‘Die!Die!Die!’ Volume 2 & ‘A Basketful Of Heads’
It’s kind of nice to get to Thursday and realise that no matter how hectic this week has been so far, I’ve still managed to get a decent bit of reading under my belt and write about it here. And I’ve noticed a little pattern to my weekly posts; which often start off with a full length book (or two) before moving on to comic books and finally short stories. That’s a pretty big clue as to how my energy levels progress over a week ;o)
Well, I changed the order slightly this week and that’s what happens when my day in the office gets brought forward a couple of days. It wouldn’t feel the same, here, without a comic book post though so… Lets take a quick look at a couple that I’ve had on the go…
‘Die!Die!Die!’ Volume 1 – Kirkman, Gimple, Burnham, Fairbairn (Image Comics)
Page Count: 128 Pages
We don't like to admit it, but this is an evil world where evil people do evil stuff all the time. Thankfully, there is a secret cabal with the United States government that works outside our normal system to influence world matters through targeted assassination.
Senator Connie Lipshitz has taken over the cabal, using her vast resources to finally make the world a better place... no matter how many people have to die! Meanwhile, Barnaby is on the run and his journey takes him to some very dark places. Thankfully... you can only get your nose cut off once!
Collects DIE!DIE!DIE! #9-14.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad of some blurb and a handy little recap… Volume 1 was one hell of an entertaining read but even if I didn’t have ADHD, I would still be hard pressed to remember much of the actual plot. In fact, the only things that I know for sure about Volume 1 is that two people have their noses cut off and a lot of other people die very messily.
Luckily, that was more or less what I was after (messy deaths not nose slicing, lets be clear) so more of the same, in Volume 2, was very welcome from where I was sat. Again, ask me what happened in a week’s time and I’d struggle to tell you why loads of people died messily. The closest I can get is to say that when you’re stood on that fine line in the centre, the Left and the Right look as bad as each other. That’s OK though, Volume 2 is just as much fun to read as its predecessor and when you have two hitmen going after their brother (also a hitman), anyone caught in the middle isn’t going to do well. Sometimes that’s all the reason you need :o)
‘Basketful of Heads’ – Hill, Leomacs, Stewart (Hill House Comics, DC Black Label)
Page Count: 184 Pages
Heads will roll... June Branch is in trouble. She is trapped on Brody Island with nowhere to run. Her boyfriend, Liam, has been kidnapped. And four bloodthirsty escaped convicts will stop at nothing to find her. All poor June has to defend herself with is a strange Viking axe with the terrifying power to decapitate a person and leave their head still talking. If she is going to save Liam and herself, June will have to keep a cool head...or even a whole basketful of them!
‘Basketful of Heads’ is a great example of writing and art combining superbly to hide a tale, and it’s eventual reveal, in plain sight. What I thought I was reading turned out to be anything but and I really enjoyed what that meant for a plot that you can see evolve as you’re reading it. That mixture of questions, and well timed revelations, really worked for me and that was before we even got to the axe and what it can do. That’s played for laughs, more than anything else, but it’s still a nice slice (no pun intended) of Weird that bounces well off the more crime oriented main plot thread. I really got into ‘Basketful of Heads’ then and thoroughly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t picked it up yet. And was I tempted to say something here about ‘being ahead of the game…?’ I really was but held off, maybe there’s hope for me yet ;o)
Well, I changed the order slightly this week and that’s what happens when my day in the office gets brought forward a couple of days. It wouldn’t feel the same, here, without a comic book post though so… Lets take a quick look at a couple that I’ve had on the go…
‘Die!Die!Die!’ Volume 1 – Kirkman, Gimple, Burnham, Fairbairn (Image Comics)
Page Count: 128 Pages
We don't like to admit it, but this is an evil world where evil people do evil stuff all the time. Thankfully, there is a secret cabal with the United States government that works outside our normal system to influence world matters through targeted assassination.
Senator Connie Lipshitz has taken over the cabal, using her vast resources to finally make the world a better place... no matter how many people have to die! Meanwhile, Barnaby is on the run and his journey takes him to some very dark places. Thankfully... you can only get your nose cut off once!
Collects DIE!DIE!DIE! #9-14.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad of some blurb and a handy little recap… Volume 1 was one hell of an entertaining read but even if I didn’t have ADHD, I would still be hard pressed to remember much of the actual plot. In fact, the only things that I know for sure about Volume 1 is that two people have their noses cut off and a lot of other people die very messily.
Luckily, that was more or less what I was after (messy deaths not nose slicing, lets be clear) so more of the same, in Volume 2, was very welcome from where I was sat. Again, ask me what happened in a week’s time and I’d struggle to tell you why loads of people died messily. The closest I can get is to say that when you’re stood on that fine line in the centre, the Left and the Right look as bad as each other. That’s OK though, Volume 2 is just as much fun to read as its predecessor and when you have two hitmen going after their brother (also a hitman), anyone caught in the middle isn’t going to do well. Sometimes that’s all the reason you need :o)
I’m not sure if there is a Volume 3 but given that ‘DIE!DIE!DIE!’ is very up front about what it’s offering and delivers it superbly, I’d definitely read it if there was one. I’ll have to keep an eye open…
‘Basketful of Heads’ – Hill, Leomacs, Stewart (Hill House Comics, DC Black Label)
Page Count: 184 Pages
Heads will roll... June Branch is in trouble. She is trapped on Brody Island with nowhere to run. Her boyfriend, Liam, has been kidnapped. And four bloodthirsty escaped convicts will stop at nothing to find her. All poor June has to defend herself with is a strange Viking axe with the terrifying power to decapitate a person and leave their head still talking. If she is going to save Liam and herself, June will have to keep a cool head...or even a whole basketful of them!
‘Basketful of Heads’ is a great example of writing and art combining superbly to hide a tale, and it’s eventual reveal, in plain sight. What I thought I was reading turned out to be anything but and I really enjoyed what that meant for a plot that you can see evolve as you’re reading it. That mixture of questions, and well timed revelations, really worked for me and that was before we even got to the axe and what it can do. That’s played for laughs, more than anything else, but it’s still a nice slice (no pun intended) of Weird that bounces well off the more crime oriented main plot thread. I really got into ‘Basketful of Heads’ then and thoroughly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t picked it up yet. And was I tempted to say something here about ‘being ahead of the game…?’ I really was but held off, maybe there’s hope for me yet ;o)
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