrates the story. This character is used to ground the story, it makes us feel a sense of connection. Because he's not insane, he's not a super villain, and he's certainly not powerful, but he wants it all. He wants to be Batman's next big villain, so he follows the Joker around and acts as his secretary almost in hopes to raise his credibility. Throughout the book there are almost guest appearances by other Batman villains. Killer Croc is a big black guy who eats human flesh, Penguin is a rich gangster, Riddler is a super genius arms dealer of sorts, and Two Face plays a couple of different angles throughout the story, no pun intended. All of these characters are grounded and could exist in a real world. One of the only misgivings of the book is actually that we don't get to see each of these characters long enough. Joker is the main character, Johnny's kind of just there narrating, Croc is the Joker's muscle throughout the book, and Two Face opposes him on a couple of occasions, but Riddler and Penguin are almost bit characters that you see for maybe a couple of pages apiece. Maybe it's because Riddler is one of my favorite Batman villains, but I just wish they would have had more room to breathe. And other than that my only other problem with the book was that it was a tad bit Anti- Climactic. *Venturing into Spoiler country...* 

*Here are the spoilers if you don't want to read them then stop and skip this paragraph!* So the book slowly builds around Jokers terrible crimes, one after another, until he finally does enough to bring the Batman knocking on his door. There is one confrontation between these two, that's not even all that long, and then batman just knocks him out and that's the end. Now up until this point Batman hadn't even shown up, but if you look closely at the art you can see him just watching the Joker waiting for him to seriously fuck up, and the Joker knows this. He addresses Batman at several points and none of the other characters know what's happening. My only beef with this is that I tend to take the Joker as a bit smarter than that and I just wish that such a fantastic book had a more epic climax. The ending still worked fine given the poetry of the dialogue. Plus, given the grounded realism of the rest of the comic, it kind of made sense. 

So if you want a fantastic look into the day to day life of the Joker, check this book out. If someone you know likes The Dark Knight, and who doesn't really, get them this book! Or if you are a Batman fan in general, pick this up. Hell even if you haven't read a Batman story in a while, this one will show you how dark one can be. I'm serious, it's that good, one of my favorite super hero reads in a while!If you would like to take my advice, you can Search Amazon.com for joker or click the box below!

If not you can continue to live your life never knowing the awesomeness that is this book...

Thanks for reading!

Jimmy Jimmy

Wanted Review

I know... another Mark Millar book, so sue me. I had been putting this book on the back burner for a while because while I am a huge Millar fan, I've also seen the film. And while saying that the film was terrible might be an overstatement, so is saying it was great. It was really mediocre at best. So a recently made acquaintance urged me to read this book because for a long while it had been his absolute favorite. I'm going to do a synopsis on the way, as spoiler free as I can muster, and give my opinions as we go!

Alright, so this book opens and some dude is narrating his shitty life. His girlfriend's cheating on him with his best friend. His boss is really racist and talks shit to him because she's black and he's white. He gets shit talked to him all the time by these same guys that bully him and stuff. It's all really boring stuff. It's only spiced up by some older guy getting shot and murdered. Shortly later we, the readers, find out that Wesley, the main character, is the only son of this older gentleman who belongs to a league of Super Villains. The main plot point here is that Wesley has to undergo this Super Villain training program in order to inherit all his dads millions of dollars, meanwhile in search of his dad's killer. And since all the heroes were killed off years ago, that the main villain in this story... wait for it... is a super villain. I mean, you know, a really mean super villain who's more dastardly than the rest...

Alright, so my biggest problem with this book is that I really didn't have anyone to relate to. This guy Wesley has absolutely no balls. The reason his life sucks is because he just can't get up and make it better, and I guess the idea here is that he's pushed into such a drastic world change, that he'll have to grow some, but i just don't buy that. I mean if this guy actually had it in him to do these things i feel like he would have done them from the get go. You wife cheats on you, leave her. Your job sucks, quit. Dude's talk shit to you, fuck them up. It's just a really simple equation. This guy is in his mid to late twenties, there's no excuse why his life is so miserable. He has no responsibilities to anyone, yet is still hung up on being everyone's bitch... But, getting past that, even once he's a super villain I just couldn't relate. The way these people operate is like real villains. They do shit with no rhyme or reason. There are scenes where he'll just kill a dozen people and then not even feel remotely bad about it. They rape and murder with no remorse, and I just don't see how a reader is supposed to sympathize with a character that's so psychologically disturbed. If there were another character, maybe Wesley's younger brother who was in a slightly better position in life, and wasn't as cool with being a mass murderer, then I think I could have related to this story so much better. But instead I'm merely watching one fucked up deed fallow the previous until the end. Also if I wanted to be nit picky then I could say that the end was bit anti-climactic, in that there was one really big fight scene in one chapter that is kind of the climax, and the whole last issue is nothing but epilogue, and not awesome epilogue at that... But if I had to pick out one thing that irked me the most, it's probably some of the narration on the last few pages. Now, having read a lot of Mark Millar's work, and having seen him in some interviews and such, I know he tends to be a cocky bastard, saying that in the nicest way of course. But when the last line in your own book, *Kind of a Spoiler I guess* "this book is nothing but a distraction from your terrible lives, and the sad thing is that you're going to put it down and go and buy something else when you're done with it." that's a little messed up. Because to me it feels as though the writer is saying that to the audience since it is breaking the 4th wall a bit. Now I doubt Millar would actually do that, because more readers is always better than less readers, and since I've read a lot of the other stuff I know that's just his kind of flare. Because when you put "This is the best comic ever" on the front of Kick-Ass, it's funny, but here it sounds rude. Now I don't take it personally, and I will continue to read his work, but all I'm saying is that if I had read this before his other books, I might have thought differently and been a bit pissed off...

Now all that being said, it's not a terrible book. It's got a whole lot of awesome fight scenes, a few funny jokes here and there, and it is a really different analog to a lot of mainstream comics. It just wasn't my favorite of his works, and I found it unrelatable at times. Maybe I'm biased because I saw the movie first, because at the time I didn't like it, but honestly now I think I'll like it better. Because for all the comic readers who bitch about stuff being changed in these movies, there's no way they could have done this as a film. They did the best they could adapting it and making it likable to a wide audience, and I probably would have liked the book more if it had done the same thing. But if you're into that kind of thing, if you think Super Villains fucking people up for six issues is cool, and you think characters like "Shit Head" the guy made of shit, are funny, then this book might totally be for you... If you want to check out this book you can Search Amazon.com for Wanted there or you can click the box below. 

Thanks for reading!
Jamesisasupervillain

Family Comics and Cards, Winter Park FL

So It's been a minute since I've reviewed a store so I thought I'd go with a "Gem". So Some friends of mine and I make trips about twice a month to some comic shops because there are none in our area. A lot of times we head through Orlando and hit a couple of the same spots, our favorites. Just yesterday we decided we'd try out some new places. Some of them I'll hold off till later to tell you about so that I can get a better feel of them, but for this one I think I've got a good enough idea for now. So as we're cruisin', we know which places we're going to, but I hit up some reviews on the good old iphone. So out of Google, Yahoo, and Yelp all of the reviews seemed pretty positive, except one. There was one on google, a three of five star review, that was still reassuring that this was a good shop, but mentioned that it was a bit messy. My buddy reassured me "Dude, that guy probably just got them on a wrong day or something. It'll be fine."

So this place is in a great neighborhood. I mean the location is great! There are all kinds of antique shops, clothing stores, small privately owned diners. I was starting to get my hopes up. There's no sign from the road where this place is, but thanks to the GPS on my phone we eventually found it. It's upstairs almost right above a nice little deli. As we walk up there is no hours sign in the window and absolutely no advertisements that'd tell you this was a comic shop other than an old timey sign above the door displaying the name. Through the front windows you can see boxes strewn about and books just stacked up. As we walked in the door there's a small couch on the right that maybe two, three max, people could sit on, and a small hallway leading in from the doorway. Now when I say "hallway" I want you to understand that it's not a literal hallway, it's just that there is so much stuff on the right and left sides of this opening that it created a hallway. I mean there was just so much stuff... and not really in a good way. My friends were looking for specific back issues, one of Wolverine, and the other was looking for The Walking Dead. He took the two of them into a back room off to the right. One of my friends pretty much had to shimmy down between stuff to get to that room it's so cluttered. The back room was apparently organized much nicer, I stayed in the front room, but there was still a total lack of room. One friend had to lean against boxes of stuff, while the other two practically climbed over him to get to the rest of the selection. While I was in the front room I could have taken any damn thing I pleased. I obviously didn't, and I know a lot of people wouldn't, but who's to say that not everyone will. I feel bad for this guy and his store, because what happens the one day he gets a pair of assholes who take him in the back room and while the other takes as much shit as he can carry... I just think it's a little ridiculous when clutter actually affects how you do business. While I was in the front room I did have a look around, and he does have a really nice selection. There were a lot of Trades, Graphic Novels, and Hardbacks that I don't see at a lot of other stores, and my friends did find what they were looking for, but it just doesn't seem worth it to me if you can't get to anything yourself. It's one thing to kind of not be able to find something in a store, once you've looked, and asking someone to help, and an entirely different thing that you would be unable to browse at all and had to ask him to go get it for you. I just don't understand what all the clutter was... As he was cashing them out he checked in a price guide, because he didn't have them marked, and he actually gave them a pretty good deal on their books.

So I guess in summary, my associates told me that if you're a "Collector" then it was a pretty sweet store, because they did have a lot of stuff at a good price. Since I'm not a "Collector", and I usually just buy the TPBs, or a few Hardbacks if I really like the Series, I guess that having a large stock isn't that impressive to me. I mean yeah if you've got a few issues that're worth a lot of money, that's one thing, but to have so much that isn't really worth more than a couple of bucks apiece... it just seems a little silly. I guess what I'm saying is that presentation and customer service is a big thing to sacrifice for having a wide selection. The actual space itself was really nice and could be cleaned up to be a nice store. I mean if you have to rent a storage space and store all your other shit in there for an online store or something. Just get it out of the way so people can hang out and shop... Please don't take this as me tearing down the store and talking shit, because I'm not. If the owner ever cleans up his store and sends me an invitation back, then I'd be more than happy to go there and spend my money, but until then, there are just to many stores with a better experience... If you want to check this store out for yourself, you can visit them here:

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And As always, Thanks!
James

Johnny The Homicidal Maniac Review

Alright... so I went into this book planning on not liking it, and even trying at times. And despite those intentions, it still managed to win me over. Good job Mister Vasquez. Wouldn't it be funny if I just ended there?

I think not. So, basically the book is about a guy named Johnny, or "Nny" for short, and he kills people. A whole lot of people, and the book is basically just about his adventures in homicide. The whole thing is done throughout a series of short stories that range from one page, to a couple of pages. If this sounds like a cool concept, then brace yourself, because there are parts in this that are damn near pointless other than to satisfy that basic plot. While there is story development here, most of it is nonexistent except in issues 4, 5, and 6. Other than that it's just self referential jokes that take place also during the later half of the book. I don't have a problem with that, other than the fact that there is almost two full issues where he does nothing but kills people over and over again, and then a final issue that's almost nothing but epilogue. It just seems like a bit of a disjointed way to tell a story to me. Early on there were a couple of jokes I actually liked a lot that really surprised me, and I remember thinking to myself, alright maybe I will like this a bit. See, there is a few things that plagued me throughout this book that I noticed almost from the get go. Almost every single panel of this book has these thick black zig-zag lines. There are a few that don't do it, particularly the Happy Noodle Boy sections, and on occasion there will be a super thick black border to the whole page that he puts little notes in, and that didn't bug me, but the edges to every other panel I found to be a little bit over kill. That and the font. I know that seems like a small complaint, but sometimes it's just so goddamned hard to read. It looks as though he penned in all of the dialogue himself, which I understand having to do in a pinch, but his words are crammed together a lot of times, and there were a couple of times I'd have to read a box a couple of times just to figure out what a couple of words were. If you have read a few comics, you'll know what I'm talking about, if not then you will probably think this is a small gripe, but it can make a difference if it's overdone, and here it is. But like I said i was willing to let this go when the few jokes in the beginning actually made me laugh, and then the pages turn sideways... so when reading the book I had to rotate it 90°. I was really aggravated about it at first, but it doesn't happen often, maybe just another time or two in the whole book. So while at first it really bugged me, I don't really mind it now. Then there were a couple of jokes that fell flat for around the next issue and a half for me personally. Now all of that being said, I did really like this, but I didn't notice it until around two thirds of the way into the book. There was a point all of a sudden that I realized that I cared about what happened to this character and that I really related to him despite my ability to not massacre gallons of people. There are a lot of funny jokes here, you just have to wade through a few that aren't in order to get to them. The man's got a great sense of humor, especially about himself and all of the people who might read this. And I feel like i might be doing an injustice if i didn't mention the art. Because while at first I wasn't a fan of it, by the end of the book it had grown on be a whole lot.  I get why it's done that way, and it totally fits for this story, and in fact works it quite well. If it were my book, i would have ordered some of the short stories a bit differently. Getting rid of some of the earlier jokes that fell flat, and replacing them with the ones that didn't really fit into the story in the second half. Then shortening the epilogue to a few pages in the sixth issue. But it's not my book and maybe Vasquez feels the same way...

My total opinion of this book is that it is a fantastic comic for people who don't read them. If you've never read a comic before, and you really want to see how far away from capes and powers a story can get, totally pick this up because it is as far away from it as I think a story can get. On the other hand, if you're a comic buff, don't expect much out of this book other than some funny jokes here and there, some torture porn, and a not too bad story that at times can be a little bit of a pain to read. Because if you actually give the damn thing a chance, or maybe if you plan on not giving it one, like I did, it will probably win you over by the end of it. If you know someone who is a scene kid, or is/was a goth kid, or even if you know someone who was an outcast of hung out with a clique of outcasts in highschool, this book is probably perfect for them. (Not meant to be an insult to the book or its readers!) I personally plan on buying this book because it won me over so much more than I expected it to, and mostly I'm excited to read his later works, because I've seen a few episodes of Zim, and I've flipped through some of the later books, and I like the look and feel of them. This is a great job for his first work, and I'm crossing my fingers to see what he does after this and in the future to come. If you want to check out this book for yourself you can Search Amazon.com for JTHM there or you can click on the box below. 

Thanks again guys and dolls!

James the Hypothetical Maniac

Sky Doll Review

Alright, so I'm going to do a quick synopsis and then kind of break down what I think of it. So, this book is basically about this character named Noa, and her misadventures. She is what they call in this book a "Sky Doll" which is basically an android designed for prostitution, and a bunch of other jobs that no one wants to do. I guess some deity that these people worship said it's okay to have sex with them and that there's no sin involved because they're not people. So this chick hooks up with these space emissaries of that deity and kind of gets sucked into their mission. As the mission progresses you kind of get to know these characters a bit, but the story telling is so ambiguous it's not very much. Roy is the nice one who gets a crush on the main character and tends to be the more understanding. Jahu is the other emissary and he's a total dick. I think he's supposed to be remotely likable, but I can't see how. The way everything goes down, he tries very hard to go above and beyond asshole, and into the territory of someone who should just be killed off. He's like a racist, drug addict, murderer and still there are parts where they want you to like him... And then there's the android, Noa. She's like the "There's got to be more out there..." kind of character, but very quickly they start alluding that there might be more to her than what's skin deep. 

My biggest problem with the book, and in all actuality what will probably lure in more people than the actual story, is that the sexual innuendo is so heavy. I mean... at times its not even insinuated, but more so beat over your head. I mean there are tits all over this comic. There is almost boob on almost every page, but a lot of the time they go a step further and don't even bother to cover them up, and worse so because the characters aren't really people. They look more like anthropomorphic animals, so when there's sex and boobs throughout the book on people with whiskers and cat ears, it's a little creepy. The worst part is that, other than these sex doll robot people, the main characters that show their boobs off the most are the two religious figures. These two sisters were apparently head of this religion at one time until it split in two, and almost every scene with either of them in it, there is next to nothing done to cover up their goods. This is mostly in the first half of the book, but some of the themes here are so heavy and important, that having tits on every page, and people fucking left and right, takes away from the message they're trying to convey. My other biggest problem is that there is almost no action. And I'm not the kind of guy who needs explosions every ten minutes to keep him entertained, but the dialogue in this book isn't that amazing to the point where I feel like I can go without anything happening. With scenes this dry I would have liked a few more gunfights and shit like that... 

Now on to the stuff I did like! The themes of racism in this book are apparent from almost the beginning. Noa is a chick who's mostly robot so everyone else thinks she's a thing, and her struggle to be a person and have emotions is really great. There's this part about half way through where they go to this city that you have to peacefully meditate to get into. There's some good dialogue where she wonders if she can even do it because she has no soul to put at ease. I won't ruin it, but what happens is a little funny and they tie it together well too. I like the character Roy, I found him pretty easy to relate to, because it wouldn't matter to me if the lady of my life was a robot or not, I'm still going to dig on her. Also, the art from start to finish is really great. The artist does a fantastic job displaying everything and making it all look very nice, and every panel is very full and detailed. It's just a shame that he, or the writer, felt the need to over display sex everywhere. Also, a much tinier thing i noticed, but a lot of the text and word bubbles are towards the edges of the panels instead of being right next to the character that's speaking. So a lot of times it lets the art breathe a a little more I think, but there was a time or two that I had trouble telling who was talking and in what order because of it... 

All in all this is a really strange story with some kind of heavy themes. I can't say it's a really good story, but it did keep my attention. There was no part in the story where i was wondering why i was reading it. I liked a lot of the themes and symbolism, but the sexual nature of the book threw me off. I can dig stuff that's supposed to be sexual, most of the time not my thing, but the way this was done I just didn't see why it was so prevalent. And in closing I'm not really sure what the book is about. I mean I read the whole thing, but the narrative was a little sloppy and there was no clear cut objective to the book. I got the feeling that this is just an opening of a door into a much larger world, but the way the story is told and book ended, it seems to be a story in itself, it just doesn't feel that way. There are some weird scenes that happen that i'm not quite sure where they fit into the mythology, but maybe i'm just dumb. So I guess my recommendation goes: If you're smarter than me and you think  you can figure what the fuck is going on, if you want something really different from a lot of stories out there, or if you're just want to see a lot of softcore scenes with tits and sex but don't feel like watching porn, then go check out this book. Otherwise you may want to stay away. If you do want to check it out you can head to Amazon.com right below, or ask your local comic shop to get it for you!

Thanks again!

James